City Council - Regular Meeting

Someone's looking sharp. Thank you.

for a separate motion to continue it.

All right, good evening, everybody. We're ready to call to order our meeting. TESTS. TESTS. OKAY. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. SORRY ABOUT THAT. TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY HERE. OKAY. WE ARE READY TO CALL TO ORDER OUR JOINT MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND ALL THE OTHER AGENCIES THAT ARE LISTED ON OUR AGENDA THIS JULY 28TH, TUESDAY. Call time is 6.37 p.m. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call, please?

Mayor Pro Tem Corona?

Present.

Council Member Ra?

Here.

Council Member Vallejo? Here. Council Member Nava? Mayor Vargas?

I'm here, thank you. And for all our listeners, in accordance with SB 707, which became effective in July, this regarding remote participation is available to the public via the Zoom link or telephone numbers provided on the city website or contained in the agenda. For Zoom, please select more and use the raise hand feature to request to speak. If calling in by phone, please use star nine to request to speak. And six, to mute or unmute yourself. So item three is our invocation. Our invocation will be led this evening by Pastor Joel Sobolik from New Creation Church. If you'd all please stand and join us and remain standing for item four, which is our Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Mayor Pro Tem Corona.

Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful day you've given us. Lord, we thank you that we're able to gather together in this beautiful city which you've blessed us with and given us the best mayor in the whole world. Lord, we pray that you'd bless the city council, bless our mayor and his wife and family. We pray that you'd bless each member, each staff person here at the city of Paris. We pray for our police department, sheriff's department. fire department, our first responders, Lord God, we pray that you'd bless them. We pray that you'd keep our schools safe, keep our kids safe this time of year. When there's so much chaos in the world, Lord, we thank you that we can come to you and recognize that life is brief, but you've given us an opportunity to worship you and to know you. Thank you that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. For you did not send your son into this world to condemn us but to give us life. So, Lord, thank you for each life that's in this place right now. And, Father, we pause and we take a moment to realize that the breath that we breathe has been given us. to us from you. Bless this city council meeting. Help everybody to get their agendas accomplished. Help everything to be peaceful and graceful. And Lord, we enjoy this time that you've given us, Lord. Bless each person in this place. Thank you. Once again, keep our city blessed, and we thank you for this wonderful place. In Jesus' name, we all agree together and said, amen. Thank you.

Okay, please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin.

his allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Pastor. Okay, item five is a report on closed session items. I'll call on our city attorney to give a report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The council met in closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.8 to discuss real property negotiations on six properties. No reportable action was taken. The council met pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D4 and D2 to discuss two potential litigations. No reportable actions were taken. Thank you.

Thank you. ITEM 6 IS PRESENTATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. AT THIS TIME THE CITY COUNCIL WILL BE RECOGNIZING SOME OUTSTANDING YOUTH AND SOME OTHER PRESENTATIONS AS WELL. WE'RE GOING TO START WITH 6A, WHICH IS A RECOGNITION OF THE CITY OF PARIS SPECIAL OLYMPICS BASKETBALL TEAM. THIS ITEM IS GOING TO BE INTRODUCED BY DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES, ARSENIO RAMIREZ. THANK YOU, MAYOR. FOR THIS PRESENTATION, MR. JUAN RODRIGUEZ WILL CONDUCT IT. So just my little background, I was in L.A. or Long Beach already attending a conference and I got wind that Special Olympics were gonna be in Long Beach, right next to where we are at. So myself and a staff member managed to race over there and catch some of those great activities. So take it away, Juan.

Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, honorable Mayor, council, city staff, everyone here. Like the elected mayor mentioned, He was out there, he was present the day of the tournament. So just here to recognize some special athletes and give you guys some background. Today marks a historic milestone as the city of Paris celebrates its first ever participation in the Special Olympics of Southern California. This achievement reflects commitment to creating opportunities where every athlete has a chance to participate, grow, and succeed. Through our partnership in the Special Olympics of California, We expanded our adaptive recreation programs to provide athletes with meaningful opportunities to train, compete, and build confidence. Together we created a program that promotes inclusion, teamwork, and personal growth. A partnership that led our athletes on an incredible journey. Reaching the summer games took months of dedication from everyone involved. Our staff worked tirelessly to organize practices and support athletes every step of the way. While parents and families provided encouragement and commitment that made participation possible, their hard work paid off on the biggest stage. Our athletes competed with determination, sportsmanship, and pride, representing the city of Peretz in an outstanding way. Their hard work and dedication earned them a spot in the championship game, where they proudly finished the tournament as runner-ups, earning second place. Their accomplishments extend far beyond medals. their determination, perseverance, confidence, teamwork, and true spirit of Special Olympics. This program shows how recreation can bring people together and create opportunities for everyone to belong. I want to shout out my rec staff at this moment. Through adaptive programming, we continue to build a more inclusive and welcoming community. And this is only the beginning. This program has laid a strong foundation for the future of adaptive recreation in the city of Paris. The success will continue. Just this last past weekend, our athletes competed in a Special Olympics bowling tournament in Norco, earning several top finishes, including a first place medal. At this moment, I would like to thank our dedicated staff, I want to shout out Juan Nava and Juan Martinez, JC and JB as we call them. For coaching our basketball team to an incredible finish. The support, I also want to thank the parents for the support and the commitment they made. And most importantly, our athletes. Your hard work, determination, perseverance has made it. has made history here in the city of Paris, and we look forward to more success in the years to come. Now I would like to invite the mayor and city council down to present certificates to the coaches and athletes.

All right, good evening everybody. So we're gonna start off with giving certificates to our young athletes. I'm gonna read off one, it'll be the same for all. We'll just read off the different names. The first one going to Giovante Sandoval for the 2026 This is for the 2026 Special Olympic Summer Games. May it be known that the Office of the Mayor and the City Council proudly recognize and celebrate Giovante Sandoval for representing our community as a member of the City of Paris Basketball Team 2026. Hold on, I'm not done. I'm not done. I just had to look up to him, find out how old he was. He said he was 19. All right, Special Olympics Southern California Summer Games in Long Beach, California, where the team earned an outstanding second place finish. Your dedication, your determination, and outstanding sportsmanship have made our community proud. We congratulate you on this remarkable accomplishment, and thank you for serving as an inspiration to the city of Paris. We wish you continued success in all your future endeavors. If you haven't gone to a Special Olympics event, you need to go. This was really inspiring when I went to go see these boys play and young ladies. Nothing like your conventional high school games.

thanking, high-fiving each other, the different teams when they made a basket.

I mean, it was just amazing. The sportsmanship was like, man, we need to teach our pros to be that way. Okay, our next one is Deshawn Williamson. Next up, Julian Paloma. Paloma. Paloma. Angelica Garcia. Itzel Paloma, am I saying? Palomo. Palomo. Palomo.

Palomo. He was a bowler.

I just wanted to see her. They were bowling in the Special Olympics this past weekend as well. Alberto Romero Gonzalez. Now we'd like to recognize our coaches. Coach Juan Carlos Nava, also known as. Also known as JC. JB. And then we have Coach Juan. I didn't say your middle name? Bozari. Oh, you're like my assistant city manager, Bugatti, but you're Bozari. Martinez. All right, in addition to that, to all our team players, I'm going to issue them a key to the city as well. Here's your key. Here's your key. Here's your key.

Here's your key.

Mayor's office, too. Here's your key. Here's your key. Everybody got a key? All right.

Where am I going? I need everybody to turn to me.

So our good friend Senator Sabrina Cervantes also issued you guys some beautiful certificates as well. So this one is for Itzel. That's from the State Senator. Julian Palomo. Did I say that right this time? Dashaun. Giovante. Angelica. And Alberto. So let's do a favor for my friend, the senator. Put this one in front of the black one, okay? Let's just do one just with hers, and we'll take a photo so we can send it to her. All right?

Thank you, Skylee.

Cheese. Perfect, aren't you guys? One more, one more. Didn't they be okay? You hear that?

Yeah, and then you have the... Yeah, let's go.

Yeah.

ALL RIGHT, I'M GOING TO CALL ON THE COUNCIL NOW IF THEY WANT TO MAKE SOME COMMENTS ON OUR YOUNG ATHLETES. WE'RE GOING TO START WITH MAYOR PROTEM CORONA.

I just want to start out by congratulating you guys and making our city very proud. Our coaches, Juan and Juan, I know you guys do a great job of coaching them, and I know you guys have experience. Juan was an all-star in the Res Ball League and stuff like that back in the day. To the parents, great job for bringing out your athletes here and for them coming out here. And as a city, I'm just very proud that that we've made strides in becoming a more inclusive city, and I'm very proud of the work that we've done in the Parks and Rec Committee, and with the support of the rest of the city as well, too. Thank you.

Councilwoman Vallejo.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Congratulations to all the athletes, the coaches, the parents, the staff. This is such a big deal, and you athletes are showing how proud and how amazing Paris is. So thank you so much for being exactly who you are and dominating in these sports. I appreciate you all. Thank you.

Councilman Reb.

I just want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues. Congratulations to all the athletes for all your hard work that you've put in. Congratulations to the coaches for taking the time out to help train and develop the skills of the athletes. And once again, congratulations to the parents for getting your children involved in this process and getting them involved in the Special Olympics. And thank you, Mayor Vargas, for bringing this to our attention today. And a special thanks to Sabrina Cervantes' office for the certificates. So once again, thank you for the audience for really being supportive of all the athletes today. Thank you.

So I've kind of made comments already, but this is a big ordeal for our young athletes and for the city of Paris. And this is the California, what's the official title of the Olympics? Well, it's not just a local event. This is California.

California, Southern California State Special Olympics.

So this is the statewide Special Olympics. So this is huge for our our athletes to get involved in championship games. And like I said, this past weekend, I got to see some bowling. And I wish I could spend all day with them, but unfortunately I can't. But I got to spend the morning with them. This was, was it Sunday that they bowled? Saturday? I had to leave the house at 7 in the morning, I think. It was early. They had an early start. But again, I just have to reiterate the camaraderie that you see with these young athletes and the way they treat each other. It's not just their own team. They're there and all the teams support each other. And the basketball was really exciting. So if you have an opportunity, are we on the website somewhere displaying these games or events? Yes. So we have programming.

We have now more activities for adaptive groups. So it's on our website and on social media as well. Great.

So please follow them and go support our young athletes for the city of Paris if you get an opportunity. Okay. Moving on to item B is our presentation of a Pack a Smile food backpack giveaway. And this will be introduced by Director of Public Services, Sabrina Cervantes. I always say Sabrina Cervantes. Sabrina Chavez.

Good evening, honorable mayor.

I promoted her to a senator.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council. We'll have public services manager, Crystal Lopez, present this item before you.

Thank you, Sabrina. Good evening, Honorable Mayor, City Council, and City staff. It is with great pleasure to introduce to you our Mayor's Alliance to End Childhood Hunger 2026 Pack a Smile Food Giveaway event. The Mayor's Alliance to End Childhood Hunger is a nationwide campaign through the Share Our Strength, No Kid Hungry campaign with the goal to end childhood hunger in our communities. In 2024, the City of Paris joined this campaign and established our very own Mayor's Alliance to End Childhood Hunger initiative. This initiative led to the development of our Mayor's Alliance Task Force, which is comprised of all four local school districts, health care agencies, Riverside County Department of Public Health, local food pantries, nonprofit agencies, developers, and local businesses. Since 2024, the task force has met regularly to share resources, establish goals, and programs that aim towards ending childhood hunger. One of our programs, our Pack a Smile food giveaway event, focuses on providing food to students during the summer period where school districts are not providing summer meals. Through the partnership with our task force, we were able to put forth this event last year to provide backpacks with non-perishable food items to children 18 and under. Last year in 2025, we held our very first Pack a Smile food giveaway event where we distributed over 700 backpacks with non-perishable food items to children 18 and under here on our city hall lawn. We partnered with local organizations to receive food donations as well as sponsorships and provided over $1,500 in gift cards to local grocery stores to our Paris families. I'm pleased to announce that next week we will be hosting our second annual Pack a Smile food giveaway event. This year we have received, and there is an update, it says $31,000, but we've actually received $36,000 in monetary sponsorships and in-kind donations. So that update was provided about like an hour ago. We have over 16 businesses and agencies that have contributed to this event with $24,000 in monetary sponsorships and now over $12,000 in in-kind contributions. So the latest thing that we added is a fruit truck where they'll be distributing fresh produce to our community. Monetary sponsorships. have been utilized to purchase backpacks, non-perishable food items, and gift cards to local grocery stores. Our in-kind contribution include meal vouchers to Chick-fil-A, a fruit truck, and grains and food cans to be included in our backpacks. We also did an internal employee food drive and have been able to raise quite a bit of items from our employees here at City Hall as well. So this year, I'm excited to announce that we will be distributing over 1,200 backpacks with non-perishable food items to children 18 and under, as well as gift cards to local grocery stores to be distributed to our families while supplies last. This event will be held on next week, Thursday, August 6th, at the Bob Glass Gymnasium from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., or while supplies last. In addition, we'll also be hosting vendors on our City Hall lawn, where they will be providing healthcare services, including dental, as well as educational resources and giveaways to our community, and much more. We have also promoted this event on our social media outlets, website, digital marquee, and distributed to our local school districts to share with our summer meal distribution sites, and our task force partners to share with our community. Lastly, I would like to thank our generous sponsors for donating to this event. We had 16 agencies contribute to this event, raising over $36,000 in monetary and in-kind contributions. So this concludes my presentation, but I'm more than happy to answer any questions. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Crystal. Anybody have questions? So just to reiterate, I'm really pleased this year. We've really raised a significant amount of money compared to last year. Our sponsors have acknowledged the importance of this program. I did bring this home from the US Conference of Mayors a couple of years ago. We did it last year. The focus was to, as Crystal mentioned, we go in between school time or summer time programs and then school time. Unfortunately, some of our youth out there, that's their source of food is during school time. They can literally eat three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and then the evening if they stay after school programs, they have some meals, snacks for them, and then come weekend, sometimes they go without food. The focus for my alliance was to capture that off time and hopefully try to help make a difference. And as you see, our sponsors, our partners have bought into this significantly. And to raise $24,000 in cash, that's huge. And an additional $7,000 in non-monetary and in-kind is very good. So I'm very pleased with all our contributions from our sponsors and look forward to a very good, successful event this year. OKAY, MOVING ON TO ITEM C IS THE CITY OF PARIS EMPLOYEE OF THE QUARTER RECOGNITION FOR SECOND QUARTER 2026. THIS ITEM WILL BE INTRODUCED BY OUR COUNTER SERVICES SUPERVISOR, GUSTAVO LUA.

Good evening, honorable mayor and city council and city staff and all in attendance. It is my honor tonight to recognize Vanessa Hernandez as the employee of the quarter for the second quarter of 2026. A little bit about Vanessa. She's been with the city about four years total. She started off in 2021 as a temp in building and safety. In October 2022, she got promoted full-time employee as Development Services 1. She has since excelled and has been promoted to Department Services Assistant II. For those of you that know Vanessa, she's an avid Star Wars fan. So in Star Wars terms, she started off as a Padawan and has become a Jedi and working her way to becoming a Jedi Master. So she's been excelling very well. A little bit more about her. She's been with her husband, Levi, for 15 years, and they enjoy a multitude of fur babies that they have, including one horse, a goat, three sheep, two dogs, chickens, and guinea pigs. Vanessa also has two younger siblings, sisters that are 19 and 14 who currently live with their parents hereby. Vanessa does have an associate's degree from Myrtle Valley College in behavioral science. Vanessa does an amazing job working with various people. In my time as her supervisor, I have only received positive feedback from anybody that has interacted with her, which is a great attribute. Vanessa is always ready to take on new challenges and always brings her pen and notepad to take notes to make sure she doesn't miss any detail. And she's always willing to learn. I want to read you guys some of the, I won't read all of them because it's a lot, some of the feedback from her colleagues that nominated her for this award. Vanessa displays positive attitude, which creates an influence on others, performs above and beyond assigned duties, goes out of her way to assist fellow employees and citizens, exhibits outstanding work ethics. Vanessa is truly a joy to work with. She consistently brings a positive attitude, treats everybody with respect and kindness, and fosters a collaboration and supportive work environment. Okay. A little bit more about Vanessa. Some of the things she would like to pursue in the future is she would like to start traveling and hiking. She enjoys watching her New England Patriots and is an avid fan. She takes an interest in baseball and follows the Red Sox. Some things that Vanessa enjoys watching is Dutton Ranch, Yellowstone, Meet the Fockers, the movie series, Star Wars, which you guys are very aware of that, nightmare before Christmas and she considers herself a foodie and loves Mexican food and Italian food and Loves none other than Casa Jimenez, which is a here in town Some fun facts about Vanessa She really recently started collecting Pokemon cards and enjoys the hunt and finding a new card Vanessa and her husband Levi are high school sweethearts and they've been together for 15 years Vanessa enjoys being with her co-workers and feels good when she helps people and Vanessa loves seeing finished projects and seeing the end result, which is great. She loves going to Disneyland, where she gets to immerse herself in the Star Wars portion of the park. And one of her biggest things that spoke out, Rowley, when I spoke to her, was that she has found recently the love for God and thankful every day and feels God has brought her to where she's at today. Mayor Vargas and to the entire City Council and staff, I'm honored to present to you the recipient of the employee of the second quarter of 2026, Vanessa Hernandez.

Let her say a few words, Gus, and then we're going to come down and present her the certificates.

Good evening. I just want to say thank you to all my coworkers and management. I really appreciate every one of them, and I'm really thankful to be part of such an amazing team. Sorry, I'm a little nervous.

It's okay. When you like the Dodgers, it gets a lot easier.

I do want to say a special thank you to Veronica Arana for taking a chance on me and making me feel so welcome at the city of Paris from my first day back in 2021. I'll always be grateful for her kindness and support. To Levi and my family, thank you for being here and always showing me your support. And I just want to thank my Lord and Savior for leading me here, and I give them all the glory. God bless you all.

Thank you. All right, hang tight, Vanessa. We're going to come down. All right, I could have sworn we were just here a couple of weeks ago doing this, and here we are three months later already again. So this certificate reads off the employee of the quarter. Upon recommendation of city staff, the mayor, and the council, proudly present to Vanessa Hernandez the honor of employee of the second quarter. May be known that the employee recognition committee hereby acknowledge Vanessa Hernandez for her dedication and unwavering commitment the city of Paris, your efforts are commendable and greatly appreciated. Presented on this 28th day of July, 2026. So in addition to the plaque, and we're gonna get with the council in a minute, you're also gonna receive a gift card for $150 at our brand new Target store. But we'll go 50-50 on that, all right? And lastly, I want to present you with a key to the city as well.

Thank you. Thank you. That's your mom. Grandma, come on, Grandma. Lift me up, lift me up. So keep shifting, keep shifting. There we go.

ALL RIGHT, COUNCIL, ANYBODY WANT TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS? MAYOR PROTEM.

ALL RIGHT, JUST WANTED TO TELL VENESSA HERNANDEZ A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO HER AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HARD WORK FOR CITY AND WELL DESERVED. THANK YOU.

COUNCILMAN VALLEJO.

Congratulations, Vanessa, on your hard work. Thank you so much for working at the greatest city to work in. We are very excited for you. And thank you for being a Jedi master so then you can teach others. Thank you. Appreciate you. Yes.

Councilman Rabb.

Yes, once again, congratulations, Vanessa, and congratulations to your family as well. And congratulations. I was really proud that you weren't afraid to mention that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. And you and your husband, if you guys are going to national parks, definitely get the national parks pass because it really comes in handy. Thank you.

All right. Congratulations, Vanessa.

I look forward to seeing you at the Dodger Stadium.

Keep up the good work. Thank you. All right, next up is item seven. This is our Youth Advisory Committee Communications. This report will be given by Melanie Lopez, the president of our YAC.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of city council and city staff. My name is Melanie Lopez, and I am honored to serve as the president of the Youth Advisory Committee. Tonight, I am pleased to provide a few updates on behalf of YAC. First, our next YAC meeting will take place on... Tuesday, August 4th, from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. at the council chambers. We welcome youth who are interested in leadership, civic engagement, and community service to attend and learn how they can make a positive impact in our community. In addition, YAC will participate in the Statler Youth Center End of Summer Splash on Friday, August 7th. beginning at 3.30 p.m. Later that evening, we will host our open mic night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. This event is open to all teens ages 11 to 17. And food will be provided while supplies last. We encourage youth and teens to join us for our open mic night. YAC will also assist in ParisCon Saturday, August 15th at the City Hall campus. We look forward to supporting this exciting community event and encouraging youth participation. We are also excited to host our next Movies in the Park event on Friday, August 21st at Rotary Park. We will also be showing the Bad Guys 2 and light refreshments will be available while supplies last. Lastly, we have successfully concluded our 2026-2027 YAC recruitment process. This year, we received a total of 60 applications representing more than six local high schools. From those applications, we selected 40 candidates for interviews and have tentatively accepted 33 new YAC members. Our next steps include the parent orientation meeting and the swearing ceremony. We look forward to welcoming this outstanding new group of young leaders and appreciate our continued support as they begin their journey of service to the Paris community. As always, we encourage our community to stay safe, stay engaged, and stay connected. For latest updates on YAC programs and upcoming events, please follow us on social media at ParisYAC. Thank you for your time and continued support of the Youth Advisory Committee. Together, we are helping make Paris a vibrant, welcoming, and inspiring place for our youth and families.

Great. Don't leave yet. So, we're inviting 30 new YAC members?

33. 30 what?

33. 33. And how many outgoing do we have? Do we know yet? Ballpark? 10. 10? Which leaves us how many before the 33 adds in there? I can't hear you from over there.

33 is new applicants, including who's returning.

Right. How many do we have now? 42 and we're losing 10. So that leaves us with 32, and we just hired another 33? Okay, so 33 in total, gotcha. I thought, man, this is gonna be a really big class.

Okay, thank you so much, Melanie.

So for clarification, so correct me if I'm wrong one, but every year they need to reapply, right? Okay.

Oh, they don't continue on. Everybody has to reapply. Oh, okay. That makes more sense now.

And, you know, I know it's a tough decision. It's very hard, but we really want to give those attention. We're talking about a partial record of what to do. We're thinking about maybe limiting it to three years because so many people are trying to get into it. It's such a fantastic program.

Yes, thank you for that. Okay, item eight is our public comments. This is a time when any member of the public may bring a matter to the attention of the Mayor of the City Council. Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak?

Yes, sir. Adriana Ochoa?

Hello, good evening, honorable Mayor Vargas, members of the city council and city staff. My name is Adriana Ochoa, executive director of the Paris Valley Chamber of Commerce. I'm here to share a quick update on the chamber. This year, the chamber has launched Leadership Paris Valley, a new leadership program. We have a total of 18 local business leaders participating, along with three students from the Paris Youth Coalition. bringing together the leaders and the next generations we kicked off the program in june with orientation and this month we focus on local government participants had the opportunity to hear from mayor michael vargas riverside county supervisor jose medina and state senator sabrina cervantes learning firsthand how the city government and state work sorry i'm out of breath leadership paris valley is a nine-month program that will conclude with the entire group working on a community project When they are finished with that they will present it at the graduation. This program concludes. sorry, will receive a certificate of completion. Our vision is to make this annual program that straightens the connections between our business community, school leaders, regional leaders, and the city of Paris while developing future leaders. In addition, we partnered up with Moreno Valley College to offer a free workshop series titled Launch Your Business with Confidence. Last week's session focused on finance and accounting for entrepreneurs. Tomorrow will host part two, which is building an entrepreneurial team. We're excited to continue providing these free educational workshops to entrepreneurs, small business owners throughout the community. Lastly, I'd like to personally invite you all to our installation gala awards. This year is old Hollywood themed, so come dressed to impress. We will be recognizing and celebrating some of the outstanding local businesses for their hard work, dedication, and achievement through the year. At the Chamber, we believe when we invest in our businesses and our young people, we invest in the future of Paris. We'd love to have you join us at one of our upcoming workshops, events, and I'm always happy to meet with you guys all one-on-one for questions if you have any. Again, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Genesis Prado.

Honorable mayors, city council and staff. My name is Genesis. I am the new district rep for Senator Sabrina Cervantes. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you guys know that I'm here to assist with any state related matters. I'm super excited to be back here in Paris and work along with you guys in this new capacity. I also want to share that Senator Cervantes is going to be having her fourth annual Educate and Elevate Teacher Appreciation Supply Giveaway, Friday, August 14th. This is for teachers who teach TK through sixth grade. This is going to be held here in Paris, and the address is going to be given to RSVP only. So if you guys have any questions, I do have flyers. And I also wanted to remind you guys that we have office hours every Monday and Wednesdays in the Paris Library. This is also for the public. Thank you guys so much.

Thank you.

Tim Howard.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Tim Howard, and I just want to give you a brief update on Harvest Landing. In mid-April, you approved the development known as Harvest Landing. Part and parcel of the approval was to fund the first-time homebuyers program. And I just wanted to let council know that I've put in place everything that's required to be making that donation to the city of Paris of $2 million in the next coming week. Thank you.

Andrea Mears.

Good evening, Mayor Vargas and members of the city council and city staff. My name is Andrea Morris and I am your new government relations manager for Southern California Edison. While I'm new to the role, I'm not new to the community. I was born and raised in the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley and remain a Riverside County resident. I look forward to strengthening the partnership between Edison and the city and helping the city meet its clean energy needs. I am proud to announce that that partnership, I feel, is already off to a strong start. Just this morning, we had your junior master gardeners at our Menifee Service Center just down the freeway where they got to see some of the STEM careers available to them right in our community, including seeing linemen and arborists and learning more about the work that we do each and every day at Southern California Edison. With that, I've left my cards with the city clerk, and I'll thank you all for your time, and I gotta say, go Padres.

You're off to a bad start, Andrea. Ashley?

Ashley?

Hello, everybody. Just really quick, I just wanted to comment that it cannot be easy making moves in this city. You would assume that we would have around or close to 24 meetings a year because it's twice a month, but we've only got 15 meetings this year. That's been a little rough. I just wanted to say also found out the data center's ban is not going to be discussed even in the planning commission until at least around September. So that would be really cool to get before next year. You saw how many people were here in support of that. So we're still hoping for it. That's my opinion down to business. My name is Ashley. I'm one of the directors of Rise Paris Pride. I'm here to give some organization and community updates. something that was really exciting and kind of new for us. Rise Parish Pride made it to the papers. We were in the press enterprise. The story covered our opposition to the Harry Potter train experience at the Southern California Railway Museum. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has verified with her own words that she uses the money she makes with that intellectual property to remove the equal rights of queer people. So we love the museum. Don't get me wrong. But at $100 a ticket, we think that perhaps the public could skip this one. There are better ways to spend your money, like donating to Transgender Health and Wellness Center. They have a new location in Vista. We also wanted to announce how great of a success the Paris free market mutual aid distribution has been. We've had two of them. These are hosted outside the library at 5 PM on the last Saturday of the month after our regular RISE meetings in the community room. The market provides clean clothes, blankets, new socks and underwear, hygiene supplies like shampoo or period pads, tarps, totes, sunscreen, and harm reduction supplies like fentanyl test strips and Narcan, and we even take your requests. We are also seeking those supplies to distribute, and we can pick up. So please contact Rise Paris Pride on Instagram, and we collect donations at our meetings. So our upcoming August 29th meetup will be paper fans and making plans. Join us to prepare for our upcoming events and make and decorate a fan to stay cool with. So that's going to be fan making and donation collection in the library community room, August 29th at 2.30, and the free market outside the library that same day, at 5 p.m. Thank you so much. Have a beautiful month and stay cool.

Thank you.

That is all.

Thank you. Okay, item nine is approval of minutes. 9A is consideration to approve the minutes of the regular joint meeting held on June 9th, 2026 of the City Council and all the other agencies as listed on our agenda.

Councilor, do you have anything you want to... Mr. Mayor, we have a public comment over Zoom for the last item.

Oh, thank you. I forgot about you guys. Apologies.

We have a Franco here.

Franco? Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead, sir. Thank you. I WANTED TO SAY HELLO, COUNCIL, AND THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE PUBLIC OPTION FOR ZOOM. I THINK IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT GETS HIGHLIGHTED BECAUSE IT MAKES IT EASIER FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. ALSO, I SEEN TIM HOWARD CAME UP AND GAVE AN UPDATE ON THE 2 MILLION FOR THE HOUSING. which is great that he's doing that. But I had a question because during those meetings, there was also a developer that promised to put an application to build homes. Is there an update for that if they actually put in the application? I think he said within 30 days or something that he was going to put in an application to build homes in the section that was rezoned for residential. And then, yeah, thank you for letting me make a comment.

Thank you. Thank you. Is that it, IT? Yes, sir, that is all.

Thank you.

Okay, going back to 9A, the consideration for the minutes of the June 9th, 26th meeting. Councilman, do we have any questions or comments? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve. On your little tablets. DON'T YOU DO IT ON THAT THING?

YEAH, WE DO, BUT IT'S NOT.

NO, YOU DON'T NEED TO. I THINK WE GOT TO DO IT ANYWAY. ARE WE, MADAM CITY ATTORNEY, NOW THAT I'M ON ZOOM, I GOT TO DO ROLL CALL ALL THE TIME?

I BELIEVE SO, MR. MAYOR. Let's do that until we look into whether there's a system where we can show it on Zoom. Okay. So I think we need to figure it out from a technology standpoint.

Very good. Let's do a roll call vote, please. Motion? We can't even document it on the machine. It's not working.

I'll do a verbal one. I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes for the regular joint meeting held on June 9th, 2026. I will second it.

AT, can we look at these little tablets while we're not able to use them? All right, you got a motion in a second? Please call the vote.

Mayor Pro Temp.

Oh, there it is.

Well, she still has to do a roll call. Okay. Yes.

Mayor Pro Temp Corona.

Yes.

Council Member Rapp.

Yes.

Council Member Vallejo. Yes. Nava absent. Mayor Vargas. Yes.

Yes.

4-1. Motion approved.

Okay. 9B is consideration to approve the minutes of the special joint meeting held on July 7, 2026 of the City Council.

I'd make a motion that we approve the minutes for the special joint meeting held on July 7, 2026 of the City Council.

I second.

All right. We have a first and a second. Please call the vote.

Mayor Pro Tem Corona?

Abstain.

Sorry. Council Member Rapp?

Yes.

Council Member Vallejo? Yes. Council Member Nava absent. Mayor Vargas?

Yes.

Rapp, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava absent. Corona abstain.

Thank you. All right, we have one more for, no, we did that one, never mind. Okay, moving on to consent calendar, item 10. I believe staff wants to move something on there, Madam City Manager.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Staff is recommending that 10S be voted separately and is recommending a continuation to the August 25th, 2026 council meeting in order to review and reevaluate some of the comment letters that we just received in the last few days.

Just for verification, 10S as in Sam.

Yes, thank you.

And that was for date certain for our next meeting?

Correct. Yes. Yes.

Council you guys have anything you want to pull separate discussion or vote Like the poll will separate item 10 B for a very brief comment not a separate vote 10 B as in boy.

Yes Just for a comment yes for comment well we can comment before we vote anybody else All right, so we're looking for 10 a B C D E F G H I J KLMNOPQR, T as in Tom, UNVNW. But before we do the vote, I'd like to open up for any public comment. Madam Clerk, did we have any requests to speak on this item?

I do have, no, no, I'm sorry. I have public speakers for 10S.

How many? THREE. THOSE FOLKS FOR 10 S, WE ARE GOING TO MOVE IT, BUT I WOULD STILL OPEN THE FLOOR SINCE YOU CAME IF YOU'D LIKE TO SPEAK NOW OR RETURN FOR THE NEXT MEETING. YOU WANT TO COME UP NOW, SIR? PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME WHEN YOU COME UP TO THE PODIUM.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Kallen Kilde, K-I-L-D-E-A, president of Builders United, 6001 South Decatur Boulevard, and I'm speaking on item 10S. Pereira's protest identifies seven allegations. California law is clear that a bid may only be rejected if an irregularity is material. meaning it affects price, quality, quantity, or the bidder's legal obligations, or gives one bidder a competitive advantage over another. None of these circumstances exist against Filters United. However, Pereira has gained a competitive advantage by listing a subcontractor, Palomar Plastering, whose DIR number was not valid at the time of bid. It expired June 30th, the bid was due July 2nd, and they renewed on July 8th. This material and undeniable error gave them a $365,000 advantage. BUILDERS UNITED BID, HOWEVER, REMAINED FULLY BINDING. AS SUBMITTED, NONE OF THESE ALLEGATIONS CHANGED OUR PRICE, SCOPE, CONTRACTUAL COMMITMENTS, OR THREATENED THE INTEGRITY OF THE CALIFORNIA BIDDING PROCESS. IF YOU DON'T MIND, FIRST, REGARDING ADDENDUM R2, BUILDERS UNITED ACKNOWLEDGED EVERY ADDENDUM ISSUED BY THE CITY THROUGH PLANET BIDS ADDENDA AND EMAILS TAB. THE DOCUMENT PER ERROR REFERS TO ONLY APPEARED IN THE GENERAL DOCUMENTS TAB, NEVER ISSUED AS A FORMAL ADDENDA. Nonetheless, Builders United bid the project exactly as advertised, including all required bid documents, addendum, mandatory pre-bid walk, RFI responses, geotech reports, structural calcs, grading, building, landscape plans, general provisions, and technical specs. We've never attempted to change any portion of the contract or avoid any obligations. We acknowledge, like the others, R2 as part of the bid documents. SECOND, THE BID BOND IS SIGNED AS REQUIRED, AND WE'VE PROVIDED AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM OUR SURETY, CONFIRMING THE BOND'S VALIDITY. THIRD, OUR DESIGNATION FORM, THE CITY'S FORM SIMPLY DIDN'T CONTAIN ENOUGH LINES TO LIST ALL OF OUR SUBS, SO WE WROTE C ATTACHED DIRECTLY ON THAT FORM AND SUBMITTED CONTINUATION SHEETS IN OUR ORIGINAL BID. That listed every sub to name, trade, license number, address, percentage, and amount. Nothing was omitted. Nothing was substituted. There is no opportunity for post-bid manipulation. That was simply a matter of format, not substance. Fourth, Amador's license. If you check the California Contractors Board, they do hold an active California license. This is one of our subcontractors. Their proposal contained two subcontractor licenses, but California's Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Act recognizes that inadvertent license number transcript errors don't render a bid non-responsive if the sub is clearly identified and properly licensed, which they are. Fifth, subcontractors exceeding 1.5%. Pereira identified fencing, steel, metals, and polishing. Those are estimate categories, not subcontract awards. California law applies the threshold to each individual sub, not estimating categories, and so Builders United has properly listed all subs over one-half percent as required. Sixth, the DIR registration document. We followed the bid instructions exactly, and we provided official records from The county site, instead of handwriting them on the documents, the city received every piece of information required of those DIR subs, specifically AA glazing. They have a, Pereira alleged that their DIR was invalid. They renewed on July 1st. The bid was on July 2nd. That July 1st renewal was valid through June of 2028. So AA glazing is properly registered with the DIR.

All right, thanks, sir. Your time's up. Did you want to speak, sir?

Hello.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Member. I'm Vijay Sharma. I'm representing Pereira Construction for the similar matter. I brought a different something, different, how do I say, reasoning for our response, but I think Since Builders United already opened up, we can simply say how not listing an addendum to R make them binding to perform the work because it's not listed on the bid documents. First question. Second, using a subcontractor whose contract to license expired 16 years ago. 16 years ago is how it is acceptable. DIR, they blamed on Perera. We used a DIR whose last DIR expired on July, June 30th, 2026, which is like one day before the bid opening. Their subcontractor listed DIR was expired in 2025. That's one year. One year before the bid opening, and still till today, it is still expired. So three of the ones are materially defect that can easily render their bid non-responsive. And I think approving all these and letting these go would basically cost Citi $283,000 extra. They are the second apparent lowest bidder. We are the lowest apparent bidder, and we, Pereira Construction, We say our bid was responsive and responsible. We respectfully request city to review their proposal in detail and see what city can be exposed because addendum 2R included multiple revisions and that allows Builders United to back out of because on document they did not agree to those changes. It's not on the bid document. They can get out of it. when the discussion happens. And the second thing, bid bond. Bid bond does not mention the title. The name of the president who just introduced himself, no title, no name is mentioned. And that does not make this bid bond valid. And any event, if city gets into a position, I do not think this bid bond will be forfeitable. So I think our proposal was legally binding in accordance with the documents provided by the city of Paris at the time of bidding. And we believe in peer review, and we believe in the legal process. We believe in the public bidding. and I think this would help. If this is gonna happen, this is gonna cost city additional $283,000 of taxpayer funds. Thank you. Thank you.

Venier Bello.

Good evening.

I'd like to congratulate the mayor, city council, and especially the outstanding young athletes and honorees this evening. Those recognitions reflect the values that make Paris such a strong community. Builders United is honored to have the opportunity to help advance those same values by constructing this fire station 105 and administration building, which is an investment in public safety that will serve Paris families for generations. Again, we appreciate this opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you.

That is all.

All right. Councilman Rav, your comment? Mr. Mayor, we've got one over there as well. Okay. Who is it?

Apologies. We have a Greg Trost.

GO AHEAD, GREG. GOT THREE MINUTES.

Yes, Mayor Vargas and council members. My name is Greg Tross. I'm also representing Pereira Construction regarding item 10S. I just wanted to reiterate that we did present two letters to the city council, but one on July 24th and one on July 28th, reiterating the issues on item 10S and the potential issues awarding of the contract to Builders United, given that RERA is the lowest responsible bidder for this project. One of the issues also that arises is the timeline on this. I wanted to just kind of go through that really quickly just to reiterate that Builders United submitted a protest. We were not given that protest until outside of the determination or recommendation from the public safety committee following that Rara responded. But it was never actually determined or provided written notice of any rejection of a bid. So. AT THAT POINT IN TIME WE HAVE SUBMITTED A BID PROTEST WHICH WE BELIEVE IS VALID AND WHICH WE BELIEVE IS WITHIN THE TIME LIMITS PRESENTED BY THE MUNICIPAL CODE AND WHAT IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH DUE PROCESS TO BUILDERS UNITED TO BID. SO THEREFORE WE WOULD REQUEST STILL THAT THE CITY COUNCIL CONTINUE THIS ITEM, REVIEW THE DOCUMENTS PRESENTED, REVIEW THE BID PACKAGES AND ULTIMATELY DETERMINE THAT PERERA IS INDEED THE LOWEST RESPONSIBLE BIDDER HERE.

RARU LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE CITY COLLABORATIVELY ON THIS PROJECT MOVING FORWARD THANK YOU VERY MUCH THANK YOU GREAT ANYBODY ELSE IT NO SIR THANK YOU OKAY COUNCILMAN RABB YOU WANT A DISCUSSION ON B IT'S JUST A QUICK COMMENT 10B IS THE WARD FOR SIDEWALK REPAIRS ON 6TH STREET 200 BLOCK OF EAST 6TH STREET Just for staff, if staff, when you're moving forward on this, if you can contact and get the contractor out, the Contract Freedom Community Church. I attended services a few weeks ago, and Pastor Williams indicated that they were interested in widening the entry point to the church. So, you know, I know they're going to have to put everything in and pay the fees and everything, but if we can just maybe reach out to them to get an idea of what they're trying to do as we move forward on that. That's just my comment on that one. Thank you.

All right. I've been settling for a motion.

Move approval of the balance of the consent calendar. Try using your... Oh, thanks. See if it works now. This would be the motion for everything but S. We can motion, but...

Okay. You can motion on that, and then she'll just call out the vote.

I'd make a motion that we approve the consent calendar excluding item 10S.

Oh, yes.

I'm trying to save you guys time. Use your machine, but she will call out the vote.

This way you don't have to read out the whole motion. Got it. So he did. Do the second.

All right. So I have a motion by Councilman Rabb and a second by Mayor Pro Tem. Please call the vote.

Corona, Rabb, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava, absent.

Thank you. Okay, moving on to item 11 is our public hearings.

Mayor, if I may, I think you excluded item 10S, so we need a motion to continue item 10S.

I'll make a motion. I make a motion to continue item 10S to our next regularly scheduled city council.

Hold on, Dave. Wasn't that covered under the rest of it?

I don't believe they mentioned that they're going to continue that. They just approved the minutes. But as the presiding officer, you could just continue it to the next meeting.

Yeah, we only need it. brought to the attention that you are pulling it over, so we don't need to vote on that, it's part of the whole package. You're good.

Right?

Okay. All right, moving on, 11a, consideration to adopt proposed resolution number next in order, confirming the assessment for maintenance district number 84-1, MD 84-1, for fiscal year 2026 and 2027. So we have about, what, two or three of these?

Thank you, Mayor. They're together? We have three, and our consultant is here if you wish to hear.

No, this is routine matters. Can I do all three together, Madam City Attorney, or do I have to do each one separately?

You can do them together, Mr. Mayor.

Yeah? All right. So let's put together 11A. I'll read it off anyway. A, I just read that off. That was for the maintenance district 84-1. B is for landscape maintenance district number 1, LMD 1. And C is for flood control maintenance district number 1. That's it, just those three. That's correct. All right. Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak on these items? On 11A, B, and C?

No, sir.

IT? No, sir. All right. Council, does anybody have any questions or comments on 11A, B, or C? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve. I have a motion by Councilman Rapp, second by Mayor Pro Tem Corona. Please call the vote.

Corona, Rab, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava, absent.

Thank you. All right, 11D is consideration to the Paris Distribution Facilities Industrial Business and Truckyard Tax Measure and adopt proposed resolution number next in order. Submitting the proposed general business license tax to the city voters at the general municipal election to be held on November 3rd, 2026. This will be introduced by our city manager, Mr. Ernie Reyna.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. So before you today, we have the, as you mentioned, the distribution facilities, industrial businesses, and truck yards tax measure, also known as the warehouse tax. So by way of background, if you recall three years ago in 2023, the city did place a measure, Measure A, on the ballot at the November 2023 election. This particular measure was a special tax. The measure itself was at a rate of 10.7 cents per square foot, looking to bring in about $4 million annually to begin with. The measure was intended to fund road repairs along truck routes, including arterial and collector streets. So fast forward today, which you have before you, new proposal. So the current proposal is now being presented as a general tax, which requires a simple majority plus one, rather than the two-thirds approval in order to approve a special tax. So this is a business license tax that would be used primarily to fund public services, including and maintaining public safety, repairing streets, roads, potholes, improving traffic and pedestrian safety, and retaining small businesses. So this particular tax would be applicable to qualifying distribution facilities as well as industrial businesses and truck yards. So one caveat for this particular tax is that qualifying e-commerce areas and industrial businesses 50,000 square feet or less would be exempt from this particular tax. So if approved by voters, it would be at a maximum rate of up to 10 cents a square foot. This also includes an annual inflator, which would be the lesser of 3% or the annual consumer price index, which we'll talk about a little bit more in the forward of this particular presentation. So as part of the presentation back in June of 2024, the city council did direct staff to conduct an internal truck traffic study. So recently, engineering staff worked with RK Engineering back in May to conduct this traffic study, which report was issued just recently. And what the study found is that trucks, large trucks, make up about 5.1% of all total trips on the roads. and using a formula comprised by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, or ITI, which indicates that trucks produce three times the impact as regular cars. Staff multiplied the 5.1% to come up to a new factor of 15.3%, which you'll see in a little bit comes into play to the rate. So again, what the study found is that there was approximately 561,529 passenger cars and trucks on the road per day. Of that, that 5.1% that I mentioned from the trucks represented 28,293 trucks on the road per day. So again, applying the three-time factor as we mentioned from ITE, that rate goes from 5.1 up to 15.3, and that represents the industrial generated truck traffic. Okay. Shifting on to pavement rehab costs, what this means. So over a 20-year cycle, we're going to see certain projects that need to take place for road schedules. So you'll notice that in years 4, 8, and 16, there's a slurry seal that needs to be done in those particular years at a cost of approximately 2 feet per square foot of roadway. In years 12, you'll see a grind and overlay, which had a cost of $9 per square foot of roadway. And then finally, after a 20-year period, you generally see reconstruction, which costs about $25 per square foot of roadway. So over the period of 20 years, when you add up those costs, that's about $40 per square foot of roadway. So as you can see, this is the 20-year cycle as defined by the typical pavement rehab schedule. So moving forward, over that 20-year period, staff determined that it will cost approximately $329,472,000 to repair the roads, or boiling down per year, that's about $16.4 million. And those formulas, as you can see here, and I'll explain how we got those, are listed there. And so the way that the $329 million came about is a math formula which takes 130 truck lane miles, multiplies it by one mile, which is 5,280 feet, multiplied by 12-foot lanes, multiplied by $40 a square foot, leads us to the $329 million. And to get to the annual dollar amount, which is divided by 20, you get you the $16.4 million. And I say all this because every bit stacks on the rest, and we're going to get to the rate of how we got to that. So what is included in the actual rate? What type of buildings? Well, we looked at two types of buildings, and we have completed and projects that have been started under construction. So for those that have been completed, planning staff identify 31.6 million square feet of completed industrial buildings. We have another 2.3 million square feet of industrial buildings under construction. And noting that we have an exemption for e-commerce, there's another 8.7 that was deducted from the total. So the subtotal before the exclusion of e-commerce, we're at 34 million square feet. You back out the 8.7 to come up to the 25.2 million square feet of buildings that we're going to use for our basis in this formula. Okay, so coming down to the funding rate, how we got to this, I mentioned up to 10 cents a square foot, and I'm going to tell you how we got to that. So we're going to take the annual amount that we have for the pavement rehab that we need, factoring the 15.3% needed for the truck factor, and then we're going to divide that by the total applicable citywide facilities. That's how the 10 cents a square foot is derived. And then if you take that 25 million of the total applicable citywide facilities, multiply it by the rate, staff is looking to generate about $2.5 million per year in revenue to help repair the roads. So two factors, two important factors, up to 10 cents per square foot on the rate, and then annually $2.5 million roughly that we would receive. So one other factor I mentioned is that this particular project is including an escalator, something that we've put into there. So it would be the lesser, again, of the consumer price index using the Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario area, or 3%, whichever is lower in any given year. After a 20-year period, compounding at 3% and assuming that it's 3% every year, that rate at year 20 would be 18 cents a square foot. Now, at the 20th year, annual funds collected would be about $4.5 million. Again, that's assuming 3% every year for 20 years. So those are just some important facts I'd like to put out there so you can see over a 20-year period what that would look like. One of the important items that we wanted to bring to your attention is the ballot question, because what would that look like? Being that this is the general tax, it's important that we read this out to you. So the ballot question would read, shall the measure with no tax on residents funding public services, including maintaining public safety, repairing streets, roads, potholes, improving traffic pedestrian safety, retaining small businesses by establishing a business license tax of up to 10 cents per square foot, of industrial warehousing manufacturing businesses with large truck activity, limiting annual increases to 3%, providing approximately 2.5 million annually until ended by voters, requiring spending disclosure, all funds used locally be adopted. So if it moves forward, that is what you'll see on the ballot, just some variation of that as well. And so when we talk about timeline, why are we here today and why this needs to be done? So we're here today in front of council to review the documents and move them forward. We do have a tight deadline with the Riverside County Register of Voters, which all these documents, the resolutions and all the documents associated with it, ordinance as well, has to be to them by August 7th if we want to make the November 3rd election date. And so that's coming up pretty quick. It's all going to come pretty quickly here. So we bring that to your attention to let you know where we stand. I DO NEED TO READ OUT THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN REVISED. SO RECENTLY STAFF SENT OUT A REVISED COPY OF STAFF REPORT AS WELL AS THE RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCE WHICH INCLUDED UPDATED LANGUAGE FOR THE RECOMMENDATION. SO I'LL READ THIS QUICKLY BUT THERE ARE THREE RESOLUTIONS AND ONE ORDINANCE. RESOLUTION NUMBER ONE SAYS A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS CALLING FOR AND GIVING NOTICE OF THE HOLDING OF A GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, FOR THE SUBMISSION TO THE QUALIFIED VOTERS OF THE CITY OF A PROPOSED ORDINANCE ADDING CHAPTER 3.42 TO TITLE 3 OF THE CITY OF PARIS MUNICIPAL CODE, ESTABLISHING A GENERAL BUSINESS LICENSE TAX ON DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES, INDUSTRIAL BUSINESSES AS DEFINED, AND TRUCK YARDS, REQUESTING THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE TO CONSOLIDATE THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 3, 2026, with the statewide general election to be held on the same day pursuant to section 10403 of the elections code and requesting election services from the Riverside County Register of Voters. Then the rest are going to be a little bit shorter, so I'm going to read through these really quickly. The associated ordinance that goes with that one is an ordinance of the people of the city of Paris approving and implementing a general business license tax on distribution facilities, industrial businesses as defined, and truck yards at a rate not to exceed 10 cents per square foot of taxable area Subject to automatic annual increases by the lesser of 3% or CPI by adding chapter 3.42 distribution facility industrial business and truck yard tax the title 3 revenue and finance of the Paris municipal code second resolution indicates resolution to the city of Paris setting priorities for filing written arguments and directing the city attorney to prepare an impartial analysis regarding a city measure proposing a general business license tax on distribution facilities, industrial businesses as defined, and truck yards to be submitted at the general municipal election on November 3rd. Finally, the last one, as short as can be, a resolution of the City Council providing for the filing of rebuttal arguments regarding a city measure proposing a general business license tax on distribution facilities, industrial businesses as defined, and truck yards to be submitted at the general municipal election on November 3rd, 2026. So it is recommended that the City Council adopt the three resolutions submitting the voters, the parish distribution facilities, Industrial businesses and truckyard measure at initial voter authorized rate maximum rate of up to 10 cents per square foot of taxable area and with that Mr. Mayor that concludes my report and I'll be happy to take any questions you may have Thank you Ernie, let me go ahead and call for public comment first Matt clerk you have any requests to speak?

Yes, sir.

How many do you have? Three IT how many do we have? We have one, sir. Okay, good. We'll give everybody three minutes. We'll start with our folks in here in person. Madam Clerk.

J.C. Franco.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Councilmembers, staff, Ernie. Good Lord, how did you do that? That was fast. I stand before you... electing the decision to vote for this with the added measures to continue to protect the citizens of Paris. Measure B was approved by 60% roughly of voters. and that general fund is gonna increase by $19 million. To see that only three million is gonna be asked out of these warehouses in our city seems to me a bit unbalanced, specifically given the fact that the actual cost of what these roads is gonna be, it's gonna eventually be foot, excuse me, be paid by the citizens of Paris through Measure B taxes and so forth. So I request that we consider another look at the tax, because right now it feels on the more vague side, and I think it can be tightened up to have specific tax brackets perhaps. in special cases where somebody, let's just say a warehouse owner, that just barely crosses the threshold of being included into the tax. The equivalent that I would put it out there is that if you make $999,000 and then you earn one more dollar, it doesn't immediately mean that you're going to be taxed by the state or by the government at a different rate. I think we should really look at those conditions so that everybody is being taxed equally under this. Additionally, e-commerce, I'm curious to see why they were omitted. Obviously, we understand that our general fund is largely dependent on, or it has a large dependency on that fund. I think there's still a way where the city, with Paris residents, are being fairly taxed compared to some of these large corporations here in the city. I'll just reiterate really quickly. I appreciate this being put forward, and I appreciate the expeditious nature of which Ernie put this together. It's a lot to digest, and I hope the future city council members will amend this to continue to have it be tailored to promote and benefit the Paris residents. So with that, thank you. Thank you.

Marceau Lees.

Hello, good evening city council and staff. I am in favor of the warehouse tax given the negative impact it has on our city or given the negative impact warehouses have on our city. I understand e-commerce is exempt from this proposition, but we're missing an opportunity to generate more funds to support infrastructure. Companies like Amazon, who use our roads and airspace most often, should be taxed accordingly. Not to mention, it's a billion dollar company, and it can afford to be taxed. They already don't pay their workers a living wage, but that's another story. I'd also like to note inconsistencies in the taxes. Like JC said, Measure B is gonna generate almost 20 million, while this warehouse tax will only generate two million. My concern, why are residents paying more than corporations? yet we're still fronting the cost of the worst air quality, increased traffic, and as we are all aware of, terrible roads. I'd like to note that my family has had to change their tires more often than when we lived in Orange County. It is my belief that all Paris residents are owed a new set of tires. If we're able to increase this tax, I hope that we're able to make that happen. I don't think that's a wild ask. I think that the Paris residents do deserve a new set of tires. Think about it. We've had to deal with increased traffic, just bad roads everywhere. We're all aware of it. And so I think all our residents can agree that get us new tires.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Bill Blankenship.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the council. My name is Bill Blankenship, representing CREDA NAOP. We are going through a name change, and CREDA stands for Commercial Real Estate Development Association. Thought I would introduce that to you folks tonight. AS YOU HEARD FROM STAFF, THAT LANGUAGE DID CHANGE FROM THREE OF THE MOTIONS THAT WERE READ UP THERE, AND WE RECEIVED THAT TODAY AT 1239. IN ADDITION TO THAT, ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON LATE, ABOUT 3 30 IN THE AFTERNOON, WE HEARD THAT THIS COUNCIL WAS GOING TO TAKE THIS ACTION WITH NO REPORT, NO STUDY, JUST IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND THAT WE SHOULD GO TO YOUR WEBSITE ON THURSDAY TO FIND OUT ABOUT THIS. So this has obviously been hurried, rushed to this point. There has been no validation of that study. That study is dated, I believe, June 26, that traffic study that showed truck trips were only 5% of the total trips. And if you multiply it times three, that's 15.3% of all your trips in the city. So we hear about... the need for tires, we hear the need to replace roads, but we can't talk about replacing roads and improving roads because this is a general tax that benefits everything in your community. So we have to be honest about that. So I'm asking you tonight to not take this action, not rush this to the voters, and at the end of the day, this tax is gonna be on 25 million square feet of business owners in your community. who provide jobs to tens of thousands of people, probably close to 30,000 jobs in your community will be impacted. And what will ultimately happen is goods in your community, the prices will go up to the degree that they can be passed on. Yes, it will. Why are you shaking your head? Let me testify, please. And so that's gonna happen. And then when buildings can't do that, And then the owners of those buildings, the price and the value of those buildings will be devalued and benefits to other communities. And what will ultimately happen is businesses will leave your community. And then you'll have empty warehouses. And I know nobody wants that. I know my members don't want that. But that's the result. We have a moratorium. We have a very onerous good neighbor policy. Isn't that enough? Isn't it? I'm just putting that open question out there. I urge you again to respectfully not do this tonight. It's rushed. It's not thought through. It hasn't been validated. And nobody in the industry has seen this until the last few days. And then it changed again today. So please, I respectfully ask you not to take action. Thank you.

Thank you.

That is all.

KIT? Yes, sir. We've got a Franco.

Hello? Yes, Franco, go ahead. All right. Thank you, Council. First off, I want to say for over a decade, logistic facilities have been promising us all these advances in our city. We would see improvements, infrastructure, all these great things we've been hearing for decades now. And we know today that that's not necessarily true. I think the city is often in a worse off position, which I think you guys declared a physical emergency with a budget or something like that last year. So if they were supposed to give us what we needed as a city to grow, we didn't see that come into fruition. I do agree with the comment with the previous speaker that all of the residents need tires. I would also say they do need windshields, too, because the rocks from the trailers, they break people's windshields. And then I also want to bring attention to the e-commerce exemption. It's crazy that the council or staff, whoever put that in there, has exempt e-commerce companies like Amazon. What it constitutes as an e-commerce business, is it going to be Home Depot? That's a lot of money you guys are leaving on there, and they're impacting us the same way as all the other industrial buildings because they use truck trailers. It disintegrates our roads. So and you got to look to the future, too, because we have warehouse buildings, a whole cluster of them being built by the dealership in Paris. And if you notice, that side of the freeway is nice and smooth. If you go to the northern side of Paris, that freeway is like just damaged, damaged. And that includes the streets in the actual city of Paris. So once those buildings get built, that's an extra cost that I'm pretty sure that RK Engineering and that study did not take into account. And also, you've got to take into account with the recent reports of warehouse fires and how vulnerable warehousing is to fires because of the amount of materials that they store in them. So take an example, Home Depot warehouses. They're going to have lumber. They're going to have explosive materials in there, paper, drywall, all these flammable things. So you need to look into the future, too, that this fund can help protect residents in the future when one of these warehouses catches fire. Because I think it's pretty evident now that it's only a matter of time. And also, when they say that businesses are going to leave, we have empty warehouses now.

30 seconds, Franco.

And I also just want to reiterate that IE Paris, we have a lot of power because we've already given a lot of this land to warehousing. So it's time to exercise that for the benefit of the residents of Paris. And please make a revision to include e-commerce and companies like Amazon into this tax. Thank you. Thank you.

Is that it, IT? No, sir. We've got a Tatiana.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, you have three minutes.

Perfect. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Tatiana Flores and I'm an organizer with CCAEJ. I'm commenting tonight after a day of canvassing in mobile to inform residents about resources that are available to them and their neighbors following a lawsuit against a warehouse project. We find that residents in areas like Reno Valley and Paris are often left to face the burdens that result from the proliferation of the warehouse industry with few benefits in return. Therefore, I stand in support of the proposal and 11D to place a ballot measure to provide Paris residents the opportunity to decide the best route for meeting the deficit created by the development patterns in the city. The proposed $0.10 square foot fee would provide a crucial revenue stream and enable the city to better serve its residents, visitors, and businesses with infrastructure which is maintained in good working condition. or with programs that best fit the vision of Paris residents. It is an improvement from the previous two cents per square foot fee and I would even encourage the city to shoot higher. However, I would like to express my concern as Franco was mentioning over e-commerce being exempted from this tax as it also contributes to a large number of light heavy duty truck trips that contribute to the city's worsening infrastructure. It is unclear whether their sales taxes and other contributions are sufficient enough to actually cover the road costs associated with their daily truck trips that were presented in the presentation, and therefore they should not be exempt. I do think that this is a good start, but improvements can be made to ensure that residents do not continue to bear disproportionate impacts and that industry really pays their fair share. I appreciate the inclusion of the consumer price index and would urge the council to also consider one time inflation, sorry, adjustments every five years to ensure that construction costs do not outpace revenues. Like Franco also mentioned previously, there's a lot of money being left on the table. So let's plan ahead and really think about the materials that warehouses contain. This is something that should be considered in the tax. and something that should be considered regardless as well to really ensure that residents are being protected, and thank you for the time.

Thank you. Anybody else, IT? No, sir. All right. I didn't announce it, but I had opened up the public hearing at 7.57. I'm now going to close it at 8.11. I will now go to the dais for any conversation, comments, questions. Counsel, anybody? Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I do want to thank all the speakers for your input. I want to especially thank Mr. Jason Franco, who was his first speaker, who had some great points, as he usually does. And he does look at things from a different point of view. I think our goal with this measure, though, was to keep it simple. And so while reading it, it's important that we understand that the voters, they're voting on a lot of things. And if they see all this formulas and stuff like that, I think in their confusion, they might just vote no or vote yes on things that they don't fully understand. I want to thank our staff. I know multiple residents have come forward regarding this tax measure. The residents recently overwhelmingly voted for a sales tax increase to fund public safety for our parks, for improved infrastructure, and continued city programming. The question kept coming up multiple times while we were discussing the sales tax was, hey, why are we going to be taxed? but the warehouses aren't going to be helping with our roads. What are we doing about that? So the council took it, you know, took their concerns, which is the reason why we're here today. You know, so it's a very valid question, right? So we brought this item up to the voters a few years ago, and although it was supported by a majority of voters, at that point it needed two-thirds support. that was very difficult to have. And at the same time, I do gotta add that the warehouse industry was actively and very expensively campaigning against it. And their messaging was very not correct, right? And I'll address one of those statements later on as well. So that's the reason why we're doing this. It's a general tax. It's gonna be at 50% plus one. But make no mistake, the purpose of this is to ensure the industrial industry is paying their fair share of taxes. To focus on our streets and make our roads safer. The same streets that they drive on, that they want to be safer and they want to be cleaner as well too. And at the same time, to ensure that police and fire response times are shortened. and for the safety of our residents. So I did recently, you know, a few weeks ago, I was out of the country. I was in a third-world country in Venezuela. And, you know, I'm wondering, and, you know, I'll get to the point in a bit, but I was thinking, like, man, it's going to be a third-world country, and I rented a car, and I was kind of concerned. The roads were nice, and it took me a while to get out of the capital to find a road that was worse than the 215 freeway. In a third world country. I mean, it's bad. The 215 is bad. Now, this tax doesn't do anything to fix the 215. I get it, right? It's only focused on the city of Paris because that's a Caltrans issue and that's a state issue. But the point is, we shouldn't have in a city that invited warehouse after warehouses who use our roads, who drive and want to make their truck drivers on safer roads. We shouldn't have the roads being in the condition that they are. Our staff shouldn't use City of Paris residents' taxpayer money that could be used to improve public safety, be used for our parks. They shouldn't be having to go out there and repair the damages caused by the trucks. And we're not asking them to pay all for the roads. We're just asking them to pay their fair share. So at $0.10, I believe that's more than fair. Could we have gone higher? Absolutely. Should we? I don't know. Maybe. But as of right now, I think that's pretty fair. Now, as stated from the previous speaker, The reason why we made it e-commerce exempt, because one of the arguments before was, which we all heard, that if you approve this, it's going to make everything go expensive. So anytime you buy something on Home Depot or for Wayfair, now you're going to have to pay more, right? Now, at the same time, keep in mind, they never said the whole state of California or the whole nation is going to have to pay just a little bit more, right? They said our residents are going to pay for all the increases, right? Now, if we exempt e-commerce, what argument are they going to have now, right? They can't make the same argument because the e-commerce is exempt. Now, at the same time, too, Wayfair, for example, They pay, I believe, $3 million to our city, approximately, per year. That's what they pay, right? Let's say if they had a million square foot facility. For the tax, they would pay $100,000, right? So we would rather take the $3 million. Now, I'm sure some people out there, I get it, right? Well, I think it'd be better if we got 3.1 million out of them, right? But what we're doing is trying to encourage them to become e-commerce. So if there is a future warehouse that's being built that was approved before us, right, it encourages them to be e-commerce, right? And that way they're going to bring more money. See, I think our staff is very intelligent. I think our council is very intelligent. Can we talk about that? So I do, you know, if you guys need time, but I do have some issues with the wording of the actual tax measure that's going to go to the voters. So if I could kind of bring that up real quick. If somebody could take notes or I could pass this on to somebody else. After talking to residents regarding this item and to make it more concise, I wanted to add and remove a few items. Are you talking about the ballot question? The actual ballot question, yes. So specifically the ballot question. After the word maintaining, is it on there? It should be up, yeah. After the word maintaining, if we could add the word 911 emergency response. If we could remove the words roads, because we already used the word street in there. Okay. Right? So keep the word street, but remove the word roads. Okay. REMOVE THE WORD PEDESTRIAN BECAUSE IT ALSO BECOMES REDUNDANT AT THAT POINT. AND THEN IF WE COULD ADD THE WORD AFTER TRUCK ACTIVITY TO SAY 3% ANNUAL INCREASE LIMIT. AND REMOVE THE WORD LIMITING ANNUAL INCREASES OF 3% BECAUSE IT'S JUST MORE CONCISE. I think I already brought that up with staff.

Okay, very good.

And then also looking ahead, and this is where I'm kind of concerned because in there it also says up to 10 cents. Correct. Right? So my concern is if you have a future council, right, and the warehouses are being extra generous to them, right, and you have a majority of the council that says, you know what, I understand that the voters voted for it, but you know what, I got to answer to my supporters, right? So I think, to be fair, and to, you know, I was thinking maybe you have it unanimous, but if we could do a, ensure that it's going to be a. Super majority. Super majority.

Super majority, okay.

So you would need a four-fifths to. Gotcha. To be able to lower it, right? Because, you know. Four-fifths. Yeah. To lower or raise it. Okay. I mean, it's not, it can't go above 10, and obviously it's going to have escalators. But yeah, I do want to thank all the speakers again. You know, I definitely take everything that you said. But yeah, those are my comments. Oh, I do want to make it clear too. Just one more thing. Because I think it was also mentioned too that if we do too much, then they're going to leave, right? And we certainly, I mean, if you have a job there, right, we don't want them to leave. The ones that are here, some people might, but we don't. But I just want to just remind the public. When the city included... the parks diff, which was a dollar per square foot, right? And then we also included the arts diff, development impact fee, which was also a dollar per square foot. We didn't see a decline in warehouses wanting to come to City of Paris. In fact, I feel like it was almost an increase. I don't know. So they're not going to go anywhere. If they do leave, it's not going to be because of a 10 cent per square foot tax. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Rabb.

Yes, thank you, Mayor Vargas. I could support the changes and the iterations that Mayor Tim Corona mentioned, providing 911 services and the supermajority for the escalator. I think it is good to give the council leeway, because we could set it at 10 cents, and we'd have to go back to the voters to decrease it. But I do think having a supermajority of the council, in case there is an instance where we may want to play around with that number. Future councils may want to play around with that number. If they are leaving the city, I think that's good to do that. I do think it is important to exclude e-commerce. I know a lot of people were saying that e-commerce doesn't bring anything into the city. Just want to remind everyone, in 2020, the city of Paris was one of the few municipalities that was able to pay off its pension debt. And I think that really doesn't get heralded enough in this city is that Out of the 431 cities in the state of California, we were one of the only cities to pay off our pension debt. And that was the result of e-commerce, the Wayfair, the Home Depot, the goods, the Medline that's coming in will contribute to that. So I think including e-commerce is prudent because that will maybe if other warehouses leave, they may convert into an e-commerce facility so that we're getting the sales tax for even more revenue than the actual mileage tax. So I do think it is important to bring this. I just want to clarify that this is a general tax. And the funds, while we will make every effort, and we hope the future councils will make every effort to give these funds to road improvements, we are not bound by a special tax. Because a special tax would take two-thirds, and that's what Measure A was a few years ago. But the general tax, all we need is a simple majority, 50 plus one. So I just want to clarify. But I think just based on my colleagues' concerns, based on the community's conversations, we will make every effort to put these funds to our roads. Thank you.

Councilwoman Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor. Ernie, thank you so much for that fast presentation. It was good. I had a few questions, though, if you can help me understand. So I know there was a comment that a speaker said earlier of why can't we do like a tax bracket type of formula. What would you respond to that as compared to the 10 cents square foot?

I mean, that would be difficult to do in a city. You'd have to gather people's personal incomes and figure out where they all belong and that, and whether it's a business or personal, whatever the case may be. It would be difficult to do. I mean, in this instance, it's a business license tax, so we know which warehouses are applicable. We've defined the categories that we want included, and we can get that every year going forward. So doing something by a tax bracket would be very difficult to do, and I think that would be the easiest way to respond to that answer. We just don't have the resources, I think, to be able to do that.

if that makes sense no yeah it does also um do you happen to know um which warehouses are expected to be exempt and which ones are paying the tax because i don't know how many warehouses are over fifty thousand sure i'm gonna defer to our planning uh department over here so kenneth funk i think can can probably answer a little bit better than i can

Yeah, I need to look up the data. I do have the data, but if you can wait maybe 30 seconds, but we do have the data for buildings under 50,000 square feet.

Just very briefly, there's approximately five or six e-commerce facilities in the city. Most of them are Home Depot, Wayfair, Ferguson. Ferguson just left, right? Ferguson, not Ferguson, Forever 21. There's not that many.

I didn't know Ferguson left.

Sorry, Forever 21. So there's about six e-commerce. Amazon. Oh, I'm sorry, and there's like three Amazons, six or seven. And as far as the smaller ones that are under 50,000 square feet, we don't have that number, but there's not that many. I think we came up with like a handful of those.

Just give me one second. I'm almost there.

One more second.

Go.

You have another question you can move on to, and then we'll get back to that one?

Okay, yeah. And then, Ernie, if you can kind of help explain more, because I got a little bit confused with the business license. Because don't we already do it, but now is it just – or is it increasing?

We do, but we don't have the tax on it the way that we have it described here. So you pay a fee for a business license, but what we're doing now is putting a – dollar amount or cent amount on the square foot that are applicable to it. So that's something we don't have in place right now. So now if you take the 10 cents as we described, and I'm showing you in this particular screen here, so there's 25.2 million square feet that's applicable to this tax rates when you put the 10 cents in it, that's where the two and a half were to come in. So That's the genesis of the whole tax that we're putting into place right here. It's based on what we don't have currently. We've identified the amount of square footage for buildings, and we identified a rate. And when you multiply those two together, you come up with what we should be getting annually. But also on a per business basis, they would be able to figure that out. They knew exactly how many square foot they have multiplied by 10 cents. That's how much they'd be paying every July 1st into this particular tax.

Okay, so the only difference is now we're doing that, but per square foot instead of just like a one.

There would still be, I think it's $100 and some dollars for a business license fee. And then what would happen is if you are a warehouse, you would also pay this rate as well. Okay, perfect, thank you.

All right, we have an answer from Kenneth. We have approximately 20 buildings that are under 50,000 square feet.

That are under?

That's under.

And then do you know of over 50,000?

I would have to estimate that. I mean, I do have a list, but...

Page 200? Page 200 of the agenda packet of the second... It came in two parts, page 200 to 201.

Okay, 200, wait, perfect, thank you. I will try to search that myself, but I do agree with my colleagues where regarding the warehouse tax, it is long overdue. We have a huge amount in our city, and I do think it is about time that we can get something out of it because the roads that we are in now, sometimes they do have potholes, and that is an expensive thing material to use. So I do believe in passing it. I was very happy to also hear that Council Member Corona said to get a super majority. I feel like that's the best way for us to contain the amount that we could get because we also don't want to have a leeway with them. We want to make sure that we're getting our money's worth for these bigger warehouses. So I do agree with everyone and I'm AND I'M READY TO MOVE FORWARD WITH IT. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. SO YOU'VE GOT THE THREE ALREADY SUPPORTING THIS, SO I AGREE. LET'S MOVE FORWARD. I KEEP DRAGGING THIS ON. THE ONLY TWO THINGS I LIKE TO PUT, JUST FAIRNESS FOR EVERYBODY, AND IN THE FUTURE WHEN WE DO THINGS LIKE THIS, WHEN YOU INVOLVE OUR BUSINESSES, FOLKS, A THREE-DAY NOTICE THAT THIS IS COMING DOWN IS NOT FAIR. WE NEED TO BE A LITTLE MORE generous to our business community that when we have some attacks coming out like this, give them a little more time so they can absorb it. And then not only that, this was, I think, first put out last Thursday, three working days before today, and then as much as an update is this afternoon. So it changed again, but we really need to let people have some time to absorb and read through these products. You want something real quick?

Yeah, just a quick question. Just a quick question because I know it was brought up in one of the comments that we received. If the e-commerce, like, are there any e-commerces that would pay less because they're e-commerce, would they pay less than if they were by square footage?

Paid less into the tax?

Yeah, so, for example, like, okay, say Ross, right? That's not considered e-commerce, but there is certainly a large warehouse. All of a sudden, they're selling... $1,000 per month online, right? So now they're, by definition, we're e-commerce, so we're exempt. How do we, do we have a safeguard for that?

There is a definition, and it does say it must be primarily an e-commerce facility, so we have a very specific definition in the ordinance.

And so all the e-commerces, as of right now, they're paying more than what they would have if they were not an e-commerce facility. Am I not phrasing that correctly?

Let's say $1 million, $0.10 per $1 million.

Yeah, so you pay $100,000. Are they all paying more than $100,000?

Oh, absolutely.

Okay. I do want to clarify that because I think somebody brought it up and they made a whole formula for it, so I do want to make that clear. And then also the second part to that is I know that there are changes from California coming up, possibly could be coming up, where e-commerce isn't going to be as beneficial to us in the future. Now, we can only vote on something that we can see right now, right? But... Is that something the future council would have to bring up, bring back to the voters?

I believe so. I'll defer to our city attorney. But I think it's made in such a way that it could be brought back and then taken to the voters again. But I'll defer to Ms. Soltani.

Yes, in the ordinance, we have implementation guidelines. The city manager can, from time to time, modify it through a resolution, bringing a resolution to the council to change it to apply differently, if that makes sense. Yeah, thank you.

OKAY. THANK YOU, EVERYBODY. ALL RIGHT. MOTION TIME OR? SO JUST TO CLARIFY, MAYOR PROTEMP, DID YOU GUYS DOCUMENT WHAT HE MADE HIS CHANGES?

YES, WE HAVE IT WRITTEN.

OKAY. AND WE HAVE A SECOND BY COUNCILWOMAN VALLEJO. SO CALL THE VOTE.

Corona, Rapp, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava, absent.

Thank you. All right, 11E is consideration to introduce the first reading of a proposed ordinance number next in order regarding planned development PD overlay zone 26-00002, a city initiated request to apply a PD overlay zone to a 20.31 acre site zone R-10000 single family to permit as a matter of right to continued operation of Central Wire Incorporated, an existing legal non-conforming manufacturing use since 1966, located at 2500 South A Street on the northwest corner of A Street and Watson Road. This will be introduced by Director of Development Services, Mr. Kenneth Fung.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. This item will be presented by our Associate Planner Lupita Garcia.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor. members of the city council, and city staff. Thank you for the introduction. My name is Lupita Garcia, associate planner. Tonight, I'm bringing before you plan development overlay zone. To provide you with a little background information, on June 3rd, 2026, the planning commission voted unanimously 5-0 to recommend city council approval for a city-initiated planned development overlay zone for a 20.31-acre site currently zoned R10,000, single-family residential, to allow the continued operation of Central Wire Inc., as a legal conforming manufacturing use. The facility has operated at the project site as a legal non-conforming use since 1966, and it is located on the northwest corner of A Street and Watson Road. Surrounding uses include vacant land, sown residential to the north, west, and south. To the east, vacant land across A Street, sown industrial with an approved industrial development project. On November 18, 2025, the City Council directed staff to pursue rezoning the property to establish the existing manufacturing operation as a legal conforming use. The central wireless facility predates city planning and zoning regulations. Subsequent general plan changes designated the property for residential use, making the manufacturing operation a legal non-conforming use. Rezoning the property to apply the PDO zone would allow the facility to be rebuilt if it is damaged by more than 75% as a result of a disaster. It would permit facility upgrades and improvements that are not allowed for legal non-conforming uses. And it would protect long-term operation of the facility and help preserve living wage jobs for Paris residents and the surrounding community. The PDO zone would establish a Central Wire facility as a legal conforming use while retaining the underlying R10,000 single family zoning designation. Central Wire is a global leader in aerospace fasteners manufacturing, processing, and distribution, serving as one of only three suppliers of its kind in the United States. The project is categorically exempt from review under CEQA, and as of today, staff has not received any inquiries regarding the project. The Planning Commission recommends that the City Council introduce the first reading of the ordinance, finding the project is exempt from CEQA review, and approve Plan Development Overlay Zone 26-19, 00002 based on the findings contained in the ordinance and subject to the conditions of approval. This concludes my presentation tonight. I am available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. I am going to open up the public hearing at 836. Madam Clerk, did we have any requests to speak on this matter?

No, sir.

IT?

No, sir.

All right, I'm going to close the public hearing at 8.36.

Council, do we have any questions, comments, concerns, or a motion?

I can say that I've been working with this company since I've been mayor. They're so far out there, and I totally understand. their position, and they just have no utilities way out there. So I'm happy to see that this has come to fruition finally. I see the owners are here, or business folks, representatives. So anyway, Councilman Rapp. Oh, very good. I agree with you. So we have a motion by Councilman Rapp and a second by Councilwoman Vallejo. Call the vote.

Corona, Rapp, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava, absent.

Thank you. All right, motion passes. Moving on, item 11F, consideration to adopt proposed resolution number next in order regarding a proposal to amend the safety element of the general plan to incorporate by reference the FEMA approved local hazard mitigation plan, also known as LHMP, into the safety element adopted in 2024. The applicant is the City of Paris. This will be introduced by our Director of Development Services, Mr. Kenneth Fung.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. This item will be presented by our principal planner, Rafael Garcia.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor Vargas, members of the City Council. It's good to be here before you. I'll make this brief.

Thank you.

On June 3rd, 2026, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council to approve the general plan amendment that's before you tonight. This amendment involves a change to the safety element in order to incorporate by reference the local hazard mitigation plan adopted by the City Council in 2024. The proposed amendment is procedural and consists of a minor text revision to the safety element. The local hazard mitigation plan is the city document that identifies natural and human cause hazards affecting the community and establishes strategies to reduce risk to life, property, and critical infrastructure. By incorporating the local hazard mitigation plan into the safety element by reference, the City can maintain eligibility for potential state cost share assistance under the California Disaster Assistance Act following a Governor-declared disaster pursuant to Assembly Bill 2140. With that in mind, the Planning Commission is formally recommending that the City Council Approve and find that the project is exempt pursuant to CEQA Section Guideline 15061B3 and approve the general plan amendment that's before you tonight to amend the general plan by reference. The FEMA approved local hazard mitigation plan into the safety element based on the findings contained herein. That concludes the presentation. Staff is available to answer any questions that the members of the City Council or members of the community may have pertaining to this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Raphael. All right, I'm going to open up the public hearing at 8.39. Madam Clark, do you have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

IT? No, sir. Very good. We'll close the public hearing at 8.39. Council, do you have any questions, comments, or entertain a motion to approve? I have a motion by Councilman Grabs, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Corona. Please call the vote.

Corona, Rapp, Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Nava, absent.

Thank you. All right, that concludes our public hearings. Now move on to item 12, our business items. 12A is to discuss and provide feedback regarding the Paris Historic Theater operational and funding analysis. This will be a brief introduction by our Director of Public Services, Ms. Sabrina Chavez. That's okay.

I get it all the time. Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Before you this evening is an update on the historic theater project located in downtown Paris. And just a brief background, in 2025, the city retained... OX architecture to support community outreach efforts aimed at gathering input from residents and stakeholders. The feedback received guided the development of four conceptual designs, alternatives for the theater. These concepts were presented to the city council and staff was directed to proceed with an operational and funding analysis. On April 28, 2026, a progress update on the analysis was presented to the city council, in which direction was provided to further update the analysis by incorporating research on the operations of the historic Hamet Theater and a comparative analysis of theater operations in cities comparable to Paris. And now I'd like to introduce Brian Wickersham of AUX Architecture, who will present the final operation analysis and key findings.

Brian?

Thank you, Sabrina. As always, you make my job very easy, and I'm going to be able to skip a slide because you did such a good job on your intro. And also thank you to the Honorable Mayor, Council, and staff. I'm honored to be here tonight to present this. But before I get into the findings of the Phase 2 operational analysis, I do want to say, it is a real pleasure to come here i know that you have very serious business in front of you but i always sincerely appreciate how at the start of all of your council meetings you take the time to celebrate youth in the community staff in organizations i present in front of a lot of city councils and it really means a lot to see such a positive attitude to start the meetings And so, as Sabrina mentioned, this is where we're at in the process. Again, she went through a lot of this, so I'll go through it quickly. But after the analysis that my office did on the four scenarios for the Paris Theater, we were given direction by staff and council in January of 2020. to proceed into a financial analysis that has been prepared by Victus Advisors. They specialize in financial and operational analysis for performing arts venues, and so I'm gonna do my best to walk you through that. It is a 99-page report, and so I'm gonna try to condense it down. So just as a reminder, and Sabrina had mentioned this, the four scenarios that we looked at were a restoration of the existing theater, minor expansion of the existing theater, substantial expansion, and a new building. In all scenarios, even with the new building, we had elected to keep the iconic blade sign because that was really, out of the community outreach, an important feature and an iconic piece of the community. And so we preserved that in all scenarios. The initial financial analysis that we looked at and what was presented the last time I was here was looking at schemes three and four. This presentation and the 99-page report that was provided two weeks ago has expanded on that to show the economics of scheme one and two as well. So in our last meeting, one of the things that was asked was to look at a few additional theaters. And so we had looked at we were able to find information on the box at the Fox Theater, but the financials for the Fox Theater proper and the Frida Theater, we weren't able to find information. detailed enough information to rely on for this type of report. What we were able to find though was some additional information on the Hemet Theater and how they are funding that expansion and where they are in that process. I know I think the new economic development director maybe has some insight onto this as well. And we'll have to talk later. But what we were able to find is that the city contributed about $1.8 million through the acquisition of two properties that enabled the expansion of it. That expansion is looking at a thousand plus seat theater along with a 500 seat black box. It's not completely clear yet. Do you have a question? Yeah, it will be a big theater and the drawings look quite nice. But it's not totally clear how the funding is gonna come together from that. The city website points to private donation, some philanthropy, and a built into the Hemet Rises economic development plan, a strategy to bring back businesses and use those businesses and leverage those for the development of the theater. But as of now, we could not find any financial information about where that is from an operational standpoint or what the cost of the project is yet. I think that's still in process. I'm getting a nod, yes.

We'll connect very soon.

But hopefully that answers some of the questions from our last presentation. And so to reiterate where we were last time, the basis of the operational plan that was put together, it really started first with reaching out to operators and promoters that are working in this area. We got tremendous feedback and a very positive response outlook on the amount that the theater would be used by local promoters. They thought because of the central location of Paris that it was actually ideal because of connection to freeways and ease to get into the city that it would be utilized a lot. And so from that input from the promoter world, we were able to start to put together a pro forma based on the number of events that could be hosted and the number of residents that would attend those events, and that becomes the financial basis of this. It should be noted that on this slide, this does not take into account, so the 38,000 people, this is only for paid promoted events. This is not non-profits, this is not schools, this is not local organizations using the theater, this is just paid events by promoters. And that creates the baseline. And so that baseline looks a little bit like this. On year three, which is after you work out the kinks, I suppose, is the way they look at it, that you'd be looking at, for those 38,000 people visiting the theater and paying for tickets, an operating revenue of about $682,000, and total expenses of $781,000. So you're operating at year three with a fiscal impact of about $99,000 to the city. And that's at a theater that can accommodate those 38,000 people. And that will be important as we look at the next scenarios because the revenue really varies on the number of seats. And so about two weeks ago, we submitted this proposal, and I have to apologize. In adding in schemes one and two to that, one thing that had been missed is that we had not accounted for the fact that schemes one and two actually have fewer seats. And so the presentation here today takes into account that we can't meet that maximum usage of 38,000 paid attendees per year. And so when you look at this, you'll see that the revenue has come down a little bit on schemes one and two, because those are going to be around 240, 250 seats in that theater. And as a reminder, the reason it has fewer seats now is that With the expansion or the renovation, we're going to have to do ADA upgrades. And so to do those accessibility upgrades in the footprint of the building, it will mean fewer seats. So in the restoration scheme, we're looking at in year one a fiscal impact of $375,000. For the minor expansion, the fiscal impact goes up just a little bit to $382,000. But one thing to note here that is not taken into account between Scheme 1 and 2 is that there may be some impact to not having the full back-of-house function if we don't do at least a minor expansion. That's hard to factor in. But for now, we're looking at straight apples to apples without... factoring in what the loss of back of house might mean financially. But with scheme three, where we are looking at a larger expansion, keeping above 300 seats, we're able to meet that maximum revenue for the paid events. So that keeps us at the operating revenue of $552,000 with an operating expense of $737,000. So the fiscal impact when taking into account The capital reserve is just over $300,000 per year, and you see the sliding scale of that over a 30-year period, taking into account for inflation. And then on scheme four, which is the largest of the schemes, expanding to 500-seat plus theater, just almost 30,000-square-foot expansion, you actually start to see diminishing returns because... From the promoters that were talked to, we're not seeing the ability to hit that 400-plus threshold. That's what really the promoters were saying. It's around 400 seats is going to be the sweet spot. And so you're seeing the revenue sort of maxed out, but the operational expense for that much larger building and the capital reserve for the larger building is creating a little bit larger fiscal impact. So it's about $120,000 more expense to the city annual. And so I'm sure there are a lot of questions about this and I'm happy to answer those of counsel This is actually the older presentation, but what we're seeking today is direction from counsel on whether or not we should proceed with Securing the funding for one of these proposals But to summarize, what we're looking at, I think, in big picture is a theater that is around the $25 million mark and around 400 seats is kind of the sweet spot from a revenue perspective. This does not take into account the cost of the money to do it and the impact of the construction. That would be built into the funding strategies we would look at next.

So you can go back to that. The first original picture had all four scenarios there so we can see the numbers. Yep All right console well, let me open up for any public comment do you have any public comment I'm sorry IT. No, sir. Okay Real quick

Apologies, council, I didn't have a blue sheet, but this is JC Franco, me, I am JC Franco. It's getting late. I fully support this project, especially options two and three. I think it would be a phenomenal jumpstart to the revitalization of downtown. I am from Anaheim, so I remember seeing when downtown Anaheim was not anywhere you wanted to be around, and then the Anaheim Packing House came in. I have family in Yucaipa, and then the theater from Yucaipa came in, and just You see like how quickly people will wrap around like the excitement of a new facility of something exciting in the downtown area. And with that, you know, obviously you come more younger folks that would like to live in and around these areas of density and more units. And so I see this as an opportunity as a catalyst for the downtown area. So I fully support these projects. Thank you. Thank you. Put that slide back up, please.

Sabrina? Oh, they got the screen off. Can you guys switch back to the presentation, please? Thank you. All right, council, any questions, comments, direction?

Actually, I had a quick question. I know you mentioned that 400 seats was like the sweet spot, right?

Yeah, in extrapolating all this data into what an architectural project would look like, I think 400 seats is going to be the sweet spot, but it's going to want to be around the same square footage as Scheme 3. So I think it would be about trying to get the square footage of Scheme 3 and just pack more seats into it.

Okay, and when you say, so pretty much it's 400 is what we're looking for, if we wanted to do this one.

Ultimately, the data is there for council to make a decision, but I think as looking at it from a revenue standpoint and expense to the city standpoint, around scheme three with 400 seats is probably going to be the right spot.

And is that including ADA? Yes. Okay, so that's with it.

Yeah, all of the scenarios would meet current code and accessibility requirements.

Good. And I know you mentioned, do you know what type of fundraising we would get? Or is it state grants? Or is it sponsorship options? Like, how would that come about?

The last several pages of the report outline different scenarios for how the funding can be put together, how you build the capital stack, if you will. Most scenarios in what the report is outlining are is the typical ratios of philanthropy and gifts relative to grants or ballot initiatives. And so really it is about how you build it. And one of the recommendations in there is to potentially bring in a consultant that specializes in securing the types of gifts that you would want to do this. With the Hemet Theater, it sounds like that's one of the things that they're doing is they're working to bring in gifts to make that a reality. And I get a positive nod.

Yes, that is correct. Among other different ventures such as philanthropy, private investment, nonprofit is led by a nonprofit organization. I'm going to leave that along with seven other funding streams.

Yeah. And so there are consultants that specialize in helping to put together those funding streams. But it can be a complex equation or you can get a gift from a single person. It's going to be a matter of building a strategy and then going out to different groups to try to build that funding.

Okay, and then a question I had for you, if you can help me formalize this, is back then when you first presented this, I was like, I want the 500 seats, I want the max, but then I know that it's just very, very expensive, and it's kind of hard turnaround to, you know, because who would really buy theater tickets? Some people will, but I feel like there's not a greater return. But now I'm thinking, what if we can stick with maybe scheme one And then is there enough land on the side to where we can use that for, let's say, for example, if we do our state of the city event that has a lot of people there, is that enough to fit hundreds of people more?

Yes. And in all of the scenarios, I've lost my screen.

Can you guys put it back on the four different slides, please, the four different scenarios and leave it there?

I will not touch the screen, I promise. In all of the scenarios that we outlined in the initial presentation, so if you remember this beautiful blue book that we did, In each of those scenarios, we are assuming an outdoor performance space adjacent to the building. And so that expands with the different schemes. But I think there's a lot of potential to utilize that for outdoor events. That does create limitations for usage in the hottest parts of the summer or in the winter. Or if there's rain, you're not able to do the event. That is something we think you should leverage, that open space adjacent to it. And whether or not that's with scheme one or scheme two or scheme three, really that's going to come down to balancing out the cost of the initial investment for the building versus the fiscal impact on the project.

And then from scheme one, two, and three, do you happen to know the distance between how that backyard space would be?

I do. I'd have to dig into the book, but that is dimensioned out. I think there's, if I'm not mistaken, seven or eight lots subdivided along there. Each of the schemes takes up progressively more of those. So scheme one, I think we're using a lot and a half adjacent, and then three lots, four lots, and then I think the entirety of that block. But that really is... not intended to be it's this or that. That's in order to facilitate a conversation about what things we want to include. So you could potentially do a full park adjacent to scheme one, but the price is there, the cost is there, so you can understand what you're getting for the investment.

Okay, perfect. Those are all my questions for now. Good.

Thank you.

So to expedite things, because we need to conclude our meeting here, I'd like to stay focused on three. personally I Do not support outdoor activities in this extreme heat And I need we do need a venue I mean 500 is really the ideal number, but the 400 the sweet spot and here Looking at three is 320 to 340 and maybe we can up and squeeze it to 400 W We don't have a large event venue here, and that's what we need. That's what we're lacking and this will bring this to us and OBVIOUSLY THE 500 IS EXTREMELY JUST TOO EXPENSIVE, BUT I DON'T MIND SOME KIND OF OUTDOOR ACTIVITY, BUT THE FOCUS NEEDS TO BE INDOOR. THIS IS JUST TOO HOT OUT HERE TO BE HOLDING AND FOCUSING ON OUTDOOR EVENTS. SO I'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHER TWO COLLEAGUES HERE WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT THREE AND TRY TO MAKE SOME DIRECTION HERE.

Personally, I like two, but I can live with three. I think one thing we should look into is maybe contacting the elementary, Paris Elementary School District and see if there's any interest in maybe them leasing it out. I know it wouldn't be much, but for different elementary school graduations, the Paris Union High School District. I know there's a nice theater at Paris High School, but maybe Pinnacotti Middle School, other events. Other school districts, I mean, Nuevo's kind of far out there, but I think I'm leaning toward two, but I can definitely live with three. So I think four and one are kind of off the table in my book. Mayor Pro Tem.

So I know the mayor mentioned stuff about outdoors. I mean, if it's the right time of year, Paris is great, right? I mean, even in the dead of summer, you know, we were having events, the World Cup events. I mean, those were attended by 3,000 people. So if there's a good event, they'll come here. And I do like the outdoor stuff. It's kind of nice when you go to concerts. I know Arsenio likes to go to lots of festivals and stuff like that, which are usually outdoors. Sometimes it gets hot, but when the sun goes down, it's nice. It's very nice. No, no, I do say that because I do attend concerts with Tim sometimes. But I think, you know, and I'm not trying to be with the downer and IN THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION.

IT'S OKAY, YOU STAY OUTDOORS, I'LL BE INSIDE.

NO, NO, NO, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT ANYMORE. BUT MY MAIN CONCERN, OBVIOUSLY, IS THE FUNDING.

YEAH, OF COURSE.

NOW, WE'VE TOOKEN THIS, LIKE, OF COURSE I WANT TO SEE IT BETTER THAN WHAT IT WAS EVER BUILT. AND I'M GOING TO BE HONEST. I'VE BEEN IN THERE. I'VE SEEN IT. It doesn't look to me it was built that nice from the very first day. So I'm okay with just redoing it, making it nice. We built recent buildings, made them look old, and I think we've done a good job, and I don't know if we spent nearly that amount of money. Also, at the same time, we survey our residents, and we ask them, what's the priorities? And of course, public safety is number one, and and parks are good and all this other stuff, this isn't even near the top half. Like, it's like 50% of people want to do it. The other people don't even care too much about it. You know, of course, it'd be nice to have some, as Mr. JC Franco mentioned, to revitalize downtown. I think there's other things we could do with it, but this is very expensive. I mean, even scheme number one, right? I mean, that's a lot of money that I'm sure people would prefer an aquatic center, which is the number one requested item. So, I mean, I'm good with it, but I just want to make it clear, if we don't have the money, I know Hemet, they had a casino project, Well, we don't have a casino near our city, but can you explain that, how they did it? Because I know you were part of that.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. On the art renderings that they had presented for the city of Hemet, another one were finalized here in similar stages, but there was a conceptual one where Soboba Casino would be part of one of the three art renderings, but currently, no, they are not part of or have not finalized, but it could be a potential one if that was part of it, sir. Thank you.

But I think going forward, I really like with the box. I've always said here multiple times, with the box theater in Riverside, if you get that flat space, a lot of people, if you get a nice band here, they'll dance. We've had some events too, and they're by the hundreds. And if you go to Toro Guapo, they're out there dancing. They're spending money, and they're buying stuff. So if we have a flat area... for the residents or people outside the city. They're coming over here. They'll come here and they'll enjoy it. We could have good concerts and stuff like that. Also, I mean, I keep mentioning I'm really happy about the Target, but everyone wants to bring up that we took out the theater. Is it possible to include some form of a theater, maybe like flat in the front? Kind of like an auditorium. That's how I envision it. The auditorium in Riverside. That's how I envision it.

It would be quite easy to take the front section of the auditorium and make that retractable seating or removable seating. That's done all the time. That's not a problem.

It's quite common. Okay. So, I mean, I would definitely want something like that. But, I mean, we've got to deal with the price. So, I think what you're asking today is... To go further with the funding?

Yes, so staff is requesting direction on whether or not to proceed in pursuing funding opportunities, which includes the grants and private and public partnerships to support this project.

All right, well, I'd like to make a recommendation, and that is to give our economic development director time to speak with our consultant. Can I, would you please go back to that slide? Sorry, Mayor. Can I at least get out of the dais to stick with two and three, looking at those two? One is just way too low in numbers, but all right. Anyway, we'll throw in one, two, and three, make Councilman Corona included on there. But I do want to hear from our new director from economic development, give him an opportunity to speak to the consultant, and then come back again. I mean, we're not in no rush to spend $25 million plus million. And then we can make maybe a better decision there on how we go forward. Yeah, there's a lot of things in which an aquatic center really is number one, but this would be a revitalization of this is also important too. So I recommend we come back again after we give him some time to talk. All right, very good. Thank you, sir. I APPRECIATE YOU TAKING THE TIME. I'M SORRY YOU HAD TO WAIT SO LONG.

OH, I LIKE IT HERE. THANK YOU. OH, OKAY.

WELL, THEN, FEEL FREE TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT MEETING.

I'M GOING TO HANG OUT FOR THE NEXT SEAT. JUST TAKE A BUNK BED IN THE BACK.

OKAY. MOVING 12B IS CONSIDERATION TO APPOINT A CITY COUNCIL MEMBER AS A VOTING DELEGATE IN UP TO TWO ALTERNATES AT THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES. ANNUAL CONFERENCE BEING HELD SEPTEMBER 23RD THROUGH SEPTEMBER 25TH IN ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA. THIS WILL BE INTRODUCED BY OUR CITY ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, WENDELL BUG

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. So, yeah, this is consideration to appoint a city council member as a voting delegate and up to two alternates for the League of California Cities meeting, September 23rd through 25th. So I'll leave it and bring it back to the dais for your consideration.

Okay, I'm going. Who else is going? Elizabeth.

So we need two to go in the alternates?

Well, you need the primary, and an alternate is nice.

Two alternates and one voting delegate.

But maybe we could nominate Councilwoman Nava for alternate.

Let me finish. Are you going? So it's just us two. All right. So let her be the main, and I'll be the alternate. That's your motion, as you said, anyway.

So let me just clarify. The motion is for Councilwoman Vallejo to be the main, Mayor Vargas, and Councilwoman Nava to be the alternate.

Oh, is Councilwoman Nava going, too? No, I think you didn't need to alternate. You don't even have to have one. You just have your main person, but it's recommended. Is Nava going?

I'm not sure.

I'm not going, but I know the voting typically takes place on Friday. If there is a situation where you two cannot make it, I can make my way out there Thursday night, Friday morning and vote. Well, I'm there. Okay. Yeah, I know.

But I'm just, do we know if Nava's going? I don't.

I was just going with the Councilwoman Corona's, or Mayor Pro Tem Corona's request, but we can only have, we can certainly have two or one alternate.

Well, I mean, I'd rather, I mean, I have no idea. We have to, this has to be done today?

Yes.

All right, well, she's not here, so I would, I would, Mr. Oh, we could. Okay, we got time to clarify.

Sure. We can always bring it back.

So here's what I'd like to do. Let's just go with this for now. Elizabeth is the primary, I'm a delegate, and make Councilman Rabb a delegate. And we can always bring it back if, in fact, Now that she's going, then we can bring it back at the next meeting. This is up to you because you made the motion.

No, no, no.

No, I think it's probably better if we do it that way. If Councilman Rapp is willing to be a delegate, then I think it's better.

Alternate. Alternate. Alternate. Sounds good. We'll put that in the books.

All right, so that's a motion by Councilman Mayor Pro Tem. I need a second.

Second.

And Elizabeth Vallejo seconds it. Call the vote. JUST IF STAFF CAN FIND OUT IF WE'RE ANTICIPATING NAVA TO BE HERE AT THE NEXT MEETING, THEN... YES, SHE IS. SHE'S SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. OKAY. YES. OH, THAT'S NOT THE REAL QUESTION. THE REAL QUESTION IS WHETHER SHE'S GOING TO BE AT THE CONFERENCE AND THEN...

IF SO, SO IN OTHER WAYS, JUDY, DON'T RUSH TO SEND THIS INFORMATION IN.

LET'S VERIFY IF SHE'S GOING TO GO TO THE CONFERENCE, THEN WE CAN BRING IT BACK AND SEE IF SHE'S INTERESTED IN BEING THE SECOND ALTERNATE.

CORONA, RAB, VALLEJO, VARGAS, YES. NAVA, ABSENT.

VERY GOOD. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT, ADAM. ADAM. ITEM 13 IS COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS. WE'LL START WITH COUNCILMAN RAB.

LET'S TAKE IT, MAYOR VARGAS. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Juneteenth celebration here on the city's lawn. I just want to give a shout out to the Juneteenth Black History Committee for putting on a great event. There are hundreds of people here. We're under the shaded canopy, which is really nice. Just want to also thank staff. for facilitating my virtual attendance at the last council meeting. I also want to thank Public Works for accomplishing some requests that I had given regarding weed abatement in some of the alleys in the downtown area. If one thing we could maybe schedule is going through those various alleys in the downtown area. I'm seeing a lot of... you know, people are putting like litter in some of the areas, maybe going through some of the alleys and looking at potholes, filling the potholes. There's small little palm trees that are growing in some of the, a lot of the alleyways, maybe taking them down before they become huge trees that are, you know, going into the power lines, going up above people's walls and fences and things like that. So we can get a schedule for that. Also had the opportunity for the first time to take the Metrolink and the bus to work. So I just want to just reiterate, we are one of the few cities in the IE that have two, not one, but two Metrolink stations. And it was pretty efficient. My only gripe is it doesn't run frequently, but I think if people start using it, it will run frequently. It was no issues getting there on time, taking it, taking the bus from Riverside to San Bernal. So I just want to give a shout out to all those people that helped facilitate that. With that, that concludes my comments for today's meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm just going to keep it pretty short. I just want to say that I'm very thankful for the target that finally came to fruition. I know when I went to the grand opening, I had a memory because when I was Here at eight years old, I saw the Target sign on San Jacinto and Redlands, and now I'm 30, and it took that many years to get the Target here. But that goes to show you just how the city is run and then how a lot of developers are. And it's a partnership for everyone involved, and I was very happy to see such positive feedback. People were waiting in line to go in. and I want to let everyone know that I've gone to this past year, a lot of conferences, a lot of meetings with other council members, and Paris is actually now on the map now. People want to come here. I feel like we're doing a great job to make sure that that businesses are able to come here, and we have a really good track record so far. And then lastly, I also wanna congratulate Ben Sandoval for being our Director of Economic Development. Thank you so much for choosing us, and we are very excited to see how you are gonna start everything, but we're very excited to have you be here.

Councilwoman. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, with the Target opening, as Councilman Vallejo said, it was a great, great event. And, you know, I'm not talking about the opening. I'm talking about the next day and the next day and the next day. People were just so happy. You could just tell people were, like, proud of being in there. You know, just having a Target in their town after so many years, as you said. I think that sign got so old that it was starting to fall over. You know, I said, Target coming soon. And I mean, it was, it was, and then I think they had one in the north side too at one time. And, you know, finally we have it. You know, just make sure you take care of, take care of your stores because if Target is successful, then more stuff's going to come. So thank you very much to everyone that was involved. And, you know, I'm not sure if we had anything to do with it, but I know my wife really likes the lighting in there. It's like very, very calming and stuff. So it was a great event. I want to thank our staff for the recent events regarding, for example, the World Cup games, the watch parties. I know four years ago it was brought up like, hey, we should have a watch party, but those games were at 6 a.m. in the morning. We had a few dozen people show up, but we were thinking, hey, the next World Cup is going to be in the U.S. and Mexico, and so the times will be better. And, you know, I was expecting maybe a few hundred people. Man, it was over exceeded my expectations almost too much, right? It was just a great event. People were happy, you know, rooting on. It was so happy just seeing the people and their comments were all overwhelmingly positive. It was just a great event. You know, I was able to attend the first few and just watch online, you know, to see the results of the next ones. And, you know, everyone just seemed to, The crowd just got bigger and bigger, and people were telling their friends, hey, you got to come to Paris. Paris has the best watch parties around, and I think we did. So very, very proud of that, and thank you to all those involved with that. Being away, I also missed Fourth of July, but by all accounts, that was a wonderful experience. Successful event until the last few minutes from what I heard and from these people telling me. Last few minutes, a bunch of youth, a few dozen youth kind of just seemed to ruin it. And I felt like this is the second year in a row, it's kind of the same thing. And I do want to assure our residents that safety is our number one priority. And I want to thank our public safety for making sure that ensuring that everyone was safe with the event. But it's just a shame that a few dozen youth have to ruin such a wonderful event that was planned out and the city spent a lot of money and ruined a time for overwhelmingly happy, peaceful events. happy and peaceful residents that showed up. So, I mean, it's just a shame that going forward we're going to have to make some changes, especially with unaccompanied youth. And, you know, just a reminder to the parents, please don't send your children to City of Paris events without accompanying them, right? Because there's some residents out there that said, oh, yeah, go have fun. It's a City of Paris event. It's going to be a good time. You'll be safe. When there's a good chance that your kid was the one causing problems, too. So just a reminder, the City of Paris is not your babysitter. Going forward, I think we're going to have to, you know... CHANGE SOME THINGS UP FOR UNACCOMPANIED YOUTH GOING TO EVENTS. AND IT IS A SHAME THAT A FEW DOZEN YOUTH THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE EVEN IN OUR CITY, BUT THEY HAD TO RUIN THINGS. SO, YEAH, BUT, YOU KNOW, JUST VERY HAPPY WITH THEIR STAFF AND THOSE EVENTS. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF ATTENDING A FEW GRADUATIONS THIS YEAR, PALS, PARIS HIGH SCHOOL, MARINA VALLEY COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT. THAT'S MY FIRST FOR THEM. And then Paris Elementary as well. I'd like to just reiterate the openings of Nothing Bundt Cake here in Paris. That is exciting. And we've talked about it. Target, it is a great store, big store, very nice, roomy aisles. I mean, it's just... And we have CV... S in there, which is great, and a good-sized, normal-sized Starbucks is in there, too, as well, and then the market. I mean, so I went there today. I was there on the 26th when there was the official grand opening for the public. They did have their south opening since last Wednesday, and I think Mayor Pro Tem mentioned since then, the parking lot's full. That's a good problem, and everything's doing it, and it's going to bring a lot more businesses, foot traffic for everybody that's inside that shopping center, and neighboring centers as well. Thank you for bringing that up about the Fourth of July. I concur exactly what you said. I did hold a debriefing already with staff and police and fire, so we are always on it to make things bigger and better, and we will make some improvements to hopefully have a good event next year. All right, in the interest of time, I'm going to pass this on now to item number 14, our city manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. We will be holding our fourth annual Paris Con on Saturday, August 15th at 1 p.m. here at the Paris City Hall campus. And also this Thursday, we will be having the Pack a Smile food giveaway event. And that is for students 18 years and under. And this will be at the Bob Glass Gymnasium. I'm sorry, it's next Thursday, August 6th. And that's from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. And lastly, I'd like to introduce Economic Development Director Benigno Sandoval. He has over 20 years of experience in business, economic development, marketing, public relations, and workforce development. His past work experience includes the City of Hemet most recently as Economic Development Director, the LA County Workforce Board as Business Services Manager, and other various previous jobs working with marketing. and project management. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in public relations from Cal State University, Dominguez Hills, and a certification, a certified economic development developer through Fresno State University. So I'd like to welcome Mr. Sandoval.

Thank you for that, City Manager and Mayor and Council. I know we're pretty late here, but I just want to thank everyone for the big opportunities since I came here yesterday. It's really felt like a family, and I look forward to working with every single department here to curtail the $1 billion leakage that we have here in the City of Hemet and increase quality of life. You know? I'm sorry. Apologies. I knew that was going to happen, and I practiced so hard not to do that. Strike three, I'm out of here. So that's strike one. You made a pretty quick exit here. What am I trying to do here? So thank you for that. And also, I've heard that the audience bring in blue and white collar jobs here to be more self-sufficient and more importantly, make Paris the next big city for investment. Thank you, everyone. And thank you, city manager.

Awesome. Thank you, Ben. We'll give you one more meeting opportunity. We'll see how it goes. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for coming out. Thank you to all our speakers and online as well. We got to get used to that. I apologize if I skipped you, but IT did catch me on it, so we'll get a little better on that Zoom stuff. Have a good evening, everybody. Be safe, and we'll see you at our next meeting.