City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY, WE'RE READY TO CALL TO ORDER OUR MEETING. SORRY IT TOOK US A LITTLE BIT. NICE TO SEE SO MANY YOUNGSTERS OUT THERE IN THE AUDIENCE. SO WE'RE READY TO CALL TO ORDER OUR JOINT MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL, THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY TO THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, OUR PUBLIC FINANCE AUTHORITY, THE PUBLIC UTILITY AUTHORITY, HOUSING AUTHORITY, THE PARIS JOINT POWERS AUTHORITY, AND THE PARIS COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF PARIS THIS TUESDAY, AUGUST 25TH. At 6.30 p.m. Oh, that was the wrong time. At 6.43 p.m. So, in addition to all that, in accordance with Senate Bill 707, which is our 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 BY PHONE, PLEASE USE STAR 9 TO REQUEST TO SPEAK AND STAR 6 TO MUTE OR UNMUTE. SO MOVING ALONG, WE ARE GOING TO GO TO ITEM 2, WHICH IS OUR ROLL CALL. MADAM CLERK.

Council Member Rabb.

Here.

Council Member Vallejo. Here. Council Member Nava. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Corona.

Present.

Mayor Vargas.

I'm present. Thank you. Item four is an invocation, which will be led by Pastor Nolan Turnage of the Grove Community Church. You hear past areas. You all please stand and join us and then remain standing for item four, which is our Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Council Member Rabb.

Let us pray. Father, we thank you for our mayor. We thank you for our council members, the agencies and authorities that will conduct this meeting tonight. Thank you for all these young people who are here. We pray that this will be a night that is memorable to them and that will encourage them to continue to be great citizens of Paris. Thank you for their parents being here to support them. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Please join us as we salute our nation's flag. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

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

Dodgers.

All right, Pastor, thank you very much. Okay, Item 5 is a report on closed session items. Attorney Soltani.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The council met in closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.94 in two cases. No reportable action was taken. The council met pursuant to government code section 54957B1 to conduct public employee evaluation, and no reportable action was taken. That concludes my report.

Thank you. Item six is our presentation announcements. Six A and B has a lot of kids involved. So here's how we're going to do it. We're going to start with our junior masters gardeners. We'll have our staff person come up. They're going to give a presentation on it. Then we will go down. I'll call the names out. You will get your certificates behind me. We're going to form a big group for a big photo. And then... We'll step aside, we'll let staff come up to introduce the following presentation, which is for our YAC committee, and we'll do the same thing there. So for our junior masters, please welcome our public services director, Sabrina Chavez.

Good evening.

Chair, members of the city council, public health supervisor, Emmanuel Marquez, will be presenting this item before you.

All right, where is she at? Oh, can you do that again? Because nobody heard you, and I don't want people thinking that's Sabrina out there. On the microphone, on the microphone. No, it worked, but everybody was clapping.

Our public health supervisor, Emmanuel Marquez, will be presenting this item before you.

Perfect. Welcome, Emmanuel.

Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council, city staff. It is an honor to congratulate and recognize a group of young leaders who successfully dedicated eight weeks in the Junior Master Gardener program. Throughout the eight weeks, students were learning, growing, serving through hands-on experiences in the areas of urban farming, environmental sciences, sustainability, and environmental stewardship. As part of the service project, these students demonstrated their commitment to giving back by supporting the packing of the 1700 backpacks for the Mayor's Alliance to end childhood hunger, the childhood hunger backpack event earlier this year. We would also like to recognize five returning certified students from last year's cohort and as certified youth leaders they served as mentors, role models, and team leaders helping guide this year's participants and contributing to the success of the program. Their leadership and dedication exemplifies the value of the Junior Master Gardener program. And with that, I'd like to invite Mason Marrones, who is a Junior Master Gardener student who will share his experience in the program.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Mason Morones. I'm 10 years old and in the fifth grade. I'd like to tell you about my experience in the Junior Master Gardener program. I learned how to grow my own garden and to use natural pesticides to safely keep away pests. My favorite GMG activity was the field trip to the museum because I really liked the art and sculptures. One thing I enjoyed about the Junior Master Gardener program was harvesting the fresh fruit and vegetables. The most interesting thing I learned was how to take better care of the environment. Thank you, city staff, family, and everyone who cares about the Junior Master Gardener Program. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mason. I'd also like to invite Corey Reed, who was also a student and will share a different experience in the program.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Cora Reed. I am 11 years old, and I have just started the sixth grade outreach leadership STEAM Academy. Today, I would like to tell you about my experience here in the Junior Master Gardener program. The Junior Master Gardener program taught me how to grow plants, take care of the environment, and learn about nature, while also growing as a model citizen for the city of Paris. One thing I enjoy about the Junior Master Gardener program is planting flowers and vegetables as well as watering plants, learning about insects, and harvesting. Through JMG, I have learned that plants need sunshine, water, healthy soil, and care to grow strong. My favorite JMG activity was the Pack a Smile backpack giveaway because we got to pack backpacks full of food for people in need while interacting with friends and meeting new people. Thank you to the staff, family, and everyone who supports the Junior Master Gardener program. Thank you for inviting me to this council meeting with you all today. I hope you have a good rest of your evening. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to be here for this big celebration.

So thank you, Mason and Corey. And with that, I would like to invite the mayor and city council for a photo op.

All right, we have a lot of kids, so I'm going to read off what the certificate reads. I'm going to call the individual. a student's name and they'll come up and receive their certificate from our public information officer, then he's going, they can go down and shake hands with the council members and he's going to line them up for a big photo. This is our staff member here, Serena, who's gonna take the first picture, so give her time. But parents, I don't wanna see you trying to take a picture from the back row. Please, move up to the front, take your time, and get a good shot of your child. This is a once in a lifetime. We don't want you thinking you can't come up. I want everybody to come up, take pictures. I only charge five for mine, so. All right, so the first group is for our Junior Master Gardener Certificates Level 1. And it's going to read, the 2026 Junior Master Gardener Summer Program Certified Junior Master Gardener Level 1. May it be known that the Office of the Mayor and the City Council HEREBY RECOGNIZE THE STUDENT'S NAME FOR HIS OR HER COMMITMENT TO POSITIVELY CONTRIBUTE TO HIS COMMUNITY, HIS OR HER COMMUNITY, AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE JUNIOR MASTER GARDENER SUMMER PROGRAM AND IS PRESENTED ON THIS 25TH DAY OF AUGUST. AND WE'RE GOING TO START WITH MASON. IS IT MORONES? COME ON UP, MASON. All right, I didn't practice to look at the names, so if I kill a name, please don't. Corey Reed? Corey? How do you say it? Corey, I was right. Setlali Coronado? Zach Delgado?

Come on up there.

Zach, you here? Come on up, Zach. Boy, look at you, sharp. Daniel Edwards? Kyle Edwards. Evan Garcia. Gustavo Gutierrez. Mateo Gutierrez, are you guys twins? All right. Sebastian Gutierrez, you're not triplets. Emily Mori. Micaela Mori. Mia Nuño. How are those hands feeling, huh? Mia Nuño. I called that one already. Hector Pelagio. Isabella Pelagio. David Ponce. Kevin Ramirez. Come on up, David. Yaseel, how do you say it? How do you say your name? Yaseel Ramirez. Emily Nava is not here, but we want to recognize Emily. And now we're going to move on to our Junior Master Gardener Volunteer Leads. I'd like to read what that certificate reads. This one reads. May be known that 2026 Junior Master Gardener Summer Program Certified Junior Master Gardener Volunteer Leader, may be known that the Office of the Mayor and the City Council hereby recognize and appreciate the student for his or her commitment to positively contributing, volunteering, and successfully take lead in the Junior Master Gardener Summer Program. So that means what? They've been here for a year, this is year two for them already? Second year in gardening, very good. And we're gonna start off with King Delgado. Ivan Barajas. Ariel Ponce. Harley Ross. And Daniel Vasquez. There's your gardeners.

Look this way, look this way. Everybody face this way, looking at me. And smile, big smile. Awesome. And make sure that your paper is on your chest, okay? Good job. You guys look great. And if I don't see, if you don't see me, I don't see you, okay? So if you can't see me, right behind me with a nice head. Good job. Good job. Make sure that you're in between.

Good job. Good job.

Awesome.

If I don't see your paper, don't worry, guys. Put it on your chest. Your face is more important.

Not even on your chin, baby. Right on your chest. Good job. Everybody smiling.

Perfect. One second. Wait until she opens. Everybody say congratulations. Congratulations. Awesome. I don't see the hands. Yeah. Just a little bit. You're behind the fire. And look forward. On your chest. I'm missing your chin. Make sure your paper's on your chest. Good job. Ready for two. Nice. My friend right here in the blue in front of Malcolm's team over just a bit. There we go. Here we go. Ready for two. Nice. Stay right there. Keep smiling. Awesome. You guys look great. Parents, did you get it? Stay right there, guys. Keep smiling, guys. Keep the paper down. Good job. Good job, friends. Wait just a second, okay? All parents get one. Keep smiling. Almost there. Almost there. Good job. THANK YOU, FRIENDS. GOOD JOB, GOOD JOB.

OKAY, WE'RE GOING TO MOVE ON TO ITEM 6B, WHICH IS AN INTRODUCTION OF OUR 2026-2027 YOUTH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS, AND THIS WILL BE INTRODUCED BY OUR DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES, ARSENIO RAMIREZ. THANK YOU, MAYOR AND COUNCIL.

I WILL TURN IT OVER TO MR. LU YANG, RECREATION COORDINATOR, TO PRESENT.

THANK YOU. HONORABLE MAYOR, MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND CITY STAFF, GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS LU YANG AND AS A RECREATION COORDINATOR FOR THE PARKS AND COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT AS WELL AS THE LEAD LIAISON FOR OUR YOUTH ADVISING YAC COMMITTEE. IT IS OUR HONOR TO STAND BEFORE YOU TONIGHT TO INTRODUCE THE INCOMING YAC MEMBERS FOR 2026-2027 TERM. BEFORE I INTRODUCE OUR NEW MEMBER I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO RECOGNIZE OUR 10 GRADUATING SENIORS FROM LAST COHORT. FROM HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOL, WE HAVE ISAIAH SMITH, REPRESENTATIVE. FROM NEW VIEW BRIDGE EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL, MELINDA LOPEZ, OUR PRESIDENT. FROM ORANGE VISTA HIGH SCHOOL, Amy Reynoso, VP, Ari Butler, Representative, Derek Ortega, Representative, Michelle Estrada, Representative, Miranda Estrada, Representative, and Shana De La Alas, Vice President. From Paris High, we also have Salvador Ramirez, Representative, Ismael Acosta, Representative. And now, Mayor, please join us to introduce our new YC members for 2026-2027 Committee.

Okay, so this certificate's gonna read that our city clerk, Ms. Nancy Salazar, that reads that I, Nancy Salazar, City Clerk of the City of Paris, County of Riverside, State of California, do hereby certify that, and then the student's name I'm going to read off, was officially appointed by the Paris Youth Advisory Committee to the Office of Youth Advisory Committee President, or their title, I'll read their titles when I read their names, as shown by the official minutes of the city council of record in the office of the city clerk, and witness thereof, she has affixed her hand in an official seal on this 25th day of August 2026. So first up is our president, Alyssa Arianna Chu. Vice President Alina Ibarra. Secretary Jacqueline Pintor. Secretary Kayla Bodyford. Treasurer Alexa Cortez. Historian Carla Valentina Guerrero. Historian Yaretzi Villanueva. And the remaining names are gonna be representatives of the Youth Advisory Committee starting. Did I skip Miguel? Why are you sitting out by yourself? Our Vice President Miguel Ramirez. Sorry about that, Miguel. Okay, now we're gonna read off our representatives, starting with Amberly Escobar. Arlette Soto. Cesar Diaz. Christian Gutierrez-Lopez. Emily Diaz. Evelyn Saya Soto. Evelyn Aleska Mesa. Fatima Riviera. Genesis Kimberly Vargas, no relation to the mayor. Guadalupe Lopez Alcaraz. Jazlyn Alani Johnson. Caitlin Cecil Marisagan. Kayla De Las Alas. Luke Sandoval. Matthew Herrera Pacheco. Max Marine. Melanie Fuentes. Melina Zaragoza Urbano. Nicholas Diaz. Renee Flanagan-Vaguez. Reverly Pinero. Sofia Carmen Ulgaude. Victoria Valdez-Sosa. Yuretsy Orozco. And finally, Ziva Limas. Let me tell you folks, for those who don't know, when I became mayor in 2016, there were only 13 kids standing behind me on this program. We've now grown to 33. So this is a fantastic program.

If you're tall and you're just a small person behind you, you can just sit back and let me come over. Thank you so much. Awesome. You guys did great. Congratulations. Keep smiling. Keep smiling.

Awesome. Here we go. Ready, one, two.

Last time, didn't have people, so make sure that your chest is up so I can see everybody. Here we go. Ready, one, two. Very good. You know what she does? She goes far, but then she zooms in. Good job. Thank you.

Fair enough.

ALL RIGHT, CONGRATULATIONS, EVERYBODY. I'LL GIVE A COUPLE OF MINUTES HERE FOR OUR COUNCIL MEMBERS TO MAKE ANY KIND OF COMMENTS THEY'D LIKE TO MAKE ON BOTH GROUPS, STARTING WITH MAYOR PRO TEM CORONA.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I JUST WANT TO GIVE A SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE JUNIOR MASTER GARDENERS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION. IT'S SUCH A WONDERFUL PROGRAM FOR KIDS TO BE OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THEIR TECHNOLOGIES AND GETTING THEIR HANDS DIRTY AS WELL TOO. A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL THE PARENTS THAT BROUGHT THEM THERE AND TO THE STAFF FOR DOING A GREAT JOB. TO THE YAC STUDENTS, A BIG CONGRATULATIONS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR. IT'S GOING TO BE A LOT OF WORK, BUT I KNOW IN THE PROCESS YOU'RE GOING TO LEARN A LOT ABOUT LEADERSHIP, ABOUT YOURSELVES, ABOUT EACH OTHER, WORKING AND COLLABORATING WITH ONE ANOTHER. AND SO JUST A SPECIAL THANK YOU AGAIN TO THE PARENTS AS WELL TOO. YOU KNOW, IT'S SUCH A GREAT WAY TO SEE THE YOUNGER KIDS AND THEN YOU SEE SOME OF THE OLD KIDS. AND I'M SURE WE'RE GOING TO GET SOME OF THE JUNIOR MASTER GARDENERS ONE DAY IN THE YAC AS WELL TOO. SO I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO

Councilwoman Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to say congratulations to everyone here for the Junior Master... Wait, what? The Junior Master Gardeners. It's such a great program because you really learn how to see something grow and all the patience, it really goes into it. And I love that there's a lot of students here that are very interested in it. So thank you all so much for doing this, completing it. And I also want to give a quick shout-out to staff, because if it wasn't for the staff here, then those kids would not keep on coming. So staff, thank you for just making a wonderful program. And for the YAC kids, you guys are doing awesome. I would just like to give a shout-out, too, to all the women here, all the girls, because they all gave me strong handshakes. So you girls are doing amazing, the whole team, and I can't wait to see you all grow. Thank you.

Councilwoman Navarro.

Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations to all the junior Master Gardeners. What a great way to spend your summer learning these great new skills. I hope you all truly enjoyed the program. And thank you to the parents for investing in your children and making sure that they have a productive summer. And to all our YAC members, I am so honored to see that this group just keeps growing. There's a lot of Ovi representation, so congratulations. And on this side of the dais, there's a lot of Paris High representation, but because obviously Ovi didn't exist. But shout out to all my Paris High Panthers as well. And I know there was a few CMI members. You're small but mighty, so represent... And thank you all to the parents as well for investing in your youth. Enjoy the program. I hope to see you at future events here in City Hall and surrounding areas in Paris. And again, thank you to the parents for investing in their youth and making sure that they continue to build their resume. So congratulations to all. Thank you.

Councilman Reb? Yes.

Thank you.

echo my colleagues i want to congratulate all the participants in the junior master gardener program it's amazing to see all the kids that are learning how to grow things and crops and graduate special shout out to all the kids who returned and shout out to all the parents and congratulations for helping guide your kids to this program also would like to congratulate all the new participants in the yac program each and every year it continues to grow i believe mayor vargas said there was about 13 a decade ago Now we're over 40 and it's good to see it grow. It's good to see the OV representation and along with the Paris High representation as well. So look forward to seeing you at the various events over the year and just refreshing to see the kids go through the Junior Master Gardener, go up through the YAC and then go off to college and graduate and sometimes come back and are teachers and things like that. So it's amazing and once again, congratulate you on your selection.

what's left after four people already said the same thing the mayor wants to say but no congratulations to our master gardeners i don't know if staff told you but the mayor likes romaine lettuce and we have a mayor salad challenge at the end of the year at our not the end of the year but at our health fair but hopefully maybe you guys can participate in that with your schools but congratulations for being master gardeners and to our volunteers guys as well too thank you for your service Yak, you guys are in for a full busy year for the new parents. Thank you for being here with your children and for all the parents. It's a lot of work because there's a lot of activities and you guys do a lot of driving around. I know what it's like. I did that with my four daughters and now I have grandchildren. It doesn't stop. But thank you for the support that you do for your kids as well. So good luck to both our groups and we look forward to seeing you throughout the year. WE'LL GIVE A COUPLE OF MINUTES, SO IF THOSE WHO WANT TO GET UP AND LEAVE, IT'S FINE. I think we're gonna go.

so so so Thank you.

All right, ready to move on to our next presentation. Item 6C is a presentation by CityNet, which is our homelessness update.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This item will be presented by Gabriel Montevergine. Montevergine, who is the regional program supervisor for our CityNet team. Just a little bit of background on our CityNet team. They have been working with our staff since 2022, and they provide services such as outreach services, case management, client services, and housing navigation. So I'll toss it over to Gabby. Thank you.

Thank you so much for the introduction. And thank you so much, Mayor, city staff, and city council for inviting us for the opportunity to speak today. So as we know, the Paris Outreach Engagement Team is still 7 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. so far, Monday through Friday. We have four case managers, whom I'm sure many of you have already met, Richard, Brooke, Jessica, and Alex, who I wish was here today, but they just finished their workday. And as far as for phone referrals, our outreach line is still active on the number here as well. We have a dispatcher who calls the same day, and their hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so they can get those after-hour calls. And if it is received over after-hours or weekends, it is returned the next business day, and our case managers will call them. And, of course, we have the Homeless Service Division with their number as well. We've received many referrals where they're able to do like a short intake and send it out to our team. For outreach and engagement, beyond proactive daily outreach efforts, we also receive many different referrals from all kinds of local agencies, partners, and residents connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with the support that they need. And here are some of the examples of those referral sources. We all know code enforcement, animal control. Just earlier today, one of the park rangers gave us a referral that we will respond to tomorrow as well. Our contract for Paris was from July 1st, 2024 to June 30th, 2026. And I just wanted to recap how CityNet has been able to help the community these past two years. With this breakdown, We had 593 clients enrolled, and out of those clients, we had 353 positive exits. So that includes families, individuals, couples. And the breakdown of those positive exits is 27 to shelter, 126 to temporary housing, such as transitional housing or shelter beds, and 200 exits to permanent housing. So maybe their own unit or permanent supportive housing. Out of those 2,542 client interactions, that's every time that we meet with a client, interact with them, every phone call that we do with them, and every referral that we contact are those client interactions. I DID WANT TO HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE SUCCESSES THAT THE TEAM HAD CHOSEN FOR ME TO SPEAK ON. SO I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEIR STORIES ARE ALSO TOLD. SO THAT WAY WE CAN CONNECT THESE POSITIVE NUMBERS TO ACTUAL STORIES OF PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY. So, the first one is since 2025, TS was engaged with services on and off following an exit from recuperative care in 2026. For those who do not know, recuperative care is usually like a facility where people can recuperate from after surgery if they're experiencing homelessness and then afterwards they tend to be exited or triaged into something else. So, the outreach team had maintained consistent case management and support in helping TS navigate the housing process when he was exited after recuperative care until he was able to secure a permanent supportive housing unit where he will be able to remain housed and seek the supportive services that he will need. The next one is near and dear to our heart. MH is a parent of three children who engaged with outreach services since 2025. After more than a year of ongoing case management services, housing navigation and support, MH and her children were successfully housed in April 26, achieving long-term housing stability. CityNet continues to go to community outreach and partnership events. We have always participated in the Day of Caring since our contract has been here. And we always go to the Paris Community Health Fair to connect with residents seeking health services. And we provide outreach and resources through probation departments drop in events. The next one is actually tomorrow at the DPSS office. And we also supported the community wide point in time pit counts and conducted regular outreach encampment outreach and engagement efforts as in like encampment drop ins, which I will also discuss. So for this year, for the annual point in time count, it provides a snapshot. So just in that time and space, the amount of people who are homeless in the community. This helps guide funding, resources, and services, and is an integral part to homeless services. Historically, in even-numbered years, the pit count has been led by the City of Paris, and in odd-numbered years, the pit count was conducted by Riverside County. For 2026 pit count, it was conducted in January 26 of this year, and CityNet was able to partner with the City for the annual pit count. The efforts had brought together multiple community partners, such as the Quality of Life team, and looking forward to 2027, we're looking forward to joining the Riverside County's Just a little bit of information and just really trying to understand the numbers of this snapshot. The results from 2026 was 56 individuals. Of those 45 individuals, we were able to survey and have them answer some of our questions. 11 of them were observations due to maybe inability to answer our surveys. The geolocations were determined hot spots such as north of Nuevo, south Nuevo, north Ellis, south Ellis, and after hot spots were surveyed, efforts were directed throughout the city until the pit count ended. As far as for interpreting the results, 56 individuals were identified, 23 were with pets, which is a very large number, and 33 without pets. 35 were open to services, and 21 were not yet engaged, as in they were not interested in services at the time. I DID WANT TO INCLUDE THE CURRENT CASELOAD AS OF RIGHT NOW, AS OF TODAY, THERE ARE 41 ACTIVE CITY NET CLIENTS, NINE OF THEM WHICH ARE FAMILIES, SO SOME OF THEM HAVE MULTIPLE CHILDREN OR A PARTNER, SO THAT 41 IS NOT ALL ADULTS. AND ALSO, TOO, 36 OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS FROM THE PIT COUNT WERE CHRONICALLY HOMELESS, AS IN THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED HOMELESSNESS FOR MORE THAN A YEAR. As far as for our encampment drop-ins, this one was to partner with the Quality of Life team to increase access to services. As we know, there are many harder-to-access areas for people to access services, and so we've done ongoing outreach with the Belamo area. We had expanded drop-in hours for the parks from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and the latest outreach was conducted from the Mendoza property as well in August. And thank you so much for renewing our contract once again. This one is going to be the July impact report for just last month, and I'm going to speak on some August highlights as well. For July itself, we still had 67 clients enrolled with 14 positive exits, five were to shelter, three were to permanent temporary housing, such as transitional housing, and six to permanent housing. And so that was just in July. As of August, I am so happy to share a couple of our successes. We had a couple housed, two adults that were referred to Mental Health Paris Urgent Care. They secured a studio apartment with case management support, and as of August 14th, they have now exited to their own unit, and... As far as for a family stabilized, we had a mother of three young children, I believe the youngest to be a couple months old. They were facing eviction and since being connected to the team, we were able to have them placed in transitional housing through Project Touch so that way they can secure permanent housing down the line. We also had an individual housed. The team was doing outreach on Weibo Road, and they discovered, they encountered a client who did have income, but it was fixed, and so it was a barrier for him. And so after connecting with the team, they found him an affordable unit, and now he is able to afford his own unit with sustained housing. For future efforts, we have partnered with the Homeless Services Division to provide critical data and field insights, so that way we can help with the application process. And we have helped the division apply for HHAP, PLHA, and the IRF contract with a focus on the Balamo area. And what this could potentially impact is an expansion of the outreach team and case management capacity, because we are only running on a team of four, Monday through Friday, and even increased access to rapid rehousing, permanent housing, rental assistance, and family reunification efforts. There's so much potential good that this can come out once we are awarded, because I know we will. So thank you so much for your time, and if you have any questions, myself or my supervisor, our director is able to answer them as well.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Council member, any questions? Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. I do appreciate the presentation for showing it to the public. I know I was there at the last homeless outreach committee meeting. You know what? Like the day I'm thinking about those very hard to get help, right? Those that aren't seeking help and are very difficult. but they pose a danger to themselves and to the public, right? And I'm speaking about one individual. I was driving, the person just walks across a busy road, doesn't stop, doesn't press a button, and everything has to stop, and I'm stuck here in the intersection, and cars are having to, you know, with the lights turning red, and all of a sudden I'm still in the intersection. How do we reach those people, and what are the next steps? If you go out there and say, hey, we want to find you help, what's the next steps that we can do?

So part of the next steps is, of course, with street outreach, in my experience as being a past case manager, is that, of course, it doesn't take one time, two times. Sometimes we meet clients and speak to them almost every day, and sometimes from my experience, even a year or more. And so we've been able to build different partnerships with RUHS, especially now that we've connected with their crisis team. And so now when we have observed that this client may not be able to take care of themselves, now we can connect them with the crisis team to make sure that they have those services. And so I think it's just a continued effort. It's a concerted effort with everyone included. So it's not just going to be CityNet that's the answer to this case, but all of the entities that can partner together. It's a multidisciplinary team would be the answer.

Okay, thank you. And then, you know, like I see people, and oftentimes they're asked for money, whether they're homeless or not. I want to give them money, but why would you advise against that? Let the public know.

Just for the public to know is that obviously when it comes to monetary goods, it can be good for just that one period of time. It could just be for their meal for one day, or maybe their soda for one day. I won't speak about other illicit things, but whatever they- About drugs and alcohol, right? Yeah, whatever they do with that money is just for that one time. It's just for one period. Instead, there are different solutions like long-term solutions that can help support them, which is like, you know, that's why we apply to grants and support like applications to grants because we want long-term solutions as far as for that. So temporary versus permanent.

Okay, thank you.

I just had two quick questions. One, I noticed that on the data, you said that a lot of individuals had animals. Yes. Do you guys also offer them to be spayed and neutered and have their shots, like those animals?

Yes, of course. Our case managers do want to encourage clients to take the proper steps to take care of their pets because they're family members to them. And so part of the quality of life team is animal control. And so we are also in direct contact with animal control all the time. And I do know that the team has helped several of their clients get connected and get affordable or free shots or spays. Perfect. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

Can we go back to the very first slide? All right, so one of my concerns is the hours of just Monday through Friday. So if a person, even let's say a deputy or a code enforcement officer, or one of our park rangers come across a potential client on a Saturday, you obtain information, they obtain some information, it gets forwarded to you, you folks, and then you follow up come Monday morning?

Yes, we do. Martin Joseph, I'm Director of Programs with CityNet. We had a conversation before, too. I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A WANT AND A NEED IN THE CITY A WANT AND A NEED IN THE CITY A WANT AND A NEED IN THE CITY FOR WEEKEND SUPPORT. FOR WEEKEND SUPPORT. FOR WEEKEND SUPPORT. THAT IS SOMETHING. THAT IS SOMETHING. THAT IS SOMETHING. I'M TRYING TO GET THERE. I'M TRYING TO GET THERE.

I'M TRYING TO GET THERE. ONE QUESTION AT A TIME. ONE QUESTION AT A TIME. ONE QUESTION AT A TIME. SO WHAT I SAID WAS TRUE.

SO WHAT I SAID WAS TRUE.

SO WHAT I SAID WAS TRUE. YES, IT IS. YES, IT IS. YES, IT IS. WE MET, AND I HAVE WE MET, AND I HAVE WE MET, AND I HAVE A STRONG WILL TO HAVE A STRONG WILL TO Something maybe might be able to wait till Monday morning. Right. But I want our deputies or code some, my understanding after we met, a voucher is not just given. You have to have a, what did you call it, a transition, an exit plan? Yes. So these are the questions and concerns I have them. Who's the chair for task force? You. So Madam Chair of your task force, if you can get with staff and put on the agenda. We need to have staff or the team members that are involved with our homelessness have the ability to issue out a voucher right then and there if it meets certain requirements. I just don't wanna throw freebies out there, but if we gotta get someone in there for some home, just shelter just for the week until you can get to them on Monday, I would really like to see that. That's really providing some good, better service. I just can't see waiting two days, or if it starts Friday night, they gotta wait till Monday morning. That's too long of a period.

And we agree. The thing that we would need, though, is a request in writing.

Well, that's going to happen.

Exactly.

So it's not only that. We may have to have an adjustment in the budget. I don't know, but The talk has to start at the task force.

And we did allocate additional funding. It was requested for these hotel vouchers.

Good.

Because it has proven to be a highly successful method. So definitely I'm sure we'll be on the right path.

And Mayor, I can tell you after our last conversation, I've already talked to people in my agency, and we are all on board with making this happen.

Good. DO YOU WANT TO SAY SOMETHING? YEAH, SO, BUT TO CLARIFY, IT'S NOT JUST CITINET INTERACTING WITH THE HOMELESS. IT'S ALSO OUR SHERIFF'S. I SAID, OUR SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, OUR CODE ENFORCEMENT. SO THEY ALL HAVE ACCESS TO GIVING OUT VOUCHERS, YEAH.

WELL, THEY DON'T NOW. THEY CAN'T JUST DO ONE. THE ISSUE IS THEY JUST CAN'T GIVE IT TO ONE ON THE SPOT, AND I'M REQUESTING AND I SAID, THE SHERIFFS, CITY NET, CODE ENFORCEMENT, PARK RANGERS, OR EVEN A STAFF MEMBER THAT'S PART OF OUR HOMELESSNESS TEAM. SO ANYWAY, SO THE NEXT QUESTION, LET'S GO TO SLIDE, THE PIT COUNT SLIDE. THE ONE THAT ACTUALLY HAS THE NUMBERS.

WOW.

LET'S KEEP, TRY THE OTHER ONE. IT WAS ALL IN BLUE.

SORRY ABOUT THAT.

YOU KNOW, I MENTIONED, STAFF, I MENTIONED WHO, DID YOU GUYS PREPARE THIS SLIDE SHOW? YES. WOW. I'VE ALWAYS MADE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE FUTURE FOR DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES THAT SIT ON THE NUMBER OF THE PAGES SO WE CAN DOCUMENT WHAT NUMBER. THERE'S THE ONE THAT YOU BROKE IT DOWN WITH ALL THE AMOUNT OF TIMES YOU MET WITH A CLIENT. IT GAVE A BREAKDOWN ALL THOSE NUMBERS. THAT'S THE PAGE I WANT TO SEE.

GABBY, I BELIEVE THERE'S TWO OR THREE BEFORE THE PAGE THAT WE'RE ON, IF YOU CAN JUST GO BACK A FEW OF THEM. KEEP GOING BACK. RIGHT THERE.

THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH.

OKAY.

SO I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY, BECAUSE GETTING ALL THESE DIFFERENT NUMBERS, BECAUSE THE PITT COUNT IDENTIFIED 56 IN TOTALITY, AND HERE Where are those 56 in here? Is that the 65 now with the white checkmark?

Oh, yes. So the 65 number that you see there is for clients who are document ready. So that just means that they have all of their vital documents in order to get housed if they were to get pulled for permit supportive housing.

So we grew from 56 to 65 according to this sheet. THE ORIGINAL PET COUNT SAID 56.

So for those who were surveyed and were just viewed, they're technically part of the 2,542 client interactions when we see them face-to-face or even a phone call.

But your 2,542 clients, those are not clients. Those are contacts, interactions with maybe 60 people. You've met them that many times. I don't want the public misleading, thinking we have 2,542 clients. We don't. So the pit count, the results of the pit count was 56 persons, right?

Oh, okay, I see what you're saying, Mayor.

And now you're saying that now there's 65 on here as your clients are document ready. So we must have added a few more from our 56, obviously. Right?

So for the 56 from the PIT count, they would be included in the 593 clients enrolled from this past two years. So even though the client doesn't complete a full intake or a release of information, we still put them to the best of our knowledge into the homeless management service.

All right, let me make this more clear, because I don't want to keep going around and around. What is our current number of homeless persons that are in our streets? Ballpark, I'm not trying to hold you down. You have 56 at the pit count.

Yes, so there are 41 clients who are currently active with CityNet.

Perfect, so that I can say I have 41 homeless persons in my community. Okay, that's, and nowhere on this page does it say that. That's my point. So we can maybe somehow, when you guys do this presentation, wonderful information, but let's not confuse ourselves with these numbers, and we can identify that we actually have 41 You know what I'm saying? Perfect.

Yes, I meet on a biweekly basis with our data team, and so I can definitely give them the requested to add that number onto our dashboard.

Great, thank you. Okay, that's all I had. Nobody else is on the list, so thank you very much for that presentation.

Thank you so much, everyone. I appreciate your time.

Yep, keep up the good work, guys. You guys are really doing good. Okay, moving on to... Item 8 is our public comment. This is the period when any member of the public may bring a matter to the attention of the Mayor of the City Council. What? Oh, I sure did. I'm sorry. That's why they're all sitting out there. Item 7, our Youth Advisory Committee communications. This is going to be given by Alyssa Troop, our President of the Youth Advisory Committee. Sorry about that.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council, and city staff. My name is Alyssa Chuap, and I am honored to serve as the 2026-2027 president of the Youth Advisory Committee. Tonight, I am pleased to share a few upcoming YAC events. Our next YAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 1st, from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. in the council chambers. We encourage youth interested in leadership and community service to attend and get involved. YAC will also host an open mic night on Friday, September 4th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Statler Youth Center. We invite all youth to come out and showcase their talents. For the latest YAC updates and events, please follow us on social media at ParisYAC. Thank you to our mayor, city council, and city staff for your continued support of YAC and the youth of Paris. Have a wonderful evening.

Thank you, Alyssa. OK, now moving on to eat our public comment. This is the time when any member of the public may bring a matter to attention to the mayor or the City Council that is within our jurisdiction and is not on our agenda this evening. Madam Clerk, do you have any request to speak?

Yes Sir Ashley.

You ready for me? Hi, my name is Ashley. I'm with Rise Paris Pride. We are an organization for LGBTQIA citizens, allies, and their families. We meet up every last Saturday of the month, including this Saturday, August 29th, at 2.30 until 4.30. That's going to be at the community room in the Paris Library. And it's really hot, so we're making paper fans. We're gonna be discussing the queer history of popping and clacking fans as well. And afterwards we host our free market. Thank you so much to the homeless outreach team to do long term support. We do the short term support. We help out and give out Harm reduction supplies like Narcan. We will give out period pads or tampons for those who need them. We take shoe requests. We've given out at least 12 pairs of shoes now, not exclusively at the free market, just folks who need shoes. Everyone needs shoes. On that subject, I find it kind of appalling that we would... I was really offended, Malcolm, that you had said that homeless people are a danger to the public and themselves. Because not all of them are. All people can be a danger to themselves. All people can be a danger to the public. And people with houses do drugs and alcohol as well. So it's really stigmatizing to be homeless, especially because folks tend to put that idea on them. and it makes it a lot harder to help people, especially in the moment when you wanna just give a little bit of money because that's all you have and maybe that's all that they need. It's very helpful and I do it all the time. Buys them lunch. Anyways, I also wanted to follow up with the flock cameras. I know everybody's seen my emails and hopefully other emails because I understand that the renewal is up and I am also watching at deflock.org that more and more cameras are coming online. So is this more than the 99 in the contract? Why is the contract continuing without having voted on it? Maybe I just don't understand how the city council works. I would just assume that if a contract terms limit's coming up, that the item would automatically be added to an agenda or something like that. So why isn't that something that we are talking about? And I don't want to end things on such a crazy note. I had such a long day. In fact, I work nine to five. What a way to make a living. I'm barely getting by. It's all taking and it's no giving. Because they just use your mind and they never give you credit. And it's enough to let it drive you crazy if you let it. I want to say rest in peace to the queen of country and queer icon, Dolly Parton. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

That is all.

Thank you.

Yes, sir. We've got Franco Pacheco.

Franco Pacheco, if you're on, you've got three minutes, sir.

Hello. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Franco Pacheco. And thank you to Ashley for the rest in peace for Dolly Parton. It's very sad that we lost her today. And also, I agree with her. I think, Malcolm, you need to... kind of take a step back and reflect because sometimes if people want to give, they can give and we shouldn't stigmatize the homeless. It's very good that you guys have a homeless program and it seems like it's very successful and I applaud the city for that. I wanted to bring to the attention to the city council. The new gas station on Highway 74 at the end of Paris There's going to be an accident there at some point because the way the entrances and exits out of that Arco go by La Favorita Market, it's very dangerous. It's like a sharp turn into Indian Hills. So please have your city planners, somebody look at that traffic because it's very dangerous. And, you know, with the highway traffic right there on 74, honestly, I like the gas station because it's the cheapest gas as far as I know right now. But like the way the entrances and exits are out of that gas station, it's very concerning to me. Also, I wanted to thank Elizabeth Vejo for coming out to our event and participating. It was very powerful to hear from council members and when they participate with community organizations, we had a very excellent turnout. So I would like to thank her personally for that. And yeah, thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. Thank you.

Carlos Cervantes.

He beat me to it. I was going to thank Elizabeth too. But hey, why not? I'm already up here. Good evening, council. My name is Carla Cervantes. I came to speak about an update with the Freight Communities Action Coalition. We had a very well-attended community learning session. We had representatives from the Senator Cervantes. We had DOJ there. We had South Coast Air Quality Management District. And we had Elizabeth Viejo to come and talk educational about how to get involved with civic engagement. I think that when people apply for city council or for school board or things like that, the paperwork alone is pretty scary. I've never done it. I don't think I ever will. But it's good to know that there's somebody that is interested in educating the public. So it was cool to see the city of Paris represented in that way. We had close to 70 people in attendance talking about air quality, civic engagement on a Saturday morning. Like, that's a big deal to have anybody show up. Lunch was provided, which was a good thing. Aside from that, I'd like to invite you guys to some of our outings that we're having with the Sierra Club. Once it starts cooling down, we have canceled a few things just because it's so hot. I am seeing on the city website that there's about three cooling centers in the city or within the parish jurisdiction. I think one is in Good Hope. I was hoping that we could get with a community partnership to see if we can expand on that just because it is so hot outside. I don't even have my dogs outside because it is so ridiculously hot. You guys can't control the weather, but maybe we can open up more cooling centers. I know that the senior center is only for seniors. So I'm wondering if there's other buildings that could possibly act as cooling centers or maybe just to be able to bring more awareness of when kids should be out or not during inclement weather. Aside from that, these next words are just my own. Mayor Vargas, I know that a few months ago you had talked about, made a statement for ICE. I've come up here and talked a lot of stuff, and I don't regret it. But this was one of the few instances where I really felt like the community was really yearning for a statement on ICE. You're one of the few that said anything at all, which takes guts in the political climate that we're in. Recently we've been hearing from a lot of immigrant coalitions that there are a lot of stuff like that happening in our community and I feel like maybe a statement could be made again or maybe we can give resource or talk about it more just because this is affecting my family, it's affecting my neighbors and I know that it's affecting the community members too. Like we're seeing small businesses that we've talked to that are having super low amount of people coming in just because people are scared to go outside. So I'm hoping that just by me coming to say this, maybe there could be a statement. I know it might seem like the bare minimum, but honestly, like that's really what you guys could do. I know you guys do a lot of stuff in the background that we might not see. Maybe having a community workshop. I work with immigrant coalition people, so maybe we can work on something together. Thank you.

Thank you.

That is all.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, we've got a user named Todec in the chat.

Can you state your name, whoever's there from TODAC?

Hello, this is Luz Gallegos with DODEC. I wish I could be there in person, but out in Sacramento. But just calling in to give public comment around the flock cameras, this is something that's very concerning. And I know the contracts are for, I believe, negotiation. We should really think about the security of our residents. As it is our immigrant community, not only here in Paris, but throughout the region are suffering with fear and uncertainty. So please consider that. In addition, I do want to share that at the lake we have. A free immigration legal services on the daily at our office. We're having a clinic immigration clinic with our staff attorneys as well for community and know your rights, which is something that's Monday through Friday. So for community. Which you know, Paris community knows, but just want to continue bringing this up for our parents residents that we have free legal support. And in addition, we are offering. We have been offering home distribution for food deliveries. As you all know, maybe many families have been impacted.

Eden. She got disconnected.

Yes, it looks like that. Anybody else? Yes, we've got Juan Franco.

Juan Franco, you've got three minutes, sir.

Hi. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and staff, and community members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I just wanted to highlight, you know, Mead Valley Fire going on right now and hopefully residents there. our neighbors are doing well and have the resources needed. And I think for me, what it highlighted was more a little bit of Preemptive concern with at least the forecasted El Nino weather pattern. That's that's to come this fall I know pay the city of Paris has had somewhat of a flooding issues. So whatever means that the city is Utilizing to help folks, you know during that kind of season Just like the fire season would would be amazing to see come to fruition so that folks in in that state in that POSSIBLE SCENARIO ARE WELL RESOURCED FOR WHATEVER THEIR NEEDS ARE. WITH THAT, I YIELD MY TIME. THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. NEW SPEAKER P. THANK YOU.

NEW SPEAKER P. THAT IS ALL. NEW SPEAKER P. LOOKS LIKE THAT'S IT. MOVING ON TO ITEM 10, OUR CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM. I BELIEVE CITY MANAGER WOULD LIKE TO PULL 10-D, IS IT? EXCUSE ME? I MISS ANOTHER ONE? item nine approval of minutes 9a is considered to approve the minutes of the regular joint meeting held on july 28th 2026 of the city council and all the other agents agencies as listed on our agenda counseling may have any comments or questions if not i'll entertain a motion to approve a motion by mayor pro tem corona second by councilman rap please call the vote

BY VOTE, MOTION APPROVED.

THANK YOU. NOW MOVING ON TO ITEM 10, I MEAN... YES, ITEM 10, OUR CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM. MADAM CITY MANAGER, YOU HAD SOMETHING ON 10-D?

YES, THANK YOU, MAYOR. STAFF IS RECOMMENDING TO CONTINUE ITEM 10-D TO THE SEPTEMBER 8TH Council meeting in order to come back with a comprehensive timeline on the opening of the street closure now that we have more of a, we've heard back from Edison, from the other utility companies, we can come back with a timeline.

I have no objections. Anybody? Okay. Anybody else have anything they want to pull or separate vote discussion?

Yes. May I pretend? Item 10R, just for an amendment. To pull it, for a discussion. I'd like to pull it as well. Okay.

Well, we've got one already doing it. That's enough. Anybody else? All right. So we're looking for approval on 10A, C, E, F. GH. IJK LMN. OPQR. Not are who pulled are.

Malcolm pulled are.

Oh, I wrote that's because I wrote it somewhere else. I'm sorry. Alright, so all the way down to Q. Looking for motion. A motion by Councilman Rav, second by mighty Councilman Nava. Please call a vote.

5-0 motion approved.

Very good. Thank you. All right. Councilman or Mayor Pro Tem, you're up first on our.

Well, it seems like Councilman Reb had some issues regarding it. But the issue I have currently is, you know, we're dealing with our budget. We're voting on our budget right now. You know, it has nothing against what the chamber does. I THINK LAST YEAR THEY'VE DONE A GREAT JOB. I THINK THEY'VE DONE LOTS OF PROGRAMMING. I KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, WITH OUR NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPER OR ECONOMIC DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR HERE, YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT OUR CITY IS REALLY FOCUSED ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THIS YEAR. MY ONLY ISSUE WITH THIS ONE IS THAT WE'RE DOING IT A TWO-YEAR, AND I THINK IT'S MORE PRUDENT IF WE JUST STICK TO ONE YEAR. SO DO A ONE-YEAR CONTRACT.

Okay, very good. Councilman Reb?

Yes, thank you, Mayor Vargas. I'd like to thank everyone for providing the information for this item. About a month ago, I had requested the Chamber's financials, because I believe that if we're going to be expending $180,000 or $90,000 if we go with the one year, I'd like to see if their membership is actually able to sustain the Chamber. It's been over a month. I haven't received that, and this is not to talk negatively about anyone. But without that information, I cannot proceed. and vote yes on this. I do believe that it is imperative that we have some sort of idea in terms of if their membership, if they're self-sustaining, because we're already giving them $90,000 each year. That doesn't include the free winter we give them across the street. So given the fact that I haven't received that in over a month, I will be voting no on this item.

So for clarification, which information were you requesting? Because I know that we did receive information. I just wanted to make a clarification.

Yes, we received information regarding the state of the city, but we still have not received any information in terms of the amount of money they're getting in from dues or anything of that sort. So given the fact that I don't have that, I don't believe as a city council, or my personal belief, it's prudent to give our taxpayer funds, $90,000 or $180,000 to them.

Okay. You know, I do understand that you already gave your decision. Would you be open to extending it until maybe you give them more time to get that information?

Yes, I'd be available to that. Maybe the next meeting or the meeting after that.

Okay.

Anybody else want to have a comment? So the service they're providing is retention in our, the bulk is our small businesses. I think they're doing a really good job. They are providing all the information necessary of the $90,000 that the city is giving. They're holding that accountable line by line. Their other financials, that's not in their contract. This is a business. We don't require any other business in the city to show your financials. They're providing all the financials necessary that covers the money that the city is giving them. And I think that's sufficient to be asking for beyond that. That's a little out of the norm.

I don't think it's too much to ask for where exactly our taxpayer dollars are going to. YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE ASK ANYBODY.

BUT THAT'S THE INFORMATION YOU GOT.

YEAH. YOU KNOW, BUT WHETHER THEY CAN BE SUSTAINABLE AND WHEN THAT CAN HAPPEN, I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT TO ASK.

IT'S NOT A HEARING. SORRY.

Yeah, so the information you were requesting, Council Member, for clarification, because I'm just thinking about the stuff that we did receive.

Yeah, we received a lot of information. I'm just wondering, in terms of their membership, retention, what sort of money they're bringing in. And what sparked that was we received the invoices, and I believe one of the invoices was for the lunch with friends. They were invoicing us $350 for that. I just had questions that does it really cost $350 to have a reoccurring brown bag lunch? So I just wanted to see their expenditures. We're already giving them. free rent across the street, which is at least the $3,000 a year incentive. We're also giving them, there's some debatable topics in terms of our videographer. We're making the videos, providing the videos for the state of the city. And I've heard different things. Some people are saying, well, that's the city. The city can draw back and not do the state of the city. So we're doing that. And then just in terms of our hours, we're sending staff to their events, which is on us. But I just think I just need some more clarification in terms of more transparency. And this is not to talk negative about them. I just cannot vote for this without that information.

Madam City Attorney, are we even allowed to require their financials?

You can require it, and it's up to them whether they want to share it or not.

Do you have a public comment? All right, let's hear from the public comment.

Jerry Sepulveda.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, and staff. Just to clarify, just doing math, we have 225 members. At $300 a member, that's about $70,000. So we are self-efficient. The MOU is basically for the services that we are providing to infuse into our programming. So that's why I sat with every single one of you to go over every single thing we were doing and how robust it's becoming. And this year, it's going to become more robust. So as far as providing financials, we gave you exactly where all your money is going because that's a part of the MOU to make sure you guys know exactly where it's going. As far as anything else, we're providing everything that's required. We are self-efficient. Like if you guys end up pulling the money, it's like, yeah, we would end up downsizing because what you guys are doing is being able to help us grow and help all the businesses, not just members. For example, Better Buzz came out. They couldn't do a, A JOB FAIR BECAUSE CORPORATE SAID, HEY, IT'S TOO SHORT NOTICE AND THEY'RE SHORT STAFF TO DO A JOB FAIR. BECAUSE WE HAVE THESE FUNDS, I'M ABLE TO, WITHIN DAYS WE SCHEDULED IT AND NOW ON THURSDAY WE HAVE A JOB FAIR, WE'RE GETTING A LOT OF RESPONSES, WE'RE HELPING HOSTING IT BECAUSE WE WEREN'T WORRIED IF THERE WERE MEMBERS OR NOT. So with the MOU, this allows us to be able to really expand, not just with members, but non-members. Now, if they become a member, great. But our intention wasn't like, I'm going to do this because I need you to become a member because we need to survive. It's more, it shows the partnership between the city and the chamber on what we're able to do for our business retention. See, with Ben here, now we're going to be able to get more in. The people that he knows, we're going to be getting businesses in, and then the chamber's going to be able to help retain those and maintain those businesses within. So it's a great partnership that we have going. I hope we're good with one year, Malcolm. I mean, we're fine. We just want to continue the progress, continue growing. But we have given everything that is required regarding the MOU, and you guys know exactly where all that money is going. So that's my statement.

Thank you. And that's where I was coming at, too. I mean, they're providing all the necessary information to show where the city funds are going. And, yes, it is a partnership, not just the city, but specifically with our – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TEAM WHICH IS YOU ALL KNOW BEN JUST JUMPED OUT OF THE GATE LIKE A CHARGER AND I MEAN BUT THAT'S ONE ASPECT THE CHAMBER IS NOT DOING WHAT HE'S DOING IT'S ALL ABOUT RETENTION AND EDUCATING OUR ENTREPRENEURS OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES AND FACE IT WITHOUT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES WE WOULDN'T BE AS SUCCESSFUL AS WE ARE YES WE HAVE big boxes that have been here for a long time, or the bigger guys doing things, but it's not just them. We survive on all our little local businesses, and that's the retention part where our chamber comes and works and educate, and they even are doing . Those are programs in the Spanish community helping all our Spanish folks who don't speak English work out with their businesses. Anybody else?

I am actually very happy for the Chamber. They've been doing very well. Even since last year, they've been providing a lot of services and given with all the conversations that we're having right now, I'm happy with just doing a year contract to move forward because they've been beneficial to all of our businesses.

Okay. I'm looking for a motion.

I motion to have this be a year contract.

To approve it for one year?

For one year.

I will second that motion since nobody else is doing it. Where do I do that? I don't do this.

Mr. Mayor, we've got one over Zoom still. A public comment from Juan Franco.

I can't hear you, sir. Speak up.

We've got a public comment still on Zoom for Juan Franco. For this item? Yes, sir. Okay.

Mr. Franco, go ahead, sir.

Good evening, honorable Mayor and City Council once more. Yeah, I did have my hand raised up. Maybe I didn't catch in time. So apologize. But I'm in agreement with the positive level of scrutiny we should take with with any contract. And I would extend the same level of scrutiny that we had towards you know, how we are funding our our homeless programs, I would treat the same for something like the Chamber, which I appreciate all the business and all the positive things that they're doing. But, you know, our return on investment with our taxpayer-funded funds, I think it's worth giving a certain level of scrutiny to the Chamber and any other contractor for the city. With that, I yield my time. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, so we have a motion and a second.

Well, I'm sorry, for a question for a city attorney. If this motion were to fail, then could we propose a subsequent motion right after?

Yes, absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

All right, call the vote, please.

Vallejo, Vargas, yes. Rabb, Nava, Corona, no.

Okay, I would like to propose a subsequent motion that we bring this item back and hopefully that allows them more time to communicate between our city and the chamber to get whatever information to make it more transparent for our council to make an informed decision. So we can bring that back to the next meeting.

Sorry, before I proceed, is that something that the chamber would be amenable to? Because I didn't hear confirmation from the speaker.

So no, we provided everything that was required. And I don't know if this is common practice with all your other services that you're contracted with. to check their financials. So as far as our budget, like I said, we're self-efficient if that's your concern. If you take away the money, we've been around for 113 years, so we'll continue on. It just won't be as robust or obviously you wouldn't want to continue the partnership, which is totally up to you guys. We're here to be a partner with you guys. So everything we provided was exactly what was required. So there's no reason. We are self-efficient. If you take it away, we're just going to pivot and do what we have to do to just continue on.

Wait, hold on. I think that's kind of unfair. So you guys are saying that you will only vote yes if they're willing to give up the finances when they already gave finances. That doesn't make sense. That seems pretty unfair. I mean, I don't think they're hiding anything either. Like, they are with us throughout the whole time. They go to every business. I just don't see why it has to go that deep.

I don't understand what the financials have to do with the services we're providing. You're contracting us for services. So if we're not delivering those services, then let me know. Then we could discuss more further from there. But as far as our financials, what does that have to do with the services that we're providing? I don't know if you guys do that with the construction companies that bid, and then you have to, hey, give me your budget before they do the streets. I don't know your process. So that's why are we, what are we being asked for something differently than all your other services that you guys contract with?

It's not a Q&A. Thank you. All right, so let's go back. You were doing a second motion.

Yeah, well, you know, just for clarification, you know, I was ready to move forward for a year, but I did have a council member that had a good point. I mean, they felt like they weren't provided with all the necessary information to make a necessary decision. An informed decision. I know we've done that before for other people that needed more time.

But you're asking for information. Hold on. You're asking for information. You didn't ask to speak, so I'm going to talk now. YOU'RE ASKING FOR SOMEONE TO PROVIDE FINANCIALS OUTSIDE OF THE MONEY THAT THEY'RE BEING GIVEN BY THE CITY. WHO'S ASKING THAT? YOUR COLLEAGUE OVER HERE.

OKAY.

YOU'RE ASKING FOR FINANCIALS OUTSIDE OF WHAT IS...

I'M SORRY. THIS IS UNPROFESSIONAL.

LET ME FINISH. LET ME JUST FINISH THE ONE STATEMENT. YOU'RE ASKING FOR FINANCIALS THAT ARE NOT CITY TAXPAYERS' MONEYS. THEY'RE COVERING THAT. THEY PROVIDED ALL THE INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED. AND YOU WERE WILLING TO GO WITH ONE YEAR, BUT BECAUSE ONE PERSON WANTS SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF THAT, WE'RE GOING TO STOP EVERYTHING?

I THINK THE PURPOSE OF HAVING A DISCUSSION WITH ALL FIVE OF US HERE IS THAT SOMETIMES SOME COUNCILMEMBERS COULD BRING UP A POINT THAT CHANGES THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS. I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE EVERYBODY BE BEFORE THIS. I THINK THE CHAMBER, I MEAN, PERSONALLY, I THINK THE CHAMBER HAS BEEN DOING A GREAT JOB. BUT COUNCILMAN RAB HAS BROUGHT UP A GOOD POINT THAT HE FELT LIKE THERE WAS SOME INFORMATION THAT WAS REQUESTED THAT WASN'T PROVIDED. AND THIS IS AN ENTITY THAT RECEIVES TAXPAYER FUNDS, SO WE SHOULD BE HOLDING THEM TO A CERTAIN STANDARD.

AND THEY ARE PROVIDING YOU INFORMATION OF THE FUNDS THAT YOU'RE GIVING THEM. That's what I don't understand. I can't understand what you're asking for. They provided everything, every line item they spend on State of the City and all the programming they're doing for us to help retention in our community with our local businesses. That's all they're required to do.

So I guess to speed this up, you know, if we could just maybe have more time. It seems like some people need more time. I'm not saying let's deny it, but I'm just saying we should give them more time to the next meeting.

I think you just heard the president say they've provided all the information that they're going to give.

Well, I mean, you know, it's probably a conversation that we could have later on then. So I'm motioning that we have more, bring it back to the next meeting.

Let's move on motion.

Looking for a second, I'll second that. Call the vote. I have to go along with this. It gives us an opportunity to survive our chamber.

Rab, Nava, Corona, Vargas, yes. Vallejo, no.

Okay. Next up is item 11, public hearings. We have none. All right, apparently there was a public comment request for 10B. Are they still here? Yes. Come on up, sir. Sorry about that.

Jose Osuna.

Good evening mayor and council members. I just want to wish a happy late birthday to the Paris bike path. It's over like six years old and since then I've been an avid user of that said trail. And I hope you guys vote to expand this because it's six years in the making and it should go past the metro link. I think it should go down to Menifee personally. And I do want to express some concerns with it, though. I think that the bike trail, I think it should include more shade and vegetation. If you miss your morning steps by the time like 11 to like later hits, like the sun is just beaming on you. And I think there should be more trees there along the path. And for aesthetic purposes, I think I understand it's a storm drain, so we can't really have like plants in the bottom of like the storm drain. But I think for aesthetic purposes, I think the bike path could benefit from having plants on the side with native plants. If you guys want to learn more about that, I can send you guys articles regarding native plants, for example, milkweed. It's fantastic for monarch butterflies, and it helps them lay eggs. So just a thought. And as you guys expand this bike path, I also want to express that you guys should also take a look into the current bike infrastructure that's in the city of Paris. I think the system in the city is good, but I think it should also expand within the city if we consider expanding the main bike path. For example, Redlands Avenue, that road, I don't understand why there isn't a bike path for like the rest of the road i think it's phenomenal i think it's like textbook definition like hey there should be a bike path right there and i also think there should also be some boundaries on these bike paths because on east rider street where that cluster of warehouses are sometimes some trucks go down that road and god forbid if a driver isn't paying attention there's like no physical boundary right there to protect you so that's all i have to say and thank you thank you that is all

Okay, moving on to item 11 for public hearings. We have none. Item 12 is business items. 12a is consideration to adopt proposed resolution number next in order. The board of the successor agency to the redevelopment agency approving the preliminary official statement and continuing disclosure agreement in the connection with the issuance of a sale of the Successor Agency 2026 Tax Allocation Refunding Bonds, authorized in April of 2026. This will be introduced by our Director of Finance, Matthew Schenck.

Matthew Schenck Thank you, Honorable Mayor and members of the Council. Yes, we have our Municipal Advisor, Jim Fabian from Fieldman Rolep and Associates.

Thanks, Matt. Good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. Pleasure to be here tonight to go through a brief item related to the refunding of the city's 2015 tax allocation refunding bonds. Back in 2015, the city issued the 2015 series a series b tax allocation refunding bonds to refund debt of the successor agency from 01 02 and 06 presently there's 10.6 million of the series a bonds outstanding 14.7 million dollars of the series b bonds outstanding these bonds can be refunded at 100% at this present time. Previously, we had worked with the successor agency to refund the 2015 bonds, the 2018 bonds, and the 2019 bonds. And the reason we work with staff to look at refunding these bonds, it provides more money back to Main Street and not to Wall Street. So it's a really good thing not only for the city, but also for the other taxing entities within the boundaries of the city. A brief overview of the timeline. We were here on April 28th to start the proceedings. On June 17th, we went to the Riverside County Oversight Board for their approval, which was received. On July 17th, Department of Finance approved the refunding we received a double a minus rating from standard and pores which was a really excellent rating for the for the debt issuance we're in front of you tonight to approve the last two items the preliminary official statement and the continuing disclosure agreement we're set to sell the refunding bonds september 2nd close on september 19th and the bonds would be redeemed on october the 19th tonight in front of you in your packet You have a resolution of the successor agency approving the preliminary official statement and the continuing disclosure agreement. It also provides direction and authority for staff to complete any necessary actions to complete the refunding. As I mentioned earlier, we were in front of you on April the 28th to start this process for ending up to where we are tonight. So just briefly to look at market conditions as of July 31st, we have approximately savings of $1,450,000 on a net present value savings. That's about $1.25 million, which is about 5% of the outstanding prior bonds. The average annual savings is approximately $160,000. The city doesn't get all that money. because of the way property taxes are distributed to all the taxing entities, your share is about 15%, which is roughly $210,000 or $23,000 a year. As I mentioned tonight, in front of you in your packet, you have the preliminary official statement. The Continuing Disclosure Agreement, or I think I went the wrong way, sorry. The preliminary official statement. That document is the document that the underwriter uses to market the bonds to potential investors. It contains all material facts and information they need to make a decision whether to buy the bonds or not. Also, this is a document that is required that you have read and approve in the actions tonight. Additionally, as part of that document, we have the continuing disclosure agreement. This is the document that describes the annual disclosure the city needs to make to the marketplace to keep bond investors informed about the successor agency tax increment projections and revenues that are received will dan financial services serves as the city's dissemination agent and they work with the finance department on that endeavor each year as i discuss we have set september 2nd for the bond sale the closing would be on september 17th and the bonds would be redeemed on october the 19th we have anita luck from outshire and winder bond council here tonight Once again, Jim Fabian of Fieldman Rollap, your municipal advisor. Rick Brandes of Oppenheimer and Company is here as well. Mahia of Ramirez and Company is the co-underwriter on this transaction. Happy to answer any questions that you have regarding the proposed refunding.

Councilman, do we have any questions, comments? Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

You're off the hook, Jim. Thank you. Thank you. All right, looking for... Oh, you said no on public comment, right? Looking for a motion on IT. We're good? Yes, sir. All right. Looking for a motion on the resolution. I have a motion by Councilwoman Nava, second by Councilman Rapp. Please call the vote.

5-0 motion approved.

Thank you. 12B, consideration to approve the fiscal year 2026-27 beginning of the year budget amendments introduced by our Director of Finance, Matthew Schenke.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. First of all, I apologize for having two back-to-back finance items. We try not to do that to you guys. Yes, today we are presenting fiscal year 2026-27 amendments. We just started the second year of our biannual budget. That two-year budget was passed July 1st, 2026. The second year of the budget typically becomes more volatile. There will be more adjustments just because a year is a long way apart. When we passed that budget, we had an original revenue of $89.9 million. We had expenses at 89.8 million with a one year surplus of just 85,000. Since then, as you know, we've had the passage of Measure B in June. That money actually kicks in in October. With that, we will see about 12.8 million in additional revenue. Once the full year is in effect, we expect that to bring in about 18 to 20 million. This is going to be a little bit of a confusing presentation just because we've had some recent things happen. The city was under a sales tax adjustment under the Bradley Burns. I will go in a little more detail on the next slide. But currently, the city's projected sales and use tax under Bradley Burns is negatively adjusted by $2 million. I'll explain that in a second. and obviously both the finance department and city manager met with all departments i first of all got to give kudos to all them for having to come in and take their time with me outside of their regular activities to to compile this so it really is all departments citywide not just finance A little timeline. This started back in the beginning of June when we met with all departments. Takes a long time to compile, revise, get everything in line with what does the city need, what do the residents of the city need. July 29th, the city manager met with finance and assistant city manager to really clean up and highlight the priorities of the city. And then August 7th, we took this to the Ways and Means Committee, which their suggestion was to move forward and present as is to the City Council. August 25th, obviously, here we are now. So this is where it may get a little confusing. Feel free to stop me at any time. uh just yesterday we found out the city was originally negatively pulled from bradley burns six million dollars we found out yesterday morning we expect we're already cleared about four million of that so now we only have about two million that's currently being pulled from us we expect that two million still to come in however we can't budget for that at the moment So with that, we now have a revised revenue increase of my original 89 million. We now are adding 10.8 million, and we are projecting for the first time in city history that we are breaking the $100 million revenue in our general fund. Nice. With that, the expenditures had no change. We're revising expenditures up 6.08 million for a net amendment of 4.7 million. Now, like I was saying, two days ago, we were assuming that was only a $710,000 adjustment because of that pullback on the Bradley Burns. And with that now, we're projecting a $4.7 million one-year surplus. Like I mentioned in the beginning, we had just an $85,000 surplus. Now, with the Bradley Burns mostly getting cleared, as well as the Measure B, we're looking at a $4.7 million surplus for the year. This Bradley Burns, I've kind of covered it now, currently just two million is being held under review. The city works with HDL, and HDL actually went and requested to the CDTFA, California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, to audit. And so as a result of that, we know we're comfortable that four million is coming in this year, and two million is still pending. just to give you an idea of what this was looking like if measure b had not passed uh with the six million we were looking at a cut to about seven percent of our general fund budget for the current year or go into reserves so it was a little shaky but we're looking good now On to the actual amendments by the department. Some of the larger, the total requests for expenditures is 5.8 million. Larger ones are self-funded insurance. This is PERMA. These are our insurance premiums that we have to pay. We don't have an option to go uninsured on the city. Municipal services, 230,000 being requested. Public works, 785,000. Police services, 3.6 million, and fire service, 150,000. Things to point out, 66% of these requests are coming for straight public safety. Very common with our city, as I've mentioned in other presentations, public safety tends to be 45 to even 50% of a general fund budget. Self-funded insurance is covering 10% of these requests. So just right off the bat, 76% is between our insurance for the city as well as public safety. And then the remaining departments are requesting 24%.

A couple new positions that we are requesting.

First is an engineering inspector one. I believe we're on year three of engineering being in-house, so we are still filling positions and building out as needed. However, this position will have no fiscal impact to the general fund. This will be covered by contract staffing that we currently use. Next, we have risk specialists. This is a budget amendment to the general fund, has a $160,000 fiscal impact, and this is to offset additional contract reviews. with obviously all the contracts that the city has going. An additional custodian is being requested at a fiscal impact of $74,000. And I do want to point out these fiscal impacts are assuming that these positions started July 1 of this year. Obviously, we're already in August, so these impacts are not going to be what we're showing. But we still budget conservative, high on expenses, lower on revenues. And lastly, maintenance worker one, we're requesting two additional positions, but these are no impact to the general fund. These are paid for out of the benefit zones. Just kind of a graph of showing what we originally looked like with what we are looking now. You can see almost can't tell a difference on the far left. That's our original revenue and expenditures. It's so large you can't see the $89,000 surplus that was in there. And now the requested amendments in the middle, you can see a little bit of a break. And then with the budget with amendments on the right side, you can see a little bit more of a break. Like I mentioned, original surplus was 85,000. With the current amendments, we're net positive revenue of 4.7. And projected surplus is also 4.7 for the year. With that, happy to answer any questions anyone may have. Like I said, departments are here as well, if there's any specifics.

Thank you, Matthew. Madam Clerk, do we have any public comments on this?

No, sir.

I don't see any on Zoom. Council, anybody have questions or comments? Mayor Pro Tem.

Let me put a request to speak. I guess the biggest increase, obviously, was police services. Correct. So if I could have somebody, a representative from the Sheriff's Department. I want to say police services, but. Thank you, Chief Lamb. Yes, sir. For those that might be at home that might not know what a CBAT is, it was $450,000. Can you just briefly explain what a CBAT is and what they do?

Yeah, it's a deputy that rides with a full-time mental health clinician provided by the county. And they respond to all, when they're on duty, all calls involving subjects undergoing any mental health crisis. So they're trained just for that.

Okay. And before we didn't have to pay for that, or was it specifically the Paris? Why are we paying for that now?

We did have one out of the Paris station, but moving forward down the line with other budget cuts within the county or for our department, that's possibly more than likely going to go away.

Okay. And so that's EBAT that we are paying for. Are we sharing that with any other entity?

You're not paying for one right now.

We're not paying for one.

Moving forward with this budget, yes, we would have a full-time deputy and mental health clinician.

Strictly for the city of Paris. Strictly for the city of Paris. Let's say someone's having a mental health crisis in Balamo. It happens to be the county. But the CBAC goes there.

is that something that we invoice the county for later on or how would that work so no so when we break down what we bill you guys with patrol and other things is every every day a deputy turns in a log for what they dig that day and so if there's something that took them out of the city that gets reduced from the bill so you do not get charged for it gotcha thank you and then um

So I know in the past, we always see an increase in services, fire safety and police safety. And ever since I've been here, we've always voted in favor for it. Anything you guys have asked for, we've always done. But the recent increase, the $3 million increase, that might be- The largest increase, if not the largest increase that we've ever had, that represents about 12.5% increase.

So about a year and a half ago, the County Board of Supervisors approved pay increases for the deputies union. And that's what has for this contract is what's driven up the contract rate. as high as it has this go around. You know, we always look down the road that, you know, depending on what the board approves is kind of what drives your contract rate. And so to retain and keep the deputies, because we were at the lower end of the spectrum compared to all the other counties, they had to get pay raises to retain them. And so that we can be competitive with other counties. Okay.

These are all the questions I have for you. Thank you. Appreciate it. I THINK ONE OF THE HIGHER ITEMS WAS PUBLIC WORKS. AND YOU KNOW WHAT, I WANT TO THANK YOU GUYS FOR GIVING US THE BREAKDOWN, BUT IT'S ALL SIDEWAYS, RIGHT? IT'S KIND OF DIFFICULT. BUT WHAT WAS THE HIGHEST EXPENSE FOR PUBLIC WORKS?

I'VE GOT THAT FOR YOU ONCE.

MAYBE MR. HILL.

Yes, highest items, vehicles, for example. Majority of that's fleet. So Public Works fleet department will purchase vehicles for other departments. Largest one is a animal control vehicle. We actually have one from 2008 that's still in service. And those vehicles spend a lot of time idling and keeping air conditionings going for both the animals and for the animal officer. THE NEXT LARGEST ITEM IS A 300,000 TO GO TOWARDS CIP. THAT'S ACTUALLY FOR DESIGN WORK ON A NEW PUBLIC WORKS FACILITY. BEYOND THAT, THE NEXT ONE IS 110,000 FOR new maintenance management software. If you have specifics on that, I can defer that over to Bryant. But it's much more customizable than what we have now. You want to touch on what else?

No, you know, I think you did explain it. But if you want to go ahead and clarify that for the public.

I'll clarify a couple things. The animal control vehicle is about $180,000 vehicle because they do come with the box and AC unit separate from the pickup truck itself. So you have to buy the cabin chassis and then you have to buy the box with the AC unit. So those are roughly around $180,000. The management software currently that we have does not have a fleet management system with it. So we have to kind of manually, like old school, have a spreadsheet. So when we do maintenance on our facility or in our fleet facility vehicles, we manually input what the mileage is, what everything that is done on that vehicle, and then we just kind of keep that spreadsheet ongoing. But this new software, not only for fleet management, it is more automated for that. but then also what it does is it gives us a real time of our maintenance cost of say like our facilities so it'll keep track of the cost that we are spending at city hall or development services so i'll have a running total of our maintenance cost of each facility throughout the city

Okay, great. Thank you. And then, you know, I feel really embarrassed, but I have one more question for our sheriff. It's a $31,000 question.

He's still here.

Yeah. Sorry. Sorry about that. For the last question I have as you're walking up here. There was something called a domestic violence exams. Is that exam for, well, maybe you can explain that because I'm trying to figure that one out.

So years ago, we paid for what we call like a rape examination, a SART examination for rape victims. And over the last couple of years, they've developed the same type of medical evaluation for domestic violence victims. So not all of them go to it. But it's there for them if they want to do it, and that's where we have a forensic expert actually medically look at them, look at their injuries, create a report so that down the road when it goes to court, it can be presented to show the injuries they've suffered.

Okay, so it's an exam for victims, essentially. Okay, like a kid, okay.

Yeah, and it's become a new thing, and so it's getting used more. Okay. So it's just driving the cost up.

Okay, totally understand. I thought I was thinking it was an exam for you guys or something. I wasn't sure. Like, you know, for expertise, right? No, not at all. Okay, gotcha. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. That's all the questions I have. Thank you.

Anybody else? All right, confirming we had no public comment, right? No, sorry. Okay, I'm at this time calling for a motion on the item. A motion by Mayor Pro Tem Rona, second by Councilwoman Vallejo, call the vote.

By vote, motion approved.

Thank you. To all seats, consideration to approve the modification of the Cesar Chavez bronze sculpture. This will be introduced by Public Services Director, Sabrina Chavez.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council. On April 14th, the city council directed staff to explore modifications to the existing Cesar Chavez bronze sculpture located at the Paris Library on the southwest corner of Paris Boulevard and San Jacinto Avenue. Following City Council's direction, staff did explore two design and cost options for the consideration by the Parks and Recreation Committee. The first option was to install a new individual installation estimated at 140,000 plus labor, equipment, and contingency. The second option was to modify the existing sculpture estimated at 54,000 plus contingency. On June 3rd, 2026, the Parks and Recreation Committee reviewed both options and recommended modifications to the existing sculpture as the more feasible option. The committee also requested modifications to the sculpture, to the design by artist Peter Hazel, who's also a sculptor. These modifications include changes to the facial features to emulate a farm worker, modification of the right arm to hold a shovel, the addition of a wide brim hat with rounded edges while preserving the remaining sculpture elements. The proposed scope of services by the artist consists of on-site measurement, removal, assembly, and welding, off-site fabrication, and a timeline completion within six months. The total estimated project cost is $60,000, which includes the artist's fee, materials, labor, logistics, insurance, and 10% contingency. In addition, our Public Works team completed updates to the Paris Library signage at the library entrance on San Jacinto and along the exterior arched window trim as you see in the photos before you. At this time, and as recommended by the Parks and Recreation Committee, staff is requesting that the City Council consider and approve the proposed modifications to the existing bronze sculpture. The artist is also available joining via Zoom and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Sabrina. Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

Council, any questions or comments? If not, Councilman Corona, I mean, Rab?

Yes. Generally, to the Parks Committee, was there any discussion about maybe keeping the book, reshaping the face, so maybe it's a grandfather or a father? with the two children, kind of, because we're in front of a library, like, hey, I'm showing you knowledge. Maybe, you know, like, see how the revised faces, the mustache, the hair is different. Maybe putting that head on the Chavez statue, but keeping the book. Because I put it on social media, and I had a few comments where people were like, it's a library. We want to show, like, hey. This is a place of learning. Because I do think, I know what we're getting at, farm workers, Chavez was a farm worker, we're moving from the individual more toward the movement. But I do think that people don't have that context. They may say, well, why is this guy out here with a shovel? when there's a library and it's more like a book, you know, we'll kind of promote literacy, promote a father or grandfather teaching his children or grandchildren, like, hey, this is the path. So that was just my kind of like general question, but my kind of feeling toward this generally.

I think for us, when we had the committee meeting, since now we're focusing on farmer workers and just everything that they've done, that's why we focus on just the shovel. But I'm more than happy to do the book. I think the book does make sense because it's right next to the library. So I agree with it.

YEAH, I THINK PRETTY MUCH WHAT COUNCILMAN VALLEJO WAS STATING, YOU KNOW, FOR THE COMMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, THE COMMENTS THAT WE HEARD, KIND OF JUST, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE, YOU HAVE THE BASE RIGHT THERE WHERE YOU HAVE THE CROPS RIGHT THERE. IT'S KIND OF GOING FORWARD WITH THE AGRICULTURAL THEME, WHICH WAS PREVALENT HERE IN THE CITY OF PARIS. IT COULD BE INTERPRETED, YOU KNOW, IN DIFFERENT WAYS, RIGHT? I MEAN, THE LITTLE BOYS KIND OF POINTING TO THE FUTURE. AND, YOU KNOW, HERE IN THIS COMMUNITY, PEOPLE CAME FROM ALL OVER THE PLACE. And they were kind of just looking to the future. And I think, you know, having a library in the background is, you know, it's kind of like, hey, you also focus on education as well. I wish we could incorporate a book somewhere. But then I also understand the theme of the shovel or the or the farm tool as well, too. We can we can obviously take it back. You know, it's not going to go anywhere anytime soon. But if that's something that the rest of council thinks is important as well, too, I'm open to all ideas.

Well, save some money. One less feature to move, remove, replace.

My reading of it would be if the father, grandfather had a book, you change the head. It's like he has the fruit at the bottom. Like, hey, I had to do this. I had to work in agriculture. But hey, kids, this is the future. We're going to get you an education. We're going to move beyond that. So it could be constructed that way. I'm not going to throw a fit if the council wants to go with the shovel. I just think the book would be more, people would understand that more because it's in front of the library. The shovel, you have to explain it and the people are like, oh, okay, I get it now. They'd have to know the context that the library was once named the Cesar Chavez Library, the context of the statue. But I think the book with the changing of the head, maybe get rid of the hat, but have like, it's like a grandfather, father. He's with his children. He's like, hey, this is a book of moving toward the future. So that was just my kind of, we can quote it, get a quote from the artist. I think he's on Zoom. Maybe we can get a quote. Maybe... I don't want to put him on the spot because he's probably gonna have to think about it, but is it something that he thinks he can do?

Well, I'm sure he can do, but that's, that'll have to go back to committee and then let him do it the right way. But I'd like to hear from Todak. They raised their hand now. So we do have a public comment. I'm assuming that's you Luz Gallegos.

I, I.

You there Luz?

Can you hear me?

Yes, now I can.

Yes, hi, . Yes, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the committee. I do understand the whole book concept, but at the end of the day, we cannot hide the history of Paris. I think in addition to the shovel, if we could consider doing a portito, which is a shovel that, you know, farm workers used to use, and of course, a lot of advocacy to get rid of that, but then it just goes back to the history of Paris. And the book maybe, could hold the shove the cortito the shovel in one hand and then the book in the other i just feel that if we get rid of that concept we're gonna get we're gonna diminish the farm worker movement in the city of paris or maybe having the kids call the book or having both concepts but i do understand the whole book concept because at the same time you know coming from THAT FARMWORKER BACKGROUND, A LOT OF US DECIDED, WE WORKED IN THE FIELDS, AND THEN WE DECIDED TO GO ON TO HIGHER EDUCATION. SO, YOU KNOW, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, we want to make sure that we don't lose the concept of the farm worker movement because that's the whole a lot of advocacy to get bring the library to the city of paris the funding from the state and then to a lot of organizing to make sure that we had representation of our farm worker movement in the city of paris so there's a lot of history it's not just THE NAME AND ALL OF THAT BUT IT'S ALL THE MOVEMENT THAT TOOK PLACE TO GET TO WHERE WE'RE AT IN THE CITY OF PARIS AND JUST TO EVEN SECURE FUNDING TO BRING A LIBRARY TO OUR TO OUR CITY SO THERE'S A LOT OF THAT GOING ON SO I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW THAT WE DON'T LOSE THAT THE FARM WORKER CONCEPT UM AND BUT I DO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE BOOK BUT UM I THINK THE COMMITTEE YOU KNOW WE COULD THINK OF ALL THESE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS BUT REALLY HONING IN AND MAKING SURE THAT WE DON'T LOSE THAT THE WHOLE PIECE OF THE FARM WORKER MOVEMENT. BECAUSE IF WE DO, THEN WE'RE GOING TO BURY A LOT OF ORGANIZING, A LOT OF ADVOCACY, AND A LOT OF THE HISTORY OF OUR CITY OF PARIS.

THANK YOU, LUZ.

WELL, I RECOMMEND YOU GUYS TAKE IT BACK TO YOUR COMMITTEE THERE.

Yeah, we'll take it back, but if we could have, maybe if anyone wants to kind of just put a description of what they think it might look like. With AI, you can come up with all kinds of stuff, scenarios, but if we could have maybe the rest of the council maybe write like a little blurb of what they might want to see in there, then we could kind of compile it together. But we'll definitely consider all thoughts. Thank you.

All right, I need a motion, though, to take it back to the committee.

Can I come back to council since it seems like the committee vetted it and at that point to facilitate it because as of now I'm concerned that the monument has been covered and it's just unsightly. So if we could get the ball rolling sooner than later and rather than go back to the committee and then back to council, if we could do as council member Corona mentioned is let staff know ahead of time and that way we could compile a staff report that shows our finalized thoughts.

You can do that. So everybody needs to send the city manager what they would like to see on it. and then she can give it to Sabrina and Sabrina can work with the artists and say, come up with two or three scenarios and then we can finalize that at the next, when he's done, when he's ready. Will that work?

Yeah, thank you.

You want to make that motion?

Mr. Mayor, we've got a public comment still on Zoom from Mr. Franco Pacheco.

I will take this last person. Mr. Pacheco, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say I THINK INCORPORATING THE FARM WORKERS MOVEMENT IS VERY IMPORTANT. MY GRANDFATHER WAS A PLACERO. AND RIGHT NOW THERE'S A WOMAN THAT I MET WHEN WE DID AN EVENT IN SAN BERNARDINO COLLEGE WHERE THE GRANDSON OF EMILIO ZAPATA, EDGAR ZAPATA, CAME OUT. He did a presentation on like revolution and the history of our peoples. Her name is Rosa Marta Zarate. And she goes around and finds these farm workers that, THE BRACEROS FROM BACK IN THE DAY BECAUSE A LOT OF THEM WERE FRAUDED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT FOR THEIR PAYCHECKS DURING THAT PROGRAM. SO I DO THINK THAT ALTHOUGH I APPRECIATE RAB'S INTEREST IN THE KNOWLEDGE THING, I DO THINK THAT IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE KEEP THE FARM WORKER Spirit right there because a lot of us come from immigrant families. A lot of comes from farm worker families and I just really think it's important to keep it in there. That's all the comments I wanted to make. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Pacheco.

So your motion is that have everybody send their information to city manager and then she'll forward it to Sabrina and then to the artists. Is there a second on that? So we have a motion by Councilwoman Navas, second by Councilman Raab, please call the vote.

I have a motion approved.

Thank you. Okay, 12D is consideration to introduce the first reading by title only, a proposed ordinance number next in order, amending chapter 8.05 labeled noisy animals and related provisions of the Paris Municipal Code. This will be introduced by our Director of Municipal Enforcement Services, Robert Trejo.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council members. This item will be introduced by our Animal Control Supervisor, Ms. Christina Avila.

Thank you.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, City Council, and City staff. I'm bringing forward the Noisy Animal Ordinance Update for clarification and enforcement improvements. The key changes are the duplicate code removed from Section 7.34080, Section 3 of Animals, which removes redundant animal noise language. And the enforcement is addressed in Chapter 8.05 of Noisy Animals. which provides clear parameters added, set specific time and frequency standards and titles update to reflect the current department structure. Okay, it says that Everett is controlling it.

IT, are you controlling the, there you go.

There it is, thank you. Okay, so the amendment to the Paris Municipal Code, Section 7.3408, takes out the animal And then the titles are restructured to the director of municipal enforcement services or their designee and the noisy animal definition is updated to include occurring for a total of one hour or more within a single calendar day for five or more separate calendar days within any 30 day period. And our summary is that it clarifies the code. It removes the duplicate code from Section 7.34. It consolidates animal noise enforcement under Chapter 8.05. It establishes immeasurable standards, 30 plus minutes of continuous barking or one plus hour of intermittent barking on five plus days within 30 days. And this supports consistent enforcement, objective criteria, fair application, and clear expectations, and staff recommendation to approve the proposed revisions to the existing ordinances and move forward to the second reading.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, do you have any public comment?

No, sir.

Council, any questions or comments? not uh call for a motion on the first reading i just like to say this is definitely well needed i get a lot of emails and calls regarding noisy animals so appreciate that um so if nothing on the days i'm looking for a motion on the first reading by title only of the ordinance i have a motion by councilman nava second by councilman rabb please call the vote

5-0, motion approved.

Thank you. Item 13 is Council Communications. Start with Councilman Reb.

Thank you, Mayor Vargas. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in tonight's meeting. Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to fellowship with the members of Bethel AME Church. They had a game night across the street at the Senior Center. They're really appreciative of being able to reserve the Senior Center. They just want staff to know, they want the city to know that they really appreciate the professionalism of the city staff to facilitate that. It was a ton, about 30 people playing spades, bisweds. They even had a Wii there, so it was a good time. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to visit the Congregational Church over on A Street. Once again, had really good conversations. Everyone is happy with the way the city is going, a lot of old-time members. And I'd also like to send my condolences to the Keyes family. Earlier today, we learned that Katie Keyes, a long-term member of the Parris Valley Historical Society, passed away, I believe, at 84. Ms. Keyes is actually a very long-term member of Paris. She went to school with my father in the 1940s and 50s, and it was always a pleasure to hear her tell stories about knowing my father, knowing my grandfather. She told one story about when my father was stricken with polio, they went to Riverside Community Hospital. because he was convalescing there for about six months until he was able to recuperate. And I never knew that.

So it was just nice to have the institutional knowledge and be able to speak to someone like that.

So we want to send my condolences to the Keyes family. And that concludes my comments.

Thank you, Councilman Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll keep it pretty brief. I would like to thank Arsenio and the Community Services Department for creating a really good ParisCon event last Saturday. It was a really great event. I was a judge for one of the cosplaying costumes and people came out and they had really great costumes. So I just want to thank staff for that. I also want to wish everyone that I hope everyone had a great summer because now it's time for the fall and I guess it's time to work.

Paul, what's that?

I know, right? All right, but I hope everyone had a great summer, and I also want to give my condolences to Kitty Keys and also the Paris Historical Society because they're a pretty tight-knit group, and they're very knowledgeable, and they know a lot, and it must be very hard for them. So I want to wish my whole condolences, and if they ever need anything from us, we're always here for them.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Nava?

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to ask staff to bring back an item to extend our current moratorium on new warehouses and distribution projects, which expires in December for the maximum period permitted by law. So we have sufficient time to complete the necessary studies and ensure we are making the best long-term land use decisions FOR OUR COMMUNITY. SECOND ITEM IS IF I COULD PLEASE HAVE OUR FINANCE TEAM LOOK INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF USING PURCHASE CARDS FOR THE SMALLER ROUTINE PURCHASES AND PRESENT A STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND THE COUNCIL AT THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING SUCH AS THE ONES THAT THE COUNTY USES, RIVERSIDE COUNTY. AND MY NEXT ITEM IS IF I may have staff in the Sheriff's Department look into the opportunities for the flock cameras. We've continued to receive plenty of requests and concerns from our residents, so I wanted to make sure we take the time to look into what options are available to us. And then our public comment speakers also noted expanding cool centers and shade along trails. And I just really want to reiterate that we should have more shade throughout our highly frequented traffic areas, like our parking lots. And I've mentioned about our parks. And so if we could continue, especially right now that it's really hot, you can see the need for such shaded areas.

and then my deepest condolences to miss key's loved ones and thank you all for tonight's meeting have a good night thank you mayor pro tem thank you mayor uh i do want to thank the speakers today i i do want to apologize uh for any confusion not seeming empathetic toward the homeless in our community I DO WANT TO ADDRESS IT, BUT I'M NOT ALLOWED TO ADDRESS THE OPENING SPEAKER, SO THAT'S WHY I'M KIND OF ADDRESSING IT AT THIS TIME. FOR THOSE THAT MAY REMEMBER, I WAS THE ONE THAT PROPOSED A HOMELESS TASK FORCE COMMITTEE SEVERAL YEARS AGO TO BEGIN WITH TO ADDRESS THE GROWING HOMELESS POPULATION THAT WAS HAPPENING IN OUR CITY AT THE TIME. WE WANT TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE WITH COMPASSION AND RESPONSIBILITY. YOU KNOW, WALKING ON A SIDEWALK THAT SMELLS LIKE URINE OR A PARK THAT HAS HUMAN FECES IS NOT A CITY OUR RESIDENTS EXPECT TO LIVE IN. SO WE DO SPEND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EVERY SINGLE YEAR ON HOMELESS SERVICES, AND MANY RESIDENTS, INCLUDING MYSELF AND MOST OF THE PEOPLE I TALK TO, CONTINUE TO BE FRUSTRATED WITH INDIVIDUALS REFUSING SERVICES AND INSTEAD CONTINUE IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE AN UNSAFE LIFE IN THE STREETS. I want the homeless off our streets just like we all do. And I'm not saying just because it's unsightly, but because many are not in a position, many, not all, are in a position to care for themselves in a humane way. Seeing an individual walk barefoot in the middle of winter or seeing a petite woman who wears a blanket in the middle of summer is not safe for a woman or for anyone. I too used to give money to the homeless until I learned from the actual experts that doing so only enables their lifestyle, which many, not all, are substance abusers. We will continue to address homelessness in the city and we will continue to work together to address this ongoing issue. THIS WEEK I DID RECENTLY ATTEND THE CHAMBER EVENT, WHICH ADMITTEDLY WAS A GREAT EVENT, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD FUN. THE MAYOR WAS THERE, AND COUNCILMAN VALLEJO WAS THERE AS WELL, TOO. MY HEART AS WELL GOES TO KATIE KEES. YOU KNOW, JUST THE CONVERSATIONS I HAD WITH HER. SHE HAD A HISTORY AND WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE CITY OF PARIS. SHE ACTUALLY WROTE A BOOK ON PARIS. SO, YOU KNOW, SHE WILL BE MISSED. SHE WAS AN EXCELLENT PERSON. HER WHOLE FAMILY IS GOING TO MISS HER. I'M POSITIVE. AND HER WHOLE CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY AS WELL, TOO. SO, AND ALSO, I CAN'T FORGET ABOUT THIS ONE. IT WAS A VERY SAD AND TRAGIC THING, BUT IF WE COULD ALSO CLOSE THE MEETING IN HONOR OF 8-YEAR-OLD LITTLE CAMILA LEON. Sorry. It was just so sad just to hear about it. I don't even know the girl. Most of us don't. But all of us just saw what a tragic thing that happened that could have been 100% prevented. SO JUST PLEASE, JUST BE CAREFUL. I FEEL LIKE I'VE BEEN SEEING A LOT OF ACCIDENTS LATELY. I DON'T KNOW IF MY IMAGINATION, THE 215 WAS A TERRIBLE ONE THAT WAS ALCOHOL RELATED. YOU KNOW, JUST EVEN ONE OFF OF 7TH STREET AND ELLIS AS WELL, TOO. I DON'T THINK THAT WAS A FATALITY, BUT, YOU KNOW, IT SEEMED LIKE A SERIOUS ACCIDENT. I'VE JUST BEEN SEEING ACCIDENTS HERE AND THERE. SO JUST BE CAREFUL WITH SCHOOL STARTING. YOU KNOW, IT WOULD JUST BE TERRIBLE TO FIND ANOTHER another innocent child in harm's way. But that's all for me. Thank you.

Thank you. OK. The Paris Valley Chamber had an after-hours network at the Paris Valley Auto Center, very well attended by a lot of our businesses. We brought food in. It was a really good time to network. They also had a very good Paris Valley Good Morning Parish. They do that once a month. They brought in Dr. Amerson from the Val Verde Unified School District, who I guess I can safely say he's an AI expert. He does this on the sidelines, and he had a lot of good information for our local businesses on the use of AI and how it could help them and benefit them and their businesses. We had a very successful Pack a Smile event for the Mayor's Alliance to End Childhood Hunger. We ended up with $15,000 in in-kinds and $30,500 in monetary donations, which basically allowed us to have over 1,700 backpacks. And I forget the number now. Is Sabrina here? What was it, $4,000 in gift cards?

Yes, sir.

So, I mean, a very good, successful event. I appreciate all our sponsors from logistics and local businesses and community members as well who helped sponsor that event. I attended our youth summer basketball championships here at the Bob Glass Gym. Those are very exciting games. Thank you to Good Day Brewery, who had a backpack giveaway by giving free haircuts. Railway Elementary had their first day back to school red carpet event they invited me to. Paris Con was talked about. That was really good. The Paris Valley installation that was brought up. Chick-fil-A had a new coffee and chicken and waffles lineup. Pretty good. If you haven't gone, they got some new chicken and waffles. Highly suggest you try it. And then I attended the Mexican Consulate of San Bernardino Riverside, who celebrated their 96th anniversary. They've been around a long time. Director Ramirez Arsenio attended with me as well. Malcolm and I sweated out the AYSO opening ceremony. That was a rough one. This was probably the worst since we've been attending those, but congratulations to the opening ceremony for AYSO. And of course, our dear friend, Katie Keys, and we'll talk about that when we adjourn. With that, I will move on to city manager's report, item 14.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to announce that the Economic Development Department has launched the Paris Business Concierge Program, and it assists businesses with real estate assistance, also utility assistance and business planning and other needs. So there's been strong support and interest in those programs. And secondly, The economic development team has relaunched the military banner program. Applications are open and you can obtain information online at the city website under the economic development team department.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, item 15 brings us to our adjourn. I want to thank all our guest speakers and attendees and our people on Zoom as well. We are adjourning in memory of Katie Anifin Keys, a lifelong resident of the city of Paris, graduate of Paris High School, and the director of the Paris Valley Historical and Museum Association, who passed away on August 24, 2026. And also in memory of Camila Leon, the eight-year-old victim of a tragic accident. I think that was August 15. That was a couple of Saturdays ago. So our thoughts and prayers are to both these families. Thank you, everybody. We are adjourned at 9.01.