City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, sorry about that delay, everybody. We've got a closed session around a little longer. We are ready to call to order our joint meeting of the City Council, Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, Public Finance Authority, the Public Utility Authority, and all the rest of the agencies as listed on the agenda. This Tuesday, September 28th, excuse me, September 8th, 2026. The call time is 7.08 p.m. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call, please?

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

Present.

Council Member Rapp?

Here.

Mayor Vargas?

Present. Thank you. And just as a reminder, in accordance with Senate Bill 707, 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 the Mortar. and use the raise hand feature to request to speak. If calling in by phone, please use star nine to request to speak and star six to mute and unmute. Moving on to item three is our invocation, which will be led by Pastor Dr. Teray Deaver from the Carpenters Church. Please stand and join us and remain standing for item four, which is our Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Councilwoman Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor Vargas, and to everyone in staff. Father, we thank you right now for another opportunity to come together in your name. We pray, Father, for the blessing and the prosperity of this parish city. We ask, Lord God, that you would give those in authority the insight and the courage to make thoughtful and courageous decisions for the fruitfulness and the prosperity of not just this generation, but the next generation to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Please join me in saluting our nation's flag. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor. All right, item five is report on closed session items. Mrs. Soltani.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The council met in closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.92 to discuss one potential litigation. No reportable action was taken.

Thank you. Item six is presentations and announcements. We have none. Item seven in our youth advisory committee communications. This report will be given by Miguel Ramirez, our vice president of the youth advisory committee.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council, and city staff. My name is Miguel Ramirez, and I am honored to serve as vice president of the Paris Youth Advisory Committee. I would like to share a few of our upcoming YEC activities. This Friday, September 11th, YEC will be assisting with the end of the summer splash at Enchanted Hills Park. We look forward to helping with this event, spending a fun evening with our community. Also on Saturday, September 12th, we will hold our YEC strategic planning session at the Arts and Recreation Center, where members will participate in leadership activities, developing goals, and establishing priorities for this upcoming year. Our next YEC meeting will be Tuesday, September 15th. We invite the youth in our community who are interested in leadership, community service, and getting involved with their community to join us, meet our members, and learn more about YEC. Then on Saturday, September 19th, YAC will participate in the park's beautification at Mercado Park. Check-in will begin at 7.30 a.m. and the beautification will begin at 8 a.m. Afterwards, YAC members will attend and support baseball clinic at Fossfield Park. We look forward to continue to serve our community, grow as young leaders, and make positive impacts throughout Paris. Make sure to follow us at our social at Paris YAC for more updates. Thank you and have a wonderful evening.

Okay, item eight is our public comments. Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

Thank you. Item nine is approval of minutes. Nine A is consideration to approve the minutes of the regular joint meeting held on August 25th, 2026. Michael, do you have someone for public comment?

We do, sir, but they were a bit after public comment ended. Do we want to allow them to speak?

No, that's OK. Come on in. I keep forgetting to check with you guys. Is it Anita?

Hello.

Yes.

Oh, hi. I'm calling in from on Zoom. Good evening, council members and residents of Paris. My name is Sochi Martin. And today I would like to be addressing coercive control and human trafficking. I stand before you from my home here in San Diego as a former resident of Paris and a survivor of a coercive group hiding under the veil of a church, La Luz del Mundo. Unfortunately, I was born into this environment and exploited in every way by its leaders since I was a child taken to them by my own family and my community. Fast forward, as a young woman, the group's leader, and my abuser, ordered me to live with Lupe Gomez Barrera. In exchange for shelter, she climbed the ranks to a director's seat in the nonprofit APS. Many know APS as her youth movement, but it is a structure used to traffic its members. I was a victim of labor trafficking within APS and the church's media company, Berea, where Lupe also worked. These businesses are funded by the church to enforce leaders' orders. Lupe Gomez publicly defends the innocence of a convicted child sex offender. Her influence is a danger to our most vulnerable. This is not a local anomaly. It is a global criminal enterprise. Nason Joaquin is currently facing a massive federal indictment by the US Department of Justice for racketeering, sex trafficking, and child exploitation. The Department of Justice describes the Joaquin LLDM enterprise as a system that has abused generations of followers for the personal gratification of its leaders. My warnings are not based on opinions. They are backed by the courts. In November, 2024, youth leader, Abram Hatnel Coronado, who held close ties to the same leadership.

Mr. Mayor, point of order.

Celcius, hang on one second. The city attorney needs to make a comment.

Yes, so I heard a candidate's name mentioned. We are embarking on election season and you are not to use the public forum to do electioneering for any candidate. You may speak about what happened in a church, things like that, of that nature, but you cannot be bringing, so Mr. Mayor, I think we need to have a process going forward that anyone that brings up any candidate's names during public comment advocating in any shape or form directly or indirectly for them that their mic gets cut off so we're not violating any laws yes thank you I'm sorry do I proceed you can proceed but you cannot be talking about the candidates

Okay. This pastor was sentenced to 175 years to life for the systemic sexual abuse of children at the church's Ebenezer Ranch in Redlands. This pattern is clear. These generations use their properties and youth movements to isolate and exploit children. The person running... DEFENDS THE LEADERSHIP, AND FOSTERS PREDATORS. I URGE THE CITY OF PARIS TO NOT LOOK AWAY. CORRESIVE CULTS ARE REAL, ACTIVE, AND DANGEROUS. WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO PROTECT OUR STUDENTS AND RESIDENTS.

OKAY, ASSOCIATE, YOUR TIME'S UP, ASSOCIATE. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

ANYBODY ELSE, I.T.?

THAT IS ALL.

ALL RIGHT, ITEM NINE IS APPROVAL OF MINUTES. 9A IS CONSIDERATION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR JOINT MEETING HELD ON AUGUST 25, 2026. Council, everybody have anything to pull or request a question? If not, looking for a motion to approve. I have a motion by Councilman Rapp, second by Councilwoman Nava. Please call the vote. Elizabeth?

5-0, motion approved.

Thank you. Item 10 is consent calendar items. Consent calendar items are enacted in one motion. The mayor or the city council may remove the consent calendar item for a separate action. We will have public comment limited to three minutes. Do we have any requests to speak on this item?

No, sir.

Council item 10D, I believe we all got a memorandum from the city engineer's office requesting to pull it. That sounds like... Edison is finally coming through with what they need to do to get us with a timeline. So we're going to pull this item until September 29th. Sure.

Go ahead. Okay. You know, I do have questions because I think this is the second time that we've moved it to a future meeting. So I guess the question I have, if you could give us an update, give the public an update, because especially in the last two weeks, I've been kind of receiving messages with regards to this street closure that's been closed for about two years already.

Thank you, Councilman Corona. As you know, they've been working, the applicant's been working on this departure for the last three years through design process, and ultimately we issued, once the plans were complete, we issued the road closure. But since two years ago, there's been a lot of coordination between the numerous agencies that we have to work with. These are local agencies as well as state agencies. So hopefully we have everything resolved by now and trying to get a finalized schedule from one of the agencies so we can proceed in completing the work. Meanwhile, developer has been doing a lot of the work. Conduits are in place. A lot of the other facilities have been in place. So we're just waiting for this final connection so we can proceed and finalize the work.

And do we have an estimate?

Not at this time. Thank you, Mayor Vargas. You helped us writing a letter to Edison requesting, and they've been responsive, and they have selected a contractor. So we're waiting for the schedule from the contractor, hopefully within this week. Okay. Thank you.

And that's the purpose of this extension. We will get some dates finally, or a timeline, right? Yes. All right. Anybody else? All right. Okay. Madam Clerk, do you have a request to speak on consent calendar?

No, sir.

IT?

No, sir.

All right, so we're looking for approval on 10AB, CEFGH, IJKL. I have a motion by Councilman Rapp, second by Mayor Pro Tem Corona. Please call the vote.

5-0, motion approved.

Okay, item 11 is public hearings. 11a is consideration to adopt proposed resolution number next in order regarding annexation of CUP 22-05172 truck trailer terminal to the city maintenance district. CUP 22-05172 is located on the northeast corner of Markham Street and Paris Boulevard. This is going to be introduced by our City Engineer, Mr. John Porcozini.

Thank you, Mayor. We have Will, then, our consultants, if you wish to hear a presentation.

Do we have more than one, or is this just one? There are two, Mayor. A and B? Correct. So, Council, this is our normal procedures when it comes to our CFDs, so if none of you oppose, we're going to skip the hearing. Or, yeah, the hearing. Not the hearing. Presentation. Presentation. Thank you. Council, anybody have any questions at this time? Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak on?

No, sir.

10A and B. IT?

No, sir.

Very good. I'm looking for a motion then on 10A and B. I'm sorry, 11A and B. Thank you. I can't hear you. You have ballots, go ahead and pull the ballots. I'm sorry, for both of them? Yes. Okay.

City of Paris annexation of CUP 22-05172, Maintenance District No. 84-1. The ballot is marked yes. City of Paris annexation of CUP 22-05172 to benefit zone 203, landscape maintenance district number one. The ballot is marked yes.

Are you still on the first one? I am about to read the third one. On 11A, yes. On 11A. We have to stop after 11A and read separate 11B.

City of Paris annexation of CUP 22-05172 to benefit zone 167, flood control maintenance district number one. The ballot is marked yes.

There's three ballots altogether for that one. Council, it is a little bit different, both these hearings, so we're going to have to do them separately. At this point, if all the ballots were marked yes, I'm calling for a motion on the three resolutions. I have a motion by Councilman Rapp, second by Councilwoman Nava. Please call the vote.

By vote, motion approved.

Very good. All right, so now 11B. I need to first call for a motion on the first resolution. I have a motion by Councilman Raab, second by Councilwoman Nava. Please call the vote.

I have a motion approved.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you open up the ballot, please?

Community facilities district number two zero zero one dash three North Paris public safety of the city of Paris annexation number 75 special tax and appropriations limit election the ballot is marked. Yes, I

OKAY, AT THIS TIME, I'M CALLING FOR A MOTION ON THE SECOND RESOLUTION. I HAVE A MOTION BY COUNCILMAN RAB, SECOND BY COUNCILMAN NAVA. PLEASE CALL THE VOTE.

5-0, MOTION APPROVED.

VERY GOOD, THANK YOU. I-11C IS CONSIDERATION TO ADOPT PROPOSED RESOLUTION NUMBER NEXT IN ORDER APPROVING THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT CDBG PROGRAM YEAR Fiscal year 2025 in the second year, excuse me, second program year, consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, also known as the CAPER. This is going to be introduced by Director of Public Services, Sabrina Chavez.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. This item will be presented by Principal Management Analyst, Martin Martinez.

Thank you.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, and city staff. Before we begin the formal CAPER presentation, I would like to take a few minutes to provide a CDBG program overview. The Community Development Block Grant was initiated by an act of Congress as a part of the Community Development Act of 1974. The program is funded directly by the federal government's U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD. City of Paris, CDBG program overview. Since the CDBG program transitioned to the public services department back in August of 2025, one of our primary focuses has been to gain a complete understanding of the program's financial and administrative standing. In order to accomplish this, we have established bi-weekly meetings with our non-public service project teams Increasing our tracking of active projects, our tracking of expenditures, HUD timeliness requirements, and providing more frequent technical assistance to our sub-recipients and city project leads. We have also scheduled CDBG committee meetings to update and provide program progress and status updates. A significant amount of our work has centered around program reconciliation and compliance. Staff has conducted a comprehensive review of CDBG records, funding balances, expenditures, prior year activities, and information reported in HUD's IDIS portal. We have worked closely with our CDBG consultant and the city's finance department to identify and resolve outstanding items and ensure that our program records accurately reflect the status of our funding and activities. Through that process, we have also identified timeliness as an area requiring significant attention. Staff developed a plan to accelerate expenditures and has BEING CLOSELY TRACKING PRIOR YEAR PROJECTS TOWARDS COMPLETION AND CLOSEOUT. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS PARTICULAR PROGRAM YEAR, 25-26, EXPERIENCED AN UNUSUAL DELAY AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL. DUE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, THE CITY'S HUD GRANT AGREEMENT, WHICH WOULD TYPICALLY EXPECT TO BE RECEIVED AROUND SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER OF 2025, WAS NOT RECEIVED UNTIL THE END OF JANUARY OF 2026. This reduced the timeframe available to execute agreements and begin moving forward current year activities. This delay was a critical concern encountered during the 25-26 fiscal year. But despite that delay, staff continued working on the items that could be advanced internally so that the projects would be positioned to move forward. Now next steps. While a significant amount of work has been completed, moving forward, our focus is to continue implementing the fiscal year 26-27 programs, execute agreements, and launch funded projects, and expand remaining funds. Overall, since CDBG transitioned to the Public Services Department, our focus has been to strengthen the foundation of the program financially, administratively, and operationally, while also addressing prior year activities and preparing current and future projects for implementation. A tremendous amount of work has occurred behind the scenes to get the programs to where it is today. And I want to thank our staff, our finance department, the CDBG committee, project leads, sub-recipients, and our consultant for their continued collaboration throughout this transition. And with that overview, I will now turn it over to our consultant to walk the city council through the fiscal year 25-26 consolidated annual performance and valuation report, also known as CAPER.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council, city staff. I'm Lisa. I'm with Avant Garde. I will be reviewing the CDBG reporting overview. To continue to receive its annual allocation, HUD requires that the city comply with three specific requirements. The first being the consolidated plan, also known as the comp plan. The comp plan is a five-year plan that outlines the city's five-year goals and strategies for the next five-year cycle. The fiscal year 25-26 represents the second year of the city's comp plan year. The second is the annual action plan or known as the AAP. is an annual plan that outlines the city's intended use of CDBG funds for the year in alignment with the meeting, sorry, with meeting the city's goals as established in the consolidated plan. Lastly is the CAPER, which is the report presented to you today. The CAPER assessments the cities in which the progress and performance in meeting the goal outlined in the previous fiscal year's annual action plan. So this CAPER reports on the 25-26 annual action plan goals. In accordance with the city's citizen participation plan, The caper was made available to the public for 15 days common period beginning August 24th. For fiscal year 2526, the city received a total of 940,237, of which 188,047 was allocated to the city's CDBG administration. There is a 20% cap on that. There's also a 15% cap on public services, which is a total of $141,035. The city was successful in spending 100% of its administrative and public service funds. Public service accomplishments. This table outlines the organizations that received funds and implemented programs in fiscal year 2025 along with the respective accomplishments. Although CDBG experienced implementation delays due to government shutdowns and processing the agreements, subrecipients made significant progress in meeting the outline goals. Fair Housing Council of Riverside met 57% of its goal. Family Service Association met 86.9% of its goal. Love for Life, 140%. And Voices for Children, 93%. The remaining allocation for fiscal year 25-26 were allocated to public facility projects. As noted, early in the implementation challenges, there were delays in launching these activities and spending money. However, staff efforts and reconciliation in planning these projects are expected to start and be completed by the end of this year, December 2026. Non-public service accomplishments. This slide projects the service projects that were implemented for fiscal year 25. All these are non-public services that were carried out from previous fiscal year and the current performance. The Habitat for Humanity Mobile Home Repair Program funded with fiscal year 2022 funds has assisted a total of eight households. The Paris Home Repair Program funded with fiscal year 2024 funds assisted with five households. The Habitat for Humanity Home Repair Program, funded with fiscal year 2024 funds, has assisted three households. This activity is ongoing and has rolled over into the current 2026-2027 fiscal year and is expected to meet its goals at the end of the fiscal year. As noted on the previous slides, the two capital improvement projects, Downtown Sidewalk Improvements and Citrus and Redlands Neighborhood Connectivity Project, will be carried into the fiscal year 2026-2027 and are expected to be completed at the end of December 2026. Tonight, staff is recommending that the public hearing be open for public comments to be taken and then public hearing to be closed. Adoption of the approving the program year 2025-2026 community development block grant, second program year consolidated annual actual performance evaluation, CAPER, and update the expenditures for fiscal year 25-26 to reflect $302,040.63, which is subject to change with the upcoming quarter four drawdown. Authorize staff to make any necessary amendments to the CAPER and submit program year 25 CAPER report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Great. Thank you so much. Council, anybody have any quick questions for comments before I open up the public hearing? Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

IT?

No, sir.

Well, I'm going to open up the public hearing at 736, and we'll close it at 736. And no one has any discussion. I'll call for a motion on the resolution. I have a motion by Councilman Rapp, second by Councilwoman Nava. Please call the vote.

5-0, motion approved.

Thank you. Business items not requiring a public hearing. 12-A is consideration to adopt proposed resolution number next in order, approving financing and issuance of bonds associated with CFD number 2022-4, Improvement Area 1, which is in the Park West project, to finance certain public facilities related to Improvement Area 1 of the CFD. Improvement Area 1 is located south of Nuevo, west of Dunlap Drive, within the city limits. City of Paris, excuse me. This will be introduced by Director of Finance, Mr. Matthew Schenck.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. For this item, we will have the City's Municipal Advisor, Jim Fabian, from Fieldman, Rollap, and Associates. Thank you, Jim.

Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council, Jim Fabian of Fieldman, Rollap, pleasure to be here tonight. have a short presentation to walk through regarding this matter in front of you. So tonight, to summarize, we have in front of you a resolution that will approve the issuance of bonds for the Park West CFD improvement area number one. The not to exceed amount of the bond issue will be $12,250,000. In front of you, too, are all the documents that have been prepared by the city's bond council required for the sale of the bonds. The bond proceeds will be used to reimburse the developer for infrastructure and fees paid for the development of the project. We will also fund a debt service reserve fund and a capitalized interest fund and cost of issuance. I'll look at those on slide five when we go through the sources and uses. The security for the bonds is the property located within the improvement area number one. All the homes that are in that development have a special tax lien recorded that is used to secure the repayment of the special taxes to secure the repayment of the bonds. There's no impact to the city's general fund by approval of this item. Just to point of background, this was formed back on January 9th of 2024. You can see on the map there that the red outline is improvement area number one. The Park West project actually has three improvement areas, one, two, and three, all I think improvement area number two is also under development right now, and then improvement area number three is about to begin development. So really going well out there at the project. Myself and Rick Brandes of Oppenheimer had a chance to tour the site a couple weeks ago, and the sales are going really strong. Pulte is very happy with the sales out there at Park West. As I mentioned, we have a resolution to approve up to 14 million of bonds. We won't go that high. The special taxes on the property within the improvement area number one are paid and apportioned through the rate and method of apportionment that was adopted when the CFD was formed. This financing is solely for improvement area number one, not for two or not for three. As I mentioned, Pulte is the developer. We have 211 single-family homes that are out there across three different neighborhoods, Cypress, Botanica, and Sage. As of July 10th, when the appraisal was done, we had 87 homes that are occupied by individual homeowners now. We have 124 homes that are either under being built or are going to be built very soon. And we have 50 homes that are in escrow. So we basically have half the project that are actually now sold to individual homeowners. As I mentioned, the appraisal was done in August. The appraised value and the assessed value, because we did have some homes that were on the secure property tax roll, was approximately $90 million. As I mentioned, based upon current interest rates, we're going to be issuing about $11.1 million of bonds. We do have some dollars that were collected from 25-26 special tax levies that will be used. The project fund, which will be used to reimburse the developer for the project costs for infrastructure and fees, is approximately $9.2 million. The city will get its $1,000 per residential unit, which is $211,000. There'll be a debt service reserve fund funded through the bond proceeds, capitalized interest, and cost of issuance and underwriter's discount. The final maturity on the bonds will be September 1st of 2057. There'll be roughly 30-year bonds. We anticipate that will be right around 5.41% interest rate as of August 21st. The parameters within the resolution, as I mentioned, are $12,250,000 in terms of the bond authorization, 6.5% for the true interest cost and 1.5% for the underwriter's discount. On this slide, just wanted to highlight the value to lien, as I mentioned, is 8.3 to 1, so we have a lot of value for the lien on the property. Your policies require a four-to-one, so we're double what the minimum policy threshold is for the city. We are providing 110% debt service coverage on the bonds, so for every dollar of debt service, we collect $1.10, so there's a cushion for the potential, any delinquency in payment of special taxes for the bondholders. This shows a breakdown of the different types of products within the development. You can see we have Some homes over 3,300 square feet, and then some down in the 2,100 to 2,200 square feet, and the different tax rates applied to each one of these. I will mention that the effective tax rate of homes in this development are below 2%, which is the city's policy. So tonight in front of you with the resolution, we have the preliminary official statement. That is the marketing document used by the underwriter to market the bonds to the public. It provides all information a bond investor needs to make a decision whether they want to buy the bonds or not. We also have the continuing disclosure agreement. Annually, you'll provide update on the development to the bond market, the fiscal agent agreement, which lays out all the terms with the U.S. Bank about how principal and interest payments will be paid over the 30-year life of the bonds, and then the bond purchase agreement, which is the document where Oppenheimer buys the bonds from the city and then resells them to the public. So tonight we have the approval of the resolution to authorize the issuance of the bonds. On September 14th, we're going to post the preliminary official statement that starts the marketing for the bonds. The bonds are scheduled to be sold right around September the 24th and then close on October the 8th. So tonight's recommendation is to adopt the resolution. For the issuance of the bonds for park west improvement area number one approve the financing documents that are in your packet tonight Authorize the city officers to take any necessary actions required to complete the financing and as I mentioned the principle not to exceed amount is 12 million 250 and Anita Luck of Alshire and Winder is on Zoom if you have any legal questions. Again, Jim Fabian, Field and Roll App. Rick Brandes of Oppenheimer is in the audience. Also, we have Will Dan, who's the city's special tax consultant, in the audience as well. So with that, answer any questions that you might have regarding this matter.

Thank you, Jim. Council, do you have any quick questions or comments? Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak?

No, sir.

IT?

No, sir.

Very good. Thank you. All right. And I'm going to call for a motion on the resolution. I have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Corona, second by Councilman Raab. Please call the vote.

5-0, motion approved.

Very good. Okay, moving on to item 13, Council Communications. Councilman Reb?

Yes, thank you, Mayor Vargas. I just want to give a shout out to staff and our Parks Committee. I noticed a lot of the... The utility boxes have been decorated around the city and just throughout the city, even as far south as the Hunt Club. So when I go on my walks, it's really been a pleasure seeing the different utility boxes and the variety. So I just want to give a shout-out to staff, the artists, and our Parks Committee for doing that. Just one quick request. If we can bring back – I brought this up a while back, and we reviewed it at the Ways and Means Committee. If we could bring back the per diem, the revisions for the full council to discuss, either – At the 29th meeting, September 29th meeting, October 14th meeting, depending on the time frame, either one is amenable. So I think we should bring that back, and we should also look into expanding it for staff as well. So that's just my only request. And I just hope everyone has had a happy Labor Day and a safe fall as we enter into the fall season. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Vallejo.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm just going to keep it short. I just want to say that I went to the YAC open mic night last Friday. The staff is doing really good there. The kids are always happy there. We have some really amazing student singers. It was karaoke night. I did not sing because They just did so well. I would look very bad. So I just want to say thank you for staff because they are doing really good with those kids. And then lastly, I just want to wish everyone a happy Labor Day. And then I hope everyone's ready to go back to work, back to school. But if you guys need a mental day, take it off. Just so you know. Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Councilwoman Alba.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd also like to comment on the utility boxes. I'd like to thank staff and everyone involved for putting that together. They're a great addition to our city, and I know our beautification committee members would love to talk about that and chime in on that. And I also have the honor of serving on the RTA board, and I'd just like to remind the public that they have continued their youth ridership program, which any youth age 18 and under are able to ride the RTA for free. Those are all my comments for tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. You know, I know election season is upon us. I'm not going to talk about any candidates here. But I know how emotions can increase. I know, you know, I do personally know because I've been in several elections myself. But I do want to remind everybody that elections don't have to be nasty, especially here in the city of Paris. Supporters of candidates can support their candidate without having a trash talk. another candidate. There are plenty of doors to knock on, spaces to place signs, and ways to get your message across. So everyone has their First Amendment right, but please try to refrain from coming here every two years and trash-talking on candidates. I want to thank the Sheriff's Department for placing a motorcycle PD near Granite Hills, TK through 8 on Ethanack. I've seen too many cars go through the stop sign as a crossing guard is still in the crosswalk. So just a reminder to all drivers, you're not allowed to go until everyone is out of the crosswalk, even if they appear to be safely out of the way. THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE RELIES ON ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY THE SAFETY OF OUR YOUNGEST. SO I HOPE THIS ENFORCEMENT CAN CONTINUE ALL AROUND THE CITY. SO THANK YOU TO OUR SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT. AND THE UTILITY BOXES, I TOO WANT TO COMMEND THOSE THAT WERE INVOLVED IN IT. YOU KNOW, FOR THE PEOPLE WHO PLACED THEM, THEY DID A PHENOMENAL JOB. I KNOW COUNCILMAN RAPLEY SAID THAT IT GOES AS FAR SOUTH AS THE HUNT CLUB. BUT DOWN OVER THERE BY MONUMENT RANCH AREA, You know, they're way over there, too. They look good. They look good. I know our CityClear casino, too, and all around the city. So the purpose of this, you know, we had them in downtown, and the people in downtown got to see them all and benefit, but now we want to spread out the beauty to everywhere else. But great job. Thank you.

Yeah, they're reaching the north end, too. A lot of comments from community members they really like, and they really do look sharp. Some of these ideas came out really nice on the work. AND THE WRAP, THAT'S PRETTY AMAZING HOW THEY CAN WRAP IT. IN FACT, ONE PERSON COMMENTED, WELL, YOU GUYS ARE REALLY PAINTING THOSE WALLOWS. IT'S NOT PAINT. I JUST HAVE ONE ADDITIONAL COMMENT SEPARATE FROM EVERYBODY. I DID MAKE IT TO THE PARIS VALLEY FILIPINO AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FAMILY SPORTS FEST THAT THEY HAVE HERE ANNUALLY IN THE GYM. BESIDES WORKING OUT, THAT'S A GREAT LUNCH. THEY HAVEN'T HAD FILIPINO FOOD. ALL RIGHT, WITH THAT, WE'LL MOVE ON TO ITEM 14, CITY MANAGERS REPORT.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. I'd like to announce that the city is having the annual end of summer splash on Friday, September 11th from 5.30 to 9 p.m. at Enchanted Hills Park. There will be food vendors, live performances, raffles, and a tide pool tank. More information, you can visit us online. Thank you.

Very good. Okay. Item 15 is our adjournment. Thank you, everybody, for joining us here in person or on Zoom. We are adjourned at 7.50 p.m. Thank you.