City Council - Regular Meeting

good evening everybody welcome to the june 16th meeting of the red bluff city council would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance salute pledge 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 Thank you, everyone. As you can see on your agenda, if you're here for the first time, not familiar with when we meet, we meet the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 5.30, as you can see. And also, you're welcome to participate remotely. The instructions are well documented on the agenda first page by our city clerk. If you have any issues trying to... log on, make sure to call the office, and we'll be glad to help you log on to our city council meetings. Before I open citizens' comment, this time, again, is set aside for the city council, for you to address the city council on any item of interest to the public which is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council. To make a public comment on Zoom, you must first raise your hand for items that are on the agenda. Public comment will be heard. when the item is discussed. If your comment is concerning an item that is noted as a public hearing, please address the city council after the public hearing is open for public testimony. The mayor reserved the right for each speaker to three minutes. And you will have one time. Three minutes is what we do here. So I appreciate you. So at this time, I will open public comment. DAVID BURRAGEONSKI.

I'm here to pray. Father, thank you for this country. Thank you for this community, this life that we have. Pray, Father, given the weather that we have now, that you might watch over those folks that have to work out in it. You might keep them safe from the effects of the heat. Pray for the folks that have to live out in it, that are unsheltered, that have no place to go, that suffer from the heat. I pray you might protect them, keep them safe. Pray as this council makes decisions this evening and other times that they might make wise decisions. As folks come and make their comments to the council, I pray, Father, they would be respectful, that the council would listen respectfully, would make wise decisions, that in all of this, Father, this community would prosper. I ask this all, Jesus, in your name. Amen. Last few weeks, I've been preaching on God's goodness, and it helps to have a definition of good because we have so many things that are good. I had a good pizza. I had a good time yesterday. It's going to be a good day tomorrow. But good has a definition, and it's interesting that both Hebrew, Greek, and English have a very similar definition. Good is that which aligns with its intended purpose. And so God is good, and he does good, and all that he does is aligned with his purpose. The Bible says that Jesus went about doing good. Every human, no matter what their belief is or their lack of belief, is a recipient of his goodness. Every breath that you take, every heartbeat that we have is because he allows you to have that. And there will come a time, and has come for millions, billions of people already, when that heartbeat stops, when that breath stops. And that gift someday will end. But to be honest, as I preach, I have people talk to me and they say, well, how can a good God allow all of these evil things? They never think about why is it that the devil does these things. Somehow God seems to get blamed for all these things. So as I deal with this, I have to talk about this, that God's goodness and his allowing these things, we have to go beyond our experience. We have to go what we see in history. The Bible tells us that bad things are going to happen, and they happen because of us, not because of God. God allows evil temporarily because he created us with freedom and allows us to make decisions contrary to even our own intended purpose. He responds in ways that allows a redemptive purpose. He restrains far more evil than he allows. One day he will judge all evil perfectly. And his goodness is proven by the fact that he dealt with evil on the cross. And he has engaged evil and destroyed it on the cross. One day. One day.

Thank you.

Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council and staff and fellow citizens, welcome. It's good to see you all here this evening. Leanna Pearson, finance management specialist. One rule, you never spend more than you bring in. We've got it, that's good. I love to talk about the word of God. It's not only a scripture, it's not only a book, but he is the Lord Jesus Christ, the living word. He's also known as the bright and morning star, the good shepherd, the way, the truth, the life. At Christmas time, we call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. and I particularly like that name, and it's proven in Luke chapter seven. Listen to this. Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large multitude. Now as he approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a sizable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, do not weep. And he came and he touched the coffin and the bearers came to a halt. And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up, began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people. They were talking about Jesus. In our national motto, and we call it, In God We Trust, this is the same one who raised the widow's son in Naaman. I have just a minute to mention to you that the traditional nuclear family month is well in place and well on its way, 16th day of June it is today. Fresno County now joins several state and local governments in designating June as Traditional Nuclear Family Month. Tennessee, Indiana, Utah, and Arkansas have all issued June proclamations honoring traditional family structures, naming the month Nuclear Family Month or Fidelity Month, which emphasizes fidelity to faith, country, and family. In Alabama, this is Strong Families Month, intended to coincide with Father's Day. That's next Sunday, in case it has slipped your schedule. And here in our own beloved California, Governor Newsom has proclaimed June as Immigrant Heritage Month. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

I have some handouts here, too. Would you like me to give you those? Hand them to the city clerk and she'll pass them to you.

Go ahead.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Bill Byron. I'm a local business owner and a native of Red Bluff. I'm here tonight to respectfully ask the council to review and update the city's cannabis ordinance so it reflects the current state law, medical need, tourism, opportunities, and local business growth. Our company is not asking to simply operate as another storefront. We're building a long-term business model in Red Bluff that includes retail, manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, and cultivation. We have taken steps at the federal level to continue moving towards the legitimate medicinal and regulated business opportunities. A major part of our long-term vision is medical. We have patients, medical professionals, wellness providers, and members of the medical cannabis community interested in safe, legal, and professional space for educational events, patient discussions, product education, and responsible use programs. We have the space and the desire to provide this type of controlled environment here in Red Bluff. We're also working towards a museum education-based tourism concept, the goal to create a destination that brings visitors off the I-5 to Red Bluff, a museum Medical education event area and controlled consumption lounge could give visitors and tour groups the reason to stop here, spend money here, eat here, stay here, and support other local businesses here. Tourism matters. Many visitors can legally purchase cannabis, but they often have no legal or appropriate place to consume it. They cannot consume in hotels, vehicles, parks, sidewalks, parking lots, or public areas. A controlled, age-restricted, permitted location gives the city more control, not less. This can be done carefully. The city can require a special use permit, conditional use permit. The city can review each application individually and limit the use appropriate zones. We are not asking the city to approve a free for all. We're asking the city to create a controlled pathway where council and staff have authority over local operations. We also believe that this is the right time for the city to review the entire cannabis ordinance, including whether the current storefront structure still serves the best public benefit for Red Bluff. The city may receive more value by limiting. And that's that.

Thank you. Thank you. He got shorted about a minute by passing out his flyers, if he needs another minute.

Do you need another 30 seconds? Yeah. I'll give you 30 seconds.

We're not asking the city to approve an open free-for-all. We're asking the city to create a control pathway. Yeah, I already did that one. I also believe it's the right time for the city to review the entire cannabis ordinance, including whether the current storefront structure still serves a public benefit. For Red Bluff, the city may receive more value by limiting the total number of retail storefronts across all license types and allowing existing licenses businesses to expand into medical education, tourism, and controlled events. Tonight, I am respectfully asking the city council to direct staff to review the current ordinance and bring back options for allowing medical education events, tourism-based cannabis uses, controlled use, on-site consumption, and event opportunities under local permitting and use zoning controls. We're not asking the city to promote cannabis. We're asking the city to regulate it responsibly, modernize the ordinance, and allow local business growth under city control. Thanks for your time. Thank you.

Anyone else? I haven't seen nobody come to the podium. I will close public comment at 543, just about, OK? 543. Thank you, everyone. So we'll go on to announcements of agenda corrections. Mr. Westbrook.

There are none.

None. Staff items, we are now going to have Leanna Garrison speak instead of us. But before that, our city manager is going to speak.

Thank you, Mayor, council members. I just wanted to note it for the members of the public that are here this evening. City Attorney Sophia Meyer is participating on Zoom with us this evening. Also wanted to remind the public that City Hall will be closed for two holidays coming up, one on June 19th, the second on July 3rd. So City Hall will be closed those days. Additionally, the normal city council meeting on July 7th is canceled pursuant to the city council policy manual. So the next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be July 21st, 5.30 p.m. in this room. The last thing I did want to mention is late last week the city did get an email from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. They were sending us information about Measure S. They saw that that was a successful citizens initiative. there may be some items that the city council needs to approve so that we can get that information back to the tax and fee administration so that they can start the process for ultimate collection of the revenue related to measure s the challenge that we have is the email has a due date of july 13th as i mentioned we don't have a council meeting until the 21st so the finance director and i are trying to confirm with the the the state authority to see if the 21st would work and we would just present that information then if they do need that information sooner I may be reaching out to the council to set up a special meeting probably later this month and then as the mayor Gonzales mentioned Leanna Pearson is here tonight she's going to be presenting some of the items for Scott Garrison I don't think she has any updates we'll leave that to Paul so we'll move on to Beth Lundauer

Thank you, Tom.

And welcome, Beth. I mean, Beth, but also Leanne. Welcome, OK? A new chair, but you'll have the information we need. Thank you. Beth, go ahead.

Thank you. So just a couple updates from community development. Some notable new businesses that have come to Red Bluff. We do have a new coffee trailer, a jeweler, a wireless cell phone provider, and a gym and fitness center. So for more information on that, people are welcome to reach out to me. And that's all I have to share tonight.

Thank you, Matt. Scott Miller, Public Works.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. A couple of quick reports. The Rio Street sewer project is progressing nicely. They've got several of the manholes already in. All the pipe has been laid from the old boat ramp to the north side of Sycamore Street. We did have a couple of closures on Sycamore Street to get in just for public safety so nobody runs conflicts within the construction activities. Speaking of the pool, the pool did open on Saturday the 13th. I was told that it was record numbers of 214 people participating in that and pool staff would like to thank some of the Service organizations in town for the free swimming for kids 18 and under, that was the Active 2030, Kiwanis, Red Bluff Rotary, Vesper Masonic Lodge number 84. Also, Parks and Rec wanted to extend that signups are now open for summer league softball and grass volleyball. And then also the Parks and Rec is offering some kids activities at the Farmer's Market downtown on Wednesday nights here just a couple blocks away.

Thank you. Thank you, Scott. Chief Bachmeier.

Honorable Mayor, members of the council, good evening. I start my update from a place of sorrow tonight. I'm sure a lot in the community have already heard, but last Friday we lost a great cooperator, partner, and a friend in Battalion Chief Brian Wright, who works for CAL FIRE. His most recent assignment was as the county fire marshal, and he even spent some time here with us. He was a reserve in 2008, 2009. So Brian was just one of the best people that you could ever meet in your life, and he will be dearly missed by his organization and us as well. So that was very sad to hear. Otherwise, since we aren't going to have a meeting before July 4th, just a reminder, July 4th is coming. There is plans for the public display to occur as normal and also for us to staff up as many volunteers who want to work that day who will be on patrol. I would ask the community, please, like we do every year, please, please, please don't set off illegal fireworks. Be very careful with your safe and sane fireworks. We will be on patrol if we do catch somebody setting fireworks, illegal ones. We definitely can cite them to the health and safety code, which carries a pretty hefty fine. I believe at least $1,000 and potentially some time in jail. So again, please, please, let's have a safe and happy celebration of the 250th for the country and 150 for us. And unfortunately, I won't be here. I will be on vacation for a few weeks. We will be abroad in England visiting our son who's in the Air Force. So I will pass along to the city manager a schedule who will be acting fire chief in the time that I am gone so that you know.

Thank you, Chief. You'll be missed. NOTHING FROM FINANCE.

THANK YOU, MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. BEGINNING JULY 6TH, THE BUTTE COLLEGE POLICE ACADEMY BEGINS AND WE'LL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPONSOR TWO POLICE TRAINEES IN THAT ACADEMY. SO WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THEM BEING SUCCESSFUL IN THAT SO WE CAN BRING THEM BACK AND HIRE THEM AND TRAIN THEM AS POLICE OFFICERS. BEGINNING TOMORROW, 9 A.M. to 1.30 p.m. right out front of City Hall. We'll have Public Safety Battle of the Badges. So it'll be police against fire for blood donation. So if you're so inclined, come out and support public safety. May the best blue uniform win. That's it.

Okay. The report I have tonight is the River Park splash pad project. All the documents have been received back from the design engineer, and we have put the front end package together, and it's on my desk to review and publish. So that will be going out this week for bids again. So we're excited to see that moving forward.

Absolutely. It's going to be an exciting time to get that done. Looking forward to it. Thank you, Robin. All right, commission's reports, airport commission.

I don't see Commissioner Schmid here, so I'm gonna give a brief update. The airport commission had a meeting last Wednesday. They had one item on the agenda. It was a selection of one of the commission members to participate in the selection process for a new airport consultant, and they selected Commissioner Schmid to be a part of that, and that is the report.

Okay. Thank you, Tom. Appreciate that. We have no presentations. I would ask council now any conflict of interest on any items on the agenda.

Anybody? No.

No? Okay. No. Having heard none, we'll go on to the consent agenda. Now, this is the opportunity for the public and council members to ask that an item be pulled from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda at this time. Anybody want to withdraw an item to put on regular agenda? Public? None?

Council?

I don't see any. Move to move any of the items. So what we have before us is number one, approval of May 19th, 2026 minutes. Number two, market purchases, 2,000 or more, and contract awards. Number three, approval of warrant list. Number four, second reading and adoption of ordinance amending RBMC 20.6A regarding lot line adjustments and voluntary mergers consistent with the California Subdivision Map Act. Number five, 2026, California Fire Foundation's statewide grant cycle application and number six assistance to fire fighters micro grant application seven California Department of Justice tobacco grant program application and number eight code enforcement activities report May 2026 do I have a motion motion motion my mark Clement do I have a second second

That was me. Cassie. Cassie.

Cassie. Cassie, yes. Cassie, you're the new one. Okay. Made by Cassie. Would you please call the roll, Anita?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Consent agenda passes unanimously. We'll go to the regular agenda. First on the agenda is the cross-connection control ordinance amendment. Recommendation is conduct a public hearing on adoption ordinance and 1099 amendment to chapter 24 section 24.23 and consider all testimonies and introduce number two by title only and weigh the first reading of ordinance 1099 amending the red left municipal code chapter 24 section 24.23 regarding water system cross connection council any questions and but i will turn it over to it's me Robin, thank you.

No problem. Honorable Mayor, as a member of City Council, tonight we are asking you guys to hold a public hearing regarding Red Bluff Municipal Code 24.23 that establishes the requirements of the city for the installation of the use of backflow devices on the public water system. The current code language does not meet the updated requirements of the State Water Resource Control Board relating to the cross-connection control and backflow prevention, specifically residential connections. Tonight, our consultant, John Graham, is here. He's going to do a quick presentation, and then we'll be able to answer some questions and then have the public hearing after that. So I'm going to switch.

Give us your name again, OK?

I'm John Graham, cross-country control consultant. I've been working with the public works team for a while on this program. And I've been asked to provide a brief overview on the cross-country control ordinance that the staff is presenting to you tonight.

And I am opening the presentation right now.

So the existing municipal code, as Robin mentioned, is outdated. It was last updated in 2008. It references regulations that were deactivated in 2025. The revision is a public health issue. Backflow prevention is required in the health and safety code. Every water system has to have a program that meets expanded regulations, the previous regulations in Title 17. were last updated 37 years prior. And so we went from four pages to 84. And that was a significant change. Those went into effect the 1st of July in 2024. And they have the full force and effect of law. It is a policy handbook, but it is a regulation. And so far we've had three updates to that. So that approach, rather than going the regulatory route, is allowing incremental faster changes as conditions dictate. The cross-country control program is an element in the multi-barrier approach to public health protection. The city goes to great lengths to ensure that the water in the distribution systems meets or exceeds all state and federal standards. At that point, we provide it to your customers and we have to depend on them using the water properly. to ensure that it doesn't contaminate the water system. We had to submit a compliance plan to the water board. That is currently under review. And that is designed to meet all of the major elements that I'll go over in just a minute. Again, this is public health protection. Backflow is the single greatest cause of water distribution system disease outbreaks. This is identified by both the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The regulations are inescapable. The city has to comply with them. In doing so, you also mitigate the risk to the city. If a customer is harmed or potentially harmed, you don't want to have to face legal action. That also enhances consumer confidence. Customers depend on the city providing them with safe, aesthetically pleasing water. And ultimately, that all leads into economic stability for the city. So there are 10 major elements and it's no surprise that the municipal code is number one. It is the backbone of the program. It supports all the activities the city will undertake to comply with these regulations to ensure public health protection and regulatory compliance. It is a big program and it's all encompassing. So what exactly is a cross connection? Next slide, please. A cross connection is an interconnection between a potable water supply system and any non-potable source or material. And that is through a actual or potential connection. So the regulations are very specific. We're dealing with potential here. It doesn't actually have to be a hard pipe event. We have to perceive and protect against the potential. And that ensures that the source and distribution system are safe from contamination. So how does a backflow occur? If you have a hazard, something that you don't want back in the water distribution system, and that actual or potential cross connection, All you need is a hydraulic condition, either over pressurization or more commonly a back siphonage from firefighting operations, hydrant flushing, or if we have to shut a main down for repair. And that's when you get the backflow. And it happens in every well-managed, well-operated system. So that's why this program is so important to get it right the first time.

Next.

Cross connections are very common. Many commercial products are available that aren't listed for potable water connections. In the picture here is a commercially available dog waste disposal system that you can connect to your waste system. And it utilizes your potable water supply to flush dog waste down the drain waste and vent system. Unfortunately, internet connects dog waste with your potable water supply. And again, these are commercially available. Plumbing installations, we can depend on the plumbing code compliance, but unfortunately not all repairs or new installations involve a permit. And so there may not be an inspection, and we then have a risk to the system. EPA research has found that an extremely high number of service connections have had a cross connection with a health hazard. That's something that could make you sick or worse. And so this is a very real and tangible program. So in summary, the updates to the municipal code are required. The city staff needs it to ensure that they are treating customers fairly and equitably and that we are implementing the program consistent with regulations. Any questions?

Anything else to add, Robin, right now? OK, so while you're there, I will open the public hearing for Ordinance 1099 at 5.59. So we have any questions from the public? Sophie says I have to go one minute. I think that's a long time. I would have some questions if you could come up, please. So I will close, again, public comment at 6 o'clock. I mean, a public hearing. Council, do you have any questions for him?

I do.

Pat? Cassie?

Chris? Go ahead.

Go ahead. OK. So this involves what? A check valve process?

It is, first, a hazard assessment. So we have to go through and evaluate every service connection and determine whether or not- What service connections are we talking about?

Are we talking about service connections to the whole city where the valves are produced at the wells?

To each customer. To each customer? To each customer. Okay, so- This is a multi-year process. This does not happen overnight.

So we're looking at each connection from the city at the customer existing or new connections both both so everybody has to comply with a check valve system to their water and

If there is a hazard present. So the classifications are a high hazard, something that if it gets in the water could make you sick or worse, a low hazard, which is aesthetics only, or no hazard. So we will be evaluating each connection, and it will fall in one of those blocks. And if it's in one of the upper blocks, they may need to install what's known as a testable backflow prevention assembly.

So you're talking about?

It's a glorified check valve.

I see. So you're talking about only connections associated with well water production?

It's all connections serviced by the city.

All connections? Yes. So how could someone determine that their portion is being contaminated?

If you're looking for piping configurations, equipment, something as simple as a private well, a storage tank, rainwater collection, plumbing features that aren't installed to code, something like that dog waste disposal unit would obviously be a high hazard. So it's an assessment, essentially code compliance.

So our liability, I don't want to strike that. When somebody reports somebody is ill and then we go examine that particular connection, is that what I hear you saying?

No, this will be a systematic assessment of the entire system. The regulations require an initial assessment. which in our plan we provided the city with several years to complete that assessment with available staff. We're still waiting for the Water Board to approve that plan. I don't anticipate that they're going to ask for it sooner because they're aware that this is a big project. And then we have to also evaluate commercial or non-residential connections as the accounts change so that we're catching any potential problems as they're created. And then periodically, much like paying the Golden Gate Bridge, we will have to go back through and reassess the entire program.

When you're talking about staff hours, are we talking about more staff hours paid by the city, or are we going to get a grant for something like this application? What is that going to happen?

As of right now, it's being included in the rate study as additional staff time. This program has been rolled into that. So it will be additional staff hours paid for by the users. And I just want to join with John here. We're saying we have to do an assessment of everybody. The city is not at the moment taking a global everybody install backflow preventer residentially right now. We could go that path. put that cost on every homeowner and we don't want to do that we want to assess and narrow that down and find our potential issues and then look at each case new building new residential and really assess what they're doing is it two-story is it a duplex is that multiple connections on one parcel looking on at it on a case-by-case what could be the hazard and not just tell every resident here you have one year to install this, it's on you type situation. We're looking at a more flexible user friendly approach here at the city. So I want to point that out. We're not going to globally say everybody here, some of the smaller districts are doing that. They're hoping to get grant funding. or if they're putting a new line, they're including it. We don't want to go that approach if we don't have to.

New lines are easy to do, but going into existing systems, we'd have a revolt on our hands.

So, Robin, would there be maybe particular parts of the city that might be more subject to needing cross-connection? You know what I'm referring to, probably. Yeah. Only part of the city versus the rest of the divisions, or is it just dependent on what's around and in the environment? And what's on each parcel.

A combination of both. A combination of both. Okay. Yeah.

Is one of these connections required on a new construction now? When did that start?

Once we pass the...

This would start it?

Yeah. So the state is requiring it. We're looking at each building permit application as it comes in right now. So that way they don't get improvements in concrete in and us tell them one year later you have to tear all this out to put a backflow in. We're trying to look on a case-by-case basis right now. John and I actually met regarding that today. Okay.

what does the backflow system cost the average residential user that's really dependent on the conditions if it's in concrete or asphalt or in dirt you know a a three-quarter inch backflow preventer in a dirt application could be you know somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 15 hundred dollars market forces i'm always uh reluctant to to give a price estimate because uh you remember covid We went through price increase after price increase, and we were promised it was a supply chain issue, but yet we keep getting price increases on plumbing parts. Yeah. You know, like three a year, and we used to get one every couple of years, so it's really hard to give it a price and say it's going to be X dollars, but we... The plan is to develop a list of licensed contractors, a resource list, not an approved list, to give the customers an opportunity to price shop and find the best price. Certainly, competition will help contain costs, and we want to give the customers every opportunity to stretch their dollars.

You mentioned that you're going to start with enforcement with commercial changeover. So when a property changes hands in the commercial industry, you're going to go in and check for that to start off with. Are you applying that to residential as well? Every house that sells, you're going to go in and?

No. Residential changing hands does not trigger. It is non-residential only. The regulations are very specific in exempting residential real estate transactions from that triggered reassessment. But they still need an initial assessment. Not the enforcement, right. Yeah.

And to add to that, commercial properties currently already have backflows, or they should already have backflows. We have a backflow program that we operate and maintain. Those backflows get inspected yearly by the property owners. We send out notices. We collect that. We report that. So this is just an addition to what we already have there. So it's not going to be outside of the box for commercial as much as it's going to be for residential.

And would those be installed like at the street level or in the yard?

They have to be within a certain distance from the meter.

The regulations require as close to the meter as practical. You know, obviously if the meter is in a driveway apron or something, you have to get creative and do some offsets. But there can't be any branch lines between that backflow preventer and the meter because you're defeating the purpose. Right. This is that fail-safe valve that keeps anything going on in that property from getting back out in the distribution system.

And as we know, once we start digging into older property, prices could skyrocket from older pipes.

Thank you. Am I understanding right? Again, this is one of those things that this is already state law. So whether we do this or not, this is already the law. We're just making it complying and acting. But it does sound like if people are back feeding into our water system, that it is a good thing that we find it and stop it, right?

Yes. Specifically with our system not being chlorinated.

Ah, good point.

It becomes much more of a concern.

But we test those, we test our wells weekly, that's part of our water compliance, correct? We follow all state testing requirements. Do we have backfill, backfeed issues currently at all?

It's not, we don't have the contaminants that are popping up on the tests at this point in time. We probably do have backfeed issues. But entering them into a large system, it doesn't pop up through the thresholds that we are supposed to watch.

Do we have a check valve at the well site on the top at the well? I know the pump has one.

Each well site has a check valve to prevent the contamination of the source.

Thank you. Any other questions? No. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we have public hearing.

So if there's one at each well, why is it necessary to have one at each house or each business?

All the distribution lines between the well and the houses.

Okay.

Because other people are connected into those main lines. So your back feed, if you did have a cross connection, say you have an old well that you're using for irrigation but it's tied into the system, that could contaminate and affect your neighbor. It may not go globally through the system or get all the way back to the well, but it can affect the neighbors and the other users on those lines. The more you dilute it, the less of a concern it is, but it's still a concern.

Thank you, Robin. You're welcome. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We will go on to then we've heard how to conduct our public hearing. And again, I'll close all comments at 610. So we'll go to item number two on this agenda, item number nine. And that is to introduce by title only and waive the first reading of ordinance 1099, amending the Red Bluff Municipal Code chapter 24, section 24.23 regarding water system cross-connection control. Do we have a motion? Motion. Motion made by Cassie Pope. Second.

No. Well, I think they said it together. Negative.

So if the other three motioned, the other three motioned, then I second?

Let's see. Maybe we ought to sing together again. Okay. No, we won't do that. Okay. I second. Second. We got a second. Let's see who wants to be first. of course you'll be first this time okay chris makes the motion the motions uh second by mark clement anita please take the role yes yes yes Amendment passes unanimously. Thank you. Anita, just remind me if anybody has raised their hand. I forget to ask. So thank you for that. All right. Agenda number 10, budget adoption. Number one, the city council adopt a budget at the appropriations limit scheduled for fiscal year 2026. 27 as recommended by budget committee number two the City Council approved the fund 19 expenditures which are included in the FY 20 26 20 27 budget and listed on the summary section Okay counsel any questions for Excuse me. I'll let Paul young take the floor on this call. I

Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council, tonight we're asking you to adopt the 2026-2027 budget. I have a short presentation on the budget. We're going to go over kind of the budget layout and then talk a little bit about the general plan. So the budget is very large if you have looked at it, but essentially the budget only really spans two pages, page four and five. The rest of the budget explains in detail how our budget is formulated. The first page, page four, is our estimated actuals. The budget starts out with the ending balance of the prior fiscal year. At this point, we don't know what that is, so we present an estimation of the numbers we're going to use to create that beginning balance. Page five is the actual budget. The primary function of a budget is to set limits on spending. So the question is where the actual limit is. How is that aggregated? In accounting we call that the level of control. This page is presented at that level of control. So, for example, you will see in the general fund that there's, you know, four line items. One's for the general government, one's for fire, one's for police, one's for parks and recs. Each of them have their own level of control. You can see how the budget is laid out by looking at the table of contents. I'm going to go over the major sections. So first we have a narrative on the revenue sources and allocations. So this is an overview of all the regular and material revenues for the city. They show how they are allocated to us, who manages and what accounts account for the revenues that we have in. Some people might not know that when they spend a dollar sales tax or they pay their property tax, we do not get all of that. For example, we get about 16% of sales tax and 17% of property tax. The next section has an overview of the funds and summaries. This is a narrative of all the different budget units in the city. It shows an overview of a cost and it has summaries of how the different units add together to a particular fund. Next is the budget analysis report. This shows additional details from that overview of cost in the prior one. It shows accounting line adding details with historical results. After that is the budget detail report. This shows additional information about select budget items. It's basically used how we make the budget, but we give it here for additional information to the public. Last part of the budget is the transfers detail. This shows all the different transfers that we have going on in the budget. It shows their nature and the purpose. And lastly is the gain limit calculation. This is a bit of compliance annually for California. I have an additional slide on the detail of the fund overviews and summaries. So first we have on the general fund. The general fund is unique and it's the one we talk about the most because it holds all the revenues that are at the discretion of the council. Essentially, those revenues pay for the general government, the fire, the police, and the parks and recreation. It's broken down in that section. Next, we have governmental funds. These are funds that have legally restricted revenues. We separate them in four major categories. That's impact fees, public works, streets and fleets, grants, and other funds. And lastly, we have enterprise funds. These are funds that behave more like a business, and they charge fees for their services. The next slides are all about the general fund. So this is an overview of our revenues and the percent of each major classification. As you can see, the major amount of revenue we get is from sales tax at 48%. Then our middle taxes is property tax, motor vehicle license fee, and occupancy fee. All together, those all four are about 90% of the taxes that we get or the revenues we get. Our small ones are franchise fees, business and licensing fees, public benefit fee, and other revenue. The next slide is an overview of the expenditures that we have in the general fund. The first column is the new 26-27 budget. It's broken out by the major functions. And then we present last year's or the current year's current budget and the percent they increase. On the top line, we have personal services. These have only increased 1%. Even though our MOUs have increased salaries more, we saw significant savings in workers' compensation to offset that amount. And net, we're only increasing 1% for the year. Next is material supplies and financing. This has gone up 4%. This is mainly just due to inflation. Capital outlay has increased 25%. This is due to parks and rec outbuilding restoration plan that we have, wood fiber for playgrounds, and an increased cost in police vehicles. And lastly, we have transfers out, which have only increased 2%. Overall, our budget expenditures from this year compared to last year have only increased about 2%. Taking that information and putting it into a pie graph so you can see how the different functions relate. Police department is about 50% of the total expenditures of the city. Fire department is about 25%. So altogether, public safety is 75% of the city's budget. Next is the general government, which is about 19%. Then parks and rec at five and community center at one. This is an overview of the current general fund budget. We start out with our estimated beginning balance of $5,567,787. This is funds from prior year available to spend in the current year. We add to it the current budget for general revenues of $13,674,395. Below that is the net cost of the different governmental functions. This is net of any grant-related or program-related revenues. That total cost is $18,548,938 for a total reduction in fund balance of $4,874,543 for the year. So at the end, the budgeted ending fund balance is $693,244. The next slide is historical results of the budget. On the bottom is the historical results. The first column is the final budgeted net change, and then the next one is the actual change. We have a long history of spending less than we actually budget. Again, those budgets are the maximum amount we're allowed to spend. For various reasons, we do spend down less than we typically budget for, but also we take a conservative approach to budgeting revenues, so a lot of times we end up with more revenues than we budgeted. But in the last couple of years, we have consistently lost money for the last three years. The current budget is currently at a reduction of $5 million, and the estimated actual we're using in this budget is a reduction of $3,187,259. The Governmental Finance Officers Association recommends that at a minimum, regardless the size of an entity, the unrestricted general fund balance should be no less than two months of the general fund expenditures. The city of Red Bluff has a policy to reserve 15% of the general fund expenditures for contingencies and uncertainties. With the current budget inspected, the general fund will no longer meet this reserve policy. This is based on conservative preliminary estimates of how the 2025-2026 fiscal year will end. Due to this, the Budget Committee will meet again in September 2026 once the 2025-2026 fiscal year revenues are in and we have a more accurate expenditure amounts available. The Budget Committee will review all options in order to maintain the 15% reserve. The city has an industry of underspending the budget and the city is coordinating with the department heads to continue the trend of controlling spending. The city will continue to monitor our actual results and plans on having a continuum of dialogue with the council during our quarterly budget presentations. The Budget Committee would like to thank the Public Works Director, Community Development Director, Police and Fire Chief, and all state staff for the help and input and hours of work that led to the proposed 2026-27 year budget. The Budget Committee would also like to thank every department head and their employees for their past, current, and future efforts at controlling costs and efforts to keep spending within their departmental budgets. So with that, we are recommending council, number one, the city council adopt the budget and appropriations limit schedule for fiscal year 2026-27 as recommended by the budget committee. And the city council, two, the city council approved the fund 19 expenditures which are included in the fiscal year 26-27 budget and listed in the summary section. And I'm available for any questions.

Excuse me. Thank you, Paul. I appreciate that. And I just want to, again, thank you, Paul, and Leanne, and everybody that worked on the budget, Pat, and Chris, and all department heads, and everybody involved, and every employee. And we'll go on a little later on with the budget regarding salaries and so forth. But I just want to stress the point. I am so glad that we work together as a city. We're working together to make the city operate and appreciate everybody's help and everybody's input into making this city, as it says, a great place to live, a great place to be here. And so with that, I will open up to council. Any questions for Paul Young at this time? Pat, anything? Chris has a question. Oh, gosh, no. Oh, come on.

I've been doing this for weeks without, so if I have a question now, Paul's in trouble.

Okay, thank you. So I will open it up for questions from the public at this time regarding our budget. No questions? Okay, thank you. I will close the public comment for that. So I will ask.

Can I just make one comment? Absolutely. I just wanted to share with the public. The budget's always an interesting experience. And I think one of the things that people don't understand, and you have a reason not to, because you don't follow it, like some of us do, are involved in it. It's kind of a guessing game. You notice he said we'll have final numbers on certain things in September and that's going to change maybe the equations a little bit, the numbers a little bit. So it's always hard to get your head around sometimes even though Pat and I have been doing this together now for two years and I think I've been doing it for four or five. It's always hard to get your head around that you're just making decisions based on projections of revenues. I think I can fairly say that we don't always have a lot of room to reduce our expenditures in this city. Our problem is revenue, and we have very little growth in our general fund now for years. One of the things that would help is if we could work together to find a way to consistently increase revenues that would help the general fund. I think when we all do our personal finances we know how much we're going to have for a month and we know how much we're going to spend and we don't want to overspend on that and it just doesn't kind of work that way in city or county budgets because you just never have those kind of figures to work with. So a lot of times we end up having to make adjustments and again his discussion of meeting again in September. when we have more final figures on things. And then some things will change again. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, you can call me later and I'll talk to you at length. Okay, sorry.

No, no problem. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. So with that, no other comments. I will ask the council to make a motion to adopt the budget adoption of 2026-27. And I've already read the items 1 and 2. Do we have a motion?

I motion.

Motion by Mark Clement. Second? I'll second. Second, Chris Deiders.

I NEED TO PLEASE TAKE THE ROLE. YES. YES.

YES. YES. PASSES UNANIMOUSLY. WE'LL GO ON TO ITEM AGENDA ITEM NUMBER 11 AND THAT IS ADOPT LIST OF PROJECTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026-27 FUNDED BY SB1 ROBIN COFFMAN CITY ENGINEER PLEASE.

Honorable Mayor, members of City Council, as this is a standard item, we do it every year. The city receives approximately $416,000 in road maintenance and rehabilitation account funding from SB1. To receive this funding, the city must adopt a list of projects proposed to receive this funding. This year, our project list includes the Baker Road Preventative Maintenance Project that we've already started with the county. Funding for the remaining portions of that project that we put on hold through the winter will come out of the RMRA funding. Along with the Oak Street pavement maintenance, I know Scott has talked about expanding the work done as part of the jail expansion project. to include additional paving, we're planning on using RMRA funding for our portion of that. This does not mean these are the only projects we're doing, streets projects we're doing. It's the projects that are gonna be spent out of this funding specifically. We also want to let you know that that does not mean these are the only two projects we can do. If something comes up or we want to do additional striping or additional maintenance type projects, we can add that back into the list and report on it in the future. We do have to report on every one of these projects yearly. So, what I did is I go through our budget, what is agreed upon that you guys just approved, and list any projects that have specifically categorized out of the RMRA funding, and that's how these projects got pulled to the front. So, it's not sliding projects in. They're all projects that have already been budgeted for this next year. So, any questions? I can answer those.

Thank you, Robin. Questions from council for Robin?

So Robin, the $416,000 plus that we're supposed to get, that would cover the cost of these two projects referenced here?

Yes.

Really?

Yes. They're just maintenance projects. We're not doing full rehabilitation. We're not doing full replacement. We do, I think, Paul, we have a little bit sitting in that fund. It rolls over year to year. As long as we're doing the reporting and doing the project list, we can accumulate that funding and do bigger projects in the future. But with the Measure S passing, we are hoping to do more smaller projects with this type of funding since we don't need to allocate it.

Just for the public. Yeah. So when we say completion of the rehabilitation slash maintenance of Baker and all that, What does rehabilitation really mean?

We did an overlay on Baker, and that's what we've kind of talked about on Oak. Scott and I have bounced a few ideas around, and we will be working with the county on that project also. So it's not full grind, rebuild. It's more of an overlay. Those are overlay projects.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chris. Anybody else on council? I will open up.

And the reason the county is working with us on that is because the jail and the sheriff's office, the new jail and sheriff's office.

We have been partnering with them on stuff that they can do, and it's adjacent to their infrastructure also.

And the admin building.

Yeah, we've had conversations with the interim director, Tom Provine, on it. He said it would be very easy because all along Oak Street is, on one side of it, is all their facilities and it benefits their employees as well. So utilizing their labor to do that and then us with the material is ways to leverage both to our benefit. Sounds good. Any other questions, council?

Nope.

I will open up for public questions on this. Agenda item number 11. Nothing? Okay, thank you. We'll close public comment on this. I need any hands or anything. No hands are raised. Very good. So do we have a motion for the City Council to adopt Resolution 13-2026 that establishes a list of projects for fiscal year 2026-27 that will be partially funded by SB1, the Road Repair Accountability Act of 2017. Do I have a motion?

A motion.

Motion by Cassie Pope. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mark Clement. Anita, please take the roll. Council Member Pope. Yes. Council Member Harding.

Yes.

yes yes yes yes mayor passes unit i mean measure passed unanimously thank you council uh we go agenda item number 12. this is uh set forth salaries benefits and other terms of employment applicable to the recognized bargaining unit rebel fire and mid managers association uh and we have leanna please Thank you, Leigh Ann. Council, questions for Leigh Ann? No.

Chris?

No. None from council. I will open it up for public comment. Questions?

Good evening, council. Mark Moyer, division chief and president of the association. I just wanted to say thank you for working with us and getting this contract signed. On behalf of us, thank you, Liliana and Scott, for working with us to get it done. Thank you.

Before you leave, I want to thank you guys, too. It's all working together, just like you said, with everybody in the staff. So it's great working with everybody. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate it. All right. Any hands raised for questions from the public? None? Okay. Do we have a motion for this particular agenda, item number 12? I've already read it.

No motion. Second.

Motion by Chris Deiter, second by Mark Clement. Anita, please take the roll.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. The measure passes unanimously. Thank you again. We'll go to item number 13, which is... Memorandum of understanding between the Red Bluff Firefighters Association and the city of Red Bluff for the term of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Again, Leanna.

Tonight we ask that City Council approve the proposed updated memorandum of understanding between the City of Red Bluff and the Red Bluff Firefighters Association represented by UPEC number 792. The City and the RBFA have bargained in good faith and have agreed to the employment terms reflected in the proposed MOU for a three-year term starting on July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2029. Some of the new terms include a cost of living adjustment for each year, a new annual health and wellness physical program, adding a new certificate incentive, an increase in medical coverage premiums, and matching funds for the city-sponsored deferred compensation retirement plan. Staff recommends adoption of the new MOU, and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Leigh Ann. Council, any questions for Leigh Ann? No. Cassie? Chris?

No.

then no questions from council uh i'll open it for public comment questions haven't seen nobody coming up to the podium i will close public comment and so therefore no hands raised and whatsoever okay do we have a uh and again thank you everybody on this particular item everybody participated on this uh do we have a motion for this motion motion by mark clement second By anybody? I'll second. Second by Pat Hurton. Anita, please take the roll. Councilmember Pope? Yes. Councilmember Hurton? Yes.

Councilmember Beggars?

Yes. Councilmember Clements? Yes. Mayor Zavala? Yes. Measure passes unanimously. Thank you, everyone. We'll go to item number 14, approval of the First Amendment City Manager Contract with the City of Red Bluff. And since Sophie, is she going to participate on the phone?

You're here. You're on here by faith, okay.

It says in your agenda packet, based on the negotiations that were conducted and approved as of tonight, the city manager's contract needs to be adjusted as well. He has a broad new contract that requires the city to keep him a certain percentage above the highest paid employee. The council did authorize up to a certain percentage and a percentage of 5% Thank You Sophie questions from Council for Sophie

Pat? None.

Chris? I have none. Cassie? No.

Okay. Thank you, Council. Any questions from the public regarding this agenda item? None. So I will close public time. So any hands raised, Anita? None. Okay. So I will ask for a motion. Motion. Motion by Mark Clement. Second?

I'll second it.

Second. Cassie Pope. Anita, please take the roll. I'll take the roll. yes yes yes yes motion passes unanimously thank you Tom and I want to say it's great having you as a city manager and glad you're here and again the city is working together and I appreciate that very very much I think we all appreciate I think every citizen appreciates it so thank you we'll go to item number 15 which is update and amend certain salary schedules applicable to city employees. And the recommended action is to adopt resolution 20, I mean, excuse me, 15-2026, a resolution updating the city's salary schedule to reflect salary changes approved by city council and consistent with the relevant MOUs and agreements with the city's recognized and unrecognized units. Council, any questions? Excuse me, Leigh Ann again, please.

Honorable Mayor and members of City Council, approval of the attached proposed salary schedule will authorize as of July 4th, 2026, salary increases to all full-time regular classifications as outlined in their respective MOUs or agreements set to take effect July 1st, 2026. These include those already approved or considered for approval at tonight's meeting. It reflects the overall 2% cost of living base salary increase to all full-time regular classifications, 11 classification-specific adjustments to compensate for CalPERS language compliance changes affecting certain safety groups, and two classification-specific adjustments to alleviate compaction issues. California law requires that City Council periodically establish, update, and approve employee salary schedules. I'm available for questions.

Thank you, Leigh Ann. Questions, Council, for Leigh Ann? No.

Pat? Chris? No.

No questions from council. Anything from the public? I haven't seen nobody coming up. I will close public comment. And any further comments from council?

No.

None? Okay. Any hands raised? Thank you. I will ask for a motion on agenda item number 15, as read. Motion. Motion by Mark Clement. Second?

Second.

Second by Pat Hurton. Anita, please take the roll.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Measure passes unanimously. Thank you, council. We again go position allocation list or PAL recommended action. This is item number 16, excuse me. Review and approve updated position allocation list in conjunction with a considered FY 2026, 2027 budget. Leigh Ann, again, please.

Staff recommends the review and approval of the updated position allocation list in conjunction with the considered 26-27 budget. While there are no changes in the allocated positions within the fiscal year from the previous year's budget, the position allocation list has been significantly updated this year to reflect the funding source for each position. Funding sources are broken into three main categories, government funds, enterprise funds, and grant funds. Government funds are further broken into general fund and other. A note section has been added to give clarity to positions that may have multiple funding sources. I'm available for questions.

Thank you, Leigh Ann. Questions, counsel for Leigh Ann? No. Questions? Chris? No. No. Questions from the public? So see any further comments from council? No. Thank you. No hands raised, Anita? No. Anita, please, do I have a motion on agenda item number 16 as read?

Motion.

Motion by Mark Clement. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Second by Cassie Pope. Anita, please take the roll.

Council Member Pope? Yes. Council Member Dyer? Yes. Council Member Clement? Yes.

Yes. Measure passes unanimously. Thank you, council. We go to agenda item number 17, which is the subject matter is the letter of support for Tehama County Continuum of Care Encampment Resolution Funding Round 5. That's the ERF Notice of Funding Availability Application. The recommended action is adopt a letter of support for the Tehama County Continuum of Care Application for Funding under the California

encampment resolution funding round five notice of funding availability and authorized the mayor to sign the letter on behalf of the city and i will turn this to tom westbrook thank you mayor and council members as you noted this is simply a letter of support to the for the continuum of cares application for some encampment resolution funding that were successful a few years ago some of that funding came to the city in the form of a homeless liaison officer position. And so we're advantageous to see if they can secure additional funds to address issues with homelessness and housing in our area. And so just looking to get some support so that we can get the letter to Andrea Curry of the Tama County COC so that they can make that part of their application packet later this month. Thank you, Tom.

Any questions for Tom from council?

No. Hey, Tom, are we going to have to do a separate one when we finally have the whole encampment policy that's going to be approved by everyone from each city and the county? Are we going to do another one of these specific for that? Do we have to?

That's going to be a little bit separate. This is a letter of support. I think that policy document would be something a little bit different than this.

Yeah, it kind of references it in here. So, okay. Yeah. But we'll be doing a separate one.

We'll be doing something separate for the...

I think Andrea would be here too.

Yeah, and Andrea is online. If you had a specific question, we have her available. Anita, could you please promote Andrea Curry so that she can speak?

Let us know when she's on, Anita.

Go ahead, Andrea.

Thank you. Thank you for being on the line with us tonight. Any questions, council, for Andrea? Chris, anything?

Andrew, just for clarification, this is just a bit different than the policy that we're going to be trying to adopt on a regional basis, but with each city and the county. agreeing to do so, correct?

That's correct. They are somewhat related in that when we submit our application for the HMAP resolution round five funds, we are required to make a commitment to have a regional HMAP policy in place within three months of award. However, it's not required that we have that done before we apply. And we are working with Thank you. I just want that to be clear. Thank you, Chris. Anyone else?

Then I'll open it for public questions for Andrea. Anybody in the public want to ask her a question? I haven't seen nobody coming up, so therefore I will close public comment on this. So do we have a motion to adopt agenda item number 17 as read?

I motion.

I motion. Mark Clement. Do we have a second? I'll second. Second by Chris Deiters. Anita, please take the roll.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, council. We go on to agenda item number 18, which is California Climate Investments Wildfire Prevention Grants Program. Action would be City Council adopt resolution number 11-2026 authorizing staff to apply for the California Climate Investments Wildfire PREVENTIONS GRANT PROGRAM. CHIEF BOCHMEYER, PLEASE.

GOOD EVENING, AGAIN, HONORABLE MAYOR, MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL. AS YOU MENTIONED, TONIGHT I BRING BEFORE YOU A REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL TO ADOPT RESOLUTION NUMBER 11-2026, AUTHORIZING STAFF TO APPLY FOR THE CAL FIRE CALIFORNIA CLIMATE INVESTMENT WILDFIRE PREVENTION GRANTS PROGRAM. IT'S NOT A MOUTHFUL. This particular grant is funded by Proposition 4, which was passed maybe a year or so ago, I believe, to try and offset some of the climate issues going on within the state, within the country, within the world. The primary function of this grant is to help fund the scoping and completion of fuels reduction projects, also to buy equipment and supplies that are needed to complete those projects, which fall directly in line with our Jump Start California grant through OES that pays for our chief resilience officer. We have been awarded a similar grant through the Cal Fire Wildfire Prevention Program grants program in 2023. On that grant, we partnered with the Resource Conservation District of Tehama County, and we're already realizing some cost reimbursement from the projects that we're doing in Brewery Creek and are hoping to continue and expand upon that work that we've been doing. The funding ceiling for this is $950,000, of which we have identified some equipment and projects that we're starting to scope in the hopes of getting this grant. And while this grant truly doesn't have a matching requirement, it's recommended, our plan is to use in-kind matching through the work that is done by our Chief Resilience Officer, who is a grant-funded position. So any of those hours and the time that he's putting into this project can be our in-kind match showing that we are helping with the funding. With that in mind, again, I would request council to adopt resolution number 11-2026, authorizing staff to apply for the Cal Fire California Climate Investments and Wildfire Prevention Grants Program. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you, Chief. Questions from counsel for Chief Bachmeier?

No.

All right. Good. I just want to say I think his work, Justin's work shows through the parks and everything that they're doing. I think our city looks much different. And it's just really, really well appreciated. You might say I thank a lot of people, but I'm not afraid to thank people when they're doing their job. You know and I appreciate that and I think our city functions well and Again, Justin. Thank you. Good job anyway questions from the from the yes Any questions from the public any comments? All right, so Thank you, so do I have a motion to Approve amendment. I mean agenda item number 18 as read I will make the motion I Motion by Cassie Pope, second by Mark Clement. Anita, please take the roll.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, staff. Thank you, council. All right. So item number 19 is a discussion item only. Discussion regarding city council compensation. Discuss city council compensation. Provide direction to staff regarding any potential amendments to council compensation. So I'll open it up to council for comments.

I just want to ask Tom, so the council has the option of taking the compensation, taking the medical, not taking either one or separate if they want.

Yeah, so currently the rebel of municipal code affords any council member individually to make a decision whether they want to waive the compensation or they want to waive the medical benefits or one or the other. That currently already exists. It's been in the ordinance for some time. And it's just an individual decision of each of the council members. You can already waive any or all of it.

Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Chris?

The only thing I would say is that I was going to say what you just asked. No one has to take any of this if they don't want to, number one. And number two, I think we're all adults and we can make our own decisions about what we want to do. I think the idea behind Council Member Curtin's thinking was that because when we first did this in December of 2024, or excuse me, the first part of 2024, it passed the ordinance. I know that Mr. Hurtin didn't support it then. And so I'm not really sure why we were bringing it up now this many years later. But I think that it should be up to each individual council member what they want to do and if they think by not taking any compensation, if it's a budget concern, that's fine. But I also have a hard time with the timing of this because in a few short months we're going to be having a new council most likely and I think a decision like this maybe should be up to people that will be sitting for the next four years

Okay.

Pat?

Well, I disagree. I mean, I think I realize this is largely a symbolic gesture. I don't know who takes it. I don't know who doesn't take it. I mean, obviously, I was the only no vote when this got voted in in the first place, but I don't know who takes it or who doesn't take it, but largely a symbolic gesture because our salary, even all put together, even if everybody took it, is pretty much a drop in the bucket. So it's largely a symbolic gesture, but I think it's one that we need to make because we are about to ask for probably some pretty drastic measures here in light of the budget that we just passed. And I just think that I think I would recommend that we put it back down to a dollar where it existed for a long, long time.

Thank you, Pat.

I'll just make one more comment. I think the thing is, is that the public's tired of symbolic gestures, and they kind of want to see more actions. And I appreciate what you're saying. I do. But I think everybody up here can make their own decisions about what they want to do. And if everybody said, okay, well, we just won't take it, it still can stay in place for future councils. That's the thing. That's kind of my point more than anything else.

And by symbolic, I mean, I realize, I purely mean the fact that, again, all of it added together is a drop in the bucket. But it is, nonetheless, concrete and spending less. It's funny, by this time of the meeting, usually everybody leaves and almost everybody has. But Ken Boone welcomed Leanna to the podium by a pretty simple principle. Like, in my mind, you can't spend more than you bring in. So this is a start towards doing that. That's all I'm saying. I mean, I'm obviously outnumbered as I was when this first came up, but had to do what I had to do.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate all comments by council. I'll open it up for public questions or comments on this.

Good evening, council. I understand that there is three seats that will be possibly coming open or that is coming open. And I agree with Mrs. Dieter there that it should be an individual choice, not saying, well, let's just get rid of everything. Each each election time that their seats come open. Well, there's gonna be three seats, which is gonna be the majority. If you vote on it now, then the people that's coming in are gonna be like, well, we don't get a choice. I do agree on everything that Chris did say. It's like, I guarantee like anybody else here, if all of a sudden you told them, okay, from now on, you're not gonna get paid for coming into the meetings.

would most of them show up?

Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else? I'll close public comment at 6.57. It's a matter of discussion, so I don't think we have to take a vote. I think it's going to be up to me. I've been on both sides of the equation here. I've been when I was paid a dollar. Actually, it was $0.97. Then I had to take a penny draw because the state changed, so I got $0.96 the other month. But, you know, what it comes to is that it's commitment to this position, whether with or without the pay, because the first four years it actually cost me money to be a councilman. And I was glad to do it because my commitment was to the city. So what I'm saying is I think I can hear both Chris and Pat is that their commitment to the city is to the city and doing the best job that we can. So I myself personally leave it up to the individual council members. If you would simply not attend, just advise that you're not attending a council meeting, you will not be paid for that according to our ordinance about pay for city council people. So if you want to take time, as long as we have a majority, you're going on an extended vacation and you don't call in, you're not gonna participate remotely, you'll be giving up your pay for that particular meeting. So that's items to consider. Like myself, I do not take, I'll be candid with you, I'll be upfront with you. My pay, what it is, pays for my health insurance because I do not take city health insurance. I decided not to do it and charge the city extra for that since I'm already paying my own health insurance. So I'm still at a zero equation per se. So that's my particular situation. So I would leave it that every council member has their choice and decision to make. And I'll end with that. Any other comments?

Make a motion that we reduce the city council salary to $1.

Thank you. Anybody want to second that? Having no second, it dies for lack of a second. Thank you, Pat. All right. We'll go on to item. Committee reports to council comments. Antelope Water and Sewer Project.

Yeah, the June meeting was canceled. The next is scheduled July 9th.

Chamber of Commerce. I want to skip that because I have to go to my phone and open it up and tell you what all the events – oh, here it is. Wednesday night, farmers markets. As you know, the last farmers market that was the opening with the Channel 12 being present, it already has gotten, I think, 15,000 views on the news outlet. Facebook page, grand opening ribbon cutting for Edward Jones, 733 Washington Street, 11 a.m. on June 17th. June 20th, grand opening celebration, ribbon cutting for AT&T, and that's a project that... Ms. Lindart was telling us about, at 995 South Main Street, 12 to 2 p.m. And we also have a Good Morning Red Bluff hosted by Sacred Heart School, 2255 Monroe Street at 7.50 a.m. That's at June 25th again, and that same day, June 25th, re-grand opening cutting for Omega Mortgage Group, 340 Hickory Street at 11 a.m. And the chamber's having the fireworks booth from June 28th through July the 4th. And if you want to volunteer to sit there and help them, it would be wonderful. Thank you. City Council Ad Hoc Committee. Chris, we don't have anything, do we? County Ad Hoc Committee.

I don't think we had a meeting, did we?

No. Committee action. Chris.

Excuse me. The next meeting is Thursday at 3 p.m.

There's the Downtown Red Bluff Business Association. No meeting. Executive Committee to Hammonds County Solid Waste, Chris and Pat.

We met on June 8th. One thing that the public might be interested in is we passed a resolution since Executive Council of the JPA agencies. that has changed the meeting place of the Executive Council to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors chambers. The reason being is Senate Bill 707 requires that the public have access whether it's audio or call in visual audio visual to this meeting and that is not available at the landfill agency office. It's very inconsistent. So going forward, those meetings will be held always at the Board of Chambers Pardon me board of supervisors changers, and if you're interested in coming, it's just a handful of people It's a little more casual than the full board meeting. So it's a little more enjoyable and You always get some landfill people they're giving you some site information that's always helpful to have too so That was That was it

All right. Thank you. LAFCO, we did have a meeting regarding a boundary dispute, access to water for the Perverter Water District, and direction was given to staff on that issue. Red Bluff Community Center Commission.

Next meeting is August 20th.

August 20th. Thank you. Red Bluff County Air Pollution District Committee. Chris Cassie.

I think this is actually.

Excuse me?

It's actually us, right? Yes. This one?

I'm sorry.

This is the one that got confused last time. Yeah.

Do we have any comment on that? Tama County Air Pollution and Water District?

No.

No? Okay, no comment. Okay, very good. Tama County Continuous Care, Chris, Cassie?

We met on the 10th. The July meeting is cancelled because there's already not going to be enough people to have a quorum and it's basically kind of the same review of housing projects, funding projects, lack of funding that is coming or not coming that will affect some of the projects as well and some of the funding that has been applied for and hopefully we will hear something about that in I believe September and it could be a substantial amount of money for a number of projects throughout the county But we won't know until until September. So if Andrea is still with us and she probably isn't Andrea curry does good work on daily on these issues and I Appreciate working with her Thank You Chris Timmy kind of solid waste management agency all council members.

I

No meeting.

July 6th, right? July 6th will be the next one?

Is it for sure?

I think that's what's scheduled as of now.

I'm thinking they're worried about quorum.

Okay. Timmy County Transportation Commission, Pat and Cassidy. 62226. 62226. Thank you, everyone. Excuse me. Additional council comments and other meetings attended. Anybody?

Okay.

What did I say? Additional council comments and other meetings attended. Council, anything?

No.

I would like to honor Mr. Byron's request and have that scheduled for a future agenda item, maybe late July, meeting in July, August.

I would say just based upon kind of the scheduled workflow, it would probably be better for staff if it was maybe the first meeting in August, if there's consensus from the council to put that item on.

Is there consensus from council on that item? I see no support, so no. Anything else?

I know that we usually don't comment on these kind of things, but I'm going to. I understand the position of some of the council members here, but in point of fact, he's asking to increase business and increase revenues, number one, and number two, With not wanting to talk about it, the public has no ability to comment on this whether they support it or not. So I guess I don't understand the issue of we can't put it on the agenda and discuss it. But I think that should... And that's all I'm going to say.

running the risk of getting chastised by Sophie. I mean, as I met with Mr. Byron, I explained to him that if I was to revisit this cannabis ordinance, it would be to put a sunset on it. I have not pushed any personal agenda here. When it's within my control, I vote no. We're assuming that all business is good business. I don't agree with that necessarily. So there's my view. That's why I was silent when it came up. And I explained that to Mr. Byron when we met. I thought we had a good visit.

Thank you, Pat. Appreciate that. I think I will close because all we're looking at is for a consensus, yes or no, and we have said no. All right. So that closes unless anybody else has any other items that they want to bring to council? Having heard none, I will then adjourn this meeting at 7.08. Thank you, everyone.