City Council - Regular Meeting

Afternoon, I'd like to call this City Council meeting to order our closed session. I don't have any public speakers requests I don't see anybody in the audience.

I don't believe we have anybody on zoom No, okay Um mayor we my understanding was that councilmember to head I was going to participate in closed session remotely Okay, thank you. I'm not sure if he's um if he's if he's on Doesn't look like he's on He will be participating remotely under the just cause exception. He is feeling under the weather today, and so he's participating from his home. So he'll dial in with closed session. And the same, he'll make the disclosure again for open session for the community to know.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. And what do we have on our docket this morning?

We have two pending litigation existing litigation items Conference of legal counsel pursuant to government code section 5 4 9 5 6 point 9 D 1 the first case is Holzer versus City of Redlands at all San Bernardino Superior Court case number CI B SB 2 3 2 2 7 8 7 and then the last one is Wagner Zemming Christensen LLP versus City of Redlands and San Bernardino Superior Court, case number CIBSB2529490. Okay, thank you.

Will you stand and raise this to close session? Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. I'd like to reconvene the City Council meeting, and I would like to have Mr. Councilman Tejeda make an announcement.

Mayor and audience, members of the audience, I am unable to be present at the meeting tonight. I am ill with the flu, so I will be participating from home today.

So you have the invocation?

Yes. If you'll please join me in bowing your heads, please. Heavenly Father, we pray to you today understanding that there are many challenges in the world today as we speak that outshine all of the goodness that's happening in the world as well. We pray that all of the things that are occurring around the world that are bad for humanity be resolved quickly and that you help with intercession in some way. We ask you to please protect our police and fire as they do their service to this community and they put their lives on the line every single day. We ask you also to protect every person who works for the city of Redlands day in, day out, doing the public service to their members of this community. We ask that everyone in this entire community, our state, our nation and the whole world be thought of and that everyone be cared for during these trying times. Amen.

Please remain standing. We have our Lagonia student representative here to lead us in the pledge. So if you want to come on up.

Good evening, everybody. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge of 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.

All right, good job, thank you.

What a brave young man. Thank you so much for that. Next on our agenda is presentations. We have our Redlands Pet Adoption.

All right, Joe, who do we have here today? Good afternoon, everybody. We have Gordy right here with us. Can you guys tell his costume? It's Tuesday, so that means it's Taco Tuesday. There he is. So he'll be the tracking of the show today. So we're the animal shelter. My name is Joe Alcaraz. I'm the animal services supervisor. This is Haley. She's one of my staff members. She's one of our kennel attendants. We're just going to go over some numbers. We're not going to take much of your time because we got to go get some tacos after this because we're very hungry. So these are our stats for April. This is our live intakes. We intake quite a few dogs for the month of April. We took in 68 dogs, 10 cats, total of 72 animals. That's a lot of animals, right? So it is a big problem. The only way you guys can help us is by spreading the word that we have tacos, all right? Let them know we have tacos at the shelter. They can adopt them too. Bad joke. Sorry, sorry, sorry. All right, live outcome. How animals left the shelter. We have 41 dogs that were adopted, four cats that were adopted, a total of 45 animals that were adopted total. So for having a lot of animals in, we did a lot of adoptions as well. And RTOs, so how many animals returned to the owners? We had 10 dogs going back to their owners. One cat that went back to its owner, so a total of 11 animals that went back to their home, thanks to people using social media, microchipping, and looking for the dogs on our website. So that was a good sign. So right now we have a current population of 45 dogs and five cats. So if you guys are interested in adopting, come check us out. And this is one of our dogs that's up for adoption. This is Gordy. Gordy's a fun dog. He loves water. He loves people. And he likes the attention. So if you guys are looking for a good, fun dog, that's your dog. So check him out. And he loves to eat tacos, too. Pub Cubs, everything. He's a very fun dog. I want to give you guys an... Go ahead. Do your tricks. There you go. See that? You can't find that anywhere else, guys. Only here in the City of Redlands Animal Shelter. Give him a hand. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Give it up for him. Give it up for him. I do want to give you guys an update on Bautista. He was our last dog that was here on our last presentation. Bautista is still at the shelter. He did not get adopted yet, but you guys can make a difference if you guys spread the word. He's a great dog, amazing dog, respectful, friendly. So please change his frown to a happy face. There he is. Make him smile again because he needs a home. So thank you guys for your time. I appreciate you guys. You guys have a good day.

Thank you. Any closed session report, Madam City Attorney?

There was two items on the closed session agenda, and for each of them, there was no reportable action, and that ends the closed session report.

Okay, thank you. Our next presentation, the student is not here, so we'll skip that and go on to our third presentation, which is the... Authorization of issuance of a proclamation declaring the month of May 2026 as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I would like to call up Kevin Suzuki and Saburo Foster to come on up to the front, please. Join me. Thank you. So as the proclamation states, there's a bunch of whereases, but whereas the Redlands Japanese Cultural Center is committed to deepening its role as a regional leader in cross-cultural exchange by establishing a cultural collection and researching local history, all while broadening the educational outreach and social services to strengthen the social fabric of Redlands. Today, more than 20 million Asian American Pacific Islanders live in the United States throughout and through their actions make America more vibrant and prosperous and secure nation. Now, therefore, let it be resolved that the City Council of the City of Redlands does hereby proclaim May 2026 as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of Redlands and encourages all residents, businesses, and institutions to learn more about the Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage and work to combat racism and xenophobia as we celebrate this month. And so I'd like to present this proclamation to Saburo. I met him and Kevin at one of our local service club meetings, and it was a pleasure meeting them to know that they were going to bring this Japanese cultural center here to the city of Redlands. And we're very honored to know that you're providing a lot of cultural Education for those of us in our community, and we want to acknowledge the contributions that your culture has brought to our city of Redlands over many, many years. And I know that's 1 of your missions. And so I've been to your, your Japanese cultural center. I've seen you at the multicultural centers. I've seen you at so many events and it's good to see that you guys are out in the community. And so I'm going to let you talk a little bit about what your cultural center does and where it's at.

Well, thank you, Mayor. Thank you, City Council, for this great honor. The Redlands Japanese Culture Center is dedicating to celebrating and bringing Japanese culture to the city of Redlands. And we're building upon a history of Japanese Americans in Redlands where there's families like the Sakatos that own the Sakato Market, the Kanatanis, the Wadas, the people that own the barbershop and the pool hall down on Orange Street. that in spite of the hardships faced and the prejudice and discrimination, the relocation and internment during World War II, that they formed vital threads in the community and helped build the city of Redlands that we love today. We hope that you guys come down and visit the center. We offer classes in just about everything you can think of. We have odori, which is Japanese dance. We did that today. We have calligraphy. We have ikebana. Ikebana is flower arranging. We have bonsai, those amazing little trees. We also have all the martial arts, karate, kendo. Judo, jiu-jitsu, and we do taiko drums, which have been very popular. People keep asking for them. And we have three levels of Japanese language classes. Did I miss any of those?

Origami.

Origami. Which Kevin's a specialty. So Kevin is well known for his origami. And... We just hope that you guys visit and support the center. We are a nonprofit, and we're always running on fumes. And we hope to be a part of this community for a long time. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. We're going to take a picture.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Next presentation is National Day of Prayer. Americans have long turned to prayer both in times of joy and times of sorrow. On the voyage to the new world and the earliest settlers prayed that they would rejoice together and mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes a commission of community work. The National Day of Prayer is a tradition in the country dating back to 1775. At a time in our nation's history when the power of prayer is needed more than ever, it is fitting that individuals come together in this community to publicize and demonstrate their faith in the power and divine intercessions. In 1988, the first Thursday of May was permanently chosen as National Day of Prayer, and the National Day of Prayer prayer belongs to all Americans. It is a day that transcends differences, brings together citizens from all backgrounds. I'd like to call up Kawa Swish, who is the president of the Interfaith Council here in Redlands. And because it's the National Day of Prayer, I thought it would be fitting to be able to acknowledge the wonderful work that the Interfaith Council does here in Redlands. And so if you want to say a few words and talk to us about the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Kaur Shwesh, and I have the honor and privilege to serve our community as the president of the Redlands Area Interfaith Council. On behalf of the Redlands Area Interfaith Council, I'd like to thank you for this proclamation. as it really underscores the importance that faith and our spiritual community play in Redlands. It's a vital part of the fabric of what makes Redlands the beautiful city that it is. The Redlands Area Interfaith Council has been in effect for about 50 years now, and it's really brought our community together. It's a beautiful mosaic of different faiths, And although we practice differently, we are unified by a shared commitment to peace and prosperity and well-being in our neighborhoods. So this is a very important proclamation and we really appreciate that. We found in the Interfaith Council that in our diversity, we find our strength. And in our shared values, we find our home here in Redlands. And in our home, Redlands, we lift each other up. And in the spirit of this proclamation, I'd like to invite everyone as well to this Thursday as we have the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the University of Redlands Orton Center. It will be at 7 a.m. And details about the event and registration can be found online on mayorsprayer.redlandsinterfaith.org. And we can share that information. You can look it up. It's been in the paper as well. And finally, I'd like to thank you again for celebrating this month with us, and we look forward to this month being a month of prayer for all of us, that it would be a beautiful month of prayer. In the event, this event is dedicated to truly celebrating our unity and our diversity, but also to seek wisdom for our leaders in the city, our city leaders, peace for our neighborhoods and community, and compassion for our most vulnerable citizens. So thank you all for this. Thank you.

Okay, before we, somebody say something? No? Okay. Got something to say? Okay, moving on. Moving on to, before we get to public comment, well, let's go to public comment. We have Andrew Coleman.

Yes, sir.

Good evening mayor city council. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Andrew Coleman. I've come before you the last few meetings and I am the teamsters business agent representing the teamsters employees here at the city. Uh, as you know, we are currently in negotiations with the city and, um, we want to reach out and say, we do appreciate the open dialogue and the active conversations that we've been having at negotiations. And I appreciate that. Um, I ask that the council continue to, um, instruct your team to bargain in good faith. And also, I'm coming before you tonight to ask you guys to invest in your employees. Um, as we've said at previous meetings. The city completed a salary survey and class and comp survey that identified across the board an average of 12% below market for the employees here in the city of Redlands. And we had some members in classifications that were. With that being said, the rising cost of healthcare is beginning to become an issue. I know the last contract, there was a lot of investment into healthcare and we appreciate that. And we're asking you to continue that investment. So we've come before you as a group, as you can see, there's quite a few of us here tonight to ask you to continue to invest in that and. and continue to bargain in good faith. And we appreciate that. We look forward to meeting with your team again next week. And hopefully we continue to progress through this process. And we need your guidance to that team to say, you know, continue to invest in the people. Redlands is a wonderful place to work and live and play. And we want to continue that partnership that we've developed with you guys. So please invest in the members and have a wonderful night. Thank you.

While we have a minute, we're going to pull item I-8 on the consent calendar. Another, okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. So one announcement before we get to our public comment. Councilman Tejeda is offline. So we'll continue with the three of us up here. We have a quorum. Our next public speaker is Lucille Iglesias. Because this is your first time. So come on up. Introduce yourself. There's three lights on the dais there. When you get to the yellow, that means you have 30 seconds, and then the red means you hit your three minutes. Okay, so please introduce yourself.

Good evening. My name is Lucille Iglesias. I am recently retired from the County of Riverside. I am a behavior health specialist, and I am licensed by the state as a substance abuse counselor. So now I have time. I drove from Redlands to Corona for 25 years for the County of Riverside, and I decided that Redlands is the jewel city of the Inland Empire. I would like to work here part-time now, since I'm retired, and counsel with women. I also taught DOI classes over in Corona for quite a few years, and I'm just here to make myself available for whatever service you need. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. And also thank you for the invitation to go up to celebrate Cinco de Mayo up at Crafton Hills College. I appreciate that.

Yes. Thank you so much. Cinco de Mayo, yes, definitely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Next public comment is Steven Rogers.

Honorable Mayor Saucedo, Redland City Council, Steve Rogers, Church Street. I forwarded an email chain over for reference, and I'm just going to read part of that. Hello, City Manager Duggan. I'm forwarding you this communication as I'm now aware that both Interim MUED Director Ray Casey and shortly, if not already, Assistant City Manager Chris Boatman have left City of Redlands employment. Pursuant to the November 3rd, 2022 email you provided me recently in our meeting with Ray Casey about the subject, Ms. Tiffany Chris Well, Enforcement Program Manager with the California Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, writes, according to the attached notice of departmental designation form, On file with the Board, dated 2018, there are both licensed city employees and contracted companies on it. I am attaching the NODD for your review. If there are any updates, please complete a new one and return it to my attention. Email is fine. Obviously, you have personally been the contact with the City of Redlands to update the NODD for the Board and apparently in charge of having the current NODD forms provided to the Board in 2022 when the Redlands City departments were first being reorganized as they currently exist. It is therefore no coincidence that the current NODD forms that have been provided through public records requests and originally attached to this email chain are dated the same date of November 3, 2022, as Ms. Tiffany Criswell's email concerning the subject. Ms. Criswell's email further claims, we have already advised Mr. Rogers that there is nothing requiring agency leaders to hold licenses. An opinion which was apparently provided in response to my expressed concern that the MUED director be required to be a professional engineer and therefore also simultaneously hold the title of city engineer. I'm very concerned that your city manager is in violation of the law and has been putting this city in jeopardy for a long time. Thank you.

Okay. I don't have any more public speakers. Mr. Moderator, do we have any public comment on Zoom?

No, Mr. Mayor. There are no attendees on Zoom currently.

Thank you. As we said, we were going to pull item I-8. Do we want to approve the rest of the balance?

I'll make a motion to approve the balance of the consent calendar absent I-8.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Davis? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw?

Yes.

Mayor Saucedo?

Yes. Moving on to the pulled item, which is item I-8, approve a purchase order modification in the amount of $87,000 with Flock Group, Inc. for the remainder of the fiscal year. Deputy Chief Floyd.

Thank you, Council Members. On November 4th, 2025, the City approved a sole source purchase with Flock Group, Inc. for the renewal of leases for automated license plate recognition cameras, ALPER, Deployed throughout the city, the Alper cameras have been instrumental in providing a crucial investigative leads in numerous crimes, including robbery, burglary and sexual assault. And continue to serve as a valuable tool in enhancing public safety and supporting law enforcement operations. The requested increase of $87,000 is supported by a combination of renewal invoices and phase subscription quotes to reflect ongoing subscription and licensing services for existing Alper cameras deployments. In addition, the increase primarily supports subscription services for the second year of a 24-month term, as reflected in the two invoices attached to the staff report and consistent with the vendor's invoicing for the 2026-2027 service period. The other two quotes cover the first year of the contract. This funding request is intended to cover service costs with the current fiscal year. By approving this modification, the City will remain current with its contractual obligations and avoid any interruption in service. Staff is requesting additional funds to maintain continuality of services for the Alpro cameras, and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Deputy Chief. I have one speaker slip. Kathy Saldaniela? Did I? Okay, thank you. Yes.

Hi. I'm just going to read my statement. So flock cameras, also known as automated license plate readers, are sold as crime-fighting tools, but they silently undermine our constitutional rights. These cameras record every vehicle that passes, storing location data for months, often without a warrant. That's a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court has long held that tracking someone's public movements over time reveals private life, where you pray, where you protest, and where you receive health care. Yet police nationwide use flock data to target dissenters, monitor political gatherings, and even enforce civil violations far beyond their intended use. This isn't speculation. It's documented overreach. It's recently been discovered that flock employees were looking at video content of minors within their gymnastics classes when marketing their tech to police without the consent of those being viewed. When government can track your every turn without suspicion or oversight, we don't have public safety. We have a police state that can stifle free speech. Flock is surveillance without bounds that combines the likes of Palantir to derive digital profiles against political opponents. people that do not have protection from the law. This new contract should be voided and existing flock contracts canceled along with demanding warrants for license plate tracking and deletion of data that never led to a crime. In closing, I would like to remind you that we just found out that there was a website that taught men how to rape and drug women that was getting upwards of 67 million visitors. It's important to point this out because flock cameras have also reportedly been used by cops to stalk women. I can forward you those articles if you'd like to see them. That being said, I'd like to say that Redlands should be a city that works for everyone and keeps everyone safe, including women and children, and these cameras make it easier to harm us. Thank you.

Next speaker is John Malcolm.

Hello, City Council. I'm here against the increase in the purchase order for the flock system. I believe that given the controversies flock has and continues to be involved in, that the Council should rather table this item until next session and then bring it back under a public discussion item. On a national and business level, Flock has not been well accepted. Most notable for the average person is probably the very recent Super Bowl ad that they aired with Ring, and four days after, they had enough pushback that they led Ring to cancel the contract. The last sentence in Ring's press release is, we'll continue to carefully evaluate future partnerships to ensure they align with our standards for customer trust, safety, and privacy. This very obviously implies that Flock does not meet those standards. FLOC is also not held in high regard with national community entities like the ACLU, which, if you even have a cursory glance on their website, has many articles against FLOC and ALPR technologies in general. Getting even closer to us, just next door, the Warehouse Workers Resource Center opposes FLOC in San Bernardino City. Here's one of their messages about that, aimed towards urging community member action in city council meetings. I'm going to read it verbatim. I am calling on the San Bernardino City Council to end the use of automated license plate readers, ALPRs, in my city. These cameras, operated by the company Flock, track our location and collect the data like our license plate numbers and car make, model, color, and registration information. This data is shared with the police and potentially federal agencies like ICE and DHS so that they can easily target residents. I demand that the City Council immediately cancel the contract with Flock and prohibit future contracts with other companies that sell tools that enable law enforcement agencies and private corporations to surveil residents. No more spying through automated license plate readers in San Bernardino. Again, that is a message verbatim intended for San Bernardino City Council. Even back in 2015, there was quite a bit of distrust in folk and ALPR technologies in general. Very notably, Senate Bill 34 of 2015-2016 states that the bill would require a public agency, as defined, that operates or intends to operate an ALPR system to provide an opportunity for public comment at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the governing body of the public agency before implementing the program, which is not something done with most technologies, as far as I'm aware. And again, that very much implies distrust of LPR technologies as far back as 2015 in the California Senate. Again, I am hearing in opposition to this proposal proposal being a consent calendar item instead of a public discussion, and would like to see this tabled until it can be pulled until it can be brought back as such. Thank you for your time.

What's the wish of the council?

I would be curious, Deputy Floyd, if you can respond to some of the concerns that were raised.

Yes, so I'm not familiar with some of the news stories that they spoke about. I'm not familiar with any of those. I can say that for us to access the information, we do need to have an actual investigative reason for it. We have to have a case number. We can't just go in and start looking at it. We do only hold that data for a year. And in regards to any kind of federal immigration there are laws in this state that preclude us from assisting them So we can't divulge any of that information to them So what you're saying is it's not shared with other agencies if there's not a warrant involved If another law enforcement, non federal law enforcement, if we were working a case involving, like, say, a city next to us or something, we may share it with them. But we would not share it with a federal law, any kind of federal immigration. I'm familiar with what they're speaking of. I think that happened in another state, not California.

I don't have any questions. I'll make a motion if there's no other questions or discussion. I'll move that the City Council approve a purchase order modification in the amount of $87,000 with Flock Group Inc. for the remainder of fiscal year 2526. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Davis? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw? Yes. Mayor Saucedo?

Yes. Motion passes. We're moving on to communications. This is J-1. This is a consideration of a letter of support for the San Bernardino County's Active Transportation Program application for safe routes to school improvements serving the Redlands East Valley High School students. So this is a consideration, signing a letter of support that we support the county's transportation project for active transportation. adding sidewalks where there aren't any for safe routes to schools. So that's pretty straightforward.

If there's no other comments or discussion, I'll move that city council authorized that.

I don't see any. I don't have any public comment. I don't see anybody on zoom.

And so I'll move that the city council authorized the mayor to sign a letter in support for San Bernardino County's active transportation program application for safe routes to school improvement serving Redlands East Valley High School.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw.

Yes.

Mayor Saucedo.

Yes. Moving on to item J2. This is the City of Redlands Security Task Force update and provide direction to staff. Assistant City Manager Boatman.

Thank you, Mayor. David Rabuninath, our Homeless Solutions Manager, will be providing you with a presentation and following that I'll provide some input as well.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City Leadership. On November 4th, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 8732, establishing the City of Redlands Food Security and Child Nutrition Supportive Initiative, which directed staff to convene a Food Security Task Force and return with recommendations. Staff returned to City Council on February 3rd, 2026 to provide an initial update and receive direction on implementation of the initiative. Consistent with... Council direction staff convened the Food Security Task Force, which met three times with representatives from local nonprofit and faith-based organizations that provide food and related assistance. These meetings focus on identifying service gaps, coordination opportunities, and barriers to food access in the community based on input received, key challenges identified, including increasing food costs, reduced funding for providers, transportation barriers, limited distribution capacity, and the need for improved coordination among service providers. So city staff is seeking city council direction regarding next steps for the Food Security Task Force, which may include directing staff to proceed with, further evaluate, or not pursue the identifying strategy. So the top five strategies that the Food Task Force came up with are... Number one donations of tow bags and cardboard boxes to support food distribution providers. This option is relatively low cost would require staff coordination and ongoing management. The second recommendation would be evaluation of shared storage solutions, including freezer and refrigeration capacity. Implementation would require identifying suitable locations, evaluating size and capacity needs and estimating equipment and operational costs. The city does not currently have available cold storage space and additional considerations include liability, food safety requirements and potential permitting requirements. Number three, development of a mini-grant program to support food distribution efforts. One option would be to provide grants of approximately 20,000 with an initial total allocation of up to 100,000 to assist providers with purchasing and distributing food. The approach would require identification of a food source and program administration. Four, exploration of transportation assistance options for clients. This may include providing a vehicle to a nonprofit organization to support food delivery services, which would require analysis of acquisition costs and liability considerations associated with transferring ownership. Alternatively, transportation assistance such as bus passes could be incorporated into a grant program. And finally, number five. improve coordination and staff communication of food distribution efforts. This would involve working with providers to better align distribution schedules and enhance public information. This option would primarily require staff coordination and engagement with partner organizations. And I'll hand it back to the assistance manager.

Yeah, so we a lot of good discussions with the food task force. I know a number of the council attended at times, um, and including council member Davis, who brought this item initially to the, to the council. Um, so in discussing this in depth, um, with, uh. with our finance team and staff. The city manager is recommending that if council would like us to go forward with one or more of these items, that you advance this discussion to the budget discussions, which are going to occur later this month and early in June. Currently, we're in the final stages of the budget, and we've basically identified funding for the rest of this current budget cycle. So in this current fiscal year that ends July 1st, All the money is currently allocated unless we unless we essentially, you know, transfer from a different source. So by having this discussion in the context of the budget discussions, we'll be able to better prioritize the desires of the Council. So that's that's that was our recommendation. And if you have any questions about any of the task force specific requests, David can certainly elaborate as well.

want to start the discussion possible direction I don't have I don't have any public speaker slips I just want to thank you David for the report as well as assistant city manager boatman for all of your work on this thank you to members of the task force I see a few in the audience it's been great to have these intentional conversations around food security and child nutrition in Redlands. I really support all of the recommendations outlined here in this staff report. I especially would be interested in pursuing the mini grants. By and large, that was sort of the loudest response when people were asked, what do you need? They need money. They need money to continue buying food. Obviously, it's a difficult time. Prices have increased dramatically. So has the need for food and support for our community, especially our most vulnerable in our community. And so I think that I understand it would be a reevaluation of the budget, but hundred thousand dollars in the grand scheme of our budget isn't really that much. I think that it's something that we could and should Examine and I again I support all of the recommendations. We had a good conversation around Transportation and how difficult it is right now for people to get meals throughout the city. There are great Organizations giving out food, but they're often not close together so it makes it difficult for people who are hungry and in need of food to get access to all the resources that they need and So I really like this idea as well about exploring ideas around transportation assistance whether that's you know moving the food closer to where people are at or Bus passes is listed in there as well. So I just again I support all of the recommendations Listed in the staff report, but if we had to prioritize one it would be the mini grants at this point because that's that's what I've heard loud and clear So

I want to thank Councilmember Davis for bringing this item before us at the time when SNAP was defunded from the federal government and it affected CalFresh. Benefits here for residents here in California, and obviously, in the county of San Bernardino, since then, there has been a reinstatement of those reinstated of those funds, federal funds and state funds. So the idea, or this was in reaction to no fund, no benefits coming to them, and that this would probably address some of those. benefits that have been eliminated now that they're reinstated. But there's also other work requirements and some other things that now make it a little more challenging for those to get re-enrolled. So I think having that information on our website as to where and how residents can get re-enrolled in these programs. I think that, and also I mentioned a couple of meetings ago, all the different organizations that have been providing food and resources to our community, and they're doing a great job. We have a wonderful collection of nonprofits, faith-based organizations that are doing tremendous work. I think being at all three of those meetings, I think what I was hearing was that one of the recommendations or one of the asks was that how can nonprofits communicate their days of service or their days of distribution might be different from others. There needs to be kind of a central coordination so that even amongst themselves, they know what days, what days, organization is giving out food and what is not or if they are in need of food they can call on some other organization to supplement you know theirs and sometimes one organization gets an abundance of commodities and needs to be able to deliver it but you know so what I was hearing was that there needs to be kind of a central central clearinghouse of information so that amongst the nonprofits can share all that information. I think what was missing, though, is there is a organization, and I'm glad that the Interfaith Council President Kawa is here, that as far as the geographical areas, and I think the Interfaith Council is looking for to be able to be more available to the citizens in this area. All the churches are different, different parts of the community so that they can be a play a part in that and I think it's an opportunity for them to come into the discussion the other organization is fair for change and they're having a nonprofit conference and they have gathered all the nonprofits together for collaboration and work and so I think there's still a lot of work in the nonprofit arena that they can self organize and be able to come up with better working and support for each other to address the food insecurities within our community. Some where there's an abundance and some where there's lacking. Some parts of the city that doesn't have resources where people can get to them, but there are churches in all parts of our community. So I still think that there's still an opportunity to bring more people to the table. Chamber of Commerce was mentioned as well. Service Club Council, again, has a number of service clubs there that do a lot of their missions is really to try to serve the community in a lot of these areas. So I think it's important to be having some of these other stakeholders or these other nonprofit organizations to become and be a part of this so that it just doesn't fall on one or two nonprofits or all the responsibility falls on the city. So I think there's a shared responsibility and we have a lot of a wealth of nonprofits that are really Just need somebody to coordinate them and I think there are some other organizations, so I would probably support continuing this item till we get to reach out to some of those organizations and see what they have to say and see if they want to come on board and help within this, even though. Snap and have been reinstated, but, you know, there so there are benefits going out there. And again, all those after-school programs, the Boys and Girls Club, I had mentioned a lot of them out there, so there's quite a bit of resources out there. Maybe they just need to coordinate how to get them out there to the areas that need them the most. So I would be in favor of continuing this item and having the Interfaith Council And the Fair for Change, the nonprofit conference that's happening here at the end of May at the University of Redlands to get them on board, or at least reach out to them and see if they have any interest in participating in this effort.

Just in response to that, there are five bullet points here that are recommendations. You're speaking to one of them, which is improved coordination and communication. I think everyone agrees that we need that, and that's important, and In fact, some of the leaders of these groups who were at the table with us said, we have not gotten convened in a conversation like this before, and we're very grateful for the city for being a convener of this conversation. But again, I heard loud and clear that they need more funding and are looking to the city as a source of some of that funding, this can be obviously initially from our budget, eventually hopefully we can get grants to help support some of this work. I want to re-emphasize too, and I've said this a few times, yes, the SNAP benefit freeze was sort of a catalyst for this, but for me, as someone who cares about food insecurity, cares about addressing homelessness, and I think that those are priorities of the council, I think that it's something we should have been doing long time ago especially because we put a lot of resources understandably into addressing homelessness and have been quite successful in a lot of regards thank you David for your great work but I think that we have to understand that food insecurity and homelessness are one in the same they go hand in hand and so I I think that what they're asking for is a relatively again small sum in relation to the extent of our budget. And so I really think that we should vote tonight to move forward advancing these mini grants as a priority of ours, given the timing with the budget. I think this is the meeting where we have to do it tonight.

So my comments obviously are, I'll go back to the beginning when we talked about the fact that there are a lot of people that are in this space that are doing this work, and one of the things that we lack is that coordination piece, and that speaks to that fifth bullet item. My key concern when this came up was whether or not we were getting children fed, and in the discussions with the school district, we are, there is an option there for them to get breakfast and lunch, and it goes through the summer, and so now we still have to figure out the dinner piece for them, but I think there are a lot of options out there Um, and I agree. Everybody wants funding. Um, if maybe I don't understand the mini grant piece. So if they're asking for a grant out of the city's budget, like if we're the one providing the grant, I think that that we should be looking at other grant sources, other funding sources. If we're going to go that grant route, not taking it from the city budget necessarily, but we have been very successful from the homeless standpoint of finding grant money to help our homeless situation. And if there's money that's tied to that, that can be, you know, can be funneled through from a grant standpoint and we can help people find that money. I'm supportive of that. I'm just I just don't think it's the right time, especially where we are financially to be taking it out of the city budget. And for us to be providing the grant, because we're talking about the county and the state and these other entities that are the ones that are currently doing that work. So now we're it's like we're funding the county for this. And that seems backwards. Um, so that's that's where I would be relative to the funding piece. But I do think that you guys have done great work as far as bringing people to the table and we're making strides to get the information out there. We just need to further that.

Yeah, I can answer a couple of your points, council members and mayor. Um, so Selena, our city grant coordinator is looking for grants. There isn't many grants on the federal level currently for food. There are a couple on the state level that we're looking with, but they're more concentrating on like crops, um, and local. So we're looking at those maybe to support like local farmers or the orange groves and see maybe if we can go after those grants and push those towards some of like the, um, the orange suppliers in the area to maybe get some fruit for the families. Just to address your other points, we have reached out to the Chamber of Commerce. So they are looking at reaching out to businesses and getting boxes and tote bags donated. So that is one big item that was brought up multiple times. I guess there's a lot of cost that goes into giving out tote bags or cardboard boxes. um that a lot of the providers brought up that they don't you know we don't take into consideration so i know that was one also yes the um the education piece the outreach so we did bring in one of our media uh for the city to kind of just get some ideas from the group um one of the big pieces was especially from salvation army they do give out food every day but it's because of the high cost of everything even though the snap cut snap benefits have come back the high cost they are still seeing a high demand of food from families especially so they would like us to put out like media posts maybe and i know the redlands charitable resource coalition already puts out that information is in their blue book but they would like to see more media and advertisement of maybe you know you can go here on tuesday here on thursday so they're not taking a bulk of the donation so

Okay, before we get to any voting or any motions, we have a public comment.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this. I wanted to comment on a couple of things based on my experience having done similar programs and also our close work right now as part of, since I work at Loma Linda University Health with our Institute of Community Partnership and the work that we do in terms of food distribution. One of the key things that is worth taking into consideration is when it comes to grants, understanding if there is a need where the need gap is and how much so when we've worked with community organizations we've realized the resources are out there right there is there is a lot of food supply the challenge as councilmember Davis has mentioned for example and and mayor Cicero had mentioned is the challenge is where do I how do I get to it is it easily accessible can I walk To get it where the Interfaith Council can play a big role here in leveraging our faith based organizations location and doing the coordination. So instead of investing the money in mini grants, which might also end up not being very efficiently utilized to do the distribution. right that can be really invested in a resource in the city to help with the coordination so for example if anybody at any time would like to know where are the resources what is the schedule that is organized it's not a one-time it's something that is sustainable that is part of the city budget that a certain fte time with certain hours a month are allocated to do this coordination within all of the partner organizations so i would recommend to consider that because based on our experiences the resources are there just getting to them leverage your partner organization let's leverage rake right the interfaith council to make sure that we take advantage of our faith-based organization but not only that our our many um non-profit organizations who would be really happy to participate in this and contribute to addressing food insecurity in the city thank you

So I would just like to continue this item until we hear back from some of these other organizations that may be able to kind of fill in some of those gaps that we are maybe not wanting to commit at this point so that we're efficient with our resources and that we are doing them in an equitable way so that they are reaching the need where they're at. So I would be in favor of just continuing this item.

Is there a timeline of when we'll bring it back?

Well, as noted in the staff report, staff had recommended that if the council wanted to move forward with any specific recommendation that you direct us to include this as an item in the upcoming budget discussions. So you can you can further discuss. Um, you can further you can further provide staff direction on on including 1 of these prop, these, these items, or 1 or more of these items in the context of all the other. Budget items, you know, it's a more holistic approach where you can give us guidance on where you want us to place our, our financial resources. If it's the desire of the Council for us to do, as the Mayor mentioned, more legwork with networking with organizations, then what I would suggest is tabling the item until we have more time to go down that route. But as noted in the staff report right now, the motion is that we've provided you is to bring back if you wanted us to pursue one or more of these, an item with the budget discussions. So essentially, it would be continuing the item until the budget's brought back. That's essentially the way the motion is laid out now. But again, if the council wishes for us to go and further interact and work with organizations throughout the community, like the Interfaith Council, we can absolutely do that too.

Okay, no. And I don't want the community to get a misunderstanding about my position on trying to give this opportunity to the nonprofits to self-organize. I mean, I have been distributing food boxes. I work out in the community. I know the need. I'm very compassionate about providing those resources to the community. I've been on the front lines of a lot of these food stations. And so, you know, I support that. I'm not trying to take that away or making sure that, you know, You all understand that I am very compassionate about providing the resources to the most vulnerable, but we have to make sure that we have a strong network of nonprofits, and I believe that's kind of where this should... Be able for them to to kind of figure out the other thing is on the grants There are a lot of restrictions and regulations on how those grant monies are spent reporting back So I guess to bear pro tems Concerns about what does that grant? You know a picture look like and would a nonprofit accepted grant with a lot of regulations and a lot of reporting things back to the city with very little actually going back out to the people that really need it. So again, I'm proposing that we table this till we get more information. And if it does get to the point where we're talking about at the budget time, then we'll have that budget discussion.

Again, just to clarify, I think that if we want this to be part of the budget, The time to do it is now, right?

Yeah, well, we're looking if you'd like to include this as a discussion point during the upcoming budget items, if you want this to be brought up and brought to you in the context of all the other budget priorities. It's not currently included in the draft budget to be clear. There's no money program currently in the draft budget. But if this is something the council would like us to add as a discussion, when we present the draft budget to you, that is definitely when we would prefer for that discussion to occur so that we can get your direction on where you want our resources to go in the context of the overall budget and your other priorities that you might have.

Again, given that timeline, thank you for clarifying. I absolutely think we should move forward with at least considering this as part of the budget. The suggestion about an FTE is a good suggestion. Either direction right? I think the grants are important. I think having a staff member who can help identify Gaps and get people to resources is also important I just would hate to lose sight of the importance of this Momentum that the task force is generating. I think that again. This was their number one ask I've been in several meetings with the task force and I would really like I said hate to lose that momentum going forward and And I think that this is important to show our support in addressing food insecurity in Redlands. So I would move to move forward with all of these items as outlined. So I move to direct staff to create a discussion item for the Food Insecurity Task Force recommendations into the fiscal year 2027-2028 City Council budget discussions.

No second. Okay, motion failed.

Before I make the motion, there are a lot of other priorities that are not being considered tonight besides this one in our budget process. And I'd hate to single this one out and say, well, why did you prioritize this one? There are a lot of other asks from other Needs in our community that we should consider this at budget time. Um, so, um, I would like to make the motion that we continue this item to some of these other organizations can weigh in and provide a little more support for. And effective and equitable resources to our community regarding the food insecurity and. Child nutrition task force resolution.

I'll second that.

We have a motion and a second. Adam City Clerk?

Council Member Davis?

Yes, just to keep the conversation going.

Mayor Pro Tem Shaw? Yes. Mayor Sacito?

Yes. Okay, thank you. Moving on to item J3, consideration of the recommendation for an appointment of one representative to the San Bernardino Regional Housing Trust Board Assistant City Manager Boatman.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. My staff report's not populating, but I'll go off memory. So the Council recently approved the city joining the Joint Powers Authority for the San Bernardino County Housing Trust Authority. This housing trust is convened to try to come up with more mechanisms to try to address affordable housing in the community. including obtaining grants and coming up with various financing mechanisms. As part of that JPA, the Housing Trust is asking that every jurisdiction, every partner jurisdiction appoint a representative to sit on the board and help direct it from a policy standpoint. So with that, they're asking for a council member to be appointed, and we've left, we've included a motion in the report for you to select somebody.

You would? Okay, that's fine.

Okay. I'll move to appoint Councilmember Davis to serve as the City of Redlands representative of the San Bernardino Regional Housing Trust Board.

Second. We have a motion and a second?

Councilmember Davis? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw?

Yes.

Mayor Cicero?

Yes. Moving on to item K1. new business, consideration of the First Amendment to the Encampment Resolution Funding, ERF2, agreement with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, and approve the amendments to the sub-receipt agreements, Assistant City Manager Boatman.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to bring David back up for this item as well to give you an update on another grant opportunity.

Mayor, council, city leadership again. So the city of Redlands was awarded in 2023 encampment resolution funding in the amount of $4.5 million to address homelessness. Since then, the city has seen a decrease over 50% over the last three years. With that funding, that funding did go out and fund about eight local nonprofits and city staff to expand our homeless services. So the Interagency Council on Homelessness has issued an amendment To the ERF to agreement. So initially the agreement was expiring June of 2020. I apologize. March of 2027. And now it will be extended till April 30th of 2028. So city staff are looking for a recommendation for city council to approve the amendment to the date. And with within that. city staff realize there's still $5,000 of shelter funding that has not been obligated or expended yet in the funding. So we did obligate those $5,000 to the Church of Religious Science, which is one of our shelter partners. And they've been doing a great job. So they are our partner in ERF-2, ERF-3, and our last awarded grant, Prop 47. So... I'm sorry, so the recommendation, staff recommends approval consideration of the first amendment to the encampment resolution funding ERF-2 agreement with the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, CalICH, and approval of amendments to subrecipient agreements and authorize the city manager or designee to execute the amendment and all related documents, including the subrecipient agreements necessary to implement the program.

Okay, thank you. I don't have any speaker's lips. I don't see any public comment. Any questions or what's the wish of the Council?

David was doing a really good job on that motion, but I guess we have to read it all over again. All right. I'll move that the City Council approve the consideration of the first amendment to the encampment resolution funding agreement with the California Interagency Council on homelessness and approve of approval of amendments to sub recipient agreements. I move that the City Council approve the four amended agreements for the ERF-2 subrecipient agreements. I move that the City Council authorize the City Manager or designee to execute the amendment and all related documents. And I move that the City Council authorize the City Manager or designee to execute and administer subrecipient agreements necessary to implement the ERF-2 program.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw. Yes. Mayor Sacito.

Yes. Moving on to item K2, consideration of an approval citywide annual purchase order for the miscellaneous supplies with Fastenal, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Office Depot for fiscal year 26-27 in the amount not to exceed $1,080,000. Management Services and Finance Director Garcia.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the Council. This is the purchasing division's request for four citywide annual purchase orders. Include purchases of general equipment, supplies, and services outlined in the staff report. And just a note, by utilizing these cooperative purchasing agreements, the city anticipates saving approximately $115,000 off standard wholesale and retail pricing in the upcoming fiscal year. And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you. We always like savings. I don't have any public speaker slips. I don't see anybody on Zoom.

I'll move to approve the citywide annual purchase orders with Lowe's, Passanel, Home Depot, and Office Depot for fiscal year 26-27 in a total amount not to exceed $1,080,000. Second. We have a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw.

Yes.

Mayor Sesedo.

Yes. Moving on to individual council member announcements and reports. I'm going to defer my report and I'm going to acknowledge Assistant City Manager Chris Boatman for his service here to the City of Redlands for all the hard work and dedication that you have done for our city, our employees, our organization, for the citizens of this community. It is not lost on me knowing At a time when you were came in as a entry level planner, and it rose into the top of this organization, you put in a lot of work and dedication and it shows your fingerprints all over a lot of these capital improvement projects and your compassion to a lot of the citizens for getting back to them on a timely basis for a lot of critical issues. A lot of sensitive issues with residents and you've. You've held yourself to a high standard, and I can't be more proud of you and your service to this community, and we're forever in your debt for putting us in this position that we are, and we'll be very thankful for the work that you have put in. And for me and my wife, we're very grateful to have you as our assistant city manager and a friend. So thank you so much. We're going to miss you.

certainly echo those thoughts about Chris whenever something comes up or we need you know there's a question or it's super easy just to text Chris and have an answer instantly and I'm gonna miss that and I'll give fair warning to some of the other folks because you're gonna be getting those texts now so But Chris has set a high bar, and there's a lot of folks that when they heard Chris was leaving, they said, well, you have to make that stop or don't let that happen. And as much as I'd like to not let that happen, I'm very proud of Chris, and I think it's an amazing opportunity for him and his career growth, and it's an amazing opportunity for Beaumont. And you'll be sorely missed here, but I wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors. And you know what? You've got a lot of time left in your career, and we might see you again. So we'll hope that's the case. And the other part of my report is included. I will take just a few seconds, though, because I'd like to brag for just a moment. My wife and I just returned from Florida. And our stepdaughter, my stepdaughter, on Friday was commissioned as one of the newest second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. That evening she got her nurse's pin, and Saturday she graduated from college. So to my stepdaughter, Sierra, congratulations, an amazing achievement, and we're thrilled that she's going to go serve our country as an Army nurse. So thank you.

I'm going to defer my announcements as well as I just really want to thank Chris Boatman. Chris, it's been an amazing almost eight years of working together. I know you've been here for many more years than that. And when I think about the accomplishments that we've had in my time on the council, and they've been some major ones, you've had a huge hand in every single one of them. Tremendously I'm grateful for the work that you do and for your friendship and for just the way that you show up and make things happen. I don't even know what the total is now. Well over $40 million that we've gotten in the last couple of years to address homelessness in Redlands. Chris has been the major driver in that. We are going to miss you sorely, but we're so excited for you. Obviously, an amazing opportunity for you to be a city manager, and we hope to see you back at some point. Thank you for everything, Chris.

Thank you.

Chris, I certainly echo everything the council said, but on behalf of the city manager and the executive team, we wish you so much success, and thank you for your service to the city. I'm gonna get teary-eyed, because we've gone a long way, and I'm really gonna miss you. So thank you again for your service.

Chris, the last four years I've been here, you and I have been partners in really grappling with finding solutions outside the box on very critical, challenging issues. And so I appreciate your input. I appreciate those moments where we got together, closed the door, and just brainstormed on how do we come up with creative solutions to make this a better community. And it's I learned a lot. I think you've learned a lot. I think we've worked together on a lot of projects and we saw them to completion. And so for that, I thank you. I thank you for your input and your thoughts and your hard work. Thank you.

I'll say something. Chris has this great way that even if you get a text at like seven o'clock at night, Friday night or something, it's so positive. I just there you don't ever want to say no, you just want to jump up and get what he needs or, you know, so anyway, I appreciate his positive approach. And it's, you know, it's contagious. So thank you and wish you the best.

Well, everyone's going to go, so I might as well jump in here as well. So same, vice versa, but Chris, you've been a great partner, a great teammate, 20 years plus here with us. Spent my entire time here, we've been working at different levels in this community. Answers questions, willing to help out, nothing. No time is the wrong time, and that goes a long way. No time's the wrong time. You're always there, you'll follow up, and that's something that's a rarity. So I appreciate you, you're a great asset, and Beaumont's lucky to have you, so congratulations.

I also want to express just my gratitude of being able to work with you. I remember almost right off the bat we worked together on a grant application back in 2010 or something like that. It was a long time ago. And I've always appreciated how thorough and diligent you are. Your work ethic has outshined many, and I aspire to be like it. But it's more than that. You always know which way is up. You always know how to find the positive, like Jeannie was saying. our city clerk, it's a real joy to work with someone who doesn't lose any momentum going from maybe setback to setback with no loss of momentum. So it really is something that I'll take with me and carry with me. I've appreciated every time we've got to work together.

Well, that was hard. I've told this story before, but, you know, when I went into government, I thought I was going to be in government for a year and I was going to go into housing and become a rich developer and, you know, off to the skies. And, man, you know, number one, two... plans changed because of, you know, the great recession, but more, far more significantly, I found out how rewarding it was to be in public service and, and more importantly, how rewarding it was to, um, work for the city I grew up in and really just forge much deeper relationships. Cause they're really in at the end of the day, it's all about the people, you know, the people I work with are my family and the councils have been so supportive over the years. And I've really enjoyed just getting to know, um, so many in the community. So, I can't say enough about how much it's meant to me and it'll always have a special place in my heart.

Thank you. And I appreciate the audience hanging in with us and appreciate your attention, time and attention. We now stand adjourned till May 19th, six o'clock. Thank you.