City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to call the City Council meeting to order.

I don't have any public speakers for closed session. I don't see anybody on Zoom. Madam City Attorney.

Thank you, Mayor. The first item on the closed session agenda, Conference of Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, Pursuit into Government Code Section 54956.9D1. In two cases, Armstrong, Cal Builders, Inc. v. City of Redlands, San Bernardino Superior Court, Case number CIVSB2505450. And the second item is Coyote Aviation versus City of Redlands et al., San Bernardino County Superior Court. Case number CIVSB2418252. The second item on the closed session agenda conference of legal counsel anticipated litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D2 and D3 and one case Ramon Rodriguez adverse to City of Redlands workers compensation claim numbers 23-169-240 21-158-520 And twenty two dash one sixty four three ninety nine the last item is conference of labor negotiator certainty government code section by four nine five seven point six agency negotiators john back keep j trinamon gina king hodja castile. Employee organizations residents association of department directors residents association of management employees residents association of mid management employees. Redlands Association of Safety Management Employees, Redlands Association of Fire Management Employees, Redlands Police Officers Association, Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, Redlands Civilian Safety Employees, and Teamsters Local 1932 Redlands Chapter.

Okay, thank you. We stand in recess till open session. Thank you. Good evening. I'd like to reconvene the city council meeting, and I'm going to defer the rest of the meeting run by Mayor Pro Tem Shaw.

Good evening. At this time, we'll reconvene, and we'll begin with our invocation by Council Member Tejeda with the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation. Please stand.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor Salcedo. Today I'd like to start off by recognizing the men and women in our military who have lost their lives in the conflicts that are going on around the world, but especially in the Middle East. I'd ask for a moment of silence, please. Thank you. I also want to say that today the city council will be voting on the MOUs. And before we do, I'd like to offer this prayer. Lord, would you please hear this prayer in honor and in name of everyone who works for this community. our police department, police officers, fire department, firefighters, our city staff at all levels. If you please observe as they do their work today and every day that they get to go home to their families and tell them how much of a good time they had working here, but that they were able to make it home and be thankful to you for being able to do that every single day. Also, I want to acknowledge all the folks around the world who are suffering in any capacity for any reason. Keep them in prayer. Keep them in our hearts and minds and acknowledge that there is some sort of suffering going on somewhere in this world, and we should all try to work to alleviate that in some way, somehow. Amen. Right hand over your heart, please. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Council Member Tejeda. At this time, we'll have our closed session report. Madam City Attorney.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Item number C1, two pending litigation cases, there was no reportable action. Item number two on the closed session agenda regarding Ramon Rodriguez's workers' comp claim, there was no reportable action there. And then the last item involving labor negotiations, there was no reportable action on that item as well. That ends the closed session report.

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. At this time, we'll go to public comment. I have three speaker slips. First will be Mr. Samuel Vasquez. For public comment, we have a three-minute period. There's some little lights up there. They'll let you know when you're at 30 seconds, and then when the red light comes up, your time is up. So please speak into the microphone. Welcome.

Thank you. Greetings to the Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council of Redlands, California. My name is Samuel Vasquez, and I address you today as an old-past Protestant Reformed Christian, as I also represent the old-past Protestant Reformed truth, And I wish to speak today, Tuesday, July 21st, the year 2026, against the annual display of the LGBTQ books and literature at the Smiley Public Library. For the whole month of June, my reasons for doing so are the following. The Bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God and is the final authority for all faith and practice. From the beginning in the book of Genesis, God instituted and established marriage to be between one man and one woman for life. God created Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve. The tribe of Benjamin fell into sodomy in the Old Testament and they were almost extinguished during the times of the judges when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. God sent down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah who filled the cup of iniquity ripe for judgment. Whenever God is going to bring judgment on a nation, the multiplication of sin is usually precedes destruction and desolation to the curse and wrath of God. We see this today in the United States of America with approximately 67 million children being slaughtered through abortion. since 1973, through kiddie porn, through sex trafficking, and mass murder in schools, colleges, and universities, and especially through the LGBT community. And finally, the Bible says in Romans chapter one, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who change the truth of God into a lie and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lusts one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly. I recommend, therefore, that the display be removed from this day and from this time and for the future. Thank you for your attention to this most important matter. Thank you.

Next speaker will be Mr. Dennis Bell.

Good evening. Recently there's been the controversy with what the Los Angeles Police Department has been doing with the info it receives from its FLOC license plate readers. There's yesterday's internet article, quote, FLOC not just tracking cars, but tracking you, unquote. The Redlands Police Department also uses FLOC readers. What's the department doing with that information? Then the city is pouring millions into the money pit called the new City Hall Citrus Center. What's the city going to do for parking for those attending meetings or conducting business there? Take over the Wells Fargo lot or build a new parking structure? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Hoder?

Good afternoon, members of the council and of staff. This is Andy Hoder, and I have a couple of different points that I would like to make regarding the current political climate and election process that's ongoing in Redlands. I'm sure we've all heard the expression that politics is a dirty game. It didn't used to be the case so much right here in Redlands, but in recent years I've had the feeling that little by little it's getting just a little nastier and nastier. Falsehoods and outright lies, misrepresentations tend to bubble up in the background. It's always very not only hurtful, but disappointing to hear that, especially if you don't have the opportunity to speak to those things and set the record straight. It used to be in Redlands City Council races, there was an agreement, a gentleman's agreement, if you will, on contribution limits so that wealthy donors could not buy a politician who would then in turn vote for whatever projects that may be coming before the council for consideration. That's pretty much all gone. There used to also be an emphasis on city council position being nonpartisan. We're not Democrat, we're not Republican, we're just city. And I think we should stick with that, but that's also changed. Now major national parties, Democrats and Republicans, are endorsing little politics. I say little, council members or candidates for council. And so that makes it a little more difficult for those of us who try to avoid that. I voted Democrat for the last 40 years before some of you were even old enough to vote. And that's how I describe myself. But there's a club here that seemed to describe me slightly differently as not being Democrats. I wanted to clarify that. I had the opportunity recently to meet with the Redlands Police Officers Association, and I thank you for that. One of the questions they asked me was, if you've run before, why would you run again? Simply because I care. I still care as much now as I ever did, and so I will continue to be a candidate because I don't quit. That's really the message. I don't quit. I will be here for the duration, even though there are already some rumors circulating that I'm dropping out. My mantra all along, and I've said it before in front of the microphone, is to show up, stand up, and speak up. And I think the citizens of District 1 should want a candidate that does that, that's here to learn about how the city is operated, to be educated about it, and when it's appropriate and meaningful to do so, to stand up, speak up, and show up. Show up and speak up. So here I am. That's my message, basically, is I will be here for the duration of the current political season. I wish all the best for the other candidates that are also running, and we'll see how it all shakes out. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Hoder. Before we go on to our consent calendar, we have two introductions of some new staff that we would like to give them an opportunity to say hi. We'd like to welcome them to Redlands. First off will be our new HR and Risk Management Director, and that's Ms. Gina King. So, Gina, you can have the floor.

Good evening, Mayor. City council members, community members, my name is Gina King. I am your new HR director, actually started yesterday. I come to you from San Bernardino County. I was there for over eight years as their assistant HR director. Prior to that, Orange County, and then prior to that, over 18 years in the private sector. So it is an honor to work for such a great city. I look forward to supporting you as well as our community. Thank you.

Thank you and welcome. And also joining us on day two would be our newest assistant city manager, and that would be Kurt Wilson.

Thank you. I appreciate it. So my name is Kurt and I am very happy to be here professionally because most of my work has been within this line of work for quite a while, but I generally come into organizations when they're in crisis and have to sort of dig out. So I'm excited about how wonderful and stable and healthy this organization is. So that's a wonderful change of pace. And I'm also excited because Charlie has an amazing reputation among the city manager ranks, so I'm very happy to join this team. And personally, it's the first time I've ever been able to work in the same city where my kids go to school and play sports and do all the other things. So my commute time has just reduced, so I appreciate it.

Thank you. Welcome to you both. And I know we mentioned it at the last meeting kind of briefly, but congratulations in order to our former finance director, now assistant city manager, Daniel Garcia. So welcome to your new role as well. And just to double check, Mr. Moderator, we didn't have any other public comment on Zoom.

No, there are no members of the public on Zoom at this time.

Great. Thank you. We'll move on to the consent calendar. We're going to pull item H7 for discussion. And other than that, I have nothing else to be pulled. So I'll enter to move approval of the balance of the calendar.

Second.

All right. So we have a motion and a second. Did you get those, Jeannie? Those are quick. I did. Okay.

Council Member Baric. Yes. Council Member Tejeda.

Yes.

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

Yes.

All right. And so with that, we are pulling seven. And so we will be looking to see H.R. Director King for seven. This will be regarding adopt resolution number eight, eight, one, four, establishing a salary schedule and compensation plan for city employees and rescinding resolution number eight, eight, one, three.

That's correct. So staff is recommending that city council rescind resolution eight, eight, one, three and adopt resolution eight, eight, one, four as amended. establishing the salary schedule and compensation plan for city employees. The purpose of the amended resolution is to correct an administrative calculation error identified on the Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, Redlands Association of Fire Management Employees salary schedule. Following publication of the agenda, staff determined that the salary calculations were inadvertently based on a standard 2080 hour week for the year, actually our work year rather than 2912 our work year that applies to fire personnel assigned to 24 hour shifts as a result the salary schedule required an amendment to accurately reflect the intended rates of pay the amended resolution before you this evening incorporates those corrected calculations no additional changes are being proposed beyond that correction therefore staff recommend again that the City Council adopt resolution number eight eight one four As amended, establishing the salary schedule and compensation plan for city employees and rescind resolution number 8813. I can address any questions.

Thank you, Director King. Any questions from the council? I'll entertain a motion.

I move that we adopt resolution 8814, establish a salary schedule and compensation plan for city employees and rescind resolution 8813.

Second.

As amended.

As amended, yes. As amended, sorry. Motion to second.

Councilmember Baric.

Yes.

Councilmember Tejeda.

Yes.

Councilmember Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw. Yes. Mayor Saucedo.

Yes. Moving on to public hearings. Item I1. This will be a public hearing to consider Resolution 8807, Delinquent Weed Abatement Enforcement Cost Report. This is a public hearing, so I will declare this meeting open as a public hearing and call upon, it's gonna be, let's see, Fire Chief Sesler.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and council members. This item requests adoption of resolution number 8807 to authorize the placement of unpaid weed abatement enforcement costs of $2,341 as a special assessment on the 2026-2027 property tax rule. The property owner has been notified and provided the required notices and opportunities to resolve the outstanding balance. Approval of this resolution allows the city to recover costs incurred to address public nuisance and reduce fire hazards in our community. Staff recommends the resolution number 8807 and is available to answer any questions.

Chief Sesler, are there any questions or comments from the members of the council?

Yes, I do have a question. I'm assuming that the people who are affected by this get several notifications so they can remedy the situation? Yes, that is correct. Okay.

Yes, that is correct.

Great.

Thank you.

Any other questions from the council? If not, any questions from the members of the public? Seeing none, Madam City Clerk, any written comments received?

No written comments received.

At this time, I'll close the public hearing and go back to the council for consideration of a motion. Move to adopt resolution number 8807. Second. We have a first and a second. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Baric. Yes. Council Member Tejeda.

Yes.

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

Yes. All right, moving on to new business. J1, consideration of the formation of the Redlands Housing Corporation, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation, and approval of the Articles of Incorporation and Corporation Bylaws to support the acquisition, ownership, and operation of the property located at 1675 Industrial Park Avenue. Assistant City Manager Garcia.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Shaw and Council. This evening's actions will take steps to create the Redlands Housing Corporation, The intention behind this is to provide a legal structure needed to acquire the Good Night Inn property and secure it legally to oversee its operations. The proposed structure is intended to be transitional, not a permanent expansion of operations. The city expects to transfer the property to the corporation promptly following the acquisition, and then once this project's stabilized, evaluate future transfer to a external third-party nonprofit experienced in independent operation of such facilities. Approval tonight does not complete the acquisition or predetermine future decisions. It simply establishes the organizational framework for the nonprofit corporation, Redlands Housing Corporation, that's needed for the city to move forward, protect interests, and evaluate subsequent actions appropriately. So that action of the Redlands Housing Corporation, its organizational meeting will be brought forward the 1st of September.

Okay, thank you. Any questions for Assistant City Manager Garcia before we go to public comment? All right, I have one speaker slip, Mr. Dennis Bell.

This looks like the start down a slippery slope to another money pit. Whose payroll is the current Good Night Inn supportive staff on? If the city eventually buys the property, would they become city employees? Who's currently paying for utility, security, and maintenance at Good Night Inn? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. I have no other speaker slips. I'll bring it back to the council for discussion.

How much is going to cost the city to acquire this property?

So we're currently in negotiations with county and state officials. There's a lot of dust that needs to be settled, but we're assuming that county and state funding will cover roughly 95% to 98% of the acquisition cost.

So you don't have a ballpark on what might cost the city to acquire this property then?

We're estimating roughly $700,000. Thank you.

Any other comments or questions for staff? If not, we'll entertain a motion.

Move to approve the formation of the Redlands Housing Corporation, a California non-profit benefit corporation to support the acquisition, ownership, and operation of the property located at 1675 Industrial Park Avenue. And I move to approve the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, each substantially in the form presented, authorize the appropriate city officials and or outside council to take all actions necessary to complete the formation of the nonprofit corporation, and I move to authorize the filing of the articles of incorporation with the California Secretary of State.

Second.

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

Councilmember Baric.

Yes.

Councilmember Tejeda.

Yes.

Councilmember Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw.

Yes.

Mayor Saucedo.

Yes.

All right, moving on to item J2. This will be a discussion and possible action relating to the city clerk's compensation and consideration of resolution number 8815, HR Risk Management Director King.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. The next item before you is resolution number 8815, pursuant to Government Code Section 36517, the compensation of the city clerk is set by resolution of the City Council. The city clerk's current salary was last established in April 2022 through resolution number 8327 and has not been adjusted since that time. Human Resources is recommending an adjustment to the city clerk's salary that mirrors the increases approved for represented employees, specifically a combined adjustment of 6.5%. We can address any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Director King. I've got... A list of things that i'd like to to ask about this one. So i'll kick it off, and then we can talk amongst ourselves as well. So we've had some discussions prior to about this, and I think i'm not sure why, but because the city clerk is salaries set by resolution or by ordinance. I think sometimes it can get forgotten about there, which may have happened here since it hasn't happened in the last four years as other adjustments have been made. But I think it's important to note that as I kinda went through and tried to figure out what exactly the city clerk's job is besides what we see here, that is actually really, it's a small department, but it is a department within the city, and the city clerk has citywide responsibility. It's a very unique position because it is elected, but it is a full-time salaried position in the city. So staff reached out to some cities in the area to see what their salary schedule looks like for their city clerks. And there is a huge variety and a lot of them are appointed, a lot of them are elected, but there's certainly a variety from a salary standpoint. Some have an elected figurehead and then they have a chief or a deputy city clerk that really does all the work, that is a salaried person. So I went through and looked at a lot of those numbers kind of tried to average where those are. And if we look at Glendale, which is elected, Palm Springs, which is appointed, San Bernardino appointed, San Dimas appointed, Upland appointed, Victorville appointed, those all average out around almost like the 150 range for the work that they do. Now, our city has a little bit differently because the agenda is handled by the city manager's office, which I know is a large function of a lot of city clerk's offices. But still, the city clerk has citywide responsibility. I see it as it's a very technical framework with a lot of statutory and legal requirements that we have. We rely on the city clerk to get it right. And the city clerk is the subject matter expert. They serve as our elections official. It is a public facing position. They accept all of our comments from from the public. They deal with walk ins, often very tight timelines. In our environment here, the city clerk functions with a high level of independence, dealing with sensitive issues, supervises subordinate employees, as I mentioned, functions as a department head, puts together the budget for the city clerk's office. So it is a pretty... all-encompassing position. I asked staff to do a little bit of homework to see if we could correlate that to some other existing staff position. One that was fairly similar that Assistant City Manager Garcia and HR worked to come together with was actually kind of our PIO position, a lot of that public-facing sensitive issues and whatnot. Um, and there is a salary range for that position. It's if you look at our salary schedule, in fact, that everybody has in front of them from tonight, that one falls in M. Seventy five. So what I'm my ask is to the rest of the Council if this is something that we would entertain is first off to avoid the issue of this being forgotten about in the future and every year having to try to have a resolution to fix this, we would have the ability if we choose to put the city clerk's position in a salary range such as this one, and it would have the steps. We can tie it to whatever that bargaining unit is as far as for salary increases that they would get through the bargaining process. We can talk about the health care piece, because right now, for example, the city clerk's position gets the same health care allocation that we get. But if, for example, the city clerk can't hold a full-time job besides this one and go off and have health care. So there's a bit of a disconnect there. So I would entertain some type of a resolution, unlike this one, we'd have to come back with a new resolution, to recraft that to have something that's a little bit more Dependable for several years into the future that we could rely on on how we would compensate the city clerk Whether it's the one we currently have or it's somebody different I think it's important to really have a structure in there that gets us into more of a Something that reflects the the work that is done and the responsibility that we place on the city clerk So I'll stop there for now and if we have questions or thoughts Thoughts I've I've served longer than anybody at up here 12 years now or actually 11 and a half years and

And I can't tell you how important her job is. I mean, I've come to her all the time. She straightens things out. I mean, the things that she does here is a full-time job. There's two ways about it. And I'm embarrassed to say that we've addressed this one time, but I have a tendency to agree with the Mayor Pro Temp that she should be, like another employee with the steps, so we'd be able to compensate her way, but either way, I think we do need to raise her pay that is accurate to somebody in the city that has her same type of position in a way, and I agree 100%. Now, how we start on that, I don't know. Yvette, are we gonna have to come back and Are we able to resolve that tonight or we have to come back, right?

Yes, we'll have to come back. What we would look for is some very specific direction from the council. We take that, recraft the resolution and bring it back on the 1st of September.

I've got some ideas on that. I just want to get everybody's input before we before I propose something. So first of all, well, if you want my input, I'd say thank you very much for going through this process.

I remember the first time we tried to address this. It was one time where I had put even for the council to get their salaries looked at again because the inflation is going. It's still been going up. But either way, it's different. We're doing this in our capacity because we want to. And so as a city clerk, but at the same time, her job is much different. Her job requires her to be here. And so, yeah, I agree with you. I agree with what you're trying to do here. And I would support whatever it is you're trying to do. I'd like to see more about it.

I agree as well and look forward to hearing more about your proposal, but think so far what you said makes a lot of sense.

Thank you for bringing this forward. I think it's long overdue that we at least look at that and fairly compensate our city clerk because she does do a lot as you mentioned. So I'm in favor of moving forward with a salary resolution.

So my proposal would be that we send this back to staff with the direction that we start by looking at that M-75 classification. Perhaps I know that you guys did some legwork on a salary study for what's around here. I think my math was pretty close, like I said, around that $140, $150 range. So my proposal would be that if M-75 becomes the right place to start, maybe we start around step four of that. Gives a couple of years worth still of growth within the range. Similarly, that if there are increases, I believe that's the middle managers group. So if there are increases through contract negotiations that apply to middle managers, then it would apply to the city clerk salary as well. And then relative to the benefits package, I know there are some things in there for deferred comp that are currently listed. Those would all be those would all stay. I would just ask that. relative to the medical, the vision and dental, that those be commensurate or like the M-75 benefit, whatever that works out to be. So if we could put that into a resolution and bring that back at our next meeting, that would give us the opportunity to see that and then we could make a motion and do something with that if we're agreeable to that.

Are we able to do that, city attorney? Yes. I agree 100%. She needs to be compensated correctly.

And I think this will put it on track to where we don't have to revisit this each year. And if we get a different city attorney at some point, or city, I'm sorry. No, we like that. If we get a different city clerk at some point, then we can certainly start the step process over, and it gives us some room to work from.

I think the only thing I disagree, I don't think she's middle management. I think she's high management. I mean, she has a big responsibility. I mean, she has a whole department, even though it doesn't have a lot of employees under, but her responsibility is equivalent to, and a city manager or city treasurer or something like that. So I think we have to look at that.

I'll defer to the assistant city manager. I think that's where they were thinking is that M-75 works the best. And they call it middle management just based on where they are. But we've got to be in sync there so that we don't overstep our bounds.

And it is management. Right. Gina, do we need any clarification on?

No. So human resources will take the council's request, including the compensation and benefit considerations, The clarifying question for us would be we want to look at like benefits and only stick to today's benefit designations, or is it all benefits that we want to consider?

So what we're talking about, what's in there right now is the deferred comp, I believe. That's correct. The medical vision dental. Yes. And the 457. Is there something else that's...

Deferred comp, medical dental, life insurance... And optional participation of 457. Yeah.

So I think we want to continue. We would keep those. Yeah, we don't want to take anything away there.

Makes sense. All right. We will include the compensation and benefit considerations, and we will return with a recommendation for the council's consideration at our next meeting set for September.

Great.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you to the council. Thank you. All right, next up will be item J3, which, I'm sorry, do we need any kind of a motion on that to cut off?

No, we will take that as direction and come back with a resolution. Thank you.

Okay, J3, this is consideration of memorandum of understanding between City of Redlands and the Redlands Police Officers Association, the Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, and Teamsters Local 1932. Well, you're getting them all here, HR and Risk Management Director King. Welcome to Redlands.

All right. Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. So before you this evening is agenda item J3. Staff recommends that the City Council approve the successor memoranda of understanding between the City of Redlands and the Redlands Police Officers Association, the Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, and Teamsters Local 1932 for the term of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Over the past several months, representatives from the city and each of the three bargaining units engaged in a comprehensive and collaborative negotiations process. I would like to recognize the professionalism, dedication, and good faith efforts demonstrated by all parties throughout these discussions. While negotiations naturally involve thoughtful dialogue and differing perspectives, there was a shared commitment to reaching agreements that support both our employees and long-term interests of the city. We would also like to express appreciation to our mayor, city council for their unwavering support, city management, members of each bargaining team, and our city staff for the significant time, preparation, and professionalism invested throughout the negotiations process. Again, staff respectfully recommends that the city council approve the memoranda of understanding between the City of Redlands and the Redlands Police Officers Association, Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, and Teamsters Local 1932.

Thank you, Director King. Questions from the council?

I just want to reiterate, thank you very much. I know sometimes these can be contentious, but I want to thank all the negotiating groups. We can get a three-year contract, put this behind us, and we can move forward with the city, get a new fire station, and, of course, get a brand-new police station. So I want to thank everybody that we're able to get this done and can move forward. So thank you.

I'll entertain a motion.

I move that we approve memorandum of understanding between the City of Redlands and the Redlands Police Officers Association, Redlands Professional Firefighters Association, and Teamsters Local 1932.

Second. I'm a first and a second. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Baric. Yes. Council Member Tejeda. Yes. Council Member Davis. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw. Yes. And Mayor Sacito.

Yes. All right. Moving on to... Number four, except for my computer's not moving on to number four. Where are your books? All right, J4, consideration of an agreement with PBK Architects California Inc. for architectural design services for the construction of Fire Station 264, an amount not to exceed $1,486,100, and determine that the project is not subject to environmental review pursuant to Section 15301D of the state's guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act. Fire Chief Sessler.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Council. Super exciting time for us in the fire department. Staff is requesting approval for an agreement with PBK Architects California Inc. for architectural design services for Fire Station 264 in the amount not to exceed $1,486,100, which includes a 10% contingency. This project replaced our temporary modular station, which has served the community since 2008, but no longer meets the operational safety or functional needs of today's fire service. PBK has extensive experience designing public safety facilities, including more than 200 fire stations, emergency service projects, and has successfully completed previous projects in the city, including renovation of Fire Station 262. Their familiarity with our operations and standards will help streamline the service designs and keep the project moving efficiently. Approval of this agreement allows us to begin the design phase of a modern permanent facility that will better serve our firefighters and the residents of Redlands for many years to come. That concludes my report. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

We do have a speaker slip, but I'll take questions from the council first.

Yes, sir. Fire Chief Sessler, would you just, for the good of the public, remind us where this planning is going, what location this planning is going for?

This location will be at Heritage Park on the southwest corner.

Thank you so much.

All right. I have a speaker slip. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I do. Was this a bid process?

This was a sole source agreement.

Okay, so it wasn't not a...

Correct. They previously had done a competitive bid on the design of our station 262 and competed at that time.

Is this the same architect that is doing our police station?

No.

So it's different... Correct. Correct. I like our police station. It's going to look nice. We do need definitely another fire station.

Mr. Rogers?

Steve Rogers, Church Street. Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Redland City Council. I sent in comments previously, and this is one of the projects I have a problem with from the standpoint that this is a public works project. Project you know this design is for a brand new fire station It's a contact public works contract or in this case a professional services agreement for architectural services to design the fire station and and really is out of the purview, or I should say is out of the technical responsibility of anybody but a professional engineer to oversee something like this. Anyway, I wrote comments about this, but specifically on this project to not be going out for a RFP or RFQ and just using a contractor that you previously have used, a consultant that you previously used is not consistent with either procurement policy here or the public contracting code. I believe that part of the reason why the city manager has decided to distribute all these public works type related projects to people that are not professional engineers is because he's asking them to break the law in order to do that. And basically, the way it's set up, he can even give incentive, bonus incentive if do so so I mean to me this is just like a criminal organization and the public is not going to get our true health safety and welfare taken care of especially welfare when we're not going out for competitive type of things I mean my other question on this is I didn't read through the entire report but you know do we have a concrete budget on this and how did they how did they come up with bid amount when they don't even have any other bids to compare it to. Did this firm help in putting together the scope for what is needed to put this new fire station together? And lastly, to build something on Heritage Park, which I made comment when that was first built that there are a lot of missing improvements out there, and this is gonna be a real complicated project, and to not have that under the purview of a professional engineer is just not right, and it's illegal, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Rogers. Bring it back to the council for discussion or motion.

that this was overseen by our new MUD director who is an engineer, is that correct? I know you're an engineer, I know that, but have you looked at this project? Are you comfortable with it?

Actually, I haven't had the opportunity to look into it, but I will definitely be coordinating the project with the chief.

So this is run through the fire department occurs design is the first part they develop the designs that come back to the city for review. Once the designs are done so it's about eight to 10 month process with pbk who designs the plans through ours and then comes back to the city for review and permitting and all the processes that way.

We can have the same contractor that's doing our, do you think we'll have the same contractor that's going to be doing our new police station? Because I think they've been doing a good job. So I'd like to make sure we at least consider.

So that's going to be a bid process. That'll be a bid process. Okay.

All right. Anything else? Motion.

Move to approve the agreement with PBK Architects California Incorporated for architectural design services for the construction of Fire Station 264 in an amount not to exceed $1,486,100. And I move that the City Council determine that the project is categorically exempt from environmental review pursuant to section 15301D of the state's guidelines implementing CEQA.

Second.

Motion to second. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Baric.

Yes.

Council Member Tejeda.

Yes.

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

Yes.

We're on to item J5, consideration of approval of the California Street and Redlands Boulevard intersection widening project plans and specifications. Approval of a public works construction contract with Beador Construction Company Inc. for the project in an amount not to exceed $5,537,700.00. redesignation of 4.4 million currently budgeted in the arterial street fund 252 to the local transportation fund 209 approval of an additional appropriation amount of 1.137 700 in the local transportation fund 209 and determination that the project is consistent with the initial study mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program adopted by resolution number 8645 and will not require additional environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. MUED Director Heredia.

Yes, good evening. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Shaw, Mayor, members of the City Council. This project is to widen the west side of California Street between Redlands Boulevard and just south of the I-10 freeway. It involves roadway construction, traffic signal modifications, curb, gutter, sidewalk, ADA-compliant curb ramps, water and non-plottable water utility improvements, as well as a reinforced concrete box culvert. This project is mainly funded by Measure I, the San Bernardino County Flood Control District, and development impact funds. Staff is recommending approval of the plans and specifications, as well as the award of a construction contract to Beador Construction Company in the amount not to exceed $5 million, about $5.5 million, and also requesting additional appropriation to complete this project, and also determined that no additional environmental

review is required pursuant to the california environmental quality act and i'm happy i'll be happy to answer any questions you may have thank you any questions from the council yes i do um i know the well let me ask the question see if it's a positive or negative the uh the the company that who put the um new warehouse in there we were told that they were going to use a lot of this um chip in and do a lot of this redevelopment portion of the streets, and that was one of the reasons why I voted for it. Are they putting any money into this? This is all coming out of Measure I and other services.

Well, not indirectly, yes, because I'm sure they paid into the development impact fee. Funds so yeah, yes in a way so not directly not directly.

Yes Thank you Any other questions from the council I'll entertain a motion

I move the City Council approve the California Street and Redlands Boulevard project plans and specifications and award a public works construction contract to B-Door Construction Company Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $5,537,700. And I move that City Council redesignate $4,400,000 currently budgeted in the Arterial Street Fund 252 to the Local Transportation Fund 209 and approve an additional appropriation in the amount of $1,137,700 in the local transportation fund 209 and I move that city council determine that the environmental effects of the project were previously analyzed in the initial study mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program adopted by resolution number 8645 and that no further environmental review is required pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

Second.

A motion and a second. Madam City Clerk?

Councilmember Baric?

No.

Councilmember Tejeda?

Yes.

Councilmember Davis? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Shaw? Yes. Mayor Saucedo?

Yes. J six consideration of a public works construction contract with B 81 paving Inc. For on call pavement repair services for water utilities on an as needed basis for an amount not to exceed $600,000. And determination that this action is exempt from environmental review pursuant to section 15301 of the state's guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act. I mean, we'd director radio.

City Council Chambers, Thank you again, yes, this item is to approve a construction contract with be 81 paving for payment repair services for water utilities on an as needed basis typically annually. City Council Chambers, mu ED performs about 250 repairs to water mains service lines water blow offs and other infrastructure that requires the asphalt removal and trench excavation. and restoration of the pavement. So seven bids were received, and B81 is the most responsive and responsible bidder for this project. And we're asking for approval in the amount of not to exceed $300,000 for fiscal year 26-27 and $300,000 for fiscal years 27 and 28.

Thank you.

I do have a speaker slip from Mr. Rogers.

Honorable Mayor Salcedo, Mayor Pro Tem Shaw, Rutherland City Council, Steve Rogers, Church Street. This is the same issue and I really, I just, it baffles me because, you know, here, these are gonna be, this geologic is gonna be essentially the city's inspectors and whatnot on this project. But, I mean, this should not be overseen by, you know, the, I call it a dump. The solid waste, you know, the landfill and the solid waste program is a utility. It should be an MUED. It's a municipal utility. And landfills are, you know, this is a public works project. This is the domain of engineers. To put this in Tabitha's lap, and I've already spoken with Tabitha about this kind of thing. I don't think she appreciates it. I feel for the fire chief. I feel for the police chief. If you guys put the responsibility on her to oversee her thing, or maybe that's Tabitha again. Or maybe it's going to be Danielle. All I can say is that this big mess was made because Chris Boatman was the one that was acting in the capacity as the property negotiator, doing a lot of engineering, like the new city hall, and negotiating all this property. and all these deals that the public knew nothing about. So again, I'm opposed to this being awarded like this, and it's in the wrong department. And the reason it's called a notice of department designation Those forms are given to the state and it designates by department who the responsible charge engineer, and there's only one per department that's in responsible charge of everything that comes out of that department. That's why when you don't even have an engineer in your department and you're running public works projects, it's illegal. Go ahead and approve it, just like everything, but this is abusive behavior against your staff. by the city manager and the city attorney because she's allowing it. She knows that it's not right. I've met with her about this stuff. She still thinks the city engineer doesn't need to be the department head of the MUD, MUED. That's still how it is and that's not consistent with the law. You're talking about the city clerks and I'm sorry I got here late because There's no way you should try to, she's an electric official. She should be given a higher salary, but there's nothing that should change about anything. She should have the responsibility for doing these meetings, actually, because she would run them right. Thank you, Mr. Rogers.

Thank you.

All right. Anything from the council? Do you have a question? I'm assuming this is still going to be overseen by our MUED managers. I mean, the director, I'm sorry.

We always collaborate.

Right.

And every project that we do, we always collaborate. It's a city project. We collaborate with different departments regarding the specialized and certified staff. So just we always do that.

Yes. Actually, I recently reviewed environmental documents relating to the landfills. So I'm involved in that.

Our new director, you are an engineer. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers.

I'm a licensed engineer. Thank you.

Thank you.

No other questions. We'll entertain a motion. I move to approve an agreement with Geologic Associates Incorporated for the Phase 5 expansion at the California Street Landfill in a total agreement amount of $598,018.87. Second. Motion to second. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Baric. Yes. Council Member Tejeda.

Yes.

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

Yes. All right, that takes us to item K, which is individual council member announcements and reports on activities. We'll start on the right down there with Council Member Baric.

Thank you. Again, we had a retirement party for Janice McConnell. She's retiring. We have big shoes to fill. I know we'll be able to fill it, but I tell you, she was fabulous, and I wish her the best in her retirement. That was a very nice party. I attended RESA, which is the Redlands Emergency Service Academy. My daughter's new stepson was one of the graduates, Ryan Gallagher, and I tell you, I can't believe he, after the first day, but I mean, I can't believe it's the same gentleman after going through this. He's improved considerably, so thank you very much. Also attended the library board meeting, And of course, most of the discussion is about the new museum that we're going to have opened up. And I hope by October, I think, is the estimate. So anyway, keep our fingers crossed. Thank you, sir. Council Member Davis?

also had the pleasure of attending janice mcconnell's retirement party for a little bit and I had a meeting with director crocker as well as city manager dug in a constituent to talk about our park fee structure

I'm good, thank you.

All right, Council Member Tejeda. Yes, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I have three things to report. I attended an event that was hosted by Mr. Tim Rochford at the bowl. Also, Council Member Aguilar invited some folks to be at an event there, different day. And I attended a three-day training that was related to my employer. So those are the three things I have for you. All right.

Thank you. With that, we are going to be on our August break for summer recess. So we'll stand adjourned until September 1st. We'll see you then. Thank you.