City Council - Regular Meeting

of uh March 10th, 2026 of Brooklyn City Council to order. Uh we met in closed session. Um Mr. Turpuck, could you report? Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um the council did meet at close session starting at 5:30. All members were present and there was no reportable action out of that close session. Very good. Uh let's uh stand for the pledge of allegiance and remain standing for the invocation.

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. pastor at Christ Community Church and I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to pray. God in heaven, I thank you for the privilege and the opportunity of even being able to pray before this meeting. I thank you for a country. I thank you for a city where our rights to the free exercise of our religion um are not just allowed but have been fought for and even in some cases died for. So I want to be thankful um to you tonight um for this opportunity to pray even as I ask that you would continue to give our city leadership wisdom and skill in the decisions that they make, the kinds of things they do for all of our good. Um I pray that you would um help even what is talked about tonight, decided on tonight um be for the good of all in our community. As we think tonight uh about across our world and uh war and um death that is all around, we want to thank you for the the peace and safety you've granted to us here and not take that um for granted. So we thank you for that. We pray for families who are grieving tonight um whether uh military members um or other who are grieving death and loss um that you would be a comfort to them. I thank you for the prosperity you let us enjoy. Uh and so I pray for the financial good of our of our city um of our state of our country and ultimately of of our world um for the good of human flourishing. we pray. We are mindful that many have made great sacrifices for us. And so um we thank you um for the sacrifices that are made um day in and day out in this city and all across our country. Even as I'm thankful for the

ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ who gave up himself on a cross to pay for my sins and for any who would believe in him. So I pray these things believing in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you, Lisa. Roll call, please. Council member Daniel Degraphth, here. Leo Zuber, here. Mucha, present. Vice Mayor Dean Uker, here. Mayor Gary Barton,

present. This is an opportunity for those here who would like to address the council on matters that are not on the agenda. If there is anyone here who would like to do so, please come to the podium. We have our favorite, well, I guess he's our only poet laurate. So,

for for the time being, for the time being, thank you. Uh, the inaugural uh poet laurate um you know, I I tried oh, a reminder that next Wednesday the 18th at the library at four o'clock, we will have our poetry meetup. So many people like to share poems and read poems that they've written and that's an occasion to do it at the library at 4:00. Uh I tried to write lyrically u a poem on the Fulton Street overpass road work but at the last minute I took a detour. So it's March. It's Women's History Month. We honor the women of Ripen. You know them or should. She's the combat veteran who opened a bookstore on Main Street. There's a writer who is the city's librarian. All the women on all who sit on the side at the city council meetings sparsely attended. They are the folks who really run things. There's the teachers and the business owners, the neighbors and friends, the women of the Ripen Arts League, the people at church, at the schools. Do we ever really stop to see them? I dare not leave out my spouse who has done so much, raised kids, took care of the home, volunteered at the school. But in her real work, she led the campaign that ended cruelty, and practically all cosmetics sold everywhere. Now women can show their empathy, choose to wear makeup that did not test on animals first. A little thing, caring and compassion are big things. Women have done big things in the world and in Ripen. Every march we take the time, we honor them all. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Neil. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Yes. Yes. Please give us your name and and address if you're so inclined.

Hi, my name is Ellen Brittingham. I just wanted to take the opportunity tonight to introduce myself. I'm the new PG Genie representative for this region. Um, so I'm happy to be stepping in into this role and I look forward to being a partner and a resource to the city of Ripen yourselves um and your staff. So I'll leave my contact information with the city clerk since I don't have business cards yet. This is my third week um on the job. Um if you have any questions for me, I'm happy to answer them, but other than that, I won't monopolize the rest of your city hall. Seeing no questions. Thank you. Is there anyone else? Yes. Hello to everybody. I don't know if you guys can hear me or not. My mouth is not that good. I just want to say I don't know.

Could could you give us your name, please, sir? I'm sorry. What? Your name?

Nicholas Mgjo resident for more than 45 years living by a western school. Okay. I got a big concerns about safety issues here in Riapen. The first one, we need reflectors on the Stockton Avenue. The bricks are not clear and with the heavy traffic from that area, you're not able to see the middle lake. No matter what, day or night, you not see the divided line or whatever you name it. On the daytime, you okay, you can see to the side, but night time, you just can't. I talked to I don't know who one day when I came to pay my bill and they say you got to say this to the meeting. Okay, is what I'm asking uh to fix that matter before we having a bad accident because heavy heavy traffic is not good. The other thing, Jack Roads to Main Street, the center lanes, divided lanes or whatever you name it, you don't know where you going to. If you need to go to the left going west on either I don't know is Weston Road or main street, you don't know where exactly where you going to make a tour onto your u roots. So you guys need to go and see exactly what's going on or how that is and trying to fix it. I'm noticing that on by the same area the city is spending a lot of money fixing things and they ignoring people on this side. I don't know if the taxes on this side are different the ones they pay on the other side they pay on the other side or what's going on. We need reflectors at the same side on the uh planters or whatever you calling at the ground so you see exactly where the cur

goes and you're not causing any accident. the meter lights from uh North Stockton Avenue to the southbound 99 is a bigger mistake because when the heavy traffic goes is bumper to bumper bumper to bumper because you had to wait at the light to me it's a big mistake from CR or for the city manager from home so it's those things the ones I really was told from someone from the uh where you pay your bills is the place that this is the right place to ask for that to get fixed. So I'm hoping we do something better. We for accident goes bad. This is to the police department. We need better patrolling on the school because people not obeying the what you call it safety patrols and and a lot of times on Western at Stanley and Roose people not obeying these kids. So I don't know if we can do something better or not. My time is almost over. So, thank you very much. And I'm hoping we do things right before anything happens because a lot of time WE GO, "OH MY LORD, WHY THAT HAPPENS?" But we're not trying to fix the things before we talking to Lord. Thank you very much.

Thank you. James, are you aware or any of those that he mentioned on your radar? Yeah, I I believe he was mentioning West Ribbon Road. I know that project is in design currently and um that should be striped here shortly. Okay. Um Stockton Avenue, that's something that we could certainly look at. Um and then we'll have to look at exactly where he was talking to around Save Mart. Okay. And I'll ask ask the same question to Chief. Have have there been near misses accidents uh above what you would expect in those areas that he mentioned?

Uh Mr. Mayor, no, not to my knowledge. Right. Very good. Thank you. Okay. Uh let's move to approval of minutes for uh our last meeting. February. Second. Very good. Next. Um, approval of the agenda is posted or are there any items that uh someone would wish to pull?

I'm going to pull 1.2E. I'm a paid director of Bank of Stockton and I need to leave the room. Okay, we will set aside item 1.2E. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended?

Second. Moved and seconded. Oops. And the minute agenda is approved. Uh, all right. the uh amended consent calendar uh moved and seconded. Consent calendar is approved. And now we will move to item 1.2E. Thanks, Mr. Stusha. All right, he can't hear us.

All right. Is there a motion to approve item 1.2E? Yep. Motion approved. Second.

Moved and seconded. Item is approved. I think uh Mike will not be voting, so I'm gonna end those. There we go. Very good. That concludes our consent calendar. We'll now move into uh public hearings. Um, and the first item regards uh community block grant uh and home programs, Mr. Ziderart.

Just really quickly, I'd like to introduce Michael Wyers. You guys probably all know Michael. He's uh actually going to be presenting the public hearing for you guys this evening. Welcome, Michael.

Bear with me since this is my uh first presentation. So, um thank you, Mr. Mayor, fellow council members, um this is the time of year that we allocate CDBG funds uh received by HUD, which is um overseen by the county. Um there's a pretty lengthy staff report here. Um so I'll overview it a little bit. Um for CDBG, um there's two kind of pools of money. Um one's public works programs and the public service programs. Um for the public service programs, uh we received the same four applications as last year. Um three through the county, um which are county contracts and one through the city of Ripen, um which is a Ripen contract. Um for the public works program, um we are recommending to allocate the funds to the interior senior center um project, which is phase two. Um, as we are wrapping up on phase one, which was the exterior improvements, um, as far as home funds go, we are recommending to, uh, allocate these funds to a, uh, rental assistance, down payment assistance for um, lowinccome within the city of Ripen, but overseen by the county. Um, and that's all I really have for now. Uh, I'm happy to answer any questions or

Very good. Thank you, Michael. Are there any questions from council? If not, this is Oh, excuse me, Councilman Zuber. I have well two questions. One, this is probably for either one of you. The home funds that we're sending away are building up Are there other ways we can use that money to put it to some use that t that we can benefit from?

Can I take a stab at that? Yeah. Um, so we can um it has to be a qualifying project and most of it is a it's a variety of lowincome um housing activities. Um so right now we don't have any qualifying projects. Um so it's kind of a placeholder for now um for the down payment assistance which residents can still pull from um but we don't have any qualifying projects but yes we can use those funds in different ways um and allocate that in a different manner um that would just go through a public hearing process. Are we looking at some It just bothers me that every year we get this report and that money that's sitting at the county is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and if there are other ways to put it to use, I hope we're looking at them because I don't want the county to walk in here one day and say, "Hey, if you can't use it, we'll use it."

We will be we'll be bringing some projects to council with some funding recommendations uh for that money. The other question I have was the part that was I think it's in here the third there's a third part where we allocate some of this money to different groups in town and I noticed that in the staff report the amount requested exceeded what was available so the staff report said we'll just reduce everybody's allocation a certain percentage until it works One of the four applicants is in Ripen. That's Bethany. The other three are county programs that may to some extent work in Ripen or may not. I guess my question is if we gave Bethany all the that they asked for, there would still be money left over to go to the other three, but at a reduced price. Is there any reason that we couldn't do that? I'd just like the money if it's here and somebody in town can use it. I'd rather it be used here knowing it's going to be used here that maybe being used here.

Absolutely. And we can reallocate that in a different way. Um I will say those three uh services that the county got um one's the mobile farmers market. Um they provide meals to Rapona school um meals on wheels. They do stuff for seniors here locally too and then um fair housing um more down payment assistance. Um so they do provide some services within the city of Ripen for our residents. Um but yes, we could absolutely allocate more the full requested amount to Bethany and then split the remaining funds evenly between the three county uh contracts or applications. So that is definitely possible. All right. Thank you.

Yes. So, this money that keeps building up that Councilman Zuber is talking about, is that actually physically at the county? Um, I I believe they are in control of the the down payment assistance. It's roughly 294 something. So, it's sitting up there with them. I don't know that for 100% certain, but is it growing at some interest rate for us since it's our money or do they we get zero on it? I'll have to defer to Ken on that one. Um, it is sitting at the county. It is money. It's home funds that are allocated and kept at the county. So, if a Ripen resident that meets income qualifications needs down payment assistance, they could go to the county and apply for down payment assistance.

But, it's our money, so we should be getting like a CD rate on it or something. I can't explain. I I'd have to look into if we're getting any interest. I'd be nice to know. I honestly don't know the answer. Otherwise, it's dead money. It is. No, I get it. I get it. If we're if we're getting something on it, it's just a place to to sit it. But if we're not getting anything on it, I just bring it back and give it to them when they need it. Anyway, thank you.

Any other questions from council? If not, this is a public hearing. If anyone uh would like to address council on this issue, please come to the podium. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and see is There's action on this item. Uh is that correct? Before we do the Yes. Is uh Leo's proposed changes in the form of a recommendation or or can we make those changes if we were taking action on this? They need to be made now, right? Yes. Yeah. So I suppos propose Leo makes a recommendation then he wants

well my I would approve as recommended with the change that Bethany receive their full requested allocation and that the remaining amount be then divided amongst the other three. That's my motion. I'll second that motion. Yeah, that makes sense. Kenny, could you um maybe weigh in on that? Yeah, there's a couple ways to to divide the remaining funds that we might need some clarification on. Um we could actually take the requested amounts, break that down into a percentage and fund them all to the percentage they ask for with what the remaining funds are or we could just divide it by three and and give them

a third, a third, and a third. So, we would like some direction on I think the way that you did it for I go with the former. In other words, they get the percentage equivalent to the percentage that their request is of the three requests. Very good. I think within that we've got a motion and I'll still second that. Okay.

That's a good idea. All right. Motion is carried. Uh next we have u ordinance um regarding our rules and regs on uh uh activity within our parks and Mr. Werner could

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh chapter 9.23 of the city's municipal code establishes the rules and regulations governing the use of city parks and recreational facilities. So, the uh changes to the ordinance that is before the city council tonight is a combination of input from myself, the city attorney, park and recck director, and the chief of police and um and the city clerk. So, there's a lot of um different departments that had uh input into this. Um so there's three main areas that um staff is proposing um uh be included in these changes. Uh first of all, the um process that's currently being used to obtain a park use permit uh for any organized events or activities uh within city parks. Uh how it's currently laid out in the municipal code is not how we currently do it. So the changes that you see in the red line version do match um the uh the current process and that process is primarily between the recreation director and the recreation commission and uh the responsibilities between each of of them. Uh the second part of the change or second grouping of changes, I would categorize these to uh clarify and distinguish between uh which violations uh specifically those prohibited conducts in all city parks under 040, which ones would be considered an infraction versus those that would be prosecuted as a demeanor. So, uh misdemeanor. Uh so staff has gone through and clarified uh that. Um and then lastly, the third area of changes and and this is an addition to the um the section municipal code is language

in here that protects natural areas within open spaces that are owned, controlled or operated by the city for park, recreation or open space purposes. An example of this is the riparian habitat along the river right there. Um, so there's been uh language a added um that nobody could go in there and start excavating, grading, making uh changes within those those areas. Uh, one thing that is not included in this um when staff was uh meeting this morning talking about some of these changes and continuing to go through different whatif scenarios. Um the one thing that is not in here and we would like to if council's okay with it bring back u during the second reading is right now motor vehicles are not able to drive or park on the the lawn. We would also add personal um transportation devices like ebikes, ecooters, those type of uh devices to that

to that language as well. And then there's a cleanup item in 050A. I think we state a certain number of days um and say it two different ways. So we would clarify that as well when we bring it back for the second reading. Very good. Thanks Kevin. You're welcome. Questions from council. Yes, Mr.

Couple questions. One is thanks for doing this because we know about the repairarian problems. What I didn't see in here, it references the penalty, it says they got to fix it up if they if they screw it up, but what is a penalty? I mean, got to make it high enough to disenourage people from doing it rather than just it's 10 bucks plus you got to fix it if you get caught. And I didn't see that in any You reference another part of something.

Yeah. So, um, we've Yeah. I I I had a particular uh interest in this portion of this obviously and um I've written this in a way or just this section in a way that we so misdemeanors just have a flatline penalty of $1,000 per violation. However, um when we're talking about um riparian habitat and potentially endangered species and stuff associated with that, there's also provisions of state law that could be applicable to specific modifications in that area that um our police would obviously have to their discretion to impose those pen or to site people for those penalties. And on conviction, they would be subject to greater fines. Obviously, those would be prescribed by state law, but some of those uh amount into the 25 to $50,000 range for various uh for various uh you know, habitat degradation sort of activities. And obviously you have to you know align the uh the conduct with the u the actual crime at at issue. Um but in in addition to that that if the city was subject to some sort of remediation efforts for some sort of degradation to the habitat, we've incorporated the flexibility to go after those uh those perpetrators to be able to collect those penalties that the city incurs in that cleanup as well.

That part was clear, but it references someplace else for the penalties. It's not in there. So I guess you'd have to go to that chapter someplace to figure out what the actual penalties are. Yeah, typically the re so uh the language in here is just that uh the the penalties are cumulative. So you add you stack them on top of each other. So All right. Yeah. Um you know we're it's intentionally broadly worded so that um we're not just limiting the scope of what we can site because we just can't imagine the scope of every possible foreseeable crime that can happen. Um, so here, uh, the the device being used is just kind of generality so that you're kind of covering all your bases by ambiguity.

No, but that's good, but you also reference that section you're talking about. It's not in there, but you reference it. So that you'd have to go to there to figure out what maybe Sure. Okay, that's good. And I'm sure the chief's officers would have, you know, those um those provisions ready to go when they're citing those. The only other question I have, thank thank you uh council, is 25 days to approve the permit. I mean, that seemed like we ought to be able to approve in five or 10 days.

Well, I got my uh 233.050. I have it in my notes, but I'm trying to look for it now. Yeah. She'll have 25 business days to approve or deny the application. That seems like an awful long time. Yeah. Kai, do you want to address that? I I would

So, we can certainly approve it sooner. We like I I think in the in the past that is why we're making the changes, it would need to go to the commission and it no longer has to go to the commission. So we can take the 25 days out and lessen it and to a much, you know, smaller time frame, but they need they need to get it in so everyone can evaluate um, you know, what's available, give them time to get the insurance and all that stuff in, but we probably don't need the full 25. But if they get all that to begin with and come in and give it to you, it shouldn't take 25 days for you to approve it with everything.

What's a reasonable period of time? That just seems like an awful long period of time. You know, we like at least one to two weeks um and and almost everything we approve we can do within that time. Yeah, I was thinking of 10 days and Leo says 10 businesses. I think that's reasonable. Somebody can move on if they can't, you know, if it's busy or something. They don't want to wait 25 days to find out they can't do it. Usually I'll tell them if it's available the same day. whether they get the the paperwork in um might take a little bit longer, but you know, I'll ask them what day you're looking for, what facility, you know, what do you and say, "Yep, that's available." Or, "No, it's in it's in use."

Well, I wouldn't do the same day, but I would say 10 business days or something. I to me that's just more reason. We could take a closer look at that and bring that back. Okay. All right. If everybody agrees. I just think that's a long time.

Any other questions? I have one uh Danny um Chief Sour the activities um that this uh these changes identify um in your experience are these primarily Ripen residents who are involved in these kinds of activities or are or people who are from out of town? Do you have a specific one you're referring to?

Well, I'm just thinking particularly as we get warmer weather, summer months downstream of Stoer Park. There's a lot of traffic activity over there. A lot of the things that are in this uh are more specific, I think, to that riparian area. When you guys have contacts over there, is it mostly ripping folks or is it people from out of town? I would say it's a mixture of both. uh during the summer months on the weekends, you definitely we definitely see more traffic over there from non- ripping residents, but um we we definitely still deal violations for Ripen residents down there as well.

Sure. So then I'm wondering um Kevin, how do we uh what's the publicity for this? You have identified that, but are there going to be, you know, I'm thinking of the the trail that goes down to that riparian area. Are there going to be some kind of notices there about some of the changes of this and and the the uh the penalt penalties for violations of that? There there is um staff has drafted uh signs uh that would be located at the entrances that talks about um these items being violations within um that that open space. Um and also if anyone observes anyone uh violating that that they could call the Ripen Police Department and it would also note the potential of fines.

Could it be like a menu? You have dollar signs that have four dollar signs or five dollar signs on it? Okay, very good. Yeah, exactly. Any other questions for staff? If not, uh let's see this this the first. Okay,

public comment on this. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone who would like to address council on this issue? If not, uh then do we have a motion to um we get to wave the first reading and adopt the introduce the ordinance subject to the changes that were brought up during council discussion. Second. Oh, I'm relieved. Councilman Zeber keeps threatening to make Lisa read these ordinances. Do what?

All right, we have a motion in a second and the ordinance as amended is adopted. Next speed limit ordinance uh which we have discussed previously. Uh this is is this also you nothing second reading? No, just a second. Mr. Mayor, I'd say that we wave the second reading and adopt the ordinance. All right, we have a motion to wave the reading. Second.

Ordinance is adopted and a few changes in some speed limits around town will be evident soon. All right. Very good. Next, we are blessed by the presence of our fire chief, Chief Deart. The floor is yours, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Members of the council and staff, uh, thank you for the opportunity to, uh, allow me to come and present, um, basically our status of where we are with, uh, our upcoming benefit assessment, also known as a 218. We are more trying to uh, call it a benefit assessment. Um, so the main reason for why we have the need is uh, the concurrent calls. concurrent calls um or calls for service that have uh we have are receiving when we are already on another call um continues to rise. In 2025 we realized 986 concurrent calls. Had to do the math that's about 2.7 per day. Um so it continues to be a challenge for us. There are some days we have none and then there are some days we will have four and we're even now seeing five at some time. So, um it continues to challenge our crews causing them to um have to triage the call that they're on. Are they able to leave and go handle another call? Um or do they have to stay uh committed to that incident where we then call in um resources from adjoining

jurisdictions. So with that um obviously the the need continues and will continue um as uh you know our calls for service increase populations not maybe necessarily um in the Ripen or in our fire district but certainly of our joining cities and counties um is definitely um adding to this. So over the last uh few months we've been uh working with the consultant uh looking at the various parcels that transferred over from the county um putting them into various categories whether it's commercial uh or office storage it can be agg uh a with structures a without structures residential of course um some of them transferred over just fine others they have to be looked at and um tweaked. So, we've been really uh going through and and trying to uh methodically look at those. Uh we're working on the language that will be in the engineers report. Um currently working on the uh the indexing language of how that will read. We want to make sure it's clear and concise so that it doesn't um confuse the average voter. um it is presenting to be a challenge because the um consultants want a certain amount of uh lawyer speak in it and people like myself don't speak that. So we're trying to find that happy medium that um uh the the layman can understand it and yet it still makes the attorneys happy. So um that's been kind of a struggle but we're we're getting through it. um working on the outreach component with the consultant uh not just from what we are doing internally but also working with them to work on um how we're going to get out to the public in the coming months and really start driving uh the information

that we're trying to get out to everybody. Um I have been meeting tirelessly with um our stakeholders, uh members, all property owners obviously, but of our um our a community, of our business community. Um met with um the city administrator, uh Kevin Warernner about the city side. Um the schools, they're all going to be affected. Um Bethany Home of course is affected. meeting with them to make sure that um the proposed figures that are all still in draft and we're um still um you you know working on those and and trying to fine-tune, making sure that um they understand why they're going to be assessed, uh the amount they're going to be assessed, answer any questions that there might be, anything like that. Um the wine group is a large uh consumer of ours, so um I've been speaking with them. And then of course, Diamond. Um, and those are only to to name a few. There's obviously so many more out there. Just, you know, trying to meet with them um on a one-on-one basis. Um, nobody likes uh taxes, it's just it's it's a three-letter word that we all hate. Um but really once people understand the need, understand uh the history of the fire district and how our revenues have remained stagnant since 1985. Um and trying to keep up with not only the cost of doing business, but also the amount of calls that we are seeing. Um in the end they understand um which I truly appreciate. None of the conversations have been adversarial. Um they've all been very professional. Um, which I I've really truly it it's it's hard to come in to people and start talking to them about their, you know, the the bottom line of of of dollars and

cents and so forth. Um, but I appreciate the fact that it they've all been um very good conversation. So, that is good. Um, I can't say enough about the uh the community group with Rip and Fire. Um there's 25 or so members uh all community-based that got together and they are truly my um sounding board. I've just had a meeting with them prior to this one as we were talking about the indexing language and really um pulling in their input and their thoughts on how we move forward. uh they're always somebody that I can um send information out to really get their feedback and um they are really, you know, thinking from the citizen standpoint, not so much from the fire district or um you know, from a a government side. So really like the work that they're doing. I again can't say I appreciate what they're doing enough. Um we're getting out on social media as much as we can. Um, just the other day I put one out about station 3 and why it was built. A lot of uh feedback I get back. You know what a dumb purchase it was to build a fire station when you couldn't staff it. And when you put it like that, yes, it was a pretty dumb decision. But when you actually um start sprinkling in the facts that it was one-time money given to the fire district, use it or lose it, $1.8 8 million worth, $500,000 of the fire district's money or the taxpayers dollars combined to build that station. Um, it's really a genius idea. Now, if we tried to build that station today, we would be somewhere around $8 million. And now I'd be coming to the city saying, "Hey, we need to raise $8 million." So, um, social media, uh, posts like that, a lot of good, um, feedback, uh, a lot of good conversation in the chats and so forth.

Um, just really trying to get that information out there. Uh, post various things of what we have going on. Uh, I spoke today with Dennis Wyatt from the Antika Bulletin. Very excited on that conversation. um he's agreed to uh come in to the office next week and start talking about um some various articles that we can help put out. Um information is is very hard in today's day and age. It used to be 30 years ago it was either newspaper or the television. Everybody got one or the other and gathered their information that way. Now it's scattered. There's so many different platforms out there, so many different sources. Um, so I really appreciate um the Mantika Bolton stepping up and helping us get that information out there. Um, our next board meeting which will be in uh this Thursday, I'm hoping to wrap up all of the uh the details for the engineers report so we can submit that. the engineer can uh the consultant can put our draft engineers report together which we will be expecting either by our April board meeting or at the latest our May board meeting. Uh the engineers report would then be um accepted and then we would start going into the ballot proceedings. Our goal as of today is the ballots are going to go out either end of May or early June. They have to stay out for 45 days. uh the 45th day being our August uh board meeting uh which would be the second Thursday. I'd have to look up what day that is, but that would be the 45th day and then we would be able to count the ballots um and see what the results are. Um prior to all of that, we will have uh several I've already done five town hall meetings. We'll uh have some more. Obviously once the numbers start coming out, people are very going to start

getting more interested and um um probably more participative in the process. So um we'll have some town hall meetings to be able to allow people to come in, learn more about it, ask the questions um and uh always looking for opportunities to get out into the public obviously to um to to talk about this, get the information out there. Uh, I think that wraps up all of the information I wanted to impart. Uh, is there any questions uh from the board or the community? Yes. Any questions? Council Dean who

question how that feeling on your response from people.

So, I will say that um I feel the majority of the responses that we're getting are positive. Um, people have asked me how I feel about it. I'm going to continue to say I feel like we are have a lot of work to do. I'm going to say that we are continually behind because I think that gives me the drive just to continue to get out there every day and and, you know, really grind away at at this process. Um, the the the comments that I've gotten that have been negative are few and far between. Um, everybody wants good police services. Everybody wants good fire services. We just all can't necessarily agree on how to get there. So, um, but to answer your question, uh, Councilman, I will say that for the most part, it's all been pretty positive.

That's good. Yes. Council Minister,

um I think you're doing a good job of going about how you're doing it, where you're doing it, the committees you've got together. I mean, it seems like you're not missing much. What's concerning to me is the population in Ripen isn't growing, but the age is growing, which is putting a lot of demands on you. And I don't think people really realize that. And we've talked before, whether it was privately or not, I forget about, you know, sometimes you need to have some pain before you fill something. And yeah, people don't like paying taxes because they can't see where it goes. Here they can see where it goes. You send it to the state, who knows where it goes. I visited a friend the other day that had surgery and they needed to be rushed to the hospital because something went wrong. They had to wait for Mantika to show up. And the comment to me was, "Boy, I just can't wait till that Prop 218 passes." I mean, they're they're aware of it, but that pain right there really convinced them that they wanted it done. And unfortunately, sometimes we have to go through some pain, and that's what you're trying to prevent. It's not get the pain, let's get it done before that happened. So, I I appreciate what you're doing, and I'm glad we're partnering with you.

Yeah, thank you. Um, yeah, we've seen more this year than we certainly saw last year. the amount of calls that that's third or that fourth call that's come in where uh either Mantika fire, Escalon fire has to come in and handle the call for us and on an average that's a 14minute response from the time the 911 call is received until the Mantika engine or the Escalon engine is able to arrive and 14 minutes is a long time. It truly is. Um, fortunately we have not experienced that critical where it was a cardiac arrest call or something like that, but they have been chest pain calls. They have been difficulty breathing calls. And if you have ever been having a discomfort, even if we get there in four minutes, we hear, "Man, what took you so long?" You know, it it felt like 10. Well, if you're in that discomfort and it took them 14 minutes to get there, I can only imagine um you know, it probably feels like an eternity. I'll also on your comment about growth. I hear that a lot that it's, you know, we're it's it we're growing too fast. You need to deal with the the people that are are causing the growth, the new homes and everything. And I had to check with uh um with Ken in the last five years. I sent him an email. It's been a while. Something like 21 home permits or something in five years. Sounded about right. not counting the uh 88. It's not a growth issue. Uh it's not you hit it on the head. We are as a society ages are getting older which is great but it's the older society that have medical issues or um you know things like that. Um that's the problem. Our our neighbors are growing. We're not necessarily growing. So we are feeling the the uh effects of it. Uh in in a normal not normal in a city that has a lot of

growth, there's fire impact fees that you see and then there's also the revenue uh the ongoing revenue from the property taxes and whatever that sustains those services and we just don't have that here. So we either go after new customers, we won't have many new customers. Unfortunately, we have to go um the the the tax then ends up going on the existing customer base. Thank you. Yes, Councilman. Did you?

Yeah. I just want to say thank you for all of your communication, your taking the time to come here and present to us and um share share with us how it's going and just, you know, the continued effort to share with the community um what you guys are working on. And um I think, you know, it's we've talked about this a dozen times, but it's it's critical to get out the message and explain to people the benefit they're going to get from paying this. And I think you're doing a great job. So, I just encourage you to continue that as you go through the process and um happy to help out in any way we can. So, thanks.

Thank you. I appreciate the support from uh from the city, the council, um really from everybody. It's it has been um hearing comments like that from, you know, even just people walking down the street. Um I know we're heading in the right direction. We just got to get it across the finish line.

Uh I've got a few comments and a question. Um, we've been getting a fair amount of publicity uh from the newspaper, local newspapers, and social media on the issue you raised, concurrent calls. And I've got to think that's that's got to help uh in your effort to get this thing across the finish line. Uh secondly, oftentimes on social media when there are uh comments about this uh there is fairly frequently a misconception that the fire department is part of the city of Ripen. And I just want to tell you and Sherry and others who address that that you do you do that in a very diplomatic way but it's you make very clear no we are an independent agency we are not under the city's opices we work together but it's a entirely different funding base and so I appreciate you clearing that up. Um, also I wanted to mention that I've had a number of conversations with folks in the a community. I haven't heard anyone who voted for it before and has changed their mind. I've heard a handful who have gone the other direction. So I think you're making some positive headway there. Grateful for that. And finally, you mentioned indexing. Mhm.

I know that was a point of concern with the last uh 218 effort. It was a concern of mine actually as well. Yeah. Uh do you have a sense of where you're headed on that for this this round?

Um I will cautiously answer that because my board hasn't had an opportunity to really weigh in and vote on it. Um, I will say that the last goound it was going to be capped out at 3%. Um, and it it somehow it got lost in translation or through the language that the feedback I got back was the fire district is going to raise it 3% every year no matter what. It was just automatic. Um, which was never the case. I don't think any responsible government entity would ever engage in something like that. Um, if you look at Rip and Fire, the reason we are in the pickle that we are is because we have always been a super conservative fire district. We have one of the lowest um tax share ratios of all the fire districts in the county because we were so economical with our spending. they decided back in 1978 that Ripen Fire District only needed X amount. So, um had they been spending heavy in those years, things would be a little bit different. But that's just who we are. Even when the 1985 tax was passed, um I'm told there were years that they didn't gra they didn't assess it um because they just simply didn't need it. Um I like to remind our customer base that the board members are citizens just like you. They all pay taxes. Um they all own property. They are all affected by these decisions just like anybody else. So they're not necessarily looking to tax themselves um for absolutely no reason. Um so we are looking at that. We are definitely um taking all of those uh comments into consideration. Um it it will definitely read differently, but as far as what the cap is or anything like that, um we're

looking at something similar, although it won't be exact. And that's probably about as deep as I can probably get into it.

Yes. Yes. I know we've talked about this before on that particular item and I don't know if it helps or or explains it any more to people, but including what we do with our Prop 218, our utility rates, there's been several times where we've, you know, raised it less than the maximum. And every board that I've ever worked for that has done a Prop 218, every single one of them has had the same conversation and we never go up to the maximum because it's, you know, you look at it every year and say, "How much did we spend? How much do we need?" And every one of them is a land owner and they're being charged the same and um they all go through the exact same discussion and say, "Yeah, we don't need to raise it by 3%. We don't need to raise it at And quite often they reduce it beyond or below the previous year because they don't need the amount of money that potentially generates. So it's something that everybody we have the same discussion but prior to the vote and then you get when the board actually enacts the fees we almost never uh go up to the maximum. Sometimes it does happen but um yeah it's it's something that happen. It's a discussion every single time. It's a challenge. Um, so being as clear as you can with that and straightforward is going to be helpful in that, but it'll be a question you get up until the final vote. So,

for sure.

Very good. I'll just echo uh Councilman Stution. Really appreciate you coming tonight, Chief Deart. Um, uh, and your leadership of that department, our partnership with you. Uh, you're the right man at the right time in my opinion. And uh we are very hopeful that you will be successful in this effort and that your department will be well funded in the years ahead because uh uh I don't know anyone in this community who doesn't greatly appreciate what you do for the citizens of our town in the greater area. So thank you for coming tonight. Appreciate appreciate that. Thank you.

All right. Uh reports Chief Sour, Mr. Mayor, I have nothing to report. Very good. Mr. Stevens, Mr. Zider, uh we will not be having a planning commission meeting on Monday, so uh I know you guys were all going to hurry down here to join us, but enjoy your night off. I will miss it, Ken. I can assure you. Uh Mr. Peace.

Yeah, two quick items, Mr. mayor. Um, our February water usage for this year was 1%. We're within 1% of last year's, uh, usage. We're a touch over. Um, and then staff, I just wanted to give the council a heads up. Staff is working on a, uh, changes to chapter 8.12, which is the garbage disposal and collection. We have a few cleanup items that we're working on as well as the the request from council member Degraph on the time consideration for a free brush pickup. So that'll be forthcoming in a future meeting. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Turbster. Mr. Werner,

Mr. Degraphth. Councilman Degraphth.

Yeah. Uh not a whole lot to report. Thank you all for being here and uh you know joining in for your comments this evening. Um I know and maybe don't explain it always but I at least always say something but um you know we we often don't know that something is going on you know particularly the council staff has a lot more engagement and you know maybe you know awareness of what's going on because they hear of some of these issues but you coming and talking to us tonight we don't know about some of these things unless you're bringing it to us. So, I appreciate that and I would encourage anybody who's listening or who else is here this evening. Um, if there are things that are going on and things that you are either upset about or excited about, uh, want to change the way that gets done is by bringing it to our attention. So, I just want to encourage people to come to council meetings, reach out to council, um, reach out to staff and that's how we get things done. So, I say appreciate that and thank you for being here. Um, yeah, I think that's it.

Excellent. Thank you, Councilman Zuber.

Nothing. Councilman Rushio, a couple things. One is flag football started. So, you didn't bring that up. That started Monday. Another game tomorrow night. Uh, April 4th is a Saturday. We're having our eighth first responder appreciation day. Uh, we're going to do it a little bit different. We're not going to spend a lot of time talking. Um, and every dollar that we raise, you know, in the past, we've given out shirts and some bling and all that. We're not doing that anymore. We're going to come down, we're going to meet, we're going to walk to the fire station. I think she got approval, didn't she? I hope. And um, every dollar we're going we're getting, we're going to give back to each one of the first responders.

So, please join us on April 4th, 8:30 in front of the police department. Excellent. And thank you for heading that up every year. That is a great event. Vice Mayor Uker.

All right. Uh I will couple of things. one. Um, thank you, Kelly, your staff for a fabulous almond blossom experience in spite of some pretty inclement weather, which yeah, those things happen. But thank goodness the last few days we had sunshine, beautiful weather for the parade. And so anyway, thanks uh for all you do for this community. That's a wonderful event. And then I'd also like to uh we were discussing this before our meeting. So those who received our city newsletter, little item in there about our crime statistics for the last 10 years. If you didn't love RIP before, you love it now. and uh chief uh those are just uh wonderful numbers that I am very confident are literally the envy of every other town in the central valley. That is that's just remarkable work. So thankful to you for your officers, those who protect us. Um and uh we are just so grateful that we live in a community where people feel safe to go about their daily lives. Uh that's the first order of business of government and uh you're doing a wonderful job. Keep it up. Appreciate it. And with that we are adjourned.