City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 6 o'clock and in an effort to uh you know help Mr. Barton get the record for fastest meeting, we'll get this thing kicked off. So, we will go ahead and uh come out of close session and come back into open session. Mr. Mr. Could you please read us out of close session? Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, the council did meet at close session starting at 5:30. All members were present during the entirety of the close session and there is no reportable action uh to that session.

All right. Thank you. Would you please all uh rise and join us in for uh flag salute and remain standing for the invocation. I aliance 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.

Let's pray. Father, as we gather tonight in this Christmas season, we pause to remember the true light that entered the world through your son, Jesus Christ. the light that the darkness cannot overcome. We thank you for the hope, peace, and redemption that come only from him. I ask that his light guide our work this evening. Give this council wisdom rooted in truth, compassion shaped by his example, and unity that reflects his heart. Many decisions made tonight serve the good of our neighbors, and honor the trust placed in these leaders. Lord, in this season when we celebrate the birth of the one who brings joy to the world, make us people who reflect on his love, caring for the vulnerable, building peace and pursuing what is right. Bless our city, our families, and those who sec serve our community each day. And may the light of Christ shine on this meeting in our city. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, Lisa, can we have a roll call, please?

Council member Leo Zuber here. Mike Rusha, present. Dean Uker, here. Vice Mayor Gary Barton, present. Mayor, Mayor Daniel Degraphth, I am here. Okay. Uh, public discussion this time is uh for the public to address items that are not on the agenda. So if you have something you wish to say, please come forward. State your name and address and uh the floor is yours.

Uh my my name is Emil Golermo. I am the inaugural Ripen poet laurate. Uh last month I gave you the state of Ripen poetry. I am too late to write a poem about the incoming mayor uh Mayor Barton. So maybe next month I will do that. But uh for now it is the season and this is my poem for December. A tree grows in ribbon. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, the best of them are false. Why get a real tree when there's aroreal plasticity. Santa liked our recycled fake tree under which he left various PlayStations. Good plastic begets good plastic. Some may prefer real, though real belongs in nature, not in a living room dead. My favorite tree from childhood was aluminum. A glistening jewel that changed colors each second. A spinning wheel gave Santa a light show in San Francisco in the 60s. Trippy. But now my favorite tree is on my street in the rubbs. From a seed to a bush to now treehapable, still shorter than me. My kids who planted it 20 years ago are now gone. But the tree remains lit by one strand then, now three. It is the perfect lit tree, homegrown for the holidays. An evergreen symbol today. A bush near Bush Street next month. humble, not huge, not fit for Rockefeller, but right in the center of my tiny block in Ripen, my tree. So, so thank you, Mayor Barton. Uh, soon to be Mayor Barton. Next month, they we will pick on you. Thank Thank you very much.

All right. Anybody else like to make a comment on anything that's not on the agenda? Nobody's talkative tonight. All right. Well, as my uh official last item comes up here, we will ask for a motion to approve the regular city council meeting minutes from November 10th. Is there a motion? Second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor? I. Any oppos? I aren't you going to turn?

No. Not until Gary becomes mayor. Voice vote. All right. I think that's pass and we'll move on to the next item. Lisa, thank you all. They're not leaving yet. I thought they were here for me. They're all going to leave.

I will proceed with the council reorganization as it is dictated in section 2.0402 of the municipal code. It states that the designated that the designated mayor and vice mayor must be queried to accept or decline the positions. I have queried both Gary Barton and Dean Uker whether they would like to serve in their respective seats of mayor and vice mayor. Both have confirmed. So we will continue to be seated as noted in the agenda and the municipal code. Seat one will be right here for Mayor Gary Barton. Seat two vice mayor Deaner. Three for council member Rushia. Seat four for council member Zoo and seat five for council member Daniel. This is also a good time to take any photo.

Bring your agenda to when you are seated in your respective

next to me. welcome. It's great to see everyone here. So appreciate it. And thank you to my fellow councilmen for entrusting me with the mayorship. Thank you especially to our outgoing mayor, Dan Degraph. Dan, you represented the city exceptionally well this past year. And thank you again to the council for your forbearance. I know this is a bit of a break from tradition. Uh but uh I'd like to offer a few words on this occasion. I do this with the full knowledge that my fellow councilman and brother-in-law Mike has about a 60-second tolerance when I start speaking. So,

so don't be surprised if by our January council meeting he's introduced uh a letter of impeachment. This my tenure may be very brief. The role of mayor. I want to recognize and thank a number of people who are here in attendance. First of all, my parents, Jerry and Janet Barton, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this year. Also want to recognize my daughter Marie and her husband Shri traveled here from San Jose. My brothers and their wives, well, they each only have one wife. my friends and call my friend and colleague from the uh Ripen Planning Commission, George Salgian. George and I uh spent a few years together on the planning commission. He does great work there. Thank you, George, for being here tonight. Um also want to recognize our fire chief, Eric Deart. Thanks, Eric, for your work. and so many wonderful friends. Uh I'm so grateful that you're here. I'd love to name you all and embarrass you, but I was instructed that I could not do that tonight. So, I'm going to try to be good for once. I'd also like to recognize the heads of our uh departments in the city. Um, and I'd ask you to stand when I mention your name, starting with our police chief, Danny Sour, the head of our uh, recreation department, Kai Stevens,

the head of the head of public works, James Peace, our relatively new city attorney, Tommy Turbstra. Tommy took over for his father Tom, a great friend and who represented the city so well for I believe it was 34 years. Uh our deputy city clerk, Jane Kilgore. Jane Jane has the unenviable job of hurting cats in this building. Those cats being the city council. And she does a great job. our city clerk and treasurer, Lisa Rose. Just a couple words about Lisa. She is perfectly designed for that job and she does amazing work for this city. Uh let's see. Oh, Kenny, that's right. Ken Ziderbart, our planning director, and great. and finally our city administrator Kevin Warner. So these are the people who do the work in this town uh at least in terms of government and it's often unrecognized and they make the city clean, safe and efficient. And let's again join me in showing them our We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these

rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed. For some 200 years since that declaration with which we're familiar, these truly revolutionary ideas were commonly understood by the great majority of Americans. Yes, we have and always will pursue them imperfectly. Yet the recognition that our rights come from our creator, they do not come from our tribe, our ethnicity, our geography, that idea is truly unparalleled in human history. This first PR principle was and is founded in foundational to our republic and it continues to be unique among nations. Yet our rights and our liberties come with a cautionary qualification. As one of our greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan, put it, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. Or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. In Ripen, we understand this. this council, these uh the heads of our staff, the structure of our city government only exists at the pleasure of the citizens of our community. We are here only with their consent and we celebrate that

tonight. What some may view as quaint or antiquated ideas, faith, family, country, remain the currency of this city. And it is that which makes Ripen extraordinary. We see that in our safe streets. We love Ripen PD. We love our first responders. We love our churches. We love our local businesses. In that regard, I want to make special mention to our amazing Chamber of Commerce headed by Kelly Donahghue. Please don't tell any cities about Kelly because she is the best. I hope and pray for the day when these foundational values are not the exception, but rather once again become the rule. We'd have a much better country if that were so and much of the political discord which we're currently experiencing would be diminished. While we ripenites do think this town is pretty special, it turns out that there's really nothing magical to it. Yet the evidence for the benefits of these shared values is plain to see. And so tonight, I just wanted to take a moment to remind us all that we are extraordinarily blessed. First to be Americans, and second to be part of this Ripen community. As the Lord instructed us, let us not tire in the pursuit of continuing to make our town and our country a shining city on a hill. Thank you.

Please do. Councilman Rushia,

that was actually very nice. Yes, it was long. It was long, but it was nice. But what I want to say is with mom and dad here, my brother-in-laws, my sister-in-laws, my nieces and nephews, I feel like I'm at a family reunion. I do. All right, very good. Let's uh continue with our agenda. Uh first of all, um the consent calendar. Uh there are no items. Oh, approval of the agenda. Thank you, Lisa. Um so we need approval of the agenda. Is there a motion for second?

I'll second. Are we doing it? It's all going to be voice. Uh, you got to call it up. So I got There you go. Who moved me or you? So all right. And now to the consent calendar. Uh, there are no items to be pulled. So is there a motion to approve? Second. Who is the mover? Leo. Here we go.

Very good. The end of the consent calendar. And now let's see. U Lisa, I believe this is your item. Uh this is a public hearing. So um uh after comments from our city clerk, if anyone would like to address this issue, please come to the and uh it is our annual AB1600 report uh PFFP capital funds.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is a public hearing on our annual report of the capital fees for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 pursuant to government code section 66,000. Um the staff report provides information for the council regarding the um development impact fee annual report and um which is also known as a public facility financing plan progress report. Um, it meets all the requirements in the government code and and um, it has been posted for the last 15 days as required by the code as well. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Nope. Are there any questions council?

If not, is there anyone in the audience that would like to address this issue? All right, seeing none, we will close the public hearing, bring it back to council. Uh, would anyone like to make a motion to approve Lisa's report in this item? Second. All right, the motion was adopted. 5 Z. Moving on. Uh let's see. We have a general plan amendment uh and a reszone. Uh Mr. Ziderart.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I do believe uh Mr. Uker needs to step out for this item. He does have a conflict of interest on this one. All right. Thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor, fellow council members. Uh, I there is a quite lengthy staff report that was probably in your, uh, packet. Um, I've kind of condensed that down. I'll just hit some highlights on it. Hopefully, you've had a chance to review that. Uh we are planning to do a general plan amendment reszone for the properties located at 1408 and 1444 West Main Street. Uh the request is to change the zoning from professional office uh to community commercial. Uh this action supports the city's long-term vision of strengthening the West Main Street commercial corridor uh by expanding opportunities for se serviceoriented and retail businesses while still allowing for professional office uses uh to continue. Um the purpose of the request, the applicant is seeking the C2 zoning to allow a small animal vet veterinary clinic uh within a portion of the building at 1444 West Main Street. Uh the current PO uh professional office zoning does not permit uh vet veterinary hospitals. However, the community commercial district does and still and still remains um office still retains office uses as as well in that zoning district of community commercial. Uh this shift provides the property owner uh and the city with greater long-term flexibility to attract a broader mix of community serving uses. Um parking analysis at parking availability and adequacy were uh central considerations to this evaluation. Uh the combined building area is about

15,500 ft and the total parking spaces uh on the two sites is 67 spaces. Under uh kind of the most conservative commercial parking standards um uh the maximum demand generated by all suites would be about 65 spaces. Uh so even when including the proposed veterinary clinic the total uh required parking remains at 65 spaces uh which is fully supported by the 67 spaces that exist on the site today. Uh therefore the site meets current parking requirements. Uh the proposed clinic does not exceed available parking supply and um future any future tenant changes will be monitored. um the city retains the authority to deny any change of use or business license if it would create a parking deficiency or circulation impact. So we would have that discretion here at the city to um keep that in check. Uh this provides an ongoing safeguard to ensure that parking remains adequate under the C2 uh zoning. Uh traffic considerations were also taken into account uh under the trip generation manuals that we use here. Uh, professional office uses typically generate about 11 trips for every thousand square feet. Uh, commercial uses average about 42 trips for every,000 square feet. So, if every site were to convert uh were converted to the highest intensity commercial use, the corridor could see a increase of about 480 daily trips of traffic. Um, however, in practice, uh, much of the building area will remain low inensity officer service uses. Um the proposed the proposed veterinary clinic generates just moderate um appointmentbased traffic and the site is located on West Main Street and an arterial roadway designed to accommodate commercial level traffic uh volumes. So the existing street ne network including Main Street and a small segment of

Robert Avenue um has sufficient capacity to absorb these additional trips uh without reducing any level of services or creating any safety concerns. Um general fine consistency, we also looked at that. Um the West Main Street corridor is designated for mixeduse uh activity that supports neighborhood and community serving uses. Uh the proposed community commercial zoning aligns with the city's general plan policies um for corridor revitalization, economic development goals, and uh community serving land use patterns um already established in this area. Um on November 17th um the planning commission held a public hearing on this matter. Uh there was no public opposition at that time and the commission vote commission voted uh 50 to recommend city council approval of the general plan amendment and reszone along with the squa categorical exemption. So concluding that uh the reasonzoning of the two community commercial will support new commercial and service opportunities um along West Main Street, retain flexibility for professional office as well. It does provide adequate parking capacity under the current and uh future uses maintains acceptable traffic operations and advances the city's long-term vision uh for the main street corridor. So for these reasons, staff and the planning commission recommended the city council approve the proposed general plan amendment and reszone. Uh the items in front of you tonight, this is a public hearing. So we will have to open a public hearing on this. Um there is a recommend there is a resolution attached to the staff report. And then the following item, which is an ordinance, is also part of the same um item as well. So at this point, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Mayor. Be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Zidervart. Are there any questions council has on this item? I think this was properly zoned when we zoned it to begin with. And to go around and just, you know, kind of spot change zoning, I'm just not up for that. We have three buildings over there. I've been over there a hundred times and I've always had to park in front of some other building because the parking isn't enough. It's like a feasibility study. I was in banking. I've never seen a feasibility study that's never worked. On paper, everything works. In reality, it doesn't. This is zone um professional office which allows medical, dental, and some other stuff. It's not high intensity yet. The parking is an issue over there. the C2 personal services, retail, restaurant, veterary. It's the same zoning as we have for Walgreens and that uh O'Reilly's, right? Look at all the parking. I It's huge relative to the size of the building. I think it's going to put pressure on these the other buildings there. I'd be the first one if I thought it was resolved wrong or we did something wrong to fix it. I don't think this is broken. um allows for small animal hospitals. Boy, next to a restaurant, I don't think that'd be the right thing to do. Um parking, like I said, there there's not enough in my opinion. Um I think be more than a modest increase in traffic. I just think that to reszone one building out of what is there, three or four buildings over there?

Um it's actually there's three buildings there. The one that's um furthest east up against the corner of Robert and West Maine is already zoned commercial. Um and then these other two buildings, the two on the west there are the 1408 and 1444 are zoned professional office. The other two are not professional office. There's two that are professional office and the last building the one up against Robert Avenue is actually zone community as well as um the other the other corner which is the corner the other corner of Robert Main Street which is um I think Vermile and CPA and that those are actually zoned those are zone community commercial as well.

Yeah, there's plenty of parking there. Um so I'm concerned about parking. I I just am and I I I'm concerned about the services can go in there. Um, I think it works fine the way it is and I really don't want to start chopping up our our city like that in my opinion.

Comments I guess or questions? Um I guess are there uses that you could see I mean by changing it are there uses that you could see that would come in that maybe wouldn't be consistent with the parking or you know assume assuming I have similar concerns about how a veterary practice may operate in the need for parking. Um seen a couple of them that have I've worked on before that um you know they claim they don't have parking but in it's you know sort of morning time afternoon depending on what their services actually are uh can be significantly impacted um with parking um but then I guess you know the the bigger picture but that one like I guess is there is there a use that also you know an alternative use that could come in that you know we would say oh that's that's not appropriate for this area and then um if it is a veterary offices are considerations for like the waste material that comes from something like that and either um you know medical waste, dead animals and things like that or that may come through there. Are those um I guess was that considered or what you know evaluated through this?

Right. So, the parking itself, um, obviously there's uses that could go in there that would drive the parking requirements up that we would if coming through city hall, we would have to look at those uses and either approve or deny permits for those, such as a a restaurant use does demand a lot higher parking requirements and would drive that parking requirement above what's already out there. So, we could deny a use like that if it's if it's going to push us over the parking capacity that's there. Um, as far as waste, I don't I'm wouldn't be able to answer that question. Um, I'm sure they have to comply with certain medical requirements for disposal of animals and such, but um, they are going to be required to put a trash enclosure on site. They currently don't have a trash enclosure. So, they will be putting a trash enclosure on site um to service any of the the commercial that's coming. Not that I want to, you know, assume the worst, but um if there is, you know, an issue for the existing businesses there, right? You know, say some of the neighbors say, "Hey, this, you know, we didn't want this and or we didn't know that this was going to impact us this much." Um, and now parking is an issue. Is there any I don't want to go tell someone, hey, go build this business and then now we're pulling your permit or, you know, we're not going to renew your permit or what is guess what's the recourse if if it becomes an issue?

Um, it's kind of like all the other businesses here in town. We we obviously have parking generation manuals that we use. Um, they're obviously they're averages, right? Um, they take averages across the United States. Um, good example probably right next uh just uh north here of city halls, the doctor's office that went in. Um, if you're looking at the parking generation manual, they put enough spaces in for parking for the size of facility they have there. Um, there is times where they're crowded and there they actually have a lot of their employees park down here so they retain parking down there for their clients. Um, you're going to be above average on some and below average on others. So, it's it's that's why we kind of just use that parking generation manual as kind of our benchmark. It's other other than that's just a guessing game whether it's going to be overcrowded because they're doing very well as a you know a veterinary clinic or don't need that much parking. It's just it's hard to hard to make that guess without using some empirical data.

Yeah. There was no um no opposition during the planning commission meeting, right? Said no. No. Okay.

I got a bunch of calls. Um but you know, when we make decisions here on the council, I'm not concerned about whether you're going to allow something in or wrong, but you know, 10 years down the road, five years down the road, and you're not in that position and it's loosened up and it's allowed now, they'd have to go through the public comment to change it again down the road. Maybe it happens, but just to come in to staff, if it's available to do, somebody may say, "Yeah, you can put that restaurant there next to the vet, next to the other restaurant, next to the bar." And I think that's the concern that I've got going forward because you're not always going to be there. Kevin's not going to always be there. And I'm old. I won't be around forever, but I'll be around long enough to see some changes. So, that my concern, too. Anyone else? Kevin, any comments on this? Uh, Mike, I'm wondering, so I appreciate your concerns about parking and Dan. I'm wondering, so the the vet in town, Dr. Debbiey's practice, um, regularly has challenges parking, but they have almost no on-site parking. It's street parking. Uh do you think maybe that's influencing you a little bit in terms of your concern because this uh strikes me as having cons significantly more parking spaces than what we currently have?

No, not necessarily. I'm telling you, I've been over there a lot of times and I've had to park in some of the other spots because it's not available. It may be ups and downs and averages, but I've been able to park sometimes in front and a lot of times I've had to not park there. So if you put some more demands on top of that and you're only talking about one business at this point, you reszone that whole thing. You may have a multiple of tenants in there. I understand what stats say in your book and all that, but that you go out there and you actually sit there and watch or try to park. I think it brings up a whole different issue. So no.

Very good. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who would like to address the council on this issue? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing and u I will ask for a let's see we need a motion on the general plan amendment first. Is that correct, Lisa? No, we need a motion on the resolution on the resolution. Okay, so need a motion on the resolution. move that we adopt the resolution as recommended by the staff. We have a motion. Is there a second?

All right, we have a motion and a second. Call for the vote. All right. And the motion passes 3 to Motion passes 3 to one. Um, and now the ordinance. So, uh, let's see the this is where we wave the first reading. Is that correct, Lisa? All right. If so moved,

that is acceptable then. Very good. We've got a really Yeah, you were trying to sandbag me earlier, Mr. Degraph. And Lisa is protecting me. I would never do such a thing. I tried to give you an easy out to make this meeting move along fast. And

All right. And then the uh second reading and adoption of ordinance number 932. Is there a motion for the adoption of ordinance 932?

Now what do we This is the second reading and adoption, right? Correct. So moved. Second. Have a motion and a second. All right. And Dean rejoining us. This one passes. 5-0. Very good. All right. Uh, next item on our agenda is anou uh regarding uh city of Ripen and Ripen Consolidated Fire District. Kevin,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. As you're aware, in 2021, the city and the Ripen Consolidated Fire District executed a memorandum of understanding that outlined each agency's roles and responsibilities as the fire district pursued a Proposition 218 assessment to increase operating revenue. As part of that, the the city and the fire district split the cost 5050 um for the consultants that supported the fire district through that process. In August 2024, that assessment did not pass. It did not receive the um majority approval that was necessary to pass. And the fire district has recently decided to move forward um for uh another fire suppression assessment again pursuant to Proposition 218 uh for additional operating revenue. The city council and the fire district 2 by two committee has met and discussed this and um are recommending once again that a memorandum of understanding similar to the one that was done um in the past be executed um that would um also split the cost 5050. At this point, the fire district has received proposals for a consultant to do a uh engineers report. That's required as part of the process. The total cost to do that is just under $119,000. So, the city's share would just be over $59,000 um for that effort. With that, I'm I'm happy to answer any questions. And I know Chief Deart is here and um he could also provide an update to the council with more information about their um where where they're going with the proposition 218 and their efforts.

Very good. Before we have any questions, Chief Deart, thank you.

Excuse me. Uh Mr. Mayor, members of the council, thank you very much for uh considering this item. uh the uh staff report that was written ve uh very well written very well describes uh basically why we are where we are today. Um unfortunately we did attempt the uh 218 last year and we were unsuccessful. Um we were not discouraged. We quickly um got back together and looked at trying to decide what it is we need to do to properly serve the citizens of not only the uh Ripen but as well as the fire district which we uh which we serve. Um after looking at all of our options, we only have two options. We uh have to raise revenues. That is um u an obvious uh issue that we have and we have only two options. a special tax or a a benefit assessment or a 218. Um, we looked at it many different ways. We looked hard at the special tax. Uh, the biggest issue with the special tax is it would require twothirds of a vote. Um and however that would go out to um all of the registered voters within the fire district or of course the benefit assessment like we did last time where will go to just the parcel owners. Um we did get a committee together uh originally it was called the um 218 committee. We have since now uh changed it. They are now the with rip and fire committee. It's a uh group of about 20 to 25 citizens within our fire district who have gathered together and I've really been relying on them and their input with the information from myself and from the fire district and letting the citizens really try to guide what we

do next. And um after a lot of conversation, a lot of um research, we've decided to try the 218 again. Um, we are a fire district that serves 56 square miles. We still have just the one fire station with one engine that's staffed with two people, an ambulance is staffed with two people, and then a battalion chief that overlooks the day-to-day operations. Um, we are absolutely getting beat up on our concurrent calls. Last year, we ran 528 concurrent calls. Concurrent calls are calls that come in when we are already answering a call. um we are able to uh meet these fairly creatively, but a lot of times we're not able to handle them, which means now we're having to rely on either the city of Mantika or Escalon fire or possibly uh coming out of Snassels County, out of Salida. Um the the obvious drawback to that is the amount of time. Last month, we ran so many calls in a period of time. We had to have the city of Mantika come for a a chest pain call. It took them 14 minutes from time of dispatch till they arrived at that citizen's door. Two hours later, we were still getting hammered with calls. Essicy breathing call with a 16minute response time from when they left their station till they got to our citizen. Um, we know this is absolutely not acceptable and we're trying everything that we can to get another engine staffed in our system. That's the only thing that is going to help with our concurrent calls is getting another engine to be able to respond to these incidents. So, I'm asked by a lot of people, what are we doing differently? Why what's going to make the difference this time than last time? Um, one thing I heard a lot from the citizens as I went out and talked to everybody was, "We don't know

anything about your district. We don't know anything about you. We don't even know this is a problem." Um, I am tired of hearing that. And my promise is at the end of this next 218 people are going to say, "I'm tired of hearing about your problem." That will be a blessing to me. So, we are getting out. I've done five town hall meetings myself. Um, I've also, um, put myself out there. Any group that is willing to allow me to come into your living room, into your office space to hear about the fire district, that's really what I've been talking about so far is just explaining about the fire district, who we are, our proud history, and what we are up against, and what our challenges are uh, in the future. Um, I've been able to go to an HOA meeting, uh, to the SHOptimus group, just really getting out there and having those conversations, educating people so that they know what the issues are. We learned a lot from the last assessment. I have great data of who voted yes, who voted no. We know where our weak areas are, where we really need to focus. Um, we talked a lot with the parcel owners and we know a lot of things that people don't like. Nobody likes taxes. I don't like taxes. But unfortunately, it's the only way that we can get to where we need to be. So, we plan on doing some retooling as long as it's legal and we can still achieve the numbers that we're trying to achieve budget-wise to get where we need to be. So, um, our goal is in the best case scenario to have the ballots go out by May, late May, so we can have, um, them collected back by August 1st, uh, so that they can go on the following the tax roles for the 26 27 year. Now, I'm leaving that completely up to

the consultant. We've now hired one SCI. They are local. When I say that, they're out of California, uh, Fairfield, I believe. Um, I am leaving it up to them when they come in and start looking at where we are and where we need to be. If they think that's a good timeline, we're going to stick with it. If they tell us we think that's too much or too soon and we need to push it, we're certainly going to listen to them because we have to get it right. Um, I know it'll be very difficult if this doesn't pass for us to try again a third time back to back. So, Um that is everything we have have learned we are trying to do. Appreciate you considering this uh thisou.

Yes, Councilman Stushia. Thank you. So I appreciate you're working hard on this chief. It's been tough for you. I will tell you that more and more people are hearing about it. They don't have all the details but they're hearing that there's an issue with the fire department. You show up so everybody thinks everything is fine, right? I mean that's just the way it works. Um, two things. One is make sure you look at the ballots that the signatures are on the right side. No, I'm serious. It sounds funny, but you had a lot of them go away last time because they weren't signed correctly. Correct.

The other thing that I've spoken at some of your events was about the ISO rating. Now, that may not be 100% of what they look at, but according to my insurance agent, that's one metric that they can look at. And what I think needs to be emphasized is is what are we a three right now? We are at a three.

Okay. So, let's say you drop to a six or let's say it drops because of response times. The problem is is that if our insurance premiums go up the ISO rating goes away, all that means is the house will still burn down. You'll have money to rebuild it. If this goes into effect, which actually may be cheaper than the increase in the insurance, maybe you lose a room, but that's what you get. Maybe nothing at all. So, I think it's important that somebody's got to do a costbenefit analysis that says, you know, you either pay X in insurance, which just means, you know, you get something built back, or you can prevent it by maybe paying a little bit less and have some people on site. I think that's going to be important. I know you're probably spreading that, but I think that's going to be important for people to hear.

It's a very good point. Any other comments?

I'd like to make comments. Um, I just want to say thank you for all that you've done to you promote the fire district and um, yeah, I think we we've talked about this several times on what at least my thoughts are on how this is done um, as I do Prop 218 professionally, but um, you you've done everything and more, I think, to spread the message and and do do that right. So, I I encourage you to continue to do that. Um I I think um I think when I looked at this originally and look at the proposal, it's like it's a a steep price, but looking at you know what they have included in their proposal um and just their their background, what they've worked on before, it it seems like they're probably the right fit to do this and um are doing the things that need to be done to to make sure this passes. So I appreciated that. Um and just again encourage you to continue to reach out to people and do do what you're doing. So, um, I mean, with that, I don't know if there's any other comments, but I'd make a motion to approve this.

I I I have a comment first. I do as well. Very good. From the public. Yes. Yes, Lisa.

Um, I received a comment from James Dawanhouse via email. It says, "Ripen City Council. First, I would like to thank you for your public service to our community and for always being mindful of the large retirement population on limited incomes living in Ripen. This message is to express my concern in regards to the inadequate title description on the web agenda item 4.8 which is a controversial business item that is a financial burden for many senior residents to merely state memorandum of understanding as the title of the web agenda is not clear for the Brown Act as to the actual subject matter being considered. It actually appears to be hiding the fact that it is once again an attempt to help the district increase fire assessments. The title could have or should have been stated, for example, between the city of Ripen and Ripen Consolidated Fire District for shared costs to increase fire assessment conducted under proposition 218. That is the true transparent title to inform the public of the business to be considered. To consider this item as titled would be challen challenged under the Brown Act since all agendas posted whether paper or electronic are required to give a clear title description of what business is going to be considered. As part of the public comment, I would like to state that I am opposed to thisou and the assessments. If the cities of Oakdale and Riverbank, who have double our population, are able to effectively operate under one station, then Ripen should be able to do the same. Now is not the time to attempt to hit us with an increase when we can barely afford the high co higher costs of our bills and food. The future looks even bleeer. I hope in the future that titles on the agenda are more transparent and clear as to the business being considered. Thank you for your attention on this matter. Best regards, James Lockenhouse.

Thank you, Lisa. Kevin, did you want to speak to that letter? Yeah, staff did uh take a look at the um uh Brown Act. Um and uh we are in compliance. He was uh referring to or looking at a something on the web uh related to that item. We have communicated that to the um the resident who submitted um the the public comment and um referred him to the the formal agenda that's before the council with description that is in compliance with the Brown Act.

Thank you. I have a couple of comments. Um interesting that the letter writer mentioned the number of senior citizens, senior people in our town uh who generally require uh more assistance from an ambulance emergency response. Uh, Chief, you mentioned the number of concurrent calls just last month. Um, that's serious business and waiting 16 minutes if one is having a heart attack, that is a often times a fatal event. Uh, you mentioned some of the modifications that you are considering with your upcoming uh, 218 proposal. I think one of those had to do uh with the proposed rates on Agg. Is that correct? Could you speak to that?

Yeah. So, um in talking with the A community, there was a lot of concern about a very large um increase in how they were being levied versus the old um tax from 1985. Um and mostly it had to do with um irrigated trees, irrigated vines having an assessment on them because this is a fire related tax. Um, so that is one thing that's on our list to talk to the um the consultant about is potentially however it's legal to do so if you can continue to exempt those parcels or I think the previous assessment was, please don't quote me, $164 for an irrigated orchard, whether it was one acre or a thousand acres. um either exempting it or dropping it so low, you know, to a dollar or whatever that might look like because we understand unless your tractor catches on fire um or something like that, an irrigated orchard, an irrigated um vineyard will not catch on fire. So, we heard that 100% and we will absolutely try to um put something into play that makes it fair for our a community.

Very good. I can tell you from personal experience u there was a lot of discussion about that in my family. can imagine.

And uh secondly, uh you and I have discussed this, but the communication between uh the registar and the assessor and actually getting ballots to the property owner was a very inexact science the last time. Is your consultant uh going to be of help in correcting some or most of that in this goound?

Um it sounds as though that is an area that just cannot be touched and maybe um Councilman Degraph can speak to that, but it sounds as though we are handcuffed to what the county data has.

Yeah, you're it's darn near impossible. um the assessor's office and the office that you actually get the parcel data from don't talk to each other, don't communicate with each other. The data is typically about three years out of date. So, if you've sold properties, any any property that's sold, you're not getting current data from. I use a, you know, a paid for subscription service that costs a couple thousand dollars a year to get current better current data. So, I go take the lists from what the county gives us and then regenerate an entirely new list and get better data than what the county gives you. It's still not perfect, but it's better. And then I it's just the county you're required by law to use the, you know, the county provided data. Um, it's it's not a pretty process, but it takes a lot of work to try and get the ones that are wrong, and it's it's a big issue. So, um, there's things you can do to try and improve it. The best thing is to get out in front of it. Get the notices, you know, send send mailers out or whatever on the front end. Send send as much as you can out to get people to be aware that, hey, this is coming to you. It's coming to the property that's associate or the address that's associated with the property ownership. It's not always the mailing address that's associated with your regular mail. It's whoever the property owner is. So, that's another issue. A lot of residents will say, "Oh, I didn't get one." Well, you don't own the property rent or whatever. But those are it's a nightmare every time. But it's a challenge.

It it is something that we we had our initial kickoff meeting with the consultant and that was something that I had brought up. Um that is obviously very much a concern for us. Um anything that we'll be able to do to fix that, we're certainly going to try. Um, I know over the last year we have really increased our social media presence, getting in front of the uh whether it's the u the bulletin or in front of the the news. Once the ballots go out, we are certainly going to say that message over and over and over in every platform we can find. If you did not get a ballot, there will be definitely a process of who to contact, how to get one, and how to get it submitted. Um there's also another comment I'd like to make on that uh letter from the citizen. Um they mentioned Oakdale and Riverbank and I really really um would like to focus on those two agencies. Riverbank, that's an agency that I spent over 30 years with for sale consolidated. They passed a 218 in 2005 and their home um their current parcel assessments for their homes are roughly over $300 per home. So that is why Riverbank is so successful and has the fire service that they have. They're going to be they just uh opened up that um uh the shopping center that's now uh cost less and blowing up over 2,800 homes that are going in there. Because of all those revenues, they will be opening up another fire station in that area. So, um and Oakdale is the same way. Oakdale Fire Protection District passed a tax at least 10 years ago and they're paying $300 or so. Our average home that we're paying here, your average two 2,000 foot home is at

$75 and it's been capped since 1985. And that's our problem. That's why we have not been able to keep up with the level of service is because of that 85 tax that was passed. It was not indexed and it's flat. So, I continue to to remind everybody, try to pay your bills today with your 1985 salary. Uh, the district's done a great job. We still have uh more paramedics on staff than we do EMTs. We still have an ALS ambulance that we run that no other fire district uh I know in Sanwalking County can say that. We have an ALS, meaning paramedics on our apparatus, on our engines, two of the three shifts that we have. So, we're delivering a very high level of service. We're doing a great job. Um, we are going to need this to pass in order to continue to keep doing that.

Very good. Any other questions? Thank you very much, Chief. Appreciate it. Still there. I'll make my Yes. Thank you. Uh, is is this not a public hearing? No. Okay. Second. I would I would still take public comment, Mr. It's still a Yeah.

Okay. Are there any other comments from the public? I know we've got a uh someone very closely associated with work of the fire department sitting in the back row. All right. Seeing no one, uh we'll bring it back to council. Thank you, Vince. And uh we have a motion in a second. Very good. Best wishes with that. Okay. Our next item uh is our one voice advocacy trip which occurs annually. Um Kevin, would you like to address this one please?

I will. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Sanwankin one voice is the Sanwankin Council of Government's uh advocac advocacy program where they promote county projects, pro programs and regional uh issues to federal legislatures in uh Washington DC. Uh there is a uh guidelines for cities that would like to submit a regional project uh for this for this effort. Uh, city of Ripen at this time, similar to last year, does not have a project. Uh, last year we did send uh, council member Degraph um to to the one voice trip as um a support for the COG uh, regional project which was the state route 9920 connector project phase 1B. As you're aware, um, there's a lot of work happening on the 99120 interchange. Um, that is project phase 1A. So, this would be a second phase of that project. Um, it would widen the connector from northbound 99 to westbound 120 and construct a westbound auxiliary lane on 120 between 99 and the main street um interchange in Mantika. So the the hope is that these improvements on the 99120 interchange will make it more efficient, keep cars um on the state route system rather than cutting through the back route uh back roads and impacting um our local roadways here in Ripen. So obviously this is an important project for the city of Ripen and um if the city council uh did want to send another representative to support that effort um you certainly have the ability to do so. The one other thing I would add is because this is not a ripen project, staff did not attend last year and I don't think it was necessary for staff to attend just because COG staff is

available um and and present on on their trip. So um just just my thoughts on on staff attending. Thank you Kevin. Any discussion?

Yeah, I think I would I had a good conversation with uh Mayor former mayor Degraph and his experience there. I think there is benefit to Ripen being represented there. I say that um seeing my older brother here who's very familiar with junkets and this one is is uh junket adjacent but uh I I think it's beneficial to our town. So yeah, I would be happy to go this. I'll move that we do whatever we have to do in order to have a representative from the city attend the one voice trip. You got it.

That was a motion. We've got a motion and a second. Have fun, Gary. Thanks, Dan. Rickman will make sure you have a good time. Don't There you go. There you go.

All right. Our next item is uh regarding our committees and tax task forces. Um most of us have had several years experience on the various committees and that we are on. Um I think what I'll do is have per our usual history have Jane circulate uh where we're currently serving and uh uh maybe in a couple of weeks just before Christmas um via email we'll see if anyone wants to make any changes uh and we'll discuss that and move forward and be ready for our January meeting to finalize that. All right. Um reports Mr. Mayor Sour,

congratulations and I have nothing to report. Very good. Thank you, Kai. Mr. Zidervart, just quickly, we have no items on the agenda for planning commission this month. So, uh, take the month off and merry Christmas. Thank you, Mr. Peace.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Two quick things. Our water usage for the month of of November was 15% lower than last year's uh 2024's November. Uh 24% lower than our 2013 numbers. And then our free brush pickup is still ongoing. Um residents have about another month to to put their brush items out in the street and we'll pick them up. January 7th is the last day. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Turstra. Thank you, Lisa. Anything to report? All right. I thought I'd throw you a little curveball there at least, Kevin. All right. Yeah, Councilman Degraph.

Yeah. No, I um I always have something to say, but um I just want to say congratulations to you as mayor. Look forward to the next 12 months. Um hopefully we can get these things rolling a little faster and moving forward, but we'll accept this one. Um, no, but I I again I I'm appreciate your friendship and your leadership on the council and look forward to the next 12 months. Um, you did run a few people off though, so I did. Um, but I did.

Per usual. I know I know most of you were here to see me finish out my last meeting, but um, you know, if you want to keep coming back for Gary, we'd appreciate it. But now, thank you for sitting and listening to us. Um, you can get a little more engagement next time, maybe too. But no, that's it. Thank you. Merry Christmas to everybody. Leo, nothing to report. Have a nice holiday season, everybody. Mike,

couple things. We have the light parade Thursday, so I'll come out for that. It's not going to rain. It'll be cold, so dress warm, but it's going to be cold. You did a very good job. Congratulations. Thank you, Daniel. You did a fabulous job when you were there. You got Gary to wear a tie, so that's good. Thank you for that. Um, we lost a long time uh ripen uh Henrietta Vanderha. Uh went to her viewing yesterday and you know the older you get the more of those you attend and it's it's not uh it's not good. But anyway, uh merry Christmas everybody. Enjoy the holidays, be safe and see you next meeting, Mr. Uker.

All right. Well, again, thank you to everyone who came tonight. So appreciated. One person I did not mention to my chagrin is my sis, Mona. Oh, we all knew she was here. I knew you were. I knew you were.

But thank you so much for all of you being here. Um, and I want to echo uh Mike that our Christmas light parade is I just love that event. The kids lining the streets. It's just so much fun. It is so small town America. It's the kind of thing that uh uh I mentioned in my talk uh to start our meeting. So, if you're around, that's a lot of fun. Um, and uh with that, merry Christmas. Uh happy new year. Many blessings to all of you.