City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, we are going to call this meeting to order. Let us stand for the flag salute and remain standing for the innovation.

Let's pray. Oh God, we come before you tonight, Lord. We're so grateful and thankful for the city that you've provided for us, Lord. We think about the residents here in Riverbank, Lord. I just pray, Father, for blessing, protection over our city staff, Lord, as they work diligently for the city. Lord, our mayor and the council, Lord, we just pray, Father, for vision. We pray for provision, Lord. We thank you for them and the hard work that they put in advocating for us, Lord, and I just pray that tonight, Lord, that we would have wisdom as we do business. Lord, you said if we lack it, that we could ask you and you would give it to us without finding fault. So I just pray for wisdom. Lord, I just pray for unity. I pray that all of us would understand we have a part and a role to play to make Riverbank the city that is better than any other city in Stanislaus County. In Jesus' name, amen.

Council Member Uribe.

Here.

Council Member Fossey. Here. Council Member Call. Here. Vice Mayor Pimentel. Here. Mayor Hernandez.

Here. No agenda changes at this time. Any council authority member who has a direct conflict of interest on any schedule agenda item to be considered is to declare their conflict at this time. Percent of government code section 84308 Levine Act. Any council authority member who has received a contribution of $500 or more within the preceding 12 months from a party participant or their agent related to an item on the agenda. must disclose that contribution on the record prior to participation in the discussion or decision on the item and may be required to recuse themselves as applicable. Are there any conflicts? That's me, sorry. Okay, seeing none, we have one presentation on the point in time count.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tonight's presentation is with regards to the 2026 point in time count. For those who may not be familiar with what the count does, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that all continuums of care conduct a point in time count as to the condition, which is a condition of receiving federal homelessness assistance funding. The point in time, which is also called the PIT count, provides a snapshot of sheltered and unsheltered homeless on a single night during the last 10 days of January. So for 2026, the pit count was conducted on January 28th, 2026 for the unsheltered count. The day before January 27th, they did do the sheltered count. For the city of Riverbank, our Sierra house does count as a sheltered location. And on that day, we had two residents who were living there. So two of them were counted. Today, my presentation is going to focus on the unsheltered homeless within our community. So looking at the 2025 versus 2026 unsheltered count for 2025, we had 27 unhoused residents. 2026, we counted 40. I do have a map that kind of shows where these individuals were counted. So With them being counted, that means that we either observed a homeless individual or we actually had a conversation with a homeless individual and went through a survey with them in order to gather some demographic data on them. So this is where the 2025 unsheltered count locations were at. The 2026, as you can see, was spread out a little bit more. But there was a larger concentration at our Sierra house because we did have a host a breakfast for our unsheltered residents there. So they did take advantage to come and visit us. So kind of at a glance, 40% of the individuals were surveyed, or 40 individuals were surveyed as part of our count. 40% of them meet HUD's definition of chronically homeless, and I'll go into what that means in a different slide. 60% of them were last stably housed in Riverbank, and 48% of them do report a substance use disorder. who we counted. As you can see, we have quite a large majority of residents who are 45 and older who are unhoused, with 28 of the 40 counted being male and 12 of them being female. We do collect race and ethnicity during the survey. So we did have three who identified as African American, 16 as Hispanic Latino, and 18 is white. Now, how long have folks been homeless? And this is where we get into the conversation about what's considered chronically homeless. So being chronically homeless is being homeless for at least 12 months and also having a disability. Substance abuse disorder is considered a disability under HUD regulations. So you do see that we did have a significant portion of our homeless residents who have been homeless for more than 12 months. So seven of them between 12 and 23, two of them who have been homeless for over two years, 24 to 35 months, and then 17 who have been homeless for more than three years, 36 plus months. So 24 of those individuals of the 40 are not chronically homeless, but 16 of them have been chronically homeless. So where did people live before they became homeless? We had one individual who lived in another state, two who came from the city of Oakdale, three who came from other locations in California, but they did not specify what location, five of them from Modesto, And as I mentioned earlier, 24 of them became homeless here in Riverbank. We do ask them where they slept. So the majority of them, as you can see, are sleeping on streets and sidewalks. A few of them are living inside a their own vehicles or an RV five of them are considered themselves sleeping as under an outdoor encampment three of them in parks, two of them under a bridge or overpass and one in an abandoned building. So individuals self-report or they give us their reasons for having become homeless. They do not have to give us a specific answer when they say other. So some of them did, as you see, 10 of them did provide an answer for other. Majority of them were due to substance abuse, losing their job and were not able to find work. Some of them unable to pay their rent and mortgage. They were discharged from jail and prison and so came back home. Some of them were asked to leave their homes and just did not have another place to go to. Some who suffered through a divorce or a breakup and because of an illness. So some of the health and disability conditions that some of the residents did share with us is a few of them have a developmental or physical disability. Some of them have a chronic health condition, mental health disorder, and substance abuse disorder was the number one reason or condition, sorry. So a few of them did share with us some barriers that they had to accessing services and sometimes accessing services means accessing funds, whether they are eligible for social security or for other financial assistance. So a few of them did state that they didn't know where to go or know that they did not qualify. The client refused assistance. Sometimes we do offer that and they just refuse. And so we, we don't continue to, to provide information if they don't want it. A few of them said other, once again, they don't have to give us a reason when, when they say other, a few of them did say no ID and documents. And if, Others did say lack of transportation. I do want to share that Sierra House will offer them assistance when it comes to getting their IDs and their documents. One of the requirements in order for folks to be able to get that is to have a mailing address. And so Sierra House does become that mailing address for those residents.

And just to confirm, the day's facility has that posted for those that are just visiting for the day?

That's correct. So this is just kind of a quick wrap-up summary of the information I just presented. So homelessness here is largely local. As I mentioned, 60% of the folks that were counted were living in Riverbank prior to becoming homeless. A significant share is chronic or chronically homeless, and 43% have been unhoused for three plus years. Behavioral health needs are high, so nearly half of them did report a substance use disorder, and about a third of them reported mental health condition. And then, of course, as I just spoke to, there are some barriers that are blocking them from being able to access services. So lack of transportation and missing ID documents were the top reported obstacles, which I feel can be addressed through the Sierra House. And that is the end of my presentation. This information is provided through the Continuum of Care. If anybody would like to look up any further information, it's the Stanislaus Consortium or Stanislaus Continuum of Care who does post this information. They are the ones who also provide all of the assistance and the volunteers. So we thank them. I do want to thank Norma, who actually leads our city team when we do that pick count every year. So we do put a lot of thought into how we do the count. Like I mentioned, we do breakfast for residents to be able to come and see us. So we don't have to go search for them. But we also do receive a lot of assistance from the care team. So we really appreciate because they're the ones that can actually go down to the river to visit any folks that are there. We give them care packages. So all of this information helps to provide us with the data that we need in order to go out and request funding. So that's the ultimate goal, being able to request funding to either develop programs or develop access to services for those residents.

I'm glad you mentioned the care team because I know the care team comes out and does offer assistance with helping them with rides and identification. So I'd be interested to hear how BHRS and Rubin Imperial is addressing the pit count specifically in Riverbank when it comes to bullet point number four because of the access that the care team offers to the community when it comes to the unsheltered. And then I wanted to call on Councilmember Fossey with being the primary on the Shaw committee, how the Shaw committee is using this information in the presentations that they're bringing to the meetings. And then what are the current services this year being offered or that you're hearing the most about on that committee when it comes to the pick count and just overall unsheltered services?

There hasn't been much said about the pit counts. There has been a lot of talk about housing and a special program that Brad Hahn has wanting to put in place. Right now they're looking at placing some apartments in Turlock where the city would not suspend or eliminate housing, the certification and different expenses, but they would tack them on and pay throughout the years, which makes it more cost effective for them to build. I also would like to see that here. And I know he's looking at some property in my district to possibly place an apartment building under that same type of expense, which I think the city would be really open to. It's just a matter of finding somebody to fund it. As far as homelessness, we've had a couple presentations from different county offering their services, but nothing that comes right to my head because I forget things, but I try to bring them to the council as I have them. I do have a meeting next month, so hopefully we'll have some good information.

Thank you. Are there any other questions, comments from council?

Just for this report. So during my agenda prep, I did ask staff if we can reach out to them. So the city-specific data is always included in there. We don't have to take that additional step to request it. If it can just continue to be a part of it, I think it's valuable information. It would help you out in Shaw. It would help us out as a council as well. So if we can just Friendly friendly asked from staff just to make sure it's it's continue to be a part of that so we're not taking that extra step, but no other questions in that.

And that was with regards to the executive summary that was included in the staff report prior years, you would see that information included in there, where you could see the breakdown. Between all the cities, this time they did not include that information. So we had to request the data, but we had already started to request the raw data, which gives us all of this demographic information. And that's the only way that I was able to actually get like the riverbank count.

All right. Public comment. At this time, members of the public may comment on any item not appearing on the agenda and within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council LRA Board. Individual comments will be limited to a maximum of three minutes and time cannot be yielded to another person. Under state law, matters presented during public comment period cannot be discussed or acted upon.

Thank you.

Randi Richardson.

Do you mean mayor and Council, I have the it's an honor and also a privilege to be able to make announcement. Tonight, in regards to 3126 Stanislaus Street is where the church I've been pastoring for the last five years. It was like Riverbank became a city in 1922. And it was just four years later that Riverbank Assembly came into Riverbank. And our church has been there now for 100 years in the same location. It's an honor because, you know, 95 years of other men and women that God has used to keep the church doors open. And it just happens to be on my assignment that it reached a hundred year plateau and. Just a little bit. Just so you guys know how the Assembly of God came. It was in 1906 and Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. They have a recorded what they would call a revival that happened when William Seymour who came from Texas after leaving Louisiana, had this hunger and desire to experience the presence of God in a way that he was reading about it in the Bible. And because of segregation, he was being treated, mistreated and he couldn't get in the classroom so they let him listen to the classes in a hallway and as he was receiving that somebody invited him to Los Angeles and when he got to Los Angeles the church that asked him to come kicked him out and so he was walking the streets of Los Angeles not knowing what to do and a door opened for it was a horse stable but him and 10 other people went in to pray together and the Holy Spirit fell upon them and people were being miraculously healed of cancers. And having that experience, that was an experience we would read in the Bible. And so out of that, William Seymour was led, the Lord used him to bring revival into it not being so religious and more experiential. And so that's how the Assemblies of God was birthed. It was 1906. And just 20 years later, it found its home. here in Riverbank. And so we're celebrating a hundred years this year. We're raising money at the community center on September 20th. We've rented the community center and we're going to be raising money for sending missionaries around the world, which we believe what we so freely receive, we give it away. So our church actually supports 27 missionaries. We send each one $200 a month. So we're writing a $5,400 check every month to bring the good news around the world. And I just thank God that I wanted to let you know that that church has been there that long. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Hernandez, city council members, city staff, and everyone here in the audience. Can you hear me? Okay, fast. I didn't mean to hear me. All right. I'm Olivia Randville, broken owner of Timeless Real Estate here in Riverbank, but I'm also your Chamber of Commerce president. So here tonight, I am at this moment going to share some of the events we have for upcoming chamber events. So take your calendars out because there's a lot. We have August 26th. We have 530 to 730 right here in this room. We have a cohort that we are partnering with Steps, Stanislaus Equity Partners. And that's helping with business development, whether you're starting a new business or expanding on yours or just want to come and gather some information. So that is session number three of six that's coming up. And then August 27th from 10 a.m. or at 10 a.m., we are going to have a ribbon cutting for grocery outlets. here in Riverbank on Patterson Road. So 10 a.m., all you guys come out and support. I know they're opening at 7 o'clock that morning, but the ribbon cutting is at 10, so be there for the fun. And then August 27th from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m., that same night, it's a busy day, we have Red Robin Ribbon Cutting for their 20th anniversary celebration. And they have a mixer right after. So that goes from 530 to 730. So coming out to support that. Francis is there. He's amazing. Big help in the community and part of our chamber. Also, all day long at Red Robin, we do have a fundraiser going on. That fundraiser, every time you go in there and you eat that day, you just say that you're supporting the chamber. And they will put 20% of what they make will go to the chamber for events like the Youth of the Year scholarships, Easter egg hunt, and other things that we do in the community. And then September 2nd, 5.30 to 7.30, we do have another cohort here for that Santa Claus Equity Partners for that business learning and training. Again, on September 7th, we have another one here at the council chamber right here. And on September 16th, same time, 5.30 to 7.30, the cohort is going to be at the Annex, next day at 108 Sports Lounge, their new event center, and that's going to be graduation day, so coming out to that. September 19th, we have the bingo night happening here at the committee center. Doors open at around 5 o'clock. The games and stuff starts at 6. Food will be by Red Robin. Game cards come with your price of your tickets, which is only $35. And we are looking for sponsors, so see me after or Contact the chamber if you have any questions on that. Then September 15th, and I know it's out of order, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., we have a Q&A and questions meet and greet. We have a candidate forum. We have several people running for city council in Districts 1 and 3, and there may be some others coming as well that are running in our area for other things. So please come on out to that, 6 to 8. And we'll see you then. And then we have been the trend possibly having a ribbon cutting at the end of the month. They're right across the street on the corner. Date to be determined right now, it might be September 25th, but we're trying to see if that is going to change and determine a time. Then October 1st, we have Mancini Sleep World. That is a ribbon cutting grand opening at 12 p.m. And that's located by Costco. So thank you guys all so much. We hope to see you there.

Want to stay up here? Olivia, you're next.

I'm bringing a friend with me on this one. Okay, so once again, Mayor, City Council, and everyone here and everyone online, we do have a special event coming up, and I'm recruiting tons of people. So some of them are up here, some of them are out here. Carlos is one of them as well. We're going to have our Riverbank Veterans Day Parade on Veterans Day, November 11th. And that is a Wednesday. So save that day. We want you guys all to come out for that. First off in the morning, we're going to have a, like a veterans pancake appreciation breakfast. Others can come, but it's from 7 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. So we'll have breakfast at the community center. And then we are going to have, Check in for the parade after that. That's going to be starting around 10 o'clock, getting everybody together, giving me one set. And then after that, we are going to have a ceremony that starts at 11 o'clock. So it's going to be 11, 11, 11. And after the ceremony, that's when the parade will start. So it's going to be really fun. It's going to be our first one. And so just give me grace. So that will be... one of the biggest events that I've done ever here in Riverbank. And I'm so excited because it's honoring our veterans. So coming from a veterans family, you know, I love my veterans, especially the ones that are in my household. So we have that going on. And then we do have signups coming up. If you do take a look at riverbankveteransdayparade.com, that is when you can go there for information. Just put in your name, your email, your name, and we'll get some information on that. We do have some digital, like Google Doc kind of forms coming out. You'll be able to sign up. Carlos is helping me work on that. And then we are looking for sponsors also as well. So please see me after you have questions. Call me, 219-502-0762. I want help with this. I don't want to do it alone. And I have lots of great people that are willing to help, but we need more. So Carlos, I will let you share. Carlos has done the Veterans Day Parade for Modesto. So I figured, you know, I got, thank you, Luis, for giving me a contact. So I have another resource who knows what he's doing more than me.

Do you have anything?

Thank you. Carlos Reduzco. I currently live in Modesto. I've been doing the Modesto Veterans Day Parade for six years now, but I'm a rare bank kid and I always come back to rare banks. So, Luis, thank you for connecting us. And I'm looking forward and excited about it. We're going to partner. So we're going to be sharing resources and what we have at the parade. Hopefully we can pull. all, all those resources out here. So looking forward to it. Thank you. Yeah.

We plan like in the interim when people are like done eating their breakfast and stuff. So I know fast Eddie's going to love this. There'll be like veterans resources or veterans tents out there and everything like that so that they can get information, resources, things like that out there so that, you know, they can benefit more than, you know, beyond the parade. So that will be great. So if you guys have anything or any information or want to help, just give me a call. Thank you.

Michael Christie?

Good evening, Mayor and Council, city staff. Hope you guys are doing well. I'm Michael Christie, Riverbank Crossroads. A couple things I just wanted to say, it's an honor to start serving on the Budget Advisory Committee with Council Member Fossey, our advisor. Looking forward to trying some new, implementing some new ideas on how we can save the city and the residents some money. budget. I'm old school conservative. I really just want to see the city succeed. And I really want to find a way we, you know, ways we can curb spending. And if anybody I believe is interested, I believe they can attend the meetings and even the city. And that's, I think the next one is September 30th on Wednesday night at 6 PM. So if you reach out to me directly with your ideas, it's just best to come to the meetings and speak as make comments at the meetings. As we, as I have to be careful about. sharing information. This is all new to me, and I'm just honored to have the responsibility. Second, thank you for the presentation with the homeless. Recently, I've had two encounters. One, you know, the poor guy was sleeping on our street in his van, and I, you know, tried to reach out. And if anybody knows me, I'm not looking. I want to help them any way I can. And I tried to get him some water and food. The guy, you know, wouldn't even speak to us or anything. So eventually, you know, the other neighbors got concerned and got, you know, a little unhappy with it. So council member call, I think it was able to find some resources for him and help with that. And I appreciate that. Um, the second issue is yes, you don't have to be in a park or in a certain side of town, you know, the homeless is right on the path and crossroads. And, you know, I offered to tell that guy, you know, about the Sierra house and the Dave facility, just so he can get something to eat and get some clean clothes. you know, if anything, and, you know, the response was like, go after self. I mean, that's, you know, so I don't, I mean, what, I don't know what else we can do for him, but, you know, if I read something about the care of the officers that go out against the care people, you know, if there's a number we should call a non-emergency number, I guess is what we should tell the residents, you know, because we do want to get them off everywhere, not just the parks in one neighborhood or this neighborhood. We want to help them. And lastly, real quickly, September 25th, Friday night, 6 p.m., the Sister Cities Mexican Independence Day fundraiser. I had a blast. My wife and I had a blast last time, last year. Thank you for the invite from the Sister Cities Committee. And it's a great cause. It's great to see these kids come up and receive their scholarships. I read these comments on social media about, oh, it's taxpayer funded. No, it's private donors. It's all people with good hearts and good business owners who just want to give back to these kids. And, you know, to see the kids from Riverbank High and Enoch's High get these scholarships is just fantastic. Thank you very much.

Mayor, that is all the comment cards I got for in-person, but we do have a few on Zoom.

That's okay. We can take your comment after Zoom. Yeah, regardless. Let me take Zoom first. Thank you.

Ms. Lopez, can you please unmute?

Yes, good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, please go ahead. Thank you. My name is Bianca Lopez. I'm co-founder of Valley Improvement Projects. I'm also the president of the Latino Community Roundtable, and today I'd like to talk about two issues. First, regarding the Street Vendor Task Force that the county is seeking an MOU with all cities across the county. I'd like to share that I support protecting public health, but I have serious concerns about the expansion of the enforcement before basic protections and education are in place. I recently advocated for a Spanish-speaking street vendor family navigating the Department of Environmental Resources enforcement. I encountered outdated Spanish information, unclear appeal process, no written itemization explaining more than $12,000 in charges and unresolved questions about how those penalties were calculated. Most concerning, after the family purchased a compliant mobile unit and went through the permitting process, the Department of Environmental Resources conditioned their ability to receive that permit and legally return to work on payment of disputed past penalties. The family accepted those conditions because they needed to work, not because they agreed to the conditions as fair. The Department of Environmental Resources written response to my questions describes that arrangement, but does not identify the legal authority allowing those past penalties to become a condition of the new permit. There are similar concerns regarding confiscated equipment and the conditions placed on getting their property back. The family should not have to surrender its ability to challenge government action or accept conditions it does not understand, simply to work legally or recover its property. If Riverbank joins this task force, I didn't see anything in the agendas and past agendas about this MOU, but I do ask that the MOU require meaningful language access, transparent and itemized penalties, clear rules for confiscated property, a fair appeal process, consistent enforcement standards, and a real pathway to compliance. This should be among the first objectives of the task force, not problems to fix after more families are impacted and criminalized like the county is doing at this time. Second, on data centers, I'm asking Riverbank to slow this down and consider a moratorium and ultimately a ban. Data centers can place enormous demands on water and electricity and create long-term impacts for the communities where they are located. Before Riverbank makes decisions of this magnitude, residents deserve to know what is being proposed, understand the potential impacts, and have meaningful opportunity to decide what they want for their community. I support a ban, but at minimum, please slow this process down and engage the community before moving forward. On both issues, my request is simple. Don't wait till residents experience the consequences to put protections in place. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Bianca. Mr. Pearson, can you please unmute?

Can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Okay, Gary Pearson, Riverbank resident. Going back to the report about homelessness, I have many observations, especially early in the morning when I'm out and about. Getting my morning coffee. I think the report indicates a certain number of folks living in vehicles. That number is extremely low. It's my observation. Just based upon Oakdale and 108, there can be anywhere between six and eight folks living in vehicles, depending upon the season and what's going on. So I would urge the city council to really look closely at those numbers. The number of people on the street, in my observation, is much higher than what's reported. And I have three personal encounters at least once or twice a week with some of the homeless people that know how to use public transportation effectively. And, you know, they move about throughout Stanislaus County using the public transportation system. And I would hate to see that Stanislaus County decides to eliminate routes or reduce time because homeless people do get about depending upon where they're going and what services they're trying to seek. So I would strongly support whatever the Council decides to do for further funding with Sierra House, because that does serve a mission statement. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Hernandez, can you please unmute?

Hi, Council. Hi, Mayor. My name is Dave Hernandez. I'm reaching in today because I wanted to bring up a topic, and it has to do with the sewer, the wastewater treatment project, the funding, and then also some missteps maybe that have been taken in the process, outreach that should have been done, in my opinion, to the residents. And to my knowledge, it hasn't been addressed even now. In 2013, Mayor O'Brien led the council to install the Parks and BioLac system, and it was installed in 2015, and then by 2016, the city was aware that the system had essentially failed. The system had a requirement to maintain 1.0 to 3 dissolved oxygen, so that way the aerobic bacteria could be thriving and live and break down the sewage system. That failed. From 2016 up until 2024, when you guys lost the mediation, none of this was ever addressed to the residents of Riverbank. The residents were never made aware that the BioLac system essentially broke the wastewater treatment facility and that the EMS system, which is an automated system that turns on and off similar to a thermostat to manage the dissolved oxygen, it failed. And they have to run the blowers 100% of the time, day and night. I've looked back through all the meetings, and this was never addressed. In 2019, you guys had a tolling agreement where you guys shared the burden of the cost partially, so that way they could clean the BioLax system, the dredge, the sludge. After it was cleaned in 2019, 2020, again, it failed. And again, the citizens, the residents were never told that this was the case. And then you guys move forward with the wastewater treatment project. without informing the residents of Riverbank that the system had failed. The only notes and the way that a member of the public can see or have an idea that this is happening is if they look at the bottom of the closed session where it will say report for litigation with Schneider Electric. And it wasn't until June 24th of 2024 when this became public. um and that is just a huge misstep you know we we went and we moved forward with the wastewater treatment project without informing the residents that you guys a decision that was taken before you guys entered council luis and rachel that essentially broke our wastewater achieving project it broke the facility and it's not working and one of the one of the things when neil colwell came and presented to us he gave us three different options which was an expanded percolation basin with the complete recycled wastewater treatment project. We're doing nothing, but we couldn't do nothing, and we couldn't expand the percolation ponds because we had already broken the system with the BioLac system. That, to me, is extremely offensive, the fact that the residents were never consulted, that you guys broke those systems. Not you guys because you guys weren't on council, but that a decision that was taken by a previous council to install the BioLac system essentially ruined our wastewater treatment project, and it's never been addressed even to this day. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Can I check something with Norma? I think we're having a delay on Zoom. Norma, are we getting audio that you can see? OK. I do see that we have participants in Zoom, but we just got notified that somebody can't hear.

Okay, let's come back to in person and we can revisit.

Mr. Yeah.

Hello, council members, Mayor. I like to come to the city council meetings, because they educate me, they tell me what's going on in the community. So you know, I just come I try to get as much information as I can. We have a lot of things going on and we all know the city's growing. Well, being a resident here for 26, almost 27 years, I think, especially with the way the economy is going and how cities and the federal government is budgeting, they're spending a lot of money developing a lot of things. And you can see the way the economy is going, that people are tied with their budgets. You know, gas is expensive, groceries are expensive, and I'm sure we all know that. But my concern is, as I get more educated and we have the Riverwalk, we're developing houses and all those things, I'm just thinking we probably need to slow down in terms of development. and and can and can excuse me and focus on our infrastructure as opposed to building more houses. You know that the constituents know what's going on. Traffic is already pretty hectic. There's so many things going on that your constituents are concerned about and it seems like we're putting the cart before the horse meaning are we focusing on how we're spending our money is it really important to do certain projects as opposed to holding on to that money and see where the economy goes and you know i don't know whether how the money flows but we know who spend it so you know the city planners All the people who get these contracts, we want to make sure that they slow down. You know, we don't want data centers here. We obviously know people across the country, and it's not a good thing. Can't tell me anything good about a data center. That people are not wanting detention centers in their community. We know how that's going. So I like to come in. and come to these city council meetings because it teaches me a lot of how the process works. And it seems like a lot of the government, whether it's local, federal, or state, are implementing programs in our community where we pay the tax dollars. So I guess that means we pay your salaries, but the constituents don't get to put in the input of the development of their community, because we all have different opinions. Everybody doesn't agree. But I do think that the city needs to take the constituents concern to, you know, to matter. Thank you.

I don't see anyone else on Zoom.

Is there anyone else in person that has a public comment? All right. We are going to move on to our consent calendar, items 9.1 to 9.3. Is there any consideration or conversation?

So I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar as is.

I second. Roll call, please. Council Member Uribe?

Yes.

Council Member Fossey? Yes. Council Member Kau? Yes. Vice Mayor Pimentel? Yes. Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Motion passes 5-0.

Item 10.1, a resolution adopting the City of Riverbank travel and training policy and rescission of APP-07 travel policy.

Tammy Alcantar, your Assistant City Manager, will provide this report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. So you may recall this item was at our July 28th meeting. Staff was given some direction to look into some additional changes. So we're bringing it back for reconsideration with some modifications to it. So, again, it was at our July 28th meeting, the city council directed staff to provide additional clarification regarding what qualifies as training, meeting, conference, or city-sponsored events. and to ensure that travel and attendance at such activities have a clear and direct relationship to city business. The City Council also requested additional clarification regarding use of city vehicles, including accountability for vehicle use for both city staff and council members when the use of city vehicle is appropriate and how vehicle-related expenses are reimbursed. So just to go over the purpose of the policy, establish consistent rules for travel, training, expenditures, ensure responsible stewardship of public funds, provide clear guidance for employees and approving managers, and improve compliance, documentation, and audit readiness. So why we were updating this policy is to modernize our travel practices and reimbursement procedures, clarify approval responsibilities and reimbursement expectations, improve consistency across all departments, and align with current operational and fiscal practices. Major policy changes, we clarified travel approval process, departmental authorization, we added cancellation procedures to minimize unnecessary cost, established expectations for city credit card use, added time reporting and work hours section for travel, clarified lodging standards and premium room restrictions, added guidance for rideshare services and modern transportation, added statement reserving city's authority to deny unauthorized or undocumented expenses, modernized per diem language using GSA mill rates, updated rental vehicle provisions and insurance guidance. So highlights of the policy, budget accountability and advance approval requirements, use of economical travel options whenever practical, clear rules for lodging, mileage, airfare, rental vehicles and meals, identification of non-reimbursable expenses, receipts, and documentation requirements. So here's a highlight of the updates to the policy. Section 1.5 has been updated, adding definitions of qualifying training, conferences and events. Section 1.5 has been added to clarify a city sponsored event. Section 1.5.2 has been added for additional clarification regarding a qualifying conference or training event. And Section 2.1 has been added. Each travel and training request should be supported with documented city business purpose. And then Section 3.3.2F has additional clarification regarding the use of city vehicles. So this is the red line version from what we originally got and actually shows you in section 1.5 the changes that were made. You can see there's a lot of red in there where we have added additional information in there, making sure that we are clarifying those events, that they need to be associated with the city business, and so that we are only reimbursing when the event has a clear and direct relationship to official city business, city operations, city priorities, legal or regulatory compliance, professional development related to the attendees' city relationships, role or representation of the city in an official capacity. It goes into clarify what events shall qualify as city related. They only will qualify if one or more of the following apply. It outlines events that are required by federal, state, local law, regulations, licensing, certification, or continuing. Education requirements related to the attendees city duties directly related to the attendees current or reasonably anticipated city responsibilities in regards to training and education. Events that concern legislation, regulation, funding, infrastructure, public safety planning, economic development, administration, governance, or other matters that may reasonably affect the city. The attendee has been assigned or approved to represent the city at the event. The attendee serves in an approved leadership committee voting or representative role in a professional, governmental, regional, or intergovernmental organization related to city business. And the event supports adopted city council goals, budget priorities, approved projects, interagency coordination, or operational needs. Events that are primarily personal, political, campaign related, recreational, social, ceremonial, without an identified city purpose or unrelated to the attendee's city's role do not qualify for city reimbursement or use of city resources. So Section 1.5 is an added section and defines a city-sponsored event, means an event, meeting, ceremony, program, activity, or function that is organized, hosted, funded, co-sponsored, formally supported, or officially attended by the city for a public service. civic, governmental, operational, community, or intergovernmental purpose, examples, city council authorized events or programs such as ribbon cuttings, ground breakings, dedications, public ceremonies for city facilities, projects, or partnerships, community engagement events hosted or co-hosted by the city, meetings with federal, state, regional, county, or local agencies concerning city business, economic development, infrastructure grant, legislative advocacy, or public safety meetings involving city interest, official representation at regional boards, committees, commissions, or partner agencies, agency meetings. The event must have an identifiable city purpose and must be approved in accordance with this policy. Our next section that was added is 1.5.2, conference or training event. A conference or training event means an organized, educational, professional, governmental, technical, legislative, or operational program that includes scheduled sessions, workshops, panels, presentations, meetings, or trainings, activities relevant to city business or to the attendees' official city role. They must have documented agenda registration material to support the subject matter, dates, locations and sponsoring organization. We also included examples of qualifying conferences and examples of those that are non-qualifying. I won't go through all the qualifying, but the non-qualifying examples would be events primarily for personal enrichment or general interest, recreational outings, entertainment, golf tournaments, sightseeing, or social events not directly tied to city business, political campaigns, events or partisan campaign activities, optional excursions, or activities that do not have documented connection connection to the purpose of a conference. And then we have section 2.1.2, authorization for travel and training. The original section 2.1.2 was changed to 2.1.3, and we've added this section in there. All travel, training, conference attendance, city-sponsored event attendance, and city vehicles must be supported by a documented city business purpose. sufficient to demonstrate that the expense or use of the city resources directly benefits, represents, or supports the operation programs, priorities, legal obligations, or official interests of the City of Riverbanks. And then the last section, which was added, was 3.3.2, Section F. City vehicles may be used only for authorized city business and shall not be used for personal errands, personal travel, political campaign activities, commuting, or any purpose unrelated to city officials. to official city business and less expressly authorized by the city manager. It goes through documentation of the city vehicle use shall be appropriate to the nature of the use. Vehicle use connected to approved travel training, conference attendance, city sponsors events shall be documented through the city's travel authorization reimbursement process or other city approved travel documentation. Non-routine after hours overnight or out of area or travel related vehicle use must be approved in advance by city manager, department head, or designee and documented in accordance with the city process. Drivers are responsible for complying with traffic laws. and city policies, promptly returning vehicles, and noting any kind of issues regarding accidents, damages, citations, mechanical, or unusual incidents. Misuse of a city vehicle or failure to document vehicle use when required may result in suspensions or vehicle privileges, suspension of vehicle privileges, repayment to the city, disciplinary action for employees, or other appropriate review for elected or appointed officials. Routine local operational use, such as picking up supplies, delivering documents, attending local meetings, transporting materials for city events, conducting inspections, or visiting city facilities does not require the travel authorization reimbursement form, and departments shall maintain a simplified record of routine vehicle use. such as sign-out sheet, shared calendar reservation, electronic key lock, key control lock, work order, or similar record, showing the driver, vehicle, date, and general destination or service area, and city purpose. So the benefits to the city in adopting this updated policy is giving our employees clear expectations, giving greater consistency in reimbursement decisions, improve fiscal accountability, and reduce audit findings and administrative questions. So with that, tonight, staff is making the recommendation to adopt the resolution, approving the City of Riverbank travel and training policy, and rescinding APP07 travel policy.

Thank you. Are there any, I'll bring it to Council first, comments or questions?

First, I want to say thank you. I know I had. big opinions about how it read before. So I really appreciate the work that you guys did because it's very detailed, but I think it was definitely necessary given the circumstances and other jurisdictions and other levels where there's been an abuse of travel and expense policies as a whole. And then the training policy on top of that. So I appreciate the work that you guys did. Thank you.

Yeah. Council member calls. Absolutely right. It did much more detailed, clearly needed to be modernized. So, and great job to you guys. So thank you.

Okay, from a staff standpoint, I do appreciate you guys asking us to do that too, because I think it gave us a clear document as well. So I do appreciate the comments.

You public comment. Do you want to hear?

I did not receive any comment cards on this item.

Looks like we have one in person.

Are you commenting on this?

This mayor, vice mayor, city council. I'm extremely disappointed in what I hear today because that's not why I wanted to talk to you. I want to tell everybody in this room, the council, you already know, I don't belong here. I'm too old, but I've seen so much in my life. It's pathetic. I am 96 years old and I'm just as, I got a sore leg, big deal, but I'm just as healthy. I take care of myself. But what is going on here? I just don't, I can't comprehend. The city of Riverbank, I've been here since 69. I moved to Riverbank, and it's a beautiful town. I stayed here, and I moved into a mobile home on Patterson Road. I love this city. It's good. It's quiet. And when they want to do something, they get together and they do it. We don't need outsiders. Tell them what to do or give a room. I don't know who you are. Who are you?

I'm Tammy. I'm the assistant city manager.

You're the city manager?

Assistant.

Well, anyhow. Eddie?

Sorry. Are you referring to what we talked about right now? Is your comment about that?

Yeah.

No?

That's wrong.

Can we hold off on your comment? We're trying to get through this.

Death recommendations. The stuff, this young lady, all she said, I disagree. I disagree. At my age, I mean, I'm all wet, but no, I disagree what she said. I just, I'm not supposed to be here, but I am here, and I want to tell you something. Don't get anybody pushed, you guys. You've done a beautiful job, the riverbank. Don't let nobody push you doing other stuff.

Thank you, Eddie.

That's all I can say. Thank you for the time. Thank you. Sorry, folks.

All right. I'm going to bring it back to the...

I have one on Zoom. Okay. Ms. Lopez, can you please unmute?

Yes, thank you. Good evening. I'm not sure if this policy that you were reading about the city sponsored events correlates or is a specific policy that I'm referring to. But as you brought up city sponsored events, I thought I'd take the opportunity to encourage the city council to incorporate a zero waste policy for city sponsored events. as an opportunity for Riverbank to lead by example by reducing single use items, making sure that recycling and organics collection happen, encouraging reusable foodware and water refill, and establishing clear waste reduction expectations for vendors. Rather than addressing waste after an event, we should be building waste prevention into how city events are planned. And I know that we have already some expectations for non-city sponsored events, but I think those policies should extend to those as well. And so if I can get some clarification if this is the same policy where such amendments or commitments would be made for city-sponsored events specifically. Thank you.

So this is different, but it would be something we can consider and making eye contact with our Parks and Recreation Department at a later date, but you are heard. Thank you. Is there any more public comment?

Mayor, that is all I have.

Okay, I'll bring it back to council for more conversation or consideration.

I'll make a motion to approve item 10.1, the City of Riverbank travel and training policy.

And I'll second it.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Uribe?

Yes.

Council Member Fossey? Yes. Council Member Call? Yes. Vice Mayor Pimentel?

Yes.

Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you.

11.1, a resolution of the City Council approving a professional services agreement with Westwood Professional Services, Inc. for design services for the Jackson Avenue and Stanislaus Street Neighborhood Park project. in an amount not to exceed $280,302.50 and authorizing city manager to execute the agreement.

Mayor and Council, Michael Patton, our Director of Parks and Recreation.

Thank you, Marcella. Good evening, Mayor and Council. We're excited to be here to present this agreement to you guys for a project that we're excited to get going. We want to provide some background real quick to you guys. In 2025, the city council directed staff to designate an area about 2.08 acres that's located behind the Galaxy Theaters on Jackson Avenue, Santa Claus Street for a future park. If you can recall in previous years, the city was working on trying to develop some affordable housing, small homes out there. And with that part of town not really having a clear to find neighborhood Park, the council kind of shifted gears and said, hey, it's certainly like like help the residents that nearby area. So we have a quick image here of that area. So again, it's behind Galaxy north of Galaxy is an odd unique shape in that red little box there. We also included part of the streets that are right there at the intersections that would impact that park space. So back to the background. So to help fund this endeavor, the city recently sold a 10-acre property that was located on the east side of town at the intersection of Eleanor and Kentucky on March 31st, 2026 in the amount of $382,720. That Eleanor property was purchased 15 plus years ago with the potential intent of serving as a Parks Corporation yard. However, with 15 before 15 years, our Parks Department is still relatively small. We're perfectly nestled in with Cody and his department out there, and it would take quite some time for us to get big enough to where we need significant space to serve that. And so with guidance from the city council, we had the idea of using that funding that we got from the sale of the property to go towards this space to develop into a park. So with our process, the Parks and Recreation Department issued an RFQ for landscape architect services to aid in the planning process of this future park some here's some information here so the rfq was released on may 11th 2026 the deadline to submit proposals or respond to the rfq was june 17 2026 so a little over a month we as staff we didn't want to reach out to any landscape architect firms we want to reach out to some that had specific park experience not just with residential commercial but that knows how to deal with the public and the public sector. And so there aren't too many here directly in the local area. So we reached out to four firms that were around, surrounding the Central Valley. We also published this on the city website. We received only one response, the RFQ, and that is from Western Professional Services, and they're located out here in Modesto. So back to our process. So we reviewed this proposal or reviewed their qualifications and their response met all the criteria that was outlined in the RFQ. They provided a proposal to us on what their plan is on how they would help us out. And so I'll kind of go over the scope of work here with you guys. So first part of the scope of work is meetings and project management. So they'll do kickoff meeting with staff. to kind of set guidelines and meet their staff and kind of meet and greet there. And then we'll host multiple progress meetings throughout the entire project. So we're not just going to see them from the beginning and then next time we'll see them is at the very end. We'll be with them throughout every step of the way. They'll start with the site and research analysis. So they'll go out to the site, examine the existing conditions, point out some opportunities, some constraints. They'll do the topographic base survey of the area. They'll look at the service utility research and base mapping. Um, they'll look at the property boundaries and make sure everything's accurate there. And then they'll provide a project description and work on and get an idea for how they're going to approach CEQA. And they'll be working on CEQA as well. Um, they'll be working on some community outreach and conceptual design. So this is a big one here that we are huge on and also in their proposal they're big on. So they're going to host, uh, at first two community outreach meetings. And so that'll be hosted on the side of the property where they will Kind of talk about what their research and analysis, what they found with the existing conditions and the opportunities, some of the constraints. We know that as 25,000 residents, everyone has an idea of what would be great for recreation in Riverbank. Not every idea is great for a two acre property located in the middle of the neighborhood. So we'll be working with these, with consultants that can help us out. We'll help the community kind of have that dialogue and communication. With that, they will develop a preliminary conceptual design, in which case they'll again host another community outreach meeting showing that design and having the public just critique that like no other. Throughout this process, too, we will do online surveys. We will have poster boards. We will do mailers to residents in that area to kind of give information, get more focused on. Park that serves the whole community. But again, this is going to be focused on neighborhood parks. So we really want to make sure those residents that live in that surrounding area have as many opportunities to provide as much input as they can. This information will also be provided in English and Spanish as well. And then once we have that in place, we'll have it all kind of packaged up with city council approval there. Throughout this whole entire process from the get-go, city council is more invited to give their input. Be involved. So you don't wait till the very, very end. You could be at the very forefront taking the surveys or attending these these public outreach meetings. And so it's not just here's the very end of it. Sign off on it. Right. Those do some schematic design. So they'll do 30 percent construction documents, do some preliminary cost estimates based on that final conceptual design. They'll move it to design development where they'll start looking at creating existing conditions and demolition plans, site features and finishes plan, irrigation plans, horizontal control plans, planting plans. So those are kind of going that nitty gritty details that goes into a pretty park. They'll be developing the construction documents. So when we give this to our contractors that start building this out, they know where everything needs to be and all that. At that time, we'll get all the technical specifications, like what kind of irrigation system we need to have, what kind of sprinkler heads, all that fine degree detail. We'll have a good cost assessment in place and a bid package. So again, when we go out to bid, we have it all there ready to go. In the proposal, they'll help us out with the permitting. So they'll give us all the forms for all the permits that we need to apply for, work on stormwater pollution prevention, and they'll provide some bidding support So here's kind of the breakdown, the cost breakdown there. As mentioned in the title, the total cost is around $280,302.50. Staff has reviewed this. This is in line with what a landscape architect charges. It's usually around 10% to 15% of the overall cost. It fits in that range. As well as with the sale of the Eleanor property, We do have sufficient funding from that to cover this cost. I do want to throw in there that the firm also provided additional construction management services. This is post-bid going into construction for $247,085.50. However, at this time, with us not having the funding in place to go and do construction, we are going to look at holding that off until we get to that point in the process. So the recommendation is to City Council from staff is to consider awarding the contract to Westwood Professional Services in the amount of $28,302.50 to fund the landscape architect services for the Jackson Stanislaus Street Park project. And we also have Chad and Tyler here who are the representatives of the firm that can answer any questions that council or the public may have. So.

Thank you. Thank you. And just a quick correction to the record. I think we decided this in 24, right at the end of 24. A while, but, but thank you for that. Are there comments or questions from.

I just want to say thank you for finally moving this park forward. I know several people that have talked about it for a long time, and I'm very pleased to see that we're at this step.

Thank you. If we could pull up the cost breakdown line item one. and then I think you're absolutely right when we're kind of looking at the design features of this very specific neighborhood park so I've been getting comments like hey can we do like a splash pad recirculated splash pad I think that's going to be a great idea maybe at Silva Park this is this is a little bit smaller right so this is more focused for the neighborhood staff has done a great job setting the standard for the poor in place surfacing so I know the the reps are here so a you said, Michael said, you know, go ahead and start sharing your, your comments early. So I'm going to share mine, uh, now since we're here. So Chad and Tyler, uh, we would love to see when you guys are doing your community outreach, keep that in mind, the poor in place servicing. We've already set that as a standard. So maybe have those as options. They're ADA inclusive play equipment and obviously shade structures, um, for the cost breakdown. Um, okay. So I was adding this up and I just want to, I just want it on the record, just clarification. Uh, cause I did ask for it in the morning and it, I think it's stuck, but I just want to make sure. So there's a $30,000 reimbursable cap part of... So when I add this up, there's still a $30,000 reimbursable cap. So is this $30,000 reimbursable cap part of this? If someone could explain that for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Chad, but it is, right? Because this is all lump sum. So with... you're guys looking to, I mean, these guys are out of Modesto, so there is no, shouldn't be any hotels or airfare and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah. So, so the 30, 30,000 is broken into like, say the meetings and the travel and all that, right. That's all part of that.

Okay. Travel supplies. If they're going to bring out, you know, large poster boards, et cetera, like that printing costs, those are all incorporated.

Yeah, and there's parts in here too where it outlines the state would be responsible for that kind of stuff. Like, for example, for the community outreach, they said they'll provide five poster boards. So if we say a state was like, hey, we need 10, that additional will come out of our expense. Okay, gotcha.

Just wanted to make sure when I was adding this up, I still saw this 30,000 aside that wasn't line item here. So I just wanted to make sure. That's all I have for now. Thank you.

I first want to thank you for including the cost breakdown and increasing the transparency on how every dollar is being spent. So I really appreciate that. It gives us an idea of where every penny is going. The fiscally conservative part of me wants to know, on the Eleanor property, it was $382,720. Was that the net after brokers, real estate agents were paid, taxes, transfer fees, all the good things? So we're left with $382,000. So we will have money left over?

Just a little bit over $100,000.

So my question, on the additional proposed work, there was a proposal in there. Can you go back to that slide? So is that a discount for early approval or is that a consistent price? So once all of the design and everything is done, that's going to continue to be the price? Do you see a fluctuation? What do you forecast that to look like?

So I'm going to ask Chad to come up here and answer that if you could.

Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for having us here tonight. The answer to your question is yes, when we proposed on that, that is a number that is set in stone for the proposal of this project. If something were to change in the request, then we would review, but that's where it is for right now. And that's where it'll stand as long as nothing additional is requested.

So no forecasted huge increases, fluctuations in that at all. It's pretty, it's a pretty sure it may go up, but you won't. Okay, perfect. Yeah, fair enough. Thank you.

Any other comments, questions from Council? All right. Anything from the public?

Well, of course, we have, if you're telling me it's at the galaxy over there behind the galaxy, just very interesting. We have a part two miles straight ahead of the galaxy.

We have the other part that's down here up the road.

I don't know where it is. Right over the hill, right down there. Off of 108, down there where El Ranchito is. So why are we building a park there, spending a quarter million dollars, when we should actually upgrade the nice parks that we already have? And I live on North Landy. So I'm just as you go out of Riverbank. So I have considerable ways to go. I actually have to go further to the park than the people where they're going to build the park and the residents there. So I'm just saying it doesn't seem logical to build a park there. We can just upgrade the parks that we already have. That's a quarter of a million dollars. And so in terms of proximity where I'm at. it's further than the actual park there, which would actually be closer for the people who were there by the Galaxy Theater. So to me, it doesn't sound logical that we would build a park there instead of upgrading the parks that we already have.

I'm just saying, that's to me, I had to make that point.

And if it's for the people that have to have it in the community, well, I'm further away from either park compared to the people there at the Galaxy Theater, especially if it's going to be built up there. So it doesn't make sense to build a park there. To me, it doesn't make sense when we could upgrade the nice parks that we already have. I mean, these are Riverbank people. They love their community parks and they're busy all the time. So, yeah, just my opinion on spending a quarter million dollars. And once again, in terms of proximity and getting to the park, it might be convenient for them, for those folks there to walk a block. But for me to get to any park, it's further for me to get there than it would be for the people at the Galaxy Theater. I'm just saying that live in that area. They're closer to the other parks that it takes me probably another maybe mile to get to. So I just had to say that. And thank you.

Thank you. Mayor, I do have two on Zoom. Mr. Pearson, can you please unmute?

Can you hear me? Oops. Can you hear me? Sorry.

Yes, we can hear you now.

Yes, go ahead. I'm one of the strong advocates of having community parks in all neighborhoods. This property itself was put on the table in 2024, and I was a very strong supporter of making that a community park for all of the neighborhoods, especially since it lies across the street from a school that has no access by the general public. So this is an area that needs a community park. That said, I'm highly supportive. I do have several questions, but as we move forward in getting the public input, I would advocate strongly that this is the opportunity to really put a park together that can maybe have a small soccer field because we have residents on the east side of that that probably play a lot of soccer. So this is an opportunity to do that. Also, we're a community that likes to get out and walk. And this is a place that this park can be utilized all times of the day. And then finally, on the project itself, I know that the initial cost seems astronomical. And when we look at construction costs, there's always going to be a changeover. That's just the nature of the game, because you don't know exactly what's out there under the ground. It could be you don't have the right size utilities. Given now that PG&E is replacing all of its power infrastructure in my neighborhood, there's those kinds of things that get encountered. So just closing, hey, I'm very supportive of this. And I know a couple of years ago that we had some very strong supporters. So I thank you and I thank council for considering this.

Thank you. Mr. Hernandez, can you please unmute?

Hi, council. It's me again. I strongly would recommend that you oppose this. The city needs to be fiscally conservative right now. The city is facing into some serious issues with the finances moving forward into 2027, 2028. You can see what's happening in series right now. For the last fiscal budget of 2025 and 2026, the city had a $6 million structural deficit across all funds, 2.2 million in the general fund. This year, we're over a million dollars in deficit. April of 2026, there was a suggestion to buy an $840,000 lot to begin the city annex. Thankfully, Luis, Stacy, and John voted no. If we continue down this trajectory that we're headed to now, I think it's going to happen before 2028. But by March of 2028, our general fund is going to fall below the 15% reserve policy that was set. And we would love to have a park. I think it would be amazing to benefit the community and the people there. But right now, the city really needs to reevaluate the expenses that it has, the revenue that is coming in. There is going to be some easing of the pressure that's on the deficits um that that's going to be the tax sharing obligation that's going to be fully paid off i think there's seven hundred thousand dollars left to pay for the costco infrastructure but even then we're still facing an over one million dollar deficit and we also have increases and unfunded liabilities that we have to do we have a wastewater project that we've already uh shouldered and we've been paying for that we As of now, there's not an option to fund it. So it would be a great idea to have the park, but the problem is if we continue burdening ourselves, like how are we gonna pay for it? How are the citizens of Riverbank gonna be able to pay for this? If just the planning part of it is 250,000, then what's gonna be the actual work? The hardscaping, the grading, all the infrastructure that goes underneath, the recurring maintenance costs, I just think you guys should seriously push this back, consider it at a future date. And we have to use the funds that we have available right now to start cutting expenses that we already have shoulder. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, that is all I have on zoom. Is there another public comment in person? Do

Michael Christie, all year long I've really been advocating for the splash pad at Silva Park and it should be great to take the money and just put it into Silva Park. I think part of the infrastructure is there already. That was phase three of what was promised to us residents there. And when that was designed, um, gosh, you know, um, I'm not, and I'm, and maybe we can just, you know, get by without taking on any more debt. Um, I do, I do look at the budget, I've studied it and I just, I am, I do have serious concerns. I know a few council members and, you know, earlier this year had concerns about our budget deficit. Um, so gosh, I think, you know, Mr. Brown has a great point about upgrading the parks. We do have, um, Fourth Street Park in Modesto. Look at that water feature. Those kids are out there, you know, it gets kids off the iPads and off the video games, you know, gets them out there. Families get out there and I'm not saying we have to have a, you know, snack shack and lifeguards on duty that big, but do, you know, make use of that space there in Silva Park. You know, that could be great for the families and be great for the community. And, you know, Splash Pad is all Riverbank can enjoy it. It's not just Crossroads residents. So I would urge you to consider that and not take on more debt. Thank you.

Anything else online?

Mayor, I don't see anyone else online wishing to speak.

I'm going to bring it back to council for more comments. I actually have a couple of questions just hearing the conversation. So when a new development goes in, is there a California standard on parks within those new developments and what that looks like? Is it how many households per or square mileage or what, what does that California standard look like now when it comes to parks?

Yeah. So if I am correct, it is the amount they need to have a certain amount, a certain number of land data. of acres dedicated just specifically for park space based on the number of households that are coming in. And so when we work with new developers coming in, when we talk with Josh, we will figure out, okay, how many houses are coming in, where are the fees coming in, how much park space is dedicated. So when they start playing out their big master plan of where they're putting parks, we start calculating, okay, this is how much acres this is, this is how much acres this park over here is going to be. And we make sure that falls within the California regulations. So-

And then I guess the big kind of cloud is, and I know this is just the design process and. the community outreach and getting to see what it could potentially look like. What is the plan for funding for future maintenance once a park is built in that neighborhood? Because like Crossroads, for example, has the lighting and the district to pay to fund those parks and the maintenance. So what does that look like for this particular park?

So with this park already being in or will be would be an established neighborhood, it would be coming out of the general fund to fund the maintenance of it.

And then my last note would be, regardless of how the vote goes tonight, I want to encourage parks to continue to seek grant funding for the maintenance and upgrades in our existing parks. And then going forward as far as new ideas, the splash pad, finding grants and money through the county, wherever it may be, for recreational activities within our city. So regardless of how this goes tonight, I just really want to encourage you guys to do that.

I think that question was great because that was part of the consideration we had when we were debating this in September versus the project that was being proposed at the time. And so we decided that there was a deficit in that area. And I do want to clarify that we're not taking on debt for tonight's item. It took a while because we were waiting for the sale of property to happen to be able to pay for it. Is there anything else, any consideration?

I make a motion that we approve 11.1.

I'll second it.

Roll call please. Council member yes, Council member Fossey yes, Council member call yes, Vice Mayor Pimentel yes, Mayor Hernandez yes, motion carries 5-0.

Thank you, thank you. 11.2 a resolution of concurrence in support of the fiscal year 2526 Stanislaus Urban County and Stanislaus Home Consortium Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report or CAPER.

Mayor and Council, Leticia Caratachea, who is your housing specialist, will provide this report.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, City Council members, and good evening, City staff. Tonight, I will represent the Fiscal Year 25-26 Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, or known as the CAPER. which covers the first year of the five-year consolidated plan from July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. HUD requires the Stanislaus County, the Stanislaus Urban County and Stanislaus Home Consortium to report annually on the progress toward the goals identified in the consolidated plan and the annual action plan, including how the federal grants were utilized. The CAPER highlights accomplishments across the participating Stanislaus County jurisdictions through the CDBG, ESG, and the HOME programs. The Stanislaus Urban County, together with the City of Turlock, forms the Stanislaus HOME Consortium for the purposes of receiving HUD HOME funding. Stanislaus County serves as the lead entity for both the HOME Consortium and the Urban County. On this slide it shows the eight cities that are part of the consortium and urban county members. And it will be discussing the hud entitlements since 2000. 21 I mean 2001 and the Santa Claus county lead entity for the urban county to 2021 and for the home consortium 2023 and the city of Sherlock participates only in the home consortium. The HUD entitlement requirements are outlined on this slide. The consolidated plan is completed every five years, while the annual action plan is completed, the annual action plan and the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, known as the CAPER, the one I'm presenting today, are completed annually. The AAP identifies the priorities and the projects and activities for the fiscal year and the guides and guides the allocation of HUD funding. The CAPER summarizes the City of Riverbank's progress and accomplishments towards meeting those goals with the program administration and oversight provided by the urban county. For fiscal year 25-26, these are the HUD entitlement fundings. Listed here, you'll see the programs and the amounts that were allocated for the CDBG program. For the CDBG program, it's shared among the seven cities, and the HOME program funding is shared among the eight cities. The amount for the CDBG allocation is the $2,302,867. And for the home investment, for the home funding, is $1,234,276. I want to note that the CDBG allocation See the CB one and the CDBG CB three that the funds were awarded in 2020 and 2021 and the service providers have until June 30 of 2026 to fully expend the expanded fans funds program outcomes are reported annually in the caper until the funds have been completely utilized. On this slide, the chart shows the CDBG funding allocated to each city and the county for the use of approved CDBG projects. The CDBG public services and the ESG program provided public services and homeless services throughout the urban county through the service providers that were awarded through the annual grant process. There will be more information on the specific service providers awarded in the upcoming slides. The city of Burbank was allocated the 138,373. Oops. The CDBG Community Development Block Grant, known as the CDBG program, the primary objectives for this funding is directly to benefit the low and moderate income people, to prevent and eliminate slum and blight conditions in the neighborhood, and meet the particular urgent community development need. They're also to fund activities that must be through CDBG eligible activities for the purposes of preventing and preparing and or responding to the COVID-19. These are the main objectives for the CDBG program. For the fiscal year 25-26 projects, these are the list of the projects actively implemented during the last fiscal year. For the City of Riverbank, the water line replacement project that's over by High Street and Riverside Drive and the Pioneer Park improvements and the ADA updates. This is the San Luis County West Modesto Infrastructure Park that they have listed. And this is the following, the next slides, this would be our projects that we currently have with the CDBG. I know I've spoken about this project in the past, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of update as to where we stand now. The water line replacement project, the project includes approximately 1,650 linear foot of 8-inch water main and reconnection of 35 existing water services with connection to the existing water system. The project will also include associated roadways, utility, and site improvements. This is a multi-year project, and the NEPA has been completed on this project. CDBG funds provided through the consortium support this project. After bids exceeded the project budget last year, the city council rejected all the bids and redirected staff to re-bid for the project. City staff has since worked with Adora Engineering and the MCR Engineering to revise the project scope, plans, and the specifications. Final revisions are underway with the updated plans anticipated by the end of August of this year, 2026. The project will then be advertised for bidding. the Pioneer Park improvements in the ADA updates. The project proposes the CDBG-funded improvements to enhance accessibility, safety, and overall park amenities at the Pioneer Park. Improvements will include an ADA-compliant pathway and playground access, upgraded picnic and seating areas, hardscape and landscape enhancements. park amenities and ADA parking modifications. The NEPA has also been completed on this project. And again, this is a multi-year project subject to funding availability, benefiting approximately 375 low to moderate income households. The CDBG funds provided through this consortium are being used to support this project. Final plans and specifications for the Pioneer Park improvements and ADA updates project are currently being completed and are anticipated by the end of August of 2026. Once finalized, the project will be advertised for permitting. This slide lists the CDBG public service grants awarded during the last fiscal year, along with the breakdown of the clients served. CDBG CV programs serve approximately 275 clients, with the service providers identified on the following two slides. This slide lists the service providers award of funding in 2020 with funding agreements that ended in June 30 of 2025. United Samaritans Foundation and the Children's Crisis Center and the Center for Human Services had no activity to report this year as their funds were fully expended in the fiscal year 23. The slide list the service providers awarded in 2021 which funds available were expended through June. 30th of 2026. The emergency solution grants program purposes are to engage and assist individuals and families experiencing homelessness to provide rapid rehousing and emergency shelter services and to prevent homelessness through supportive services and resources. During the last fiscal year, ESG funding supported three agencies, Turning Point, which provides rental assistance, Haven, which operates a domestic violence shelter, and the Center of Human Resource Services, which operates a low barrier shelter for youth and young adults. This slide highlights the progress towards the consolidated plan goals over the past five years. The key challenges include limited affordable housing for rapid rehousing and homeless prevention, as well as rising project costs and staff turnover impacting infrastructure projects. The goals accomplishments again the same as the prior slide the side highlights progress towards the consolidated plan goals over the past. fiscal years of the past fiscal year and five years, the key challenges include the limited affordable housing affecting rapid rehousing and homeless prevention, as well as increasing project costs and staff turnover impacting the infrastructure projects. Home the home investment partnership program, known as the home consortium. The county issued the affordable housing request for proposes the rfp in September 2025 to solicit eligible. projects for home and PLHA funding. Home funds will also support the consortium-wide housing rehabilitation program. Over the past year, the county finalized the policies and the procedures for the home consortium housing program. The following slides highlights two projects selected through the RFP process and were approved for home funding by the Board of Supervisors. Here is the Park Street Cottages located in Charlock. The Park Street Cottages in Charlock was selected through the RFP process and subsequently approved for home funding by the Board of Supervisors. The other project is the abbey street project. Again, and this is located in this one's located in empire and was selected through the rfp process and subsequently approved for home funding by the board of supervisors. This slide shows the public comment period and the community outreach efforts. Each city held at least one community meeting with both viral and in-person opportunities provided for public input. The information on the meetings were posted on the county's Department of Planning and Community Development website. And I'd just like to mention that the city of Riverbank held our community meeting on August 19th at 5 o'clock here at the city council chambers. And this is the second meeting that we were holding for the HUD requirements. And this concludes my presentation for the CAPER report.

Thank you so much. Are there comments or questions from council?

Yeah. I want to go back to the slide that had the CDBG allocations. There was two different ones. So the one right before that. So I think it's the, no, you were on the right track. The one right after this one for Cambridge Academy's enterprise connection program. What is that?

I don't know that we have that detail because they're not programs that run through the city of Riverbank. They're programs that run through the county. But we can certainly look up in the planning document to see what that was.

So this was for July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2020?

No. So this was funding that was awarded in 2020 during COVID. So the CDBG-CV1, that's COVID-19. 19 funding and so this particular grant cv1 their expenditure date was in june of 2025 the cv3 which is the next slide they were able to expend or have an additional year to expend all of their funding okay and then the next slide will you show that one to me again really fast

And so I think overall, my question would be on the CV3, were they required to be open to a certain date?

So they were required to expend the funds by June. This particular one was June of 2026. So as long as they expended it during between 2001 or 2021 and 2026, then all the funds were used. Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Anything else from Council? Is there any public comment on this presentation or online?

Mayor, I don't see anyone on Zoom.

All right. I will bring it back to Council.

I make a motion we approve 11.2.

I'll second it.

Roll call, please. Council Member Uribe?

Yes.

Council Member Fossey? Yes. Council Member Call?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pimentel?

Yes.

Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, City Council Members and Mayor.

Okay, 11.3, a discussion of the 2026 CalCities Annual Conference Resolution and providing direction to our voting delegates.

Okay, so this one is mine, so this item is with regards to the general assembly meeting that is held at the end of the annual league conference that Council will be attending city staff will be attending. So the conference provides an opportunity for cities to submit resolutions to be considered by all of the member cities within the League of California Cities. So tonight we're looking for you to be able to provide feedback to your primary who is council member call who will be voting on your behalf on this particular resolution. So as a reminder, we will be attending this annual conference. This upcoming month from the 23rd through the 25th, it is in Anaheim, California this year. It is an opportunity for council to attend presentations on key topics for local leaders. We also get to network with other agencies, engage with organizations that provide services to cities as well. So the resolution process, policy proposals are usually policy proposals on issues of importance to cities. The member cities that are going to recommend these resolutions do have to have concurrence from five additional member cities or individuals. They are due 60 days before the conference. And then these resolutions go to the policy committees that have been established by the League of California Cities. Those policy committees are city representatives that sit on those. And then if the policy committee decides to move those forward, they go to the resolutions committee, who then brings it back and presents it to the General Assembly. So the General Assembly, as I mentioned, is held on the last day of the conference. The cities designate a voting delegate to vote on the resolutions on their behalf. So as I mentioned earlier, our primary is Councilmember Call with our alternate Mayor Hernandez. The voting delegates will debate and consider the resolution based on the feedback that they receive from their fellow Councilmembers. So this year we do have a resolution. It is calling for a working group to consider a state constitutional amendment or other form of initiative to ensure final local authority over housing and land use decisions. So this resolution, a little bit of background. California cities are responsible for planning residential growth, adopting general plans and zoning regulations, reviewing development proposals, and providing or coordinating the infrastructure and public services necessary to support housing. Since 2010, the state has enacted over 500 housing-related laws that shift housing and land use authority away from local governments. The laws that have been enacted are things like expanding by-right development, they limit locally adopted standards and review processes, and they establish enforcement mechanisms against cities for not complying with this legislation. A state continues to prioritize increased development capacity without accounting for the impacts to infrastructure, public services, and the economic realities of each city. So the proposal is to direct Cal cities to establish a statewide working group that would evaluate a constitutional amendment or other legislative policy or ballot based strategy to restore and strengthen local authority over housing and land use decisions. This working group would be tasked with developing a more balanced framework that preserves the state's role in establishing these broad housing goals. While restoring local authority to allow cities to determine how to best implement those state housing objectives within their communities. So the resolution before you that we are requesting you provide feedback to council member call. and to Mayor Hernandez, is the support of the development and advancement of a state constitutional amendment or legislative policy or ballot-based strategy that restores and strengthens local authority over housing and land use matters. And that would include any legislation that's adopted regarding general plans, housing elements, zoning density, design and development standards, and project siting and the approval or denial of housing applications. Now, the second part of it is, of course, once again, to establish that statewide working group or other appropriate committee to evaluate proposed constitutional amendments, to be able to look at conducting appropriate legal, fiscal, and policy analysis, to engage cities and other stakeholders, to build a statewide coalition of proponent supporters. If It is feasible to move any proposed legislation forward or ballot initiative forward to the November 2030 general election or any other reasonable timeframe as determined by the working group. So that is all we have for this particular resolution. What I do want to make clear is this does not, it does not make the city participate as part of the working group. It does not bind us to supporting any potential initiative. We would have to evaluate that on our own based on its impacts to Riverbank. If that does decide to move forward, this is simply supporting the establishment of that working group within the league of California cities.

So just to clarify, this is just to support creating a working group. That's going to work towards whatever it's going to be in 2030 with the possibility of maybe some of us being a part of this working group.

Correct.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So you would evaluate alternatives and as always, there's always an alternative that says you do nothing.

So no, well, I got, I would support this if that's all this is, is supporting creating a working group and working statewide and seeing what that looks like in 2030. I don't think there would be a conflict to supporting this.

Any other feedback from council?

I would agree. I support what he said.

I also would support it.

Just a quick question. Did it say in any reports which cities proposed this?

So the city of Murrieta is the main proponent and some of the other cities that were there. Let me bring up the report really quick.

I think there was like 17 cities that signed on, yeah.

Yeah, there was quite a few cities. So city of Cala Mesa, city of, let's see, the office of the mayor in the city of Banning, city of Canyon Lake, city of Moreno Valley, city of Norco, city of Torrance, city of San Jacinto. And that was the mayor who did that personally, city of Temecula. And that was it.

Is there any public comment or online?

Mayor, I don't see anyone on Zoom wishing to speak on this item.

Okay. I'm always open for conversation, so I would be supportive as well.

Yeah, I think the only conversation that I would have is to reinforce, and I brought this up before, is that I do believe in local government control when it comes to housing. And we've encountered it with this last housing cycle and the rezoning process that we had to go through to meet those numbers. So obviously I'm supportive of this. So I have no problem articulating that in this environment. So I'm excited to do it.

Direction appropriate. Okay. All right. Item 12.1, city manager.

So just one comment today from our finance department. We're pleased to share that our new utility platform called Community Connect is now available. So that means we will begin to transition away from express bill pay. Customers can visit Riverbank CA, our community. Wait, riverbankca.ourcommunityconnect.com, which we'll have available on our website. And now to create their accounts and begin familiarizing themselves with the new portal. Because we're still in the transition process, Some of the features are not yet fully active, so you'll just kind of be able to get in there to get a feel for it. But full implementation of the platform is expected by November 1st. As part of the rollout, residents will receive a flyer in their September 1st utility bill informing them of the new payment portal with instructions on how to get started. So please be sure not to throw that away. A digital copy will also be posted, of course, on our city's website. and shared through our social media platforms. To make the transition as smooth as possible, we will still continue to take payments through Express Bill Pay. We will not just cut you off arbitrarily so that we make sure that your payments are still coming in. So that will provide residents sufficient time to establish their new accounts and be familiar with this new software. Following full implementation of the November 1st deadline, we'll continue that transition payment. So we will officially phase out express bill pay by December 31st. So we're excited with the new improvements the platform will provide. It will make your account management much more easy and payments much more user-friendly. And it actually will also allow us to expand the type of payments customers can make online. And that'll include our business licensing and other city payments that are not currently available through Express Bill Pay. And that is all from staff.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I only have one comment. I had a meeting with Bristol Hospice, Ramon De La Torre, and he said, thank you for opening Roselle Avenue. It's beautiful. And for some of the clients, it's very important to get there in 20 minutes and not 40 minutes. So he said thank you to everyone that worked on the roads. And he said, great job. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Moody.

Thank you, Mayor.

So Chamber mentioned a ton of amazing events coming up. So please, this Thursday, August 27, we got a new grocery outlet coming 10am. The owner operator, operator Angela, she's been involved in the community already she's connected with Christian food sharing is already supporting them. She's doing a ton of giveaways that day. So I hope to see you guys there. And then after all your shopping, go home, pack it up. And then later that night, come out to Red Robin at 530 to 730. Francis, everybody knows Francis, how involved and how supportive he is in the community. So let's go out and just show him that love. I have finally set up the I've been doing, like I've said, my homework on the upcoming agenda item for Riverwalk. I've set meetings with all department heads. It's going to be September 1st, 9 a.m. I'm meeting with anybody and everybody. Please reach out 209-719-9255. I want to hear your thoughts, share your concerns, share your comments. I'm here to listen to anybody and everybody. I want to be as informed as I can. So when I get on the dice and have to make a decision, I just want to make sure I have vetted every corner. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Fossey.

I would like to reiterate John's comment about Roselle being as I live right off of Roselle. Yes. I'm very excited about it. Now when I go to Modesto, I don't have to deal with a whole lot of traffic. The Riverbank Women's Group will be starting their meetings again on September 15th at Scout Hall at 6.30 p.m. If you would like to join, we'd love to have you. And the last thing is, there's been a lot of comments made about the feasibility study and I just want to let you know that that is still moving forward. September, we should have some documents to look at so we can review it and it will be coming to council in October. So I look forward to that I know Luis does to moving that forward and actually hearing what what we can do. And I'm excited for that.

That's what I recall. Earlier this month on August 5th, I attended the Project Resolve committee meeting. And for those who are not familiar with Project Resolve, it has community leaders from different nonprofit groups, law enforcement. We had a good mix this last meeting of Highway Patrol, which we do get Highway Patrol, but not frequently. Sheriff's Department, Ceres PD was out there, Turlock PD. Modesto PD, of course, because it was at their facility. And we did different stations on different topics, key items. My big takeaway was the mental health and crisis management when officers are responding to those emergency calls. We reviewed the behavioral health's involvement in these calls. And then the process for crisis follow-up, the biggest takeaway that I had in this is the need for 24-7 behavioral health, whether it be telehealth or in-person folks to come visit homes after these calls are made. So I just wanted to stress that these are conversations that are happening. We're aware of these. And we're continuing to move the needle forward to bridge that gap and making sure that the community is being serviced appropriately. I went to our non-district East ad hoc committee on the 10th, where we met the geosynthetic consultant and Savannah, who's going to be doing the accounting implementation. We talked about the unbiased review from the geosynthetic consultant, as well as process and objectives, where they discussed some of the lessons that were learned from the East Turlock Subbasin GSA, and then the foundational elements to developing a process to be implemented in 2027 to help the non-district East community and the water usage. Our next meeting is actually tomorrow at 10 a.m. Right now with the tight timeline that we're working on, it looks like we're going to be meeting every other week or every three weeks. So it's going to get very jam-packed as far as our meetings go. Very demanding, but the Board of Supervisors, Terry Withrow and Buck Condit are very committed to ensuring that we are ready for that 2027 deadline and implementation process. We talked about the Community Connect replacing the express bill pay. I know there's going to be letters In the statements, I would like council support in requesting a bilingual training on the new portal, whether we do an English session and a Spanish session. I know that's a big ask and it comes with resources from staff and time, but we have a large population of folks who I don't check the mail every, I check it every four weeks. I know that's not good, but I do. And there's other folks who don't, who are the bill payers who don't get the mail. So I just think that it would, it would, we would be doing a huge service to our community and hosting some sort of educational seminar for those who are not as tech savvy. And then I am going to be missing the grocery outlet ribbon cutting event. But I promise to represent our community well at the Ag Water Forum in Turlock. And then I was invited to do a Turlock Irrigation District tour afterwards. So I'm going to be taking part in that. And lastly, 108 Sports Lounge is hosting the third annual Comedy for a Cause this November 14th. Every year we've progressed on the money that we've raised. The first year was a little over $1,000. Then it was a little over $2,000. So of course, naturally, I want to double that and go to $4,000. So I'm really excited. to hit that glass ceiling. So thank you.

I want to go back to your comment about the bilingual training. I'd love to support that as well and would welcome another council member to support it.

I'll support it.

All right, thank you for that I'm sure I was hoping okay um I want to focus my comment today on data centers we've had we've seen other cities, both locally and across the state and country actually go through. kind of a reactive phase of having, for lack of a better word, local control over the type of center that comes to their communities. And I feel strongly with this. If we're not proactive now, we are going to be reactive later. So I want to propose a moratorium on data centers and the like. It's our responsibility to create policy for residents that protects them and our growth with the inconsistency we've seen with data centers in and around our cities and support that we give ourselves time and information. So that means that any data center approaching our city has to come through us first as a council with no exceptions. We must set the highest standards for residents living here today and in the future. So this is about ensuring progress and that it continues for residents on our terms and with absolute best interests of the city and its resources and future in mind. So i'm going to pause in a second to ask my Council members and fellow Council members to give our city manager direction right now to bring back an item regarding a moratorium on data centers and their equivalent. along with draft language about ensuring a standard that includes the highest labor union expectations, things like full transparency on community benefits, including a potential new tax funding agreement like we have with our cannabis dispensaries, environmental accountability, a fully planned community outreach plan that's mandated for each, and energy sustainability that ensures rate payers are fully protected so that we're not carrying the burden. And so i'm going to pause for a second and would love the support from Council members to consider an item like this or discuss an item like this.

From the discussion point, what is our code, do we have a municipal code in place regarding data centers.

Currently, there is no municipal code that specifically bans or permits a data center. So there is a process that they would have to go through. It's basically like a conditional use permit process that that would go through. So they would have to come to the planning commission, submit an application, work with the planning department to be able to get all of their documentation, CEQA analysis, et cetera, be able to come and present that to planning commission, and then their recommendation would come forward to to city council. So that's kind of the current process that they would have to go through.

But, of course, so on the conditional use permit process I know not all conditional use permits come to council. And if a data center were to apply for a community conditional use permit and riverbank. would that specific type of conditional use permit have to come to council regardless?

So not all of them will have to. If their zoning already allows for it, if the use of the data center is secondary to the primary use permit, For example, if let's say it's a telecommunications company and they're going to have a data center that's going to support their telecommunications services, then that doesn't have to come to city council. So there are uses that if they're secondary to a primary use would not require any council or even planning commission approval.

I just would like to say, as i've stated before, I would like more research done and have I would agree with Rachel that we need a workshop on Ai data centers it's become a big issue, and I want to make sure we're ahead of the curve and be instead of behind it.

So question for staff, so I was actually having a discussion with a developer who met i've been here since 2009 but. they were saying that there was already some kind of business at the RIC that was mining Bitcoin at the RIC. Is that true? Is that a data? Was that a data center? Like, is there any facts to that?

That's actually true. So in 2014, the executive director of the LRA at that time signed an agreement, a lease agreement with a company called AQH. And so they were in existence until about 2018, 2019 when they went bankrupt.

So my Yes, so there's a lot a lot of inconsistencies potential loopholes and my request tonight is that we. discuss a moratorium so that we're able to set high standards for our residents and for data centers in the light to come to the city.

So I don't like that there is loopholes, right? Like I would like to see something come to council so we can have that discussion. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if like just a conditional use permit would be appropriate. I would have to see more information on that.

Yeah, I see where you're headed with a moratorium. My concern is that we have other steps that you would take prior to a moratorium. And one, the educational piece, two, data gathering, essentially, and what that looks like. I do think there's a lot of misleading information regarding data centers, but I also do think there's a lot of factual information out there regarding data centers. So being able to have a professional kind of filter us through those, an unbiased professional, I would say, to go to that point. We may be in more need of an ordinance towards data centers or a way to construct something regarding square footage and having some regulation on that and the conditional use permit process. I'd like to see council more involved in the conditional use process when it comes to I guess at this point, telecommunications, since that's being included in a data center. But I don't know that at this point, a moratorium would be really justified because there really hasn't been big chatter on something like that. But I would like to see more information, unbiased information and educational information come forward to council. before I commit to saying, yes, I'd like to move forward too.

I think most of the council would probably agree with that as well.

So just to clarify, moratorium is a temporary pause on building out a data center and the like so that we can have those conversations and educate ourselves and not find ourselves like, oh, there was a loophole that we didn't catch while we were having these discussions. To to be able to decide what kind of ordinance. Make sure nothing I hear you.

So, so I think as we're as we're working towards the path of educating ourselves right and so that and so that that way the public is also educated. If that's if that's the purpose of the moratorium. I would, I would support that.

Yeah.

I would support it with a timeframe so that it requires us to move forward and not drag our feet on it as well for the sake of the businesses also who may not classify as a data center, but could be perceived as a data center. So I would want to make sure it's a timely moratorium if I were to support that.

Yeah, I think that's a fair ask.

Actually, state law that requires that. So Tom can- What we could do is we could-

45-day emergency moratorium to research what it is.

Is your mic on by chance?

We could have a 45-day emergency moratorium to research the effects of AI on public health and safety to make sure there is or is not an emergency. Now, in that time period, If somebody came, we would process the applications. Nothing would be approved, though, because the moratorium would be in effect. Then if you find that there are severe detrimental effects to public health and safety, you could potentially extend that and then build your ordinance based on that information as well.

I would be good with an emergency moratorium in that regard and making sure that we put something on the agenda soon.

So with that, the process would be an interim urgency moratorium or ordinance that we would bring forward. There's specific government code that allows us to bypass the traditional public hearing public noticing requirements so that we can bring this item before you at the next city council meeting.

And all praise to you for staying ahead of it and getting ahead of it because I've watched a few meetings recently, so. Good looking out.

Thank you. All right. Thank you, everyone, for your support. That leads us to closed session. So item 13.1, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code 54956.9D, number of potential cases one. Is there any public comment on this item?

Mayor, we did not receive any public comment cards, and I do not see anyone on Zoom wishing to speak on this item.

All right. We will close for a closed session.

We are reconvening from closed session.

Item 14.1, report from closed session. Item 13.1, direction has been given to staff. Our next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, 2026. This meeting is adjourned.