Community Services and Youth Committee - Regular Meeting

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Oh, there we go.

Okay, the meeting's going to begin. Due to the absence of our chair and vice chair, and in accordance with I'm not sure what, I am the chair pro tem. Next recording.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call 951-826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press star 9. When called to speak, press star 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Now let's do the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, roll call.

Okay, taking roll. Commissioner Trim? Here. Commissioner Stewart? Present. Commissioner Dunstan? Present. Here. Commissioner Bertram? Present. Commissioner Rand? Here. Commissioner Dryans-Lagala? Here. Chair Tarmel? Commissioner Lee?

Here.

Vice Chair Cleary? Commissioner Pellegrino? We have quorum.

Do we have any callers?

No callers online, no participants in chambers.

We are now going to receive a presentation by the City of Riverside Public Works.

Good evening Chair Pro Tem and Commissioners. My name is Victor Krolis and I'm here today to represent the Solid Waste Division of Public Works and to cover solid waste operations and programs. One of the big changes that have affected solid waste operations is SB 1383 passed into law in 2016 by then Governor Jerry Brown. And a big part of this really was to address organic waste. It's currently the largest waste stream in California, making up over 50% of the waste stream. This is really important because landfill organic waste emits methane gas, which is considered to be more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Our collection services today, we have residential collection. This is a three-bin system. To the right in the image, you see the newly deployed containers are color-coded and compliant with Senate Bill 1383, and these are represented by gray lids for trash cans, blue lids for recycling, and then green lids for organics. Food waste must be bagged and placed in an organics bin, and then city provides residential services for two-thirds, with the remainder provided by a private franchise hauler. On the commercial collection side, we have three haulers, and they're all required to offer organics and recycling services, and we are moving to an exclusive franchise hauler effective July 1, 2028. A big part of Senate Bill 1383 is providing education outreach. This is one of our big projects was the What Goes Where Guide. And this includes sorting for the blue bin, the green bin, and then the brown or what we know now as the gray lid bin. This also has info for household hazardous waste and then fats, oils, and grease disposal. And this is also provided as a supplemental on your desks. Another big part for Senate Bill 1383 is the edible food recovery program. We need to ensure commercial food generators have access to food recovery services. This includes monitoring and enforcing compliance with food donation and record keeping requirements that the state has put on the city to make sure that it's being followed. We have partnered with Carrot and Feeding America. And for calendar year 2025, we have recorded 7.6 million pounds of food recovered from all donation sources. More info on the food waste diversion program can be found at riversideca.gov slash trash. Education and outreach also includes the residential food waste recycling mandated by Senate Bill 1383, and we often include these as bill inserts. We have partnered with Echo Hero. They go out to elementary schools within city limits to provide presentations for beverage and container recycling and organics recycling, and they also have created these books, which some schools have in their libraries. For example, methane goes, this talks about how important it is that organics is recycled and properly sorted. The flyer in the middle is an example of our Christmas tree recycling program, and then a reminder that we include in bill inserts to properly recycle yard waste and food waste. For the disability program services, we do have a disabled collection service, and this is really to provide assistance with placing, removing, and handling carts. This is to ensure that there's reduced household safety risk and that everybody is able to participate in proper sorting and waste disposal. And then to enroll in this program, any interested resident can contact 311, and they will then be mailed the form to fill out, and that can be faxed directly to Solid Waste Division, sent to 311, or we can reach out to a resident if need be. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. Our next bulky event is also this Saturday on September 19 from 8 to 12, and this includes e-waste recycling, shredding, bobbin battery recycling, and we'll also have free compost and mulch on site. As well, we are launching a new partnership with Goodwill, and it will be on site to accept unwanted clothing and goods in good working condition for donation.

Does anyone have any questions?

Victoria, I have a question. So you said the process in order for an individual with disabilities to have the disabled collection service is call 311, they mail you a form, and then you can fax it back?

Yes, or mail it back. Or mail it back? Yes.

Okay. So is there an online option where they can just hop online and fill something in? No.

There's no current online option. That is something we can definitely explore with the IT team, though.

It seems like a lot of work to get that done, and I'm wondering if that kind of added steps that are, we kind of really don't really do that very much anymore, everything's online, would be a deterrent in any way. So, just wondering about that.

Of course not. Definitely note that down. Make sure we reach back out with an update.

I'm going to second that because I find that when I give people forms, nobody has a fax. Usually the disability community is one of the poorest populations. They're not going to have access to it. They're not going to work in an office usually. And yeah, finding a stamp and addressing a stamp, I'm pretty certain that that would be very difficult for my daughter, Cecilia, to do. Any questions?

Thank you so much for your presentation. It was really nice. When does this program start?

For disabled collection service? This has been in place for several years and it's still ongoing. We do have residents currently enrolled in the program that are in the city residential service area as well as the private hauler area. So there are current people being offered the service. On the form, there's also a little section where you can state where the containers are to be placed. that way we can have a know if you leave your containers in front of your garage the driver knows to walk up to the garage and grab the containers service them and put them back or if you put on the side on your by your yard we can also grab them from there okay great and then on your presentation look like there is some new fancy trash cans are those something that are coming out or it's just the normal Yes, so the new fancy, I mean the zero waste logo? Yes. So that is just a fun little education outreach material. There is no zero waste logo on the current cans. All cans deployed by the city have a City of Riverside logo.

Okay, and I love how you guys are doing little books, you know, in the elementary schools because kids will make sure that it gets done.

Yeah, and I've gone to these presentations in person, and it's really amazing to see the kids get up and really get involved. They take it serious. Yeah, they do.

Okay, great. Well, thank you.

Of course.

Can you tell me what's the address of where you're doing this event this weekend?

The event this weekend is at the City Corp Yard at 8095 Lincoln Avenue, Riverside, California, 92504.

And the time again?

8 a.m. to noon.

Any other questions? I have one.

So as an individual with a disability, if they are trying to handle their day-by-day needs, how would they know that a service like this exists? I mean, how do they find out about it? Would they have to call and say, I can't get my trash to the curb, and then somebody tells them about it? Is it advertised somewhere? How is this message getting out to the community? How would they know that this is something they could ask for?

I believe the service is offered during the count setup with RPU and 311 also mentions it to any resident that calls in and expresses concern with your trash collection. But I can definitely look into advertising it more.

And so you would like us to get the word out in our different communities and on Facebook and all that kind of stuff?

Of course, you are more than welcome to. And then I'll also provide the digital copies of all the flyers as well as the collection service form to Fred, and he can have that shared with you guys. All right, thank you.

Thank you very much. Of course. Thank you. Does anybody wish to put an item on the, nope, it's red. We're moving on to the consent calendar. Does anybody wish to put an item from the consent calendar up for discussion? If no one has anything to, then we'll move on. Oh, do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I move to approve the consent calendar. And I second it.

Motions approved? No. We're going to go ahead and take a vote on the consent calendar. Commissioner Trim? Yes. Commissioner Stewart? Yes. Commissioner Dunstan?

Yes.

Commissioner Beltran? Yes. Commissioner Rand?

Yes.

Commissioner Drian-Zagala?

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Do we have any callers for our discussion calendar as we're moving on?

No callers online, no participants in chambers.

Do we have any comments from our audience? Do we have any comments from our commissioners? Oh, time to move to review and approve attending planes and treats events.

So the proposal form is going to be located at the very back of the agenda. It'll be the very last page, back of the last page.

is the lead sandy or tom i think the lead is sandy and tom at the vice yeah i believe sandy uh was leading this item so then sandy and tom would count as two of the five and we would need three additional commissioners yes i i work with them but um Tom has pretty much been leading it, and unfortunately he's not here. I work with Tom on this, but he's not here, so he's supposed to let me know what's our next move, but he's not here.

Well, based on this form, five commissioners are needed for this. Sandy and Tom would be two of them, and we would need three additional commissioners.

Yeah, so we discussed this with Sandy and Tom. So just to quickly summarize this, it's located at the Riverside Airport. It's on October 17th, and it's from 5 to 10. And I believe Sandy is leading it and Tom is in attendance as well. Mm-hmm.

I've mentioned this a couple of times before, but I am on the event ad hoc, part of the event ad hoc group, and I am not being invited to any of these meetings. It is a surprise to me to hear that this is happening behind, I don't know, at what point, at some point where that's not being discussed with me at all. I feel like I believe ad hoc for that was... Chair Tarnow, myself, and I'm forgetting, honestly, but I feel like there was someone else. Can we review? Who was part of the events ad hoc?

Yeah, so I have it up right now. I have Sandy, Shelly, and Gilbert on the event ad hoc about what we could do if we want to add or change members is we could bring it back as an item to next month's meeting as a discussion item.

No, that's fine. Maybe I must have missed or maybe we adjusted that. Did we change? At some point we changed to the members of that committee. We probably did.

So the last change for this, I believe, was in September of last year.

Okay. I believe you. And so then I do want to also then make sure that... Commissioner Lee and Commissioner Dunstan are include that that's happened that we're happy that those meetings are being had the three of you right I'm not participating okay these weren't meetings these were more this one was a request from chair Tarmot so that's why he brought it for discussion okay gotcha yeah understood so it doesn't fall under the purview of the ad hoc committee

No, this one was more of a request.

Understood. Okay, good. So then if we ever have a request like this, just one of us can individually bring it? Yes. Perfect.

so given that we're discussing this right now is the ask right now that we find three additional people that will that will be attending that's what i was just mentioning to fred because you do you do meet on the 15th and i know that's like last minute and because events on the 17th but um i know you guys some of you wanted to participate already so we kind of knew I'm not sure how that's going to work because, like Fred mentioned before, we only get two tickets. We did reach out to the event planner and very small information was given back. So parking-wise and how they're going to arrange it will be sent out days before the event. you're free to reach out to the event coordinator. It's not part of the city. It's a different entity. So it's the cafe owner. But we do have a spot reserved for us.

It's hard to agree to something, especially having been to this event in the past, not knowing how that's going to work. I would be reticent to agree to that and not have the parking and entrance and all of that established.

Yeah, I totally understand.

Just for future reference. So, again, if we were to have another event and we wanted to walk through it and use this form, the person that is proposing that we attend the event would probably be then the person that's directly in contact with the event, the host. And so... In this case, am I understanding that kind of the request is for someone to be there for the entire period of time from like 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.?

Yeah, only because of the whole situation with the parking, and I'm not sure how they're going to work with that. I'm not sure if they're going to allow more than one vehicle to go into the event since it's so many people.

And we're doing our best without Chair Tarnow here to understand, but it sounds like there might even be some type of an attempt to coordinate carpooling or something.

Yeah, so each ticket, and this was the case for last year, it was two tickets, so it's typically one vehicle per ticket.

Oh, okay.

But they did let me know that you can give that ticket to someone else. That way they can come in.

But then you still have that issue with the whole who's coming in later and then that's a big problem.

Even the 5 o'clock, I don't remember what time we arrived last time, but I want to say it was right around 5 and even at 5 o'clock it was near impossible. Yeah.

I mean, the only thing I can think of is if you do want a carpool and it's two cars per, I guess, reservation, I would say just do the first shift like how you guys were talking about. And then whoever needs to leave would have to leave. But that's the only thing I can think of since if you come in later, it's going to be difficult for you guys to come in.

Even if we were to come in later and someone were to drop me off at the location, there's no way to get inside the location.

There's no way to get inside of the location without the line that is the one-hour line.

Unless there's any type of, again, not my event, so I'm not in contact with the event planner, but... unless they've made any kind of changes. That's what we experienced. That's what, um, commissioner trim and I experienced last year. Um, is there, it says, is there a fee for us to be there? And it says no. And yes, free to attend $250 to table the exhibit. Is it, are we, are we wanting approval to pay $250?

It's for the supplies that we're going to need, like the candy that you guys are going to give out.

The $250 is just an estimate. That's an up-to amount, so we don't necessarily have to spend that much.

But $250 on candy?

Yes.

What is our current budget for the year?

I believe we have... about $4,500, but some of that does go to pay off marketing staff.

Do we have a current estimate for marketing? We printed brochures last year, which I believe we still have plenty of. Yes. What marketing materials might we be planning on this year?

I know we had the printout cards with the QR code and then we also had a freebies the survey the online survey no

are we able to get um what's the procedure around informing us of our current budget and expenditures do you guys send that to us or every once in a while or um i can send that over if you'd like um if you guys would want it monthly or bi-monthly may i suggest that it's just an added item that we have on the agenda each month where the budget stands

I think that's fine, but that gives an opportunity to just go, okay, that's how much money is left.

Yeah, so usually we just have some internal charges, and whatever else we spend is usually on marketing material.

And is there a way to get estimates on some of these other items, like the survey or other things we might be doing? Yes. Because it does help with decision-making.

Yes. I would just keep in mind any quotes we do get, any estimates, are probably only good for like 30 days, but they typically only add maybe 5%.

May I ask, is there any fee for the webpage update?

Webpage, no. Not when there's no fees associated with it.

Thank you. Are we moving on to communications?

We can either vote to approve it as is and select three members. It doesn't have to be three. It could be one more or two more. Or we can vote to wait until the next meeting if that's something the commission would like.

We could just check if anybody is ready to volunteer right now and then go from there.

Yes, yes.

Would anybody like to volunteer to be on the Plains and Treats event?

Who do we have on it now again? We have Tom and Sandy.

Chair Tarnow and Vice Chair Leary. And...

It doesn't have to be three. It can be whoever wants to join. I did mention it to the host for the cafe, and they said they're more than happy to have more people. It's just a matter of the whole ticket thing.

So I didn't sign up for that commission. I thought I did. Maybe I didn't. If I'm not on there, I didn't.

Do you want to be part of it?

I'm not sure the hours of that again. What are the hours of that program again?

I believe it's from 5 to 10.

And what day is that again?

October 17th. It's a Saturday.

Daisy, I have a question for you. I would love to be a part of this, but I do have a performance I have to do and a bridal shower that day. If I am able to come last minute and be dropped off, there's no... Because I guess you guys are saying there's like this big line and we have to wait into it. There's no like... back entrance or side entrance or anything?

So I didn't get any information from the event coordinator for that.

Because I think that's a big thing for all of us with our tight schedules.

I totally understand. And if it was my event, I would have done it differently. But unfortunately, we don't have a say in it because it's not a city event. It's a different entity. So it's what rules they have, we just follow.

And then who sets up the whole booth and all that?

That would be either you guys, or we can go out there, but we don't work Saturday. So we have chairs and tables and, um, um, when we had that.

And then to kind of like maybe bypass this whole line situation, is there, is it a trunk or treat type of situation?

I'm not sure. I have not attended one of them. I'm assuming it's just a table.

And if it's a trunk or treat situation, is there a way one of the commissioners could use their vehicle? Oh, no. It's not a trunk or treat. No.

It's tabled.

It's tabled. Oh, tabled.

Okay. Yeah. That's why we have the chairs and tables available with the tent so you guys can set up. But I'm not sure how they're going to manage the whole entrance. Like they mentioned, they had a really bad time last year. So I'm not sure.

So basically one commissioner would have to put this whole booth into their car, go early, set it all up, and then all the other commissioners would have to try to get in.

Well, that's what I think they were trying to figure out if it was like more of a carpooling type of situation.

So to bring up disputes, last year, Chair Tarnow and Vice Chair Cleary both attended. And they were, if I'm not mistaken, there the entire time and set up. Like they've done this exact thing before. And they both said that arriving really early. I'm going to guess probably 4.30 or something like that, was fine. And so I think that's kind of like the key to it is getting there prior to the event starting. The experience that Commissioner Trim and I had was showing up like, I feel like we didn't show up right at 5, but we showed up like within the hour. You did.

I feel like I was right at five at the time that we were meant to show up. And at that point, the parking was already. So there's parking that is right. And if you go to the airport cafe for the restaurant, there's parking that's right in front of that area. And then there's the main parking for the event, which is down by the church. And then they bus you into the event or you walk. I can't remember if there's actually busing. There were busing, but at the time there was not handicap accessible busing. So people were walking in or they were taking this bus. But it was, I mean, I was shocked with the number of people there. And so even once we got there, we tried to let them know inside the airport cafe area, that entrance area for the airport, that we were there for a booth. But there was no way to get through. And the line... You were in line for 45 minutes. Yeah, I was in line for 45 minutes and then we went to the other area. But it was... And I barely got... I had it all in that line.

And was it like a successful event where like our commission got like a lot of generating?

They had, yes, they said they spoke to a lot of families, talked to a lot of people, let them know that we existed. We're able to, you know, this year we have brochures that we can pass out along with the candy. So that the, I mean, based on the number of people there, it can certainly be worth it. Just get the information out that the commission is there. But there is the logistics of how to get in that, you know, my personal worry.

So are we saying that you don't have to have five people there, that it could be less than five? Correct.

There's also no requirement to stay the whole time.

Right.

I believe last year they left a little early, around 7.30.

And that's probably because they ran out of candy.

So does anybody want to participate at the event? It doesn't feel like we have any takers.

It could also be a maybe. You would just have to let Sandy know that it's a maybe, but we could put you down here just in case.

Are we able to approve Commissioner Tarmo and Commissioner Cleary attending and then approve the money spent for the booth, the money, or sorry, the candy? Yes. Maybe that's our next step then. Yeah.

Okay. and i will say that i would absolutely love to attend this event it seems like so much fun and i did try we did try last year and so i will say that kind of my experience from last year does make me hesitant to return and so i would love to hear from um potentially chair tarmo If someone gets in touch with the coordinator, I'd love to hear if we do have some kind of an update by next month. One of the two of them could call and find out. Because if we do figure out a way to get in without the parking hassle, I would be absolutely happy to join.

So it sounds like we're saying we want a motion to. Approve just with Tom and. Approve with our chair. And vice chair. And vice chair being the lead and attending the event. And anybody who's interested can contact them. Correct. Directly. And we are approving the $250 for candy. Correct. And approximately. Materials. Okay. Do we have a second?

I'll second. I'm sorry. Commissioner Stewart, did you motion?

I move to approve of the event proposal as is. Okay.

Okay. Taking a vote. Commissioner Trim?

Yes.

Commissioner Stewart? Yes. Commissioner Dunstan? Yes. Commissioner Beltran? Yes. Commissioner Rand? Yes. Commissioner Drian-Sagala?

Yes.

Commissioner Lee?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Okay, we're moving on to the communications section. Great. So item number eight, update on the web page ad hoc committee, which I believe I'm on and I've been gone. So I have no update.

All good. So I have one for that. I sent that one out earlier today. So anyone on the ad hoc is free to review it. And if we need to set up a meeting just to kind of talk about it more, we can do that.

I'd like that.

I also shared the contact card with the QR code on it for review.

And I admit to having not opened up my emails today, so.

It's okay.

All right. So how do we move forward on that? Set up a date for both the webpage and the resource? Yes. Number 10?

Yes.

Can I hear from who wants to participate on this? I believe it was Shelly.

We already have members for each ad hoc. I believe Shelly and Tedra.

Okay.

I have Tedra on the resource guide. I have Tom and then I have Shelly.

So the website. Correct?

For the website, yes, I have Shelly and Tom on there, and then Pro Tem Chair, Diane Zagala.

We can send out an email with dates so we can have a meeting for that date.

I think for the resource guide, we agreed that we wanted something very general with a QR code that they could go for the other information. Yes, that's correct.

Yes.

Yes. So you'll send out something that says here's some possible dates and times so we can approve it. Correct.

And we can do it teams if you guys can come in person.

I'm OK either way. I always like when we have a meeting right before this meeting because I'm going to come this way anyway. Would that work? OK, so let's just say we're going to meet 45 minutes ahead of this meeting.

That works.

So then for this meeting, for the web page and the resource ad hoc meeting, it would be October 15th, 45 minutes before this meeting.

Where would we meet? Last time we met over there?

The same place. Okay. In the lobby.

What are we doing?

Oh, I did want to bring up the, wait, are we there yet? Okay. Oh, never mind. Never mind.

So that does it for updates for item number eight. Nine, don't have any updates. Chair is not here. And then for 10, we do have an update for the survey.

So the questions that were provided to me were sent to marketing, and the marketing manager went over it and reviewed it, and she suggested for us to reach out to the attorney's office for the questions review because they wanted to make sure that we're under the purview of the commission to be asking those questions to the community. So we did, and they're out at the city attorney's office, and we won't hear back until September 25th. So after that, we will have the response from the attorney with what questions are appropriate, and then I'll have them in a draft survey so you guys can see it.

And can we get an approximate cost for the survey at that point as well?

Yes, once I get the questions back from the attorney.

And that deadline of September 25th, that is a target deadline, so it's also possible we could also have it earlier than that.

Okay. Item number 11, updates on conferences, seminars, regional meetings.

I had a fun field trip on Friday with my consumers from Yes to More Life that took them to the fire station of the dedication of the 9-11 memorial. One of my guys was really impressed that he wanted to go to this because he wanted to be in the support of 9-11, what happened 25 years ago. Good event. Took pictures with the mayor and Councilman Conner, my councilman, and it was a great event.

Thank you. Anyone else? Well, I want to let you guys know about a conference coming up. October 9th at RCC will be the Neurodivergent and Disability Professional Preparedness Conference. So it will be from 9 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. p.m. We are expecting somewhere in the ballpark of about 300 attendees, 40 vendors, seminars, workshops. So yeah, anybody know anyone who's kind of in that youth range, 18, 25, 30, looking to kind of figure out what they want to do with their career? This would be a great event.

Do you have any flyers or something I can just send easy?

Yeah, absolutely. Sounds great.

On that note, then, I'm going to say I'm going to look at a program at Cal State San Marcos that's specifically for young adults with intellectual delays. And there's no age cap on it. It has housing. And so I'm going there mid-October. So I would love to find out how we bring something like that to one of our any one of our many colleges and universities here.

I'm not sure, like this is not technically conference seminar. I guess it would be a regional meeting. So we, the chamber hosted the city at CBU, and we're talking about the general plan, and we're talking about land use, which I know is, you're like, land use. But I really saw some overlaps, and we also had a presentation at our at our council board in East Hills around land use and we had our new city planner come out and present to us. And I am wondering how the city planners department engages the community or even engages us around land use and zoning and how we make those decisions because that's all up for conversation right now with the goal of having that general plan finalized by the end of 2027 and it did kind of top in my mind that we should probably be discussing with the planning department anything to do with kind of disability access and and things like that are just having that voice it's it's the city's been really good about inviting everyone um but I think maybe I don't know if we got a direct invitation if Fred if you already sent that out but just maybe a direct invitation to our commission um to join on conversations like that

We can reach out to Community and Economic Development if they could speak and come out here. From my knowledge, I believe they do have a specific commission for land use. That would be the Planning Commission, and that's typically where their items go for review.

that makes sense um i'd love to see a partnership with discipline viewing that land use right plan which there are some real um interesting changes coming up right and um i i've only ever viewed that land use plan through an economic business development as well because that's the board that I sit on but I would just be interested to know how planning is intentionally including the voice of individuals with disabilities in the city of Riverside

I would suggest the department coming out for a presentation. I would love that. That way you guys can tell them your thoughts on that.

Yeah, and I mean, it would be nice for everyone to just kind of get an idea of the general plan and the land use. Because there are some very interesting changes coming up that are just interesting, period. And then to then speak to us specifically about the disability component. Definitely. Yeah, 100%.

I could speak a little bit to that. So any plan set that goes through the city goes through building and safety. And we do have a building official and an assistant building official that are CASP certified. So that's typically stuff they look for when they're reviewing plans.

So that is coming from the lens of ADA guidelines, which is 100%. That's great, and that has to happen when you build. Otherwise, it's not up to code, and it doesn't get approved. So those specifications around ADA are in place, and those are pretty well – understood and followed my question is more around like the different zones like I think they're collapsing it from like 13 different zones for land use to like seven or something like that anyways they can come out and present I'm not going to pretend to be part of the planning department but then there are questions around which zones go near what how do we kind of make decisions along, for example, like the university corridor and like which zones go where. And so, again, looking at that exact same plan from the lens of disability, right, we would be looking more at accessibility. Do you know what I'm saying? Accessibility on a grand scale, not accessibility for one specific structure that's being built or a curb or anything like that, but just in general. And then looking at, you know, for example, transportation and, you know, all levels of disability and just having a voice in that planning I think would be interesting to have the presentation and then if there's something that they say that kind of is of interest to us that we can speak to.

Yeah. On that, is there, the city of Riverside, does it have a housing department because I know, as a social worker, I've called about housing.

Well, we have a housing and human services department. So they actually do outreach in the community to reach out to the homeless population. And we have caseworkers that work closely with them to try and get them back on their feet. They provide temporary housing as well.

So have we ever had a presentation by them in the last year, year and a half?

Not yet.

No, I'm still working on that. I have a few departments that I'm still working on to get into the role of presenting here at the commission. Okay.

I do want to say the presentation that we had tonight where they spoke specifically about some of the programs that they have for individuals with disabilities was perfect. It's kind of exactly what I wanted to see. And, you know, on that, I think it helps us build some of our goals. Like with the website, it would be nice to see that website be Riverside specific. What does Riverside have to offer individuals with disabilities and what programs are available? Because, you know, the question we had of how do people find out about this? That would be a really good use for the website. Instead of being global about disability resources, which I think has been done before and is available out there, Riverside City-specific resources for disabilities I think is something that doesn't exist.

i second that i think that tonight's presentation was perfect it was short and sweet and then very specifically addressed um you know the disabled collection service and then it's nice to be able to make a suggestion to that department about maybe we don't ask for a physical piece of paper to be mailed to us and then mailed back and i think that um just kind of suggestions like that around like it even says on this form right that you have a medical condition and then there's no other person residing in the house that's able-bodied right and so what kind of popped to me popped in my head too is like is that also offered to our elderly is that something that the you know commission on aging is looking at so just um important to keep in mind that there should be a conversation going back and forth like this is what we offer and then us being able to say but can you market it not just do we talk about it when you very first join but we can have become disabled later you know and then maybe there's kind of like something that goes out in the bill or the mailer and say have you recently you know um been diagnosed with a disability or have a disability and you'd like to update your status

On that note, have we ever had a presentation by the City of Riverside and public utilities? Because I just know how many of them have a difficult time paying that utility bill. Do they have a means for somebody with a disability to apply for assistance?

I believe it was 311 come out, but it has been some time. It's probably been over a year since they came out.

So 311, is that the same as public utilities?

311 is under the utilities department. So they own and operate that call center. And that's also where they take in calls related to utility payments. But that serves as a citywide catch-all for general inquiries for different departments.

Okay. Okay. If they focus specifically on the disability community and how to find assistance in paying a bill, yeah.

Yeah, we usually, when we ask them to come present, we ask them to provide us information for ADA compliance, like whatever questions that you guys might, I mean, information they might have for the commission.

Okay.

daisy is it possible can we maybe get like a list of different departments that we have in the city of riverside that you would that you just maybe all the different departments and then maybe we can if you gave us that list we could tell you which ones we'd like to hear from sure i can make a list of all departments i'm trying to get all of them Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Like, honestly, however you communicated to, you know, waste, that was the perfect presentation. That's exactly what we wanted. I think so. Yeah.

All right. If there's no other, is there any other future commission disability requests that we haven't talked about?

On that note, I would love to hear from HR in hiring and how we are hiring individuals with disabilities. I think I probably said that before.

No, it's in my list. Yeah, it would be on my list as well.

Yeah, so we reached out to various departments. We had them sign up in advance for several meetings. So if that's something you guys would like to see, we can share that as well.

It feels like you've said this to us before, that you've reached out and they haven't responded or given us a date. Am I wrong? No, you're wrong. You're right. But I reached out again and again and again until I got answers.

So I have a quick update.

I have three presentations for you guys next month. Lovely. And they're from the department from here. Okay, because I was wondering if there's something that's like a holdout or something that we've been asking but you haven't been able to. Would we be able to... We've been assigned to this commission by somebody if we reached out and said we would like to have this. You can definitely reach out on your own as well. Okay.

But, yeah, I'm getting good responses, so I'm getting a lot of departments to come out. It's just the whole timing on when they want to come out. Some of them actually give me like two months in advance and say, oh, I want to come out until October. I want to come out until January. So we kind of have to wait just on that.

As much in advance as you can on some of the ones that you know are coming out would be helpful because that helps us articulate questions for that group.

And I think too, I don't know, I'm sure economic development is on there somewhere, but to piggyback on Commissioner Trim, she's talking about workforce through HR and how we hire here in the city of Riverside. And I was speaking with our economic development lead recently And we were also then talking about just even kind of like the pipeline, like the CTE pipeline, where we are able to intentionally place our high school students with jobs or training programs here. that and and again a part of that is disability like we had RCCD come out and talk about their autism program at RCC and so it would be nice to hear to kind of what the city of Riverside is specifically looking around and I know Commissioner Rand would be interested in this as well, is kind of like where's the, what specifically are we doing to increase workforce development employment for individuals with disabilities?

And then to follow up on that, I think I asked before if you had a presentation by the Department of Rehabilitation, and this one is, I know it hasn't been there since I've been on the commission, but I have been told by the Department of Rehabilitation at San Bernardino County, it's a two-year waiting list before they even bring you in for an orientation. And that Riverside, it's up to four months. You can get the orientation, but they won't even look at you for four to six months. And so I'd just like to know, because there's been significant changes.

Do we have a contact from that department? No.

Well, this is a state, federal kind of agency department rehabilitation. It's not a city.

I can reach out if you give me something you want me to tell them or they request or a couple dates to run by them. I have contacts I can reach out to.

I mean, we can do it as well if you like. I don't have any contact information of anyone.

I can give you a contact. I'll email it to you.

Perfect. Thank you.

I have a question. Is this a good time? Yeah. Okay. We're doing the Halloween thing, which I think is so neat. I didn't know that was something we could do. Is there any way we could start planning now for Christmas so that way we could do something where the logistics are a little bit easier, but we could get a lot of bang for our bunk and get out there and tell more people about us?

What type of event did you have in mind for Christmas? Because from what I know, I don't know any events yet.

Like in my ward at the Canyon Crest Town Center, we do a Christmas thing every year and Santa's there and there's disabled cheerleaders there cheering. So it's a whole thing and it's not super huge, but it's not dinky either.

If you can reach out to the coordinator of that event and tell them if you can table at the event and if there's a charge, the commission pays for it. And if you don't have a judge, you're more than welcome to join whatever event you would like.

City of Riverside Park and Rec does, like, Breakfast with Santa. So they do do something at a couple of different places. And they also do something that, because that reminded me, I don't know how everybody else would feel, but Park and Rec organizes a... adopt a family for the holidays or it's um they do give a gift yeah it i'm wondering if it might be possible for us as a group to do one for a family i you mean one yeah do a one adopt a family that the park and rec comes up with this is what we do as a commission member i would have to look into it and see how much the cost is for that because it's one gift for each each family member and i'm not sure if the budget that we have Oh, I'm talking about us as individuals. Oh. Yeah. Okay.

That's a really cool idea. I think that's probably a little bit outside of this conversation. That's probably like after the meeting conversations, but I love it. So come talk to me after the meeting because I love that idea. And then to the Canyon Trust Town Center, the manager is Jen Garcia.

Yes.

And the answer is yes. Like absolutely. We can table there. I don't even need to call her and ask. And there would be no fee for that. So I'm happy to, to be in touch with her. Yeah.

And if you want to coordinate with us, we can guys hand out the table and the chairs and everything. So you guys can go in them.

Yeah.

Cause I was just using that as an example because like the planes and treats, I didn't even know that was something that we could do. So I'm just wondering if we could do more events like that together. Yeah.

um to you know so that we could fill this whole place sometime would be really nice and um so is that something you want to was to bring back for christmas because i know that we're um not meeting november and december so that would have to be brought back in october right um possibly but

I can't do it because I'm performing with my cheerleaders at that time. I'm just wondering if we can start making it more on our radar to do more events together.

Sure. Do you want me to get information about that specific event and bring it back to you?

Like I said, if someone would want to volunteer to do that event, absolutely. But I wouldn't be able to do it. Did you want us to bring it back?

Yeah, I'll make a note. I'll be in touch with Jen and see what the dates and times and all of that is. It's on the weekend?

Yeah, it's Saturday. Oh my gosh, when is it? Oh, no, the December event's not out. It's the Halloween event that's out already.

Okay, I would just need the information. If you can get the information before the next meeting so I can put it on the agenda so you guys can speak about it, that would be perfect. Just send me all the information that you need. If you want me to reach out to the event coordinator, I can do that as well so that I can get the event information so we can bring it for October.

And then one last Christmas-y thing I wanted to ask about was, has anyone seen the parade at the plaza at Christmas?

No.

No. It's like,

Yeah, all the way down that lane. I saw it after the fact, and I just didn't know if we could do a little float or something.

That would have to be with whoever is coordinating that event.

I don't think it's part of the city.

That looks like skills I don't have.

Just throw a bunch of tinsel on something. But yeah, so that's exciting that we can do events. This is something new that I've learned about tonight.

I'm going to say one thing, and I don't want to be the voice of dissent. Whenever we're talking about Christmas, we also have to mention the other holidays as well. That's it.

Yom Kippur is coming up, guys, just mentioning it.

Yep, just saying. But yeah, and I think Commissioner Beltran was just using that as an example.

Just kind of like community events that come up. It doesn't even have to be holiday related. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, just events in general.

I just thought of Christmas because of the Halloween. But yeah, absolutely. Just other events would be so great to do.

I love all holidays.

Anything more? That was it. That was number 12.

Nope.

So meeting is adjourned. That's it.

We're done. All right. Here's a... Okay.