Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Happy Thursday. Would city staff in person please introduce themselves?

All right. Good afternoon. Sean Murphy, on behalf of the city attorney's office. Sergio Aguilar, deputy finance director.

Elizabeth Martinez, finance department. Thank you all so much. Can we please say the Pledge of Allegiance? May we have the inclusion statement read, please?

Pursuant to the City Council Rules of Procedure and Order of Business Resolution, the members of all Boards and Commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the Boards and Commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the Board or Commission or the Presiding Officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The City of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve.

Secretary Elizabeth, would you please call roll? Yes. Commissioner Ira? Commissioner Bellow?

Present.

Commissioner Roten? Present. Commissioner Hutchins?

Present.

Commissioner Ward?

Present.

Commissioner Benavidez?

Here.

Commissioner Chernyakoff? Here. Commissioner Lagner? Vice Chair Vandenberg? Present.

Chair Williams? Present.

We have quorum.

We will now open the phone lines for public comment.

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.

Secretary Elizabeth, do we have any callers? Do we have any callers? Okay.

We have no callers.

Thank you. All right. So now we have a presentation from Sean Murphy, Deputy City Attorney. Thank you for being here.

Well, it is great to be here, and we're talking about the Brown Act, which is something that we should all be passionate about. You know, the Brown Act, even before I begin the presentation, I guess if I could have the presentation. Just wait.

Here we go. Great. Thank you, Elizabeth.

Right, so this is going to be a Brown Act training, but it's also going to include updates, right, from the 2026, updates related to SB 707, the Sunshine Ordinance, and we're going to briefly touch on some digital misconduct and code of ethics changes, but I know that code of ethics is going to follow me up, so they'll probably touch on some of those grounds as well. But when we're talking about the Brown Act, we're really talking about what we're doing here. We're doing the people's business. And so we have a duty and an obligation, but also an opportunity to use these meetings to inform the public about what's important to them. And we do that by making sure we comply with the Brown Act. So in many ways, the Brown Act is a tool that we use to make sure that we're fulfilling that obligation. I'm trying to do. Oh, next slide, please. There we go. OK, so the Brown Act's purpose. The legislature found and declared that the public commissions, boards, and councils, and other public agencies in this state exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly. The open meeting rule. All meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meetings of the legislative body of a local agency, except as otherwise provided by law. Now, one of the bigger changes from 2026 is that Riverside must begin providing two-way telephonic or audiovisual public access starting on July 1st, 2026. Now, that will be handled on the city side, but it's, I think, important to note as a board that if for any reason there's a technical issue where two-way is not there, we'll pause the meeting to allow for that to happen. So that probably is the change that would affect you in practice. Brown Act requirements. Brown Act creates certain minimum procedural requirements for conducting meetings. One of these rules requires the board to adopt rules for the conduct of its business, including the time place for holding regular meetings. The 2026 update. Effective July 1, 2026 of this year, Riverside must adopt a written policy on handling disruptions, including from remote participants, ensuring that clearing the room is a last resort and non-disruptors can stay or join remotely and what happens if the AV system fails. If this comes up, there's a script that should generally be within the mayor's desk. If not, you can certainly ask for some help and we can find it. But there's a script that allows us to kind of go through that process. But the city of Riverside will also be working. It's been agendized, I believe, for late June for the adoption of a policy to meet this requirement.

All right, meetings.

And we've talked about this at many occasions, so this should be a refresh. But meetings include any congregation of a majority of the members of the BEC at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the BEC. Except as part of an open and notice meeting, the Brown Act prohibits any use of direct communication by personal intermediaries or technological devices by a majority of the BEC to develop a collective concurrence as to action being taken on any item. A majority of the BEC may not email each other to develop a collective concurrence as to action to be taken by the BEC. Before I go into the update, I think that while the letter of that is really clear, and I think that we want to recognize it, some of it is just common sense to understand that subject matter jurisdiction that a majority of us can form accidentally, with inadvertence, without intention. But that's why vigilance to these issues is kind of important, and that's why I kind of pause and highlight on this issue. And we agendize our notes, our items, so that the public has an opportunity to be present when their business is being discussed or decided upon. Now, after a meeting, before a meeting, it's easy to slip in and out of conversation to try and get to something like that. But that's exactly the moment where we need to be most aware to make sure that we're not talking about matters that are within the subject matter jurisdiction. And we certainly don't want to be forming consensus on issues. And that can happen. That could happen. So we want to be vigilant. The other thing is communication can be challenging, especially when there are so many different forms of communication nowadays. And an email to one person can easily be transferred to another person. A social media account can be not only commented upon by people, but viewed by many people. And so in that way, any time that we're using those type of materials, we should be aware of something that may inadvertently become a serial meeting, a serial communication, which would be a meeting under the Brown Act. So I just highlight that to raise awareness. 2026, the SB 707 clarified the rule for permitted informational communications, including limited one-way distribution of factual information and certain social media activity. And that's distinct from information that creates concurrence. But again, caution. Members should continue to treat social media interactions as high risk for inadvertent serial meetings and for that finding of concurrence. So serial meetings. A serial meeting is a series of communications, each of which involves less than a quorum of the BEC, but which taken as a whole involves a majority of the BEC's members. It does not require a collective occurrence to occur in order for there to be a violation, simply just that it's about those topics. City staff, and this is, I think, an important distinction, that city staff is allowed to engage in separate communications outside of a public meeting with members of the BEC in order to answer questions or provide information regarding a matter that is within the subject matter of the BEC, so long as, provided that staff does not communicate to members of the BEC the comments or positions of other members. And that's getting to that concurrence issue. A 2026 clarification of serial meetings is that one-way distribution of purely factual information by staff to multiple board members, so not just one communication, but it's going out to all of you, is allowed, again, so long as it does not reveal other board members' views or facilitate agreement or concurrence. Okay, an example of this is that SB 707 permits board members to post factual information on social media or reply individually, but avoid chains that involve a majority or reveal others' views. I also say that with caution. Just be aware that inadvertence, something that starts off benign, can easily turn into one of these. Public speech. This is another important aspect of our Brown Act, is that the public has a right to address the BEC at any meeting on any subject within the BEC subject matter jurisdiction, even if that issue is not agendized. Their ability to speak to this group is the subject matter of the BEC. Eligible legislative bodies must allow remote participation through two-way remote access beginning July 1st, 2026. I've already talked about that briefly. procedures regulating public speech. The BEC may impose reasonable restrictions for public comment at meetings, so long as those restrictions are not too broad and they do not constitute prior restraint. Prior restraint is going to go right to those First Amendment issues and people's ability to speak. The BEC may ask a member of the public to refrain from speaking on a matter that is not within the BEC's subject matter jurisdiction or from addressing their comments to one member rather than to the BEC as a whole. Their public speaking is to speak to you as a board, not as individual members. So that is a reasonable restriction. You may also require members of the public wishing to address the PEC to fill out a speaker card. However, the public cannot be required to give names or sign a register as a condition of their attendance. This applies equally to in-person and remote appearances. Many cities do ask for names and addresses during oral communications in order to facilitate staff responses or the preparation of minutes. However, while this practice is allowable, it is only allowable so long as it is voluntary. It must be identified as being voluntary. The board may regulate the total amount of time on a particular issue and for each individual speaker subject to the requirements of due process. Generally, time limits of three to five minutes are the most common. And if that were to, you know, whatever that is, it should be applied equally so that the right to speak is equally administered. The chair is responsible for enforcing time limits and depending on the board or commission may also monitor that time. Okay. 2026 also and SB77 also had some accessibility enhancements and Riverside must conduct outreach to assess language needs and provide agenda translations and interpretation for public comment in languages spoken by more than 20% of the residents who do not speak English well. So there's a double part to that, but there's a threshold of 20%, and that would require the city to meet those language needs. Agendas must also include remote access details. All right, agenda requirements and other procedural issues. The agenda must specify the time and location of the meeting and a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed. We've discussed that at length throughout the course of our time, but as agendas, give the notice to the public so they can be aware and be present. If a matter is not on the agenda, it may not be discussed or acted upon. Okay. Now, there are exceptions to this, and these are minimal exceptions, but brief responses by members of the legislative body and staff to statements or questions posed by the public is okay. But I give it as a line of two or three sentences to respond to the question and to just address that. The key is to not turn it into an agenda item, because it's important enough to be It's talked about as an agenda item. It should be important enough to notice so that the whole community can participate if they so choose. Again, questions for clarification from a person, that's perfectly acceptable. References to staff or other resources for factual information, great. That doesn't have to be, that's an exception. Request for staff to report back on issues at subsequent meetings, okay. Request to agendize a matter of business for some future meeting, also okay. Brief announcements by members of the body or staff and brief reports on their activities do not need to be agendized. Okay, let's talk briefly about the Sunshine Ordinance. The Sunshine Ordinance was originally adopted on October 6, 2015. It was amended last year, in 2025. It can be found in Title IV of the Riverside Municipal Code. The BEC is an advisory body under the Sunshine Ordinance, and that's relevant to the amount of days that we need to post. Title IV requires the advisory body to post a copy or image of the agenda and all reports and presentations in a location freely accessible to the public no later than three business days before the date of the meeting. and this supplemental material really is kind of irrelevant to our situation, but you can supplement the agenda or agenda-related materials no later than 72 hours before a regular meeting, but only to add an item due to emergency, delete a matter from the agenda, provide additional information and materials that were not known to staff or considered relevant at the time, correct errors or omissions, or change a stated financial amount, or continue an item to a future agenda. I say that 72 hours and three days is the same. So really, the Sunshine Ordinance has bent to give us this ability already. Okay, individual board members' remote participation. We have a new rule. AB 2449 rules have sunset. They sunset as of December 31st, 2025. And SB 707 establishes new participation rules, new reasonable accommodations for statutory disabilities. And it expands the just commote remote attendance. So it extends that just cause remote. Reasonable accommodation as per the statutes, board members with statutory disabilities may participate remotely. They must use two-way audio and video, so that requirement does comply, and they must disclose adults over 18 present in the room. All right, again, more updates on the Sunshine Ordinance. Only City Council, Board of Ethics, Board of Public Utilities, Charter Review Committee, Citizens Police Review Commission, and the Planning Commission and their standing committees, they must notice their stuff 12 days in advance, an audio-visual recording of the meeting. All other boards and commissions only have 72 hours and are audio recording only. That's for the Sunshine Ordinance. That's distinct from the Brown Act. okay 2026 upstays to the ethical codes on social media i think this slide is kind of hard to follow in some ways but it this discusses digital misconduct and it prohibits digital misconduct which you know can be online activity or messages that create or appear to create bias partisanship or predisposition on the city matters This is prohibited when acting in your official capacity. This isn't a curtailment of your personal speeches and liberties, but acting in official capacity, this is prohibited. This type of activity that falls within the subject matter jurisdiction of you, meaning the BEC, is also prohibited because that's the part where your official capacity is present. If it was a quasi-additional proceeding, that would be prohibited. Also, using official city accounts. Now, I don't believe anyone here should have a city official account, and so I highlight that point, but also highlight to say that the creation of an account that mimics an official city account is a whole different violation. That shouldn't be done. But again, official city accounts should not be used for this purpose. I will also point out that sanctions related to this are limited to censure. So there's a limit on the sanctions that can be opposed by this code of ethics violation. And with that, I will just simply say thank you for being here. I know you guys work so hard to do this, and I appreciate working with you on these issues. If you have any questions, I can answer them now, but we're also here as a reference always if there's Broad Act Code of Ethics issues as they come up.

Thank you. Sean Murphy, Deputy City Attorney. Commissioner Langner? Go ahead.

My familiarity with this is that we don't require cards. We request cards. People can submit cards. But cards are not required for online. They're not a requisite. But I think they do assist in the flow. So I think we're consistent with that general understanding. Can I pause for a second if I could just have the presentation back?

Commissioner, can you turn on your mic?

And Commissioner, I apologize before we move on. I just want to bring up the slide that you referred to. Is it possible to bring up the presentation again? OK, go ahead, please.

Sure. Page 11, the top frame, I guess that would be 13. What languages fall into the 20% threshold for Riverside?

I would defer to the city clerk on that issue. Not sure. I could find out, but I don't want to speak without data. I could make guesses, but that's not what I want to do.

Sure. Thank you. Page 19, where do we find the reference statutory disabilities list?

That would be in the ADA. I can certainly provide you a copy of that if you want. Let me take a note on that. I think it's referenced in SB 707. I think they do give some descriptions of that, but what I'll do is get you a copy of exactly how that's worded. I think it's in SB 707, but it makes reference to the American Disabilities Act.

Sure. And then finally... Slide 19, when it refers to board members with a statutory disability may participate remotely, what if the board member does not have a statutory disability but they care for an immediate family member that does that could impact their attendance?

I'll have to dive into that statute. It does talk about that, and that may very well be qualifying for the disability. But that's going to be legal advice that I'm going to provide in that way. But I will provide you the code sections. I would appreciate that. Exactly. Perfect. Okay.

That's all my questions. Thank you very much for your presentation.

You're welcome.

Commissioner Ira.

May I just pause one more? And if it's not, then we'd be looking at the other policy, which would be just on the temporary purpose. Okay. You're looking for the information on a permanent ability to do remote as per this?

No, not permanent. It could be on an as-needed.

An as-needed?

Okay.

Okay.

Commissioner Ira. Okay.

Thank you, Chair. Mr. Murphy, appreciate the presentation. I just had two quick questions for page four, four on the slide, I guess, page. When it says a written policy on handling disruptions, Would that be up to the council to determine what exactly a disruption constitutes or who determines? Is it just kind of common sense like noise? Does it have to be physical disruption? How is that gauged?

Yeah, I mean, they need a policy on handling disruption. So I think the issue behind that is that when there's a disruption that takes place, there has been situations throughout the state where a meeting will be canceled and all of a sudden will turn to a remote meeting where no one else may be present or limits in that. And that's really impetus for this. But it's more about the requirements that need to be done when a chair wishes to use it. So the city's policy will define kind of what a disruption is and kind of give an outline for how that's done and what the standards are. And so that's coming before city council, I believe, on June 23rd, if my memory is correct. And so that's where that would be. But that is an item that is up for public discussion. So any comments could be made from the public at that time.

That's good to, thank you, I appreciate you flagging that. When is that coming up again for discussion? I believe it's June 23rd.

June 23rd.

And then, thank you, and then the other question I had was with regards to page 21 from the slides. With regards to digital misconduct, how would it be determined that someone was acting in an official capacity as opposed to their role as a private citizen in the city? In terms of social media usage, I think it's page, there's three different page numbers. So 21 on the slides, I think, are, yeah. Right, that's what I have here.

I think that that's going to turn on facts, right? That's probably going to come before your ethics board. You have to make factual findings. That would be a factual finding that would have to be made. You know, whether it's within the subject matter jurisdiction is going to depend on the statement that's being made.

So, for instance, if there was like a discussion that took place that they that we are then sharing out on social media, would that be considered a like post facto kind of just update informational? Or is that considered taking a stance on an issue? Or is that kind of what you're referring to? That's like a case by case basis?

Well, I'd represent caution. I'll let the Board of Ethics, their training might probably cover that in more details. But ultimately, the determination of how that is going to turn on facts, and whether it's creating or appearing to create bias, partisanship, or predisposition on the city matters. And that will... giving a hypothetical, you know, giving an answer to a hypothetical.

Yeah, I was curious if it was defined more clearly, but probably just safe to, you know, limit the amount of, it seems like, updates and then maybe preface it with, this is just my opinion, not reflective of the...

What I would recommend is let's listen to the presentation tonight. If you have additional questions, I can certainly follow up on that or to the board. But I think the question that you're asking is kind of very factual. What I don't want to do is create kind of something that you rely upon in that way without really knowing what these facts are and looking at a code. It's more of a legal question.

Perfect. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Commissioner Ward.

Yeah, I think my question was on the exact same topic there. I just want to see how that's defined, because my concern is that, you know, if one of us is engaging in our personal or what we think to be a personal capacity, you know, on Facebook or on Instagram or something, just talking about, oh, you know, talk about Measure Z or something like that. you know, it would seem to be limiting to us in our personal capacity and our personal speech. So that's just a concern that I had.

Yeah, that's a good point to raise. The question of, you know, one of the clearest recommendations for speaking is to, since you are holding position, right, to clarify that you're not holding position as you're making comment. And I think so many facts could turn on these issues. What is the method that you're using? What else is on that page? Is it putting you forward as a council, as a member of a commission? Is it on the topic related to the commission or something that's pending? I think those kind of factor. So yeah, I think it's going to turn a lot on the facts that are required. I really can't give you a prescription for how to go and do it and how to differentiate, but I would say if you're ever talking about an issue on this item, clarifying that you're not in your official capacity and the forum that it's being done in being very distinct from that, and that it's not a matter that falls within your subject matter jurisdiction. But only when acting in your official capacity.

Commissioner Benavidez.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have two questions, but just piggybacking on Mr. Ward's question, as commissioners, and you brought up Measure Z, there's been a lot. One of us commissioners doesn't make a statement but likes the comment or dislikes it. Is that prohibited? I can't give up. Okay. I have a question. Oh, I'm sorry.

Do you want to follow up? I kind of do because I'm thinking that if I'm looking at these rules, right, I would have to, A, be acting in official capacity, and my personal Instagram or Facebook is not official, right? It is my personal. So then you go to using an official Citi account, which none of us have, so that would also exclude us from making – acting in an official capacity right if we're just using our personal account as a just a human as long as our instagrams don't say um commissioner of such and such um chair of such and such right if i'm just acting as sorel on this is sorel's page and someone says hey like you know blah blah blah about measure z and you say yeah i think it's working No, I think it's not. That would be acting personally, correct? As opposed to acting officially, right? Because I think that's the hang-up.

Well, I think those would be factors that would be considered. I think you could also consider what that account's been used for before, like the distinction, the blurring of lines between an official capacity or a private capacity.

And if my Instagram said, like, Chair Williams of Beck, that would look like I was acting in an official capacity with... that type of title, kind of, right? As opposed to just Sorrel.

You know what I'm really hearing in this is the need for perhaps a more deeper dive into the actual code sections with you so that I can give you that. So what I would recommend is to agendize. I'm happy to come back, but I'm listening to these questions, so keep on asking them. But I think that this one in particular has a lot more insight, and I want to give you guys good answers. So while I came prepared to provide updates on this, I think honing into this last slide was more of a code of ethics slide, but let me make sure I give you guys the provisions and make sure that I'm steering you down the right path. So I would recommend setting this for another item so that I can come back and give you more details.

Okay, thank you. And sorry, Commissioner Benavidez, I just saw that we were going to probably go around in a circle if we didn't get to the point of that.

No worries, Madam Chair. I have a couple questions and maybe one for you, Counselor. But my first question is for you, Elizabeth, because I don't know this. You take our minutes from our proceedings? Yes.

Yes, that is correct.

Do you use any AI to help you do that?

No.

Counselor. Thank you, Elizabeth. And I'm not sure, I'm just going to ask because I don't know if Brownack applies. Today I learned something about Zoom meetings and AI, Zoom AI companion. It's an amazing piece of equipment that takes our comments, for example, and condenses and creates minutes and seconds. which can be reviewed briefly, save time, and still the minutes get completed efficiently, effectively, and more cost-effective. My board of directors as a non-profit has our own secretary, recording secretary. And does any rule... or regulation, whether Brown Act, Sunshine, prohibit any Board of Commission completing their own minutes, especially using this technology. And the reason I say that, as a CEO, manager of a corporation, that's the job none of the volunteers want. And so does anything prohibit any Board of Commission doing their own minutes?

OK. So this is an agenda item that's focused on the Brown Act, the Sunshine Ordinance. I don't see anything in our Brown Act or our Sunshine Ordinance that would have a prohibition on that issue. However, there's a lot of other city policies that could be at play for that. And so I think that's a separate agenda item to go outside that. But as far as the Brown Act and the Sunshine Ordinance, I'm not aware of any portion of those codes that prohibit the use of keeping separate minutes, although city policy is going to have the city clerk in charge of our minutes. So not specific to Brown Act, but without going too far into details into that, I would caution that there's other policies that are related to those issues.

And I would like to see them because there are times where I'll look at our minutes and I think, wait a minute, there's certain things that are missing. And I know the clerk's office handles a lot of work. But I think in the spirit of transparency that if boards and commissions published their own minutes for us to approve at the next meeting and then forward it to the clerk's office, to me might be very cost efficient, save time on staff, because we know that department upstairs is busy keeping the records. And I think it would increase more citizen participation in really taking care of its own chores independently. So thank you. And if you can provide some more guidance in this matter. And I guess the question is, can we or can't we?

Yeah. And I think that might be a good question for the Department of State, what commission that would properly fall before. Our subject matter jurisdiction here is the Budget Engagement Commission and the spending of resources. That's probably more of a policy question, but I think that's certainly something that can be followed up on. Thank you. And figure out where the right door for that question goes. Thank you.

All for me, ma'am.

Thank you, Commissioner Benavidez. And also, since we're going to agendize this item, commissioners, before the next meeting, sending an email to Elizabeth with your questions ahead of time to get them answered makes the presentations go a little bit smoother when we want to do a deep dive and go in really deep. So we're going to agendize this, get your questions together, because next meeting or the one after, We'll be rolling with this and Sean will be prepared to answer everything for us. or any subject that you've gotten the agenda for, that you have a question about. That's always really, really helpful. Right.

You know, to my part, I wish I'd prepared a little more distinctly on this disconduct. I probably should have anticipated that that would have been a more deeper dive that you all needed. You've done great. But we can always do better, but I appreciate the item to come back and to guys give you a little more information on how to help you.

We appreciate you, and you've done great. We just didn't know we'd have questions about the legalese of social media. But thank you so much. Commissioner Langner.

Great. Thank you. I'm probably going to ask a question that will have to be dealt with down the line. But I'm also interested in more guidance on this social media proposition. Is there a distinction between a social media account that we might have as a commissioner being in private mode, I'm going to call it, versus public circulation? There's a big difference between the two. And part two of that would be if we have a social media account that's in public circulation, how Can that account be considered acting in a personal capacity when I'm assuming it's presupposed for any elected and or appointed official that we have an official capacity? I'd really like guidance on how in the world there can be on social media today

you can say i'm doing that as scott langner but if scott langner is on the budget commission where's the line very much so right and so i think that's a great question with your permission you know rather than just speak off the cuff you know i think the best way to answer questions like this is to give you the applicable code provision right because ultimately these questions are largely going to turn on facts their lawyer turns on a fact finder's interpretation of those things, right? And that's just the nature of how these issues get resolved. But what you need to be aware of is what is the code, right? And so what is the code that goes to that provision? So I can certainly, you know, try to address that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Commissioner Roten.

Hello. Thank you. This is all such a great presentation, and obviously it's very helpful to all of us. That's why we have so many questions. I understand we will agendize the specific ethics code in social media. But on that note, I noticed that a lot of people just in their bios say, opinions are my own does that save everything not save it but not and obviously i'm not going deep into detail about things but i do see that folks will put opinions are my own on their social media does that help in any way and i am so open i know you're going to come back and more on this but i just thought of that as i was listening to everyone else

It's a great question, right? It's a great question. It's like, I mean, I could say I'm working on my own, but I could be wearing a button that has a city of Riverside, right? You're creating levels of ambiguity and levels of facts. I mean, I think that giving you the provisions of the code, right, walking us through that together is probably the best answer to that. I can't give a legal opinion that's going to absolve on that issue because it's going to turn on facts. But I think that what I'm hearing across the board, and certainly commissioner, I'm hearing that there's, what can I do to speak for myself? I think that what's the line where I can be clear and sure that I am not speaking in my capacity as a commissioner is what I'm hearing loud and clear. And so best practices as prescribed, I think that's worthy of a conversation. If you guys agendize it, I'll try and give you as much as I can on that front.

Thank you, Sean Murphy, Deputy City Attorney. Yeah. Did I get that right?

There it is.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

We appreciate you. Commissioners, for an anecdotal note for myself personally as a business owner and on our commission, if I ever see public comments on Facebook or social media about what's in our purview and that being strictly Measure Z, I say, hey, have you ever attended a BEC meeting? Please come down and use public comment. And that's it. it's been back the BEC back it's you know just I just say just invite them to a meeting to public comment to see what things are going on that way you've been a good human right but you haven't said anything and mostly I just don't say anything all right moving on motion to approve consent

I'll second it.

It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent calendar. Secretary Elizabeth, will you do a roll call vote, please?

You can begin voting using your pen pads. Motion passes unanimously.

Wonderful, thank you. Item number four, we have Tola, I hope I said that right, Perkins, a member of the Board of Ethics. Thank you for being here.

Yes, thank you, Chair. And good evening to the Budget Engagement Commission. Yes, my name is Tola Perkins, and I am representing the Board of Ethics. Next slide. As you know, today we will be going over the Riverside Municipal Code 2.78 Code of Ethics and Conduct Annual Review. The purpose of the Code of Ethics and Conduct, pursuant to the Riverside Municipal Code 2.78020, to achieve fair, ethical, and accountable local government for the city of Riverside. Public officials are expected to comply with the provisions of this code of ethics and conduct and shall aspire to meet the standards in the conduct of their responsibility as a public official of the city of Riverside. Next slide. The scope, pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.030, public officials subject to the code, number one, mayor, number two, city council members, number three, all members of appointed boards, commissions, and committees appointed to the city council and or mayor. Next slide. Implementation. Pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.040. A, upon election, re-election, appointment, or reappointment, public officials shall be given copy and required to affirm receipt and understanding. B, within 90 days of taking office, public officials shall receive training. C, city attorney or designee shall serve as a resource to assist public officials in understanding and abiding by the code. Next slide. Continuous implementation. D, all bodies whose members are covered by this chapter shall adopt rules of procedure, which includes provisions of this code. E, chair of each body is responsible to provide appropriate guidance to its members and, if needed, communicate concerns to the Board of Ethics. F. Only those who live, work, including vendors and contractors, or attend school in Riverside may bring a complaint unless alleged violation took place outside of city limits and complaining party personally witnessed or observed the alleged violation. And I want to note that the city council adopted on January 27th the asterisk mark for a piece. Next slide. Core values pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.050. A, to strive to create a government that is trusted by everyone. B, to strive to make decisions that are unbiased, fair, and honest. C, to strive to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and in a just and fair manner. Next slide. Continuous of core values. D, to strive to create a community that affirms the value of diversity. E, to strive to ensure that all public decisions are well-informed, independent, and in the best interest of the city of Riverside. F, to strive to maintain a nonpartisan and civic-minded local government. Next slide. Continue core values. G, to strive to ensure that all public officials are adequately prepared for the duties of their office. H, to strive to ensure that appointed members of boards, commissions, and committees attend regularly scheduled meetings. Next slide. Core values. I want to take note that this particular I core value was city council adopted on May 19, 2026. Goes along with the previous leader attorney for the city. Digital communications must reflect the city's commitment to impartiality, fairness, and integrity. Online activity, messages, or actions should not create or appear to create bias, partisanship, or predisposition on city matters that fall within the subject matter jurisdiction of the public official and or quasi-judicial procedures. Next slide. Prohibited conduct pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.060. A, use of official title or position for personal gain, prohibited. B, use of divulgence or confidential or privilege information is prohibited. C, use of city resources for non-city purposes, prohibited. D, advocacy of private interest of third parties in certain circumstances prohibited. Item E, endorsements for compensation is also prohibited. Next slide. Additional prohibited conduct. F, violation of government code sections 87100. Regulating financial interest and governmental decisions made by public officials is prohibited. G, certain political activity is also prohibited. H, display of campaign materials in or on city vehicles is also prohibited. I, knowingly assisting another public official in violating this code of ethics and conduct is prohibited. Next slide. J, negotiation for employment with any party having a matter pending, prohibited. K, ex parte contact in quasi-judicial matters is prohibited. L, attempts to coerce official duties is also prohibited. M, violations of this law is prohibited. in convictions of federal or state law affecting their office prohibited again O was adopted by the City of Council on May 19th 2026 which is digital misconduct is also prohibited next slide Written complaint procedures pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.070. A, only alleged violations of prohibited conduct shall be grounds for complaint. The asterisk mark for the city council adopted amended on January 27, 2026 reads, complainants are covered by whistleblower policies, and the city will not retaliate nor tolerate retaliation against those who, in good faith, report suspected fraud, waste, or abuse, or participate in an investigation of a suspected violation. Next slide. Continuous of written complaint procedures pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.070. B, complaints are submitted on forms available from the city clerk. C, complaints and evidence are filed with the city clerk. And D, complaints must be filed out completely in accordance with this chapter. Next slide. In addition to the written complaint procedures, E, complaints must be filed no later than one year of the alleged violation. F, city clerk reviews the completeness, completes for completeness. G, any filed complaint not in compliance shall be administratively rejected by the city clerk with the approval of the chair of the board of ethics. Next slide. pre-conference procedures pursuant to riverside municipal code 2.78.075 a complainants must submit one revised complaint only to add additional allegations within 30 days of the original filing b city clerk sets matter for a re for a pre-conference for no later than 45 city business days. And C, city clerk provides a copy of complaint to public official within 10 calendar days. Next slide. Continuous of pre-conference procedures. D, board of ethics, also known as BOE, conducts a pre-conference prior to a hearing date set by the city clerk. All parties are to attend the pre-conference, however, The absence of a party shall not be grounds for continuance. The pre-conference shall be conducted as follows. One, BOE reviews complaint to determine if it complies with all of the following to establish jurisdiction of the BOE. A, complaint procedures have been followed. B, complaint is against a public official. C, complaint alleges a violation of prohibited conduct. And D, complaint does not restate violations of previous complaint. Next slide. Continuing with pre-conference procedures, two, if a majority of the BOE determines that the complaint does not comply with the provisions mentioned in prior slide, the chair states the findings of deficiency and calls for a vote of the BOE to dismiss the complaint without a hearing. The statement of findings is adopted at the next meeting and it is final decision of the BOE. If a majority of the BOE determines that the complaint complies with all of the provisions mentioned in the prior slide, then the pre-conference proceeds. Three, the BOE shall facilitate settlement discussions between the parties by allowing the parties to confer privately to determine if a resolution can be reached. If so, then no hearing is necessary. If not, the pre-conference continues. Next slide. Pre-conference procedures number four, the BOE reviews the submitted tangible evidence to determine if it is relevant to the issues raised in the complaint. If it is determined by majority of vote that such evidence is irrelevant, then such evidence will be deemed inadmissible at the hearing and shall be excluded. Five, the complainant may verbally present any and all evidence that will be presented at the hearing to prove allegations in the complaint. The public official has same opportunity. Six, the BOE shall determine by majority vote whether the complainant has shown that the evidence more than likely not shows that there may be a potential violation of the prohibited conduct. Please note that city council adopted on January 27, 2026, the asterisk mark that I will read. All evidence shall be taken in its totality with equal weight given to both parties. Next slide. Pre-conference continues for procedures number seven. If it is determined by the BOE that the evidence shows it is more likely than not that there may be a potential violation of the prohibited conduct as occurred, then a hearing panel is selected by random draw of the BOE members to consist of five members and one alternate. The city clerk sets a hearing date for no later than 45 city business days following the pre-conference. Number eight, if it is determined by the BOE that the complainant failed to show that it is more likely than not there may be a potential violation of the prohibited conduct, the chair of the BOE instructs the city clerk to prepare a statement of findings for adoption at the next regular meeting of the BOE. This statement of findings is the final decision of the BOE. Next slide. Going into hearing procedures. Pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.080, A, public officials shall file a written reply no later than 20 calendar days prior to the hearing date. B, city clerk shall provide copy of written reply to complain it no later than 10 city business after receipt. C, board of ethics shall have authority to adopt hearing procedures not in conflict with this chapter. And D, pre-conferences and hearings on their merits are not formal judicial proceedings. Technical rules of evidence do not apply. Next slide. Continuing of hearing procedures. E, chair of hearing panel presides over the hearing. F, no new witnesses or evidence other than what was submitted may be introduced at the hearing unless hearing panel determines complaint is discovered after the filing. G, prior to commencement of the hearing, either party may ask for continuance. H, only the continuance of the hearing shall be granted to each party. Next slide. Continuance of hearing procedures. I, complainant goes first and shall have burden of proof by preponderance of the evidence. J, public officials proceed second and may make an opening and closing statement, examine witnesses, evidence, and introduce rebuttal evidence. K, neither party shall be allowed to examine the other party, however, may cross-examine. L, hearing panel may ask questions of the parties or witnesses. And M, parties may present rebuttal evidence. Next slide. Continuous of hearing procedures. N, upon conclusion of evidence presented, the chair shall facilitate verbal deliberations by the hearing panel. O, all findings shall be approved by majority vote and panel shall direct city clerk to prepare statement or findings or designate members to prepare statement of findings to include recommendations for sanctions. Panel must approve within 30 city business days. P, within five city business days of approval, city clerk notifies all parties in writing of the decision of the hearing panel and the appeal procedures. Next slide. Additional hearing procedures. Q, no member of the Board of Ethics who is the complainant of subject of the complaint shall sit as a member of the hearing panel. or neither the complainant, not the public official against whom the complaint is filed, shall be represented at the hearing by an attorney. Although an attorney may be present and consulted at the hearing, the attorney shall not address the hearing panel or participate in any aspect of the hearing. Next slide. Now we're going into the appeal procedures. Pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.090. A, a decision of the hearing panel may be appealed to the city council. Appeals of pre-conference decisions may only be appealed if the appeal is based upon a clear procedural error. Appeals are filed in writing with the city clerk within 10 city business days following the date of the decision. Appellant must specify the clear procedural error or abuse or discretion. The city clerk shall place the appeal on a city council agenda within 30 city business days. And next slide. Continuous of appeal procedures pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.090. B. If there is no appeal, the decision of the hearing panel becomes final and there shall be no further right to appeal. The City Council will then determine if sanctions should be imposed, if applicable. C. The record on appeal shall consist of a transcript of the hearing, the complaint, and the tangible evidence and testimony considered at the hearing. No new evidence will be received or considered by the City Council at the hearing on the appeal. Next slide. Continuous appeal procedures. D. City Council shall review record. if no finding of clear procedural error or abuse of discretion the city council shall adopt findings of the hearing panel if there is a finding by the city council of a clear procedural error or abuse of discretion by the hearing panel that the finding shall be clearly stated and the matter shall be referred back to the hearing Panel for a rehearing to consider the matter in light of the findings of the City Council on appeal II if the City Council finds a violation was committed the City Council may determine sanctions F city clerk notifies all parties and there is no further right to appeal next slide continuous of appeal procedures elf city clerk shall notify all parties of the findings and determination of the City Council on the appeal the findings and the determination are final and there is no further right to appeal G complaints replies supporting documentation transcripts of hearing notices of appeal and all decisions thereon shall be public record and by the city clerk for a period of two years. H, no public official who is a party to a complaint shall participate in the appeal of a decision of the hearing panel and must recuse from participation. Next slide. enforcement and sanctions pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.100. Upon a finding by a majority of the city council that any public official violated any provision of the prohibited conduct or no appeal has been made to a board of ethics, finding such violation, the city council may impose any of the following sanctions. Next slide. Enforcement and sanctions pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.100. A, elected officials. One, public apology by official to complainant. Two, recommendation for training. Three, removal from regional committees. Four, removal from mayor pro tem rotation. Five, public censure. Or six, restrict from traveling to attend meetings, conferences outside city limits. Next slide. Additional enforcement and sanctions pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.100. B, appointed officials of boards, commissions, and committees. One, also public apology by the official to the complainant. Two, recommendation for training. Three, referral to the board, commission, or committee of which the appointed official is a member for a public censure. Four, public censure by the mayor and city council. Five, removal from chair, vice chair, or other leadership positions. Or six, removal from office as provided by the city charter. Next slide. We're in monitoring and oversight pursuant to Riverside Municipal Code 2.78.110. A, prior to end of July each year, the boards and commissions shall agendize and discuss at a regular meeting the effectiveness of the Code of Ethics and Conduct Code. and make recommendations to the Board of Ethics for consideration. B, prior to end of August, Board of Ethics shall discuss effectiveness of the code, consider Board Commission recommendations, and submit recommendations for amendments to the Governmental Processes Committee, BGPC, for consideration. C, prior to end of September, the GPC shall discuss effectiveness of the code and instruct the city manager to present a report to the city council for its discussion and consideration. D, prior to end of the year, the chair of the GPC shall present a report to the city council a public hearing in the evening the City Council shall make an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of this code and consider those recommendations of the BOE board commissions and GPC the City Council shall direct city attorney to make any changes of the code it deems appropriate next slide And we're at the end of this presentation. I thank you all. We're at the recommendation portion. That the Budget Engagement Commission discuss and review the Code of Ethics that was presented to you for its effectiveness and forward any recommendation or recommended revisions to the Board of Ethics for consideration. Again, I thank you, Chair and Vice Chair and Board Engagement, Budget Engagement Commissioners. And that completes my presentation for this evening for the Board of Ethics.

Thank you so much, Tola Perkins, member of the Board of Ethics. We will now open up the phone lines for public comment.

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.

Secretary Elizabeth, do we have any callers?

No callers.

All right. Thank you, Secretary Elizabeth. Commissioners, is there any discussion? What? Okay. Commissioner Benavidez.

Thank you, Commissioner. Just one question. Maybe I missed it. If I did, I apologize. If a board member, commissioner, committee member, or elected official is found in violation of the ethics and there's a reoccurrence, there's a second violation, do the I don't know if you want to call them punishments. Do the sanctions increase?

Commissioner, I assume you're speaking to me. So I'm back up. Yes, sorry. So the question that you're asking, basically are you saying, I can answer this way. Each filed claim is on a case by case. Yes. So the decision will be made at that time. So I don't want to say something outside of our attorney here. So each complaint will be seen as we mentioned earlier in this presentation.

Okay, but Mr. Attorney, second violation. Would sanctions be more impactful, let's just say, or severe?

I have a code in front of me. Let me take a look.

City Attorney, would you like to take the stand again? Are you good? Okay.

Probably be quicker if I stay here and just take a look. Perfect, thank you.

And I'll stay just in case the commissioners have additional questions.

Maybe we could take another question while I'm looking. We could come back to this question. Okay. Great.

Anyone else have a question?

I can take my mic. Commissioners, anyone else have a question? Okay.

This is shocking.

The applicable version here is going to be Section 278.100, which is the enforcement and sanctions, which are just the sanctions where the board can impose. So, by finding a majority of the City Council, any public official violated any provision of the prohibited conduct section of this chapter, and no appeal has been made to the Board of Ethics findings of such violation, the City Council may impose any of the following sanctions. So I'm sure the second or repeat offense will be a factor. But as far as the sanctions that can be imposed, those would be capped by 27100. But specifically, just because digital conduct is on our minds, when we talk to that, that can only be censure. That can never be greater than censure. And that is only in an official capacity, working off the official account.

Okay, thank you We don't think nope we just accept it item number five We've got our favorite Sergio Aguilar deputy finance director the man with the plan

All right, good afternoon. Sergio Aguilar, Deputy Finance Director. Just a quick update. So the proposed budget did go to City Council on May 19th, and we had communicated the recommendation that came from the BEC to City Council. We're going to be going back to City Council on June 23rd, where they'll be making the final adoption of the 2026 through 2020 biennial budget. So that is all. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay, so items for future, because I don't know how to read. Master calendar we have the cannabis update and that will be Possibly July as it has been for the last ten years kidding following measure B results and initial activity that needs to be reported on quarter three will be in July and reoccurring which we all know review of code of ethics and the selection of chair and vice chair and then we will add the social media to go over and

Right, just to, so I think what you're interested in is the Code of Ethics Section 2.78.060, which is the prohibited conduct. It'll be the new addition, which is Section O, and I think you're just seeking clarification on Section O. Okay, so that's it.

And then just one quick, because I made this announcement last September, but I'll make it again. As official notice, I will be absent from the August meeting due to a pre-scheduled event, so I'm just serving notice now. Or again.

Okay.

It'll be my first afternoon. You all can just cancel me.

Someone's funny. Okay. Commissioner Ira.

Thank you, Chair. I know last time we talked about agendizing discussion about Measure Z. Obviously, I know we can't discuss it here. So I would like to ask that we agendize kind of a postmortem of Measure Z, get any feedback from residents, from community, from council, and have a discussion here about Obviously, the continued need for some of those services and how we can be a part of that process on an ongoing basis.

So if you're referring to the measure itself, the one that failed, I think that would be outside the scope of the BC in terms of discussing the election results. It's not part of the budget spending plan.

Obviously not the election result, but more so the impacts that that may or may not cause and kind of what the next steps look like. Obviously, you know, I'm assuming the city was counting on that to pass. So we would like, I think, to be up or I don't know, I would like to be updated on how that will or will not affect the budget and what the city's plans are to plug gaps now that that revenue is not on the table.

So the budget itself did not include any assumptions related to it. So there's nothing in the spending plan.

The current budget.

Correct. The current budget that BC provides advice on in terms of the spending plan. There's nothing in the spending plan that we brought to BC that is going to Council of June 3rd that had any assumptions on the election results.

No, no, I know for sure. But like, we're, you know, obviously, the purview of this commission, I don't think it's just for the current. It's for the budget just in the next for the foreseeable future. So it would be good to just get an understanding and also explore ways we can potentially make recommendations to counsel on other forms of revenue to fill backfill that gap.

I think we need to go back and just make sure we understand the scope of what specifically would be within the authority. I know last time we had a little bit of discussion on revenue, whether that actually fits within the BC authority since it's not recommendation on the spending plan, but we'll have a discussion internally and then see if we think that falls within the scope of the BC.

Thank you. One issue that's always present That's just in the documents as far as it really deals with the spending issues. But there is, you know, to the degree that that scope is something that the commission wants changed, that's its own issue, right? So if that helps, right? But if what the commission is seeking to do is to kind of go into, like, revenue generation and all that, you know, the scope of the committee can be changed by bringing that to the request of the council, right, for whether they want to change that scope.

Just a point of clarification. So if we wanted to change the scope of our commission, we could agendize that as a discussion for a future meeting?

Yeah, to agendize it to whether you want to request a scope change to city council. Well, I don't know if that would fall within this committee, but issues of changing the scope would be a city council issue. And so just as it relates to – I know it's been a constant – question of raising issues that fall without outside of spending right and this kind of goes to that revenue generation which doesn't necessarily tie towards spending i think that's that's probably the conversation that's been had um but that would be a question for council to expand the scope of the of the commission

However, we would have to make the initial recommendation for them to do that. Is that, am I understanding you correctly? How would they discuss that without any formal notice or request or inquiry from us?

I think that's the question. Let me, let's, I think that's probably how this, that's the closest thing that this could get framed to, you know, is where the commission scope is and what it should be, how that, or where that should be agendized, I think is a more complicated question.

Commissioner Williams, thank you. I am going to piggyback on Commissioner Ira. I asked city manager, what would Riverside look like without Measure Z? And I think that's kind of, what we're all wondering is like what does our city look like without this extra tax money so i think the post-mortem is not necessarily about like our purview but how is how is the city gonna maybe survive if if we don't have that and that's something that i would like to know as well from the city is what do we do without measure z now so at some point i don't know if that's a back item or if i need to go to like city uh council to Ask those questions to the people that be. Maybe you could advise us what is the best way to get an answer for something like that. Since as a citizen and then also a member of the commission, it's a two-part process. curiosity of what what does our city and mike futrell said he couldn't answer that in an election cycle so now that we're out of the election cycle because the the vote does affect the commission but you know we do kind of need to see how does riverside look without that money because for the last several years our fiscal health has been like we can pay the bills we can take this from general fund Now we don't have this extra money, so what are we going to do? Is there a backup plan? Is there a contingency for when Measure Z runs out? And I think that's the gist of what the question is, not about if we have to change our purview to fit the finances, what happens now? As consumers, as commissioners, what does the city look like? And I think that's the answer that we want as opposed to anything else is what does the city do now?

Yeah, I'll take that back to see what's the most appropriate, I guess, timing for that because, I mean, Measure Z is here for another 10 years, right? So it's not like nothing happens now because it's in here for 10 years. So whether that discussion is now or when the expiration is coming, right? But I'll take that feedback that I think I'm hearing to see what potentially and at what timing we would want to bring something to the BC.

And I would add that we did talk a little bit about what if Z didn't pass, is there a plan B? And my question, if it's related to yours, Madam Chair, is what's our role in working with the city with plan B?

And that's, I think, what city attorney is going to come back to us with, for sure.

And can we agendize that for next month?

That could take them some time. We want it to be efficient.

I'm just too impatient. We want it to be efficient, so...

okay okay uh commissioner thank you commissioner benavidez commissioner bello good evening this question is for sergio um uh when the city council were looking to adopt the 0.25 increase and the expanded terms was that presented to the bc board i i don't recall it that's what i'm asking was that

No, so there was, I think there was an item that went to council with various revenue-generating options. And so there was, I think, maybe like four different options that went to city council. The TOT increase, the additional measure Z, the 1.25. So it was like, I think, four different options that went to city council. And then they provided their... feedback, and then it went back to them. I think what came to BEC, which was connected, was when the fire master plan came, which, you know, it wasn't necessarily linked, but there was an identified need. I think that's when that came to BEC, and there was a discussion in the BEC on Measure Z itself, and there was also a motion and an action taken in BEC

in that agenda item that was tied to measure z so it didn't directly come but it in the secondary way came through that fire master plan agenda item that came to bc i see i think there are a lot of post-mortem items i think that this board would like to address not necessarily revenue generation more or necessarily the terms more about governance We're here as a board to provide governance input and, I would say, coverage for our citizens. And how it got presented, I think, to this board, I'm hoping we can take note of so that when this does come up for election or discussion, that the council can take note of their board, of the BEC board, and can use their board as the citizens have sort of commissioned this board be used versus sort of a secondary advisory board. Because it changes the scope of how we do things and what we do here and how these conversations carry forward. Thank you, Sergio. Oh, sorry. I'd like that as an action item, actually. Is that something that we could request that be forwarded to the council, that any changes to measure Z at least be briefed through this board? Not necessarily for changing of it, but at least the engagement of it such that we're not the last party to review items that have been approved through process? Is that a reasonable question to ask?

So I guess, are you asking for council to adopt a formal policy that anything Measure Z related first comes here? Which generally does. There's a few exceptions. Sometimes they come afterwards, but generally they do come here.

Relative to measure ballots? Yeah, I would say so. I would say relative to anything to elections, we would need to be part of it more because certain, this past election results, I think, There's a lot of postmortem results, I think, that could be brought forward. And overall for engagement, maybe not for budget cycles or routine things, but certainly for any ballot measures. I think so, yeah. I'd like to make that motion.

So I think we're going to have to take some of this back just to make sure that we understand how this fits in.

No, I don't want to commingle the two, actually, the various points, because mine has to do more with governance. Other points were brought about relative to wanting to understand more politics behind it. And I'm just drawing forward the point of observation now that we've gone through it. We're living through it. We have a lot of feedback points as a board as a result of it. And it's likely to come up again in the life cycle that this board is going to be involved. So more of a forward-looking comment, but an actionable item, not something to be not discussed and maybe brought up in the future, if possible. I don't know the mechanism for that.

I might make the suggestion that you work with Sergio to find a way to get that. Because we can't vote on that now. I agree with the request, but because it's not on Brown, although I'll look to the city attorney to correct me on that one. But because it needs to be agendized either way. Sure. But maybe you can work with Sergio to put that as an item for us to then vote on at the next available opportunity. Because I agree with you, one, on the concept, but also that these are not the same. That's right. But yeah, that would be what I would think, although I'm looking to the city attorney to correct my opinion.

I just didn't jump in. I think the clarification of what, I think this is information that the department, and I'm sure we'll be talking to figure out, how does it get agendized? Is it agendized for a change of scope of the jurisdiction? Is it being agendized? In what way can that issue get onto an agenda item? I think that's probably the ultimate question that we'll have to go back with. But to clarify, what you're seeking is, some item that requests that in the future issues such as Measure Z and the like, I mean just to paraphrase, would come earlier in the process to the Budget Engagement Commission. Correct. And although kind of on the separate issue, to the degree that this commission wants to do more on the revenue side and discuss that side of the equation. What can be brought into this commission to potentially agendize an item to make a request to city council for a change of scope? Or alternatively, what is the avenue that that issue gets brought to to consider a change in the jurisdiction of this committee for the purposes of getting closer to revenue rather than just spending? Am I understanding correctly?

Yes. Thank you. Yeah. I think, and yes on the first point. Thank you. Yeah.

I have one question. Sergio, can we as a body just agenda size it without Because the reason I say that is we have very little control sometimes. And if we agenda size what my fellow commissioners are indicating as part of our role to make recommendations to city council, whether it's spending or governance, can we ourselves agenda size it and proceed and then make the recommendations?

Well, I think generally the process, right? So agenda, I think something typically there's...

It's not working.

It's on? Okay. Typically, staff has to put together the report, have to put together the presentation, have to put together material. There's a lot of things that go into it. It's not just sticking a title into a document as an agenda, right? There's a lot of work that goes into it. And so that's where we as staff have to make sure that uh we know when we could fit certain things in uh and when we have information to be able to put together a report a presentation kind of all that backup information uh so i mean it's easy to just put a title agenda say hey let's discuss this but what does that discussion look like there's a lot of prep work that goes into all that so i just kind of one kind of global point right to to make And then I think we have internally also make sure that we talk to our attorneys to make sure process-wise that what is being requested fits within the scope. And so it's not just that the commissioner says, oh, well, I want this on the agenda. Well, if it doesn't fit within the scope, I mean, you know, then we can't just agendize it, right? So there's discussion that needs to happen internally to make sure that we agree that, yes, that falls within the scope. And then if it does, okay, when can we fit it in in our timeline? If it requires a lot of research and backup information, well, it's not quick, right? Because, you know, we're building budgets, we're doing a lot of different things, and so we have to just make sure we try to fit it in in a month that we could be able to produce it. So it's not as easy as saying, next meeting, I want this to be discussed.

We realize that because some of us have been on this board for like four or five years and it's taken up to a year to get certain things done. I think the question is the request that it is done and there is no timeline really given on it. I just think that we would like to hear answers to these things. You guys do your work, please, because we want the efficiency and the transparency of what we're allowed to do. And we understand that it takes time because You know, we've had the marijuana thing on here for four years. It took a year since I'm to get a parking report. It takes a long time to get stuff done. I asked for a breakdown of what wards are having the most Measure Z revenue a meeting ago. I hope in 2027, at least by the beginning, we'll get some of those numbers. So it's not to put pressure. you because we know it takes a while we look at the agenda because it takes a while we a lot of us have been doing this over three years and we see how slowly things can be because there's moving parts so I think we do understand that we would just like to get it done as soon as you as when you can and we understand that it takes time but these are just things that we would like to know about because I still want to know about which ward is bringing in certain revenues and is that being spent equitably in that ward, for that ward, or is it going to other wards? I think that's something we kind of all want to know.

Hold on, Pete.

I'm sorry. Because I was almost in line and there is a list of speakers. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be gruff that way. But we understand that it takes time. We are patient. We're on this board for several years and we just want to see those things happen. Okay, so I'll take my name off. Thank you. And Commissioner Ward.

Yeah, I'll try to be quick. I just wanted to agendize something. Historical audits of the city of Riverside and our financial spending and how that works and the vendors that are related to that as well. Not just the vendors, but just historical audits in general. I would like to see if we could agendize that to get an understanding of what that has looked like in the past and what some of those outputs have been from those historical audits so that we can understand some of our spinning patterns going forward. Would that be possible?

Might I make a suggestion? Is that we give the idea and then you guys can take it back and then email the individual commissioner after the fact just because it gives everyone an opportunity and I don't want to, sorry, my own, I think going back and forth is not entirely helpful at the moment so just maybe like we give our requests. If you feel like your request is not being listened to, obviously bring it back and then we can have a fuller conversation but maybe make the request now and staff goes back and then connects with the individual commissioner about that specific request. Also for miles is for commissioner awards is preference. Put it on the August meeting, please. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. And that I, I agree. I agree with that. I agree with that. Just, I just want to get it, you know, the idea down and you know, maybe it can just be quasi put on the agenda. We can go back and forth on email about the details of what that would look like. So I can get an idea rather than, you know, discussing it right here in the meeting on the floor.

And also commissioners, again, any in-depth questions that you would like answered in our purview, please, we should take advantage of city staff in their capacity and email them about these things that we have concerns about as community members and on our board. We can't make policy, but we can ask questions. And if anything that any commissioner has asked a question about, if it's public knowledge and record, please let us know where to find that also. Because we have curious minds that would like to do their own research. I think the bottom line is we want a city that's run well fiscally and enjoyably. And we've been put in the position to ask questions that we hear from fellow community members that we have for ourselves. And we're in a unique position where we kind of get to ask you for the people. So however long it takes, what have you, let's use city staff to our advantage because financial questions are in our purview. And city staff, if there's a way that we could find these things in public record, please let us know so that we can also tell... the other members of the community where they can find these things. Because if transparency is supposed to be a thing with fiscal transparency, let's everybody, let's everybody dive in and check it out. All right.

And I'll just say that I agree. Some of these ideas don't come up immediately or in advance. Hopefully they do. Sometimes they come up during the discussion. And so I think it's just good to have ideas out there. And yeah, we'll get to the details later. And perhaps some of the details will return a result that maybe we scrapped that off the agenda. But the discussion, the ideas, the back and forth behind the scenes I think is helpful to understand for public knowledge.

Thank you, Commissioner Ward. Commissioner Ira.

Thank you, Chair. Sergio, just wanted to kind of reiterate a previous request just for clarity. So I do, I would appreciate, I know some of the commissioners have sort of different requests, which I actually agree with all of the ones that have been brought up. I would really request a discussion on our scope because I think if our primary focus is on expenditures or spending and the budget is encumbered for the next several years, I think it severely limits the type of recommendations we can make to council. I just personally think not to re-legislate a discussion, but I think we missed an opportunity to make recommendations on the last budget that we sent to council just at the last meeting. I know that some of the issues that were brought up in our discussion were brought up by the other council members as well. So I would like for us to be able to have at least a discussion about, you know, can we make recommendations to council of, hey, pull from general fund instead of for Measure Z, you know, shifting recurring expenditures to general fund instead of... Just things like that, I would appreciate at least a discussion. I think if we're going to call ourselves the Budget Engagement Commission, we should be able to make recommendations not just on how to spend the public's money, but how we could potentially bring additional revenue in or how we could potentially pull money from different parts of the budget to cover priorities or what are discussed as priorities here. So I just wanted to reiterate, if we could have at least a discussion about that, that would be awesome. And then just going to bring up child care again. I don't know if we've had an opportunity to connect with some of the folks. Child care is related to Measure Z spending specifically, so it's within the scope of the discussion.

Yeah, so I do want to follow up with you on that because I have asked questions, and I just want to make sure I understand from you the scope because I've asked internal questions to some of our departments that this falls under potentially a scope of under. So I'll reach out to you so we could talk about it.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Commissioner Benavidez?

Yeah, just real quick. Just following up. I like examples. And Aaron, you talked about making recommendations in the general fund. I recall a meeting where we discussed the drones that were used and unpurchased with Measure Z dollars that generated revenue. And our police chief responded, because I asked, $97,000 in fines were? And then those dollars, were they gone? Are they going to get refunded back to Measure Z? Said no. To the general fund, which I think adds a real action that the city took using Z dollars, went back into the general fund. Are we saying that we first have to go through staff, let them do their homework before we can agendize anything? Or can we ourselves agendize the matter of discussion? Not for staff to do any work, for us to do the work. And I think, I don't think that requires, who tells us yes or no when we want to talk about this internally as an agenda item in full transparency? Or are we saying the BEC could only agenda size items if approved by staff along with council? That's Can we do that? Can we have our own little internal discussions in public about an item, any item that we like to discuss and really step up our game to what we're asked to do?

And let me see. Might I suggest, we talked about an item discussing scope. Can we add that question to it? Because I think that's the best place for that and give staff the time. I think that falls under a scope conversation. What is our scope? What's our power to agenda? Can we take note and have that as a potential question for when that item comes up as included as one of the things we would like guidance on?

OK. Anyone else? All right. Our next regular Budget Engagement Commission meeting will be on July 9th, 2026 at 5 p.m. Thank you, city staff. Thank you, fellow commissioners. Happy June.