City Council - Regular Meeting

In the 2026 Salinas City Council meeting, we'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. Patty?

This meeting is available in Spanish for members of the public in attendance and on Zoom. Translation devices can be obtained in the foyer. This meeting is available in Spanish for members of the public in attendance and on Zoom.

The Zoom webinar participation is available for members of the public. The Zoom webinar ID and link are available on the posted agenda on the city website, and let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance.

To the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Let's go ahead and call the roll.

Councilmember Barajas?

Present.

Councilmember Barrera?

Here.

Councilmember DeRigo? Present. Councilmember De La Rosa? Here. Councilmember Salazar?

Here.

Councilmember Sandoval?

Here.

Mayor Donahue?

I am here.

Thank you.

All right. We are going to proceed to closed session and reconvene at 5 o'clock. Are there any public comment items on the closed session? The comment would be specifically to the closed session item. General public comment would be later.

Okay. I'd just like to make a general comment that it's wrong to keep changing the time. One time it's 3 o'clock, one time it's 4 o'clock, another time it's 5 o'clock.

Okay, that would be for general public comment. Thank you.

I'll have a different comment then.

Okay, is there any... Is there any public comment on the closed session item?

I got a question on the closed session public comment. Why are you doing public comment closed session? I mean, why are you doing a closed session? I mean, you can discuss something between all of you guys, right? Behind closed doors, isn't that the violation of the Brown Act? When you're going to...

don't you think it was something that i thought it was simply okay is that i'm gonna absolutely i'm gonna ask that you leave the is there okay okay all right i'm gonna ask that you leave the rotunda i get to my comment though there i don't see how

You guys are going to go talk about something in closed session and probably vote on it when you come back. I think that's a violation of the Braun Act because you guys are discussing more than one entity, more than two entities, actually, talking about whatever you're going to talk about. Something with the city manager, I think it's wrong. I mean, if you're going to have stuff like this, have it out in the public. Let us listen to what you guys are saying. I think you're violating the Braun Act. I mean, honestly. So I got to say, God bless you guys, man.

Thank you. Okay. Anyone else from the public? All right. Yes, Andrew.

There's one on Zoom.

Oh, is there one on Zoom? Okay. Is it Lisa?

Hi, good afternoon. My question is, and I know you might not get an answer, but would these public employee performance evaluations lead to an increase in salary or pay for these employees? Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Okay. Very good. And then, Andrew, you had a comment?

No, I did, sir.

Okay. Tony.

Mayor, because I think it's an important question, even though it's on the agenda already, I would like to ask the city attorney, just to let the public know, the ones that don't know, what we're meeting in closed session for, and that way they know what the protocol is. Thank you.

Sure. Thank you, Council Member. As it's stated on the agenda, it's a public employee performance evaluation for the city manager. These are required to be in closed session under the Brown Act. So this is not a Brown Act violation. This is absolutely 100% consistent with the Brown Act.

Thank you, Mayor. In regards to the closed session item that we're about to discuss, as you've seen, Mayor, the community has come out at 4 o'clock because they assumed that the meeting would start at 4 o'clock. The public should know when city council meetings will be starting and public comment will begin. Changing the start time makes it harder for people to participate. Working residents, young people, and anyone attending for the first time need clear and a reliable schedule. They should be able to plan ahead instead of waiting to find out when they'll be allowed to speak. So I'm asking my colleagues to place the issue on a future agenda so we can discuss a consistent start time for open session and a consistent time for public comment. I've also previously requested a clear process for council members to place items on an agenda, similar to the county's process. This was expected to return last October but has not yet come forward. Good government requires consistent meeting times and a fair opportunity for the public to participate. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, we will proceed to closed session and be back at 5 o'clock. action the council will be returning to closed session following the conclusion of the meeting so with that we're going to go ahead and with new employee welcome and introduction. So if the department directors would like to introduce employees and announce promotions, it's your turn to do that.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. It's a pleasure to be here to share in some celebrations with employees. We have two promotions in Library and Community Services. First is Jessica Bardwash, who is joining our department. She's been with the city now for several years, most recently with FIRE, and so she's joining our team as our management analyst, so we're excited to have her. And the second position or promotion is Vicki Sargent, who is here today. She has been promoted to our Deputy Director of Library and Community Services, and she'll be overseeing the Recreation Park Division. So we're pleased to have her and keep her with our department as we keep moving the department forward. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members. Very pleased to introduce our two new airport maintenance workers. We've got Eric Alonzo and Seth Kallenberger. If they could step forward here. They're not in uniform because they're so newly minted, and they've been weed-whacking all day getting ready for the air show for September 25th, 26th, 27th, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds headlining.

Thank you.

Next, our city attorney's office.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor and Council, members of the public. I'm very pleased to announce that Bill Litt, Bill, go ahead and stand up for us, please, has joined our office as of a couple weeks ago. He spent well over a decade with the Monterey County Council's office and most recently served as a court commissioner with the Monterey County Superior Court. We are very excited to have him as a member of our team.

Next, I'll be filling in for our community development director. We have three hires in the community development department. First, we have Diana Gomez. She was hired August 17 as a code enforcement officer. She possesses an associate's degree in criminal justice and a bachelor's degree in sociology. She brings extensive experience in code enforcement investigation and community safety with a background that includes one year as a code enforcement officer, five years as a private investigator, and she also worked as a correctional officer. Diana has a well-rounded skill set in public and private sectors. We have Miranda Areola. She was onboarded yesterday. Is Miranda here? Okay, well, she was onboarded yesterday. She was hired as an assistant planner with the current planning division. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in public affairs and a master's degree in urban and regional planning. She joins us after working for... one of our neighboring county governments where she worked as a transportation planner supporting planning, reporting, and compliance activities. And then we have Fernando Santillan. Is Fernando here? Welcome, Fernando. Fernando was hired as an interim chief of planning. He will be assisting community development department in managing city planning permitting and environmental review programs and activities with his extensive experience in project management. Fernando holds a bachelor's degree in finance and a master's in public administration. Most recently, he was self-employed consulting and planning in real estate development. He has local government experience working as a community development director, deputy city manager, and city manager. Prior to that, he also worked in the Central Valley as a downtown and community revitalization specialist in economic development. Welcome, Fernando.

Okay, good evening. From the police department, members of the community, I'm really, really excited to announce three new hires in the month of August. Two police recruits, Patrick Henry Hansen and Manuel Meza. They would be here, but they're busy in the police academy currently in the San Jose area. And one community service aide, Rocio Reyes. On the promotion side, we promoted three individuals in August and the promotional ceremony was yesterday. The first one is Deputy Chief Gabe Gonzalez. Gabe started his career with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office and attended the Police Academy in April of 2003. He was hired by the Salinas Police Department in 2005. During his over 20-year career, Gabe has served in a variety of different assignments, including our patrol division, our violence suppression unit, and investigations team. Gabe was promoted to sergeant in 2020, promoted to commander in January of 2026, and in August of this year, he was promoted to deputy chief. Throughout his career, he's also served as the department's collateral assignments, including two years as a hostage negotiator, Four years on the SWAT team, 11 years as a member of the critical incident management team. Gabe holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from San Jose State and an MBA from Faulkner University. Next up is Commander Stephen Craig. He began his career in law enforcement in the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's in 1999 as a correction officer. In 2002, he was hired by the Salinas Police Department and graduated from the academy in During his career, he spent many years in several different assignments, including the patrol division, our violence suppression unit, and as a detective. He also served on the SWAT team, specializing in critical roles such as the assistant team leader and an active shooter response instructor. He was promoted to sergeant in 2017 and promoted to commander in August of 26. He currently is working in the patrol division. Stephen holds an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Cabrillo College and a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Fokker University. He also graduated from the distinguished Leadership Academy, Sherman Black, Class 528. Next up is Sergeant Manny Lopez. Manny began his career with the Salinas Police Department just over 20 years ago. He's a crime scene investigator and became one of the first Salinas Police Department's lab ballistic technicians. He previously served in the SWAT team six years ago and currently rejoined the team in 2026. He serves as a fireman instructor and assigned to the training unit where he's heavily involved in the department's rifle program. Manny holds a bachelor's degree from Stanislaus State University in criminal justice. And our last employee, Diana Calizo, to the position of recruiting coordinator. She began her career here in the city of Salinas in 2022. Diana has managed department contracts, the day-to-day fleet operations, including coordinating and processing damaged police vehicles. Not a good thing, but it happens. She's also assisted in onboarding new employees, She also, in her day-to-day responsibilities, actively involved in our employee engagement and recognition programs. She served for the last two years for the City of Salinas Employee Engagement Committee, helping organize very important events in our city, such as our annual barbecue. and Employee Appreciation Gala. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in public administration. So unfortunately, they cannot be here, but we are really, really excited to have them join our team and get promoted as well. Thank you.

Okay, for the public works department, I have three new hires. All three are public service maintenance workers one. I have Omar Gomez, Philip Urbana, and Eduardo Mendoza. I have four promotions. Three of them are promoted to the public service maintenance worker three. Those gentlemen are Daniel Aledo, Vincent Davi and Abram Ortiz. And then I have a associate engineer, Jonathan Esteban, who's here. Jonathan joined the city as a student intern and has progressed through engineering aid to a junior engineer, to an associate engineer, and now to an associate engineer. So Jonathan has been involved in several different projects in the city that include the City Hall Build Back and Roof Repair, Cluster Park Renovation, and the Rec Center Renovation. Thank you.

Good evening. I have for you tonight a promotion in the fire department. One of our firefighters promoting to the rank of fire engineer has been with us about four years and comes from a family legacy of local firefighters, his father being a retired division chief with the North County Fire Department, his younger brother also entering the fire service. So Hayden Parker is our newest Salinas Fire Department engineer, and tested with about a dozen of his peers in arguably what is the hardest test in the fire service. A very intensive process of written examination, oral board interviews, and then actual physical performance out in the field, math calculations, hydraulic calculations, driving prowess. A very difficult test, and he did quite well, and we're very proud to be able to promote him.

That appears to be it, and obviously a very busy city, so thank you for all that, and we will proceed to, we're going to proclaim some stuff, so thank you. All right, first proclamation is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Jacob's Heart is the recipient of the proclamation, and so if Jacob's Heart is in the house... Why don't you go to the podium and tell us a little bit about Jacob's Heart, and then I'll read the proclamation. And then I think we'll do all the photos at once. Have you speak?

Hello, everyone. My name is Jose Castillo. I am a board member with Jacob's Heart. So on behalf of the organization, the children and families at Jacob's Heart, I'd first like to say thank you to everyone because this is Child Cancer Awareness Month. And the city of Salinas is helping so many people find out about Jacob's Heart with this proclamation. So we really, really appreciate the city of Salinas, Monterey County. We feel that this is going to bring so much more awareness to what we do and what we're about. They provide so many financial services. mental health. We even have a called Caroline's Closet. We provide free clothing to anybody struggling when you have a family and you have a diagnosis of cancer. and you have a big family, well, guess what? You can come down to Watsonville and come and get free clothing. You get so many services. I could stay here all night and talk about it. But one of the things I do encourage the council members to please take advantage and come and visit us so you can see firsthand why we're having this proclamation tonight. And I encourage everybody to refer anybody that needs our services, let them know. Because we're here to serve, and there's so many children in our area that need the services. I also wanted to tell you this. I have a personal relationship with Jacob Sartre. My son is a cancer survivor. And they, of course, they provided so many services throughout his navigation through the cancer diagnosis. But one of the things that they did that I will forever be grateful is their compassion, their dedication, and the hope that they brought to my family. during this hard time, I will forever be grateful. So I thank the city of Salinas, the council members for this proclamation, because now you guys are doing the same thing. You're bringing hope to all of our children in Monterey County. So thank you.

Thank you. We'll hang in there. Well, we'll have you come up for the photo. You've got a lot of whereases here on a proclamation, which is always a good sign, but let me highlight some of them. Whereas the character of our community is revealed in how we treat our most vulnerable, in which each year 19.2 in every 100,000 children in our Community will be diagnosed with cancer, and whereas cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among children, more than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and AIDS combined, and whereas Jacob's Heart has been keeping medically fragile children and families housed, fed, and emotionally supported by steadfastly adhering to the following commitments. One, parents of children with cancer and other serious illnesses will be relieved of financial fears and able to focus attention on their children. Two, No child undergoing intensive treatment in our community will be homeless. Three, families of seriously ill children will not experience food insecurity. And four, no seriously ill child in our community will ever miss a medical appointment because of lack of transportation. Then I'll jump down to where is it important for all Salinas City residents to recognize the impact of pediatric cancer on our families within our community and honor our children whose lives have been cut short by cause. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Dennis Donahue, on behalf of the Salinas City Council, hereby declare September 2026 as Chance Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in the City of Salinas and do hereby honor Jacobs Heart Children's Cancer Support Services for outstanding support to our community. and acknowledge the organization's contributions to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And that's dated this first day of September 2016. So we'll take photos in a bit, but that'll be waiting for you when we get there. All right. Next up, it is, and this is a personal favorite, National Library Card Sign-Up Month. And Kristen, I think you are front and center on this one.

Yeah, we're really excited to celebrate National Library Card Month, and I want to introduce Terri Rodriguez, who's our Interim Community Education Manager, and she's going to say a few words.

Terrific.

Hi, I just want to say on behalf of the Salinas Public Library, thank you for this recognition during Library Card Sign Up Month. This month is very important to us because it reminds people the importance of having a library card that grants you access to a lot of free services, including like books, audio books, movies, music, and also with the library card, you can stream all these from your... straight to your device. Um, so I also want to mention that it is readaways month as well. So if anybody has any fees on their account, they can just come to a library, read a magazine, an article on your phone, even listen to an audio book and you can lower those fees so people can earn credits and lower their money on their account. Um, so I just want to say thank you again. And to remind everybody that a library card, the first library card is free. So stop by the library and sign up. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Whereas libraries play a crucial role in the education and development of children from story times for preschoolers to college and career planning for high schoolers, while fostering literacy and a love of reading. And whereas libraries provide welcoming and inclusive spaces for people of all backgrounds to learn together and engage with one another, strengthening the social fabric of our community. And whereas libraries strive to develop and maintain programs and collections that are as diverse as the population they serve and ensure quality of access for all, and whereas libraries contribute to a strong local economy by providing access to technology and training that are critical to the success of job seekers, entrepreneurs, and students, and whereas a library card sparks creativity and empowers all people to explore new passions and interests and pursue a path of lifelong learning. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Dennis Donahue, on behalf of the Salinas City Council, hereby proclaim September as Library Card Sign-Up Month and encourage everyone to visit their local Salinas Public Library to sign up for their own library card and explore the valuable community resource. The theme for this year is A Library Card Hits All the Right Notes, celebrating the many ways a library card connects people of all ages to knowledge, creativity, and opportunities for everyone in our community. Dated September 1, 2026. So thank you and welcome. All right, next up, it's also National Recovery Month, so a lot of things going on in September, and Sun Street Centers, you are here, okay? Come on up.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, City Council, Tony, Gloria. It's good to see you all. My name is Eddie Hathcock. I've been with Sun Street Centers 26 years, and thank God for recovery that I'm still employed with them and have a great life today. But today, I'm not going to be the speaker. Today, I have a colleague who's got a few words to share.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members and members of the community. My name is Luis Morales. On behalf of Sanctuary Centers, we want to thank you for recognizing September as National Recovery Month. Let us never forget the impact recovery has on an individual, but also on the mothers, the fathers, the sons, the daughters, the friends, and the community as a whole. Recovery is about more than simply overcoming substance abuse. It is about restoring every aspect of a person's life, their relationships, their health, their sense of purpose, and their place within the community. Working at Sunshine Center has expanded my own perspective on what recovery truly means. It has reminded me that addiction does not tell us the entire story of a person. Behind every individual struggling with addiction is a story, a family, experiences, challenges, and often circumstances that we may never see from the outside. That's why I believe it is important for all of us to take the time to understand addiction and to listen to the narratives behind it. Sometimes we are quick to judge what we see on the surface without knowing what brought someone to that point. Recovery reminds us that people are more than their mistakes, more than their struggles, and more than the worst moment of their lives. National Recovery Month is an opportunity to recognize those who are in recovery, celebrate those who continue to support them, and remind those who may still be struggling that recovery is possible. As a community, we have the responsibility to lead with compassion, understanding, and hope. When we support recovery, we're not only helping one person, we are strengthening families, creating healthy communities, and giving people an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Thank you for recognizing National Recovery Month and for helping us continue to bring awareness, reduce stigma, and remind our community that recovery is possible and no one should have to walk that journey alone. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. All right. And let me... Let me read your plaque, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Whereas mental health and substance use disorders affect all communities nationwide with commitment and support, those impacted can embark on a journey of improved health and overall wellness. And whereas the focus of National Recovery Month this September is to celebrate all people that make the journey of recovery possible. And whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 67,000 American lives were lost to drug overdose in 2025. And whereas through recovery month, people become more aware and able to recognize the science of mental health and substance use disorders. Whereas premature prevention of mental and substance abuse disorders works, treatment is effective, and people in our area and around the nation. Now therefore, I, Mayor Dennis Donahue, on behalf of the Salinas City Council, hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Recovery Month and encourage all residents to observe the 37th anniversary of Recovery Month under this year's powerful theme, Recovery is Real, Restoring Every Aspect of Life. We encourage all residents to take part in events and activities that promote awareness and offer support and resilience of individuals and families on the path to recovery. also dated this first day of September 2026. Happy to sign that on behalf of the council. Why don't we get everyone we proclaim to to come up and we'll do photographs and then the next shift will be City of Champions. So let's Jacob's Heart, Sun Street, and Library.

Thank you. Thank you. Since we're young, you don't have to ask. That's not good.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Yes. Mr. DeAnda, where are you? Can you step up to the plate? Is Roberto here with you? Roberto. Yes. This afternoon, with great honor, we're going to recognize the FIFA World Cup 2026, the organizers of the watch parties that we had at the Salinas Regional Sports Complex. So can you please tell us what occurred? How did you organize and all that in a couple of minutes? Because we're very proud of what happened.

I can kick things off and then we'll hand it off. Talk into the microphone, please. Are you guys able to hear us there? Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. A lot of familiar faces. I know you guys attended some of those games. It was great overall. It was getting our community to celebrate the love for soccer and for community connection. So it was a lot of planning that came from all of our ends and all of our sides with an ultimate goal of uniting families of all different ages to enjoy soccer. the love of soccer. I'll hand it off to Myra so she can explain a little bit more, but we also want to highlight a bit of our community connection. Not only were we celebrating the love of soccer, but we were also celebrating the love for our community. During the soccer matches, we're inviting different community partners to be part of the matches to provide their resources and information. So overall, great community connection and all for the love of the game. Thank you, Roberto.

AWESOME. WELL, FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU, MAYOR, COUNCIL, CITY STAFF, FOR THIS RECOGNITION AND OF COURSE FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THE SALINAS REGIONAL SOCCER COMPLEX. MY COLLEAGUE MENTIONED THIS, REALLY THE PURPOSE BEHIND THIS WAS TO BRING FAMILIES TOGETHER TO ENJOY THE WORLD CUP, RIGHT, WITH THE BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE SUMMER. here in our own backyard in the city of Salinas, right? We hear about major cities hosting it, and oftentimes cities like Salinas get left out, and we said, why not? Why aren't we a part of this discussion? So sure enough, we came together, we built this, and really I think what was nice to see is that seeing so many families come together from all over the region was a reminder that the soccer complex isn't just fields that are out there, It really is a community space that brings families together to create lasting memories. I think I'll remember this watch party because it was at the soccer complex with all the amazing partners. And of course I do just want to thank all of our, you know, of course our amazing staff, our partners like Harmony at Home, our volunteers, our sponsors, because without them none of this would have been possible. And really this is only the beginning because we continue to expand PROGRAMMING. WE CONTINUE TO EXPAND FIELD. WE HAVE EIGHT NEW FIELDS COMING BY THE END OF THIS YEAR. AND OF COURSE, ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. SO THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. NEXT YEAR IS THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP, AND WE HOPE TO MAKE THAT EVEN BIGGER THAN THIS YEAR'S SUMMER WORLD CUP.

We're there. Again, a thank you to all of you. A thank you to the city, especially for believing in us, for showing up. But most importantly, for making this environment safe for everyone. It was truly an honor to have people driving from San Francisco, from San Jose, from the peninsula. We had families said they Googled FIFA World Cup Watch Party and Salinas came up. And that to me, as someone who loves internationalization and who loves bringing communities together, was truly an honor to know that Salinas is on the map for great things. And as Jonathan said, we're only adding to this. It's international, it's global, and we're going to continue to do it from the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex. So again, thank you all. Please continue to support us for the city. Continue to show up. Continue to support because that's really what we all need. Thank you.

Well, thank you for being here this afternoon and the entire community. We're proud of what you're doing in the soccer fields. Thank you, and thank you for organizing this, and we look forward to next year. Okay? So, Mayor, do you want to come up now?

Why don't we hang tight?

Whatever you want to do.

We'll do Larry, and then we'll do the champions.

Okay, so we'll have you sit for a minute, and we're going to do another talk.

And congratulations. And Margaret, I think you have the next one.

I do. So we're proud to issue a certificate of recognition to somebody who needs no introduction. If you've been in Chinatown or in Salinas or anywhere, you've ran into Larry Hirahara. He's our city of champions. And I think you've been waiting a long time for this award. And like you said, you're the mayor of Chinatown. So that's what we framed this around. And you've just done so much good work down there. And I see you brought some wonderful folks with you to celebrate your success. And we want to thank you for all you've done for the city of Salinas. So the certificate says for your outstanding dedication to the preservation and improvement of Chinatown, your support of the Chinatown Museum Project, which is ongoing, and we're very excited about that happening here soon, the Obon Festival, which is always a joy to attend, and the Buddhist Temple of Salinas, and your distinguished service as the Honorary Mayor of Chinatown. Yay! So Larry, I'll just end by saying your contribution to the City of Salinas community is an inspiration to us all, and I think that's the first standing ovation I've seen in this room since I've been on the Council, so congratulations. You deserve every bit of it.

Okay. Well, let me start by saying, Mayor to Mayor, thank you for this recognition, and also to the City Council. This honor and recognition comes from a long line of very prestigious mayors of Chinatown, starting with Shorty Lee in the 1920s, followed by Ted Ponton in the 2000s. And so this brings a little recognition and also a little levity in the local city politics, and hopefully it's a good recognition as well. But seriously, What I'd like to bring up or commend the city for this recognition is that it recognizes the collaboration and the commitment that the city is making to Chinatown. We have been waiting for a long time, admittedly, but also in spite of that, it's something that is being executed and done well. So we're really looking forward to this. So this commitment by the city of Salinas is much appreciated, and we see good things happening in the short term. So thank you very much.

Mayor, why don't you come up and we'll do you first. And by the way, I'll be the first to acknowledge the city has many mayors. You are clearly the mayor of Chinatown. We'll be right there to join you. Lovely.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We did it. Ta-da-da-da.

All right. We are now open for public comment on items not on the agenda and that are in the City of Salinas' subject matter jurisdiction. Comments on consideration, public hearing items, and the consent agenda should be held until the items are reached. Public comment will be for two minutes. Each person who addresses the City Council during public comment shall do so in an orderly manner and shall not make any personal, slanderous, or profane remarks to any member of the City Council, City staff, or the general public. Any person who makes such remarks or who uses threatening, personal, or abusive language or who engages in any other disorderly conduct which disrupts or disturbs the meeting may be asked to leave the City Council Chambers. And with that, we are open for public comment.

Karen Cameron, Concerned Salinas resident. Please make meeting times consistent so that the public can fully engage. I'd like to inform you of what's going on. Spray Days notification has sent me notifications for McKinnon Elementary. It's a school in North Salinas that's literally surrounded by fields. If you're not aware, Google it on Spray Days for yourself. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week, 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. fumigation applications. 7 p.m. on Monday, Methamil. And the fumigation that's going on is chlorpyricarin-1,3-D. One3D comes up on the Prop 65 list as carcinogen cancer-causing. However, CDPR allows it, EPA allows it, even though it's banned in over 50 countries. And so with cancer being your concern with your proclamation earlier, I suggest you get involved as to what we do to denormalize this business. I've been speaking with Juan Hidalgo, Monterey County Ag Commissioner, and he's assured me this will be going on at least until November. That's very troubling to me. This should not be normal. I don't have easy answers. I'm a layperson, not a scientist. But I have been talking with Reservoir Farms, trying to seek solutions. Mayor Donahue, I'd love to speak with you about some of your ag tech knowledge. And my council member, Mr. Rigo, I'd love to meet with you to see your opinion on this as to how we can speed up this process so that we can live more in a healthier way. This is just not okay. I don't have easy answers but safe egg safe school meeting this week in Watsonville We did discuss the Watsonville steam pilot project. I don't see that being a viable solution yet But I believe that there are other things out there. I'm going to learn more as to Investment wise if they put the money into it, they could seriously lessen the amount of fumigation. It's urgent Let's do this together now, please contact me for a meeting

Thank you. Good afternoon. I want to say, hey, Gloucester Park looks beautiful. $10 million. Awesome. We couldn't pave the roads, guys. We couldn't pave those roads and put more bathrooms there. It's a lot of money. Tony, that's your district. I mean, we could have put more bathrooms there and paved the roads. The roads look ugly. But it looks beautiful. Thank you guys for that. Mr. Donahue, I got to call you out again. I'm sorry. I have to. I was watching that LAFCO meeting the other day for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. That's ridiculous how you passed up, I think, seven people you didn't want to vote on because you didn't like the person or something. I don't get that. Why are you being like that? Why are you not letting people who live in that community run that community? You and your buddy and the other young lady, your other buddy, didn't want that to go the way you wanted to. Why are you guys doing that? Why are you doing that, Mr. Donahue? I pray for you. I hope you get better. I hope someday you open up and realize what you're doing is wrong. Stop monopolizing Salinas. Mr. Donahue, I'm serious. I mean, come on, guys. Talk to him. You guys are his peers. Talk to him. You can't do that. Let people run the districts that they live in. Let them run it. You passed up seven people. That's a disgrace. That's sad. That's telling me that you are actually in a special interest group, it looks like to me. That you're only going to vote the way you want, and it doesn't work that way. There's other people qualified, and they told you they're qualified, and you still did not care, Mr. Donahue. You and your buddy, the other farmer, and then the other young lady, I don't know who she is, she's been there a long time, couldn't, come on, three to three, now you've got to come back in September and break the tie, hopefully you'll find somebody by then. Not good. Come on, guys. Work together. Make something that's great again. God bless you guys. I'll pray for all of you. Have a good night.

Hi, everybody. Mayor and members of the City Council, my name is Benjamin Mancilas. I'd like to propose an idea for consideration. I think we should explore the possibility of using the property at 665 East Market Street as a potential location for a navigation center. Maybe we could look at whether the existing building could be demolished and eventually replaced with a new two-story building designed for this purpose. It could have things like housing navigation, employment assistance, showers, laundry, restrooms, meeting spaces, and connections to behavioral health and other services. I know there's a lot that we need to look into first, ownership, zoning, funding, and whether the property is even suitable. I really think it's a possibility worth exploring as we look for long-term solutions to homelessness in Salinas. I think it's worth asking what we could potentially create there. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Name is Eric Peterson. And two things, two very different things. First, the other night I went outside to try to see the eclipse. Well, I didn't see the eclipse, but what I did see was better. I saw a street light that was on. I've never seen that street light on before. I went out, and the whole street's got street lights that work. And... As I say, I've never seen this before. I like it. I'm hoping they last a long, long time. Second, this is something Wes posted on internet. Austin, Texas has created a 27-acre village of tiny homes for 250 chronically homeless. It has a chapel, a medical facility, a community garden, and an outdoor movie theater. They are linked with jobs and pay a small amount of rent. I realize some people aren't going to change their prejudices, but Austin's a bit bigger than we are. We could do a sixth of that very easily. Austin's about six times our size. And they're in Texas, practically a third world state. And there are people in Texas who still want to secede, and they don't remember what happened last time. But we could use this as an example of a very successful program. There is a lot just the other side of the railroad tracks on Main Street that is now vacant. It could handle some tiny homes. The city's got the money, and all it needs is the desire and the care about our homeless residents. Thank you. Thank you.

Mayor, council members, and staff, I'm here today because we as a city need to prioritize. We need to find a place for the homeless, number one priority. Everything negative is put on the east side where I live. So please consider making space for the homeless. How about the first tee golf course? Now there is a lot of space there that's not used. Traffic is not there. And there's never a lot of people there. So that's a consideration on where to put the homeless. I'm here today because I love my city. I have great neighbors. These people are my extended family. I've been doing neighborhood watch and activism over 12 years. Never got a cent from the city, except for grants, but never got a paycheck. Why do I do this? Because I care. Why? Because I want to feel safe in my neighborhood. Because we all deserve a good quality of life. I believe we are the eyes and ears for the city. Because we look out for each other, because we care, no matter how small our concerns are to you, they are huge to us. Getting home as quickly as possible is important to us. The people of Salinas want that, not to be sitting in their cars all the time or for that long distance period. To the residents, their problems mean a great deal. The other concern I have is Measure G. Oh, I don't have much time. We'll never have enough funding. Measure G oversight committee is as blind as I am. They see what's on paper. They don't open their eyes to reality, what the people see. If everything is fine, why are people complaining? If everything is fine, why does Sidebox take 20 years to complete? Thank you.

How's it going, Council? Daniel Munoz, SAFAC Safe Schools member. I went to our meeting last Thursday, SAFAC Safe Schools, and they were talking about the Santa Cruz County Ag Commissioner, and he's trying out this pilot program. They're using steam as an alternative to fumigants. To my understanding, it's been mentioned to Juan Hidalgo, our Monterey County Ag Commissioner, and to my understanding, he's not interested in even a pilot program. So I believe you guys are waiting for a meeting with Mr. Hidalgo, and when you do have the meeting, maybe you could urge him to try this program. And that's pretty much it. Steam instead of fumigation. Look into it. Ag Tech Mayor, check that out. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Salvador Tavares from District 1 and my city council is José Luis Barajas. Well, I would like to just not lose sight of a friendly reminder that we need to help the homeless, especially like when I pass by in the streets, especially when I'm heading to the skate park to Nativity Creek Park. sometimes i see the same like homeless people or other streets probably like when i'm walking by a market east market and i feel we need to really do something about it and i just as a friendly reminder just wanted to like point that out and for the whole council i really i i do stand in solidarity with everybody because everybody's concerned that i heard right now It's something that must be heard. And, yeah, I just hope you guys are hearing that because I'm starting to notice that sometimes a lot of meetings pass by and some topics don't get touched for a long while. So I want you guys to not lose grip of those important matters. But thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mayor, members of the City Council, my name is John Bailey, Salinas resident. I want to echo what the young lady from the soccer complex said, which is it's great to see Salinas on the map for great things. The reason I'm here is to thank each and every one of you personally, because we do notice when you attend community events that are bringing the whole community together. The Alibreus event, I think, is one of the best things this city has ever done. And each of you, I've been to your districts, I've been to other districts, I've seen you at each and every one of those Alibreus openings. I hope to see you all Friday, all of you, at the Steinbeck Center. And it warms my heart to see the whole community coming together for that event. Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Good evening, Council and Mayor. I'm Eloise Shim. I just want to talk about in 11 days will be 9-11. 25 years ago, 9-11 happened. I'd like to mention that George W. Bush on September 18th went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. and said that it's un-American for people to to be mean to the Muslims because the Muslims were just as sad and horrified by 9-11 as everybody else was. So I'm hoping that Salinas will reach out to the Muslim community. There is a mosque in right down the street, and maybe offer to give them some lights during Ramadan to go over Market Street. So that, I mean, other cities, cosmopolitan cities in London, in New York, commemorate the Muslim holidays. Here you commemorate El Grito, All of the Latino holidays, Christmas, menorah, everything. So maybe you should, instead of having your remembrance of 9-11 as being we will never forget, why not just also be inclusive and not treat the Muslims like they're invisible here in Salinas and reach out and offer to string up some Muslim lights over Market Street

During Ramadan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's all right.

I got it.

Mary Ann Worden. Well, the city did it again. Nobody bothered to tell me Closter Park was going to open up on Saturday, and I could have gone. And I was here when the last meeting, and there was those park people here. You were here. You were here. Nobody bothered to tell me. I've been going to Closter Park with my family since 1955. We've been a big part of it, everybody in our neighborhood. Nobody in my neighborhood knew we were opening. Anyway, our city manager, you mentioned They're stealing the wires from our lights. How about putting cameras there? Because it's usually the same lights. And try catching these people. And I'm sure the stores across the street there on Williams Road have lights already that we might find who are taking those lights. The next thing, I was in San Francisco last week when I had my surgery. We saw these two huge tents down, I believe it was Brown Mission Street, somewhere back in there. I said, what's this going on? It's for the homeless. And that's where they're putting them now. That used to be full of tents there. And she mentioned the school there on... that school was supposed to have been put down by the housing there behind McKenna. I begged that man, the superintendent, to not change that school to where it was at. We warned him about the farming and stuff, and they did it anyway.

Thanks, Marianne.

Thank you.

Hello again. My name is Lee Jeter Sanford, resident of South Salinas for over 20 years and continuing to advocate for a spay and neuter ordinance in the city of Salinas to join Monterey County's newly passed spay and neuter ordinance. After I spoke at previous city council meetings, several of you approached me to learn why I'm advocating for spay and neuter ordinance in Salinas. I'm incredibly appreciative that it was clear how much I care about the welfare of animals as well as our community, and you wanted to understand how such an ordinance would benefit animals and the community. The ordinance is not intended to adversely affect responsible owners who keep their animals leashed indoors or within a fenced yard. An ordinance is needed to provide an enforcement mechanism for problem situations, including unlicensed backyard breeders, owners who do not spay or neuter their animals resulting in unwanted litters, and irresponsible owners whose unaltered animals roam freely in the community. Animal control officers need the authority to address these violations through a fix-it citation requiring offenders to spay or neuter their animals or pay a fine. This brings me to today's question. Why is our animal shelter retaining $300,000 that's already allocated for spay and neuter clinics beginning on July 1st of 2026, two months ago, and no clinics have been held or scheduled. As of September 1st today, we are already two months behind in delivering low-cost services because the shelter director has not issued a request for proposals. Because of the funding exceeding $200,000, the request for proposal RFP is required. This process would allow organizations that provide spay and neuter clinics to submit bids based on overall cost and number of animals each clinic could serve. The continued delay is preventing these taxpayer dollars from funding services for this community. Spay and neuter clinics should be scheduled promptly, going out several months, and beginning with the most cost-effective provider, then using additional providers as needed to expand capacity. These services should have begun in July, yet no action has been taken at this time. Taxpayers are being denied services they are entitled to because of poor fund administration and inadequate leadership at the Hitchcock shelter. All of you should be asking questions about this. Thank you. You're very welcome.

All right. Is there anyone on Zoom? Juan. Juan Flores, you are up. It looks like you're muted.

One go ahead with your public comment.

Welcome welcome back. We'll come back Lisa.

Hi, good afternoon, City Council, Mayor. A couple things I wanted to touch base on. One was the Finance Committee. They took no comments on items on the agenda. Therefore, I'm going to speak about what they covered. The main thing was AI technology in the governmental body of Salinas. They want integration... for the intranet and the public-facing website. My biggest concern is data leaking, AI's frequent issues with bias and fairness and ethical consideration as well as accountability for AI technology. The three AI technologies in use from the city of Salinas is Microsoft Copilot, Siteimprove, and Syncity. Microsoft Copilot is just like Google AI. It just helps you write emails. which is supposed to be a time saver, and overall support the daily workforce, but I don't believe those are things that need to, if you need eye for those things, I think that just doesn't make sense. Siteimprove is supposed to help the city improve its website, but there's still a lot of things that don't work. And then Syncity, another staff-only AI tool, is supposed to help the city with community engagement. get sentiment from the public. Also they use Nextdoor and all public-facing comments and data from the internet. Second thing I want to touch base on was flock cameras. As you may have seen, the Board of Supervisors for Monterey County, many comments against flock. I was approached after the very first time I spoke up against flock that I was the first in the city to publicly speak out. I understand that may be the case, but it's just not a public sentiment. Thank you.

Okay, Juan, let's try again.

Okay, let's try it again. Sorry about that. Am I coming through now?

Yep, you're good.

Okay, good afternoon, city council members. Juan Flores, Eastside Residence. First of all, I want to thank the city for upgrading Closter Park. Some people might disagree that $10 million is a lot of money spent, but I'll tell you what, every morning I walk out that door and the first thing I see is Closter Park. I'm proud of living in the east side. As a matter of fact, once I get off this phone call, I'm going to walk my granddaughter over there. I've been down there three times and, you know, it's so vibrant seeing that park redone. The baseball field was needed. Now it's, you know, we have a great league out there. and now it's going to be represented even further by what it's been done out there again uh for the council members that attended uh thank you very much for those that didn't make it out there not sure the reason why but those that did go out there thank you very very much this was uh really needed and uh i thank you for doing what you did thank you okay thank you all right uh we will go ahead and close public comment

And we will head to a presentation. It is not an action item. Presentation for the council from the Youth Council. And we couldn't miss them when they came in. They're here.

As a member of the Salinas Youth City Council I'd like to provide a few updates on projects that are currently moving forward in our community first regarding Williams Road project vice chair of Andres Martinez and Community Relations Manager Sophia Rum recently met with Principal Perez at Alisal High School. We are currently working with the school to coordinate a student engagement event so that students can have the opportunity to learn about the projects and share their perspectives. Staff is also in good contact with the Alisal Union School District to engage with Alisal Community School. In addition, they are currently working with a consultant to develop a community engagement strategy involving neighbors, business owners, and community partners in the project area. A community survey will also be released next week giving residents the opportunity to provide input on different design options and project information page will be available as well to help keep the community informed. The second project is Harden Parkway Traffic Calming Project. We will be working with the city staff to connect with the North Salinas High School leadership and coordinate an education outreach effort similar to the Williams Road Project staff. We are also in communication with Hardin Middle School. This project is expected to begin in 2027 and there will be public messaging and community meetings throughout the process to ensure that residents stay informed and have opportunities to participate. As a youth council member, I believe it is especially important that the youth people are included in conversations about projects like these. Students and young people experience our streets and neighborhoods every day, and our perspectives can help make Salinas safer and stronger for everyone. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Arjun Gokul. I'm also the student trustee for the Salinas Union High School District, and I would like to give a brief report about what is happening at our high schools. At Alice Hall, Alice Hall High School has upcoming events, including Senior Sunrise and Back to School Night. North Salinas High School is hosting Back to School Night this evening, and also had over 50 clubs that participated in Club Rush. Salinas High School is preparing for homecoming activities. Rancho San Juan High School will host an instrument petting zoo on September 3 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the RSA quad. I would also like to congratulate Rancho San Juan for being the third highest in the state for UC Berkeley admissions. Shout out to all of the staff, teachers, and students for doing such an amazing job. At the middle school level, I also saw Washington and La Paz Middle School had their club rushes and they continue to participate in more activities. I would also like to recognize El Puente School for being recognized as a PBIS Platinum School by the State of California. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, my name is Ariana Estrada, and I would like to accordingly invite you to Everett Alvarez's homecoming on September 17th. To make the event a success, we are kindly requesting donations of supplies to help decorate our floats. If you have any cardboard, newspaper, paints, or any other craft materials, your contributions would be greatly appreciated. Additionally, we would like to extend a sincere thank you for everyone who attended the Cluster Park grand opening. It was wonderful to see such an incredible turnout and to feel the overwhelming support for our community and Cluster Park. Thank you.

All right, thank you. All right, let's see if anything from Andrew. Andrew?

I just want to thank you guys for taking the lead on engagement with so many different projects. I think you're right. We need to make sure we're including youth. And what gets me really excited is that you're taking the lead on some of these things. And we're seeing the difference, especially with our outreach and our social media presence. We'll keep it up. Thank you.

Tony? Yes, and also today we heard from our city manager as well that the... What you bring to this table, we're looking at it, these projects that are going to enhance our community, so thank you for all the work that you're doing, and just continue doing that. Thank you.

Thank you guys for the update, and feel free to send the financial requests to our emails as well. Keep us on track.

To my left. Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Everett Alvarez High School Homecoming. It was a lot of fun. Those floats were awesome. You guys had it together. My question for you is what time does it start? I live across the street so I'll just walk right over. Keep it up. It was great. The music, everything, entertainment, the floats were awesome so looking forward to it.

Thank you.

To all of you, you're doing a great job. And it's really nice to hear what's happening in our local schools. So I look forward to seeing more of you because I have some grandkids that are into sports right now, which is good. So I plan to be going to the games and so forth. So I'll see you there.

I also want to thank you for bringing up the traffic calming which is something that's really important to me and I'm meeting with a student from Salinas High School who's doing a Girl Scout project on traffic calming and she's got some innovative ideas about how to communicate the importance of it throughout the community because if you look at how much speeding is an issue in our city. If people stopped speeding, we wouldn't need traffic calming projects, which for the city are extremely expensive. So I think the more we can educate people on just keeping our streets safe by not speeding and obeying the speed limit, I think is really important. So I like that the youth are taking the lead on that. I think that's really important. They'll probably listen to you before they'll listen to us. So thanks for taking that on.

Okay, well, I'll certainly echo all my colleagues. You know, the Alvarez homecoming prompts me to remember, you know, we're kind of used to Friday night lights in the fall, and because of the referee shortage, we've got to also remember there's Thursday night lights, and so your homecoming's on a Thursday. So, you know, duly noted. But thanks for the list of all the activities that you're engaged in and letting us know about. So thank you, and we'll look forward to hearing again from you soon.

Thank you.

Good, thank you. All right, we will now proceed to the consent agenda. Matters listed under the consent agenda may be enacted by one motion unless a member of the council requests a separate vote or discussion. Members of the public may comment on the consent agenda items collectively during their public comment. Would any council member like a separate vote or discussion on any of the consent items? Okay, Andrew.

398 and 420.

Okay, you know what, mine? Yeah, mine's, mine's, mine, mine is, are not numbered. Okay, so. Okay, 398. Okay, now we're set, thank you. Andrew, okay, and, and then what, what was the other one?

420, okay. All right, Tony? 355 and 396.

Okay. 396. Okay.

420. Okay.

Gloria, anything?

Just a comment on 355.

355, okay. Okay, Margaret?

No, I'm not pulling anything or commenting at this time. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. We'll do that. All right. Would anybody from the public like to comment on the consent calendar?

Good afternoon. I'd like to comment on 398, 355, 420, and the other one was... 398 but the mayor again, I don't only get two minutes and this collective it's it's not it's not right I mean we had mayor Kimberly Craig up here. She would give us two minutes for every item That's all I'm asking. I mean I'm asking for For just you know the minimum the justice of it of us to be able to comment on every item separately But I'm not getting that from you and I I need more transparency. I need that to be to be allowed I Me as a citizen, as a taxpayer, I believe it's my right, Mayor, for me to be able to discuss everyone individually, not collectively, because then I really can give all my input on one item. I can do them all individually. If you do that, that would be great, Mayor. Hopefully, you'll make the change and, you know, you'll come to your senses and let the public express themselves. That's all we're asking for. Thank you. God bless you guys. Have a good night.

Thank you. All right, anyone else from the public? Are you OK, Katie? Yeah.

Good evening, Mayor Donahue, members of the city council, and city staff. My name is Katie Castagna. I'm the president and CEO for United Way Monterey County. Many of you know us for much of the work we do throughout the county. We connect people, pathways, and partnerships to improve lives here in Monterey County. The item number 355 builds on a body of work we've been developing for over 10 years around family financial stability. Starting with programs such as our free tax prep program through VITA, volunteer income tax assistance is that, and our financial literacy education. Over the years we have seen a huge and sustained demand for people wanting more information about how to manage their money and how to better navigate their financial future. And since moving to the city of Salinas and building or acquiring our community impact center, we have seen more and more synergy with local organizations and partnership opportunities with the city of Salinas. I want to thank the city very much for this opportunity to partner through the cities for financial empowerment. We are creating a financial empowerment center and a key program element will be this partnership with the city that provides individual coaching and other services. I'm going to ask, I'm going to turn this over to my colleague to make another comment, but I want to, so new comment, two minutes, but I want to thank you all for that partnership and tell you that this doesn't come out of the blue. We are building on a body of work and deep relationships and community trust and I think the city partnership is going to take us all to a new level in this area of work. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lynn Foden, and I am the Director of Financial Stability at United Way. And following up on Katie's comments, we're really excited to have this partnership with the City of Salinas, with the Cities for Financial Empowerment grant. And that is a proven national program. Over 200,000 participants have gone through that program nationally. It is nationally recognized, and it provides free one-on-one financial coaching. And that's different from the financial education that we're doing. It is a complement to that. Through this grant, we will be able to demonstrate measurable progress Improved credit, reduced debt, increased savings. On average, savings increases for participants $1,632. That's on average for participants who go through this program. Safe banking and financial plans. As Katie indicated, we're building on services and partnerships that are already existing within the community. Access to these services is community-based. So we'll have some at our financial impact center a couple of blocks from here. And we will also do it through community partners. So it'll be accessible physically, and it's bilingual. And finally, through this program, we're all really walking side by side with residents to provide them with the access to financial coaching services that aren't otherwise available and connecting them to the other kinds of financial stability supports and resources to be able to help them to be able to thrive. So we hope that you're all going to be walking side by side with us as we're walking side by side with the residents and community members in the city of Salinas.

Thank you.

Mary Ann Ward. Last month I got here a little after you spoke about the zoning and the housing added on to our homes. No one has asked us in our neighborhoods how it was impacting our neighborhoods. All these extra garages and extra rooms are now, as it was, we didn't have no place to park to begin with. So now these extra people are parking on their lawns, destroying the looks of our neighborhoods where we had lawns and flowers on our... And now it's cars and weeds. It's terrible. Nobody bothered to ask us if we wanted extra people living in our neighborhood and when they didn't have places to park. I wasn't asked at any of the meetings I went to how it was going to impact our neighborhood. In the past, when we've done new buildings and stuff, The planning will ask about unpacking the neighborhoods. Nobody has bothered to ask us. And it's horrible, folks. We can't even turn on the corners. We have to ask people to back up so we can go through our intersections and our street. My street, two cars can't pass on it. We have to back up. And I live on a dead-end street. It's ridiculous. Nobody bothered to ask how it was going to impact us. That's a crime that you've imposed on us. Thank you.

Thanks, Mary.

Hi, Peter Zelaya. I support the city's effort to update a zoning code that hasn't had a major overhaul in 20 years. Bringing it up to date, complying with state law, and making the process easier are all good things. But with housing, I think we need to ask a bigger question. Are we doing everything we reasonably can with the tools we have to get more housing built in Salinas? Our housing shortage is a crisis, and zoning is one of the most powerful tools this city controls. Much of phase one is necessary. but much of it is also compliance and housekeeping. Staff acknowledges that it does not increase base zoning densities, and several of the housing provisions simply put existing state law into our local code. Meanwhile, Land Watch, a sustainable pro-growth nonprofit nonpartisan organization, has suggested two practical reforms that could actually make housing easier and faster to build. First, adopt objective design standards for residential development. If a project meets clear, measurable standards, the approval process should be straightforward and predictable. The city committed to doing this in its housing element, but failed to do so by the July 1st deadline. Second, reform our protest and appeal process. Neighbors should absolutely have a voice, but a housing project that follows the rules should not be delayed for months simply because someone doesn't want additional housing nearby. These are common sense, pro-housing reforms that can reduce delay, uncertainty, and cost. They should be included in the zoning update. If housing is truly a crisis, then we should be using every reasonable tool available to us. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, anybody on Zoom? All right, we will come back to council. And we will start with... Item 355. And Tony, you and Gloria have that one.

Tony? Well, I appreciate the report. And this is what I was going to strongly support this. Ms. Murphy, so what, in this partnership, or Mr. Nathan, in this partnership, I like when we can learn, we can all learn about finances. So I want to thank the United Way. So what's our role in this partnership?

Thank you, Council Member. So our role at the city here is we are a fiduciary responsible party in that sense that when we get the funding that we pass it off to UniteAway, strictly fiduciary spent.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Gloria?

I just want to say thank you. And when this was brought forward, that was when Mr. Arriola was here, I believe. And yes, we met and we talked about it. At that time, I was very happy and very glad to see this program, what it's going to provide for our residents. And something so important is knowing your finances and how to take care of your finances. So I'm very, very supportive. And I'm glad that this is a great partnership between the City of Salinas and all the other partners that are working with you. So this is something good for us. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. 396. Jose, we'll start with you and then finish with Tommy on this one.

Thank you. Could I please have the before and after photos displayed, please? And this is more so just comment rather than questions, really.

Council member, we don't have them queued up on the computer to bring them up.

OK.

Sorry.

No worries. Well, I have them printed out right here. So if you check the staff report and see the before and after pictures, The progress made is just remarkable, right? When I was first elected, I had an opportunity to meet with folks from Building Healthy Communities, particularly La Esquelita, which focuses around that area, La Plaza, East Salinas. And one thing that stood out to me initially was they invited me to go out on a walk on a weekend and go through every single thing that was wrong in my district. They gave every person that attended, you know, a worksheet letting me know like, hey, the streetlight is out or there's a hanging wire here. There's a hole here. And one of the areas that consistently came up was this Garner intersection and Acosta Plaza. So I'm just happy to be able to make those promises to folks in our community that we will be able to deliver. And we delivered not only in a good timing, the promise the project was delivered within the project timeline, but also under budget. So I really want to commend the engineering and public works team for taking this on and really delivering for the citizens of East Salinas.

Thank you. Tony? Yes, thank you. And Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Adriana, congratulations on this project. One of the things that, and I spoke to the city manager regarding this concern, because here we have partners, we have the school districts, we have MST, and I think, and now we're, We're going to have a big project, which is on Williams Road. I think, and Ms. Adriana, I think you do a good job here. Well, we can bring our partners together before anything starts happening. There were some concerns in this corner here, especially with the bus drivers, that they were having a difficult time to some degree. And Mr. Jacobson, learning... from our city manager. I know when we go out to a job in the community, you already go with the plan. This is what we're going to do. This is what the budget calls for. But I would like to see maybe the aesthetics, if we can see, and I don't know how that would work, but there's three palm trees there. The corner looks beautiful, but the palm trees, man, if they were to get, what would you call it? uh not pruned but what would he yeah cut pruned uh see that that's the way i visualize it there's little things that we can do while we have that man go get those three uh palm trees pruned i i think the aesthetics If those things are pruned, the place would look fantastic. But you did a great job. And thank you for talking about red sidewalks or curb sites. I know there was this one gentleman that lives right in the corner. I went and spoke to him in a nice way. He parked between the crosswalk and his driveway, but half of his car was on the crosswalk. So I asked him politely, so he didn't like that, but Mr. Jacobs, thank you for taking the paintbrush and the red paint, and it's taken care of. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Tommy. All right. Thank you.

All right, Andrew, you have $3.98. Well, thank you. I just want to go back a little bit just to the Garner and Pacific. Tony, was this the project when the Alicelle School District came? Yeah. And then they were staring at us and telling us, we're watching you. I think that was one of the trustees. I remember that project coming forward, so I appreciate staff for following through with that. I think that was about... Three years ago that they came, I still have a screenshot of them just staring at us and saying, we're going to be watching you. So thank you to our public works staff. And I also want to just get an update on the improvements that were made on Victor Street. Specifically, if you could share a little bit about that project.

Sure. So the Victor Street was a traffic calming project. And what that project was, it was something a little bit different. It's not your typical speed cushions. It's just because of the use of the area. And so what we did there was a raised crosswalk. where we took the, we removed the ADA ramps that were there, and we actually reconstructed that sidewalk portion, and then we raised the road to the level of the sidewalk. So what that does, it also does a vertical deflection, so it also does like a speed hump, in a sense, but it's completely different. So now you're putting the vehicles higher, and the people higher, and so they're more visible.

Yeah, thank you very much. You know, they used to call that the Victor Street Speedway there. You know, I remember that being a big concern for residents. And it was like the icing on the cake to get that additional work done. And I want to commend Council Member Osornio. I remember one late night, you know, we were having difficulty getting residents to turn in their ballots to get that project approved. And so I want to commend Council Member Lozano. He took one side of the street and I took the other side and we were able to get sufficient ballots turned in. It's also a reminder, if you have traffic coming to your neighborhood and we don't get those ballots turned in, that project may not move forward. So I just want to remind residents about that. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew. All right. Aurelio, Cal City's voting delegates.

Yeah, in terms of the League of California Cities, not so much a question, just wanted to make a request. I know that they've got their concurrent sessions and caucus meetings going on. I did see that they are having two workshops that are a particular interest. There's one called Weathering the Next Natural Disaster and one on artificial intelligence strategies and case studies. By any chance, those who are attending, if you do attend those, I'd be interested in hearing about what's being said. Thank you.

Thank you. Andrew, you had a comment on that as well?

Yeah, it says here we're going to delegate authority to make a decision on a policy issue. I want to just get clarification. It's just one resolution that's on the agenda for approval?

That's my understanding.

All right, and just for clarification, just because we differ in housing policies, I wanted to get Council Member Baraja's position that he'll be taking before I vote to support his appointment to that. my position on what the agenda hasn't come out yet yeah there's a proposed resolution on that item in the staff report it shows one resolution about housing that you'll be voting on I would look for guidance from this.

Yeah. So since we have a little time yet, I haven't had a chance to look at the resolution. So I'll work with our city clerk. We'll look at the resolution and then we'll provide a response. So I haven't reviewed yet the resolution to consult with the council member like we would typically do to kind of what's our position. We would use the less platform and some of the policies and the housing elements and so forth to help frame that. So we would definitely not try to deviate from the count city's intended policies or the council's direction overall. But if you give it, we'll have a little more time. So at the next council meeting, I'll be prepared to answer that. I just haven't looked at it yet.

Okay. Okay, well, I just want to make sure we have clarity about what the position is of the city.

And I'm fine with coming back to the council before we go out to legal cities. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Okay, with that, I'll look for a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second. Salazar. Patty, go ahead and call for the question.

Councilmember Barajas? Yes. Councilmember Barrera? Yes. Councilmember DeRigo? Yes. Councilmember De La Rosa? Yes. Councilmember Salazar? Yes. Councilmember Sandoval? Yes. Mayor Donahue? Yes.

Motion passes. Thank you, everyone. All right, we will hear from the city manager.

Yeah, very briefly, you already heard it in public comments, the Averijes closing ceremony is on Friday at 4 o'clock on 1 Main Street. So hopefully everybody will go to that. Happy to report that while the governor still hasn't signed the the budget trailer bill that's before them. It does include a couple of things for Salinas. This year they were thinking about $2 million based on the condition of the state financing budget. And so it includes $1.6 million for stormwater improvement at Cesar Chavez, which is one of the priorities. And then also $1.2 million for the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex. So while that's not directly funded through the city, that is going to the soccer complex. So I think that's good. Also happy to report that since the team's been doing a great job getting their word out, and I think some of the council members as well, since we increased the the grants for our small businesses uh... we have twenty four applications started and we uh... have funded ten new complete applications so just in the span of a month, month and a half uh... the team's done more than we had done previously so i think that's a good thing uh... i think it's also good that uh... your council did approve a slight increase in community sponsorship program we have forty applications I'm sure we're going to be way oversubscribed, but the additional funding will allow us to do a little bit more and that we can make recommendations to your council. So that's coming forward. And then finally, the neighborhood grant program, we're likely to extend it two more weeks. Our library community services director will be getting an update to the council tomorrow. We have 14 applications, but we have a few districts that only have one. So we'll coordinate directly with the council members. I know we've been working with a few of you, so we appreciate that. So we're likely going to extend it by two more weeks, and our director will be reaching out to an email tomorrow. So I just want to report that. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We'll do council member reports, appointments, and future agenda items. Andrew, I'll go ahead and start with you.

Well, thank you very much. It was my honor to attend, I think this is my third year in a row, fourth year, attending the Barcelona Circle Barbecue organized by Maria Lopez. So I want to commend her for her consistency in organizing and facilitating those neighbors to get together. The police department and the fire department provided great updates. I also want to thank Hank and all the neighbors who participated. I met a gentleman named Melvin who works at Hartnell College. And he shared a possible partnership opportunity with students. They're in a construction program. So he said that they could help the city do some projects and gain some experience. So city manager, look for that in your email. This year, I'm sad to report, they did not have chicken salad as they traditionally do. But they did have nopales and other good stuff. And I believe somebody from the fire department shared that they're going to be starting a series of educational workshops around e-bikes and bicycle safety. So I know Eric wants to be involved with anything related to bike safety. So looking forward to that. I also had a chance to attend the first meeting of the North Salinas Mock Trials Club. And one of our, the gentleman who spoke first for our Salinas Youth Commission is the president. So I was really impressed with their format. They helped prepare opening statements and reviewed a case. So I want to commend them for their work. I also attended the Monterey Bay Air Resource District board meeting and Closter Park was an amazing community celebration. There was so many different community groups and Larissa, our former planning commissioner chair, brought her dad, who played softball for the City League. And he was wearing a hat that was probably 30 years old, so it brought him back some very good memories. And just to close off, I want to wish my niece, Aaliyah, a happy third birthday. So happy birthday to her. Thank you, Andrew. Tony?

Great, thank you. Well, we've been invited to First Friday. This should be pretty good, and also the Steinbeck Center is going to have a great event as well. You know, I had a pleasure of being involved in the robotics conference over at the Reservoir Farms. fantastic stuff that's happening in the agriculture i had asked uh... well first of all i'd ask the city manager uh... nathan q or economic development deputy director is going to assist me the missing link at these conferences and they're they're fantastic but are the actual essential field workers the people that are doing the physical work so We want them to know, we're inviting them to know how technology is going to change their industry as well. So we're going to be hosting, it's premature right now, we're putting in the, but we're going to do it. It'll be held at the LSL Hartnell campus. So the date will be given to you later on as we put this thing together. But it should be a lot of fun. Also, Ensign Park, this coming Sunday, I believe they're having a, is it a ribbon cutting? Something like that?

I think it's September 20th, you're thinking of.

Oh, it's not on the 6th. September 20th. Oh, no. Those of you that are listening now, 300,000 of you, it's not on the 6th. El Grito. Give me a round of this. Are we having it September 13th, El Grito? Okay. So El Grito, that's going to be awesome. And... And I want to concur. Clauston Park was awesome. Thank you all. Did you know that Clauston Park is the backyard? We've got hundreds of people, thousands, that live in apartments. And that's their yard right there. That's their green space. Phenomenal. So I want to thank all of you for being part of that. And, you know, these are, even though we're elected by districts, we're here to serve the entire city. So welcome to the LSL, okay? So I want to thank you for that. And, Mayor, thank you for being, I don't know how you do it, Mayor. You're here, you're there, you're everywhere. But the good thing is now you have another mayor in Chinatown that will be able to help you out. So in case you can't make it, hey.

That's right.

Be nice. So thank you very much. I've had a great time with you guys here today. Looking forward to the rest of the meeting. I hope there's still food there. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Jose. Thank you, Mayor. I had an opportunity to have a couple individual constituent meetings, particularly around the Natividad Creek area. We shared a number of concerns around parking. And I'll be following up with our city manager to potentially schedule some meetings, neighborhood meetings, around what permitted parking could look like in East Salinas, particularly around those areas that are highly impacted. Also had an opportunity to attend the Central Coast Community Energy Risk Management Committee meeting. Also wanted to let you all know that there are still free aquarium tickets. Also had an opportunity to attend Rugged Eyes. I know Mayor and Council Member Barrera were also there with Reservoir Farms. One thing that particularly stood out for me was just how much people knew about Salinas, right? There were folks from India, from Israel, from China, from all parts of the world But everyone had Salinas as top of mind for a place to invest, for a place to innovate, and for a place to make the next big thing happen. And it was really inspiring to kind of see that from the outside, right? So that it's not just something that we see internally, but it's something that we've built up to the point where the rest of the world also sees us as that in and of itself. Also, I'll be attending the Siempre Latinos 9th Annual Alfred Diaz Infante Awards Ceremony, which will be honoring Soledad Mayor Ana Velasquez. Get your tickets. It'll be celebrated right here in Salinas at 1 Main Street on the 12th. And then also reiterating City Manager Mendez's that the Legislature approved $1.2 million for the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex. It's going over to the governor's desk under the budget trailer bill. So fingers crossed we'll get that approved and an additional $1.6 million for stormwater improvements at Cesar Chavez Park. I know there's been a number of us along with city staff that have been really pushing forward for those projects. So really happy to see our state legislature come through on those projects. Thank you.

All right. Aurelio. Yeah. Just want to share and announce I had the opportunity to attend the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority meeting that we had on August 20th over in Gonzales. I also had the opportunity to attend the Police Activities League Car Show in Old Town, their 11th annual car show. Also, I just wanted to share again, I know that we've heard and seen this around town. Again, the American Cancer Society, their annual Relay for Life. Again, Saturday, September 19, 2026, 4 o'clock at the Salinas City Center, 100 Block Main Street here in Salinas. Just wanted to encourage anyone that has had a family or a friend pass away from cancer or currently fighting cancer to support their luminarias. Also do want to thank Jacob's Heart for being here tonight regarding their work in helping family and children. go through that horrible battle with cancer. I just want to, again, extend my gratitude and thanks for all the work that they do. Also, this Friday, as we all know, First Friday, we've also got the Salinas Lowrider Council. They are having their Salinas First Friday Cruise beginning at 6 o'clock, meeting over at the Salinas train station. And the Salinas Lowrider Council, they're asking everyone to respect the street and businesses. So come and support our local businesses. Also this Friday, just a friendly reminder, at the farm, they're having their footloose on the farm from 6 to 8 p.m. And they're letting everybody know to come by for an evening of family fun and line dancing. uh... gates will open at five p m also i had an opportunity to speak with the city manager early this week uh... this november there's a proposition on the ballot and just wanted to confirm with him and his office our our housing position as you know the city of salinas and other local municipalities and nonprofit organizations have received funding uh... for mortgage down payment assistance. That funding is also for veterans housing. It's an important ballot. Fortunately, that funding was not included in the governor's annual budget, and it's a little bit over $11 billion available for housing programs. And I just want to make sure that we continue to let voters know that they will also be voting on that this November, and equally important.

Thank you. Gloria?

On August 20th, I attended the Relay for Life. We painted the town purple. And the following evening, I went to the Solid Waste Employee Dinner at San Juan Grade, yeah, the golf over there. And then I also attended a community human service meeting where... they have decided, the board, that we're going to move around the meetings. So we're gonna be holding meetings in every city that are joint powers. And Salinas will have the honor of providing the meeting in October. And I'm turning to my city manager right now. Is that correct? Correct. Yes? Yes. So in October, I believe it's the 18th. I'm not, am I correct on that date?

October, it'll be on October 15th and it'll be in our Valley Conference room. Yes.

So we're going to be moving those meetings around. So thank you. I also attended the Closter Park event, which is a great event for the entire community. And that same day we went over to support, and Margaret can give her report, we supported our Chinese community. They had a barbecue at Toro Park, and it was attended by a lot of the Chinese community from San Francisco and Monterey County. And I want to give a shout out to Gil's Basketball. They were also there having a barbecue and trying to recruit, you know, families for their Gil's Basketball. And then that same evening, Margaret and I attended a foundation gala for Hartnell College, which was very well attended, and they also had their western stage, you know, they do their place, their live place, and I recommend that if you have a chance to attend that Sounds, it's called Sounds, it's a lot of singing, and Some of you might know Leti Caldera, that I'm very honored to know her. She's part of Trato Campesino. She's a great actress and a great singer. And she grew up here in Salinas. So, Leti, kudos to Leti. And for future agenda items, I would like to bring forward the ordinance on our taco trucks. I've asked for it in the past. I think we need to know more about the ordinance and how it's presently working with these roving trucks. I am very glad to see on the events that we're having in the evenings, Those are great, but we need to look at this ordinance. We have a lot of complaints from the brick and mortars. And also a report on code enforcement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, as Gloria said, I've been her plus one for all these great events. Thankfully, she lets me know what's going on in Salinas so I can join her. The Chinese luncheon at Toro Park was great. I met a lot of new people. What a beautiful culture. And they're so positive about Salinas and the future of Salinas. It was really refreshing to be around people that really saw the good in what we're doing here. And I felt very energized when I left there. I also want to, well, I've been to most of the events that you guys already mentioned, so I won't go over those as well. I do have a couple things coming up on October 18th. It's a Sunday. We're going to have our first East of Eden car show over at the Heritage Park, and it's put on by the Steinbeck House, and I'm a volunteer there, and I'm going to be one of the chairs for the event, so Hopefully you'll come out and see that, eat some food, see some beautiful cars, and just support the future maintenance needs of the Steinbeck House, which has been here for a very long time. Very important part of my past and future. I also wanted to remind that we talked about inviting the Ag Commissioner to come and present a report on pesticides and what's going on in the community. And I think that it would be nice to have it in this format. They can make a presentation so we could all hear it and the general public could come as well. So I know that we've been talking about that. I think that's a really important priority. I also want to echo Leah's comment on the spay and neuter ordinance. The county just adopted it in July. It's in effect and I would like to start having that conversation about Salinas doing the same as well so we can get our pet community in a safer place and reduce our shelter overload and euthanasia and things like that. I also want to try to get a budget for the Chinatown renovation. I know we're doing a lot of work that I'd like to know what that big ticket item looks like as far as how much we're going to be spending. I see one of my friends in the audience who came to one of my District 3 meetings and I ran into her again today and she mentioned striping on her street on College Avenue or College Street. So there are people that are really, really concerned about not having that center line and it's very dangerous. So I'm hoping that we can have not only a pavement plan and a sidewalk plan but a striking plan so that we can make sure our streets are safe for pedestrians and for cars to travel. The cluster park thing was wonderful. I loved hanging out with all you guys dancing with Gloria and it was really fun and it was just a beautiful yeah beautiful community event. It was just fantastic and so what that means is that we can we can do it here in our city and that means that District 3 wants it too. So I'm going to be coming after you guys for support for Central Park, which is the center park in District 3. It's very old. It's very antiquated. I don't think it's had attention for a long time, except maybe some paint. So I'd love to see it look as beautiful as Closter Park. It's a very heavily utilized park in the middle of our district. Now that you guys have kind of created the model for it on how to get the funding and everything, I'll be looking to you, Tony especially, to help lead the way and help me figure out how to navigate that. It's going to be a long project, but I'm going to want to start on that soon. And then I'm requesting for... the Heritage Park presentation team to be on the agenda for the 914th Historic Resources Board. They've been bumped two to three times. I'm still not understanding why, but they really want to make a presentation about what's going on at Heritage Park and I really want that to be considered and put on the agenda for 914. And then we talked a lot about traffic calming. That's kind of my new thing. Potholes was last year. This is traffic calming year. So I really encourage our city staff to go out and look for new and innovative ways to manage traffic calming. You know, when a beacon light at an area costs $800,000, there's got to be a better way. We simply can't afford those kind of projects. And then also just looking for different ways to have speed bumps or traffic calming in our city. So I encourage us to go out and, you know, go to trade shows or whatever we can to get information about what different cities are using and what's effective. And I think that wraps it up for me. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Thank you, Margaret. Just a couple things. I'll just kind of pick up on what is said. The GBA barbecue was nice. What was interesting and what I appreciate is, you know, each year they use that event to announce where they're going next. And having just had the Alabrijes here with their Oaxacan roots, next year Gil will be going to Oaxaca. So I think that's, you know, and part of the idea was really to hopefully, you know, and the arts obviously have lots of visibility here, but, you know, the Alibre has really has in a new way put us on the map. And so I like that connection and continuity. And apparently we should probably all be forewarned ahead of time. The Oaxacans have really colorful basketball courts. So I have a feeling there'll be an expectation that Foster Park or somewhere for one of those. Yeah, I suspected you were. The other thing I'll just note and pick up on the ruggedized conference, you know, Salinas is, you know, I used... to kind of from a mayoral, this is the fresh nerve center of the planet. And oh by the way, it actually is because of the size of the agricultural base that we're here. And so from an innovation standpoint, dozens of countries do come here. And one of the things that is going on at Reservoir Farms is he, I think they're up to, it's either 19 or 20 startups from all over the world. And so that is a significant thing. And one of the things, Danny Bernstein, who's running Rugged Eyes, you know, the technology's been in the, you know, innovation's not new per se. The technology's been in the city for a number of years, but one of the value adds of Reservoir is they also want to help companies get capital, and so not just have technology, but become companies. And we in Salinas want to be attentive to some of those opportunities that those companies will be in Salinas. So there's a lot going on there. And there's an economic development opportunity as well. So I'm glad others got to participate and see that. I think that's important. So terrific. So with that, we are going to head back into closed session. We will be back for council again on September 15th. So this meeting is adjourned and we're heading to closed session.

that were having us there in Monterey County this weekend.