Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I call to order the closed session meeting of the Mayor and City Council at 4.31 p.m. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome and thank you for being here and thank you to those of you remotely. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Sanchez?

Here. Council Member Barr is not present. Council Member Figueroa?

Here.

Council Member Charette is not present. Mayor Pro Tem Knoss? Here. Council Member Flores?

Present.

Council Member Ortiz? Here. And Mayor Tran? Here.

Thank you. Moving on to public comments for closed session. Madam City Clerk, do we have any public comments? We have no public comments for closed session. Thank you. Are there any comments or statements from Mr. City Attorney?

No, Madam Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. Any comments from the City Council? Seeing none, we will convene to close session at 4.31 p.m. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome and thank you for being here and thank you to those viewing remotely. I call to order this joint regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council and the Mayor and City Council acting as the successor agency to the redevelopment agency of the City of San Bernardino, the San Bernardino City Housing Authority and as the San Bernardino Joint Powers Finance Authority at 5.07 p.m. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Sanchez? Here. Councilmember Barra? Present. Councilmember Figueroa?

Here.

Councilmember Charette?

Here.

Mayor Patem Canas? Here. Councilmember Flores?

Present.

Councilmember Ortiz? Here. And Mayor Tran? Here. Thank you.

We will move on to invocation and pledge. Pastor Dion Taylor from Cruz Chacon Foundation will lead tonight's invocation. Please approach the podium at this time. And Damon Delgado from Pacific High School will lead us in a Pledge of Allegiance. Please all rise.

Awesome. Welcome to the beautiful city of San Bernardino. Amen. We thank God for the wonderful election that we had yesterday. Amen. Give it up for our mayor. Amen. Your re-election. Amen. Just want to make a brief announcement, if I may. We will be in sponsorship with Deucey's and Fellowship and with my bishop, Bishop Dan Frazier. We will be having a neighborhood block party over at Norton Elementary School at 747 North Mountain View Avenue, where we'll be having free giveaways, food, several clothing items, as well as furniture items and different sorts of things like that. We ask that the city please show up and come out. We're still and continue to do great things in the city of San Bernardino. Father God, we just ask that we pray now. Thank you, Lord, for an opportunity to come before you, before our beautiful council, Lord Jesus. We just ask, Father God, that you just continue to watch over them, Father God. Lead and guide us, Lord Jesus. We know, Father God, that many things are going on, but we know, Father God, that you're in control of them all. We ask, Father God, that you would lead your people. Bless them. Give them the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, Father God, to make those leadership decisions, Father God, for your constituents, Father. You are no respecter of person, Father God, from the greatest to the least, Father God. You, Father God, control all man minds and control their hearts, Lord. So we thank you, Father God, for the staff, for the council that we have here today and our mayor, Lord Jesus, that you would continue to be with them. Bless their families. Bless their homes, Lord. and continue to bless our beautiful city, Father God. We just ask that, Lord Jesus, you just put in our hearts, Father God, any malice or any contempt, anything that's going on that's in someone's heart tonight, Father God. We just ask that you rest it right now, Lord Jesus. For, Father, you said where unity is, Father God, there is nothing that we can't do. So as we stand together in the city of San Bernardino, Father, we stand in unity together, Father God. Whether we agree or disagree, we stand together for you, Father God, and for all that you're going to do. For you said, Lord, for they said, can anything come good out of Nazareth? Father, but our Savior Jesus Christ came from Nazareth, Lord. And they say, can anything good come from San Bernardino? Look at all of these wonderful people here today, Father God. and look at our future. We ask that you continue to bless us, build us, strengthen us. In your name, Father God, in Jesus' name, amen.

Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, and liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Pastor Taylor, and thank you, Damien. Closed session report. Mr. City Attorney, is there anything to report from closed session?

Madam Mayor, thank you. Mayor and Council met to discuss the single item listed on the closed session portion of the agenda. There is no reportable action from closed session. That concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now move on to presentations. We have some great presentations today. We have five total. Council would like to move, approach to the front of the stage, and Mayor Pro Tem will present the first one, and that is the Certificates of Recognition for Cajon High School Golf Team, 2026 CIO. Southern Section Division 7 Championship. Gajon High School golf team and coach, please come on stage, join us.

Thank you guys for being here.

over here on the right side slide over here to the side

Well, they deserve that round of applause. Is this on?

Oh, wonderful.

Well, it is an absolute privilege for me to honor these gentlemen here tonight. I am a proud Cajon cowgirl myself, and woo-hoo! Go Cowboys! And it is always amazing when we have our own homegrown, putting on for the city of San Bernardino. And that is what these gentlemen did when they took home the 2026 CIF Division VII Championship. Let's give them another round of applause. Now I picked up a golf club about the age of six and put it right back down. It definitely is a game of a lot of mental acumen, patience, which I obviously didn't have. You guys exhibited a tremendous amount of skill and I congratulate you guys. I present this certificate on behalf of our mayor and city council. I would like to give it to the coaches. And I want to give a special recognition to the coaches as well, because it is you guys that step in every day to mentor these young men. It wasn't just about building up the skill. And with that, if we don't mind, I would like to bring another partner on stage, 61Golf. If you can come up, please. Now, 61 Golf is local to our city. They are a partner with San Bernardino City Unified School District. They have after school program for our EXL. And they, in their organization, invest not just their time mentoring the youth, but if anyone knows golf, golf is a pretty expensive game. This organization makes sure that our youth are equipped with the necessary equipment to play the game of golf. They are a big partner here in the city of San Bernardino, and I wanna make sure that they are recognized as well. So 61Golf, thank you so much for your contributions to our youth here in the city of San Bernardino. All right, and I have one more special recognition. Now, this young man has been accepted into a very prestigious golf program. He will be on his way to UNLV. He was able to earn a spot, only 16 available. He was one of those 16 recipients. Andrew Soriano. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Soriano, are you up here on stage? Here we go. From parent to parent, I want to say kudos to you. It's not easy. I say being a parent is one of the most challenging yet rewarding jobs you will ever have. So kudos to you and Mrs. Soriano for this honor, because I know that you are celebrating with your son. So kudos to you guys.

Oh, that's it?

Coach, would you have a few words to say to us? Yes.

I'm going to keep it short, but I just want to say thank you to everybody for showing up and showing out. Last year, at this moment in time, there wasn't going to be a golf team or golf program at Cajon High School. And that was something that hurt me because I played on the team when I was in high school. And for these boys to come out, for the parents, for everybody to show up the way that they did this year, it's tremendous. It's phenomenal. It's what's needed. When we go to Redlands Country Club and when we go to Yucaipa and when we go to all these places, they look at us like, San Bernardino. And we did this. And it doesn't happen without the support of everybody. Without the support of 61 and all of the different people on the stage, we don't win it. We don't go and do that. And our boys, for just countless hours, they turned into golf nuts. And I loved it. They got crazier about golf than even I did it a lot of times. So just a shout out to them. Shout out to Andrew and Gavin and Freddie for being the best captains that we could have

We have just a simple Mission change the way you think about golf I That's it. We shorten it to Change Think Golf. So everybody here, we say very simply, if you don't play golf, you should try, and if you do play golf, you should try to connect someone else with the game. Simple as that.

All right, thank you.

Now we'll all huddle in for a photo. All right, huddle, you guys. Can you capture all of them, or should I get on stage? Can I have some of you come this way? Don't be shy. Come on.

Right here. There we are.

Sam and Dina Strong, right, y'all? Give a round of applause. Thank you. Thank you, Maripol Town. Thank you to the Cajon High School golf team. Coach and Brianna, are you here? You're here in spirit. Okay, next presentation. I see the coyote mascot here. Hi, how you doing? You're next. The recognition of California State University of San Bernardino Men's Baseball 2025-26 CCAA Tournament Championship. Please come on stage.

Some of the guys come this way, bounce ourselves out.

All right. Recognition from the Mayor and City Council proudly presented to CSUSB Baseball 2025-26 CCAA Tournament Championships. Congratulations on a phenomenal season. Your dedication and your commitment to representing CSUSB and the City of San Bernardino with pride and integrity are truly commendable. Presented on June 3rd, 2026. Thank you.

We can't thank the city enough for what they did for us in our field this year. Just having the maintenance and the field was beautiful. For all you guys that have ever been out to Fiscalini Field, it's not what it looks like today, what it did a few probably years ago. But I will tell you what, the maintenance, the help. The city coming in and fixing the restrooms and just giving us an opportunity to host a tournament and give us ability. And Kim knows this more than to host this is huge for us. And we've never hosted. So for us to host and to win this thing was great. And it's all because the city gave us the opportunity.

Beautiful. Thank you. Squeeze in just a tad, everyone. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Big round of applause for these championships. All right, next, still within California State University of San Bernardino, recognition of California State University of San Bernardino Men's Golf 2025-26 NCAA Nationals. Please come up to the stage.

Thank you.

Representing the team? Oh, yeah. Yes. So, on behalf of the Mayor's City Council, we want to congratulate on a phenomenal season. Again, your dedication commitment to representing CSUSB in the city of San Bernardino with pride and integrity are truly commendable. Presented today, June 3rd, 2026. Thank you. Quick picture. Thank you. Great job, great job. Great job. You're not leaving. Yes, the mascot's not leaving. Because we have another recognition. Cal State showing up strong. Let's bring up CSUSB Women's Volleyball.

Hey, how you doing? Thank you.

Thank you so much. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Hello. Hi. Congratulations. Thank you. Here.

And we'll put the... Do you want to hold it?

Yeah.

Awesome, love it.

Great. From the Marion City Council, proudly present to the CSUSB Women's Volleyball 2025-26 CCAA Tournament Championships. Congratulations on a phenomenal season. Wow, you guys are really showing up. I love it. Representing Sam Bernardino. And thank you for representing CSUSB and the City of San Bernardino with pride and integrity that are truly commendable. Thank you so, so much.

Just want to thank everybody for the recognition. I think these types of events are so formative and important for these girls to see that their community really does support them. And in times when there's a lot of negativity going on, You can believe that there are some really positive things happening at Cal State San Bernardino. Our baseball, golf team, all of our teams had tremendous years, but it's so exciting to see three of our programs here represented and playing at such a high championship level. It was really exciting to see Cajon Golf here and their story. So it just makes me really optimistic about the things that are happening in San Bernardino.

Thank you. Big round of applause for this team. Great job! Okay, thank you. We have lots of talents that come out of San Bernardino, right? That is beautiful. Thank you so much to all of the talents, Cal State, Cajon High School, our school district. You guys are producing talent. Our final presentation is the proclamation for Pride Month in the City of San Bernardino, June 2026. Presented to the City of San Bernardino Parks and Recreation and Community Services Director, Vanessa Carter and staff. Please come up on stage.

We're going to hold this right here.

Pride! Beautiful! Okay. Proclamation of the Mayor and City Council proclaiming June 26 as Pride Month in the City of San Bernardino, whereas Pride Month is observed annually to recognize and celebrate the history, achievements, resilience, and contributions of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and LGBTQ plus community, and whereas the City of San Bernardino values diversity equity, inclusion, and the dignity of every resident and recognizes that our community is strengthened when all people are treated with respect, compassion, and acceptance. And whereas LGBTQ plus individuals have made meaningful contributions to the cultural, civic, economic, educational, and social fabric of our city and continue to play an important role in building a more inclusive and vibrant community. And whereas Pride Month serves as an opportunity to honor those who have advocated for equality and justice while reaffirming our shared commitment to creating safe, welcoming and supportive spaces for all residents regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. And whereas the City of San Bernardino encourages unity, understanding, and mutual respect among all members of the community and remains committed to fostering a city where every individual can live authentically, and without fear of discrimination. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Mayor and City Council of the City of San Bernardino do hereby proclaim the month of June 26 as Pride Month in the City of San Bernardino, and call upon all residents, businesses, and community organizations to honor the diversity and dignity of every member of our community, to stand against discrimination in all its forms, and to celebrate the strength, joy, and resilience of the LGBTQ plus community throughout this month and every day of the year. Presented on this third day of June 2026.

I'd like to thank and accept the proclamation on behalf of the city and standing with our department is committed to continue to be inclusive and equitable to all of our community and to continue to thrive and have welcoming spaces for everybody. And we want you to join us on Saturday, June 20th from 4 to 10 at Court Street Square where we will be hosting our Pride Night event. Fourth annual, yes. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That concludes our presentations. We will now move on to public hearing number six, continuation of a public hearing from May 6th, 2026, introduction of the ordinance number MC, is there a number for this? No, MCXXX, amending various sections of title 15 of the San Bernardino Municipal Code adopting the new 2025 building code, Staff is requesting to continue this item to June 17th, 2026.

Madam Mayor, it's actually to July 15th. That was incorrect. It's July 15th we're asking for the continuing.

To continue to the July 15th.

Correct.

2026. The public hearing was opened on May 6th, 2026, and continued to June 3rd, 2026. At this time, staff is requesting the public hearing to be continued to July 15th, 2026. And the agenda is stated June 17th, but the correct date, as you said, Mr. City Manager, is July 15th. Can I get a motion to continue this item to July 15th, 2026? Thank you for the motion. Council Member Charette, seconded by Council Member Ortiz. Madam City Clerk, please call for the votes.

Council Member Sanchez.

Repeat the motion, please.

The motion is to continue this hearing, public hearing item, to July 15th, 2026.

Yes.

Council Member Ibarra. Yes. Council Member Figueroa.

Yes.

Council Member Charette. No worries. Mayor Potemkinas? Yes. Councilmember Flores? Yes. Councilmember Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Moving on to Item 7, Introduced Ordinance Number MC1664, Specific Plan Amendment 23-01 and Subdivision 23-05, Tentative Tract Map 20595, University Hills Specific Plan. The public here was open on May 6, 2026 at 6.16 p.m. Could staff provide an update on this item?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, Council, and community. So we had response to comments from the 5-6-26 Mayor and City Council meeting. The item was continued from the May 6, 2026 City Council meeting to address concerns raised by California State University San Bernardino. City staff and the applicant met with Cal State San Bernardino officials on May 27 and June 2 to discuss concerns related to public safety, the timing of the MOU, development impact fees, and traffic improvements. City staff and Cal State San Bernardino representatives will continue discussions regarding police staffing in the northern portion of the city and the existing police response in the MOU. The proposed specific plan amendment reduces the project to 327 units, which is less impactful than the original 980 unit project. In addition, the conditions annexing the project into CFD number 2018-1 provides additional assurance that the public safety impacts will be properly addressed. So without Cal State's consent, the project wouldn't be able to move forward, so the request will be met. So that was the update that we did have. I do have the applicant here to answer any questions concerning any other regards.

Thank you. Do we have any requests to speak from the members of the public?

Mayor, we have two requests to speak, one from Jane Hunt Rubel and Luke Berger.

If you hear your name, please proceed to the podium. You have three minutes. Please state your name for the record. Thank you.

Yeah, there we go. I watch it on TV. Anyway, I'm here to talk about, I love that part of Cal State. I went there in 1970 and 71. And that became my favorite habitat of all times. So I was really concerned when I saw this brought up. Because I went that whole area. It's a beautiful sage habitat. And the state owns some, you know, on the other side. And I've been pressing for years to try to get, that's an important part of San Bernardino City, as far as I'm concerned. The beauty of this city is the foothill areas in the mountains. And we gotta start protecting them. Especially from fires building, they keep on building up it, like Convertamont. They build one fire after another. It destroys the whole town. They build further up. And according to this, I was at the Board of Supervisors meeting a couple weeks ago, which I always attend, and I'm here tonight to talk. I still haven't seen a copy of the 2025 edition of the California Fire Code and the 2025 edition of the California Wildland Urban Interface Code. And I've always been concerned about that, because after all these fires, which they come down, that's where they start, mostly, and do the most damage. And I'm really concerned about, so I spoke to, you know, our fire district, and I really wish you'd reconsider. It should all be saved, what's left of it, because we are going to have another fire. And I just want to see that able to protect it so I can go hiking up there again, because that's my only solitude place I can turn to. I live in Muscovy, and I have to drive clear over there against traffic and everything now to find solitude. I used to be on the county's Trails and Greenway Committee, but That's a struggle, but the beauty of San Bernardino City is its foothill area, and right now I'm trying to still protect Lionel Cajon Wash also. So anyway, I wish you'd move this on a lot. Are you gonna move on with it, or is it gonna be heard again as far as approving it? Because I'd really like to know, are you going to have just the final hearing on it? I would just like to know that. But anyway, I'd really appreciate if you guys would preserve that area. Because that is the beauty. We need more open space for people to enjoy nature. And Cal State, it should be working to really preserve that area. Because for me, it's been a saver for a lot of things. When I'm feeling down or after the fires, I like to go up there and hike. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening. I'm Luke Berger. I'm the president of Crestline Soaring Society, the hang gliding and paradigm gliding club that's located at Andy Jackson Air Park behind the university. I'm really disappointed. I wish I could have come here and changed our position on this project to support it. Because fundamentally, the club is not opposing building new homes. We're not. We're only concerned about a few homes in the northwestern corner that pose a danger to our landing risk. I'm also really disappointed because this agenda was posted at the 11th hour on Friday. I saw it on Monday when I returned to my office and had no time to prepare. I'm disappointed because this has not been a dialogue. I personally called Mayor Pro Tem Kim Naus right after the Planning Commission meeting, left her a voicemail. I got no response. My events coordinator Mimi Bouquet also left you a voicemail. No response. After the last meeting, I emailed the mayor's office. I provided my contact information, my club secretary, and my entire board of directors' email addresses. Because last time at the meeting, you did mention you would like to get more feedback from the club. No response from anyone on the council or the city staff asking any questions to us. But at the planning commission meeting, The applicant gets to answer a lot of questions, and they should, and I'm not objecting to that. But we get three minutes to speak. This is not a dialogue. This is a one-way conversation. We haven't had the opportunity to answer questions for you guys, and it doesn't feel like you're very interested. So again, we are not fundamentally opposed to building housing. 315 of those homes. There's about 15 to 16 that pose a serious risk to us and what we do. We have been part of this community for 45 years. Thousands of pilots. I brought my little picture for everybody to see. I showed it last time. If you guys don't know, this is who we are. And this is a part of San Bernardino. I don't understand, you know... We're trying to bring the world championships of hang gliding to San Bernardino, 130 pilots from 40 countries. The world championships of paragliding, 300 pilots from 60 countries. We're trying to bring those events here. These kind of things and endangering the safety of our pilots when they're trying to land at a purpose-built facility that was specifically set aside for us by the state now being threatened. I do want to recognize David Hardy and Encore. They have worked with us. They have. I emailed him yesterday, and he sent me new drawings the next day. However, there's still one particular home that is smack dab in the danger zone, and there are other buildings. It's not all of them. I'm only asking for the city council for carve-outs and concessions to protect what we have. I don't think San Bernardino wants to be known only as the home of McDonald's, and I certainly don't think you want to be known for that TikTok called Only in San Bernardino. You guys are more than that, and you're important to us as well.

Thank you. There are no more speakers. Thank you. I'm now closing public hearing at 5.45 p.m. for deliberation action. Do we have any discussion or comments from the council? I do see Council Member Ortiz, followed by Mayor Potem.

Thank you, Mayor. So we had a fire over the weekend. in the hills and I think, you know, I understand that there are always partnerships that agree to things, but then the long-term issues, the long-term impacts of putting people in fire zones and earthquake zones and the build out of Cal State San Bernardino, 25 years after this project was first introduced, I have a problem living in a city that operates reruns and and 25 year old plans and then talks about what 2050 looks like and so I do believe that we need housing in fact our arena numbers say that we're about 8,000 units down we could have done a lot if we hadn't killed the downtown so why we look to build into the hills where we know we have our most environmental issues is beyond me is why I can't support the project. I just don't see it being, in the long term, a good space. And I think what Cal State has done with the university housing in the front is great. But I think San Bernardino has to do just a better due diligence of not letting people sit for up to three decades on projects. Because then you're going to run into these issues. This isn't your issue. You're just alive and working for the city today. I'm sure the only person that was even around was Lynn Merrill back in the day to be here for this project. So this is never a personal city employee issue. It is a lack of planning, lack of follow through in a timely fashion. And we're seeing that happen. Even projects that were discussed a year ago in the budgetary constraints, we're talking about social, economic, and population growth impacts. And so San Bernardino needs to develop, but we need to make sure your homes aren't burning down. We need to make sure that earthquakes aren't taking them out. We need to make sure that we are... And I know Council... Mayor Potemkin has talked about the impact of expanding the one-ways-in, one-way-out easements on Little League and the University Parkway expansion, which is, I think, I finally went down today, which is an amazing enterprise to get through. But I just don't feel like we've done enough, and I don't think we've prepared our residents enough for the infrastructure needs to take on... new families and new homes. So I just want everybody to know that's why I just can't support it. I want housing, but I want smart and safe housing. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Potem followed by Council Member Ibarra.

So I did have some questions in regards to the ingress-egress, and I was hoping that maybe our chief maybe be able to appoint Chief Yeager if possible. And I've said it before. I'm from Vertamont. My family moved there in 1984. I am a very long time resident of the city of San Bernardino, specifically in Vertamont. And this same issue came up when GFR Homes was being built. And I will repeat, this same issue came up and if we did not move forward with the development, me and my husband and many of the other residents that now live in Vertamont wouldn't have their homes today. So I'm not opposed to housing. I am a YIMBY. We do need housing. We cannot talk about homelessness without talking about housing. Housing is vital and it is important. But I do agree with smart development. And so I did have a conversation with Cal State. I do appreciate the communication and the dialogue that was opened up again. But I do still want to just confirm What has been the process into making sure that the actual safety component, when it comes to the ingress, egress, ensuring that the specific track map that's presented to us, that fire has assessed that map, and they are actually signing off saying, yes, this project is safe.

Good afternoon. Yes, we did sign off. Our office of the fire marshal, based on fire code, did sign off on the ingress and the egress. They had a secondary ingress and egress added to the plan. And then obviously that community as itself, it sits in the fire severity zone. But unfortunately, that's really for insurance purposes. So for us, it meets all fire code that's applicable to date. Yes.

Can you kind of just for my own knowledge here sitting on the council and even for the public, when you guys do this evaluation, what does that consist of?

It consists of a multitude of things. It consists of how we can get in there, our responses, the amount of units that we can get up there in a relative amount of time. It talks about the type of construction. They are fire resistant. This will probably be one of our very first communities that is very fire resistant. They have areas that with fuel reduction around it. So at the end of the day, our Office of the Fire Marshal Plans Department and Permitting Department signed off on it based on current fire codes. Today, as far as we're concerned, the project in our area of concern is a go for us.

When you say current fire codes, how current is current?

The ones from this year will be coming to the council within the next probably 30 to 45 days. They have been adopted by the county. So as far as we're concerned, the city of San Bernardino will probably adopt them. So the 2025 ones that we're currently are using are up to date and the 2026 are right around the corner.

This project was determined based on 2025, which is still relatively current. Absolutely. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Council Member Ibarra, followed by Council Member Ortiz.

I want to thank our speakers. I like the outdoors myself. I like the hiking when I was in Orange County, and I like to see that here, but I'm also not against the housing. The fact that our county fire has an updated plan already in place, and this project has passed their The review speaks volumes. I know the last meeting the developer also came before us. They have been addressing a lot of the issues raised by residents, but I'm wondering if there's a plan for us to help find a safe location for hang lighting to happen, because it seems like we're starting to build up in the hills instead of downtown. Also the hiking. You know, I love the nature. I just, I'm kind of half and half on the project. I do appreciate our fire chief clarifying for the public that these are gonna be one of the most updated homes in the region that will address the fire situation. So I'm just curious, the danger zone that Luke had mentioned, Has that been looked at, or that's part of the review that our fire chief did, the danger zone?

That's correct. As far as, are you talking about the airspace where they would be, the hand gliders?

That's why I wanted to clarify with him, is it for the hand gliding or for the fires that happen up there?

It would be for the fire surveillance.

So now we address earthquakes at the last meeting?

And the whole project in itself, yes.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Casimir Ortiz, followed by Mayor Patem.

Thank you. Chief, I just, and I don't know if you would know this off the top of your head, but how much does it cost the city of San Bernardino to contract with the county for fire services per year? Would you know how much we're paying out of the property tax?

Out of property tax, about $24.5 million.

So our share is about $24.5 million?

Just for property tax by itself. There are other avenues.

And that goes strictly for fire?

Yes.

And so, okay.

Okay.

Because I know when we talk about, you know, housing in Vertamont, I think, you know, in looking at that, and this is more... vocalization than I guess a question for you, because I know we talk about homelessness, but I don't know a homeless person that can afford a million six house. So I just don't, when we talk about comparisons of building housing, not so much because I work and I can't afford a million six for a house in Vertamont. So I just see like when we talk about actually addressing issues that concern regular people versus those that are in need. we're on two different wavelengths so uh that's just that's just me but maybe because i live you know actually in the city um i have a different perspective because my home's not worth a million dollars so uh but there's that uh and then i guess the i'll go to uh city manager for this one so you're great but thank you for that so 24 million dollars is what we're roughly allotted to the county for our portion of fire how much does the city collect in property tax per year city manager

The property tax goes directly to the county, so it doesn't flow through the city.

Right, but do we know how much that is?

It's the amount that the fire chief...

It's only $24 million a year? Because we contracted out to the county for a $65 million bill roughly a decade ago, so...

I can double-check that, but yeah, I don't have that right in front of me, but... The property tax goes directly to the county, doesn't it?

Right, but we should have an accounting of that. I think when we talk about fire, and, you know, when we talk about what we're expending, when we talk about, you know, building homes, million-dollar homes, and what the property tax on a million-dollar home is, and, you know, what we are, like, really, what's the bottom line? Because at some point, you know, we're going to need more fire stations. We're going to need, I mean, you're signing off today because... It's up to your code, but what is the true cost in the long term? I think it's an important question as we develop, as we build out. What do we pay? And I'll give you a perfect example. My home was built in 1940. The former property tax on it was $500 a year because it was a $60,000 house when it sold in 2009. And the property tax is well over $4,000 today. And so you're talking pre-bankruptcy? Post-bankruptcy. Why don't we have those numbers? Because it's going to cost. We want fire stations, but what does that cost us, and how does that work in conjunction with signing off on building more homes? So that's just some more information I'd like to hear. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Potem, followed by Councilmember Sanchez.

Well, I would like to say Verdamont is quite diverse, just like all of San Bernardino. I wish my home was worth $1.6 million, but it is not. We have very diverse housing typologies, just again, like all of San Bernardino. So every house is in a million dollars. But to move on past that, I would like to know the developer, someone, a representative was here, is that correct?

Yes, they're here. Madam Mayor, I'd recommend that you reopen the public hearing.

Okay, I will reopen the public hearing at 5.57 p.m.

So I did want to just ask, because the gentleman that came from the Hang Gliding Association, he did mention that you guys have been pretty responsive. You guys have made some concessions in regards to the actual track map. What couldn't be reached? Why is there still the disconnect to where they're still going back and forth?

As I understand it, it is a number of homes along the west property line in between our property and the Hang Gliding Park. What this really comes down to is Paradise Hills was approved in the early 90s. That was the original tract residential development that was approved by the city of San Bernardino at that time. After that approval, the state of California proposed to construct the air park where it is today. The city of San Bernardino and the developer at that time submitted a letter to the state of California that said, there is housing approved at this location where you're proposing to build a hang gliding landing zone. adjacent, right adjacent to the future houses. But the state of California said essentially is no big deal, they can just get better insurance. I'm just, it's not the exact words, but that was essentially what they said. That is part of the EIR. That's the common response letter. That was then re-approved in 2008 when the university specific plan was approved at that time. So we are consistent with the current approved plan of the homes that are along the West PL. In terms of the concessions that we made, it's not removing homes. It is decreasing the density significantly by two-thirds as to how many homes we're removing. And we have been able to lower the pad heights to a degree that I think I mentioned last month. There's a 108-inch pipeline that transacts your site. So there's only so much we can lower the site because that pipeline's not moving. So with exception to removing more homes from the property, I don't think we can come to full agreement with the air park.

And I'm sorry, because I thought he had said it was just one home in question.

There is one that's in the worst spot, but there's about 12 that...

Mr. C, I'm going to start because you're speaking from that. Can you approach the podium? Mr. Secretary, is that okay to have?

It's up to your discretion, Mayor. You can allow him to speak.

Thank you.

Lot 327 is in that corner. It is the most dangerous. The 6 to 12 homes in the L shape of the northwestern corner. That's when we're at our lowest point of approach when we're coming in for a landing. Almost... Over 300 of the homes, probably at least 250 of them, are so far west or south that they don't pose much of a risk at all. We're very high over the tops. But we land like an aircraft. We come down, we get into ground effect. When we're in ground effect, we're only 10 to 15 feet off the ground. We have to be going in one direction, and we can't change that direction. We're also at the mercy of nature. The predominant winds that are south-southeast take us on a diagonal path across the landing zone. And if it worked like that 100% of the time, there would be almost zero risk. But sometimes the winds change. We approach from the east to the west. I have personally landed over there 300 times. I've hit pockets of sink that if I were on a glide path that I thought was good, where my feet wouldn't touch the ground until I was over the grass, but then I hit that pocket of sink, it could put me right into the roof of lot 327. And the other ones that are there You know, I mean, I don't understand how they can build all the houses that are on the northern edge at all because of the elevation, the mudslide, the fire risk. That's not for me to judge. I think it's risky. But I want to mention something about the state of California and what they did. I previously mentioned at the previous meeting the brief history. The air park was privately owned. The state came in and did the Devil's Canyon hydroelectric plant. The original owners... not wanting to be combative and knowing that they would lose, agreed to the eminent domain and asked the state, will you relocate the flight park? They did that. David's correct about who talked to who about what. I was in high school when that happened. But here's the thing. That was another developer, and they failed to build. And then there was another developer, and they failed to build. We're looking at this plan like it's one entity, like Encore was on this for 30 years. Now, the previous developer that failed was because of the financial crisis and building homes was no longer financially viable. I don't know why the developer from the 90s failed to build. But we were put in that position because of the Devil's Canyon Hydroelectric Plant. We were moved. And David is right, and even though there was arguments about who said what first and who actually moved the air park and what the dates are, doesn't matter. The state put us in extremis by moving us somewhere where there was residential, but then it didn't happen for 30 years. So here I am in the middle trying to make sense of all of it. But again, most of those homes aren't a big risk, just the ones that are closest to the corner where we get closest to the ground.

Thank you. For the gentleman from the development company, Now, obviously, I'm not a developer. And I do know that there's an extensive amount of cost associated with what you guys are doing. But I do have to ask, is it possible that you guys can make some more concessions to come to that happy median so the project can get developed, but then we are not impacting the other activities that have been going on in that area for, I guess, what, 30 years?

Sure. Yeah, we completely understand the concern. But here's what we're up against. We originally went to DERC in the summer of 2024. The site plan at that time proposed 427 units. There were two additional planning areas to the east of where the current planning area is now. Following that DRC meeting, we received a comment letter expressing concerns over access and traffic from CSUSB. We reworked the site plan to eliminate roughly 90 units from that site plan and redo the circulation. So again, we are taking a project. That is approved for 980 units, and we have eliminated two-thirds of that unit count. Now we're being asked to eliminate more units on top of that. Section 12.88 of the city's municipal code cites that hang gliding is illegal in the city limits of San Bernardino. So for us to amend their site plan for an illegal activity doesn't seem fair to us. We are adamantly trying to work our best to accommodate the air park we really are. But there's only so much we can do to make this project financially feasible.

Can city staff opine on the legality comment, please?

I've reviewed the portion of the municipal code. My understanding is over time, the hang gliders activities have been on state-owned land, county-owned land, and now on this project, either all of it or some portion of it is on city-owned land. If the portion, if... Areas of land where they fly over are county-owned land, then that code will not apply. But it sounds like the landing area, if it is city-owned, then it would apply. And it's just a question of that the city has not enforced over time. I can't speak to that. But it would be enforceable.

So do we have something on the books? We have a current ordinance in our city. Yes, you do. That says it prohibits hang gliding.

I'll read it to you. Could you have that paper you gave me? So this is Chapter 12.88, and it states, it is unlawful for any person to engage in the activity of hang gliding in or over any place within city limits, except in those places recommended by the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Services and approved by the Mayor and City Council. As used in this chapter, hang gliding means any activity whereby any person or persons glide, float, or sail through the air. in or on a hang glider. A hang glider means a glider, kite, hot air balloon, device, or contrivance so constructed that it will carry a person on wind, air, or human power. And this ordinance originally was put on the books in 1978, and it was last amended in 1985.

Okay, so it's a very old ordinance and obviously has not been followed. But to that, we would not be able to bring the World Hang Gliding Championship unless we changed that. And that's something for the council to maybe consider. What I would like to do in my position here, I would like to find a happy medium. I do really sincerely appreciate you guys. I met with a representative just for me as a resident years ago, and I know that things have changed hands. So I do want to thank you guys for being amenable to reducing the amount of housing units. I know for even me as a resident, when I saw 927 homes being packed into the hills, again, I've been here, I was here with the 04 fires. That was to me a little bit excessive, especially for that area. So I did appreciate that you guys were willing and have reduced the amount of homes. I do have to ask, if you are amenable to reducing more. And with that ask, I do want to ask, is there any legal compliance that we would be out of in making this ask?

So the application was a part of Senate Bill 330, which the city couldn't ask for more in order to make the project not feasible. So we couldn't say, could we change the site plan? And they couldn't change it. We couldn't ask them to change it if they couldn't, based off that Senate bill. And Albert can elaborate a little bit more.

Yeah, if you could, because I'm not understanding.

Mike, I need some clarification on what you just said before I give my opinion. Well, the developer can explain a little bit more.

Can you explain the 330 application, sir?

Yeah, so back in, I believe it was 2021, when we submitted the specific plan amendment, as part of that application was an SB 330 Housing Accountability Act application. So there are certain protections that the state provided to, for one, streamline somewhat, but we're six years into this process, so maybe not so much streamlining, but also just protect that the and see through that the project is approved. For council to vote no on this, they would have to make specific findings. There's a list of them, and maybe the city attorney can opine on what those findings are. But it's...

I can't speak for the rest of my colleagues. For me, it's not a no. I've been very vocal. When I came into office, I had a community visioning survey. Some of those participants of that survey are here in this audience tonight. One of the components of that was my constituents' desires for housing. Overwhelmingly, the constituents of the Fifth Ward are in favor of more housing. So that's not the concern. I think we want the housing, but again, we want to make sure it's a smart development and that it really does tie into the fabric of our community and works for us. So that's what I'm asking.

Sure. Yeah. And then one of the things that we're really stressing upon when we redesigned the site plan was in areas in particular to the west property line as it interfaces with the air park. We weren't changing or increasing intensity of uses right there. We respected the open space to the far northwest corner to provide space. that landing approach zone. In 2007, the then Crestline president submitted a letter of support for the University Hills project because that project didn't accommodate that approach zone area. And then in 2008, a new board came on and they challenged the project, but that's why that open space is accommodated there. So we're not, again, we're not increasing the intensity of any housing that's on the 2008 plan that's part of the current city's general plan. So again, we're in a tough spot here because not only is this project being asked to annex into a certain CFD that's going to increase the taxes on those residents, the Public Works asked this project to be completely private. So now all the streets, utilities, open space, landscape lighting are now being part of an HOA. And we get that. We're happy to accommodate that because we understand that the city, for budgetary constraints reasons, that That large development area would would pose a problem for the city So we're having to accommodate that when you start eliminating so many housing units from the project.

It's just simply doesn't pencil anymore Understand, thank you Thank you councillor Sanchez followed by council Ortiz followed by councillor Ibarra.

I had my questions answered.

Thank you Council Ortiz followed by Ibarra Thank You mayor

Real quick, and I'm trying to look for it. Was the thing about the hang lighting in the May 6th backup material?

It was a part of the PC resolution and package that was an attachment.

And I just, I mean, we didn't think that we should talk about that at the last, when we had this last hearing. I mean, it always feels like the council's like, if there's a pertinent portion of information, we should probably put that on a screen somewhere to discuss. Because if we're not, I mean, I haven't changed my position, but I think the question is, and again, We hold codes and bylaws and all stuff from the 80s. I don't think about three people up here were alive in the 80s. And we've allowed hang gliding to go on to a point where I think we've even presented certificates to these people and are looking at... at redesigning development. And this reminds me of that other public hearing we ended up with where we were mitigating trucking in a business district, which really wasn't our issue. And so here again, we come to these public hearings discussing points that either are in strict violation or are within wiggle room of the purview of the council. And I don't understand why staff gets us here like that. I don't understand that city manager, I really don't. Either this project has to move on and there is nothing we can do because the municipal code speaks through it, or there's something up for discussion. But I just, I don't, so I guess opine for me on that. What, does it have to go through or not?

So one of the issues that you do have is you have SB 330, which was mentioned before. And SB 330 was a state law that was passed, and I can't remember the exact year, but I want to say it was around 2017. And that was to expedite and streamline housing. And this project was applied through SB 330, which is a state law that does that. We, in order to put any limitations or provisions on a housing project, you have to show health and safety issues. The hang gliding would be a, well, it's a very good thing that it's been a cultural entity here in San Bernardino. I don't know how that would fit into SB 330.

So is there, I'm sorry, Mayor. I guess- Is there room for more conversation? What I hear the mayor pro tem, if I'm incorrect, correct me, is that is there still a possibility of some type of middle ground? In the city, I mean, I guess I understand, right, what it costs to build out. If it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense. But what are we losing in comparison to what are we gaining, right? So is there any room? Is there even, I guess, any need to continue to keep discussing? Or is this basically we vote and move on? What is your thought?

Well, as I said, that's a cultural thing that's been important in San Bernardino. You do have the housing laws that you are up against. And part of what I think, not in regards to hang gliding, but in regards to other issues, that you did is we did reduce the number of units and number of housing units substantially in that development and got them to do that. So I would say there has been a lot of work to do that. We could have continual discussions. I don't know. I would have to defer to the city attorney or to the planner as far as what we could do with the hang gliding specifically, but I understand the cultural importance of it.

Thank you. Council Member Ibarra, followed by Council Member Sanchez.

Yes, and maybe I can, I'm okay with continuing the conversation so we can see where we can find a middle point to help everybody. I had a look up right now the Municipal Code for Hand Gliding, and it says here, as used in this chapter, hand gliding means any activity whereby a person or persons glide, float, or sail through the air in or on a hand glider. And it says also, it's 12.88.010a. It is unlawful for any person to engage in the activity of hang gliding in or over any place within the city limits except in those places recommended by a director of parks, recreation, and community services and approved by the mayor and city council. Apparently this ordinance was updated last in 1985 from what I'm seeing online. If that is the case, do we have anything on file maybe from the hang gliding group that's here where it shows that their hang gliding was approved back then? If so, can we work on that? If I can bring Mr. Luke up to address this. And if staff was aware of this or not, if we can give that information to them.

We can look in our historical documents. We have several. But I'd like to point out that the... Remember, the original location, which was owned by Andy Jackson, it was called Crestline Air Park. It was firmly outside of the city limits. So that wasn't an issue for them. The other thing is... Andy Jackson Air Park, where it sits right now, is barely on the northern border of city limits. It was not in 1996. There has been several annexations since then. Now, I'm not an expert, and I didn't bring a map with me, but if you check a map from 1996, we were not in the city limits. The Encore project is barely inside the city limits itself. So... That was when it was discussed. They said the same thing that you said, ma'am, is that the law was passed, but there was never that proclamation made by the city parks service. So I think it was just kind of ignored because. Hey, they're outside the city limits to begin with. We have no issue. Back in the 70s, people literally fell out of the sky. That law was probably passed because people pushed their limits too far and pilots landed and crash landed inside of city limits, hurting themselves and causing property damage. That hasn't happened in the last 25 to 30 years. I will look for as much information as I can find on that specifically, though.

OK, so basically what happened is all the eminent domain of that area.

The eminent domain was related to the Devil's Canyon hydroelectric plant. Now, as far as legally speaking, there is a requirement to preserve recreation. This is a FERC requirement from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And it was for that reason. They likely wouldn't have agreed to moving the air park unless that was in there. It has to do with the environment as well as recreation. So say there were hiking trails and they wanted to bulldoze them. They would have to rebuild those hiking trails in the same area or relocate them. So that's essentially what they did with the air park was relocate it per the FERC requirement. So there was precedent for that.

Okay, so is council okay that we continue this so we can have more discussions between staff and all the parties involved to make sure that we are doing what's proper also with the hiking trails? I would love to see a replacement for our community members to enjoy walking. I know I've been working with Parris Hill Park, but that's one of the hills that we have in the city that we hardly don't use as an example. And I know the foothills, it's a nice area. I breathe the air, the clean air, because of those hills. So if it's okay with our developer, are you amenable in our council to basically continue the conversation? Because it seems like we're almost there from what I'm gathering. We're almost there. We want to give you 100% blessing with nobody...

I would love each and one of you to support the project. Here's the issue we're up against. With SB 330, there is a limit to five public hearings. Tonight is the sixth public hearing this project has gone in front. It has gone through three DERCs, planning commission, and now two city councils. So we're out of compliance with SB 330, unfortunately.

So you're including your public hearings with the planning commissions that they've had and ours? Yes. Because I know for us, it's the second one for us. Yes.

Mayor Tran and members of the City Council, what you just heard is inaccurate. The five public hearing rule does not apply when it includes a legislative action. Before you is a proposed amendment to the specific plan. There's a legislative action. So that limitation of the five hearings, that does not apply to this project.

Thank you. Council Member Barr, are you? So with that said, I'd like to make a motion that we continue, but have, maybe we can invite our developer in the community to have a meeting somewhere in the Fifth Ward near that project so they can pencil out everything that they, every concern that they have and see how we can help everybody.

Councilmember, before you, are there any motions? Council, the public hearing is still open, so I need to close it first. Are there any further comments for the folks before I close it, before council can take a motion? Well, I'll just comment. Yes, so Councilmember Sanchez, followed by Mayor Potem.

I'd like some clarification on whether the city can impose any sort of additional standards and still be in compliance with SB 330's objective standards clause. It requires that cities and counties are prohibited from denying housing development projects or reduce its density based on a subjective design standard. A project can only be reviewed against objective quantifiable written development standards and conditions and policies. and that would be part of either a specific plan, a general plan, or a tentative track map like in this case. So would we be in violation of that to demand a redesign for approval? Because I was looking at both the public hearing limits as well as that, and those are pretty clear in the SB 330 when we'd be out of compliance. It'd be difficult to know if, I mean, I'd like to know from legal, and I know I'm sprouting this on you all of a sudden.

There could be some legal risk there, yes. Because to deny the project, just layman's terms, you have to demonstrate that there's some aspect of the project that is unsafe. Okay, what you would point to from this discussion is the hang gliding. But the problem is that your code prohibits the hang gliding in city limits. But that's not the issue for SB 330. The issue is that it has to be in writing, it has to be quantifiable. And so you don't have anything in your code or policy to point to, to say we allow hang gliding but this is the area we allow it and this is encroaching on that. It's actually the opposite, your code says it's not allowed. So there is a legal risk there that you may not have something that you can point to in writing to demonstrate the safety issue.

The government code does explicitly say that there are objective standards, and that is consistent with SB 35, which states that objective standards involves no personal or subjective judgment of a public official and uniformly verified by reference to an external uniform benchmark or criterion. So that would be either the government code or our very own city code. And I don't know that... there is any reference to a design standard that would prohibit or could give us the leverage to demand a redesign on this. And that's just so that we can be compliant with the law. My understanding is that these developers could then use the builder's remedy. When we are imposing rules, government code or our own municipal code that are non-compliant, they can go ahead and build they can go ahead and build based off of the government code's builder's remedy. Because our demand of them is not legal or codified in the government code. Is that correct? Yes, that is accurate. So in this case, they could bypass us completely and go to the state and say, hey, they're imposing a standard that's not codified or allowed. We can build... And that is a remedy in the state's code, correct?

That's correct. Okay.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem? Thank you for that, Council Member Sanchez, because that's what I was wanting to verify when I was talking about being legally compliant with state law, especially knowing that that is a factor in this housing development. So just for layman terms, if this council was to not approve this project today, we could get sued.

There is that risk, yes.

OK. I just want to make that very clear. Yes. But again, I don't know the council's appetite to just flat out deny this project. And for me, that's not where I'm going. Again, I would like to see this project come to fruition. I don't know that there could be a remedy between the hang gliding organization and you. I'm in favor of continuing the meeting to see if that is possible. But I just, you know, I do understand that unfortunately if there is no concessions or further concessions that can be made, this project cannot be denied based off a hang gliding project. We do have to keep that in mind. So with that being said, I do also, I like Sandra, sorry, Council Member Ibarra's idea. I'm big on my community. As I said, I did a community visioning survey. I hold community meetings. I will be having my next one on June 15th. I would like to invite both of you gentlemen to speak with the community about the project, and then hopefully we can get some resolution to this very soon.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, the first thing I'd like to say is, ick. I always find it interesting when this body is like, ew, let's not get sued, but then does stuff that gets us sued all the time. But it always goes against the community, because we're worried about a developer. And not just you. It's not you. You just happen to be standing there tonight. What it is is that, I mean, we've sat and we've listened to the fact that concessions have been made, thankfully, to downsize. Maybe not for the benefit of hang lighting. But again, we're having public hearings discussing something that, until today, you guys didn't want to say, oh, by the way, you're not allowed to fly over the city attached to a kite. That's the problem. And so I hope there is some type of middle ground. If there is, if there isn't. But again, this is also why we should have codified our general plan. When you're looking at something from 25 years ago, which is a 25-year-ago plan owned by a completely different person at a different time and a different space, It's just insane. And so I think this is what it speaks to is like we're sitting in 2026 with 2000 problems. And you've allowed, by the way, And it's not Vanessa, and it's not Liddy, but we're going to go back through time. Everybody knows people fly over the city. It's one of the most beautiful attractions. How many of us don't stand outside of our homes or where we live and watch people jump off the mountain and do what they do? And so for anybody to then blame complete ignorance to it is ridiculous. And so we can do a lot of things, but at least let's be a little bit accountable for the fact that we've put ourselves in this problem, a little more transparent in the fact that we're not speaking to the issue. And if laws are in the way, the purpose of our municipal code and all of these things is that it's not for the state to be able to 100% dictate everything to us. One, because we are a charter city, and we are able to write and do a lot of the things we need to do. But you've got to do them in real time. You can't do them in the past. And so I support Councilwoman Ibarra and Mayor Pro Tem's approach to coming back to the table because, hey, you got to do what you got to do. But at some point, this council has to serve people and not politics and not outdated plans. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Figueroa?

Well, I'll just... Oh, yeah.

Actually, it was Mayor Pro Tem followed by Council Member Figueroa. Sorry. It's just one. Speaking of outdated ordinances in a general plan, the updated general plan doesn't encompass this hang gliding ordinance. What would change, if anything?

Nothing. It would not affect that at all. Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes, thank you. Well, here's a law that probably is older than any of the other codes that we've discussed, which is the Quimby Act, right? Would this project be subject to the Quimby Act, where they would be required to dedicate land for park and recreational space or pay in lieu of fee? Does this project...

Yes, they would be paying into the CFDs, and they would also dedicate open space, park and recreation. There's a lot that they're doing up there. Where exactly? So, I mean, recreation areas, they're designed for different ages and abilities with canopy trees, outdoor furniture, excuse me, vast landscaping, streetscape features. There's a big open space. They are, the lighting's designed for safety and visibility, and especially because of the observatory up there, they're using a soft light approach, so it wouldn't ruin the look at the stars at night when they're doing their analysis. So, yeah, there is, there is, there is, put into place, I mean, there is open space and active recreational areas.

So... Could that not have been, that section, that corner, could that not have been dedicated to that parkland?

So the issue with that is that they can fly all they want over the Department of Water Resources property. The minute they cross over city boundaries over the airspace is what the issue is. So it's just on the return and coming back in. So they've been out there and they've been operating, but that's because it was state property. So the minute that they started to design this in their comeback area, which was analyzed, excuse me, in the 2008 EIR, it wouldn't have been known up until this point that the return was actually over city boundaries.

Thank you. Council Member Ortiz? That doesn't make sense because they literally cut two-thirds of the project out. So I've just, that makes no sense that anybody would not know the trajectory, the pathway and the trajectory of something they've already acquiesced to accommodate. Am I making up something in my head that I heard that they've already met with the flight team and talked about the incurred area and what the possible height over a building is, or did I dream that?

No, it was analyzed in the past.

Okay, so it was analyzed, and so they did discuss it, and so it is a part of their trajectory and the longevity of certain possible dangers. What I'm saying is... This didn't evolve overnight. And so I don't think the city should own projects for developers, is what I'm telling you, Mike. It's for us to maneuver within the municipal code, which is, again, the general plan is the general plan. We own the municipal code. And if you're telling me something's sitting on the books since 1985 and we've been allowing people to fly over our city, that's a problem with the council because we control the municipal code. That's our failure. So I just want to make sure that we understand that... They've been working with this group. They've had conversations with this group. And I think if they can continue to go on and have those conversations with the group, cool. If they can't, they come back and we got to vote. We got to vote. And however we do that, we do that. But let's I just don't want to act like, oh, surprise, because it's not a surprise. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from the council? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing at 6.30.

Before you do that, I just wanted to clarify something related to SB 330. Council Member Ortiz is right. You control what is both in your general plan and what is in your municipal code. But I have to educate you that SB 330... You had Councilman Sanchez list off those standards. But the law also says that what you point to to deny a project, it had to have been on the books at the time that the project was deemed complete. So changing the municipal code right now is not an option. It had to have been on the books at the time the project was deemed complete. That was a long time ago.

Thank you. I will close the public hearing at 6.34 p.m. Is there a motion by the council? I had a motion.

Motion by Council Member Ibarra.

And I second.

And there's a second. Madam City Clerk? Yes, there was a motion and a second. I needed to clarify because I believe it was continue the public hearing and hold a community meeting in the fifth ward. But we would also need you to continue it to a date certain. Continue the public hearing to a specific date. Is there a specific meeting? Let me check the calendar real quick.

To our developers. Quick question. So the community meeting is going to be on the 15th. The next council meeting on the 17th. I'm not sure if that will give us enough time to... Are you okay with putting the next public hearing on June 17th, or do you want to move it up to the next council meeting?

I would much prefer the earliest.

Before you say that, I need staff to opine on that one, because is that enough time to agendize? Are we going to add it to the agenda, and then if we need to pull it,

You would continue it. So you're fine as far as the public hearing because you're continuing the public hearing, correct? So you could do it. Will the two weeks be enough time to resolve the issues? I don't know. But as far as legally, you can definitely do that.

Perfect. Thank you. Excellent. And I'm glad he gave his opinion. So I move to continue also for the next council meeting June 17th with the public hearing.

Councillor Ortiz, did you have a question? I'd just like to make a substitute motion. I just don't feel like that's enough time. I'd like to make a substitute motion to continue it to the second meeting in July so that everybody has adequate staff, developer, community can be ready so they can go do their historical homework. And then there's no question because no one can say, hey, you gave us 10 minutes to get ready. So I would just like to make that substitute motion so this can be dead and over with by July.

There's a substitute motion. Is there a second to that?

Second.

There's a second. Madam City Clerk?

Can you repeat the substitute motion, please?

To continue the public hearing and hold a community meeting, continue the public hearing to the meeting of July 15th and hold a community meeting in the fifth ward. Correct? Is that?

Okay.

Council Member Sanchez? Yes.

Can you come back to me, please?

Yes. Councilmember Ibarra? Sorry? What's your vote? Yes. Yes. Councilmember Figueroa?

Yes.

Councilmember Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canas? Yes. Councilmember Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

We're just kicking.

Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Council.

We will now move on to Item 8, AB2561, Annual Vacancy Report. I'm opening the public hearing at 6.37 p.m. Staff provided a presentation on this item.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Andrea Russell with the Human Resources Department presenting on the AB2561 public hearing on vacancies. So the request is to conduct the public hearing and to receive and file a report on our annual vacancy rate for bargaining groups. A little bit of background. AB 2561 was passed in 2024 with an effective date of January 1, 25. It requires all public agencies to hold a public hearing to present the status of filled and vacant positions within the agency, which includes the vacancy rate by bargaining group. Additionally, if the vacancy rate exceeds 20% of authorized positions within any group, the agency is required to make additional reporting requirements upon request of the affected group. City of San Bernardino has seven recognized bargaining units. We have the general unit with Teamsters Local 1932, Management and Confidential Group, SBCMA, San Bernardino Police Dispatch Association, SBPDA, San Bernardino Police Civilian Association, represented by AFSCME District Council 36th, San Bernardino Police Management Association, PMA, and San Bernardino Police Officers Association, SVPOA. So we have the position vacancy data by bargaining unit and the vacancy rate for each unit. So for the general unit, there are 273 budgeted positions for 25-26 with 37 vacancies. That is a vacancy rate of 13.55%. The management confidential group has 136 budgeted positions with 27 vacancies at 19.85%. The Middle Management Unit has 66 budgeted positions with 11 vacancies at 16.67%. And the San Bernardino Police Civilian Association has 120 budgeted positions with 6 vacancies at 5%. The San Bernardino Police Dispatch Association has 29 budgeted positions with 7 vacancies at 24.14%. San Bernardino Police Management Association, 16 budget positions, no vacancies. And San Bernardino Police Officers Association has 303 budgeted positions with 34 vacancies. And this data is as of May 1st, 2026. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the recruitment process and our recruitment efforts and human resources. The recruitment process for vacancy starts with the departments identifying their priorities. So as you know, departments have multiple vacancies. So our staff works really jointly with them to identify their priorities and work with the hiring managers to set up recruitment plans that are efficient and identify outreach and advertising opportunities. Another thing is we subscribe to NeoGov Applicant Tracking System, which is the largest applicant tracking system for public sector agencies in the United States. And with this description, we have the ability to search, source, and communicate with potential applicants for open recruitments, which we do use. We have also updated our selection process to include virtual structured interviews and even online assessments to broaden the pool of interested candidates in our positions. Some of the challenges that we see, the most glaring challenge is going to be compensation. A lot of our Older positions that haven't been looked at in the last five years are behind market, and we're currently in the process of a class and comp study, and we hope that this will be addressed and we'll bring that forward to the council at a later date. Additionally, the recruitment team works very hard to identify potential hurdles and to document the successes and opportunities to improve the process for each recruitment. Fiscal year to date, we have onboarded 172 full-time employees. That includes 116 promotions and 56 new hires. But we've also had significant turnover. So for the San Bernardino Police Dispatch Association, they did request that we provide additional documentation regarding their vacancy rate since it is over 20% at 24.14. So we're required to report out on the time to hire from recruitment opening. So we've hired six individuals within this time frame and the average time to hire is 177 days from the opening date of the recruitment and it's 168 days from the application date of the applicants. So recruitment efforts for the dispatchers, we conduct continuous recruitments on a monthly basis for all dispatch positions, vacant positions. We have online testing that allows applicants to take the assessments at their convenience. And the applications are reviewed and processed monthly. We also work really closely with the police personnel and training unit to expedite processing so they can begin the background process. One of the challenges of the recruitment process is the selection process requires a personal history statement for all police department positions and an in-depth background. And if you know anything about that, the questionnaire for that is about 26 pages long and they go deep into your history as an individual. And again, another challenge to the hiring is compensation. opportunities to improve. I think we've worked very hard to improve the process by getting the online testing up and running and that's been within the last two years and also the working closely with personnel and training division. Compensation, again, the class and comp study is underway, so we'll be able to identify exactly how far behind the market are. And as a city, establish what we want to be as far as compensation, what our compensation plan is for the city. If we wanna be a market leader, if we wanna be right at market in the median, we'll be able to make those determinations once that information is brought back from our consultant. Any questions?

Thank you. In accordance with AB2561, we have Antoinette McDaniel, ASME District 36 San Bernardino Police Civilians Association, and Stephanie Castro, SBCMA San Bernardino Confidential Management Association employees of the union group making a presentation. Please state your name.

Had to take my glasses off to see. Antoinette McDaniel. I'm with the San Bernardino Police Civilians Association, AFSCME 4710, under the District Council 36. Thank you. Okay. So as I mentioned, we're with AFSCME Local 4710 San Bernardino Police Civilians Association. My name is Antoinette McDaniel. I'm the union representative for AFSCME 4710. You guys are ready? Thank you. So we already know about AB-2561, what it means, why it's established. I just wanted to emphasize that it's also a part of recruitment efforts besides just talking about the vacancies that we currently have. So this bill was actually fought very hard for by our AFSCME members. We went to Sacramento lobby to make sure that there is recognition in the fact that vacancies do mean that our members are working harder because there's less people doing the work that has an extreme amount of vacancies. Sometimes an increase of taxpayers for contracting out because sometimes you have to contract individuals in order to take some of that hard work off of our members. And it actually is a preventive measure to avoid from eliminating union positions. So the city did point out that our civilians association has only six vacant positions. We actually don't necessarily agree with that number. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. But even with that, our civilians are actually the support staff for police officers. For the city to have 303 police officers and only 120 civilians to support those police officers, it is an extreme amount of work that our members have to do. And it's also not recognized that the support from our members does... come with some vacancies and positions that were eliminated without our knowledge or understanding of why some of those positions were eliminated. So, City of San Bernardino asked me, I am a new representative to AFSCME. I started in February. And since I've started, we've attempted to make requests for information. We've attempted to have meetings. We've issued cease and desist. And unfortunately, they come to not be answered. So that alone is definitely a challenge for us. a means to kind of complicate the the relationship between the union and the city, but in addition to that, it also makes our members feel like they're not being heard, and they also have real issues that need to be addressed. For example, one of those key issues is the fact that we are finding out that a lot of police officers are being either put on admin leave or demoted into our positions. So without our knowledge, and the rumor, because I don't like saying something unless I know the facts, but also the other situation is we're hearing that they're negotiating what their pay rate is, which is part of our agreement is our salaries are salaries for a reason, and our members, are already underpaid. We have a lot of job descriptions that are very outdated. They don't have exactly what our members actually do out in the field, even including our parking enforcement officers really don't even have anything to do with what they do in parking enforcement. So a lot of our job descriptions are not relatable to the jobs that our members are actually doing, which will probably make it a harder situation for people to be recruited in. And then, as I mentioned, there was some positions that we noticed, like a police record technician, there were 44, there's somewhere in here, there was 44 positions at first and then they minimized to 40 positions without notifying the union that those positions or those vacancies were gonna be removed. There were 16 positions, 16 vacancies or budgeted positions, I can't recall what those positions were for, but they went down to 14. As you know, having just 120 members as I mentioned before, to support these police officers does mean a lot for the amount of vacancies and the amount of positions that we actually hold onto so that way we can have our members promote within our union, but also promote into the higher classifications of the series that are there or available for them. I don't know, I can't see where I'm at over there. Okay, so what we feel that can be done to resolve this, we feel that the, one, the job descriptions need to be addressed in regards to how outdated they are and they need to be modernized so that way people actually know what job they're actually looking for and what job they're gonna actually get. If there's no internal applicants, that there's an assessment of why that job is undesirable, because we feel that probably if someone is coming from the outside looking for a position here in the city, they may be turned away because they really don't feel that the position suits them, and not only that, but it's not the same position that they may have at another city because the job description is not reflective of what the actual job is. We want the city to annually review any positions lost to contracting out services. There is a position of our park rangers that we know that has been contracted out to Redwood Security, and there are three positions that were shown vacant positions in the city, the city records or this the city presentation but those those positions are being held by us by contracting services and we don't know how and when that became contracted out we do understand the SBA b339 does require a yearly annually annual report to the union of any job that is going to go beyond a year so we're hoping that we will find out more about that those contracted services and we want to create more promotable opportunities for our members because there are different several opportunities for our members, but then they get stuck at the highest rate of pay, and there's no movement beyond that. So we think that that would be definitely a situation to help and promote our members, but also to... hopefully minimize the amount of vacancies that are in the city, because even though six is only the number that it shows, though we don't believe that's the accurate number, that's still a lot of members and a lot of employees that aren't doing the work that has to be spread out to everyone else.

Did I get everything?

That's it, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Do I leave this here?

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Stephanie Castro, and I serve as the president for SBCMA. Our association understands that difficult budget decisions must be made, and we want to acknowledge the departments and leadership teams who continue finding creative ways to deliver services despite fiscal constraints. However, we are increasingly concerned about the growing number of positions being held vacant and the long-term impacts this is having on our employees, organizational performance, and the community we serve. Today, the city is holding 122 positions vacant, positions departments requested with purpose, and positions that city council ultimately approved to support services, operations, and community outcomes. These positions were not created without need. They exist because departments identified critical work that must be done to serve residents and businesses. If we are serious about addressing services and outcomes, we must also be serious about staffing the need designed to support those outcomes. How do we expect to improve service delivery if positions remain unfilled? Reduce permitting timelines without the staff needed to process applications. Continue to manage more grants, contracts, and service reporting. Encourage economic growth if departments lack the workforce required to recruit investment, support businesses, implement projects, and deliver results. The reality is that prolonged vacancies do not simply disappear. They shift the burden to existing employees. Workloads increase, responsibilities expand, timelines stretch. Employees absorb more while being asked to maintain the same level of service. This concern aligns directly with the intent of AB 2561, which recognizes that persistent vacancies create heavier workloads, contribute to burnout, reduce morale, affect retention, and ultimately impact organizational performance and public service delivery. The legislation calls for transparency around these issues, not the normalization of chronic understaffing. We encourage the city to continue exploring new and sustainable revenue opportunities that can help mitigate staffing concerns. Vacancies should not become the default solution to budget challenges. After reviewing this year's report and comparing it to last year's, SBCMA identified several inconsistencies that warrant further review. There are positions that appeared on last year's vacancy list and remain on this year's that were never filled due to the hiring freeze. Yet the reported vacancy dates differ between the two reports. There are also positions identified with no data listed as the vacancy reason. Respectfully, how is it possible to have no data regarding why a position is vacant? Before budget discussions come to a close, we would ask that the vacancy data be reviewed for accuracy and consistency, or if HR can provide additional clarification regarding the differences reflected in the reports. AB 2561 also identifies recruitment efforts, compensation, and retention strategies as important factors contributing to vacancy rates. We appreciate that the presentation identifies the class and comp study as an area for improvement. SBCMA would agree. For years, class and comp studies have been a recurring point of discussion, yet many employees continue to question whether meaningful improvements have resulted from those results, from those efforts. If the city does not become more competitive in salaries and wages, we will continue to struggle attracting and retaining qualified employees. If vacancies remain open for months or years, we should be examining every aspect of the hiring process, from compensation and recruitment practices to approval timelines and workforce planning to identify opportunities for improvement. Earlier coordination between HR and department leadership when vacancies are anticipated can reduce delays, shorten vacancy periods, minimize service disruptions, and help fill critical positions more efficiently. We recognize the need for strategic budget measures. We're not asking for reckless spending. We're asking for thoughtful consideration of the operational realities created when positions remain vacant for extended periods of time. Every unfulfilled position represents work that still exists, services still expected by residents, and burdens shifted onto the employees who remain. If we want better outcomes for our community, we must ensure we have the workforce necessary to make those goals achievable. Thank you.

Thank you. Now to council comments. I have Council Member Ortiz, followed by Council Member Ibarra, followed by Mayor Potem.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, employees and presidents, for speaking up. Madam HR Director, how long has the comp and class study been going on?

It actually started last year. So they typically take two to three years. We're actually ahead of schedule right now. So when do we think it'll be completed? We're going through job descriptions now. They have the compensation data ready. So we're finishing out the job descriptions before we dig into the compensation data and rolling that out to the employees in the unions.

Cool. Thank you. You're welcome. I have a couple more. Hold on to your seats. So I am concerned by AFSCME 4710s on this presentation where it says management, and I'm sure you're talking about police management. Police management has been unresponsive or refers to the union to public records act requests for relevant information to enforce our MOUs and properly represent our members. and so mr city manager i i hope when i say this everybody clearly understands that there is no department above or below any other department everybody must be responsive in fact we paid thirty thousand dollars in a lawsuit last year because pd withheld public records from the city clerk's office and the city clerk said they were not And then we found out they are records. And so we know we've already been in trouble from PD for doing that. So I hope, because you're new and you weren't here for that, that that we make sure and and madam city clerk because it's your office and madam city or mr city attorney that we are all on the same page we are not going to get sued for withholding public records anymore and and how that communication goes between the city pd and the unions is properly processed and mitigated so that's that's the first thing i have an issue with um hearing that people are being demoted, employees are being demoted and then automatically put into those positions, does that go through your office? Is that discussed or is that just an automatic?

It's actually in the personnel rules. What she's talking about is a voluntary demotion. So sometimes departments will offer employees who aren't performing a voluntary demotion and that's allowable by the law and it's in our personnel rules and it's a part of our management rights in the contract. Right.

So I guess the question is when I think about that, as someone who used to hire for the police department and five other departments in this city, don't you normally have to meet those qualifications? Absolutely. So when a police officer who's going directly for training then is then demoted into... Because I remember when the kids used to not be able to get through post, they would come back as like a CSO or a parking enforcement officer while they were... But that's to make sure that... that we can keep them if we need to keep them, but that's also in alignment with they're not allowed to negotiate their salaries. I mean, it's within, so are they doing that? Have you seen that?

I have not seen that, but salary negotiation is part of the offer process. So if you're looking at it externally, that is something that happens. People negotiate their salaries all the time. I'm not sure if that's happening because a lot of the things in the police department are done by their administration and then we get notified.

Yes, but who oversees the police department? Are you HR over the city, or are you HR over just a portion of the city?

That's actually complicated because of the legality of a public safety organization. So there's other factors that come into play.

I remember it only came through civil service and HR. And then when we changed the charter, everything came directly through HR. I don't remember the police department establishing their own HR department. They have a personnel unit. They have a P&T, personnel and training, but that is not an HR department. That's correct. And so I want to make sure that as a director who has to follow HR laws, P&T is not HR. They are personnel and training. And so what our standards are, when we hear that coming through, because either they're not making it and they're demoting through into a position that they're not... over making, if we're talking about recruitment and selection as an issue, that someone isn't coming at a top salary when we're hiring or recruiting someone that's only coming in at step one. That's my concern, right? I understand you want to keep people within that gap of whatever they're demoting to, which may be, as a police officer, of course they're going to make more than an entry-level parking enforcement officer, but we can't get a parking enforcement officer to write a ticket on a street, so I have an issue with that. The other thing is that they... Well, plus, too, I mean, once they're demoted, are they being overseen by...

The division changes your whole job classification, so you are actually the classification that you're demoted to. So you're a part of the bargaining group that that classification belongs to, and you are a part of the organization in that classification. So if a police officer voluntarily demotes to a CSO, they are a CSO. They follow that chain of command, not a police officer. They are no longer demoted. a sworn officer for the city. Okay, good. All right. Thank you for that.

All right. Next, then the question I have is when we're... I don't know if this was just... I don't think we... Mr. City Attorney, are we... I guess I'm... We can just... I can't remember if this is something we talked about in closed session or not, and so I want to say it.

You want to confer with me on the side? Can I real quick?

I'm going to pause for a second. Okay, thank you.

I'm going to move forward to Council Member Ibarra, followed by Council Member Canas, and we'll go back to Council Member Ortiz. Thank you.

Thank you, staff. This has been much awaited on our end. I know sitting here every year, we always want to review how many positions we have filled, how many we're holding as vacants, and how long they're staying vacant. And having our speakers today, they gave us some insight of what's going on. I know in the past, we've had the demotions. I just never knew how that worked. And part of the charter, We leave that all to our city manager's discretion to oversee the staffing at our city levels. I'm kind of concerned to find out that none of this went through HR when people were getting demoted within our San Marino Police Department. They were just put into different departments. I mean, that's how it came across to me that officers who were being demoted, they were going into other departments. divisions throughout the throughout the whole department and there was there doesn't from what I'm gathering there was no oversight of HR or our city manager just the personnel department you said that they have so that's kind of concerning to me but at least this gives public and us an idea of what's been going on within the city that we are not privy to all we're being asked for when we're here is to approve more positions to fill the vacancies and they don't get filled we have high turnovers and so we keep getting left in the dark when we're negotiating with our unions We have a consultant doing that work. We're not on the table giving feedback to the unions. There's things that we want to improve in our city and how it functions, but we have been left out a lot as the elected body, and that's something that the public should know because This has been going on for too long. Like I said, since way before I even ran for office, that's always been the concern. I know when I first started, the whole animal control fiasco we had with the animal shelter, who was going to man it, how it was going to be manned, and then officers becoming administrative instead of being out in the public because of the lawsuits that we were getting. So, I mean, this is a step forward. I just want to share that feedback. I appreciate, you know, unfortunately we haven't had an assembly bill to make our city do this when we've been asking for it in the past for so many years. But it's a step forward, and so I thank you and all our speakers for giving their feedback on why it's taking long to recruit and keep actual personnel that's going to fulfill the roles that you guys need. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem?

Just a quick question. The comp-in class study, when do we anticipate that to be completed?

I would say within the next three to six months. We are at the tail end. The way it works is the classification portion always goes first because we have to make sure all of our positions are properly classified. And then that's when we move on to compensation because then we can identify the comparative classifications outside of the agency. So that's kind of where we are right in the middle of the two, finalizing the the classification portion and they've already almost completed the compensation portion based on what we've already done. So I would say six months at best and the original estimate was three years because they usually take two to three years to complete a class and comp survey of this size.

And the class and comp study, that's just an evaluation of literally what we're paying our employees.

Yes, it's going to be a comparative analysis of where we stand as far as the market. We've already shared with council and got approval to move forward with the cities, our comparative cities. So it just tells us how we stack up against them. It's a total comp, so there's benefits and actual salaries.

Thank you for clarifying that. But what it doesn't tell is really, within our organization, what positions are truly needed or not needed, correct?

It's not an organizational study. It's an assessment of what everyone is doing in their current positions. And it's making sure that they're properly classified with the responsibilities that they have.

Got it. And I know I brought it up quite a few times in regards to our organizational assessment. I really hope that is a component as we do, especially embark on that second phase of discussing our strategic goals as a council and how we plan to actually execute and implement that vision that we have. It is going to be imperative that we do speak of what really is needed, the resources that go into making that come to fruition, and that does include the city staff that is needed. So I just want to make sure that we include that. That's it. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Ortiz. Thank you. Actually, fun fact, when we approved the forensic audit that still hasn't happened, we also approved an organizational assessment. Fred Shred wasn't sure which one was which, so we agreed to both. So that should be coming through, and the funds were approved for $150,000. Do what you will with that. But, Eric, that was on what the council had approved. at that meeting I posted on Facebook if you guys want to listen to the minutes. Next, let me reroute my question back. So, how important would you say police dispatchers are?

Very important.

When you think about currently our recruitment, how in need do you believe we are?

With 24% vacancy rate, I would say we are extremely in need. That's on full-time positions, though, and they do supplement staff with part-timers, just an FYI. So you're not really experiencing the true... hit from those positions, but we definitely need those positions filled.

And in your opinion, would you believe or think maybe possibly compensation may be at an issue comparable if you were to rough estimate it? Yes. So knowing that it's 24% vacancy rate, that it's an absolute need, would maybe there be a way to prioritize that? Because a comp and class study is a collective that we, city manager, go and expedite some of these crucial roles. Because I think Stephanie makes a good point, right? Sorry, I can't remember your last name. But Stephanie makes a great point that there is need. But remember, we have never, ever had an issue giving top management $50,000, $60,000 raises. It only comes to an issue of paying the regular employee who does the job every single day. And so I think the unions, and not all unions are created equal, by the way. Some give a lot of money. And maybe that's your guys' problem, is you're not paying council members enough. Think about that, Pax. To get the type of raises and accommodations that everybody else has been so privy to. And maybe that's why some have 0% vacancies. and can staff as they will when things don't work out. And so I think while all unions are not created equal, application of the rules in HR, as myself and the mayor have spent over a decade in HR, some of these things don't make sense because organizationally they seem very wrong. And I want to make sure you feel powerful in your position with the city manager and with the city attorney to enforce that. and to make sure we know where we're at. Because if we're not properly receiving lists, as these ladies have pointed out, that accurately reflect numbers, if we feel like there's inconsistencies, I think dialogue, transparency, and accountability is important. Because as someone who's pulled public records from the city, it's like pulling teeth. And I think there's a problem with that because that means we're hiding something. And when we're hiding something from our own employees, let alone the public, that doesn't build a lot of trust among the groups. So I appreciate this. I think Councilwoman Ibarra is accurate in that, and I've said this before in other areas, is I feel like the council is consistently treated like a mushroom, which is kept in the dark and fed BS. Because if you keep people ignorant, then you can do what you want. And that's not a good thing for a governing body. So I hope as we rise to the occasion, as the culture and things change in the city over these next six months, that we really try to strive to do what's right. Because our employees are the... blood of this city. During the bankruptcy, we told employees, sit back. We're going to cut your time off. We're going to cut all your vacation pay. We're going to pay out everybody that took a golden parachute. Well, you can take pennies on the dollars on everything that you worked for. But if you give us an opportunity, we'll be better than ever. And we have not lived up to that promise to employees. And yet they stay here. We have the longevity of 40, 30, 25, 20 year employment. I've worked with Stephanie. I've worked with, I hired most of the dispatchers here. I mean, they give us everything. And yet we watch people walk in and out of this city unclassified making top tier 200, 460. I mean, it's unreal what people at the top level make versus the people that make it at the bottom. So thank you for that. Is this a receiving file or do we have to do a mood reproof? Oh, thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments by council? If not, I will close the public hearing at 7.16 p.m. This is a receiving file. No vote is required. Thank you, staff. Thank you. We will now move on to City Manager Update. Mr. City Manager.

Yes. Madam Mayor and City Council Members, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present. Yesterday, the county celebrated the opening of its new communication center, the 75,000 The square-foot mission-critical building will bring over 200 additional employees to the city and centralize the county's emergency response operations. The facility will house operations including dispatch for the Sheriff's Department, CONFIRE, Office of Emergency Services, radio teams, and first responders from the partner agencies in one location. Sam Bernardino remembered our fallen heroes. Last Monday, the committee came together to honor those fallen heroes who gave their lives in the service of our country at a Memorial Day ceremony held at the Feldheim Libraries Soldier and Sailor Memorial. Work is underway to install safety improvements on Kendall Avenue between E Street and H Street. The project will include a new median storm drainage improvements, road rehabilitation, striping improvements, and enhanced lighting. There will be lane closures throughout the length of the project, which is expected to be completed in the fall. The Co-Enforcement Division worked with the owner of a property on 21st Street to address ongoing health and safety issues. The property owner subsequently cleaned up and made improvements to both the yard and house. This house reflects the city's commitment to maintaining safe and healthy neighborhoods by working cooperatively with property owners. To report code violations, call 909-998-2000 or snap a picture on your phone and upload it using the Go SB City app. Parks and Recreation's annual Water Safety Day takes place this Saturday, June 6th, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Jerry Lewis Family Swim Center. Attendees at the free family-friendly event can participate in a variety of activities to kick off the summer season safely, including water safety demonstration, life jacket fittings, swim checks, family-friendly games, activities and music, and giveaways. The San Bernardino Public Library and the Friends of San Bernardino Public Library popular summer reading program begins Saturday, June 6th, intended to encourage reading during summer vacation. Participants can earn entries into a drawing for prizes through August 1st, based upon the time they spend reading. Participants can sign up at sbpl.beanstack.org or download the Beanstack app to track their reading minutes, share book reviews and gain entries for the grand prize drawing. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We will now move on to public comments. At this time, public comments will be heard for items on the open session and items not on the agenda. To address the city council, everyone must complete a speaker card and provide it to the city clerk. Only those speaker cards turned into the city clerk will be allowed to address the city council. No late cards will be accepted. Each person should state their name for the record before beginning their comments, and you will have three minutes each. As your name is called, please line up behind the podium. We have two poems available for your convenience. Your name will be only called once. If you do not respond when called, you may forfeit your opportunity to speak. If you require a Spanish interpretation, we do have interpreter on site. Please raise your hand at this time if you do need interpreting assistance. In addition, we have interpreting listening devices available in the back.

En este momento se escucharán los comentarios públicos para artículos de la agenda y artículos que no están en la agenda. Para dirigirse al consejo municipal, cada individuo debe completar una tarjeta de orador. Se debe completar la tarjeta de orador y entregarla a la secretaria municipal en este momento. Solo aquellas tarjetas de orador entregadas a la Secretaria Municipal podrán dirigirse al Consejo Municipal. No se aceptarán tarjetas tardías. Cada persona debe indicar su nombre para registro antes de comenzar sus comentarios. Al ser llamado, por favor, forme una fila en el orden anunciado. Disponemos de dos podios para su comodidad. Diríjase a cualquiera de ellos tan pronto como se le llame su nombre. Si necesita interpretación en español, tenemos un intérprete presente. Por favor, levante la mano en este momento para indicar que requiere servicios. También tenemos aparatos disponibles para escuchar la junta en español. Le pedimos que, por favor, observe el debido decoro y no hable fuera de turno ni realice comentarios desde su asiento. Thank you. Gracias. I'll see the clerk. Edwin Delgado.

Diego Rodarte, Irma Flores, John Schoelenberger, Tim Prince, Jim Smith, Al Palazzo, Christian Shaughnessy, Kim Calvin, Dolores Armstead, Ron Alvarado, Linda Hart, Mike Hartley, Amy Malone, Frank Becerra, Dulce Becerra, Curtis Stout, Tanya Smith, Andy Fuentes, Lance Kinzel, Pamela Hall, Dominic Gutierrez, Renee Pimentel, Sharon Negrete, Lydia Savala, Debbie Kaufman, Omar Williams, Jose Mendoza, and Charlene Dixon. Thank you. To state your name, you have three minutes.

Good evening. My name is Irma Flores. I want to first say thank you to the mayor the council members and the staff I'm here to speak regarding the delegated maintenance agreement the DMA that is a one-year pilot program that's on the agenda this evening item 21 based on the city managers explanation to me yesterday I understand that the DMA draft and the council is being asked to approve a process of that would allow him to make minor edits. Any edits beyond minor changes would return to the City Council for amendments at the following meeting. Importantly, this DMA has not yet been signed by Caltrans. I'm currently in discussions with Caltrans officials, in particular the Deputy Director of Maintenance regarding both the DMA and the Joint Operational Policy Statements, California Department of Transportation and California Highway Patrol, otherwise known as JPOS. I've identified errors in the JPOS and I'm working with Caltrans to correct them and to include the JPOS as an appendix to the DMA. This would ensure that the CHP and local law enforcement maintain clear communication when crimes or trespassing occurs on the easement. I have 10 years of documentation showing repeatedly dispatches by the CHP, San Bernardino PD, Fire Department, and others to the easement for criminal activities, fires, and trespassing that has directly impacted my client's property. Including the JPOS as an appendix would address the long-standing safety and enforcement gap. It would also make it the model DMA. for the state of California. I'm talking about, I'm working to make this particular DMA the model for the entire state of California. At the moment, there are approximately 22 DMAs with other cities. All are cookie cutters, all are the same. I respectfully request that the council ensure that this is only a draft, that this is still being refined. I'm looking to have the JPOS as an appendix to the DMA before the final approval, and that no final agreement proceeds until Caltrans has signed and enforced The protocols that I am suggesting are confirmed. I would like to thank Mayor Tran. You have been the champion from the very beginning. Along with Senator Reyes, Assemblyman James Ramos, San Bernardino County, Joe Bacchus Jr.'s office. Thank you, Edwin. and who were the first to hear my concerns and over a year ago were very quick to help me. I want to thank Councilwoman Ibarra who contacted me after my last presentation at the City Council. She has been instrumental in helping me solve a few of them that have impacted my client, the owner of the Tuscany apartment complex. I also want to thank Chief Goodman, Public Works Director Lynn Merrill, and City Manager Levitt for their continued assistance. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council, and members of the community. My name is Edwin Delgado, and I'm here representing 5th District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr., and I'm here to speak on two items tonight, on item 23, which is the Spiker Memorial Park Ball Fields Project, and item 25, which is La Plaza Park Improvement Project. And Supervisor Baca, I'm here to share his regards and his Grateful and thankful to the City Council and City staff for their continued progress on both of these projects being made. For item 23, the county contributed $950,000 in ARPA funding to support improvements to the Spiker Memorial Park ball fields, restrooms, concession areas accessibility and other park amenities and for item 25 the county contributed 1.3 million dollars towards the overall 1.7 million dollar project for la plaza park improvement that agreement it allows for new accessible restrooms being built there and it allows for safer more quality parks for our young people and our families. So on behalf of the county and the fifth district supervisor, we send our appreciation. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, everybody. Thank you, council, for seeing me. My name is Dominic Gutierrez, and I am a staunch advocate for Shannon Hills Golf Course. It's been known there's a little drama going on with people managing it, so I want to just go ahead and read a Google. I'm not a lawyer, so I just Googled if this is true or not, okay? It says, is a private company managing the only city-owned competing business a conflict of interest? And we would all say yes. It's 100% a conflict of interest. And it is astonishing to me the lack of energy you guys are putting into it when it is plain to see that for the last year and a half or two years since local golf management, is the name of the company, has been running Shandon, they're driving it to the ground. They have been contracted to make capital repairs that are not happening. The i'm just gonna go to this real quick because i'm there if you guys ever want to golf come through we're there every day you will never see The general manager who lgm appointed who is herself at the golf course She's not there ever and every staff member knows that we all see it So since lgm has taken over we have lost like 90 of our men's clubs We have lost the women's club. We have lost the seniors club the uh They put some plants up, thank God, you know, they put some flowers in the front. We have lost the vast majority of our driving range netting. All these kids that just won CIF are literally standing in a death zone where golf balls are flying past them because they're not putting any to it. We have had employees of the golf course, which the city pays, driving and picking up golf balls without a picker. So we're shutting down the range because there are hand-picking golf balls off the range. All a while, the only competing business, which is Arrowhead Country Club, has a brand new electric picker, they have a brand new kitchen, they have brand new flags, they have brand new rakes, they have tons of brand new equipment because they are getting a management contract of something around $15,000, some crazy number every month to run it, plus they're paying themselves as a general manager and they're paying themselves as a superintendent with no superintendent's license. and they're not there. Equipment is being brought to Shannon Hills, ordered through Shannon Hills, LGM is coming in a truck, picking it up and taking it directly to their private golf course, Arrowhead Country Club. There's even been crazy rumors about giving them Shannon Hills. which was donated to the people, these children of San Bernardino by Mr. Warden, Hagner Warden in like the 70s. Like it was a gift. And this lady and this company are literally stealing from each and every one of you. And if we do not do anything about it, it's going to continue because they're not doing anything about it. So please, if you care about the kids and you care about Parks and Recs and golf and all that, come say something. We got to stop this madness. It's crazy. It makes no sense.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes. Mayor, real quick. Mr. City Manager, you were supposed to be providing the council the contract for Shannon Hills and the copy of the RFP. So I just want to make sure we follow up on that. Okay.

Thank you. And we've also been doing some other reviews, too.

Diego Verdarte, regarding item 22. Good evening, Mayor Tran, members of city council, and city staff. My name is Diego Verdarte, and I have called San Bernardino home since my middle school years, which was long ago that I'd rather not do the math in public. For many years, Shannon Hills' golf course has been one of the places that connected me to this community. I learned the game there, I spent weekends there, enjoying the game of golf with my friends and family. I watched other families spend time together there, and I watched young people discover a sport that teaches discipline, patience, honesty, and respect. Unfortunately, I've also watched the course decline. Tonight, I want to thank the city for taking a step in the right direction with the proposed driving range repairs. I appreciate the investment and the recognition that the improvements are needed. But let's be honest, repairing the driving range alone will not restore Shannon Hills to what it should be. As golfers, we know you can't fix your entire game with one good shot. Trust me, I spent years testing that theory. Anyone who has played public golf courses throughout the Inland Empire knows that Shannon Hills has fallen behind. The fairways, greens, bunkers, irrigation systems, landscaping, and overall playing conditions no longer reflect the quality that the residents of San Bernardino deserve. This issue has become even more personal for me because my daughters now aspire to become a part of the Cajon High School girls team, which uses Shannon Hills as its practice facility. Like many young athletes, they worked hard to improve their game, the practice they learn, and they represent our city with pride. Yet the facility they use does not reflect the same commitment and pride that we ask of our students. Our young athletes deserve better. Today, this council recognized achievements of Kahuna High School golf team. That recognition is important, and I applaud it, but recognition alone is not enough. If we are proud of our student athletes, then we should also be proud of the facilities where they train, Equality Golf Course is more than recreation. It's an investment in youth development, public health, local tourism, economic activity, and community pride. This is one of the few places where seniors, families, beginners, and competitive athletes can all share the same space and build connections with one another. Tonight, I respectfully ask City Council to do more than improve repairs. I ask you to create a long-term vision for Shannon Health Golf Course, a vision that supports the next generation of golf, a vision that shows our residents that we are willing to invest in assets that bring our community together. Shannon Health is worth saving. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

John Schellenberger, City of San Bernardino. I want to take this opportunity to speak to my community members, all the citizenry in the City of San Bernardino. I want to send you a sincere and heartfelt thank you for those of you that got out and exercised your vote, your right to vote. Votes are still being counted. I'm looking at the numbers. I like what I'm seeing so far. And I want to particularly say thank you to those in the first and second wards. You said enough is enough, and we're standing up and we're exercising our right for change. Time for a change. And change is always good. It always brings something new. And our city has been in dire need of that for quite some time. I go back a long way with this city. I know what it was. I know where it's been. And I see where it's going. And you're exercising your right to vote That's your power. You have the power. Your vote is your power. Other countries and other places don't have that. But you realize that you have that citizenry. And I want to say thank you for doing that. I'm a high propensity voter. That's what I'm known as. I've been voting in every single election since 1992 at the age of 25. Never missed an election. I want my voice to be heard. It's important. Helen, I had your sign on my yard this year. You did it. Stayed on message. You've shown in this four years that you wanted to change the face of the mayor's office, and it took some hard work, but you were steadfast, and you got it done, and the community saw that. So you're going to have to show that that's going to be the momentum in the next four years. I'm certain it will be. To have a sign on my front yard, it speaks volumes because of my reputation and arrow view in my community. I am known as a person who cares about public safety, quality of life, and my community members. So hey, Schoenberger's got your sign on our yard. They're aligned with his core values. So Helen, you've shown me that you're aligned with my core values. And be proud of that. So anything I may have to say to you that may not be on a positive note, I also understand Vietnamese culture. I'm going to be speaking to you directly, not here. and I respect your family, and I want you to know that. So again, thank you voters of San Bernardino. You knocked it out of the park, and I am so proud. One more for the road. Fred, don't get comfy cozy. I'm looking at them numbers. You're gonna have to really just hang on tight, because that kid's gaining on you. So that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, neighbors. My name is Ron Alvarado. I am standing before you today, not just as a lifelong resident, a neighborhood president, or a government fraud investigator, but as a deeply grateful neighbor. with the primary election ballots tallied, I want to take this opportunity to honor the democratic process and express my profound gratitude to the residents of San Bernardino, especially the residents in the first ward. Running a campaign is a collective journey. No matter the final configuration of the numbers, the true victory of this election cycle belongs to the voters who showed up, engaged, and demanded a transparent, accountable, and safer future for our city. Elections can inherently highlight our divisions, but the work of good governance requires us to focus on our common ground. Whether we live in the first ward or any part of the city, our foundational desires are exactly the same. Our residents want safe, clean neighborhoods where their children can thrive They want vibrant local parks, expanded youth arts programs, and economic development that brings high quality, attainable housing to our city, attainable to our residents. They want public servants who bring professional oversight, rigorous analytical discipline, and an absolute commitment to public safety and ethical governance. As we move past the election cycle, the real work continues. We must channel the immense civic energy generated over the past few months back into our neighborhood associations, our commissions, and into this very chamber. I look forward to collaborating with this council, city staff and my neighbors to build the safe, prosperous and unified San Bernardino that every single one of our families deserves. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

Hello, Dulce Becerra, San Bernardino. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Dulce Becerra, and I'm part of the Blair Park Neighborhood Association. My two daughters are also proud members of 61 Golf. Before I begin, if you are here tonight to encourage the city council to say yes on the Shannon Hills driving range netting repair, can you raise your hand or stand up? Thank you. Some of us have been here before to advocate for investment in Shannon Hills. As you saw from our athletes earlier, our youth thrive when the proper investment and resources are given. My heart hurts when I hear that San Bernardino kids are looked down upon or associated only with the negatives of our city. For example, San Bernardino was recently named the dirtiest city in the country due to severe air pollution, lack of green spaces, a high concentration of distribution warehouses, and widespread resident dissatisfaction. These labels deeply affect our community's morale. But the athletes you saw earlier are actively changing that negative perception of our beautiful city. They are using our community resources to excel. Shannon Hills Golf Course is so much more than just golf. It is a community anchor where our residents have celebrated school dances, birthday parties, and family milestones. I urge you to vote yes tonight. I hope that updating this driving range netting is just the catalyst for a much larger investment into the future of Shannon Hills Golf Course and the children of San Bernardino. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, and residents of San Bernardino. My name is Jose Mendoza, and I'm proud to serve as a local commander for the Disabled American Veterans. Tonight, I am honored to share some exciting news. Last week, I was elected as the DAV, Department of California State Commander, representing more than one million disabled veterans and their families across the great state of California. While this position is a tremendous honor, it is also a responsibility One that I intend to use to shine a spotlight on the men and women who sacrificed so much for this nation. Tonight I want to extend an invitation to City Council, County of San Bernardino, during my one year term, I ask that you utilize me. Invite me to your events. Call me to recognize the veterans in your communities. Allow me to help tell the stories of courage, resilience, and service that often go unheard. Every veteran has a story. Some served on battlefields overseas. Others spent birthdays, holidays, and years away from their families so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we often take for granted. Many returned home carrying visible wounds. Other came home carrying wounds that cannot be seen. Yet despite those challenges, they continue to serve their communities, raise families, and volunteer, mentor, and lead. These stories deserve to be told. As a resident of San Bernardino County, I've seen firsthand the positive changes taking place throughout our region. I believe in this community, I believe in its leadership, and I believe in the people who call this place home. Real change begins right here. It begins when neighbors help neighbors. It begins when communities embrace their veterans. It begins when we recognize that service doesn't end when the uniform comes off. Thank you for allowing me to serve. Thank you for believing in our veterans. And thank you for helping us ensure that the men and women who defended our freedoms are never forgotten. God bless our veterans. God bless the city of San Bernardino. And God bless the United States. Amen.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening. Frank Becerra, Blair Park Neighborhood Association. And first off, congrats again to Cal State, all three of their teams, the Cajon High School, and Andrew, 61 Golf. It really has proven to be a night of great recreation and sports being highlighted in San Bernardino. The piece on the hang gliders, I never really considered, but yeah, it's... It's a special place, and we are kind of known for that. So seeing all these things culminate tonight is encouraging. It's exciting. Cal State baseball, they probably owe a lot of that success to the investments that you made at Fiscalini Field, getting it fixed up and keeping it maintained. The same thing with Andrew and his colleagues at Shandon Hills. They spent a lot of time there. 61 Golf and then, of course, all the adult allies that they have supporting them along the way. Council Member Knoss, thank you very much for your support of the program, of the neighborhood, of the course. I'm here obviously to support item 22, the first step in rehabilitating Shannon Hills Golf Course. The netting is very important, but again, it must be a first step. I do share the concerns that Dominic Gutierrez shared earlier. He was, I think, the third speaker tonight. I share all of those concerns. I think my wife also spoke beautifully about the importance of Shannon Hills Golf Course. what it is to the community, both for youth, for golfers, for recreationalists, for events. And just here to say thank you in advance for approving item 22 and starting the rehabilitation of Shannon Hills Golf Course and keeping it a gem of San Bernardino City, keeping it owned by San Bernardino City, and keeping it for all of us. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Mike Hartley. When this charter got changed and they took the power from the mayor and gave it to all our council people, I'm still confused why the voter is only allowed to vote for his ward that he lives in, that council person. We should be voting on all you. You control it. You're the power. And what pisses me off is when I go to Del Rosa and Dates Street, and I look at Kaiser Hospital, and I look at the post office, and I see the biggest homeless encampment I have ever seen in my life right across the street from them. Now, I've called the county, I've called Caltrans, called the city. It's still there. It's growing. This is the site of San Bernardino. Why don't you clean it up? Do something. You know, the county takes all of our property taxes. And the county is the largest in the United States. You take the homeless and you move them out to the Mojave Desert. You do something with them. Don't let them ruin our city. When I was at Del Rosa in Highland watching this quick quack car wash grand opening, they were stepping over people who were laying in the sidewalk with blankets. It looked like Skid Row. And you're opening a new business in San Bernardino. I'm glad it wasn't on Channel 5 News. That would be the look of San Bernardino. And I am tired of it. Do something. Some of you may not get re-elected because of that problem. I hope you know that. Because I'm tired of looking at it. When we were driving over here, right on the freeway, a homeless gentleman ran across the freeway. How many times do you see that? Now if I would have hit him, I'm sure I'd probably be in trouble. But this is the kind of crap we have going on in San Bernardino. Please, solve the problem. Now as far as golf, I know a little bit about that. Ah, they left. Well. There's only one thing that destroys golf courses, and that's the golfers themselves. They are not taught golf etiquette, and that is to clean up divots, put sand in the divots, clean up your ball mark. Don't drive the carts on the greens. And what the gentleman said about Arrowhead is not true. They do not have a new kitchen. It was a crock of crap. So check your facts before you do anything. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. We have three minutes. Mr. City Manager?

I had an update about the encampment. Gabby?

Can you provide an update? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. So we work in collaboration with Caltrans for that location because it is within their jurisdiction and that was scheduled to be cleared today actually this morning. There is a second schedule for that same location for the 11th. So Caltrans and the city will return to that same location on the 11th. It is an area that has a high return rate. So it gets clear one day and people will return two to three days later. So we are working on a couple of things to provide access to services for folks. But again, it is a location that has a high return rate. Okay. Thank you for the update.

Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

to the mayor, city council, all of the city members. My name is Curtis Stout. I am a long-term resident of San Bernardino. I was on the commission for a while. And I also, with the Northwest PAC, as you can see, these are part of the members of the Northwest PAC. That's not my reason for here tonight. My reason is I would like to speak on item 27 of your agenda. 27 of your agenda talked about the University Parkway project. I understand that that project has been ongoing and we in the budget for the project was in fiscal year 2021-22. There were several questions in the meeting about different funding for that project, and there was several answers that was made or given to the council at that point, indicating that that was on schedule as far as the project was concerned. The project itself, it was budgeted, as I said, it was budgeted in the fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022. That budget, the total project at that time included media, streetscaping, improvement, and it was a sum of about one, it was about eight to 500,000, eight million to 500,000. The remainder, of course, was given for the media of the streets and to have that to be a part of the Universal Parkway. From that point, there was several questions asked and several questions that was made. I understand that the staff made a report excuse me, to the council members as to where we were with that project and how we were underfunded and we were coming under the budget to complete that project. I would just like to take this time to indicate that the That parkway is a main thoroughway through the West Community, the 6th Ward, and also in the city. And I think it would be a great improvement if it was looked at again and to have that as a project for the San Bernardino through the city. It's a great thing for me to say. I would really like to support that. And I know the PAC and the 6th Ward and also the West community support it. I appreciate your support. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening everyone, my name is Omar Williams and I am here to talk about one single issue that I feel that is important in this city and that is term limits. I would like to see a situation where politicians such as yourselves, city council members, mayor would have a situation where city council members serve three consecutive terms And if they so choose, after they're done with the city council, they can serve as mayor for three consecutive terms if elected. Now, my only issue is, because I don't know how you guys feel, and I haven't talked to any of you about it, but I want to remind everyone, just in case if for any reason you happen to be against term limits, I would like to point back to February 2nd. And one of the items on February 2nd in that meeting was term limits. So if anyone just happens to be against term limits, but you were for whatever happened on February 2nd, I just want to make note of that and just make sure that everyone is consistent, which is all I'm really asking. If you're going to stand on business with whatever happened that took place on February 2nd, that's fine. Just make sure it's consistent. That's it. So city charter takes place, I believe, on June 10th to talk about term limits. And I want to encourage every single person here and all the residents that may be watching, please attend. Make sure your voices are heard. I would like to encourage all of you to attend if you are able to make it. Make sure that your voice is heard, too. Or if nothing else, At least listen. You know, give it some thought. Make sure it's something that you genuinely believe in and that you're consistent. That's all I'm really asking of all of you. So June 2nd, or I'm sorry, June 10th, city charter meeting. I believe it starts at 6. Unless there's any different information that I'm not aware of, that's going to be the date and time. Make sure to come. Make sure your voices are heard. And let's see if we can get term limits on the ballot. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name in three minutes.

I just wanted to confirm with staff that that June 10th date is actually on the calendar. Yeah, I believe it has been set on the calendar. Okay. What's the time for that meeting?

That I have to find out. I believe it's 6 p.m. 6 o'clock. It is 6 o'clock. 6 o'clock.

Mr. Chair of the Charter Review Committee, is that...

Correct? Thank you, Mayor. Tim Prince, lifelong resident of San Bernardino, 35-year attorney in San Bernardino and chair of the Charter Review Committee. And you are all welcome Wednesday at 6 p.m. Charter Review Committee has for a few years now been discussing ways to improve our charter. We have studied other cities and their methods. We have heard extensively from staff and read extensively on the subject and we decided last week to move forward with those efforts and we will be going out for public input. We want further input from the public. We feel that we have heard the public very strongly that they are interested in enabling the mayor to have more impact on the policymaking aspect on the council. And we've looked at the historical charter and ways that the mayor was able to lead the council on a policy point of view. Historically, the San Bernardino mayor however, didn't limit his or herself to policy. And I think that's where the problem came in under the old charter, was the mayor was involved in administrative day-to-day functions that are the realm of the city manager in a city manager council form of government. So that aspect, I think, is kind of off limits for us. However, there are ways that the mayor can have a greater impact and can be better accountable to the citizens. I meant to start off my remarks by congratulating the council members and the mayor who were successful in our election yesterday. And for those that were not successful, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your service. There's still a lot of ballots left to count. The registrar is not specifying how many to count until tomorrow, but there are thousands of ballots countywide per past practice. So if you're close, don't give up. And if you're unsuccessful, all of you, thank you for your service. To return back to the charter, We would like to submit these proposals to the voters. It first has to be approved by the council to go on the ballot, and then the voters would have the ultimate say under a charter city. Like I was saying, historically, there were a lot of things that needed to be updated with our historical charter. but there were also some things that were thrown out as the bathwater with the baby that should have perhaps gotten a closer look before we just threw 100 years of experience away as the All-America City without trying to create a better balance with our historic charter. So be looking for those amendments, and thank you very much. Have a good evening.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. We have three minutes.

Debbie Kaufman, a concerned animal lover. May 31st, I was at the dog park, Wildwood, and somebody told me there was a dog that they caught that was running around loose in the park, and it was contained in the dog park now. It was a friendly husky mix. So I called around to some rescues and couldn't find anybody. So I called the shelter right at 10 o'clock in the morning on Sunday and told them where the dog was contained in the dog park and exactly what it looked like with a harness and everything. Then I went back at six o'clock that evening. The dog was still there, and there was a lady there. She said she had called the police, and they said call tomorrow, but they're closed Monday. Everybody knows that. So then there was nothing we could do, and the dog ended up, I guess, staying the night in the park with the coyotes. So then I returned Monday morning to the park, and the dog wasn't there. so I didn't see anything. And then later that day on next door, a lady posted the dog and it, I guess they had come to the Wildwood Park and seen it running around loose and took it home. And now they said they'll be taking it to the shelter next week if they can't find anybody for it. And my point is, I think the phone calls when you call a shelter should be recorded Because I've had more problems calling the shelter in other instances where they either don't come or they come but they don't really look for the dog. They just stand there and then they just drive off. And then other people have called and then the person they talked to actually told them, well, we can't come out. Just release the dog. Let it go loose right on Waterman. So that's asking about maybe getting those calls recorded so you know exactly what they're saying to people when they call and try to get help for animals that are injured or lost. And secondly, The shelter needs to start an aggressive spay and neuter program because we have a crisis in San Bernardino with a way overpopulation of dogs, kittens, puppies. They're putting dogs to sleep constantly there. I mean, I'm not blaming the shelter that's overpopulated, but they need to implement something where they can use that van that's been sitting there that probably doesn't run anymore. that Sam Manuel gave them, and $3 million. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next speaker, please take any of your three minutes.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Amy Malone, and I am a resident of the Fourth Ward here in San Bernardino. I was a candidate for mayor of the city of San Bernardino, and I want to just thank everyone who supported my campaign, volunteered, prayed for me, and prayed with me. Those who donated and believed in my vision for San Bernardino. I am... eternally grateful for just all that was given to me. This race was truly a journey, but it was a blessing. It was a blessing for me to see the heart of the people of San Bernardino and to continue to love this city and love it even more than when I started. While this election did not end the way I hoped, I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve and for every conversation I had, for every story that was told, everything that was shared along the way. This campaign was always about putting people before politics and building a stronger San Bernardino. That mission does not end. Congratulations. to Mayor Tran and others who ran. I thank them. I thank everyone who ran. It's not an easy thing to do. And when you are in the midst of that, you start talking to the different candidates, talking to those who have a heart to serve this city. And I hope those that ran and did not make it will continue their fight to serve this city. San Bernardino is a beautiful city. It's a beautiful place. I personally am here for you, Mayor Tran, or anyone else that needs my service or is here to ask for any help. I thank you, God bless you, and God bless San Bernardino.

Thank you. That was beautiful. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. We have three minutes.

Ms. Gilliam, also everybody knows Ms. Ashley. My dad enlisted in the US Air Force in 1950. That allowed our family of seven to travel to numerous countries and states. He was stationed at Mars Air Force Base in 1968, and we lived in San Bernardino during that time. After a two-year stay in Florida, his retirement came, and all the places in the world that we could have stayed or lived in, we decided to make San Bernardino our home. We've been here in San Bernardino since 1972. and we were here in 1977 with All-American City. In 1982, my parents purchased a home on Bond Street back in the Shannon Hills Golf Course, which was a blessing for my dad because he was a scratch golfer, okay, self-trained, and given the opportunity, could have been one of the premier golfers in the world. My family owned a home on Bond Street for 44 years. We're one of the first ones on that street. When the home was originally purchased, Shannon Hills Golf Course maintained the netting. The original netting prevented golf balls from hitting any part of our property, and my parents were able to sit and enjoy their backyard. We are on the direct line more than anybody else. We're a direct line of that golf course, so we're hitting more than anybody. Over the years, the netting deteriorated and eventually disappeared. My parents, for years, have not been able to sit in their backyard due to the straight balls that hit the house. Also, we've had balls come through so fast in there, they've impeded themselves into the walls themselves. where somebody could have been injured or killed. That's how bad it is. We've complained about this for years. We also have met with the lady that was at Arrowhead. We had appointments set up with her. She was supposed to call us, set up for appointment today to come look at that deteriorated netting we have there. She never showed up, never called. We called her, we texted her, whatever, and she just blew us off, whatever. Whenever we go to the meeting, the same thing happens. Just by the grace of God, nobody has been injured or hurt in that situation, which could happen. And if they come to me and ask me, why didn't you do anything? I said, the city was aware. They just didn't do anything about it at that time. So you tell my lawsuits, one may become your way. It's been 44 years, then fine, but it only takes that one. Shannon Hills course was once a premier destination. I got married in the club in 1981, 300 people there, it was phenomenal. We had our family reunion there, okay? We've attended numerous Mother's Day celebrations there in the past. The degradation or deterioration of Shannon Hills Golf Course is indicative of the deterioration of the San Bernardino as a whole. It would be great to start a neighborhood project here and make Shannon Hills Golf Course and Community Course Center, but it has to start somewhere. And let's start maybe with rebuilding the net, and then from there maybe do some of that center. You may also look, if you don't want to maintain it, look at selling that golf course to the other people, maybe willing to come by and do something with it. A great location. You have kids that can come and learn a lot of different things, even community development things. So please just do something that can continue on to make sure we have a great area there for the kids to continue to work with. And I'll be willing to work with anybody that's willing to work with this.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

My name is James Smith. I'm honorable mayor, city manager, city council people. You're doing a great job in the city of San Bernardino. We need your support. to move forward to address the city charter. For many years, I have been a resident of the city of San Bernardino, when we operated under the city charter prior to the change in the city charter. I think Tim Prince made a very important comment tonight. He's the chairman of the committee and we need to certainly support that election to possibly put that on the ballot. as early as next november to change the form of government to give more accountability to the mayor and to the city council so i appreciate that consideration but i wanted to really emphasize i was so proud I'm a 1961 graduate of San Bernardino High School, and to see all that recognition for my alma mater, I almost came to tears. I mean, it was just wonderful. The school system in San Bernardino is the number one school district in the state of California. We need to tell people that and remind them of that. Mauricio Arellano is the number one school superintendent in the entire state of California. We need to emphasize the positive things that are happening in San Bernardino. I'm really glad to hear about Shannon Hills. I know Shannon Hills, I moved here a few years ago, but the point I'm making is that we need to preserve Sandon Hills. We also need to preserve the name of Second Park. That's very important. I haven't heard that tonight, but we need that. The Native Sons of the Golden West had a vote the other day to unanimously not change the name of Second Park. And I think... The city council, the arts and the historical preservation, I'm the former chairman, are gonna be talking about and will be coming to your decision. I hope you support maintaining that history of Second Park and along with Shannon Hills and the wonderful, wonderful places we have. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes. Good evening. My name is Pamela Hall. I'm here to be a voice for the animals and speak on behalf of the volunteers at our animal shelter who care deeply about helping animals get out alive. Volunteers are concerned by the recent decision to block all volunteers' access to five buildings at the rear of the shelter. Blocking access to 50% of the new buildings removes up to 100 dogs from public networking, which directly impacts the survival odds of up to 100 animals at any given time. Robust networking and video distribution have been the direct drivers behind reduced euthanasia rates. While we understand certain animals are tied to active court cases or strict medical quarantines requiring staff-only handling, blocking access to all five buildings creates an unnecessary barrier. Volunteers respectfully request a compromise that satisfies both legal security and lifesaving goals. Number one, consolidate legal liability. Designate one specific building out of the five for active court cases, evidence retention, or strict quarantine. Number two, restore coordinated access. Reopen the remaining four buildings to trusted, cleared volunteers under the established protocol. Volunteers have long respected boundaries to protect case integrity. By isolating the legally vulnerable cases to a single structure, the shelter can mitigate liability without inadvertently reducing the life-saving capacity of the remaining new buildings. Historical data shows a direct link between volunteer video networking and lower euthanasia rates by getting animals pulled by rescues or adopted. The inability for volunteers to easily get real-time health updates from staff for interested rescues has contributed to an erosion of trust. The sudden change contradicts prior verbal agreements regarding conditional access to medical and receiving areas. We hope the matter will be given further thought and consideration to allow as many animals as possible opportunity to survive and get adopted. Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, council, community. I am Charlene Dixon. I have been a resident of San Bernardino for over 55 years. I'm here to speak on item 27. On the January meeting, I think the council did not really hear what staff was saying. That particular project had been approved and funded in 2022. The only reason it was not completed at that time was because there was an issue with the utilities. Once that was cleared up, the money that had been set aside from the original approved contract was ready to be spent. The new contractor that was located came in with a lower bid than the original one when the contract was first approved. So please understand that we're not asking the city for any new money. We're not looking for additional money. It's money that had already been approved, not used because it was held up because of an issue with the utilities. That particular street is an entryway. When you exit that street off the freeway, it would be nice to look south, and it'd look beautiful. Right now, it looks more like a war zone. It's the same street that leads up to Cal State. Why can't that street look as nice as it does when you get on the other end? Aesthetic appearance is important. It's the first impression people will get when they come into our city. So we're asking the council to please take another look and listen. That is an important ask. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes. Lydia Savala. I'm here to address a couple of fundamental items. As a reminder, it was on July 1st of 24 that Animal Services officially entered into the expanded regional partnership to provide shelter services to Colt and Fontana Realta, Granterras, and so on. This is, and I was here the evening that Chris Watson vehemently said that we'll be ready, the kennels will be ready. Well, two years have gone by, and the kennels are not ready. So we have this shortage. A consequence of that is that by feeding several dogs in one kennel, animal services is humanizing them when they fight over food, holding them to an impossible standard of civility, forgetting they are animals. Food is the number one cause of dog fights. It's called resource guarding. Dogs are biologically driven to protect high-value assets like food, so punishing them by sending them to a quarantine area not available for public view is a death sentence, and it's demonic. It's a travesty to undermine any probability for adoption by denying access to photograph or videotape them. They did not cause the space shortage. They have Chris Watson to thank for that. I've been reading the operational budgets for the last five years, and it's bothersome to me the omission of historical data, not entirely excluded, is 50% of the dead animals. So by wiping your slate clean of all dead animals, on average 50% a year for five years as if they did not exist, it undermines the credibility of an operational report. In professional settings, claiming success without documentation is considered an organizational failure, not a proven achievement. The omission, what I want to get across is that when you omit powerful information, you cannot prove improvement without historical numbers. And you only have to remember three numbers. It's not complicated. Total intake, dead animals, live animals. But the only numbers that get reported are the live animals. But when I do historical data for five years, you've had 17,000 dead animals over the last five years. This is a detriment. It destroys public transparency. It vanishes the risk of funding. The more grant money you get, the worse the conditions become and the fewer animals that get adopted.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hello, Dolores Armstead. First, the primaries are over. Congratulations. You can breathe for a little bit. Congratulations to those who got through it. Out of over 222,000 people, only 14,000 voted. That is really sad. But we appreciate the ones who did vote. And those who did not vote, guess what? Your vote still counted because it means you're okay with whatever's happening right now. So next time in November, come out, vote, and really show what you care, what you care about. We were hoping for change. This city is under a microscope. We are being looked at from across the country, and it's not a positive view. So I'm hoping the new people that come in office make that change. Those of you who are still in office, get together and make the change together. Thank you. I love this city. I am invested, and I want to see better. My children are here. I was raised here. My friends, family is here. We want to really enjoy this city. Item 27, landscaping and medians on University Parkway. We would be thrilled if you would consider implementing the approved improvements. Since this freeway exit serves as the first destination for travelers heading east, coming into our city, we believe it is beneficial for the city and 6th Ward to have an exit that is not only functional, but also a true reflection of this beautiful city. We have so much to offer. but you're killing it. You want us to look like just any old deadbeat city, why? Why do you hate us so much? The original bid for landscaping is not costing the city any additional funds. It was already approved in the original bid. Why do we have to have rocks and concrete? Why can't we have landscaping as the first entrance to the city we should be welcoming? People should want to come here because of what they see. not be turned off because there it is, San Bernardino again. Make San Bernardino beautiful. We deserve it, and the West Side definitely deserves it. We have waited so long. Please consider it. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

You have three minutes. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Andy Fuentes, and the election was yesterday, and I could not be more pleased with the results. First, I want to congratulate you, Mayor Tran, for getting reelected. You're a great mayor, and I know you want positive change for this city, but... I do not want to see people that did not vote bitching and moaning in a Facebook comment section, saying, oh, well, the mayor doesn't do anything. She has no power. And you must understand this, because people do not know what the charter is. So we need to make sure that the charter is more known in this city, because we are a city manager council from a government. But it was really sad to see you, Mayor Tran, lose support because of the slate that you endorsed. You endorsed people that are literally failed politicians here in this city. Benito Barrios and Virginia Marquez are not good for this city. They weren't good back then. Well, Mixie thinks they're going to be good now. And you're running these people from the past. You might as well be running Fred Charette. That's how bad it is because look at the shady things they did while in office. You have all of Benito's scandals. And then you have Virginia Marquez's letter to Donald Trump. And she said recently that she would still sign that letter if it happened this day. And That's why we need new leadership in office. And they're nowhere to be seen. They're never here at the city council meetings. And you could claim, oh, well, I'm out walking because blah, blah, this, blah, blah, blah. You have other candidates that made the runoff always here every single time. So I do not want to hear that. It is time for change in San Bernardino. We still have time until the general election, but we need to work our butts off to make sure that we have actual good council members. And Fred Charette, you're next. You are going to be the next one that's not elected, and I will work day and night to make sure that the people do not reelect you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

You have three minutes. Hello, City Council. I want... For years, we've been doing the same things over and over again. Rescues rescue dogs, transporters transport dogs, networkers post urgent pleas, fosters take in animals until they are overwhelmed, advocates argue online about who is right and who is wrong. And yet today, we are facing the worst animal overpopulation crisis many of us have ever seen. So I have to ask, if these strategies were working, why is the crisis getting worse? If all we're doing is pulling animals out of the river while nobody is willing to walk upstream and find out why they're falling in, then we're going to be doing this forever. Rescues are overwhelmed. Many are paying for boarding because they have no room left. Some are keeping dogs in kennels in their homes because they keep rescuing more dogs than they can realistically handle. Fosters are exhausted. Shelters are overflowing. Yet everyone continues fighting each other while the numbers of animals keep growing. Some advocates attack the shelters, some attack rescues, some attack anyone that disagrees with them. Everyone seems convinced that they have the answers, but the numbers tell a different story. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We are not solving the problem, we are only managing the symptoms. Rescuing one dog at a time is compassionate, but it is not reducing the flood of animals entering our shelters. Rescue is simply a band-aid. The real problem is uncontrolled breeding, backyard breeding, unaltered pets. People are selling puppies for cash while shelters are drowning in dogs. The City Council needs to, there needs to be consequences for this. And until we address that, the crisis will continue. There are concerns about some recent decisions being made at the shelter. People are frustrated and frustration grows. The communication disappears. OK, I have to skip to the end. I'm asking for a large-scale city-wide spay and neuter program initiative and a TNR program. City Council and Mayor, we need this. This is outrageous. There's animals everywhere in our city. We need to get the money to back this up. We have to get it. Please, please, I'm begging you to devote some resources for this program. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Kimberly Calvin here. Congratulations to every candidate who placed themselves out front and chose to run for office, and to those who are moving forward with their campaigns. I'm here to talk to you about item 27, and I'll try to touch base on item number 22. University Parkway, the median landscape, this street has been open now going on two years and still the landscaping has not been completed. Twenty years this project remained on our capital improvement plan list and when it came off, questions were asked whether or not the plans and the blueprints were going to be renewed. Again, it sounds like what Councilmember Ortiz was addressing earlier is that we start new projects then without reviewing items that have been put on the shelf for decades, and then when they're brought off, we don't review those new plans to look at whether or not we're gonna face any issues with like utilities. And that is what was an issue and has kept this plan still not coming to fruition due to the water department needing to help us resolve these issues. The renderings did show that there was landscaping on both sides of the medium, and here we are now, still trying to decide whether the University Parkway is an important thoroughfare in the city of San Bernardino. As already mentioned, it is the first street entering the city of San Bernardino, traveling east on the 210. If you reverse your direction and you go back one exit, you're gonna then be exiting into the city of Rialto. Go drive and look what that entrance looks like into their city. We should be trying to model exactly what other cities are doing around us. None of this makes sense for us to take a blind eye to any entrance or exit out of our city. But you know why you do this? It's the same reason why this project sat on the books for 20 years. Because we are continuing to look at certain wards, and in particular Ward 6. that have been marginalized since 1966 of its existence. And what I want to know tonight, while being on the agenda, how many of you have driven by? How many of you have walked the space? Then you should know what it actually looks like and that there's now an encampment that is on the street right where the scholars of Royal Valley High School have to walk. every single day. So that is dangerous. That means the partnership then needs to be with the county as well, because that area belongs to the county on each side of the street at baseline in California. It is your due diligence to make sure that before you vote, that you know why you are voting and for what. Councilmember Flores, the City of San Bernardino's West Side continues to need a fighter. That is what you were elected to do. I strongly encourage you to vote yes on this item, but to make sure that you are taking care of Ward 6. We would appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Al Palazzo, Mayor, Councilmember, City Manager. This will be the second paper that I will be submitting in the last couple of months on how to bring back our downtown. I submitted a paper on the mall site. I'm just gonna read a few sentences, but I hope to give this paper to you, city manager, at the end of the meeting. The people of San Bernardino are our most important resource. We need to focus on their needs. I cover various themes on how we can bring back the downtown. I saved the best for last. housing affordable housing not only in the downtown in our vast one thousand square block inner city we need to build and expand the middle class by building affordable housing we can do this without government money for hundreds of families and thousands of people we can start in our inner city we're sitting on a gold mine here It's ripe to be rebuilt. It's 100 years old. No other city in the county has such a vast oldness that has been ignored and neglected. Because for decades, we've been proud of our North End, the university, and we should be. And we've been proud of hospitality. Okay, we can do this by changing the zoning, moving thousands of renters into homeownership, creating generational wealth to provide more opportunities for the residents. their families, the lives of thousands of people will be changed for the better economically. This will improve the quality of life and make the city safer. The state of California has given us a green light through legislation to rebuild our city and to use our land more efficiently to its highest and best use. Again, three minutes. I don't have time to cover the themes, but I cover how we can... bring all kinds of eateries to the downtown, expand the performing arts, reinvent the old Fox Theater on Court Street, make it our mission in public spaces, pedestrian areas. And nobody ever talks to me and wants to engage in a conversation. And I also talk about our zoning, how we need to set a high bar. Rancho became a city because it wanted a high bar. We Get the mediocre, the minimum. And thank you, Dr. Treasurer Dease, for pointing that out tonight. That's part of my paper. But again, thank you for your time.

Thank you. That concludes the speakers. We also received written comments which have been distributed to the Mayor and City Council for review. And the comments can also be found on the website attached to the agenda packet.

Thank you. Mr. Student Manager, there's a comment from AV, our subject, unfair fees. Can you and the chief look at this? It occurred, the incident occurred June 1st. It's concerning, regarding about a 18-year-old and as a parent who emailed this incident. Thank you. Okay, we will now, that concludes public comments. We will now move on to the consent calendar. Mr. City Manager, is there anything that you need to pull on the consent calendar?

There is nothing that I need to pull.

Thank you. Council Member Ibarra, do you have any pulls? I have some questions on item 21. Item 21, okay. Mayor Pro Tem. Item number 22. 22, thank you. Council Member Sanchez.

No pulls.

Thank you. Council Member Ortiz? 11-15, and I have a question on 21. 11-15, and what was the other? I have a question on 21 as well. 21. Thank you. Council Member Figueroa? None. Thank you. Council Member Flores?

None.

Thank you. Council Member Charette? None. Thank you. Is there a motion for the remaining balance?

I'm sorry, Mayor? Over there. And I'll second.

Mayor, I just have a statement. For item number 10, that item needs to get pulled from consent. It's going to be moved to the meeting on the 17th.

Item number 10 will be moved to June 17th. Correct. Thank you. Is there a reason for that?

The item needs to actually be heard on discussion and it was put on consent. Got it. The item, it should have been on discussion, but it was actually placed on consent. So for the next meeting, it will be on discussion and there'll be a full review.

Can I comment on that real quick? Aren't we obligated to pass it anyways? It's a state-mandated law at this point, isn't it?

Yes, but state law does require it to be a discussion item. It affirmatively says it cannot be placed on the consent calendar. Gotcha. Thank you.

Okay. We can just move it to discussion?

There's a motion by Council Member Charette and seconded by... Was it Mayor Pro Tem who seconded? Did you second the, yeah, thank you. Madam City Clerk?

Or digital voting, is that? Sorry, Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Barra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canas? Yes. Yes. Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Consent calendar balance passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. We'll start with Council Member Ortiz, item number 11. Thank you, Mayor.

So, Mr. City Manager, I think my concern is that... there some oh is that we had discussed this over a year ago and nothing came back and with the shift in the budget and revenues and you know hearing other conversations while I do support us having a smart technology center, especially with what's going on, I'm having a hard time shelling out over $3.5 million at this point in time for a building, and I think that's just to get the building. That's not for the improvements. I know that we've received federal funding for operations, or government funding in general for the operations, but we're talking $3.6 million plus whatever the cost is to put this infrastructure into full compliance which could be well over a million or two million dollars depending right we don't have estimates do we on how to make the building or is it ready to go we were given estimates stop do we have the information

In terms of the tenant improvements that are required, I would refer to PD. They have grant funds that will be allocated specifically for those tenant improvements. And they probably could speak to the details of that.

OK, that's what I'd like to know. What's in the budget, I guess, is the question.

Yeah, PD's here to answer that.

Good evening, mayor and council. So there was approximately $200,000 that we received in our grant to help with some of the upfitting for the fusion center, not necessarily for the whole building.

So my question is... The 3.6 million is just to buy the building, but is the building fully set to be moved in ready, or are there additional costs on top of this that were gonna come out of the general fund to get the building ready outside of the grant funding for operations? Will there be more money needed?

Yes, there are some due diligence costs that are part of this process. That would include an alt boundary survey, phase one environmental site assessments, hazardous building materials survey, engineering analysis and evaluation. fire and life safety evaluation so the total estimated due diligence cost for this project are seventy six thousand three hundred and twenty dollars and this this amount was determined by issuing out an RFP a request for proposal for these services that were deemed necessary by our legal team what about renovations No, we've been advised by the police department that outside of the funding that they received for the proposed tenant improvements, there would be no additional necessary improvements.

OK. Is there a way with, especially looking at the budget as we prepare for the budget next year, is there an option to do a lease to own so that we are offsetting costs over a larger portion of the budget term with the school district? Is that anything we could even evaluate? No.

Because of the dollars, and it would be coming from the reserve, I've had discussions with the superintendent's office and had told them if the council wanted to look at something such as that, you could bring that as an option, and they were open to that type of discussion.

And they were amenable to that.

Yeah, they didn't say that they would definitely do it, but they're open to at least a discussion.

Okay. Because I think, you know, that's the, you know, as we hear, you know, need for hiring, need for staffing, and, you know, so if we have $3.6 million to buy a building, I think, you know, we had $3.6 million to invest into staffing. And so if I'd like to make a motion that we... direct the city manager to talk to the school district to see about just what a lease to own would look like versus a one-time cost purchase and over what type of terms that would be so that we can, when we prepare our budget over the next couple years, we know what's coming out because as we know, revenue is shrinking.

If the council prefers to do that, we can do that and bring the item back with the two options July 15th.

Okay. I'd like to just see that as a council member because we haven't talked about this in over a year and a half. About a year and three months. Okay.

Okay. That's the motion. Is there a second to that?

Not a motion, just a question. Does any kind of a delay at this point have any impact on what the PD is trying to achieve or what we're trying to achieve in the end?

Yeah, so the PD has another interim option that they're already working on for the fusion center. And I don't see this as a delay because the building is ready, and I think the school district understands it's a big capital cost. So I think we can pretty much expedite it in one way or the other, just looking at how we would finance it. So I don't think that would create a delay for the PD on that.

Okay, well, then, with that in mind, I think I can go ahead and second that.

Okay, thank you, Council Member. Madam City Clerk, there's a motion and a second.

Repeat the motion.

This is to move forward to come back on July 15th meeting. Thank you.

It's with two options, right? I mean, a purchase or a lease purchase. Yes.

Perfect. Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Ibarra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette? Mayor Pro Tem Canaz? Yes. Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Council. Council Member Ortiz, item 15?

Yes, this is just more of a comment as we look at... Oh, I'm sorry.

I just want to confirm that this is continuing the item to July 15th.

Yes, and what Council Member Charette just mentioned about the two items that's already on the staff report. Okay, perfect.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. No, I just want more of a comment because it's already happening. But I think when we look at a regulatory fee rate of around $66,000 and we're expending over $220,000 between overtime and straight time for fireworks, it just... you know, I guess we'll see how this year goes. Are we gonna be launching the drones and implementing those types of, so what I'm hoping is that as we move forward with enforcement, that the actual, not like ticketing, will help actually offset the true $200,000 to $300,000 of expenditures that we are putting out for allowing fireworks in the city. Because even though they're safe and sane, they're still illegal above the 210, and I want to echo that. It's still an illegal firework, whether it shoots off in the sky or sits in a street, if you're above the 210. So thank you, Mary. I move to approve that one. Thank you.

There's some motions. Is there a second to approve the item? Council Member Ibarra seconded. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Ibarra?

Yes.

Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canas? Yes. Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Council. Council Member Ortiz, you have 21, and then I also have comment by Council Member Ibarra on 21.

So I was a city manager, and I was a little confused, because it was the person talking, working with the city, or in what capacity was that?

Yes, I can... I can answer that, Council Member Ortiz. So the person who was talking, she represents one of the properties that is close to Caltrans Right-of-Way, Tuscany Apartments. So she works as a consultant for that group and has been interacting with myself and the Public Works Director on it. So she... It's not directly in the negotiations, but she definitely has contacts at Caltrans as well as with the city.

So what she said about it being maintained as a draft...

So the issue is I've been asked multiple, so Caltrans has a fairly typical document, which this one represents, that most cities have. There has been some requests to maybe make some changes, but I wanted to push it forward so that we could either So to propose to the City Council that you would approve it, only minor modifications would happen if Caltrans made any modifications because they're now re-looking at it. This draft is pretty typical to what other cities have. modifications are minor, I would approve it, but I would also send it out to council. If there's anything that would be what I consider more than a minor, then we would bring it right back to council with an amendment. I was just trying to get it moving forward so that we have within it, we have reimbursements and all that. I didn't want to see it delayed longer, and so that's why I brought it forward.

No, I appreciate it. I mean, we've been waiting for this a while, and so I'm really glad. Mr. City Attorney... I guess, do you have his back if there's something, like, we're not... The way we're doing this isn't going to, like, super lock us in if something comes up that we're not... I mean, it seems like city manager's pretty happy with where we're at, but we'll be able to come back. Do you feel comfortable with us doing that?

Yes, absolutely. I think that if some revised terms, if they would... you know, shift some of the responsibility for potential liability onto the city. That's the kind of thing that I would tell the city manager, we need to go back to council. We can't just sign off on that. Other than that, or maybe insurance, you know, big ticket items. But other than that, you know, we're in lockstep, you know, and we always confer anyway. And even when we have an executed agreement, you can still amend it then also. Yeah.

Thank you. Council Member Ibarra?

That was going to be one of my questions. So you pretty much were using...

contracts that other cities throughout the state already have in place without any of the changes have you been able to discuss some proposed changes or audits to this document before so they've been going back and forth with Public Works they are looking at the state level not necessarily even in this district of making a couple modifications but I don't know if they will or won't but If they do, then we would bring it back for an amendment at that point. If they don't, then I'd be able to sign it and we could move forward expeditiously on this.

Okay, because I know, I think we had been waiting on Caltrans for a while. Yeah. And I thought that's what we had received, already their feedback.

Yeah, so the draft's been sitting for multiple months, and so that's why I brought it forward, so that we could at least get it moving forward. And then if Caltrans wants to make another change, then we could bring it back.

So all these months, recent months, where Caltrans had it on their desk to review... Was that not happening since they gave us a draft of whatever they have with other cities?

It's been back and forth, yeah. So they're re-looking at a few things that the speaker had spoken about.

Okay, so you already have that information of what, okay. Because I wouldn't want to approve something if it's like she said, a cookie cutter of what other cities are doing. Okay. I like the idea of let's, we are San Bernardino, let's be unique. Let's see what else we can work with with Caltrans. So I appreciate Irma and all the work she's done. I know she's been at it for a while, and we do have support from our state legislators on this, too. So, okay, then with that, I move to approve.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. That's a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Sanchez? Yes. Council Member Ibarra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canaz?

Yes.

Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Council. Mayor Pro Tem, Item 22.

Yes, thank you. So when I came into office, I took the time to actually, myself, tour Shannon Hills Golf Course. And since then, I've actually been there a couple of times. I went a few times, I should say. I actually went there just as recent as Monday. And I do have to say, every time I go, my mouth drops. It is quite astounding, the condition of the course. I understand that the banquet facility was red-tagged. when I went one time, which you did address, and I sincerely appreciate it, because it has been a little bit frustrating when I first came into office, even just getting documents. I got more documents from the community than from the city. But you have been responsive to a lot of the things that I have said. You've met with the community, so I really do appreciate that, city manager. The challenge that I'm having though, especially with an item like this, that net has been down, I think, well before I got into office. And just as recent as my visit on Monday, There's the pillars from the driving range. They are literally swaying to the point, they look like they are going to fall over. It's now created such a liability that I am worried for our constituents and all those that visit the course. It's now almost become a safety hazard. When the community met with us, and it wasn't even, we didn't even know about it, the bathrooms had been closed for months. My concern is that we have not had the proper oversight of our city-owned golf course, and that is not acceptable. I do appreciate you. I know that you have assigned someone in your office to be a little bit more hands-on. I would like to get a little bit more reporting and updates regarding how that's going. Again, these issues have been lodged for quite some time. And there are some stipulations, and I don't want to, you know, I'm not here to throw anyone on the bus or point fingers, but I do have to, you know, call it what it is. You know, we have our accountability that we need to take as a city because this course has had deferred maintenance, I mean, it's probably been over a decade. There's a lot that this city has turned a blind eye to when it comes to Shannon Hills Golf Course. However, there is a contractual agreement. There are stipulations within that contract that also the vendor is responsible for. And I don't know that we are ensuring that they are living up to their end of the bargain either. I have questioned... Have we gotten the reports? They're supposed to be doing assessments as a management company. When I came into office in 2025, I was trying to find records. I found, actually I didn't find it, the community provided it to me when Argus was the management company. They sent those reoccurring reports. They let us know, hey, the roof needs to be repaired. These are the challenges, these are the issues. Unfortunately, we may or may not have had the funds to address them all, but we still had the reports so that we knew what was going on with that course. Over the course of two plus years, I don't know that we've gotten any. Again, I've asked for them repeatedly and I have not received any. And I think that we have to... for the sake of even the city from a liability perspective, we have to ensure that we ourselves are addressing these issues. This is an asset within our city. So I sincerely appreciate this being on the agenda. I appreciate the bathroom that was in fact opened back up, it was corrected, all the plumbing issues were remedied, but there is still a staggering amount of concerns with that golf course. I mean, I have pictures on my phone from the youth discovering pits that they could have literally tripped and fell on. It's just not acceptable. In regards to some of the other things that were said, I have photos of inventory that has been taken from Shannon Hills Golf Course to the privately owned golf course. That's not acceptable. I don't even know if that's legal. I have asked when I first came in if there was inventory that was done at the point of that contract being executed. I still haven't got an answer to that, but I asked if there was not inventory that was completed. The city needs to do that. Again, those items, every single thing in there is paid for with taxpayer money. It's not acceptable to then be transferred to a privately owned golf course. I would like to know what the city is going to do moving forward to remedy this, to actually stay on top of this contract. I need a little bit more assurance. Again, I appreciate the meetings and everything, but at this time, it's just been a lot of talk. I need to have something a little bit more concrete in regards to what we're doing. I do understand we don't have 30 plus million today to invest in the course, but at the same time, I and the community, we need a lot more answers.

Well, so we looked at critical items. We're also looking at financials. We're doing a variety of things. We can send out a report to you. But we have prioritized critical items, the netting being a critical item, the bathrooms being a health and safety item. And so those are two of the first things that we are moving forward with because of that. And that's what we're trying to do is prioritize and put the more critical items first as far as those issues. As far as reporting, we can get more reports to you.

When it comes to the actual assessments that are supposed to be done by the vendor, are you guys receiving those? Have you received any?

They've indicated that they had sent them. I haven't seen those. So we're trying to determine whether something happened and they didn't get to us or not. You said you have not seen them. I personally haven't seen them but we we are checking to see if somehow they got put if somehow they came but we didn't it didn't get to my office.

Okay and then I do have an additional question as far as the bathrooms that were recently repaired. Did the city file an insurance claim on that?

don't believe I don't believe we did okay so at this time within the past two three years no insurance claims have been made on the property the damage that was in the bathrooms was actually because of age more than anything else the cast-iron piping had collapsed it basically brought it out so there was no you know accident or anything that caused it other than just you know age and deterioration

Okay, I just wanted to confirm there were no insurance claims that were made. And just to my point, I don't mean to be redundant, but we do have a lot of city facilities. I completely understand that. I think it's what, almost 30 parks that we have here in the city of San Bernardino. Cal State San Bernardino was another one of our partners that I worked with at the onset of me coming into office and Council Member Ibarra. There was a lot that was put into fiscal any field to bring that field up to par. look at what happened you know Cal State San Bernardino won the championship we have so much greatness in this city and I just want to make sure that we as a council as a city that we are doing what we can to to invest back into the community. I do hope that we can, again, get a little bit more on it, you know, making sure that we're crossing the T's, dotting the I's. I think, again, a lot just kind of flew under the radar with that contract, as well as the management of Shannon Hills Golf Course. So I do look forward to seeing a little bit more accountability. I do look forward to seeing some more updated reports. The community has been awesome. They themselves invest a lot of their own time, their own resources to ensure the golf course is something that's an enjoyable experience, not just for the youth, but for the community as a whole. But that shouldn't just be the responsibility of the community. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there a motion to move forward with the item? I will motion to move it forward. Thank you. I'll second. And seconded by Council Member Ortiz. Please call for the votes.

I seconded my... Councilmember Sanchez?

Yes.

Councilmember Barra? Yes. Councilmember Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canales?

Yes.

Council Member Flores?

Yes.

And Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Council. We are approaching the 9 o'clock, and in accordance with Resolution 2024-029, if we wish to extend the meeting beyond 10 p.m., we must take a vote or decide which items would need to be continued. We have two more items under discussion. Is there a motion to continue if we need to go past 10? Move to approve. There's a motion by Council Member Ortiz, seconded by Ibarra. Please call for the votes.

Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Ibarra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canas?

Yes.

Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Moving on to discussion items, item number 26, 2026 Commercial Cannabis Regulatory Program Update. Could we begin with the staff's presentation? And this is just receiving file just for the councils.

Can I ask a question? Sure. Did we already review this? If not, I'm fine with skipping the presentation. If you've reviewed. Yeah, I've read the presentation. I've read it and receiving file. If no one has a question, make a motion. There's a motion.

Is there a second? Is there a second?

I'll second that.

Council Member Figueroa seconded. If there's no further comments.

It's a recent file. I just wanted to make a quick note. We do have the consultant with us here tonight. It is not something we've had in the past. So if the council members had any questions or wanted to hear any part of the presentation from the consultant, we do have them here.

Thank you. No? No need? Okay. Well, thank you. And thank you to the consultant who's here. Thank you so much. Okay, moving on to second discussion item, number 27, rejection of construction bids for the University Parkway median landscape project and approval and alternate landscape design. Could we begin with staff's presentation?

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council. This item is the follow-up from the January meeting, the rejection of construction bids for the University Parkway median landscape project, and we're requesting direction for an approval of either to go back out for bid or to get direction to redesign it at the pleasure of the council, so... As was mentioned by some of the public speakers, this has been a long project coming forward. It's been, in my knowledge of the city, it's gone about 25 years that this was an important aspect of the community as far as a major arterial. It was identified as major arterial in the general plan circulation element, and however, due to the project cost, the project was programmed into four phases. Phase one was from 16th Street to Baseline, phase two from Baseline Street to 9th Street, phase three at Foothill Boulevard and Rancho, and then the final phase tying it all together from 9th Street to Foothill Boulevard. And I know this is a little difficult to see, but there is an image in the staff report that shows the four phases. It's a significant, large project. Just to give a little bit of background as far as the design work and the construction, design work for the road construction was actually awarded December 5th, 2018. And the actual award of the construction documents and to start the phase one was actually done August 17, 2022. Road was open for public use in December, 2023. And then the project was formally completed and a notice of completion recorded April 4th, 2024. The median landscaping that was under consideration, that is under consideration, is actually a separate contract. But the funding was actually included in the original awards. Part of the issue was that underneath that roadway is the Department of Water Resources major pipeline that goes from Devil's Canyon down to Diamond Lake. And as such, We were under the restrictions that the Department of Water Resources had to review and approve any landscape plans. And there were some limitations regarding it. The project advertised August 5. We received bids in September. And then we brought it to the council for original schedule of award on January 12. And just to let the council know, this was the actual landscaping, so there was some discussion at the January meeting regarding the median. We actually did have, as part of the award, the construction of a median from just below 16th Street down to Hanford. as part of it and then the landscaping on both sides of the street as well as the medium. And so we've included some typical samples of what the landscaping is proposed to look like and what was approved by the Department of Water Resources. So it is a drought-tolerant landscaping. It is not a lush landscaping like what has been done historically, but it is an attractive palette with the different plant materials. And then there is trees, I believe there's 101 trees that are part of the planting. We did receive the low bid of $1,011,835. But because of the delays and everything in terms of trying to get this thing to the council, the vendor, after we met with you on the January council meeting, vendor notified us that they were withdrawing the bid. So in essence, the bid became null and void, even though we had asked you to continue the item to February. And so the second lowest bid actually exceeded the available funding. And so that was part of the issues that we took to get it back to you tonight. During the January council meeting, there were several items that the council members raised. One of them was the estimated cost of proposed work, $1.1 million. The project is actually about 113,000 square feet, and that's about $9.74 per square foot based on the award that we were. So it really is not an expensive project compared to what a regular park project that we've done. So that was one that we tried to address here. The question came up regarding whether the sources of funding could be used elsewhere. The funding source was actually a regional circulation fund, and that fund is actually restricted to obviously regional circulation, so it's not something that we could pick up and go use it for paving in another part of the street, another part of the city. It has to be funded as far as implementing your regional circulation element. And it was not new funding that we were asking for. It was part of the original awards and original amounts that we had previously awarded. And then finally, the question regarding a decision given to remove the stamped concrete in the center median. We actually do not have any of the staff here that can confirm it. So part of what we were trying to do between January and now is try to figure out how it actually happened. But all of the parties that were involved in it are no longer members of the city. So while we speculated on the January meeting, It's not possible for us to confirm beyond a reasonable doubt in terms of how it actually occurred, again, because of the change in leadership in the city manager's office and other staff members. So we made a good faith effort in trying to figure that out, but it's still... You know, speculation. And we tried to avoid any further. And then finally, the question had been raised about the maintenance cost. We actually went to the company Inland Empire Landscaping that does all of our medians and asked them to give us a price of how much it would cost. They came back to us, and it was $66,000 annually, or about $0.58 a square foot for the whole year for them to maintain the new landscaping. So, at this point, we're really asking the council to consider three options. Obviously, the first one is kind of a formal reject all bids to close out the previous bid that was being considered. And then option two is direct us to either rebid the project, you know, as it was designed, or direct us to go back and redesign the project to meet, you know, either lower maintenance costs or a different type of approach. I do want to point out that if we do go back to the redesign, it will require us to go back to the Department of Water Resources and have them review it. So because it would be, if we, if If we heard what the council was really concerned about, about the maintainability and the maintenance costs, that would really entail us going back to DWR for their concurrence again. And that was a significantly long process we had to go through. And otherwise, provide us other directions. So any questions, please?

Thank you. Thank you so much. I have Council Member Flores who would like to comment.

Thank you, Mayor. I first want to start off by thanking the community members who came out to speak on item number 27. These past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to connect with my Sixth Ward neighbors and community, the ones that reside near this project area. And the main things that they bring up is the safety concerns of The lights it being dark street lights and then also the the doughnuts that happen between from 16th Street all the way to the ending of where we have our current median, so This project looking at it. It really addresses those like big concerns but also one little caveat that I hear time and time again is the type of projects that we bring over to our community that the beautification as they need to be the same quality that we provide to other parts of the city and I want to thank our public works team for for hitting it on the head, not only with this presentation, but this project in general. You address the safety concerns with the solar-powered streetlights on there and increasing the median for the donuts, but also incorporating the beautification component of this item. And to take it back even further, I heard in our public comments that it's an entryway, an arterial way into our city. And to reflect back on that, prior to being on the council and working at the county, I worked here at our local store, our target here on Orange Show Road, where I started off as guest services, customer service, and Soon I wanted to develop my own skills and grow, and I moved on to the sales floor. The first thing of importance that was shared with me in this training was our first impressions, our end caps, our entryways into the department, how they have a big impact on how customers or our residents feel when they come into our city and they're leaving our city. To tie this all together, this is a long time coming item for the residents of the 6th Ward, but I think we need to invest into our residents and allow them to feel the same type of strengthening that we that we want to empower and we want them to have to make them feel that they're just as important as any any any one of our residents in any other district but with all that being said I like to make a motion to to reject The current, let's see. Adopt resolution number 2026-66, rejecting construction bids for the University Parkway Landscape Medium Project and like to direct staff to proceed with the rebidding of the project using the existing WOR-approved design.

Thank you, Councilmember. Are there any other comments? There's a motion by Councilmember Flores. or the item to move forward? Is there a second? I'll second that. I do have a comment. Yes, Council Member Ortiz. Council Member Sanchez, did you have a comment? Because your light was up first.

Yes. So there was back in... I'll have to see when it was, but the city asked for additional money for new landscape engineering services. And that was because it was a redesign from the original design. So... I mean, several of my colleagues and I have gone there, and we've seen where the rock blanket was actually removed. So there was the zero scape landscaping with the quarry rock and the stamped rock and a couple trees. That was then removed, and then... Staff came back to the council with an eighty thousand dollar line item to fund additional Landscape engineering because that was a redesign of the median if you remember that That would have been from I'm trying to pull it up. It's gonna be a while. I think it was from 23 actually I Think it might have been in 23 I So yeah, I believe it was in August of... No, it might have been August of 22. When this... August of 22 or early 23, when it did come back to us. And I don't know if you guys remember, but that was after... the certificate of completion for the project. And if you remember, the street was already open, the certificate was stamped, and then staff came back with that $80,000 line item to fund that landscape engineering.

Is that the August 16th, 2023 with the 83,485? Exactly. Okay, that would have been before the project was completed. No, the street was already open. The street was opened in December of 2023.

It's December of 2023. December of 2023. So if the project was fully funded, where did the line item, that $83,000, come from for the engineering? Because that design was already supposed to be done. That design for the project was already done.

came from the existing funds that we have left from the original circulation fund.

The $83,000 was for a redesign of the landscape, correct? Correct. Okay, that's exactly my point. So the original design had what we have kind of as a standard throughout the city for low maintenance, still aesthetically pleasing, but low maintenance. And that was changed at the behest of one council member. So that's why that $83,000 just for the landscape engineering. But the design, the original design didn't call for that. I remember that because I'd question why this was coming forward at this late stage if the design was already, had been approved I think years ago. And that was the point of contention. So I want us to go with the original low maintenance design. We talk about budget constraints. We're talking about not having enough dispatchers. And to pay $50,000, $60,000 for a landscape maintenance in perpetuity would be irresponsible, considering how many critical positions we're keeping open. And we can continue to serve that end of the community well with a design that's more thoughtful, that is clean, that is safe, but low maintenance. And throughout, I mean, we pushed off this building purchasing because we talk about budget constraints and making sure that we're not dipping too far into our reserves. That is a one-time purchase. This will be ongoing. When cities go bankrupt, they go bankrupt because of the overwhelming burden from ongoing costs year to year. And those landscaping costs will not go down. They will only go up. And so I think we need to be responsible. And so I would move to approve... to direct staff to come back with a design very similar to the low maintenance design that was first intended for that median.

Thank you. Casa Martis.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, so this project, this is original, what, 20 some years ago?

The actual concept for University State Street has been advocated by various council members since I was here the first time, which would have been 94 to 2004.

And that center median in the original design concept was cement?

I believe that, yes, it was a separate bid item. It was about $244,000 for that median with the stamped concrete. And that's how it was approved? And that was how it was approved, yes.

Okay. And then, I mean, although, like you said, people are just speculating on how it got removed. They don't actually know. You have no documentation to actually prove that.

Correct. I do not have any way of being able to confirm. I've heard stories, but it is just simply hearsay.

Okay. And so... Why not, I guess, at 58 cents, because when we do, we always, again, I always go back to it, we always have money to pay people hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for 300, 400,000. When it comes to investments into the community, when it comes to investments into the regular everyday person, like I said, being able to push out costs over time allows us also to free up our budget to make the type of you know, impact that people want to see. And I think that's where it's an interesting conversation because this is a major corridor. It's going to be. I mean, this is supposed to go all the way to Foothill. This is where people come in and out. When you come off of 2nd Street, we're going to want to make those type of improvements. When you get off on 5th Street now, It's those type of visual improvements. When you get off on Palm and Kendall, when you want to start seeing something that's attractive to the eye, you have to make those type of investments. Do I like $60,000 a year for maintenance? Maybe we can improve on that. But if you don't build it, they won't come. And if you don't make it look nice, it's going to be a city that is... about right the thought the thought is that the city is trash the city is not safe the city is not invested into it I think it shows when we are moving on a path and then we stop it costs even more money and it costs us time and I always feel like there is a very pointed retaliatory feeling towards any investment on the west side of the city I never see the type of restrictions and withdraws of investment from the other wards like I see when it comes to the west side and I've watched other people pull money out of a park so that they could go pave their portions of parks and so I think in this really specifically to the sixth ward and I don't know if that's just a historical thing if that's just a council personal feeling but I've watched it I watched it with Kim Calvin I know Ricky van had gone through that during his time and so I just I'm wondering when we're gonna break that cycle of relegating a portion of our community to think that they don't matter but like when you could only get off to go to the west side and go home. So I think there's some historical residual effects to that. That's why Council Member Flores, besides the fact that I spend so much time over there, also with the Northwest PAC, we do have an agreement in place that all major development and all major investments are supposed to be contractually discussed with this PAC, which has existed between business owners because of the city's treatment towards the Westside community. So have we discussed with the Northwest PAC this significant financial change and received their approval to reject something that they had already agreed to?

Can I clarify? So on the rejection of bids, it's because the bidder actually withdrew.

Because we put a stop to it.

No, I'm not sure if it's because we put a stop because it was within a week that they withdrew.

Do you think maybe they watched the council meeting and said, you guys are going to hold us off? Did we stop it first or did they stop it first?

I think it was a combination of factors. The fact that the bids were open in September, the bid package was out in August. Between that time and January, we saw the escalation of costs starting to go up because of tariffs and things like that. I can't tell you why they made that judgment. But they did.

But part of the reason they said they withdrew is because of the cost increase, right?

So I think, you know, a part of we do have our agreement with the Northwest PAC to discuss large concepts with them, large conceptual changes. We have this already, like you said, predisposed plan. So that's why, you know, I hope... the design, the bid, and in that, can you look at the cost of landscaping? To me, I know 58 cents a square foot, really, I'm surprised at $9 a square foot. But it is a large pathway. But if we can get under a million, we'll try to do that. Are we? Is that the purpose?

One of the things that we could do is that if we're given the direction to take the existing landscaping package back out to bid, obviously we would be able to do some optional items in the bid package to try to bring the pricing down. That is something that we could do if directed by the council, and that sounds like what you're asking.

That's what I'd like to see is give us... get a good get a good conceptual idea of this but at what we can we can move around rather than just like we're going to pave paradise and put up a parking lot in a center median and at the cost of concrete is more impactful, I think, environmentally, aesthetically, and to the morale of that side of the community. So if that can be done, that's what I'd like to, Mario, if that's part of your thing, is give an option as we go out for RFP. Because if nothing comes back, all right, then you can asphalt whatever the heck you want. But if we can really do something that's worthwhile as we look towards what the vision of the city is, I support that.

Thank you, Councilwoman. I think it's really important as we move forward in developing our city, it's consistent throughout the city. It's not just one part, one area. Consistent. As we beautify our city, as we really try the aesthetic, it's consistent throughout the city, and it's uniquely San Bernardino. And we want San Bernardino to be standing out beautifully. As we build our city, we're rebuilding, we're developing. And that's all I just really ask staff to be consistent as we move forward. Thank you. Council Member Ibarra followed by Council Member Sanchez.

I know we were talking about, this was before you came back, Lynn, what happened in the past. But have we tried asking accounting to see if there's any invoices of any money that had been paid out previously? I mean, if there's like no emails or staff notes anywhere, there has to be, if indeed something was already put in place previously, there had to be an invoice for payment, correct?

There would have been an invoice under the contract, and we do have those invoices. What's unknown is how was it directed and who actually performed the work. We don't know if the vendor was the one that performed the work at direction or whether it was city staff. We have not been able to get that information clearly.

Okay, so just so the public knows, something was already installed there. and then somebody, and we don't know who, directed that be removed. That was maybe two, three years ago, two years ago?

It was before I came back, yes.

That was my only question. I know we had some speakers, they wanted us to approve item 27, but I don't know if that meant that they want us to approve to reject the construction bids that we already have that are not feasible at this point and reopen the RFP. So I want to make sure that the public was aware of what it was that we are brought for tonight to approve on.

The reject all bids aspect is because we did have an active bid process and you're just concluding that as a result of the vendor withdrawing. The other actions that we're asking the council to consider is to give us direction either to go back out for bid using the original plans or to go back out and do a redesign on those plans to lower the costs and lower the approach on it. And that's the actions that we're asking.

Thank you. And then I guess the last item I want to confirm with Council Member Flores, if he can repeat what his motion was. I'm not sure I caught on to it because he spoke pretty softly and fast and on my end I couldn't really hear it.

No, yes. So my motion was to include staff recommendation number one, which was to adopt resolution number 2026-66, rejecting construction bids for the University Parkway Landscape Medium Project.

Okay, thank you.

But are you, that is all from the amendment to, from Council Member Ortiz?

Yes, and now with the friendly amendment from my, from Council Member Ortiz to, for having to staff rebid or come back to us with the different options to make the package more economical if we're able to add on or like remove some things I believe that was your your amendment motion to make the RFP open with options of

Now, since you got that stuff. Okay, Council Member Charette, did you have a question?

Yeah, I'm a little confused on what we're doing. We're rejecting the bid. We know that. They've pulled out a bid. So we're rejecting all bids, and we get back to kind of square one. What do we do with this median, right? Okay. Generally? Yes, that's correct. I'm a pretty simple guy.

Yes, that's the first action that we're requesting is to do the reject all bids.

I do remember, I do believe that This was done at the direction of an interim city manager, if I'm not mistaken. I can't confirm that. I don't have any documentation of that, but I believe it was done under those conditions. I do think the discussion that we talked about was the ongoing maintenance. I find it interesting... that you're breaking maintenance down to square footage by an annual amount, 50 cents an annual. Maybe that's something. I've never seen that. That seems broken down further than it probably needs to be. The other thing is that this, I have been out there, I've looked at it, and on both sides of that street is owned by the county, correct?

Further south, yes, it's owned by the county. But further north, it's owned by the city on both sides.

And the part that I looked at on both sides is the county. I guess it's down at the very end that's owned by the county. And I thought that's what we're just talking about, just that one section of about from whatever street to the end. Is that correct?

That's correct. It's midway point on University Parkway. On the west side is the county flood, yes. But on both sides, isn't it? And then on the east side, further south, also the county.

Right, and it's not very attractive. And I don't know that by investing, and I'm not opposed to investing and having consistency throughout the city and trying to make this city look, all the entrances looking good, but I don't know how much bang we get for a buck and then have ongoing costs. So I have a concern with that, and I think if I could get my colleague to restate his substitute motion i think that was councilmember sanchez i think i can second that but uh would you restate what what didn't you make a motion

Yeah, but you know what? I think I like the original motion that gives direction to staff to come back with the various options, both the altered or the second option, which was to do the full landscape, and then the original design, which included a significantly less laborious maintenance schedule for the median. And the point I wanted to make... make was I know there's that'd be the uh seconding uh Mario's yeah because I think that will what that will do is why don't you second it then yeah we will have uh we will have already seconded that motion we will have councilman Ortiz Because at that point, we'll have bidders or vendors come back with, well, if you want to go with this option, this is how much it's going to cost. If you want to go with the standard that we follow throughout the rest of the city, this is how much it's going to cost. Because I know there's comments that this is just done on the west side. But I believe that on 2nd Street, as you're getting off on 2nd Street and the 215 freeway, that's river rock and concrete, right? Right. I understand that most of the other medians, even on hospitality lane, that's what you have for most of it. And in the fifth ward, as well as the planned median for parts of E Street, where there is space, that's going to be river, rock, and concrete, right? So that's the standard throughout the city. So it's aesthetically simple, right? But it's clean, it's safe, low maintenance, and it's not just concrete. It's river rock in concrete. It gives it some aesthetic flair. And that's the standard we tend to follow, right? Because I believe that the 2nd Street exit, or the 215 exit on 2nd Street, that wasn't put in by the city. That was put in by the builder who built the coffee shop right there, right? The one on 2nd Street?

Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah, and that was... And so did they have... Who dictated how the median looked? That was our standard, right?

That's our standard. Exactly. Part of the conditions of approval.

Exactly. So what the original design for that median... was even above that standard because it was stamped concrete with that quarry rock. The reason why we were able to put so much quarry rock at our city parks is because once the quarry rock was laid at the median, If you remember, it was, well, you guys don't remember, it was pulled out, and so was the rock blanket. And then that quarry rock was sent over to the city yard, and then from there, whenever there was a project at a park, we had quarry rock be used there. And so I think we just need to stick to the standards and not allow an individual council member to just dictate how a project's going to look unilaterally.

Thank you, Councilmember. I would just encourage, and I appreciate your comments about rocks, but as we build our city, we want a city that is green and drought-tolerant plants. There's lots of plants out there to make it beautiful that doesn't really require lots of maintenance. And I know there's a comment about ongoing costs, but aren't other medians throughout the city have ongoing costs to maintain?

If the median is built as part of a project, it could be under a landscape maintenance district or community facility district. The payment for that cost would be from the residents surrounding that. In this case, this isn't that. Okay.

And we just got to be mindful, we're a city that's high temperature, hot. We want shades. We want, I mean, there again, just bring back options that would be aesthetically beautiful, but also not just to make the city a desert. I think we need to be mindful of how Shades can bring, and greens can bring in healthy oxygen, and shades for children, and again, just think about that, because there's a comment about Rialto Median, and I even drove through Fontana, their median, the office here, that they have improve their streets and their media is beautiful. So I just don't want us to cut ourselves short. We got to really beautify our city and explore all options that will be sustainable, but continue to make our city look good. Thank you. Okay, there was a motion and a second. Madam City Clerk? Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Barra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.