City Council - Regular Meeting

Oh, it's 06:00. I was up here reading my agenda. Welcome everyone. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Could you please rise for the pledge of allegiance?

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, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Lord, for all that you do for us every day. Thank you for our beautiful city, and thank you for all of the people that, on a regular basis, come to serve our community as volunteers and also up here on the dais. I thank you for all of our beautiful trails and parks and all of the wonderful people that we have living in our community. Tonight, when we are discussing our items on the agenda, I pray that you would help us hear each other and also listen and make decisions for the best of all of our community.

Thank you for this beautiful community. In your name, amen. Okay. Mister Sculloch, could we have a roll call?

Council member LeBlanc? Present. Council member Musgrove? Here. Council member Nunez?

Present.

Deputy mayor Sanella? Here. And mayor Jones?

Here. Okay. We have a couple of items that a couple of presentations well, proclamations, if the council could join me in. Good. Welcome everyone.

Council member LeBlang had surgery, so we're just making sure she's doing good. If you see me pulling the chair off for her, that's why. Nothing weird, just trying to take good care of her. Anyway, so we have a couple of presentations or proclamations this evening. The first one is going to be for Autism Acceptance Month and Teresa Contreras, the Executive Director of the Autism Society of San Diego is here today. Welcome. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to read this. They do put it for me in large font, which I do appreciate. Staff knows this.

Anyway, autism spectrum disorder is a developed condition that affects individuals in diverse ways, influencing communication, behavior, and social interaction. And whereas autism reflects the riches of human neurodiversity with each individual possessing unique strengths, talents, and perspectives that contribute to our community. And whereas, fostering acceptance, understanding, and inclusion of individuals with autism strengths, the community by promoting compassion, equity, and respect for all residents. And whereas, the city of San Marcos is committed to creating an inclusive environment where individuals of all abilities are valued, supported, and empowered to thrive in schools, workplace, and public life. And whereas, autism acceptance month encourages moving beyond awareness toward meaningful acceptance through actions and support accessibility, inclusion, and of course belonging.

Whereas on 04/28/2026, we recognize the contributions of individuals with autism and reaffirm our commitment to removing barriers and promoting inclusive practices throughout our city. Therefore, the city council of the city of San Marcos does hereby proclaim April 2026 as autism acceptance month and recognizes today as a day to encourage residents to promote understanding, acceptance, and inclusion of individuals with autism. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Yes. And I'm sure you'd like to say a few words. Sure. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you so much for this proclamation. We do appreciate it. Autism Society San Diego is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this year, and so it's for it's thanks to the support of communities like this that keep us going and will keep us going for the next sixty years. So thank you so much. We do appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Alright. I'm gonna give you that. Awesome.

And then if you would come and take a picture with us.

And just really just wanted to again thank the city of San Marcos because of some grants we're able to actually expand some of services to this community. So be on the lookout for more information for that as well. Thank you.

Wonderful. Thank you. Okay. Next up, we have the Legal Aid Society. Is it Gil Vera and Samantha Mills. Thank you for coming. All right, I'm going to read this. I actually have one of these for each of you. Thank you. I'll give that to you.

The San Marcos City Council hereby recognizes Fair Housing Month and you know we love housing in our city. We have a lot of it in all different categories. I call it the housing ladder. 04/11/2026 marks the fifty eighth anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, which protects individuals from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status, and national origin in the sale or rental of housing. And whereas the city of San Marcos is committed to exemplifying the Fair Housing Act, Title 13 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, by continuing to address discrimination in our community and support programs that will educate the public about the right to equal housing opportunities.

That's actually eight. I don't know why I was saying 13. Whereas when access to housing is unfairly limited, it in turn limits access to good paying jobs, quality schools and economic opportunity. The City of San Marcos affirmatively furthers fair housing by providing fair housing services and information to residents as part of our fair housing program adopted by the City Council. Whereas the City of San Marcos is a member of the San Diego Regional Alliance for Fair Housing, whose mission is to promote fair housing throughout the region, and the federal government has designated the month of April as Fair Housing Month, during which interested parties from the public and private sector will participate in a nationwide effort to provide education about fair housing laws and to promote fair housing practices.

Therefore, we, the City Council of the City of San Marcos, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as fair housing month and invite the citizens of San Marcos to promote and encourage fair housing concepts within our community press presented this day, 04/28/2026. And Gil, did you have a couple of words for

us?

Yes. Thank you.

First, I'd like to thank the the mayor and city council for having us here today. We are really thankful for the partnership with the with the city of San Marcos in affirmatively furthering fair housing and making sure that all its residents have the right to access housing regardless of race, religion, creed, national origin, disability, and and many of the other categories you just heard the mayor talk about. And and in closing, we're really grateful for the continued partnership and and hope to be able to continue to provide these services for all City Of San Marcos residents. Thank you again.

Thank you.

I know it's a drive for you. Thank you. Thank you so

much. Thank you.

Okay, moving on to our consent calendar and I have one item that I wish to pull which is number eight because I do need to recuse myself. Are there any other items that any council members wish to pull?

Move to approve the balance, Mayor. Second.

Okay, motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any nos? Seeing none, item number eight, I do need to recuse myself because one of the principals of the company has donated to my campaign for supervisor. So I will be recusing

myself. Thank you, Mayor. I'll take on item number eight for us. Unless my colleagues have any further discussion on item number eight, I'll entertain a motion to approve it. Move to approve. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Great, thank you. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any noes? Motion passes four zero.

With Mayor Jones not voting. Correct. Okay. Okay, moving on to oral communications. No speaker slips. Public hearings. The first one is going to be item number 13, and this is for the improvement area F 59 formation and annexation. This is the time and place for the public hearing relating to the designation of

Madam mayor, we're on that's

that's for 14? 14?

We're on yeah.

13. I'm getting ahead of myself. I've got a script, which I never have. So I'm thinking, okay, want it to all go off perfectly. All right. Do we have a CDBG? I forgot we had that first. Do we have presentation this evening, Sylvia?

Yes, we do. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Sylvia Soleys Daniels, housing and neighborhood services director. Tonight, we have a public hearing for you for the community development block grant annual action plan approval for the twenty twenty six, twenty seven program year, along with substantial amendments. And we have Quentin Hufford, senior analyst here, who will present the community development block grant item.

Thank you, Sylvia. The U. S. Department Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, provides annual funding to eligible jurisdictions through the Community Development Block Grant entitlement program. Funds must be used for eligible projects and programs that benefit low and moderate income individuals and households in the city of San Marcos that are consistent with the national objectives and city's approved twenty twenty five to twenty twenty nine consolidated plan or abbreviated as common plan.

To receive these funds, the city must adopt an annual action plan that identifies how funding will be allocated each year consistent with the community needs and program goals in the city's twenty twenty five-twenty nine consolidated plan. The twenty six-twenty seven annual action plan and substantial amendments to prior year plans were published on the city's website on 03/20/2026, for more than a thirty day public review and comment period, which will close at the conclusion of tonight's public hearing. Oops, sorry, going back. For program year twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, the city will receive $685,579 in CDBG entitlement funding and will utilize approximately $496,937 in reinstated prior year funds for a total of $1,182,516 A funding priorities reflect community input gathered through the consolidated plan process and additional outreach during the annual action plan public comment period. We're actually still on the same slide.

CDBG funds are allocated across the following eligible program areas: program administration, which may utilize up to 20% of the annual CDBG allocation staff recommend allocating $137,000 administration and which also includes fair housing. Public service programs, which may utilize up to 15% of the annual CDBG allocation to fund nonprofit and social service providers serving low and moderate income residents. Staff recommend allocating $102,500 to public services. Programs include rental assistance and wraparound support for low income seniors, youth and families, as well as meal delivery and support services for seniors, food distribution for youth and families and senior transportation services. Public service recommendations are based on a competitive application process, community input and alignment with the consolidated plan priorities.

These public service programs include rental assistance activities administered by nonprofit providers. Rental assistance is provided on a short term emergency basis, is limited to income qualified households, and payments are made directly to landlords or service providers in accordance with federal CDBG requirements. Additional program eligibility requirements are included in the Rental Assistance Program Qualifications attachment provided with the staff report. Affordable housing programs include low income loans for owner occupied rehabilitation and accessibility improvements, supporting housing preservation and aging in place for low income homeowners. Staff recommend allocating $100,000 to housing affordability programs.

And then community facilities and neighborhood infrastructure, also known as capital improvements, are not subject to a maximum allocation and may include infrastructure and facility improvements but cannot be used for maintenance or repair. Staff recommended allocating $346,000 $346,079 in new entitlement funds to community facilities and then $496,937 in reinstated prior year funds to neighborhood infrastructure and park improvements. Overall, funding priorities focus on housing affordability, housing stability, essential services and neighborhood improvements. The next slide, please. Staff has also recommended approval of substantial amendments to the program year twenty twenty three to 2024 and twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six annual action plans.

As shown here, the amendments primarily remove the Bradley Park master plan and reallocate funding to active projects. Richmar Park Phase II and Senior Activity Center HVAC project are both increased to reflect updated construction costs, while neighborhood lighting remains unchanged and program administration includes a minor adjustment using expiring funds. These amendments shift funding to projects that are completed or near construction ready, with several expected to draw down funds within the current or upcoming program year. Substantial amendments are required for significant program changes and follow the city's citizen participation plan, including public review and hearing. Overall, these changes prioritize construction ready projects and support the timely expenditure of CDBG funds.

Last slide, please. Following the public hearing, staff will finalize the twenty twenty six to 'twenty seven annual action plan and substantial amendments to prepare them for submission to HUD. Once approved by HUD, CDPG funding will be made available through a reimbursable grant starting 07/01/2026. This concludes our presentation, and the staff recommends approval of the annual plan and substantial amendments.

Thank you, Quentin. I did have a question, but I do have two comments, of course. The HVAC at the senior center, they're very excited about this and so much needed. So really happy to see us do that. And then the housing stabilization rental assistance, that is such a great program.

If people have I think this helps people from becoming homeless and the fact that sometimes you lose a job suddenly or you have a medical expense that you weren't expecting and you do have to qualify for it, but I'm glad that we're still planning on doing that. And then the fair housing, I'm assuming that's that goes toward our legal aid society, which was here this evening. Okay. I just wanted to double check on that. Alright. That's all that I had. Any other questions from the rest of the council? Yes, council member?

Can you just elaborate a little bit on the removal of Bradley Park, the reason for removing it, the master plan?

We had a more shovel ready project and then in evaluating the highest priority need, we've moved towards the senior center in Richemont Park.

So we're not abandoning it. We're just moving forward on those that we can address immediately?

Correct. Not abandoning it, but not addressing it with CDBG funding.

Terrific. Thank you.

I just want to thank staff for the presentation. Really like when we're able to kind of spread some of our grant funding across the community. And as you went through the list, hear everything that you want to hear, the youth programs, the senior programs, super excited about the senior transportation services. I think that's absolutely critical in the community. And then of course, just neighborhood lighting and ADA pedestrian accessibility to our parks is just phenomenal. So thank you so much. You've covered it all.

Okay. Any other comments or questions? Yes, Councilmember Nunez.

Thank you, mayor. I do have a couple of questions. I'm also glad to see that we are taking into account some of the pressing needs of our residents. So just a couple questions on what we're contemplating here and the amount. I think we might see an increase in the need and I'm looking at the amounts that are allocated. Are we gonna have some flexibility in increasing these numbers or can we talk about that depending on what we might see?

We do recognize that the need will exceed the funds available. This is our attempt for funding this gap with CDBG funding, but overall we're looking at other resources for future housing and neighborhood service funds.

Okay. Thank you for that. I'm glad we're taking that into account and maybe leveraging some of the other resources that might already be out there. So that, thank you. My other question is really in terms of the availability of these foreign of these funds. So, if we approve this, tonight in terms of these funds being available, when will that happen? What will that look like?

The service providers will be funded funding will be available to service providers effective July 1, so in the new fiscal year.

Okay, thank you for that. And I hope that we utilize maybe some of our social media and making sure that our residents know that it is available. And then the other piece, I'm looking at the qualifications that are part of our packet for this evening. Can you talk a little bit about how we came up with these qualifications? Will our partners have any discretion or what will that look like?

Because the funding source is a federal program, we're required to follow federal funding requirements, so these guidelines came from direct federal requirements.

Okay, thank you for that. And for our residents, these qualifications are part of our this evening's agenda packet if anybody needs to look at those. That's all for me. Thank you for this.

Thank you, council member. Council member LeBlaine.

I just wanted to say great work to staff. Thank you for doing all of this. You always work hard on this. And, after looking through everything, I'm always excited to see where we allocate this funding. And I think this is a great use of the funds this year. We hit everything. So thanks again.

Okay. This is a public hearing. So I move to close the public hearing. Do I have a second?

Second.

Okay. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any noes? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve?

Move to approve. Second.

Actually, so let me just read it real quick since I'm going to keep with my consistency. That would be Resolutions No. Twenty twenty six-ninety fivenine and twenty twenty six-ninety five-eighty, adoption of program year twenty twenty six-twenty seven CDBG annual action plan and substantial amendments to twenty twenty three-twenty four and twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six annual action plans. So it'd be to adopt all of those. And so we have a motion and a second, all in favor?

Aye. Any nos? Seeing none, motion passes unanimously. Okay, so now we will be moving forward to our formation of area number F59 formation and annexation. This is the time and place for the public hearing relating to the designation of Improvement Area F59 of Community Facilities District 9802 as a separate improvement area and the levy of special taxes within the improvement area. Is there a staff report on this item? Well, hello, they did a quick change. We have Song Leberron and Richard Wall and then Isaac Echimendy. Welcome.

Staff's gonna give a presentation on items fourteen and fifteen. I'm gonna pass it over to Song to do that staff presentation.

Okay. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. Tonight, I'll be providing an overview of Community Facilities District 9802 Improvement Area F 59 including the proposed annexation and authorization of future annexations. Next slide please.

The citywide CFD 9802 provides funding for ongoing maintenance of lighting, landscaping, open space and preserve areas. Improvement Area F59 will fund additional improvements including storm drain, storm water treatment facilities, parks and recreational or open space areas, multiuse trails and related amenities, and enhanced public improvements. The map on the right hand side of the screen there shows the district in the shaded areas. And so why are we creating a larger improvement area? Number one, this will consolidate services into a single district, and that will help reduce future administrative burdens and it will also create transparency for landowners.

The landowners will know the special tax upfront and they will not have to go through individual project specific analysis. Next slide, please. To summarize prior council actions, on 03/24/2026, City Council adopted two resolutions of intention. These actions formally initiated the proceedings. They declared the city's intent to annex territory into the improvement area, established the proposed boundaries for both the annexation area and the future annexation area, and they set the date and time of tonight's public hearing.

Finally, all public noticing has been completed with notices being mailed to the affected property owners and notices published in the newspaper. Next slide, please. For tonight's action items, there are two actions. Item 14 for the formation and annexation. This item would annex three development sites and formally establish Improvement Area F 59.

Those development sites are AOA West, otherwise known as Paloma, Restaurant Row, and the Sears site. As part of this item, city council will conduct the public hearing, hold the special election, and adopt the resolution declaring the election results, and finally consider the first reading of the ordinance authorizing special tax levy. Item 15 relates to the future annexation authorization. This item establishes the future annexation area, and it allows projects to annex into improvement area F59 over time as development occurs. For this item, city council will conduct the public hearing and consider adoption of the resolution authorizing future annexations.

And this concludes staff's presentation. I'd be happy to take any questions.

Any questions of staff? Okay. I will now open the public hearing. Do we have any speakers this evening? Mister Scolic?

No, madam mayor.

Okay. Do we have any written protests?

No protests have been received. Therefore, a majority protest does not exist.

Okay. Are there any persons registered to vote within the Territory Improvement Area Number F 59?

The County of San Diego Registrar of Voters has confirmed there are no registered voters residing within the Territory of Improvement Area Number F 59.

And have the notices of this public hearing been published and mailed in accordance with state law?

Notices have been provided in accordance with state law.

Do I have a motion to close the public hearing?

Move to close the public hearing.

Second. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any nos? Seeing none, do any members of the council have any further questions or comments? No? Okay, do I have a motion to adopt?

Motion to adopt.

Second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. The resolution of the City Council of the City of San Marcos acting as a legislative body of Community Facilities District ninety eight zero two, lighting, landscaping, open space and preserve maintenance. City Of San Marcos, County Of San Diego, State of California authorizing annexation of territory to such community facilities and designation of improvement area number F 59 thereto and calling a special election and submitting to the voters of improvement area number f 59 propositions, regarding the annual levy of special taxes within the improvement area to pay the cost of certain public services and establishing an appropriations limit their offer after.

Therefore, this is the time for the city clerk to canvass the ballot and to report the results of the election to the city council. I think he has envelopes or something to open.

Mayor, can I offer a point of clarification? Yes. For the motion and the second, it was to adopt items fourteen and fifteen?

No. I'm doing them separately. You are.

Okay. Thank you. So this is item 14.

This doing is item number 14.

Thank you.

Correct. Yep.

It's a broad letter opener.

They're sealed. He has to open them.

Yeah. So for the first ballot regarding annexation 161, there are three

ballot cast and they're all voted yes.

For the next one, there are 10 ballots cast

and all voted yes. In the final ballot, there are five ballots cast and all voted yes.

Affirmative. Then do I have a motion and a second to adopt?

Motion to adopt.

Second. Okay. Motion and a second. A resolution of the City Council of the City of San Marcos declaring the results of the consolidated special elections within Improvement District Area Number F 59 of Community Facilities District Number 9802, lighting landscaping open space and preserve maintenance, city of San Marcos County Of San Diego State of California. And do I have a motion and a second to waive full reading of the ordinance and to introduce the ordinance by title only, an ordinance of the city council of the City Of San Marcos, California acting as a legislative body of improvement area number F59 of Community Facilities District 9802 Lighting, Landscaping, Open Space And Preserve Maintenance, City of San Marcos, County Of San Diego, State of California authorizing the levy of special taxes in such Community facilities District.

So moved.

Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any noes? Okay, this concludes the proceedings to designate improvement area number F59 of CFD 9802. Moving on to number 15. This is the time and place for the public hearing regarding the authorization of annexation of territory in the future to improvement area number F59 of Community Facilities District Number 9802. Is there a staff report on this item? I think we did those together, correct?

Correct.

Okay. Alright. So I will now open the public hearing. Are there any persons wishing to speak or present testimony this evening?

No, madam mayor.

Okay. And have we any written protests that have been received?

No protests have been received. Therefore, a majority protest does not exist.

Okay. Have notices of the public hearing been published and mailed in accordance with state law?

Yes, notices have been provided in accordance with state law.

Okay. Do I have a motion and a second to close the public hearing?

Close the public hearing.

Second. Okay, motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any nos? Okay, the public hearing is now closed. Do any members of the council have any questions or comments? Seeing none, do I have a motion and a second to adopt the resolution of the City Council of the City of San Marcos, California acting as the legislative body of Improvement Area Number F 59 of Community Facilities District Number 9802, lighting landscaping open space and preserve maintenance, City Of San Marcos, County Of San Diego, state of California authorizing the annexation of territory into in the future to such community facilities district and taking other actions related thereto.

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any noes? Hearing none, this concludes the proceedings authorizing future annexations to Improvement Area Number F59 and CFD number 9802. Okay, moving on. That's a lot

of I know.

It's a lot.

I'm glad you came back from the

Aren't you? Aren't Okay, moving on to oral communications, we have some speakers. We have Alondra Alvarez from Universidad Popular and then also Flower Alvarez Lopez. Welcome.

Good evening, mayor Jones and city council members. For the record, my name is Alondra Alvarez, and I'm a community educator at Universidad Popular. I'm here to provide our on the record updates. So the first update that I'm going be talking about is the Cal Kids program. So we're really excited to support outreach for the Cal Kids program and help families claim their college saving funds that are already set aside for their children.

Our team is available on an ongoing basis to support enrollment and answer questions, and we encourage council members to learn more about the program. And if you would like more information or outreach materials about CalKids, we would be happy to provide those and support your offices in sharing this opportunity with constituents, and we have a ton of flyers that I'll, give you all afterwards. And second, I want to share information about our upcoming May Day celebration. So on Friday, May 1, we will be hosting a May Day celebration at Universidad Popular. The purpose of this internationally recognized day is to commemorate labor movements and advocate for workers' rights, and our intent is to create a space of informational resources and celebration for the community of San Marcos.

We invite you all to stop by on Friday, May 1, from four to seven p. M. In front of our office on Autumn Drive, and we have more flyers that I'll share with you as well. Third is our CWAP. So we would like to highlight our ongoing work through the California Workers Outreach Program As one of the 89 organizations that are recognized by the state and as trusted messengers for worker education, we are helping build a strong foundation for workers' protections in North County.

We are actively growing into a regional hub for workers and are excited to see this work continue to expand. Recently, we had the really great opportunity to meet with Assembly member Liz Ortega and share our efforts as a community based organization as well as present to the Senate Budget Committee in Sacramento about our work in San Marcos and across North County. So it's really great to get to highlight the work that we're doing down here. And fourth, I want to speak about our North County delegation to Sacramento for Immigrant Day of Action. So earlier this month, Universidad Popular chartered a delegation of 14 community members to the capital, And this was a historic step for North County.

It was our first time leading such a large delegation, participating in panel workshops and legislative visits, all while advocating for the needs of our immigrant communities. And it was a lot of people's very first time in the capital. It was my first time, and we left the trip feeling very civically empowered. And so lastly, I just wanted to remind everyone that we continue another year of our civic initiatives, which include our comprehensive citizenship classes that are currently held Tuesdays from five to seven at San Marcos Elementary on 1 Tiger Way. Thank you and have a good evening. I have all the flyers here. I know

who I hand them to. Those to our city clerk. Thank you so much, Alondra. Flora Alvarez Lopez, welcome.

Hello. Good evening, mayor Jones, council members. For the record, my name is Flora Alvarez Lopez, and I'm with Universea Popular, a community based organization rooted here in North County, San Diego. I'm also a San Marcos resident. Really happy to hear to be here with you all this evening. Feels like it's been quite a while. I just returned from spending many weeks in Sacramento, so feels good to be home. I just wanted to echo everything my colleague Alondra said, from our updates. We hope to see some familiar faces at our upcoming events. She mentioned our upcoming May Day event.

We also have our Day of the Dead series community workshops. That will be all of October. And we will have our annual celebration in November recognizing our new citizens here in North County. And then we end with our community celebration in December. So we stay busy, and we hope that you all can spend some time with us coming up. I'll be around if anybody has any questions afterwards, but just wanted to come say hi real quick. Thank you.

Thank you, Flower. Yeah, welcome back. Okay. Next up on the agenda is, our AB one two three four reporting requirements. I had SANDAG last week and pretty much the biggest item was an update on the State Route 11 Otay Mesa East Port Of Entry project.

And it is coming along. It's really going to be such a huge benefit to everyone, bringing goods across and then also the, the cars coming across, the border. It's it's a huge project. If you've not been out there, it's unbelievable. It's really, really beautiful.

I mean, it's first class and it's going to be a lot quicker to get across the border, it won't take so long. So there won't be as many greenhouse gases when cars are idling. And then the other item that we had was budget amendment was for the Downtown Imperial Avenue Bikeway and we were accepting some money from the city of San Diego, which we did indeed do. But then there was a second part of it that we could not vote on because it was not, properly noticed. There was a red line, version that ended up happening, and we, did not have that properly noticed.

So we didn't vote on that. That will come back to the next, meeting. They need an additional amount of money from our, our bikeway projects. So, that we did not end up voting on. And then, we talked to also a little bit about the vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts.

And, basically, there's about 12% vacancy rate, at Sandex. So if you wanna go to their board, I'm sorry, their message board of available vacancies, if you have any interest in working at Sandag, I know they would sure like some valuable talent. So anyway, that was pretty much all we had on our agenda. And next up is going to be California League of Cities, council member Musgrove.

We meet on the May 12, mayor.

Okay. North County Oh, I'm sorry. If I may, I will Please do.

Yes. I do wanna share a couple of things. Yes. If I may. Yes.

And you are the president of the San Diego

League of Health for this year. I wanna make sure to stay So on last week was our twenty twenty six city leaders summit. So I did get to attend along with Michael Lieberman, our political affairs, our legislative affairs. So we did get to be in Sacramento last week. We were able to meet with Assembly Member Patel personally.

She took time to meet with us. Once again, remind her of our priorities and to thank her for the $5,000,000 she secured for our city. So very welcoming and, we also did, have a meeting with, senator Jones' office. He unfortunately could not be there to meet with us. He was actually in the middle of a committee hearing, so it was a very busy time.

But we wanted to make sure to be up there and remind, everybody of our priorities. So it was very successful. And then I do wanna remind that for our next meeting here in in the San Diego Division on May 11, we are celebrating, the life fiftieth anniversary. Jen and Ted is gonna be there. We're gonna have a panel that's gonna be moderated by congressman Peters. And so it'll be May 11 from, eleven to 01:00. And so obviously, you should have those invitations already. But I can have maybe Phil send those reminders for anybody who's available to attend.

Okay and this is germane to that to the League of California cities, but I forgot to ask this question of our city manager actually. When do we plan on getting the maps for SB79? I think Sandag is working on them, but we are going to need to start talking about that. Do we have a it could be a rough, I think it's maybe three weeks. Is it maybe three weeks? Yes. We have the next few weeks is what we've been told. Okay. Okay. So once we have those, we need to start talking about those, internally and then externally because it will make a big impact.

And I'm curious, Council Member, did you bring up SB79 to her at all? I'm thinking you did. We did. Yes. It's the ire of the day of the bad legislation. I know I talk about this every single meeting, but this is quite bad what we're thinking that it's going to be.

Yes, and we did get the opportunity to meet with our lobbyists and so they're well aware that this is a priority for the city.

Okay, good. Alright. And I think it's a priority across the 78. I think we're really seeing how it's going to highly impact us up here because for every sprinter stop that you have, which we have four in our city, it is a potential to increase your density substantially. So we're going to be fighting it. So anyway, okay, moving on to North County Transit District, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, so we have a couple of items that we talked about at our last board meeting. A couple months ago, the board asked staff to give us a top priority list of the Sprinter Line Crossing grade separation projects along the line and they came up with nine of them and one of them was in San Marcos which was seventh on the priority list. It's over there at Pacific Street and Mission Road. It's kind of that where that kind of like a s curve kind of weird over there. Yeah. The The one that I was really concerned about and I thought was in San Marcos, but technically it's an Escondido is off of a Nordholm emission. I know Danielle and council member LeBlanc brought that up before. But the the top one it was City Of Vista, Vista Village. I think we all agree that that was that would be an important one to do.

They're they're all important to do and and if we were ever able to do them all, it would help with traffic congestion, it would help with the sprinter running more efficiently and on time. Of course, we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. And also, the interest that the learning curve for me was that it's not just a matter of getting the grant money from the the transit district, but there's a matching component from the cities that are involved as well, and of course, some partnership there too. So there would be some funds from our our budget to go into that too, which makes it even a little bit more challenging. But at least

What's we're the percentage?

I don't I don't have it off the top. I don't I don't know, Michelle, if you know off

Sure. The It's probably high because federal and state, there's usually at least a 20 to 30% match, I think.

Yeah. And At least,

I think

it's even higher than that. Yeah.

When I learned that, and I I I was quickly reinforced that, yes, that Nordall location is indeed in Escondido and not San Marcos. But it's these are all super important to do. Hope you know, wish we could do them, you know, in the near term, but in in all reality, these might not get done in our in any of our lifetime. But we'll we'll keep working on it, and I think it was good that the board had that conversation with staff and just kind of keep it on the top of their minds that this is important for the communities that we all represent in our region in North North County. And then the second big item is was we reviewed public feedback that would that the district had sought out regarding fare increases for the services for the Sprinter, the Coaster and the Breeze and we made a recommendation along with MTS also made a recommendation to SANDAG, the Transportation Committee to increase the fares.

I tried to open up the the attachment that I had that had the exact numbers but it won't open up for some reason in here. But it's about roughly about a dollar a trip which doesn't sound like a lot of money but for those that use the the services it could add up especially they use it on a daily basis or multiple times a day. And then the other thing that they did is right now if you ride the coaster from say Oceanside to San Diego, there's three different zones. They got they just created one zone with one lower price to use it to go and you go anywhere within those three zones. And so that was the big change.

Strangely enough, North County Transit District doesn't have the authority just to raise the rates on their own and so goes they And to San so this proposal is headed their way and there's a comparable proposal coming from MTS. We're trying to keep MTS's fares and NCTDs fares consistent, so there's it removes some of that confusion from the riders that are on it. So if they go from different districts or different agencies, they, you know, in one day they're not paying a different price. So we're trying to be consistent. There's something else.

And it's cheaper if you buy a pass, right?

There is a savings if you buy a pass. Board also asked staff to to express to SanDag that we're interested in having a low income fair. It's not quite sure how we would implement that and what it would cost to implement that, but there was an appetite on the board to have that. And and the other thing I wanted to stress is that these North County Transit District, the fares have not been increased since 2008. So that was the last time that the fares were increased.

And as a relatively new board member there, been on the board for about two years, that just seemed kind of weird to me. It's not sustainable as you can imagine cost for everything. You know operating train systems and buses and it's not inexpensive and those costs go up every single year and so not a 100% sure the background as to why. I know I I well, I take that back. I asked the question and there was a lot of, well, was a recession and then there was COVID and and there's a lot of good reasons not to increase rate rates during those times, but you know that it's just that's sixteen years, you know, it's a long time not to adjust your rates to be able to support the system that's so important.

And the end result is not just a larger than normal increase this year because there's a gap to close, but even with this increase, the North County Transit District is facing a $16,000,000 deficit even with this. And so there's there's there's a lot of financial headwinds ahead and I think some of that came from the lack of action from previous boards that got us to this point.

Well, also there are now youth opportunity passes.

There is, yep.

Yeah. When that's that's kind of newer and that is so that anyone 18 rides for free. So you do have a lot of people that are on it.

If have an expensive service and you and you give it away for free, then don't I know how you pay your employees and and keep the trains moving. But they're they're working on it.

Okay. North County Dispatch, Joint Powers Authority.

We meet at the May.

I could have sworn you said that you were having a meeting before then. I was like, it's your No.

Think I'm covering League of California cities in May though.

Oh, Alright. Good. Clean Energy Alliance,

council member Nunez. Thank you, mayor. We meet this coming Thursday. It'll be our April meeting so April 30 we started at two p. M. And we're meeting at the Lucadia Wastewater District Boardroom. So I do encourage our residents to attend. For those that cannot attend in person, we do have a Zoom option. They can, join via Zoom and make, virtual public comments.

And so they just go

to the website? Go to the website, you'll see the published agenda and they'll see the link to the Zoom meeting.

Okay. City Council business visits, think Unreal Designs, Council Member LeBlanc and Council Member Nunez.

And this is hot off the press. Yes.

Unreal. I love it. I love it. When did you have this? Today. Oh, wow. Today.

So this afternoon.

Hot off the press. Yeah.

It was.

Yes. So this is a unique business. This was really cool. It's, on Linda Vista Drive. It's been open since 2021, and they just moved to San Marcos about a year and a half ago. And what they specialize in is artificial

Is it that?

Yes. That's artificial. Really cool. Isn't that gorgeous? It's artificial. It's artificial. It's all artificial.

Oh, real?

Do artificial backdrops for events, but they also do permanent, artificial landscaping. And it's all these walls, and then they have, different designs. And you can do floral, you can do greenery, and it's just beautiful. So with the permanent designs, where they put them in your backyard or they will even put them over a wire fence that you have and attach it to the fence, They use a steel structure underneath. Mhmm.

So it's very resilient and lasts for a long time. And she said you just spray it off to clean it. So if any yeah. So if anybody needs a backyard remodel, this is a really cool option. But they also do custom designs for events or they have a huge area where they have a bunch of pre made ones, and they said people book them months out or you could call them and say, I have an event tomorrow, can you help me out? And they said they'll make it work. Wow. So it's a really small company, there's only four of them.

And can I add, I think what it took in maybe a minute or less than two minutes to put this up for us for our photo op?

Exactly.

Right? They were so fast.

Yeah. There were this was a three part wall that they just put together for us to take a photo in front of.

That's really cool. And then you spray it, you hose it down.

Yeah. If it's a permanent structure, you just hose it down and Wow. And then they said this is a very niche business. There are only a few of them nationwide. So we have them right here in San Marcos.

Wow.

And their goal is to expand. They do a lot of nationwide events too. They've done installations in Vegas, New York, all around the country. So, yeah, there are some other of their

Wow. Those are like roses.

Yeah. So they do floral ones or just greenery. It's really beautiful and just really nice people. You have four of them. There's a fabricator, the owner, and then two employees who attach all the greenery. It was it

was You have a neighbor that, like, you don't wanna look at their yard or something. You could put one of these beautiful things up, and you don't even have to have a water source. That's the best part

of that. So they do a lot of privacy walls. They do a lot of businesses too. They just did a Dunkin' Donuts in somewhere up in Orange County or LA. LA. Yes. And they have a great Instagram too if you want to get an idea of their designs.

Very cool. And you could it for a day.

Exactly. And they have tons of they have a heart. They have a swing. They have a a big archway. So all different things that you can rent.

I could see this being really cool for like do you wanna come to homecoming with me?

Yes.

Or

extravagant, but you know, some people are extravagant or will you marry me? Something very cool.

Did I did I admit did you mention what the location? I'm

Linda Vista Drive. Okay. I forget the exact address. But in that Thank you. Area where there's all those small businesses, the industrial area back there, what was the cross street?

Yeah. It's a corner of Linda Vista and Las Posas. Yes. Yeah. In that in that area.

Yeah. A little bit past there. A bunch of there's a bunch of great businesses over there if you just ever wanna drive through and check all those businesses out over there. And they are open to the public. So if anybody just wants to walk in and check out what they have to offer, they said they always welcome people to come in and take a tour.

Yeah. They they did, they don't really have a showroom that's set up. I think they would really benefit from adding that and it seems like they're headed in that direction, but they don't turn anybody away and, it's just such a great resource. I was really impressed with how small the team is and how it seems like they travel if they need to to do installations.

Yeah. And they just make it work. They have a truck and

Or they rent

Or they rent a truck for the bigger events. So they just they are just very tight knit, which is always wonderful to see tight knit, successful businesses in our community. So this is a great unique one, so keep them in mind for events or backyard redesign. Trying to think if I now I wanna remodel my backyard and have all this gorgeous artificial greenery.

It's really it's really beautiful.

It really is. They're looking to grow. They wanna stay in our city. Yes. And so we're gonna help them make that happen. A new spot. And possibly Or

maybe something next door. Sometimes they have adjacent units that go out of business or move or so they might be able to grow right where they're at.

We talk to them, and economic development will be working with them to find a bigger space to make sure we can keep them in our city.

And that's free to our businesses. If anyone out there knows of one of our businesses, we love to help them grow within our community and stay here. We're right here in North County in San Marcos. Okay. Any other discussion? I wanted to bring up San Marcos Forward. It was last week, last Wednesday. Great event, another great event. And we'll be having I can't remember the date off the top of my head. We'll be having our state of the city, which is a free event for all citizens to come to the June, I think. I don't know. They just tell me to put it in my calendar. Do. I believe it's the July. July?

Okay. The July. So just for everyone to kind of keep your eyes open. It's our free city event. We talk about everything that we've done this last year and kind of what's coming up. We talked a lot about us becoming the healthcare epicenter of North County, which is exciting. Just all of the stuff that we did over the last year. Earlier today, we also had I'm still super excited about this, Michelle. I wrote it down. How our city staff loves to save money and they're working really hard to maximize everything that they do.

We had our budget workshop earlier and our maintenance workers have found a cost savings of almost $700,000 Our energy efficient park lighting is going to save us about $150,000 a year. And then our street sweeping crew, figured out how to save us about $18,000 a year. So all of these things that we're doing really exciting and it's so we can continue to keep our parks beautiful and really invest in all of you and to improve your quality of life. Any other discussion? I have something. Yes. Council member LeBlanc.

I just wanted to mention that this Saturday is the bags and brews put on by Parks and Recreation. So if you don't have any plans, it's a great event to go to. You can take your kids, watch the cornhole tournaments, or you can register. I think the registration's still open. I'm not sure. We'll have to confirm that. But it's a great cornhole tournament. Yes. Okay. Registration is still open if anybody plays cornhole and wants to register. You can also join a team of two if you have two people who wanna play, if you don't have a full team. So it's, a really fun event, local breweries, and lots of vendors. So just bring the family or head out yourself and check that out.

Okay. Alright. With that, this meeting's adjourned. Thank you for coming.