City Council - Regular Meeting

You know Joanne? Oh, yeah, hi, how are you? In the flesh. Yes, I love that. I know. And when your campaign contribution came through, I was like, I should just ask. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And I still have the request, or I'd like to do this, the extra patrol request. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. We have a few intersections that are absolutely terrible. Test one, two.

Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. All right.

But you're also redoing the center. Hello, I'm Carol Goodell. I have a question. Something to ask you. You can ask me one. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning.

Helen, will you call us back in from closed session please?

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. The council is reconvening from closed session during which it discussed matters one, two, and three on the closed session agenda, which is potential litigation under government code section 54956.9 sub D sub 2. And sub E sub 3 relating to properties addressed at 500 South Rancho Santa Fe Road. And also 1411 North Las Flores Drive in San Marcos. The city council discussed the matter. And I should note that the mayor was not present. All other council members were present and there were no recusals or abstentions. The city council discussed the matter and provided direction to staff. No reportable action was taken. Item number two, existing litigation, assisted living foundation of America versus the city of San Marcos at all under government code section 54956.9 sub a and sub d sub one. City council discussed the matter and no reportable action was taken. On item number three, potential litigation under 54956.9 sub D sub 2 and sub E sub 3. One potential action relating to property located at 2907 South Santa Fe Avenue, San Marcos, owned by Klieg Enterprises. The city council discussed the matter and provided direction. No reportable action was taken. That concludes the closed session report.

Thank you, Helen. And perfect timing, it's 6 o'clock, so I'll go ahead and call the meeting of the City Council together to order tonight. And Councilmember Musgrove, will you lead us in the pledge, please?

I'm happy to, Deputy Mayor. 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.

And if you can remain standing, we have a special guest tonight. We have Pastor Mike Barnett from the Bridge Church who's going to say a blessing for us.

Thank you. It's nice to be back. I was an intern with the city manager's office back in 1989 when I went to San Diego State University. Public administration was my major. And everything this beautiful city talked about back then, they've actualized today. And so blessed to be here. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this amazing city. I think it's the best city in San Diego County. Many others do as well. We thank you for all these blessed leaders who make amazing decisions every single day to make our city safer, better, and more blessed. And we pray tonight that you'll lead them, guide them, direct them, to make the right decisions at the right time for your glory and for the protection and for the well-being of every person who lives in this amazing city. We pray this in your name. Amen. Thank you.

Okay, Phil, can you take a roll call, please?

Yeah.

Councilmember LeBlanc?

Present.

Council Member Musgrove?

Here.

Council Member Nunez? Present. Deputy Mayor Cinella?

Here.

And the minutes will reflect that Mayor Jones is absent this evening.

Thank you, and to the public out there, Mayor Jones sends her regrets that she's going to miss tonight. I believe this is her first meeting that she's missed, at least since I've been on the council, and she had a funeral to attend tonight, so we wish her the best. We don't have any presentations or proclamations tonight, and so we'll move on to tonight's consent calendar. Do any of my colleagues want to pull any items there, or do we have a motion?

Move to approve.

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion. to approve in a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Chair Greg Musil. Aye. Chair Greg Musil. Any ayes? Motion passes unanimously. Do we have any oral communications tonight?

Thank you. Chair Greg Musil.

John Moser. Good to see you again.

Good evening, Deputy Mayor, City Council, City staff. For the record, I'm John Mosier. Tonight I'm speaking as the President of San Marcos Mobile Estates, HOA. Just an update. We're in the middle of rent negotiations. We've only got a good... proposal in writing an alternate to their initial ask and so we're working on that. I'm looking at having a park meeting in about 10 days that we're trying to wrap up a lot of things and let residents vote to see if they can accept it or not in between still negotiating the price. Also a lot of the items that haven't been maintained for years that we've been trying to get them to acknowledge We sat down and went through a long list that I had formed today, and we're going to be going through it and mapping out plans for the next three to five years as how do we approach it and take care of the things that Park needs. We are pacing electrical upgrades. Switch gear is being replaced soon, so we're trying to time it so we're not without power for very long and minimize the impact on all of us. So we're hoping we get clouds on the days that we're out of power. Speaking citywide for mobile home parks, a few weeks ago, Rancho San Marcos received updated rules and regulations in the mail without any forewarning. At the end of it, it's telling them to sign it and turn it in, which means for that particular resident, they would become active right at that point in time. We told them, don't sign anything. I took them back to what our city ordinance says, as you're supposed to have a rent review committee for each park to sit down and work with management to work through any adjustments or any rules changes that they have. So they've slowed down the process. Right now, I think the park owners are supposed to have a couple of meetings with them. But my concern is the same thing happened to Lakeview a couple of years ago, which triggered us to go after the senior park overlay. And I know we've talked about a few times is educating mobile home residents in the park about our ordinance and parts of it that are beneficial to them and to stay ahead of. So I wanted to bring that up again because this now is brought to the fore. We need to do it in reference to committees, rent review committees in the park, rules committees, so they can't change the rules on them without having some kind of agreement ahead of time. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, John. Okay, that's our last speaker for this oral session. And we'll move on to public hearings, item number 12, which is resolution number 2026-9612, adopting the city's 2027 Regional Transportation Improvement Program for fiscal years 2027 through 2031. And our city manager, Bender, will give us a presentation.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. This public hearing is put forth for consideration in order to adopt the 2027 Regional Transportation Improvement Program, referred to as the RTIP. The RTIP includes regional transportation projects that are Transnet funded and other projects that are capacity increasing or regionally significant. Like our CIP, the RTIP is a five-year plan with the current RTIP programming spanning fiscal years 2027 through 2031. After the SANDAG board adoption in September, there will be opportunities for amendments to the RTIP at various times throughout the five-year cycle in order to update projects as budget is needed. Approval of the RTIP satisfies the requirement of the RTIP to be consistent with the city's CIP budget. Every government acronym in one sentence. Transnet funds account for about 2.2 million annually towards important street improvement projects in the city and are reflected in table one of the city's RTIP program summary. This hearing was also advertised as part of our public hearing requirements and the list of projects available for view by the public. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Are there any speakers on this item? No? Okay. Do any of my council colleagues have any questions or comments at this time?

I'll move to adopt.

Okay, there's no motion. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously.

We'll need another motion to actually approve the item.

I see that in my notes here. So is there a motion to adopt the resolution? And is there a second?

I'll move to adopt the resolution. Second.

OK, thank you. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Going on to new business item number 13, resolution numbers 2026-9613 and 2026-9614, adopting the operations and maintenance budget of the City of San Marcos for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, and capital improvement program budget for the five fiscal years ending 2030 and 2031, appropriating money out to the treasury for budgetary purposes and authorizing appropriation and transfer of funds for the establishment of the appropriated reserve for the future expenditures and or contingencies for fiscal year 2026 and 2027. Marla Trussell, chair of our, where is Marla? I didn't see Marla tonight. Nice. Hey, Martha. Chair of our Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee is going to provide some comments. Welcome, Martha.

So first I'd like to extend my condolences to Mayor Jones, I'm sad that she's not here. However, good evening Deputy Mayor and esteemed council members. I am Orla Trussell, Chairperson of the Measure Q Oversight Committee. I'd like to thank the committee members who sit with me, Chris Freeman, Deputy Chairperson, and Justin Matsushita, member for their participation in the community. And I'd also like to thank the city staff. Michelle Bender, City Manager, Donna Apar, Finance Director, Christina Ray, the Lean Director, Janet Brotherton, Budget and Analysis Manager, Jessica Molina, Senior Management Analyst, and Yesenia Avila, Office Specialist, for their assistance in providing the committee with the information it needs to reach the best conclusions regarding the propriety of the expenditures. I'd also like to commend the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Council for their commitment to the passage of Measure Q. I recognize that elected officials walk a tight rope when confronted with the decision to raise taxes. Measure Q was the right decision as evidenced by its wide margin passage and how the expenditures to date are benefiting the committee at the city. Measure Q was passed by the San Marcos electorate in November 2024, giving the city of San Marcos the ability to further its mission of ensuring a safe and robust city for its residents. It's also noteworthy that measure Q is a destination based sales tax which to where the goods are delivered or first used within San Marcos, giving the city the ability to raise more funds than previously under the Bradley Burns revenue. I'm here this evening to present the activities of the newly formed committee since it first convened in April of 2025. The committee's purpose is to provide oversight of the expenditures as it relates to the Measure Q sales tax revenues. The committee has been tasked with the following duties. Ensure alignment with voter priorities, review spending plans annually to ensure planned activities align with voter priorities. To achieve this objective, city staff conduct surveys of residents to understand their primary concerns. The primary of concerns are public safety and emergency response, roads and infrastructure, and parks and community spaces. The top priorities for expenditures are to keep San Marcos safe and clean, address deferred maintenance, prevent major infrastructure failure, and continue levels of service in critical areas and recognize higher level of cost efficiencies. The second objective or duties review the annual report of the expenditures to ensure that the city continues to be a good steward of the public funds. enhance transparency by reporting findings and making recommendations of part of the budget process and for review infrastructure and improvements prior to future renewal since the measures enactment in april of 2025 the city has collected 5.2 million dollars in fiscal year 2025 The expenditures, most noteworthy expenditures include $2.9 million for public safety for two new fire engines and EMS transport services. 900,000 for roads and infrastructure and another 900,000 for park and community spaces. For fiscal year 2026, year to date through quarter two, the city has received $11.3 million. A full revenue expenditure breakdown will be provided to the committee at our next meeting when we review the fiscal year 2026 audit report in January of 2027. in the current fiscal year the committee convened on 9 february 2026 to review the audit report provided by rogers anderson malady and scott for the period ended june 30 2025. the audit the independent auditor reported in its report that the measure q sales tax fund is in compliance with ordinance number 2024-1554 for the year ending As stated, in our opinion, the city complied in all material aspects with the compliance requirements referred to above that could have a direct material effect on the measure Q sales tax fund for the year ended June 30, 2025. That the audit was conducted in compliance in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. The audit report was unanimously approved by the committee. And then on March 2026, on the 26th of March, 2026 of this year, the committee convened to review the fiscal year 2027 Measure Q city expenditure requests. The city has requested $23 million and the major fiscal year 2027 expenditures break down as follows. Operational expenditures 11.8 million, infrastructure investments at 6.2 million, capital improvement projects at 5 million for total spending requests for $23 million. And the Measure Q Committee gives unanimous approval to the Measure Q expenditures as requested by the city for fiscal year 2027. Are there any questions?

Great. Thank you, Marla.

Thank you. Any questions for my colleagues? Just a quick thank you, Marla. Very, very comprehensive, detailed, and it followed a very good track from start to finish.

Appreciate it. Thank you very much, Council Member Musgrove.

Great job, Marla. And thank you to the entire Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee. Much appreciated. We'll call up Salvador Roman, Chair of the Budget Review Committee. Good evening, Salvador.

Good evening. It's going to be tough to talk that speech. That was very thorough. All right. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and City Council. My name is Salvador Roman, and I serve as the Chair of the Budget Review Committee today. I am here to speak on behalf of the committee's recommendation, staff's proposal for fiscal year's budget, 2026-2077 budget. This budget encompasses various priorities, including operational maintenance, capital improvements, and related appropriations and transfers. For those of the committee or residents that don't know what the Budget Review Committee is, we are dedicated residents who take time to review and discuss the department's budget proposal, taking into consideration cost saving measures, support the development of a balanced the committee's role is advisory, and our work is intended to support the finance director, city council, and the city's fiscal priorities. The budget review committee collectively considered the resident priorities, current economic environment, and the city's long term needs. This year, we all engaged with all the various departments within the city, particularly focusing on public safety, infrastructure, and financial stability. At this time, I want to make sure I extend my gratitude to City Manager Michelle Bender, Finance Director Donna Apar, and the rest of her team. Their expertise, transparency, and partnership were instrumental in our success. We collaborated closely with city staff who provided us with the necessary information to make informed decisions. I know that we ask a lot of questions and we really appreciate you guys taking the time to address even the smallest questions. I also want to take time to thank our fellow committee members for your unwavering commitment, dedication, and thoughtful contributions to this process. It has been an honor to collaborate with my fellow residents. I would like to conclude with thanking city council for the opportunity to serve as chair and as a member of the committee. It has been an honor to serve as a resident. And I thank you guys for the privilege. With that, we would like to express recommendation of the adoption of the resolution for the fiscal year budget.

Thank you for the presentation. Salvador, any questions for our fellow resident? Well, thank you again. Appreciate it. Thank you to both committees. It's really good for us to know that we have another set of eyes from the community looking at all the documents and looking at the budget and asking all the questions of staff and letting us know if there's any concerns. So we appreciate the time and effort that everybody that's involved puts into it. Okay, we got a whole team over here. So we have our finance director, Donna Apar, our budget analysis manager, Janet Brotherton, our development services director, Isaac Etchamendi, and our principal civil engineer, Dara Woods, will give us a presentation on the budget.

Great, thank you so much Deputy Mayor and City Council. This evening we're presenting the fiscal year 2026-27 budget for adoption. Before I turn things over to our finance and CIP team, I want to start by thanking the city council for your clear policy direction throughout the process. I also want to acknowledge the members of the Budget Review Committee and Measure Q Oversight Committee would not be here tonight were it not for the time and thoughtful feedback you've provided along the way. Thank you. With that, I want to start with the most important headline. Staff is presenting a budget that is structurally balanced, maintains compliance with the city council's reserve policy, meets all infrastructure funding targets, and most importantly, prioritizes the fundamentals that matter most to our community. Public safety, infrastructure, neighborhood quality, and responsive city services. This budget also does something else that is very important. It continues the city's focus on long term fiscal health and sustainability. Like cities throughout California, we continue to see costs rising faster than revenues. Labor, pension, insurance, and operational costs continue to increase while revenue growth remains slower and less predictable. That's why the city council's steadfast commitment to fiscal discipline and operating like an efficient business has been so important. Measure Q has provided critical stability, and we're using that opportunity strategically, not just to maintain services, but to strengthen the city's foundation for the future. At the same time, we're evolving as an organization by becoming more data driven, more performance focused, and more intentional about how we align resources with results. We often talk about the San Marcos Way as shorthand to define our commitment to efficiency, cutting red tape, and bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to local government. These values remain part of our DNA, and I think you'll find that the budget we're presenting tonight not only honors the San Marcos Way, but shows what the San Marcos Way looks like in an organization evolving to meet the future needs of our community. Okay, next slide. This evening we're going to review our approach. We're presenting a balanced budget that invests in the future, focuses on community priorities, reduces long term costs through strategic investments today, and reflects increasing emphasis on data driven decisions, performance measurement, and efficient operations. We're going to first take a look at the operations and maintenance portion of the budget, so the general fund, a Measure Q overview. I don't know that we need to address that after our chairperson's very thorough presentation this evening. Acquisition and replacement and rehabilitation funds, planning for the future, and then hand it over to our capital improvement team.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Michelle, and members of the Budget Review Committee and the Measure Q Oversight Committee. Good evening, Deputy Mayor and council members. We are pleased to present the annual budget to you tonight, which, as Michelle mentioned, is a structurally balanced budget. And reflects a culmination of our core values in being problem solvers, being good partners, operating like an efficient business, and building to last. Which are all important in maintaining quality of delivery of essential services and critical infrastructure, as well as meeting city council's fiscal policies. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Janet Brotherton to go over the operations budget detail.

Thank you, Donna. While the city continues to maintain a disciplined approach when it comes to revenue projections, especially given current economic uncertainties, overall general fund revenue saw positive but modest growth in all categories. There are some categories which saw more notable increases over last year's adopted. The first being property tax, which is the city's largest single source of general fund revenue. It is projected at a 5% increase overall due to prior year housing stock turnover and new construction which added to the tax base. Also contributing to the property tax increase is an increase in our in lieu vehicle license fees received through the county, as well as higher successor agency tax increment pass through revenue. And these two categories together account for over 60% of our property tax receipts. Charges for services, which is our third largest general fund revenue source, is estimated at a 7% increase due to higher anticipated building and development related fees, as well as fire and EMS related reimbursements in this category. Our real estate portfolio net revenue has also increased due to the completion of many major capital projects at city-owned rental properties. All of this make the city a competitive landlord in the market and maintain our occupancy at over 99%. And because of this, we're able to recognize higher net revenue from our diverse real estate portfolio. Other revenue categories are projected level with fiscal year 2026, including transient occupancy tax and sales tax due to potential slowdowns and discretionary spending that may impact these two categories. And the flat, broadly burned sales tax for fiscal year 2027 does align with statewide projections for sales tax receipts. This chart here shows our general fund revenue projections at just over $104 million. Property tax and our regular Bradley Burns sales tax continue to make up more than half of our general fund revenue, which is typical for our revenue makeup. As I mentioned, charges for services is our third largest revenue category, and its share of the general fund is about $15.8 million projected for fiscal year 2027. Licenses and permits include development related permits as well as franchise fees and is slightly ahead of our special assessments for fiscal year 2027 projected at eight and a half and $8.1 million respectively. Real estate portfolio income includes our real estate partnership as well as the revenue received from leasable assets that the city owns such as Creekside Marketplace and our tenant occupied spaces here in the city hall building and our other lease buildings that are owned by the city and comprises about 8% of the anticipated general fund revenue for fiscal year 2027. Other revenue includes intergovernmental revenue such as grants or other fees received from the state and county. As well as our interest income received from our city's investment policy and is projected at about 4% or about $4 million. And last but not least, transient occupancy tax is projected level to fiscal year 2026 at about $2 million or 2% of revenue. As the city has taken a fiscally conservative approach in this category given current economic uncertainties. Now, moving on to general fund expenditures, staff continue to take a business-minded approach to their operations and look for greater efficiencies in our day-to-day business wherever possible. Just a few examples include leveraging in-house staff expertise to repair the city's paint striper, replacing all lighting with energy-efficient bulbs whenever replacements are needed, and the use of the city's clean well water for street sweepers instead of using metered water. These are just some examples of how departments have found efficiencies big and small to help with our long-term fiscal sustainability. However, expense categories noted here account for regular known increases that all cities face compared to fiscal year 2026. Among these known expenditure increases are public safety costs, such as the last year of our current share of contract, which capped the increase at a fixed 3.5% for fiscal year 2027. Also in the public safety category are personnel increases in line with negotiated employment agreements for our safety personnel. And in addition to our safety personnel, citywide employees, have seen contract and benefit costs in line with their negotiated steps and cost of living adjustments, as well as the city's contribution to our unfunded accrued liability commitments. And lastly, we're still seeing inflationary impacts on contracted operating costs, which continue to be a cost pressure associated with our contracted city services, and it's obviously being experienced by cities statewide. In order to ensure that the general fund remains in a balanced position, the city continues to focus on fiscal discipline, which is a core competency of our city personnel. The city continues to emphasize the community's priorities of keeping San Marcos safe, clean, and well maintained as the basis and guiding principle for our budget decision making process. And we're also focusing on strategic leadership and proactive long range planning in order to protect and sustain the city's long term financial health. This slide shows a breakdown of general fund expenditures by department. As mentioned, keeping San Marcos safe, clean, and well maintained is our core priorities of our budget, and it's reflected here. Public safety or fire and law enforcement combined comprise more than half of the city's budget, which is typical for most agencies. Public Works is our third largest category and makes up about 13.5% of general fund expenditures, followed by development services at 9%. Parks and Recreation comprise 5.7% of the general fund budget. And the central service functions of human resources risk management and our information systems make up about 5% and 4.5% respectively. Other departments that were formerly grouped as general government have now been broken out independently. And all of these functions listed on the right each individually represent less than 3% of the general fund budget. Together all of the departments listed on the right make up about 10.5% of our city's general fund budget. This slide shows a breakdown of Measure Q expenditures requests for fiscal year 2027 by community needs priority. For fiscal year 2027, about $13.9 million, or 59%, is made up in the public safety and emergency response category, of which $4.5 million is related to the Fire Station 5 construction project, so I won't get ahead of our capital team on that one. Measure Q will also fund safety related infrastructure by replacing fire apparatuses and equipment at their end of useful life. And operationally, Measure Q will focus on ensuring emergency personnel readiness and constant staffing throughout the city. About $5.6 million, or 24%, will go towards the roads and infrastructure maintenance category as staff continue to tackle deferred maintenance and other projects that will ensure long-term fiscal health. These investments include the city's new annual storm drain inspection and cleaning program, which will prevent catastrophic and costly emergency repairs for storm drains. Measure Q will also maintain the city's facilities via electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and other preventive maintenance services, and will also tackle projects which will result in long-term cost savings, such as energy-efficient lighting and replacement of HVAC units that are at their end of useful life, and replacing them with more energy-efficient units. And lastly, about $4.3 million will be used in the parks and community spaces category towards maintenance, cleaning, and upkeep of our city's 44 parks, 72 miles of trails, and various other community spaces. Also in this category, expenditures will also yield long-term fiscal benefits, such as the renovation of Williams Barn flooring, kitchen, and restrooms, and other renovations to the space, as this facility currently generates about $100,000 annually in revenue. As Marla mentioned, overall Measure Q will support over $10 million in expenses towards important operations, about $5 million in our capital program, and will also fund significant investments in our infrastructure, which I will get into now. This slide highlights a few key fiscal year 2027 budgeted projects in our city's infrastructure funds. As noted previously, Measure Q has been instrumental in supporting the city's ongoing maintenance efforts. And these projects demonstrate how these resources will be used to preserve and enhance our critical public infrastructure assets, while also realizing long term cost efficiencies. Starting with the vehicle acquisition, which will focus on replacing equipment at the end of its useful life for safety personnel. This includes a type three fire engine as well as one ambulance, both of which are at their end of useful life. And we will also be replacing self-contained breathing apparatuses for safety personnel. Again, replacing equipment at the end of its useful life. We will also be supporting our ongoing leases of our street sweepers and white fleet. As I mentioned previously, infrastructure investments are also focused on projects that will recognize long term efficiencies and returns on investments. As I mentioned, an example would be the second phase of the Jim HVAC project, which will not only ensure higher energy efficiency, but will also allow for more accurate utility billing between the city and the neighboring Boys and Girls Club. And also the Williams Barn renovation, which protects the long term revenue generation capacity of the space. And the Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Replacement Fund will also deliver cost efficiencies such as lighting upgrades and will also replace park playgrounds and other fixtures that are at the end of their useful life. This chart shows projected fiscal year 2027 funding levels compared to the goal defined by the city's fiscal management policy. As shown by the solid bar, projected funding for infrastructure is expected to exceed the policy goal in fiscal year 2027 and will continue to exceed it for the next several years. These higher funding levels are expected to bring the total lifetime to date funding of the city's three infrastructure funds back in line with the cumulative policy target by 2030. Which is offsetting a shortfall created by lower infrastructure transfers in fiscal year 24 and 25, which happened because of budget constraints. Even after catching up on the lifetime to date funding, the city will continue supporting ongoing infrastructure maintenance and investments in future years per the city's fiscal management policy. And last but not least, with the current budget and economic factors discussed earlier, we wanted to provide an update on the city's reserve funds. As the council is aware, the city has a reserve policy that stipulates the city to hold 40% of unrestricted or liquid assets. This represents the second highest reserve rate in San Diego County and further insulates the city from significant economic hardships, all while having little to no debt against the city. The city is projected to be at 42% for fiscal year ending in 2026. However, with the increase in expenses, the estimated excess will be used to help continue to meet the city's minimum reserve threshold of 40% for fiscal year 2027. You'll also notice the last column on the right, which shows a 36% reserve level, which reflects the results of a short term loan to the city's capital improvement program budget in order to facilitate the construction of Fire Station 5. As you may recall during the Fire Station 5 workshop in July 2025, temporary or borrowed funds would be needed to complete the project without significant reductions to city operational services. An analysis of borrowing options shows that the use of opportunity reserves as allowed per the reserve policy prevents the city from incurring significant borrowing costs associated with loans from outside borrowing sources. These types of loans from external entities would cost millions of dollars in interest and other finance related costs which would inflate the project budget significantly. Therefore, a loan from the city's opportunity reserves would result in the lowest borrowing cost to the project and with interest payable to our reserves itself, which will help grow the city's reserve position and maintain our fiscal sustainability for the long term. As such, council directed staff to utilize the city's opportunity reserves for this need as it meets the criteria per the reserve policy resulting in significant savings to the city. And with repayment period anticipated to be well before the ten years term allowed per policy. This 36% level still allows the city to be above average compared to the cities in the county and keeps us in the top third of the reserves among all the cities in our county. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Donna for future planning considerations.

Thank you, Janet. With council leadership and fiscally disciplined policies, the city remains committed to maintaining long term fiscal health and high quality of life for the community. As cities throughout California are seeing rapid increases in costs, our ongoing efforts will focus on continuing to invest in addressing deferred infrastructure investments to minimize future cost of repairs. Invest in revenue generating real estate portfolio to preserve our class A status So we can remain competitive in strategic initiatives to grow our revenue base consistent with section 203 of the San Marcos charter. Such as our economic development strategic plan that is underway to foster a healthy local economy. All of which are part of how we invest in keeping San Marcos safe, clean, and well maintained for the community. We'll also continue to innovate ways in our operations to help ensure that we are exercising The most efficient business model to deliver quality and responsive city services. Just like some of the examples that were shared regarding paint striper equipment, energy efficient lighting, and the use of well water for street repairs. And seeking funding opportunities such as the 5 million parks grant from Assemblymember Patel. We'll also continue to monitor our objectives and key results to measure our operational goals, as well as utilize key performance indicators to monitor operational efficiency. And along with utilizing our version of Maslow's hierarchy for budget priorities, with the public safety and delivery of core services as the most important, as well as fostering a culture of fiscal sustainability, we are also continuing to monitor economic indicators. All positioning us to be as resilient as possible from future potential economic challenges. And before I turn it over to our CIP presentation, happy to answer any questions.

Well, thank you Donna, and everybody up there, that was fabulous. And I believe we do have some questions from Council Member Musgrove.

I have plenty, but we'll wait to the CIP. But real quickly, on one of the previous slides, one of the items under pension stabilization reserves talks about section 115. And I remember when we began that process, I think I might have been a planning commissioner sitting there with Mayor Desmond and Vice Mayor Jones, and they were big proponents of this. Could you please explain to the members of the community exactly what that is and why it is so important for us to have?

Yeah, so IRS has a section 115 component that allows us to form a pension stabilization trust only for purposes of utilizing it for any CalPERS or pension related situations. And so the council voted to go ahead and create one as part of our buckets of reserves and we started off with two and a half million. Fortunately, we have not had to dip into that bucket of reserves and has grown since then.

It was a very smart move back then, and it will at some point pay dividends, not to be punny in a fiscal sense, but having that as a backup is phenomenal. I would like to commend Donna, Janet, and of course Michelle for a meeting I had with them this past week where they sat with the guy that got C in consumer math and explained our budget cycle. very uh succinctly but really to the point and how we have income streams that are really benefiting now from the money from measure q and how that money is being returned into those very items she just they're discussing tonight so i'll continue with that a little bit later but in effect our public safety some of our infrastructure and some projects we have ongoing right now that to me are very important because it is what as residents we see every day and when things look great we don't think twice about it we only notice when they're not working so the key to success is that everybody is happy with the way things are and it's no no easy task it requires daily maintenance from our staff and they do a fantastic job so i will hold the rest of my comments until we have the cip thank you thank you council member any other questions at this time

I don't have a question, I have a couple comments. First off, thank you for putting together the presentation, but also just the overview of where the Measure Q funds are going. Probably 90 plus percent of my conversations that I have with residents are about those three categories, public safety, infrastructure, and Parks and Rec. We really hit, I think, a home run with that. And then I really appreciated how well you articulated the short term loan for the fire station. I thought that was a really smart move on part of the council to get not only to get it going in the least expensive way, but to get it going as quickly as possible. And so I thought you did a great job articulating that to the community too, so thank you. If there's no other questions, then we'll go on to the CIP.

Good evening. Dara Woods, principal civil engineer in the engineering CIP division. And tonight I'm excited to present our capital improvement program for fiscal year 26-27. For those who might not be aware and for those that do a brief overview and recap, our capital improvement program essentially is a program focused on delivering public infrastructure projects that enhance and sustain the community, the infrastructure of the community. It's essentially a strategic tool that we use to plan, budget, schedule projects. And we look at it over a five year period. It is a non-operational program. It's not daily ongoing core services. It's project specific related, primarily larger projects. And we appropriate funds on a yearly basis. For fiscal year 26-27, approximately $21.6 million is appropriated. Thank you. As you'll see on the following slide, there's a variety of funding sources that comprise RCIP. program that includes transnet, gas tax, our measure, newly measured Q funds, as well as general fund. And I'd like to take an opportunity to dive into that in a little more detail and kind of continue the topic that Janet brought up earlier in our presentation. So of the Measure Q funds and general funds that are allocated to the fiscal year 26-27 budget, which is approximately $9.2 million, that is split between our Fire Station 5 project and our larger scale planning projects, primarily our general plan amendment. And as Janet mentioned earlier, the funding for Fire Station 5 being Measure Q and then our general fund reserves because it's an expedited project using those to fund portion of that project with a repayment later on. Our CIP budget can be looked at in terms of a couple project type categories. We typically break them up by our category of streets and traffic, planning, and infrastructure facilities. And we focus our CIP projects on addressing deferred infrastructure, improving roadway maintenance, improving conditions with that, planning for future years through various assessments, and as was discussed earlier, our Fire Station 5 project. I wanted to take the opportunity to key in on a couple project highlights for upcoming year. We have efforts with our fire station condition assessment that we'll be getting, our woodland pool assessment, as well as our Discovery Lake bridge repairs and our Discovery Lake restoration project. We also have our Bradley Park master plan. Next slide. As well as several projects related to San Marcos Boulevard. our Fire Station 5 project, an Olive Street Bridge project, and our continued work on our road repair and rehabilitation through our overlays and slurry seals. That pretty much summarizes some of the key highlights we wanted to identify and available for any questions you might have.

Great, thank you. Any questions at this time? Yes.

These are all so exciting. I know that we have a lot of road work coming up, which is very exciting, but also will create some growing pains. So we are asking everyone to be very patient with us. Can you just tell the residents where they can go to keep up to date on everything that's going on with the San Marcos Boulevard improvements and anything that's in the pipeline?

Thank you. Good question. We do have a lot of work coming up and we appreciate the patience. We know it will have some impacts and we want to get as much information as we can out to the public about that. We have been working with our communications team on ways we can do that through social media. We were actually discussing other ways we can put additional information on our website for our upcoming slurry seal and overlay projects that can answer maybe some of the questions that come through. But we have been working extensively with our communications department on the San Marcos Boulevard project and some of our upcoming road maintenance projects.

And in addition to everything Dara listed, we're also going to be putting up signage in affected areas and we're actually sending out mailers to affected residents and businesses ahead of the project to try to get ahead of it so that it is all good news and not too terribly frustrating for everybody during this Lowry seal.

Thank you, I think that's really important just to stay in communication with everyone. And the more ways that we can do that, the better, because it will be a little painful, but it'll be worth the wait, I promise.

100%, thank you, Councilwoman, not lying. Councilwoman Nunez, do you have anything?

Yes, thank you. Deputy Mayor, I have a couple of questions and then comments. For the benefit of our residents, I know one of the big items that we have to include in our budget is our contract with the sheriff. And I know that is an item that takes up a lot of the budget. So for the benefit of our residents, can you talk about where we're at in terms of our contract length, when that ends, and when negotiations will take place, and what that will mean for this budget, and obviously in the near future?

Yes, I can assist with that question. This is the final year of our current contract, so this budget cycle accounts for the existing 3.5% increase. We have already been in discussions with the Sheriff's Office, and we'll be kicking off negotiations in the fall for the upcoming contract. At the moment, that's proposed to be a three year contract, but that's negotiable. We are expecting that there will be a request for a fairly significant increase in costs in the future contracts. Again, that's all negotiable and we will be sitting down at the table in the fall. Should there be a significant increase in cost, we will be definitely keeping the council apprised of that and we will have to accommodate that in next year's budget.

Thank you for that. One other question, and this is a point of clarification to make sure that I'm understanding what's in front of me. So if we can pull up, I'm looking at the lighting and landscaping maintenance district fund. So this is the proposed budget and it shows that it's page 101. And so I want to make sure that I'm looking at these numbers correctly. So under the heading that says budget summary, I see that we have total revenues. And then underneath that, we have operating expenses. And I see that there's under operating expenses, under salaries and wages, health benefits, retirement benefits, other personal expenses, and contractual services. So when I look at these columns, I see for fiscal year 2023 to 2024, we have actual numbers for fiscal year 2024 to 2025. We have actual numbers in that column. And then also under fiscal year 2025 to 26, we have a projected number there. But then I see that there's blank numbers for fiscal year 2026 to 2027. So in my understanding, what am I looking at here?

Yes, thank you, council member. So staff that were coded or allocated to the lighting and landscaping maintenance district were not let go or reassigned. We are still incurring their cost. They are still working for the city. So they are now being incurred in the general fund.

So where would I, or why am I seeing blank numbers then? Are we not going to keep track of that? Or I'm just trying to understand what I'm looking at.

This year, the staff is not allocated to this fund. From time to time, we do move staff. We allocate some years to gas tax, other years we allocate staff to some of the specially restricted funding. This year, because the budget for the LLMD is It's being utilized with the contract maintenance, so the staff that were previously listed are now being accommodated in the general fund. So as Donna mentioned, they do still work for the city and they do still provide service. They're just not being budgeted in the LLMD, they're being budgeted in the general fund. So in the line item under the public works budget where you see the staff listed, those staff are part of that number.

So then are we not keeping track of this number then? Is that the idea?

I'm not sure. Could you rephrase the question?

Yeah, I'm just trying to understand then, where would I see then this number? Or are we not going to keep track of that staff?

The staff are now in the general fund. So if you go to the public works page on the general fund, you'll find them there. As you can see, some of the LLMD is being funded by the general fund. So it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. So those staff are now captured under the general fund in the public works page.

What page is that in the proposed budget?

Public Works starts on page 62. Thank you.

And so I'm trying to understand then, the numbers that I see here in prior years, did that include the amount that was covered, or maybe I'm not asking it correctly, with the general budget? Or how was that, was it a total? I'm trying to understand the difference. It's just not clear to me what we were tracking versus what we're going to be tracking or what we're not going to be tracking.

So in the prior years, as you know, the LLMD is a Prop 218 district. And so the special assessment levy has been frozen for quite some time. And so the general fund has been providing assistance As it does with any other area that does not have an LLMD or a CFD, it's always borne by the general fund. And so to alleviate that funding capacity in the LLMD, the direction was to go ahead and allocate the public work staff there to the general fund versus having a higher transfer from the general fund to the LLMD. So as far as tracking, that is still going on by the Public Works Department.

Okay, thank you for that. I don't have any other questions.

Okay, thank you. And Councilmember Musgrove asked for 30 more seconds.

I'll start the watch. When I started out as a traffic commissioner 13 years ago talking to the residents, the three things that were consistently brought up and as a planning commissioner and now as a council member, I distilled it down to the three Ps, parks, potholes, and public safety. And that's exactly what we're focusing on in our budget. So in addition to making provisions for the new sheriff's contract, station five, which are absolutely necessary, the infrastructure, which is very important. And again, it's like I said earlier, you don't see it every day because we do such a great job. And once in a while, you'll see a pothole, and it's usually as a result of popping on asphalt with, we've had this talk before. Anyway- Those get fixed quickly, and we encourage our residents to go to our website and report that, and it will get fixed very quickly. But in addition to the other issues that were brought up, I want to bring up one other one that's been years in coordinating, and it looks like we're ready to pull the pin on this one, is the partnership with Caltrans. So a lot of the problems we have in our city with traffic are due to the different jurisdictions that control. So North County Transit controls the timing on the crossing guards. We try and coordinate our lights within those confines. But any time you come to an on or off ramp for State Route 78, those are controlled by Caltrans. And those are adjustable based on the demands of the roadway. Their goal is to keep the traffic on 78 moving, so if it backs up into our city, that's our problem, not theirs. But we have a program right now we're getting ready to kick off, and if I'm getting the timing wrong, Michelle, please correct me, with the off-ramp at Nordall and 78. to have our system interact with theirs to make it a more coordinated effort to get folks off that off ramp and to clear that intersection. And also, I think we're in discussion with the city of Escondido for the south side where Mission comes in, Auto Parkway. And again, that is kind of a pilot project. I think it'll be successful and they would like to see that continue westward throughout our city so that we have better traffic flow in those areas where we have some degree of control and Caltrans is willing to work with us. And again, this is all part of what our wonderful staff do behind the scenes so that it appears a seamless operation. So thank you all for that. That's my 30 seconds.

Thank you, Ed. And I'm actually really appreciative that you brought up the differences between Highway 78 and Caltrans and the city. I have gotten some questions actually just today about when Caltrans was going to finish their repavement of 78. uneven right now still, but it's looking a lot better. And then every time I come to this meeting, I come from the east and I get off on the Woodland off ramp. And I know it's not ours, but that off ramp is in, actually that off ramp and then the on ramp Orantos had a fade to 78 or is in pretty bad shape. And so, I don't know if Michael's back there, but if we can maybe lobby our friends in Sacramento and at Caltrans to at least give us maybe an ETA or timing on when they're gonna get to that, it'd be much appreciated. But I do think some of our, to Councilmember Musgrove's point, I do think some of our residents get a little bit confused as to the differing responsibilities by the different entities, so. I don't have really any questions. I do have one question. So as far as the CIP projects are concerned, when it comes to resurfacing roads and reconstructing roads, is there a way that we could put the next five? I don't know if we have that level of detail from a calendar standpoint, but maybe the next three to five projects that we're going to be doing on the website, if it's not already there?

So right now we're focused on trying to catch up on kind of some of the deferred maintenance. We do use a system that kind of looks at those things. The further out we go, the less certain it is. So we don't want to be promising things that we can't live to. So we want to be careful of that. But we can certainly look at how far out we can start to put these streets. And we're actually out right now re-rating the streets, which is a huge component of that, to get new PCIs on those roadways. So I think once that concludes, we can certainly work with city manager's office to determine what kind of detail can we get out to people and start to program out longer and longer range projects.

Okay, great. Even if it's, and I completely understand that makes a lot of sense, Isaac, thank you. But even if once we've actually put it, we've budgeted for it, we know it's coming, it might be nice to give them a rough ETA. It's 45 days out, 90 days out, whatever that looks like, so thank you. Phil, do we have any public speakers on this item? That's good. Great. I think that's a testament, too, that between the efforts from our resident committees and our great staff and leadership and the council, there must be a tremendous amount of trust out there that we don't have a lot of folks that are coming to talk about our budget. So thank you, everyone. Oh, and with that, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the resolution as recommended.

I'll make the motion that we adopt the resolution adopting the operations and maintenance budget of the city of San Marcos for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026. And the capital improvement program budget for the fiscal years ending 2030, 31. And appropriate money out of the treasury for budgetary purposes and resolution authorizing the appropriation and transfer of funds for the establishment of an appropriated reserve fund for future expenditures and or contingencies for fiscal year 2026, 27.

Deputy Mayor, I still have some comments. I'm sorry.

Before we- Okay, I'll go ahead and second the motion, but we'll certainly continue the conversation. I'm sorry.

Thank you for that. I definitely want to take the opportunity to congratulate everybody, our staff and our volunteers, the Budget Review Committee and the Measure Q Committee. Your insights are really invaluable. Every time I get to talk to one of you, you provide so many insights. And so I do appreciate all the work that has gone into this. I think today is a day to be celebrated. because we have a proposed budget in front of us that's balanced and it's fiscally sound. And so I do want to congratulate everybody on that. I see all the hard work that it's happening. I do also want to highlight that I appreciate that this budget is focused on our core services and really making sure that we maintain our sound economic viability. And so what that means for me, what I keep hearing, what I read in preparing for tonight's meeting is that it's very clear how critical our Measure Q funds are to our city and to this budget. And so I do want to take the opportunity to once again thank our residents, our voters for having the confidence and for voting in favor of Measure Q. And so I don't want us to lose sight of that because it's so critical for us to be able to deliver for our residents and be able to continue to meet our mission. And having said that, I also think that it's really important for us, not only as a council, but as a city to make sure that we continue to be transparent. And so with that in mind, I do want to make sure that that continues to happen. One of the things that I've been thinking about is during our largest infrastructure project when we constructed our bridges, was that we had a standing item on our agenda. to get an update from our city manager to let us know what the progress was. And I really found that really useful. I received a lot of comments from our residents that they found that very useful in order to stay on top of what was happening and what was to come. And I'm hearing the same from my colleagues today. So having said that, I really would champion for us to do something similar. particularly with the Measure Q funds and how we're delivering for our residents. So having said that, I will be voting in favor of this budget that's in front of us, but also keeping that in mind that we do need to continue to be transparent.

Thank you. Councilwoman LeBlanc.

Thank you for that, Council Member Nunez. I actually wanted to echo those sentiments because it's really hard to trust a city with your tax dollars. And we really appreciate the residents putting their faith in us. And I think we are following through on all of those promises. And I'm really proud to support this budget. It's a really exciting time to live in San Marcos. We have a great city staff, we have a great budget review committee, we have a great measure queue committee. And the only thing I want to say is I want to make sure we continue the communication with our residents as we continue to progress so quickly with these improvements. everything that we're doing for them because that's one of the number one complaints I get is just that a lot of times people don't know what's going on and they don't see the end game or the end solution. So I reassure them that everything will be wonderful and that we are on track to make them happy. So I just want to continue that communication.

Great, thank you. So there was a motion and a second, so I will go ahead and call for a vote. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, motion passes. All right, thank you all. Phil, do we have any other speaker slips at this time? Okay, great, thank you. Okay, we'll move on to our council reports. And we normally start off with but Mayor Jones is not here, so we'll move on to legal California cities.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I would like to first state that this was an online meeting this week with Councilwoman Nunez and I in attendance. I think probably the most significant issue that was brought up from the executive side was the annual conference coming up September 23rd to the 25th in Anaheim. And the assumption being that Councilmember Nunez, as the president of the district, you'll be attending.

Yes.

Okay, fantastic. We had a report as our guest speaker from the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, Brendan Reed. He talked about a lot of things, but effectively, The best information was the update on Terminal 1, what's going on there and how they're going to continue on with that process. The parking structures, new tenants that are coming in, more contracts for international travel, and all of that will serve to boost regional tourism, which benefits everyone. We got some league updates. The league is supporting the bill to extend additional time that HCD has mandated, an additional six months to meet certain requirements. SB 1157, the league is opposing that, and that's to limit additional fees on large ADUs. And SB 1013, opposing legislation on restricting the use of license plate readers. CAL FIRE, it was interesting, the question was asked about local government, local agency input on the fire zone maps. And the blunt answer was no, there is no opportunity for local input. But it's not because CAL FIRE doesn't care, it's because the way the legislation is written, there's no opportunity for that. However, they did say you could reach out legislatively and get that change. but that primarily it's not CAL FIRE, it's the Board of Forestry, which the first I've heard of that, but apparently they have their big players in the determination of those fire maps. Zone 0, 2027, that is the one that will require a certain amount of space in between your house and any combustibles, the type of fencing you have. um 2027 is when it kicks in so next year for any new builds and then by 2030 any existing so any improvements that are done at that point or then we'll have those restrictions on what materials you can use and fencing is always the big one what can I put in can I can I replace a wooden fence with a another wooden fence and I think the city will be put in the position of denying those permits Michelle presumably yeah okay we get to be the bad guy on that one The city of Stanton, at a public safety meeting, they have a big problem, as you know, in different parts of the state, and especially Southern California, with illegal fireworks. And the city of Stanton has initiated a fine for anybody firing off illegal fireworks. And what they have done is attached, because the question was asked, well, how do you recoup the fine? They're attaching that to your state tax return. So that's an interesting concept. So that will probably be something that our public safety reps, Robinson and Garcia on Escondido and Oceanside Council respectively will be doing further investigation. And that concludes my report, unless we have something else, President?

No, you're very thorough.

Okay, thank you. That concludes the report. Okay, thank you. North County Transit District, we haven't met since the last time I updated, but we do meet later this month on the 18th. And that'll take us to the North County Dispatch Joint Powers.

We met a couple weeks ago, and one of the really exciting things is North Com is now ACE accredited, so that's a major milestone. And that means that they are recognized as an accredited center of excellence in emergency medical dispatching. And a fun fact, they are now the 376th emergency medical dispatch accredited center in the world. So that's a great milestone for them. We also had a closed session with some labor negotiations and we passed our fiscal year 2026, 2027 budget. And I always talk about what a great community it is over there and such great people, great leadership. And a fun fact about that with passing the budget is they're so staff centric that more than 76% of their operating budget goes toward personnel costs. So it's a great community over there. And another exciting progress note is that they're moving forward with the Harmony Grove facility. And the plans were submitted to the county in April, could take about a year to get those approved. And they're currently looking at grant opportunities for that and moving forward on one grant. So that's making some good progress.

Great, thank you. Clean Energy Alliance.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. We had our last meeting on May the 28th, a couple of really big milestones for the Clean Energy Alliance. We celebrated our five year anniversary, so after our board meeting, we did have a celebration. It was very well attended. I got to meet, I think, most of our advisory committee members that serve. One of them is here today, John Mosher, who's very involved. And so it was great to meet some of those individuals in person. The other highlight that happened is we were introduced to six new employees. I think that doubled the size of the Clean Energy Alliance. Right, Council Member Musgrove?

I mean, for so long- When I was on the board, we had a part-time CEO and that was it.

That's right. That's right.

Everyone else were essentially volunteering their time.

Right, so I think we did double. There are plans to add, I believe, a couple of other employees. So we are growing. We did look at a proposed budget. We're still financially sound. We're on track. One of the items that Deputy Mayor Cinella will be looking at is adopting the next year's budget. I won't be able to attend this month's meeting, but Deputy Mayor has agreed to attend on my behalf, so that'll be the big item for this upcoming meeting. The other highlight, we did receive a five year anniversary impact report. And what I will do is I will forward the report to Phil so he can distribute it to the entire council that shows the work that has happened and where we're at currently. And I will also ask Bill to include it in next meeting's agenda so that's available to our residents to see. I also want to remind our residents that we did approve in earlier this year in January a rent relief credit program. We continue to see residents that do enroll. It's also available for our businesses. The last update that we received, I see that we have 16 residents that are enrolled in the program and only one commercial. So I just want to remind our residents that if you're having a hard time paying your utility bills to please reach out to Clean Energy Alliance and see if one of these programs might benefit you. And with that, that's my report.

Thank you so much. Okay, we'll move on to council business visits. And I know that Mayor Jones and Council Member Musgrove had one recently, right?

Yes, yesterday midday. This was at A Frame of Art, which is located on the southwest corner of Linda Vista and Via Veracruz. It's fantastic. They do everything from art framing, restoration, anything that has to do with Art that you would hang on your wall, they can manage. It was originally founded by Richard Jaden and his wife Helen. Richard passed away a few years ago, but Helen is continuing to run the operation and we met Terry who works there with her, very, very nice lady. And between the two of them, They have a couple of other folks that are coming in and out, including Helen's son, but they're certainly looking for somebody who's willing to come in and take over the business at some point. Richard passed in 2023, so Helen continues to run the business, and they do fantastic work. we have some as a slideshow goes on you'll see some of the work in inside their operation they specialize in custom picture framing art restoration preservation fine art printing photo restoration delivery and professional installation services all framing and restoration work is completed in-house using archival and museum grade materials designed to protect artwork that's helen there and photographs heirlooms and collectibles for generations As a long standing San Marcos business, a frame of art takes pride in helping residents preserve family memories, celebrate milestones, and showcase artwork that is meaningful to them. A frame of art is known for its attention to detail, personalized customer service, and commitment to craftsmanship, creating lasting relationships with clients who return for projects over many years. The business continues to contribute to the creative and cultural fabric of San Marcos by helping preserve artwork, historical pieces, and personal keepsakes that tell the stories of our community. Those frames right there that you see are on a fixed wall, but in the slide previous, They have, you can see to the right where she's standing in that particular photo, but to the right, they have barn doors, the kind you would see, they take up less space, so you have a barn door, sliding door. They're completely walled with frames, and they have a stock. Some of those are discontinued items, but they have suppliers. They do all their custom cutting, joining, attachments, stretching, everything. Inside a room, it can't be bigger than 20 by 20. And the machines are very, very precise, very sharp, because they do a lot of wood cutting right there. And it's just fantastic. You walk in there and... And you just feel like you've gone back in time a little bit. There were some recreations of famous artwork that they're working on. And you can't really see it, but where Helen is standing right there, she's holding up a picture that we took. I should say Sarah took. There was a movie out a few years ago, The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It's a Vermeer painting, and the movie's based on that. That's a cat dressed up like the model in the painting, and instead of a pearl earring, it is a pearl, but it's shaped like a goldfish, little snacks. It's kind of cute, but that is somebody's personal item that they're in there. They restored and framed, and they just do fantastic work. We were there for maybe just a little over an hour. Probably could have spent the better part of the day there with them. And they were working the whole time we were there, just terrific people. If you have any keepsakes or interested in any kind of work, restoration, or custom framing, that's the place to go. And it is at 310 Via Veracruz.

Great. Thank you, Ed. Do we have any council commentary? Council Member Nunez.

Thank you Deputy Mayor. I want to give a shout out to the city staff volunteers this past Saturday was our annual trails day. Every year such a great event, it was a beautiful day. I was able to participate doing the hike to Double Peak, so we couldn't ask for a better day, better views. And so I just want to thank the city staff for a wonderful job and our volunteers that are so dedicated to our city.

Very nice, thank you. Any other commentary? Okay, we're adjourned.