City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress. Call to order. The city of Seaside and Sess to the redevelopment agency by the city of Seaside regular 5:00 p.m. uh meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2026 in city hall council chambers will come to order. Thank you. Roll call. Council and agency member Miller here. Council and agency member Burks here. Council and agency member Garcia Arzola here. Mayor Pro Tim and Vice Chair Poacheo. Mayor and Chair Oglesby here. You do have a quorum.

Thank you. We will have a moment of silence and then I will ask council member Garcia Zola to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and for all. Thank you. We'll go to item number four, which is reviewed agenda. Um, city manager, any adjustments to the agenda?

Uh, yes. Thank you, mayor. Staff respectfully requests the removal of close session items 12A and 12D from tonight's agenda. D, say again clearly so I can hear. 12 A and 12 D.

Thank you so much. I do anticipate some type of recess around the 7:30 uh hour. Uh next we'll go to item number five with public comment. Members of the public to address the city council may do so on matters underneath our jurisdiction for up to three minutes. Uh we ask that you hold your comments on agenda items until that item is called. This also is the time to talk and comment on presentation items. Uh for the benefit of the record, please state your name. Public comment is now open. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Hi everybody. Linda Cunningham, Seaside Homeless Commission, but I'm here speaking as a seaside resident. Happy New Year to everybody. It's been bonkers. I did want to say just so many cool things. I just saw a cool new bike rack or bike chain. It's a little bike in front of the bike store. I guess you tie your bike up to it. It's just adorable. The San Pablo's beautiful co. I don't know who trimmed the eucalyptus trees long co, but that was You almost can't see anything else, but there's a couple places where we have the little warning light that tells you how fast you're going. I was of course going too fast and it was nice that it told me in a very pleasant way. It's just wonderful to see so much activity, more speed humps on Baker. Just the tree lights at Christmas were just absolutely beautiful outside the city. It just is so pretty. I do want to commend um our uh chief of police uh Burgess. I saw your posting asking for the person who for the attempted murderer over at the pot store

to turn themselves in peacefully. Exceptional professionalism on the part of Seaside PD. They turn themselves in peacefully. I don't know how much it costs the city when you go in guns blazing or whatever you have to do to capture somebody. This was absolutely the best way to do it after such a horrific week with so much violence to see the city reach out and for that person to be able to safely come in and turn themselves in. I'm I just I'm I just am so proud of our city. There's just so many great things going on all around town and I'm just so excited to hear what's coming up on the agenda tonight. I'm confident pavement will be the best part of tonight. Thank you very much everybody and again thank you Chief Borges for reaching out and again exceptionally professional way and got this person to turn themselves in safely. It's just beautiful. Thank you. Members

of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. First of all, Mayor, we can't hear you. I don't know if your mic's not working or just to let you know. and Marie Pagan. Um I was here at city hall earlier this morning and um I noticed a gentleman sleeping on the pavement next to city manager's uh office on the side wall. So, I asked the police the chief, our chief of police, uh, if there's anything we can do about it, and he explained to me that legally we can't because this is a public building, but it's not a good look for our city. Um, when I came up, um, this gentleman kind of was walking towards me and I I kind of felt uneasy. So, I think we need to not encourage him to stay there. Um, I understand he's normally there in the evenings, but it was 10:30 in the morning and he was already up here. Um, I noticed on the news the other day that there's several businesses going to Marina and I'm just curious, has our economic development company reached out to any businesses trying to get them to come to Seaside? Everybody keeps saying Marina's leaving us in the dust and they're getting all these new businesses. Um there was a um a business that's normally in Selenas and they're opening up in Marina now. You know, I think we need to do something to get out there to find out of these businesses to try to get

them to come to Seaside. um we can't develop and we can't get the monies if we don't have any businesses in order for people to spend their money in seaside. So my I'm just curious if if our economic development um group is actually going out there and trying to get what's good for our city. Thank you. Okay. Hey, I'm Miriam Smith and um I'm a black American senior and I want to I'm here because uh Officer Rogish has uh has the power to uh harm me and escalate situations because he he's protected by the police. I was um a passenger in the car and um he tried to stop me from videoing um by uh by way of v you know bullying me uh without any uh consequences. He's uh basically told me I could complain. Um there is absolutely no justification for a physical for him to physically uh violate me or any physical violence toward me and uh or any physical encount any violent encounter uh with me uh except for a cop gone rogue when he's just

getting away with whatever. um who who knows he can get away with anything. Um I'm just going to try to read what I wrote. Knowing he uh he'll be protected no matter what he does to the community members. This kind of um behavior must stop. I was um afraid he'd want to harm me. He's uh harassed my daughter, harassed my son and myself. Um why can't uh why can't why can't he use his badge to uh bully why why can't he use his badge to bully me now? Um, I'm sharing this tonight because I know that the city uh I've complained about him on December the uh 18th uh and there has been several incidents in the past. Uh so uh I'm afraid that whenever he uh thinks that he wants to encounter me that it's going to be he's going to try to escalate it each and every time. So, I need to bring it to uh the coun the council and the mayor's attention and the community because it cannot uh you know I cannot be um it cannot be overlooked. Um and so uh he's it's like he's put a target on my back and um and on my family and so I'm a part of Seaside. I am Seaside. been here all my life and um the city uh has to do something about uh uh officer uh I think his name is um you know I I've been here it's December the I I came in here December

the 18th. I already said that. Thank you so much. And so uh I don't think I should be uh violently hurt by any officer in this city as a senior. Thank you so much. Can you hear me? Okay. The caller ending in 2287. You now have the floor to make your public comment.

Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear me. Yes.

Hi. Okay. Uh this is Peter Kaiser, longtime resident. And as there was no um normal prayer, I'd like to add one. Let us pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross. And may uh God the Father and the Lord Jesus be glorified as our worthy savior and God the Father. uh and um we hope this meeting will be uh able to have wisdom and understanding and uh good following of the Bible and the Constitution of the United States. And um Lord, thank you for allowing us forgiveness for our sins as you paid for them on the cross and allowed us to be in heaven with you. Help there to be revival in this country and uh may the uh people surrender to you. Follow the Bible and be uh making good disciples and evangelized to make other people available to surrender to you. And uh Lord, help there to be no customers going into Planned Parenthood and protect the the pre-born in this city and all around the nation from the 1.2 two million abortions that were committed last year with almost 73% with methopristone help that drug to not be put in the mail which is as I understand it illegal or should be made illegal and you should uh should have a doctor's appointment and uh Lord please um may you allow these things to be fixed in Jesus' name and also there'll be a a 3C uh presentation on central

coast community energy. We do have to understand that solar and wind are not very reliable sources of energy, especially if we have several weeks of fog in the summer where the solar panels aren't working properly or storms and the wind has gone down to below the minimum. The transmission from these far away u solar and wind plants uh is very expensive and we need to rely on fossil fuel for several hundred more years. And we also have 300 years worth of coal supplies in the east. And we if we can use these use clean uh natural gl gas and cleans clean coal and clean um oil and uh we need to stop reducing these closing down of refineries. I think Phillips and maybe Marathon are considering closing this year and let's not close that pipeline from the Central Valley the oil pipeline to uh up to uh Richmond and um thank you thank you for pothole repairs too.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Good evening, Mayor Council. I'm here tonight to speak in strong, unwavering support of protecting our California coast, especially the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This stretch of coastline is not only a treasure for our local communities, but one of the most ecologically significant marine environments in the world. We have a responsibility to be clear and firm. Offshore drilling, mining, leasing, and other industrial activities have no place along our California coast. The risks are simply too great. Monterey Bays, kelp forests, underwater canyons, and coastal waters support an extraordinary web of life. Sea otterters, seals, seabirds, fish, and migrating wells. These ecosystems are delicate and deeply interconnected, and once damaged, they cannot be restored. This is not a partisan issue, nor is it speculative. The science is clear and the experts agree. Trusted institutions such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the California Coastal Commission, Oceanana, Save Our Shores, and Surf Rider Monterey have consistently warned that offshore drilling poses unacceptable risks and threats to our water quality, marine habitats, and the coastal economies that depend on a healthy ocean. For communities up and down the coast, the ocean is more than a view. It is our identity. It drives tourism, supports local jobs, fuels education and research, and connects generations to nature. A single spill or an industrial failure could cause irreversible harm to our wildlife, devastate our local economy, and forever change the character of our coastal communities. Tonight, I urge all of the California coastal communities affected by the potential leasing of waters off our

coast to stand together in formal opposition to offshore drilling, leasing, and unnecessary industrial activity near our shores and our marine sanctuaries. By actively, collectively, we send a clear and unified message. California's coast is not for sale. Seaside is not for sale. and its protection is a shared policy priority. Most importantly, this is about legacy. It is about the children who will walk these beaches, learn from these waters, and inherit the decisions we make today. We have a duty to ensure that they experience the same clean oceans, thriving wildlife, and sense of wonder that generations before us were privileged to enjoy. Let us be remembered as the stewards who chose protection, responsibility, and foresight. So, I'm asking you all to join in the California coastal coalition um and commit to protecting our ocean and economy and California's coast. And one last thing, today we kicked butt on the snip bus. I want to thank you all for having the spay and neuter ordinance and for um sponsoring the snip spay and neuter bus. We fixed 40 animals today. That's the highest number we've ever fixed um in the city of Seaside. It just speaks to us having responsible pet owners in our city. Thank you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment.

Uh thank you. See no one else public comments. Close. City manager, did you hear any questions, issues, or concerns you can answer at this time?

Yeah, just one just want to clarify the city of Seaside is active actively engaging in uh both national retail recruitment as well as local small business. And so our city's economic development team is actively promoting uh Seaside as an attractive location to operate operate and open businesses and make investments. In the last six months, we've executed contract replacer AI for analytics to help us with that process as well as a a commercial uh contract to for a national firm to help us with that with that retail recruitment and retention here in Seaside. Meeting uh with that firm happened earlier this week. They're finalizing their market data. They've actually finalized their market data. We're finalizing our market plan for how we uh promote seaside and sell seaside to national opportunities.

That didn't just start, did it? No. Okay. I'm just I'm talking for myself. And then uh it was a question about businesses leaving seaside. I think we have businesses coming into seaside. Is that correct? We do.

Okay. I mean, they go back and forth, so it's not as though we're out there by ourselves. Uh I would just say about it was a complaint uh uh towards uh you know conduct of of any employee and and we need to speak to the city manager. If any citizens have a complaint about any department, any employee, they need to take it to the city manager so it can be recorded so it can be uh documented that it has been uh complained about. And then that's the start of it right there. And I know the chief of police is always open to hearing how he can be more responsive uh to the citizens of the of Seaside. Uh I'll just end with uh Snip Bus uh saving uh the residents of Seaside money uh one uh visit I don't want to say one snip at a time, right? one vis one visit to the uh you know to the bus at a time and and and sometimes we don't calculate that the way we should but it saves the residents a lot of money one visit uh saves the residents a lot of money um and then there was a part about uh you know the coast is not for sale it's of course sees not for sale I mean I don't that's not even the question right okay so thank you so much thank everybody for the public comment. We will go on to public communication.

Uh 6A update from the Central Coast Community uh Energy. Uh Mr. C manager.

Yeah. Tonight we have an update from Central Coast Community Energy or C3. Sophia Schwarzki, community relations manager. Hello, Mayor Oglesby and council members. Thank you so much for the opportunity to provide an update on behalf of Central Coast Community Energy. My name is Sophia Schwarzky and I am a community relations manager at 3CE. I am here to share highlights about 3CE's recent activities, programs, and ongoing efforts to support your community. As you may know, 3CE is the public agency that sources energy for the central coast. We work in partnership with PG&E, who manages the transmission and delivery of that energy to your homes and businesses. 3CE serves 30 cities and five counties, providing clean and renewable energy to 1.2 million people. 3CE is on a pathway to deliver our customers 100% clean and renewable energy. Last year, we delivered enough renewable energy to power more than 350,000 homes. By doing so, we avoided emissions equivalent to taking 105, thou,000 gas powered cars off the road. 3CE currently has contracts in place to supply 70% of our load with renewable energy by September of 2028, putting us well ahead of California's climate goals. We've received many questions about the role of battery storage in the clean energy transition. Battery storage is essential to creating a cleaner, more reliable, and more

affordable energy future. By capturing excess renewable energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, batteries store power that can be released later when demand is high and renewable generation is lower. This reduces our dependence on expensive fossil fuels during peak hours and helps to stabilize electricity rates for everyone. So I want to walk you through a realworld example of this. During Labor Day weekend in 2022, California faced an intense heat wave that pushed energy demand to record levels. You might remember that to prevent widespread outages, the state issued a flex alert asking everyone to conserve energy. The graph that you have in front of you is showing our state's energy mix from that day. The red area represents fossil fuel generation. The green area shows renewable sources like solar and wind which peak during the day but then drop off sharply at sunset just when demand remains high. The thin orange lines tell another part of the story. At the bottom of that graph you'll see batteries charging during daylight hours and at the top they discharge that stored energy back to the grid when we need it most. Again, even with these contributions, the grid was stretched to its limit and the Flex Alert that we all received played a vital role in preventing widespread blackouts across the state. So, now we're going to take a look at a more recent heat wave. On July 4th of 2024, California once again experienced

extremely high energy demand. This time, however, there was no flex alert needed in order to prevent blackouts. The green bar representing renewable energy grew taller as more solar generation came online, while the red bar for fossil fuels shrank. Most impressive of all, that orange bar showing battery storage more than tripled. This means that batteries charged during the day and discharged in the evening, supplying clean, reliable power to the grid when we needed it most. And thanks to this rapid growth in battery storage, California was able to keep the lights on without a flex alert. We've received many questions about the safety of utility scale battery storage. So, I'd like to take a moment to share a few key points. First, 3CE does not have any power purchase agreements with indoor battery facilities like Vistra's Moss Landing facility was. All of the battery storage projects that we support use containerized systems equipped with individual fire suppression units and are required to meet the latest fire and building safety codes. Importantly, battery system failure rates have dropped 98% since 2018 and that is despite global battery deployment increasing by more than 25,000%. As an agency, 3CE joined the California California League of Cities in supporting Senator Lair's bill, Senate Bill 283 to establish tougher safety standards for the energy storage industry. And I'm pleased to share that this legislation was signed into law by the governor last year. 3CE is also investing in innovative

energy storage technology. One example is the Willow Rock energy storage center. Once it's online, this project will use compressed air to power turbines and it will be the largest compressed air storage project in the world. And this project will provide 200 megawatts for 3CE customers alone. The Aritina solar plus storage project, Atlas Solar Plus Storage, and Victory Pass Solar Plus Storage are among some of the latest projects that 3CE has invested in. Together, these three projects will supply enough clean energy to power the homes of 263,000 3CE customers. Delivering renewable power is only a piece of 3CE's mission. Equally as important is connecting with the communities we serve. You'll see our outreach team active across the region. We sponsor local events, host webinars informing customers on upcoming rate changes, and we lead workshops to raise awareness on and actually inform our energy programs to better meet the needs of our diverse communities. 3CE has also developed a action plan focused on supporting underserved populations. 3CE also provides direct support through programs for our customers. These programs empower customers to electrify their homes, vehicles, and businesses while saving money in the process. Our electrify your ride program, for example, offers up to $3,500 towards the purchase of an electric vehicle. We have additional programs that help lower the costs of upgrading to electric appliances, installing home battery storage, and advancing

electrification in the agricultural sector. 3CE also offers programs exclusively for member agencies like the city of Seaside through our electrify your fleet and charge your fleet programs. $300,000 per year is available to your city for electric fleet vehicles and EV charging station. In addition, our plan your fleet program provides no cost technical assistance to support these efforts. I am very excited to say that your city's public works director is engaged with our programs team um and has began to participate in the plan your fleet program. Since 2018, 7,000 3CE customers have directly benefited from 3C's programs. This slide highlights the city of Seaside's participation to date. Seaside customers have received approximately $560,000 in 3CE funding. And before I conclude, I'd like to share a brief legislative update. HR1 has eliminated federal tax credits for electric vehicles as of September 30th of last year and for home energy upgrades a as of December 31st. Um but that said 3CE's rebates for electrification are here to stay. HR1 has also eliminated tax credits for utility scale solar and wind projects that have not broken ground by the end of this year. These projects are cheaper and faster to build than natural gas alternatives, which means that there could be fewer projects built and energy prices may rise. To address this, 3CE was a sponsor of the Pathways Initiative, which enables a regional

energy market, including California and 10 other western states. Assembly bill 8.25 25 allows excess renewable energy to be exported, reducing regional greenhouse gas growth and lowering costs by more than $1 billion annually. It also decreases our reliance on natural gas plants. The governor signed the pathways initiative into law in September of last year. So, the final item that I want to update you on is related to affordability. First, there is some good news. 3CE has recently reduced our cost of service and as a result we will be proposing a generation rate decrease at a policy board at the end of this month. This reflects our ability to procure clean energy at competitive prices. However, customers will be seeing an increase to the power charge indifference adjustment or PCIA. The PCIA is a regulatory fee that is set by the California Public Utilities Commission that is paid to investor-owned utilities like PG&E by our customers. This fee was originally intended to recover costs of above market legacy renewable energy contracts that PG& signed onto before 3CE existed. Recent CPU decisions have changed how this contract portfolio is valued and they are applying those changes retroactively. This means that the average residential customer in Seaside can expect to see a net increase of 2% on their energy bill. 3CE is continuing to actively engage in regulatory and legislative efforts to promote affordability for our customers. So that is all that I have for you today. Thank you again so much for your time this evening and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Uh thank you so much for that update. Well done. Any questions? Uh council member Mil. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Actually I have uh quite a few questions. Um and my first question is that 3CE is a public a board right and you have elected officials from other cities and seaside is in a group with two other cities. So who is our the representative now?

You are correct. So the city of Seaside because your population is lower than 50,000 you do share board seats and this is on a sub regional basis. So you share a seat with Marina Sand City and Delray Oaks. Your current representative is Mayor Bruce Delgado from the city of Marina on the policy board. And on the operations board, your representative is Marina's city manager, Lane Long. So, this is determined by the city selection committee. Um, and the representatives serve two-year terms. So, we every eight years, Seaside gets a voice on on these.

So, it's not necessarily a system where you rotate two years each. It's a decision made by the members of the city selection committee. So, I believe it's the mayors for Seaside, Del Rio Oaks, um, Marina, and Sand City that are making that decision because I've been on the council since 2022. I didn't see it in 23. We weren't on 24. We weren't on 25. And now we're about to approve 26 tonight in item O in our consent agenda, and it's not on there either.

So, as one of the biggest cities on the peninsula, I'm uh I question why Seaside doesn't have a voice. I'll continue to move on to my next question is when some when a seaside resident comes to apply for a PG&E account, are they told that 3C is involved?

Yeah, this is a great question. So when a so somebody moves in to the city of Seaside and they have a new energy account coming online, there is a process where they are informed, I believe it's twice in a six-month period via mail that they are now a 3CE customer. And this is the same process when it's a new community enrolling. for example, uh when Casside very first became a customer. So at that point, they'll receive two notices in the mail letting them know that this change has um has occurred and then they have the opportunity to opt out of 3CE services and return to PG if they choose to do so. Um and I believe it's a it's a six-month period where they have to make that decision and then if they make that decision outside of the six-month period, they still can and there just might be a a $5 processing fee. But something to consider is that if you do opt out of 3CE, uh you'll be paying transitional rates when you first leave. So you might see your bill increase uh at that point. And once you opt out of 3CE, um you also need to stay with PG& a year um should you want to return, which can be problematic for people if they want to take advantage of our competitive rates or our programs and then they're locked in with P Gen for a year.

You mentioned opting out. So what is the percentage of people who have opted out? So on average we have 94% of eligible cers customers remain enrolled with 3CE. Okay. And then my next questions seem a little bit technical but I'll try to I'll try to uh be brief um in regards to if uh many people in our city have solar that's kind of a new uh or not new but it's been revolving of uh increased solar customers. And so it's my understanding that if you have PG& you get a bill once a year called the trueup. Is that correct? Yes. So PG& I'm sorry I don't want to interrupt you but and so if it's once a year

and you get charged a five or $10 fee maybe for taxes purposes but 3CE does not do that. 3CE bills every month. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. It's a little It depends what rate you're on. So for example with PG Gen the new rate is the solar billing plan. So, anybody who gets solar now is build monthly for their usage. But for legacy customers who have solar, if they're on NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0, they do receive an annual bill instead of monthly billing. But the new standard is the uh monthly billing and that is set by the California Public Utilities Commission. So, if you get solar and you sign a contract and you're told you're going to get monthly, you're going to get one year bill a year, your true up, I think P Gen calls it,

they're still going to get they're still going to get a larger 3CE bill and then also that true up at the end of the year. It would depend on if they're a net user or a net generator. So, if your solar panels are overproducing, for example, you're actually getting a credit each month that is used to offset your usage in uh future years. Um but if uh future months but if you're undergenerating at that point we'd be charging you monthly but come the annual true-up that you would not see a charge from 3CE since you've been paying that charge as you go. What you would see is any excess credits that you have available will be um returned to you and then if you have net surplus compensation if you are a net generator for the year you would also receive a check for that.

And BGME has a care program for lowincome residents. Does 3CE honor that? Yes we do. So all of 3CE's programs um and it's so the care program is a state financial assistance program and there's also Farah which is a federal financial assistance program for customers who um are a little bit over the income threshold for care and you can participate in both of those programs if you are a 3CE customer. And what is the rate for per kilowatt with 3CE? It depends what class you're on. I believe I was looking recently. I would need to show you our joint rate mailer, but it's somewhere between 11 and 14 cents per kilowatt hour. I have a comparison that I can send you. And how much is PG&'s rate per hour?

Um, it's I don't know off the top of my head. So, there's several rate classes, but I can tell you that after our um after our rate change that is expected to occur in February, we're reducing our rates by about 23% and we will remain competitive and less expensive than PG& I compare rates. I don't see I don't see discount. Okay. Thank you very much. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Anyone else? Uh, Council Member Garcia, thank you for the presentation. I want to go back to battery energy storage. Yes.

Um, can we talk a little bit about the program or the ben on it says residential battery relay program? Yes. Let's go more in depth with that.

So, this program is let me get us on the right slide. This is a fairly new program. I believe it launched in July of 2024. This is a residential program where 3CE customers can receive up to $13,000 for the purchase and installation of home battery storage. So, sometimes you'll see customers who think that you have to have solar panels in order to participate in this program, but you can participate whether or not you have solar panels. Once you get that battery on your home, it's a really great tool for reliability and affordability because it allows you to store energy that you um pull from the grid during the day when solar and wind are abundant, rates are low, energy is clean, you can store that in your home battery and then from 4:00 to 9 when prices peak instead of purchasing more expensive energy, you can use the energy that you had stored earlier in the day. So, it's a really great tool to reduce your own energy bill. The second piece of this program is reliability. So, of course, when the power goes out, if you have that backup battery, your energy stays on, uh, you get to avoid the the power outage essentially. Um, and this is one of our programs where there's um, income qualifications, so any customer can participate, but if you do participate in CAR or Farah, we give you an additional $200 per kilowatt hour of that battery's capacity. Thank you. And I see that you're you're still using nuclear in your mix, correct?

So, we actually don't have any nuclear in our mix. Our boards directed us to uh not purchase nuclear attributes. So, our new methodology is we invest in new clean and renewable energy sources that are not already online. So, we are investing in new solar, wind, biomass, geothermal projects that bring clean and renewable energy to the entire state. So we don't have any investments in nuclear projects or we we also don't purchase nuclear attributes. Okay. And then how is the partnership with Central Coast Energy Services?

They are an amazing partner. I'm so glad you brought them up especially with all of this um uh talk of you know rates increasing by 2% um from the PCIA. So, Central Coast Energy Services, they are a great nonprofit that is available to anyone who lives on the Central Coast and if you're having issues with bill payment, you can reach out to them and they will connect you to resources. At one time, I had a we often get mixed up with them since our names are so similar. I had a customer come into our office looking for help with bill payment assistance and after we connected her to Karen Farah, she gave them them a call um the Central Coast Energy Services and they actually helped her pay her energy bill for a month. Um so they're a great resource and if any constituents need help getting in touch with them, they can always reach out to me and I'd be happy to make the connection.

Perfect. And medical baseline, that's Yes, medical baseline. It's similar to care and Farah where it's um it's a program available to all utility customers and if you have medical equipment I believe it's a reduced rate um and then there's also some increased uh reliability aspects if there were to be an outage um but I have more resources on that that I can send you but our customers are completely eligible for the medical baseline program and as a matter of fact the residential battery rebate program you also get an increased incentive through that program if you are on the medical baseline program and then the PCIA charge um

I would like to go a little bit more in depth on that because I know that there are different tiers on how much you're being charged depending on the usage that you have. So can you just explain a little bit more about that to the constituency here?

Absolutely. So the PCIA again this is not a fee that is charged by 3CE. It is uh developed by the California Public Utilities Commission and paid to PG&. So the basic formula for that is that you take PG's portfolio cost and subtract the portfolio market value and that's the indifference amount. So it's an incredibly complicated equation. Um but you've touched on an important point. So for example, the city of Seaside, you enrolled with 3CE in 2018. So that means that your vintage is 2018. And this is one reason that your constituents are not seeing as big of an impact from the PCIA because the contracts that we are looking at are only pre208 uh for your constituents. But in some of our communities uh like the city of Atascadero and the county of slow, they joined 3CE a bit later. So they might be seeing um additional impacts. Okay, those are all my questions. Thank you.

Thank you for your questions. Were there any other questions or comments? Okay, thank you uh so much. Thank you for your time.

I I would just conclude with uh it there was a comment made about why we're not serving on there. We're taking our normal rotation and our time is coming up and it has nothing to do with um any slide. has something to do with the we don't have 50,000 people in our community and uh so uh the rotation's coming up and but that is not on the agenda that's not in uh what is it oh as what was indicated earlier and to to be clear I think out of our regional bodies that's just about the only place seaside is not at currently serving on the board uh so excellent presentation but we look forward to our natural rotation here soon That's

Yes. Uh thank you so much. We'll go to item 6B. Seaside uh city news broadcast upcoming city wide events and community announcement. Uh before we uh start that uh presentation, city man, did you have any uh comments before or after the news re?

No additional comments right now. Thank you. Let's dip into this week's edition of Seaside City News, covering worthy events happening this January. The city of Seaside invites students, families, and community members to attend the first annual MPUSD H.B.CU College Expo happening Wednesday, February 4th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Oldm Center, hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. This event is open to the public. The expo brings together representatives from historically black colleges and universities from across the nation, offering opportunities to learn about admissions, scholarships, academic programs, and campus life. Attendees can also enjoy special seminars and presentations, and meet hip hop legend Yo-Yo, actor and comedian London Brown, and other special guests. This event is part of a day in Monterey, unity in the community, celebrating education, opportunity, and togetherness. For more information, visit the MPUSD website or call 877-427-4100. This Monday, January 19th, the city of Seaside and the Monterey County Black Caucus invite you to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Join us for MLK Celebration Day, inspired by the theme, Mission Possible Too, Building Community, Uniting a Nation the Nonviolent Way. We begin at 11:00 a.m. with a community meetup at the corner of Obama Way and No Buena. At 12:00 p.m., we march together as a community to the Old Demier Center where a special

program will follow. As Dr. King reminded us, out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. Let's continue building that hope together. For more information, please email MC Black Caucus atactions.org. Join us as we reflect, march, and move forward in unity, purpose, and peace. The city of Seaside invites you to take part in the 2026 tree giveaway. Be part of raising awareness about the many benefits trees provide and help increase Seaside's local tree canopy on private properties. Seaside residents with suitable planting conditions can receive one free 1gallon tree, a free bag of fertilizer, and an optional tree watering ring while supplies last. Apply online at ci.caside.ca. us/402/parks or attend an upcoming event hosted by Friends of Seaside Parks Association, Sustainable Seaside, or California American Water. Select your free tree and fertilizer voucher. Then pick up your items at Hana Gardens. Grow green, Seaside, one tree at a time. Join FOSPA on Saturday, January 17th at Kapper Park and Martin Park, and on the 24th at Fiona Park and Highlandotas Park for a day of service and outdoor fun. For more information, including future workdays and locations, visit friends of seaside parks.org. Seaside Recreation invites you to a night of memories, music, and magic at the annual Father-Daughter Dance, an evening with my gal. Join us Friday, February 6th from 6:30 to 8:30 at Laguna Grande Hall inside the Older Center. Dress to impress and enjoy a special evening celebrating the bond between fathers and daughters. The first 25 to register will receive a free gift. So don't wait. Admission is $10 for father and daughter, $5 for each additional adult, and $3 for each additional child. Make it a night to remember. An evening with my gal, presented by Seaside Recreation. Thursdays in Seaside means it's time for

the Seaside Farmers Market at Laguna Grande Park. The winter market runs from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. with box distribution happening from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. or until the boxes run out. So, come after 3 p.m. to pick up a ticket and reserve your spot. Be sure to bring an ID such as an EBT or medical card proving low-income status in order to receive your free weekly box. Don't miss it. Fresh food, friendly faces, and community connection every Thursday in Seaside. As a service this rainy season, the city of Seaside has set up two sandbag filling stations for residents. The first filling station is located at the Seaside Fire Station at 1635 Broadway Avenue. behind the station at the Broadway entrance. The second station is in the empty lot on Canyon del Rey between Chili's Restaurant and Lagouna Grande Park. Residents may take up to 10 sandbags per household. Due to possible weather conditions and staff dispatching, city staff may not be available to assist in filling sandbags. For more information, contact the public works department at 8318996835. The city of Seaside's homeless commission has released a request for proposals for food insecurity program donation funds. The commission is seeking proposals from nonprofit agencies and organizations currently operating food insecurity programs in the city of Seaside. Eligible organizations are invited to submit funding requests along with implementation proposals. These funds will support efforts to provide food assistance to homeless individuals and families throughout the Seaside community. The full request for proposals is available online at bit.ly/2025fip. Proposals must be submitted by Wednesday, January 28th at 5:00 p.m. For questions regarding the RFP, please contact FCS practitioner Derek Elder at dldelderci.caside.ca. us. Looking for hidden treasures and great community vibes? Join the city of

Seaside's older adults program for a community flea market happening Saturday, February 7th at the Oldm Meer Center. Shop a wide variety of items including clothing, kitchen wear, books, toys, home decor, and more. Whether you're hunting for a bargain or clearing out your closet, we invite you to join us or register today as a vendor. For more information or vendor registration, call 831-899-6809. That's the community flea market presented by the city of Seaside's older adults program. We'll see you there. We appreciate you tuning in to Seaside City News where we work to include, innovate, and inspire. We'll be back with more exciting events to share with you this February. Until then, be safe, live fully, and enjoy all our city has to offer. Thank you, Seaside. All right. Thank you, Mr. Announcer. Wonderful. A lot of stuff going on at Seaside. Uh, yeah, of course. Um, any comments? Uh, Council Member Garcia.

Thank you. I just have one well two questions on the homeless fund the homeless the the last slide that was there the homeless commission that was giving um funds would nonprofit organizations that might have qualified the first time around for funding that we were discussing not too long ago do they can they also apply again or is it yes they can okay and is it only for organizations that are doing services in seaside or will outside organizations also apply? Yeah, the the the efforts of those organizations have to support seaside residents. Okay, perfect. Thank you.

We'll go to item number 7A, presentations update on the street rehabilitation and maintenance program. Uh, Mr. City Manager.

Yeah, thank you, mayor. Tonight, we'll hear presentation from Thomas Corman, our city public works director, city engineer, and Joe Riri, the pavement management inc. Uh good evening uh mayor uh members of the council. I'm Thomas Corman, public works director, city engineer. uh for this presentation to start off um Joe Ryrie from pavement engineering will begin the presentation and then I'll complete it with some updates uh for updating uh pavement program.

Thank you Thomas. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, it is wonderful to be with you. I think it was 364 days ago since I got a chance to stand here and talk about a subject that just ignites us. Um, and so let's jump right into this with our pavement. Um, we have a goal that we want to for the benefit of the public and to refresh ourselves. I'm seeing lots of familiar faces, but I think it would be good to go over pavement basics. We want to go over um pavement management principles to make sure we're all on the same page. Then we want to talk about where is Seaside right now with their pavements and and then we want to talk about our proposed 2026 projects. So, buckle up and let's get going. Uh when we talk about pavements, we're talking about a structure that is uh designed based on two different forces. The loading and what it's being built on. Uh when pavements deteriorate, we've learned before that pavement does not deteriorate in a linear fashion. It deteriorates uh along this S-shaped pattern that we're seeing on the on the slide. It looks good for a while and then it falls off very quickly. Uh when pavements deteriorate, particularly asphalt pavements, it deteriorates two different ways. One is from environmental impacts of the sun and oxidizing oxid oxidation from the water and then heavy loading. Let's look at each one of these individually. The the impacts of the environmentally u burns out as the sun bakes the asphalt it burns out the the volatiles. It shrinks its mass and and cracks begin to form. And as those cracks begin to form, they open up, allows water to get in, and that accelerates the deterioration

that's happening. Um, and then if we talk about loading, we've talked, we've seen this before. We took a look at uh just how much of an impact heavy vehicles are to pavements. And if we look at if we think about pavements and we think about them in terms of a bank account, they have so much loading in them. And as the heavy vehicles drive over them, they withdraw that from the bank account and the pavements deteriorate quickly. Um these are different types of pavement distresses. Weathering and raveling is the is the loss of the fines in the top and the aggregate or the pavement looks rougher um and then eventually that rough asphalt starts to fall out. transverse and longitudinal and block cracking is the result of the pavement shrinking and as it shrinks those cracks begin to open. All three of those are environmental um impacts and we've mentioned before if we were to build a pavement and it never saw a heavy vehicle it would still exhibit these kind of distresses. The fourth one is alligator cracking. It's a very common type of a distress. It's a loading related distress. remember environmental and loading impacts. And so when we see alligator cracking, it tells us that that bank account is used up and that the loading the pavement just can't support the loading anymore. You'll see it start to form in the wheel tracks and then as the traffic is is dispersing throughout the travel lanes, you'll see the alligator cracking form more and more. We measure pavement condition based on a pavement condition index. And we're going to be talking about that a little bit as we go forward. This is a very old way that's been around since World War

II. It was used to assess our our um airfields during World War II. And it's a scale from 100 down to zero. Um, most cities throughout the the United States use this this PCI index and it's a way to be able to talk about the condition. The higher the PCI, the better and of course the lower the worse it is. Um, let's talk about pavement management principles quickly. The guiding principle that is always going through our mind or should be going through our mind is applying the right treatment to the right pavement at the right time using the right materials. Because I'm more of a visually minded person, this is a graph of it. We see now our deterioration curve with arrows pointing at it and different treatments are happening along different parts of that deterioration curve. So if we were to understand the idea of pavement uh doing the right treatment at the right time to the right pavement we think about the different types of treatments in terms of how the condition of the pavement is. When pavements are just beginning to crack, you do some kind of a crack seal. Let's keep the water out. Let's preserve the pavement. If pavements are all the way deteriorated, we reconstruct it. So, the principle of doing the right treatment at the right time is just simply if a pavement needs reconstruction, we're not going to go out and crack seal it. That's going to be a waste of money. Just as as reconstructing a brand new pavement is a waste of money. So, we want to try and identify where those treatments are or what the treatments are and when they're needed. Okay. When we think about managing pavements, there's three different ways that you

can allocate limited dollars. If we had all the money that we needed, we wouldn't even be talking about how do we prioritize payments? How do we decide which payments we should do and which ones we shouldn't do? for as long as I've been doing this. Um, you can either spend your limited dollars on the very best pavements in town and try and keep them in good condition. The argument is we've made an investment in those pavements. We've got to keep them in good condition and and we've and and that's where the cheapest it it is to spend the money because those pavements cost the lease because it's a maintenance treatment. Um, worst first is probably the most common way that I've seen people manage it. Why? Because those are the calls that you get. My pavement hasn't been worked on for 30 years. I see potholes everywhere. It's terrible. It's terrible. And so, you're getting the most complaints from that. And so, it's easy to take your pavements and look at all the PCIs and then sort them from the worst to the first and then just keep spending your money on those. The problem with that is is that you're committing to spend the most dollars and therefore your limited dollars aren't going to go as far and touch as much as many streets. Both of those are not sustainable over time. And so the best way to approach pavements is to use what we call a critical point management style. So, let's go back to our deterioration curve and recognize that if there's certain treatments along the deterioration curve that are the times to be able to apply those treatments, then we want to apply them before that that next needed treatment is. And so the dash lines going across um horizontally indicate break points where we want to capture that pavement for before it drops into costing more money which is highlighted

by those those uh red lines. And so your your projects really should consist of of streets that would fall into each one of those different categories. Um, this just helps us reinforce why that's important because at each one of those little red circles, the costs go up. And you can see over here that the costs get pretty expensive. At the top of the deterioration curve, it's it's a little over a dollar uh per square foot. when you get down into the reconstruction mode, it's 30 to $45 in current costs to be able to treat those pavements. And so you want to try and balance that. Okay, let's take a look at Seaside and see where we're at. Um, as a reminder, you have just under 80 center line miles, um, uh, maintain miles and then three 13 million over 13 million uh, square feet of pavement. Your systemwide PCI average is a 54 right now. And if you were to replace all of the pavements, just the pavements, not the curb and gutter, not the sidewalks, not the the the curb ramps, signals, don't include that, just the pavements. It's $520 million. Um, so it's a pretty large asset. Um, we put together this slide because it's been our privilege to be with you as often as we have and so we can now kind of see a pattern and we can track and compare what's been going on. So the first time we presented to Seaside, you were at a 59 average and you can see we broke it down by functional class. Your arterials are the busiest streets. Um,

your your residentials are the streets that you live on. Um, and then the collectors are the in between streets that are feeding the the residential streets and taking you out to the arterials. So, if you take a look at it, you're seeing that your arterials have deteriorated from a 75 down to a 70. And you can do that same kind of a comparison all the way across. Um, the other is your alleys. Um, and they are not in great shape. Um, 5 PCI is their average, which means there's some under that. Um, which means it's mostly just gravel. Um, this is the distribution. I love this slide. It tells me a whole lot about the health of your system. Um, it shows that you put a lot of effort um recently in in the um does it show up there? No. If you go up from 70 or you look at the what you have from the 70 and the or 90 to 70 range, that's where you were really spending a lot of money. And so those streets are are still in really good condition. They're more of in a maintenance mode, but then after that, it just kind of levels off um through the whole rest of the system. Um let's talk about funding needs. uh this slide. Uh let's just talk about the colors of the graph that are up there. Um if we take a look at the green um curve that's up there, um that tells us that your backlog right now is $145 million. um that's how much your some of your the or all of the treatments um are that

would need to be done. If the city would and could spend $145 million, it would take you up into the 80 and 90 range uh for your PCI and then you would only need to spend about $4 million a year to maintain that. Um take a look now or I draw your attention to the purple line. Uh the purple line is where you're at right now. So you're at a 54. And to maintain um your system at a 54 for the next 5 years, it would cost $7.5 million a year. If we wanted to increase it by just five points, that's the blue line. And that would mean that the city would have to expend 1.4 million per year to be able to increase it. Um right now the city's current budget um is projected on average is about a million dollars which we can count on to come towards um streets and that would show that the trend projecting forward would be at a 45 in 5 years 0. If the city were just to say, "I'm going to spend my money somewhere else," uh the city would uh deteriorate to a 43 over the next 5 years. Um this shows the backlog of work. Um as indicated right now in um the very first bar is about $144 million at a 54. At the end of 5 years, that backlog would increase up to $216 million. You know, I have to say that presenting this information is never very much fun. I shake up here thinking that there might be a trap door that someone's going to push a button on

because I am not sharing the greatest news in the world, but it's real and it's something that um we can't ignore. Um let's talk about some ongoing funding uh pressures that we're seeing um and that we can anticipate. One is increased traffic volume. We're seeing a lot more cars on the road. The other that I would mention is is that just the incre increased vehicle weights. our our EVs are about 30% heavier and that axle weight um when you would calculate it is consuming the pavement life faster. I realize that that's an unintended consequence uh or that I'm presenting. It's, you know, it's it's not popular for me to to share that information, especially our state is pushing for for um completely um all electric vehicles in by 2035. That's a goal that we have. If we do that, um the increased weight will consume the pavement life twice as fast. And so our 20-year design life pavements will only last 10 years um before they need some type of rehabilitation, an unintended consequence. Increased construction costs. Um we've seen those come up, although they have started to level out, which has been kind of nice to be able to see. There's some unfunded regulations that the state is imposing on cities and those um we you have to address them. And so, um, ADA requirements, if you do certain treatments, then we've got to upgrade the curb ramps. Very good, important thing to do, but it takes money from from the uh budget. Anywhere from 25% up

to um about 35% can go towards ADA upgrades. Um, and then one that we're learning and trying to grapple with just as an industry is posttorm water requirements. We're trying to recharge our aquifers and keep the water clean. And so we're going to see a lot more bio swelailes and retention bond ponds that have always been part of new development. But the water boards now have agreed that it's now on um um new develop or not new development but existing uh projects that we have to deal with. So our road systems now have to comply with this um with those requirements. Um, I'll turn it over to Thomas to talk about the money.

Thank you, Joe. So, this is the funding that we have available. And this goes with our strategy that you'll you'll hear about in a couple slides from this, but for our measure measure X funding, we have about $300,000. Uh, estimated in 2627 is 740,000. that is approximately a million dollars from our SP1 funds. You can see there's 860,000 for this year. Uh and then estimated for the next fiscal year is 860,000. So that brings us to about 1.7 million. And then the general funds available here as you can see in this uh for fiscal year 2627 is 440,000. So that breaks down roughly to a 1.6 6 million for each year. So, our strategy that we'll go over in a minute here is basically to to go ahead with a slurry project and we'll we'll kind of present those streets to you. Um that will be in the spring and then right after that we'll have a thin maintenance uh overlay heavy rehab uh that will bid towards the end of this fiscal year. Um but we'll roll into the next fiscal year. So, we're going to get a lot of work done spring summer basically combining those two two budgets together. Uh, but they'll roll over two fiscal years. And so, we're leveraging also in this the funds that we receive from the community development block grants and ahead as Joe mentioned about meeting our ADA requirements. Okay. So, that's that's our strategy setting this up. Thank you, Thomas. Um, I asked Thomas if uh to try and um anticipate questions. One of the questions that I get when I present to

councils is what do other people do? Um, first of all, you're not alone. Um, there's most cities in California throughout the nation are dealing with we don't have enough money to handle our roads. So what do other other cities do? Um obviously increasing taxes, sales tax and other types of taxes is is one of the first things that they look at. Um bonding has been uh pretty successful. Bonding has some advantages in that and I know that the city of Seaside has done bonding before, but the bonding allows you to really get ahead of that um backlog of work and put you in a much better place because you can you can get the money up front and and uh go after a lot of streets. Um agencies will utilize franchise fees. Um uh the one of the major impacts is is uh your refuge trucks who um are consuming a lot of pavement life and so when contract negotiations come around um they'll negotiate some kind of franchise fee um for the impact of the roads. Um, value engineering is just simply looking for always new treatments, new ways of being able to address uh pavement needs and and look to optimize every single design and design dollar so that we can get as much life out of the pavement as we can. Um and then uh the other um option that cities go for is they fund um they get equipment so that their own crews can go ahead and do a lot of the work in house if if they have the available staff to be able to do it. Okay. Um now I go back to Thomas.

Yeah, thank you Joe. So, as I mentioned about our current approach is that um I alluded to that we'll have basically two projects rolling forward. The first one is a slurry seal project which is going to cover basically as Joe stated um number of the the the roadways that need current striping upgrades but they're also in very good condition. So, when we do typically do a restriping project or we have to remove all that. So we're trying to leverage that with trying to preserve the payment and then restripe it at the same time. And then the second one is a competitive bib which will be a heavy rehab. So those are the streets that we're leveraging the CDD CDBG funding that we've been doing ADA upgrades prepping them for the heavy rehab. The other component to this is using city forces to self-perform the crack sealing ahead of time. oftentime that's very costly to a contractor do that because it's very unknown. It's hard to quantify the cracks that you see that you saw basically Joe present there whether it's a a block cracking or minor uh alligator cracking that exist and then the minor hotspots throughout that. So that's much larger than the the potholes that we see. So the proposed equipment purchase that we're looking at right now is we we need to add to the fleet. Currently we have three persons, three people in our street crews. Uh so this will be a track a compact track loader, a cold planer, which is basically a small grinder and an 8 foot wide asphalt uh drag box. And so this is what this basically looks like. If you recall, it was about uh when we were going through the budget cycle last year, we presented there was a much larger piece of equipment. Um at the time, we thought we could use that. It it it looked it it looked like it could work, but just really looking at our crews and what they're what they're capable of doing in in light of the, you

know, the number of parks that we take care of and the other elements, this is more manageable. So, you can kind of see that there's someone on the track loader, there's two people on the spreader box there. Um, this is the the cost of the equipment that we're looking to purchase that will get us ahead of that in some of this preparation. Often times when we do a slurry project, there's minor patches that need to re to be performed. We'll do those in advance along with the crack ceiling. Okay. So, I'm going to turn it back over to Joe and we'll talk about why these certain uh streets and selection was selected. Thank you, sir.

Okay. Um, as mentioned by Thomas, the very first thing that we're looking at is is a slurry seal project. A slurry is uh basically putting sunscreen on pavement, protecting against the environmental effects of aging and oxidizing and and providing a new wearing surface for it. Um we selected um Auto Center, the streets over there as well as CO Avenue. The reason being uh that moved those up so high on the list is because the striping is basically almost gone out there. So, let's let's do a slurry seal and then restripe it, improve the safety as well as improve the condition of the pavements. Um, and then uh the rehab project uh that we're looking at, we're looking at the uh Marin neighborhood. The advantage of what we're trying to do uh over there is we did uh one of the streets as part of the hotspot project. um uh era and um we successfully were able to use a value engineered approach on that street because the under even though the pavement looked terrible, the underlying soil conditions were actually pretty favorable. They had a high R value and so we took advantage of that and and just did a real simple leveling course and addressed a couple of base failed areas. And if you drive down that road, it it rides and looks really good. And so we're hoping to be able to leverage that on the rest of these streets um in the Marin neighborhood. Um Or Grove um is uh from No Buena up to Cross um not in great condition. Um lots of different complaints. One of the advantages that

we have is there have been projects on either side of Ordrove in that that particular segment where the um curb ramps have already been upgraded. So we're trying to leverage the fact that those curb ramps along or grove have already been improved so we can put every dollar towards the pavement in that section. um San Pablo um CB CDBG funds are going to be available to be able to address the the curb ramp upgrades along that segment of road. And so again, we're going to be able to put um the dollars straight into there. Now, we have $1.6 million that we're we're trying to to work with on these projects. And so we're going to be stretching the dollars as far as we can, but our goal is to, um, hit all of those streets. So, um, here is what we're proposing for the 2026, um, year. Um, you're going to see that it's addressing streets throughout the city as well as addressing conditions, um, that are falling on all the different parts of the deterioration curve following that critical point. um selection process. Um and that gets us to questions.

Okay. Thank you so much. Uh questions uh council uh mayor prom. Thank you for the great report. Um I have a lot of questions uh that were added because of your excellent comments and just so for clarification. Uh there's first one you may not know, but I I believe there's a 25% money that we contribute to uh streets. It's like a savings account if we don't spend all of our budget, right? It goes to this. I think it's 25 is that it is 25%. there was calculated it's part of the this number if by guess I guess

my understanding is is that is not part of this number um that is because we don't know what that number is ever going to be until the budget or the the year ends and then whatever the remaining um budget there's supposed to be 25% that goes towards the streets and in the past that's always been addressed with or utilized with the hotspot project. Okay. And then I'm not good at math, but you said $1.6 million is going to be budgeted. So, and we have a I'm making the number PCI of 52, 54, whatever range.

Over the next five years, based on your calculations, you're going to I'm making 40% 40 35 43. Yeah. 43. We're going to drop down to 43. Yeah. The next at that if if the funding levels stay the same. Okay. What is the norm if you know it in a state or the county for this PCI rating? Is there a the state?

Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, mayor prom the um uh the state puts out an annual um state of their streets. Um, and right now California is average is at a 60. So we're below what the average is. And can I this is my assumption with all the cities having challenges. I can assume all of them, not all, but many cities will numbers will go down as seaside goes down. Is that a fair commentary?

Um, that's a great observation. Just like we've seen seaside go down. If you stack up those annual reports, you'll also see that the that the state has also been um struggling too. And then this might be for the engineer and then we'll come back to you. I think staffing shortage. You're, you know, you're having, you may have three people assigned to this. I think I heard you say to to do it in-house as such.

You're already down staff through life experiences or whatever issues. So, are we how do you balance that? Does what else collapses? Maybe that's too strong of a word. Why you're maintaining this? And are you bringing back in the budget potentially? You're doing a study I think on staffing and what we need, what we should have, what we could have. How does that play out as far as three people assigned to this project? That means something short somewhere else.

So, so, so that is correct. Um, you know, we are short personnel when compared to to other nearby cities that have the similar number of maintained miles. However, with the equipment purchase, we are trying to make them more efficient because the the current state of practice of how they perform a dig out or a or a minor uh what we call like a dig out or a spot a hot spot is they they actually saw cut out that area and then they take a backhoe and they pull that material out um and then they put base back and then they they they pave it. So, it's not the most efficient way to do it. This will help them be more efficient. So, for instance, on, you know, streets where you see pothole next to pothole next to pothole, this will allow them to dress smaller spots with that. Yeah.

And then currently, as you mentioned, I wasn't going to ask this, but the potholes, every time it rains, not every time, but often when it rains, there's a new pothole in that same area. Will this machinery uh better uh qualify the streets?

That is correct. So, a pothole is usually done with a cold mix. It's a temporary patch almost like a band-aid. And this will just allow them to grind it out, remove the old grindings, and then go back in with that spreader box that you see and put hot mix asphalt. So the the only picture that wasn't shown there is they roll that with a vibratory compactor after. So So that that is a permanent repair that will be done. And then you mentioned I think you mentioned

not I'll mention it that you had a vision of doing um another piece of machinery to do this work that didn't work for whatever reason. Now you're going with this machinery, but it won't change the already approved allocation of funds. That is correct. Okay. Yeah.

Um let's see here. Um I'm going to be a little specific now because I and we've talked. So um there's some areas that I with appreciation of your recommendations. Uh I'm just concerned about a couple streets. Um, so what is do you have a PCI of Euseite from Broadway and I'm sorry. Yeah, Euseity and Broadway to Soma and a little bit be to the end of the playground basically at the dual language academy. Is there I did I had I had a chance to look that up and that that's currently at a 35.

That's at 35. Okay. So we'll come back to that one but I will that's that's 35 that's 15 15 PCIs below um what's the median as such or more than that 19% or whatever it be okay so in five years based on your knowledge

what would that if we don't take care of that and the PCI is 35 Now, what will it potentially be? And what would the cost to fix it now versus the cost to fix it five year? I'm just using five years because because I can't it it's a, you know, because of the number of factors involved with construction cost and material cost. Obviously, it's it's it going to be more expensive. Um, the current cost that we're looking at is probably, you know, $ 35 to $40 per square foot as Joe presented. So if we do wait five years, you know, exponentially just, you know, increases in material and labor, we're probably looking at maybe $45 per square foot. It's it's hard to gauge that. So, and then we would take the number of square feet and that and multip extend it out.

$45 a square feet is a wonderful Well, I'm being sarcastic. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be. Um, I can't envision what $45 I can if you tell me from Sonoma I'm sorry and Broadway to Sonoma and a little bit past and you tell me that's I could hear 5 million 10 million whatever it be or two million but I can't grasp 45 uh dollars per square feet because I have no idea how many square feet. So, it's I'm just saying and there and I'll ramble while you're looking up stuff.

My concern is is the road is in poor condition. At some points of the road, you can see the dirt because I've walked that area. Um the road is significantly impacted by HIMS uh victory temple parents that t att t att t att t att t att t att t att t att t att t att tending the dual language economy the finer fire department and then soon to be 21 I believe apartments so it's not going to get any less it's going to get heavier and then as you mentioned or someone mentioned vehicles weigh more and therefore firet trucks weigh more and therefore school buses weigh more. the attendance at that school because she does such a wonderful job is going to go up. Um so therefore it people be walking driving on dirt at 35 in 5 years that's pretty low. Um and right now it it's embarrassing. I find it not embarrassing but I'm concerned about that road not being able to travel off in 5 10 years if we don't do something. So, do you have a better a ballpark figure? I'm just looking for like how much it cost now and if we delay it five years how much more because that like you said or your number is 35 and that's pretty now. Yeah, I I to answer I'd have to look up this the number of square feet and then to multiply and I have to extend that out and then we could probably assume, you know, 15 to 20% increase in five years. And so, yeah, but but I can't give you an an exact dollar because I don't have the square footage on the street. So, yeah. Um, and then, um, this is not your concern, but Tammy Tamy did, as I understand it, and did some

work on on, uh, Lumis.

Um, and it's I'm trying to be nice here. It's halfbaked. They did a half job on the street. Uh, so half of it looks nice. The other It's not in bad shape. It just needs to be slurry sealed. Uh so it's kind of like to me like painting your kitchen half halfway and saying, "Okay, I'm done." Or painting the front of your house or your house. Oh, let's just paint the back and not paint the front. Uh because we can and which doesn't represent the city well. I don't think Tampa did not criticizing anybody. Um but it's emar and I notice in other areas i.e. Gary Oaks and other cities, they did both sides of the street and it doesn't feel like there's a for lack of a better word a justice equal justice. But that's just my opinion when I walk on again. I walked on that today and you could see the difference between depending on which way the right side of the street and the left side of the street. Is was that considered? Um

I I would I would just jump in. I would ask that we come back to what's on the agenda. Okay. I thought it was No, not not the work of the plumbing street by TAMC. We're talking about the streets that need to be repaired, right? Could that part of the street be repaired? I guess is that I'm basically question

not not underneath this program any if you want to put that on the agenda, we put it on for next week. But that's I get your point, but we're talking about the presentation. If you could just stick to that. just I thought I know this is a recommendation but I didn't know this was the the do end to do all that's why I'm throwing out these other ideas as potential consideration u that's what I thought I didn't know it was this is it and go home now if if I could briefly answer if it's okay Mr. Mayor,

no, that's fine. Let me just let me just be clear. This is a presentation on our street rehabilitation and maintenance program. And if any council member wants to uh throw out comments about uh putting the streets that they want as opposed to the streets that were talked about right now, then I would ask that we put it on the agenda so we all can have a chance to, you know, you know, um promote the the streets that we think should go first. Uh there's no action. You're giving us information about the streets. I think it comes back to us before these streets go into uh uh the program itself. Uh so there's no action and so comments can be made, but I'm just want to we need to stick to what's on the agenda. So please answer his questions.

Thank you. I was I was going to say that we could consider slurring the rest of that when we put the slurry seal out, but I don't want to speak for the council or the city manager. But you're going to come what I heard you say. I think you said you're going to come back at a later time for final approval or is this the final approval? That's correct because there's there's no action. This is just the presentation of our intentions at this time. Okay. Well, then we'll leave the last one alone. Yeah, we'll leave the last one alone. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

You have two more. Uh then that I just want to make sure the the whole council had the same opportunity. So if you have a last question, feel free. It's not really streets, it's connected. And you mentioned the red curb on sidewalks, but that's at a different time in a different place if we're going to keep within the realm of the streets. I just concerned about that. That's all. So we're good. Uh council member Garcia,

just very quick questions, and this is me being naive. Does speed contribute to the durability of the street? I I don't think I have the answer to that. Joe Joe, do you I love the questions you guys come up with. Um Oh, it it impacts the street if the ride is not a smooth ride. And so if you get the undulating and you drive down the road, then that that would impact um or apply loading to the street. But if we're just driving straight and flat, um, then there's no, um, additional impact. So, does that make sense?

Yeah. So, okay. Do speed bump do speed bumps contribute to that?

Well, great question. you know, speed bumps are trying to stop traffic and slow traffic and and and several studies are now saying probably not helping very much in terms of slowing traffic because everyone speeds up in between and um and speed humps or or you're seeing a lot more speed humps, which seems to be a little bit more effective um um to um I'm getting off on more traffic calming devices. But um to answer your question, um the impact of the of the cars going up and over and dropping is is applying a hard vertical load on the pavement. And that's really not what the what asphalt pavements are designed to handle. Point loading is what we're talking about.

So then when we say it's best to fix top down instead of bottom up. Wouldn't it be more costly if we leave those streets that are deteriorated to deteriorate even more?

Another great question and a good insight. Uh remember, we're talking about the different break points along a deterioration curve. at at some point when you're when the pavement is at the lower end of the curve, the cost uh to address those streets basically remains constant if if inflation were constant. And so what you're trying to do is is trying to catch those streets that are deteriorating from a good point and then working their way down to a bad point. But I remember when I first started doing this, wrapping my head around the idea, but the street's bad, but it'll cost what it costs. It'll be the same this year, next year, and the year after in terms of of what it would take to rehabilitate it.

Okay. And then I maybe you can answer this one. the the machinery that we're trying that was the equipment that proposed equipment that you're trying to purchase. Um where would that place us in the PCI range if we utilize it and we start doing in-house?

Um remember we've we've made some great headway. The equipment would be used on your hotspot repairs and those localized type repairs and and we've been making some great headway with the additional funding that's been um allocated and focusing that on those hotspot repairs. Um, in the past the the city crews have only with their available equipment that they have now can only address basically a 6x6 area and and that's what they're limited to work with. So when those hotspot areas are identified, if any of them are greater than that, it puts them it puts that out of reach. By having this equipment, the crews now are going to be able to expand the size of the work that they're going to be able to do. And when we do that, then we reduce the cost because we're not bringing in an outside contractor that you're you're paying u for all of their overhead and prevailing wage and everything else.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Can I ask one more question? Thank you so very much. Um, you mentioned speed humps, which was interesting that the bumps versus the humps are a little less negative impact on the roads and I don't know what the right word is, but they have I call them noise makers that you go on the road that things the rumble strips. Yeah. Does that um is it more cost effective? Is it does less damage less damage to the streets for future planning? I guess is what I'm saying. We, you know, everybody, a lot of neighborhoods want the speed bumps or the speed humps. It's like a constant plea.

Uh, but do the and they if you correct, which I assume you are, the humps do damage to the roads. Do the strips do the same thing? Um, I don't know off the top of my head. I haven't seen studies on the on the rumble strips. They're they're much slower. And so typically that's that's um more alerting everybody. Oh, something's going on. I need to pay attention to to what's happening. And so they it's like a um a driver awareness. So it may or may not have

I could make the argument from an engineering point of view that it is applying point loading, but it is not as extreme as what you would have with a speed bump um or a speed hump. Humps would be less. Okay. Thank you. It's like traffic circles. draft roundabouts. We have way too many names. So, uh, thank you, Joe. I think, uh, I may get you back up. I know the city manager wanted to chime in on some stuff.

Yeah, I just wanted to make a quick comment and and say that, you know, I've been a city manager for 15 years now in my career and have seen 15 different presentations with $500 million funding gaps on PCI ratings and and it is a very serious challenge and and we will, you know, focus our efforts on that. I also want to point out that uh you know this this assessment here doesn't take into account $16 million of a Broadway improvement that's upcoming and and and really highlighting our opportunities that we need to go after external funding to assist this challenge. Uh and then finally in addition over the next you know 6 months the city council is going to be talking about bonding capacity with regards to fire station 2 and and potential investment in other areas. And so, uh, just wanted to clarify that that while the budget is challenging right now, that that hopefully there's some additional street improvements, uh, along the horizon.

I think that that's it, Joe. Great uh, presentation by both of you. Um, and so, thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll just just close with my comments is that that was the thing I was getting to, city managers, you know, we have to do as much as we can with the little bit of money that we have. This is a situation that all communities, especially in California, have with with the road repair and the amount of money that they have to spend on them. So, so when people think that I forgot the number you gave us, Joe, what was it? 500 or 140 the backlog of work. Yeah. Yeah. Just for example. Yeah. Um your your current backlog of work is 145 million.

That's that's what I thought. and and so that that is a large n uh large number for a city of our size, but but I would say that's close to the average of all cities compared to the amount of roads that they have. And so the question is we have to continue to make sure we are efficient and effective with the little bit of money that we do have. And if we need to ask the citizens to to go out for a bond, then then we need to put ourselves in position to do that. And that's why we're sharing this information that we're doing today. Uh but but I would say that uh come going forward, the city manager has a commitment to bring the the action question about what roads are recommended to be done uh going forward and then that's the opportunity for council members to try um to advocate for the road they may think is is terrible. Uh but for me, I always rever uh refer back to the the engineering uh concepts. Let the engineers make those finer decisions because it's fair and impartial. And I think over the last couple years, if we found that extra amount of money, then we added on uh um a road here, street there, but to just advocate for the road that you want and irregardless of fitting in the system that we have the engineers and consultant try to work us through, uh doesn't make sense. uh because then it becomes uh again my favorite road you know and that that we shouldn't do it like that we should go by the data and I think what you did about um the maintenance and maintaining that we don't drop to another level on a certain road is what we've been talking about for the last five years I guess ever since you showed up and so we've been making improvements every year and I appreciate it and and we look forward and my last point about what the city manager did say about uh the improve improvements in the complete street uh um

updates that we're doing with Broadway uh will take a significant amount of that 400 uh 400 $140 million off of the table because you count Broadway in that in that manner and then um that savings go to another street. So, thank you for this update. Thank you for this presentation. uh city manager, we look forward to the action item coming uh whenever you deem it's appropriate for your uh maintenance season. Let's move on to number eight. Item number eight, which is the consent agenda. 8A, approve minutes from December 18, 2025, our regular meeting. AB B approve and file city checks for the tune of 1,987,562 and10 cent approve C uh approve and file successor agency checks. Uh 8 D approve a proclamation recognized in February as African-American History Month. 8 E approve a proclamation recognized in February 2026 as American Heart Month. F. Approve a environmental service cooperative agreement report covering activities from October through December 2025. G approve a co-sponsorship and fee waiver from Gold Coast Rods for the costs associated with their four car cool nights car show on June 26, 2026, July 24, 2026, August 21st, 2026, and September 25th, 2026. H adopt a resolution authorizing a city manager to execute a facility use agreement with Seaside Pony uh baseball and softball for their 2026 season and authorize waving the fees associated with the use of Soer Rubio and Cino baseball fields for the amount of $72,892.

I adopt a resolution approving an amendment increasing the professional service agreement with Lasserita uh tree services by $2,326 for a total contract amount not to exceed $27,325. J adopt a resolution authorizing amendment to the professional service agreement with Geotech Geocentech Consultants Inc. for the supplemental soil sampling services for pre-demolition and post-demolition soil sampling phase 2 through phase C I 2 C I guess phase 2 A through 2C for amount not to exceed $178,100 to be paid for by the Ford or Reuse Authority bonds K. adopt a resolution authorizing a professional service agreement with Bolar Strategic Advisors for media relations for amount not to exceed $30,000 for the period of January to July 2026 L adopt a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District regarding shared facilities. M adopt a resolution increasing the JMS cement contractors agreement by $130,000 to a total Nicc 947,955 for eucalyptus road infiltrator unit repair project to be paid for by the fourth road reuse authority funding agreement and adopt the resolution authorizing a refund of certain development impact fees fees and interest totaling $290,38659

pursuant to governmental code section 660001 subdivision D E O. Adopt a resolution approving the annual appointment to the local committee assignments for January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2026. That concludes the reading of the consent agenda. Is there any items anyone would like to pull off the consent agenda? Is there any items anyone from the public would like to pull off the consent agenda?

Okay. Number uh letter N was pulled off the consent agenda and letter N is no longer on the consent agenda. Is there any items if anyone from the public like to pull out the consent agenda? Hear no one else. Uh bring that back to the dis. What is the will of the council to approve the consent agenda? Second. Been properly moved and and second to approve the consent agenda which does not include in uh public comment is open on the consent agenda. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. On the consent agenda, not

on the We'll be there in about 30 seconds. Mayor, no members of the public have come forward to make public comment on the consent agenda. Public comment is closed. Um, all those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by using a regular signal. I I nays have the same right.

Abstensions. Eyes have it. Motion carried. 8 N adopt a resolution authorizing a refund of certain developmental impact fees and interest totaling uh $290,38659 pursuant to government code section 660001 subdivision D and E. Public comment is open. Good evening, city council and mayor. So, in reading the background about this agreement, it says that if the city fails to make the five-year findings with respect to the unexpended impact fees in funds 261s, it must refund those expended fees together with acred interest. By reading this, I realized too that we inadvertently failed to meet that requirement that there is $190,273 unaccounted for. My question is, so is that $190,000 just sitting in an account somewhere? Did it get spent somewhere and we can't find where it got spent? Um, it also says that the city desires to refund the unaccounted fees. We desire to do that or we're being forced to do that. Um, the unexpended principal is 190,000 excess of 190,000 plus the interest and

that's where they're coming up with the 300 and some odd thousand. So that 377,000. Um, so who gets these refunds? I know that they said that the homeowners or the parcel owners or however you want to refer to it are going to get that money. What happens if I if I had a Seaside Highlands house and I sold it? Does the new owners get that money or does that go back to me because I owned the property when this all happened? Um, I just think it's if if that's money, if that's going to jeopardize us or it's taken away from our accounts, um, as far as the city, we need to be more consistent and look at what these contracts are stating that we need to do because this is like a $300,000 oops. And I don't think that's fair to the residents nor the city itself. So my question is too, who gets that money? And it's not the desire of the city. It's being we did not do what we needed to do and this is basically we're being penalized. Thank you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone.

Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment on this item. Uh thank you so much. Uh here no one else uh public comments close at city manager and I know the city attorney has some comments to make. U several questions. Um, so yeah. Um, I'm going to see if our city's finance director, Jesse, would like to answer any of those questions or defer to our city attorney if they were more legal based. We do have a presentation we were prepared to present if council wants to walk through that item in more detail. Well, I I think the business is to answer the questions. Then we'll turn to the city attorney, Sher Dam.

Yeah. Uh, thank you, um, Mr. Mayor, uh, city manager, and, uh, to the public for the questions. They are very good questions. This action is being taken to comply with a state law, the mitigation fee act. It's not a contract. It's pursuant to state law. State law describes exactly what the city must do if it does not make the findings. And um we did not make the findings. Um secondarily, who the money goes to is also prescribed by state law. It goes to the most recent assessed owner of the units and the council is making a finding about exactly who the these funds get refunded to. There are 358 residential unit owners uh within the area that these funds were initially received from and that's who they will go back to. So if you sold a house, doesn't matter. it's today's assessed um owner who gets the refund pursuant to the state law. So that's it's it's not anything the city can really change who get who gets it back or not. I think that answers the primary questions.

Right. Okay. But that that money when did when did we when were we required to make the findings just to just to put it in the record a little bit? So the mitigation fee funds were received on this project for this area in 2003. So we would have had to make findings in 2008. The first findings that got made were in 2019. Okay. So so uh back in 2008 but the money is not sitting in some fund. money was the money was spent by the city of Seesaw. No, the money is tracked in fund 261 right now and it's been hold on just so it's always been in the fund. It has not been spent.

The money has been in the fund but the city has acquired the things for which the money was collected. Right. No, I I understand that that's that's a u that that's more uh making sure we're illegally putting the making sure the record is correct. Um but what I'm getting to is it it wasn't as though the money was mis uh misappropriated missing and now somehow we have to reinverse reimburse that money. Is that correct? That's just yes. That's correct. Okay.

All right. Uh, and then my my last one is we agreed to this. Uh, we're not being, you know, we you know what I'm getting what I'm trying to get to is it it's appropriate for either this money to be spent a a certain way or it's appropriate for it to go back and and we agreed to send it back. We're not, you know, ain't nobody dragging us kicking and screaming because we could have went to court to to try to drag this thing out. I I guess what I could say is there is no court order directing us to refund this money. It's the state law that prescribes this is the action we are supposed to take when we haven't done what we're supposed to have done.

So we're voluntarily doing we're voluntarily doing it. Okay. I don't know. I just want to it has to be clear about what's going on here. All right. Okay. Bringing it back to the das. What is the will of the council? I have just one request, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, of course. My request is uh to ask the my uh fellow council members if they'd be willing to watch the presentation or put the slides up that the that the staff made. I don't hear nobody requesting that. Is there any questions you have? You have any questions?

Well, I mean I was just brought to my attention that there was there was a presentation. So, I thought that since staff spent time on the presentation, maybe for the public's benefit, we could watch the presentation, but if my colleagues don't want to do that, that's okay, too. I just thought that'd be a good idea. I I think it's presentation on everything that's on the consent agenda. Motion to approve item N. Uh, it's been probably moved. Second. It's been probably moved and second. Uh, on the question, all those in favor use the regular sign of voting. I I I have the same right abstensions here. eyes have it. Motion carried.

Uh business item 9A, discuss the community service uh social service grant program. Mr. City Manager. Yes. Thank you, Mayor Dominique. Do you have a clicker for me? Thank you, Dan.

Thank you very much. Tonight we're going to talk about discuss the community social services grant um and the process uh established in 2000. Uh the the first RFP for the community social services grant included that it was to enhance community and social services fund including but not limited to education, recreation, social work, public health, public safety, mental health, youth development, elder care, community building and restoration, homelessness, homeless and housing advocacy and eligible and are are all eligible for funding. Um this while we uh we have heard ancillary uh comments that this was this program uh came about following the the uh murder of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020. This program was adopted in October and and we didn't find anything in the record uh of that. But this is what was in the record for eligible uh eligible organizations for funding. Eligible applicants include community and faith-based organizations serving CESAD residents and grassroots organizations must apply with an established nonprofit. This program does align with the city's strategic uh plan. It hits pillars uh two for vibrant local economy, pillar three, diverse inclusive community, and pillar five for community safety and quality of life. And it does provide a significant annual investment in our social services. Uh theoretically providing a direct impact on the vulnerable and underserved residents of Seaside. A quick scan through the process in the six-year program. The first year there was $320,000 in funding. Uh the process for selection was a competitive RFP process with an ad hoc review committee. Public presentations were required by the applicant and scoring was based on publish criteria. In 2000 in the following year in the second year of the program uh the only new addition was to add a required uh requirement that designated a third of that funding to new programs and new organizations to try to uh encourage uh new programs in the social services category. And in

that second year, there was an additional award of 105,000 uh in addition to the 320. The third year of the program, uh they did remove the requirement for one-third funding to new programs and allocations, but also awarded an additional 110,000 in FY2324. The uh the process was transitioned to the annual budget process, which removed the RFP, scoring committee, and presentations. Um and again like I said allocated the funding uh both FY23 and 24 and FY2425 directly in the annual budget process. Uh last year the city had or this this this year FY 2526 the city allocated $420,000. We did reinstate an application process with minimal requirements. staff performed an application review for completeness, but we did not provide any recommendations or scoring to the city council and left that uh to the city council to deliberate in open session which occurred uh earlier this year. Uh there were 12 awards with no applicant receiving full funding. Awards to date, there's been 43 awards to date totaling over $2.5 million with 19 community- based organizations receiving funding. What's shown on the screen is the top five uh funding uh which all have been uh mainstay organizations in our community in the social services category providing services to seaside residents. Uh when this process came up it was for discussion. Um we wanted to look at improving the pro process and program moving forward. Some of the goals staff has looked at is defining a clear and predictable process, define roles for both council and staff, trying to balance or discuss the balance of accessing uh for established organizations versus emerging organizations and then a process that allows for efficient council deliberation. Uh staff is recommending a hybrid process which would for the community social services grant which would create a policy similar to the mayor's youth fund. There would be a policy

establishing uh the program which would establish a ongoing eligible program areas identified by council, allowable expenditures, funding requirements, submission process and reporting. And so that policy would remain relatively static obviously can be adopted and and u tweaked by council at any point. Uh and then with that hybrid process each year there would be an annual RFP that would go out to the community with a published scoring matrix. And so that evaluation criteria and waiting could be modified on an annual basis based on city council's um strategic priorities or local needs. So uh with this hybrid process again the policy would remain static and the annual RFP could evolve uh based on current needs at the time. With this process, staff would would reintroduce an evaluation by city staff using that adopted matrix that would be published during the fun funding cycle. So applicants would know uh how the scoring would be uh provided and then the city council would consider staff's recommendations as a baseline and then be allowed obviously at at legislative policy discretion to to adopt or modify those recommendations at their discretion in an open meeting. Some discussion points and I'll circle back to this slide. Some things that staff would if this is the direction staff would need further uh guidance on would be to define the priority and those eligible program areas for the policy. Uh discuss if there are desired number of awards or a maximum number award. Discuss the set aides for new or pilot programs that goes to the uh organizations versus emerging programs. Um and then uh if staff if council is comfortable with an annual scoring matrix that that changes based on the needs of the community and then having staff score those and recommend to council in open session as a baseline. Potential next steps if this is a a a process moving forward would be staff would incorporate the discussion tonight and draft a uh policy similar to the mayor's youth fund adopt the policy and

budget allocation program in February. Uh, and then we would have a draft RFP process that council could review in June and then theoretically launch the 2026 application cycle in July with whatever council allocated in the upcoming budget process to the community social services grant program. With that, a recommendation is obviously to discuss what we've provided uh and provide direction to staff and I'll kind of go back just on on some areas staff would need further guidance on. Be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Any uh Mayor Pat,

can you go back to the because I didn't see this until like just now. Um when they came out, but to the dollar amounts, the top five, I guess. Okay. So, that's a million, million and a half, two and a half million. Okay. So two two and a two two and a half million out of the so 2.5 million approximately has been allocated to those five groups who are all community generated. And how much is the overall money that have been awarded?

2.5 million has been out has been awarded since the program's inception. Out of the 19 community organizations receiving funding, those are the top five. It represents approximately 82% of the total funding.

So that's my point. 82%. So my recollection and I I believe the mayor was at the council and and we may disagree but just this was during the time it was during a budget time. It was a there was energy throughout the nation in my humble opinion about defunding um the police officers. There was a significant movement not only well throughout the state but it rolled over or we led or somebody actually we led this goal of providing uh community funds to nonprofits to include Selenus at 150,000. So our city gave back because we understood the need. So I hear what you're saying about the goals. Uh I was at the bud the budget that budget item as I recall was one of those two hour threeh hour making goulash basically out of something that came to be good. That's my memory. Um but with the focus I believe and that's how you know I'll just say as was to reduce crime through mentoring, recreation, mental health and because the goal was to reduce crime through uh improve services and we thought that the outside organizations could better maximize opportunity to reduce crime. So therefore we wouldn't have less police officers on the street. Therefore we would save money. There was a circular energy about this is my recollection. So I will ask two three questions. Um one whoever the city manager can answer. So you already answered basically 82% is was has been directed to

um the ideas that we talked about as far as mental health mentoring and all that. So that's a fair statement. Correct. Okay. My other question is for the police chief. Um is um has crime gone up or down? And again to be fair I I've made him aware of the questions in advance uh since the inception of the grants and do you believe the grants for mentoring mental health or recreation etc have been helpful in that reduction.

Uh thank you mayor council members of the public. Uh I would say absolutely anytime that you have community engagement and resources available to the community it's going to reduce crime. So I would say yes. So and that's that's great. So so you believe that the resources for the mental health, recreation, social opportunities, after school programs have assisted in reducing crime? I do. And our crime rate has maintained about the same, gone up, gone down. In the last two years, I think we've dropped crime about 42% in just the last two years alone.

So it's possible. I know it's not fair to ask, but I can. It's It's possible the money that we allocate 82% has been instrumental in the reduction of crime. Is that a possible um simple comment? Is that fair? I would say again, yes, the community engagement, not just from police, is absolutely contributing to a safer community.

Okay. And then thank you so very much. Um, my other couple questions and your your expert I kind of sort of get it uh but we went over it real quick. So what you're saying is staff is going to and I may miss her so I apologize if I'm wrong. Staff is going to score these and then they're going to bring back the recommendations.

Correct. So, and I'm just going by memory on other situations and I'm not trying to be critical, but in the past when we've done that for other groups or nonpro gets involved and the council has it might or may not change that. Is that a is that a concern as far as that? Because sometimes you your vision of or staff vision of whatever and I'm not saying it's a bad idea. the same staff, you know, what's out in the community and what needs to be done may be different than whatever and we don't want to make it an advisorial kind of a situation.

We've we've done this process three different ways. We've had a full ad hoc committee with community members with public presentations. That was a lengthy process. Uh and not criticizing the process, but what it did was put pressure on staff and and and uh the community organizations to get that funding in that funding cycle. It was it was had some that was for the first uh three years of the program. The following two years was just a budget allocation with the city council and then last year was just a simple application process. So staff is recommending inserting staff back into the re the review process and scoring matrix. But the key would be that scoring matrix would be published ahead of time prior to the RFP. uh during the annual budget process, city council could provide direction to staff if there are any changes in the upcoming program from the following year. And the reason that uh I recommend that's beneficial is the needs of the community may change over time. And instead of changing the entire policy and the process, we can change the scoring matrix or change the program priorities of that of that year. And so staff would score those based on that public scoring criteria and then council has the the discretion to make changes upon them. staff would just be providing a framework for further council discussion. Is there any and in your recommendation are we considering or is it up for discussion or any of the above right now? Last year be nice. Uh it it was open to pretty much anybody that had anything to do with pretty much be it the homeless, farmers market, NPC, whatever. It was a broad base of service opportunities that applied. Is there any thought process to narrowing that scope or do you think we should keep it the scope as broad as it is?

That's the number one discussion point for uh that staff needs guidance on is what council considers eligible for this program. Then my last question I think I hope is was is there any thought process instead of all staff to make it an ad hoc ad hoc committee with a couple council members as part of that team? So that that I'm just throwing out an idea not bad or good. I don't I'm just thinking of a way we're part of the process and I'm just I I know other cities do that have ad hoc committees on other issues and I'm just wondering if you have an opinion that's all just things outside a little bit.

No opinion staff's you know serves at the pleasure of the governing body so we fully capable of scoring based on the matrix but if if council wants to be involved in the process we'll certainly tweak it for that. I think that's my questions. Thank you mayor. Uh thank you. Anyone else? Uh, council member. So, city manager, would you like us to go through each of these bullet points and make determinations this evening so that you can move forward?

I think the biggest determination we need is the program eligibility because there's been a lot of conversation on which what what targets uh what what what eligible program areas we are targeting. And then the other um kind of direction we need for the policy. There's been a lot of discussion on um established organizations versus new programs and one of the years they included a requirement for a third to go to that but that hasn't been a requirement uh for five out of the six years. Any anyone else? Uh Mayor Pro Tim, you you brought this forward. What what what is your you know what is the direction you're trying to get us to understand? My my only hope is that whatever comes forward that it's a more um it doesn't go what we did last time is the the goulash and and the long discussion and what happened when and who should apply and it was just seemed to be 21 applications with different needs which is important but do we want to and I thought that for me it was too much because I don't think that was the original intent uh That's just my philosophy and I thought the focus should be more on the 82% that we've been doing uh because if it has impacted reduced crime I think and maybe less officers maybe uh therefore it it has validity u and it's proven now if crime crime would have gone up 15 20% then maybe it it wouldn't work uh but I thought we should reduce the focus on whatever we chose uh um as a possibility,

right? So that's the only thing and going by what you want to do as far as the discussion points that um you mentioned. That's fine because that all of us may have different opinions and that's okay. That's right. Well, I mean someone can start off about the organizations they don't want to be eligible, right? You know, you guys put this on the agenda and and stop dancing around my So let me finish. Okay. So that's what we need is what we don't think we want to put in that group, right? And so let's go down the list and do the stuff you guys said you wanted to do.

My thought process was to focus on the programs were on uh mentoring, mental health, recreation, uh social services. That's where I think we should uh focus on. That's that's just that's just my opinion. Someone may say uh um homelessness is a a social service and then and then you talked about uh supporting and I'm not against what you're saying. I'm just saying we that's why we have to be a little clear and we're and I know no one is saying not support that but but homelessness can be supported somewhere else.

Exactly. Uh uh but I I do know u supporting homelessness uh may be something that reduces crime, right? Uh so that's why we just had to be clear about what we want to see in the criteria.

Okay. And if I had to clarify it be mentoring, recreation, and mental health uh as far as youth 18, you know, for the kids to about 26 at that time will be the the focus. Okay, that's a good that's getting us. I'm sorry. Uh, Council Member Garcia Zola, then Council Member Burks, and then whoever, Council Member Miller, about what your thoughts are, and then if we can get close to uh uh defining the eligible type programs, uh then we'll take the next bullet, the next bullet, then the next bullet, then we'll get public comment and then come back. Council member Garcia as well.

My scope I guess where I'm focused on would be defining the priority priority or eligibility areas. Uh and and my mind goes directly to what might be directly impacted by state funding cuts and how we can sort of focus and tackle those areas. Um so my focus would be related to health, education, professional and workforce development for the youth and I think that sort of goes into new or pilot programs where we should be setting aside some funding for that to really supplement the potential cuts that can trickle down. And I guess a question that I also would have is do other grants at state or federal levels have how many times you can apply for that grant?

It depends on the grant funding program. Some grants do have that. That might be a possibility that we can start incorporating as well. So when you when you say um you know try to so-called supplement some of the funding that may not be coming down from the state. Is that programs you're talking about uh still focused on uh the youth or is just uh all ages are included in I would be primarily focused on the youth.

Okay. And and I think the the the age group we use here is 17 to like 24 is what we've been using for uh a vast while. Uh council member uh Burks, what was your third one? You said health education and professional development. Professional and workforce development. Yeah. Combine those a little bit.

Yeah. I think that what uh Mayor Prom is suggesting would fit right into those three. Um I do agree with the youth being maintained 17 to 24 um as well as looking at a potential maximum of awards um so that we're still able to include the newer ones um and to expand right so that we have as many potential programs for our community.

When when I look at that I see uh two parts. I see the number of awards. So what is the the number um um yeah what is the suggested maximum number of awards in any given period what we can work through and then I see uh is there a maximum dollar for each award so discuss that and city manager going to jump in but that's that's what we have to figure out. Yeah, those are just topics for conversation. If if council doesn't desire a number of award, a maximum ward, certainly don't have to add that to the policy. Some it's a consideration item for discussion. Like the mayor said,

the mayor, could it could we not put a number there? Let's say you have 400,000, 500, $700,000 and in your priority list, you would allocate dollars to that program based on the application what they need. So, some groups may want 100,000, some groups may want 50,000, whatever it be. Uh, the amount it's it's based on the the need, what what the committee potentially sees, u based on what the council comes back at, um, whatever. But rather than a number, it would be the allocation of of funds. It's just thought. No.

Well, but but you you're that's what we're doing now. Yeah.

So, if you're just saying then you're you don't see like making a decision for either one of them the numbers meaning how many times can that agency get an award in a certain amount of time. If there's no support for that then that's fine. But that's what we need to tell them not just go back and forth and talk about and maximum. Okay. If there's no maximum then you know I you never know right? you know, it may be somebody you you you know, you you you want them to get more than what the maximum was. So that's why I always reserve a lot of that to comes back here so you can make those adjustments. But but that's a question they have and if no one if there's not three to push a certain uh limit on the number of awards, there's not three to to put a limit on the max, then we'll move to the next bullet point. on just on the discussion of the maximum, you could put up $100,000 as a maximum to be fair as far as across the board or more, you know, and a lot of times 100,000 90,000 is been the high end or thereabouts. I'm just throwing that out. I I have known in the game, but I maybe 100,000 might be a fair

Okay. Just as a thought. No, it's a good thought. Anybody uh Councilman Miller, is there any thoughts for it?

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um for me on this one, we talked about doing, you know, in the past there's been an ad hoc committee for the funding allocation. I I I'm a believer in this in this that these questions should be really really looked at because this is a really important program for us. So I'm in favor of having an ad hoc community uh committee or some group that studies these with a council a couple council members and the community to look at these five issues. And so we're getting a wide uh range of of ideas on this. Uh I I will say that I look at other cities and what they do and I've been paying attention and I see cities, you know, gifting nonprofits in the range of 30 to $40,000. Um that's just what I've seen in other cities. I think, you know, we are not other cities. We are the city of Seaside. We're we want to support our nonprofits. So certainly having uh having these questions answered are important. Um, but I I believe that we should have a group that looks at this, looks at these five criteria, studies them with members of our community and with some of the nonprofits that receive these award awards and with some council members, and then they bring back a recommendation and then we can discuss it at that point. Those are those are all the comments I had on that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. All right. Um, uh, it's $100,000 out there as a maximum. Anybody else has anything on that? Yeah. Go ahead. You said $100,000 per award, right? No, that would be the I was just thinking that would be the highest they can apply for.

What do you think about giving $100,000 if it's a new program if it's a cycled program, bringing it down to 80. So, incentivizing the organizations to create new programs is where I'm getting at. If you want $100,000, show me that there's a new program that sort of falls under these tiers.

And I'm asking and I are you suggesting CPY if they had a new program they can go front or would it have to be a new group? And I'm open to either or so let's say CPY wanted to or or village project or whatever. Could they have a new program and go for the hunter or would they have to or were you looking for a new group to get the high end? You could find either or

anyone if you haven't even if it's an organization that's received the funding before, but if you have a new project coming forward, we're going to incentivize you by giving you $100,000. If it's a reoccur, if it's like a cycled program that comes back again, we'll give you $80,000. So as an example, a village project conser that's not let's not use real

okay uh group A wanted to start and they've got funds wanted to start a pro program to u train youth to get jobs that would be a new program under existing group as such that would fit within that window that that I'm finding that would just to help. Anyone else? Question. City manager, do you have experience with any kind of grants like this in other cities that you've worked at?

Do you have experience with grants similar to this or your previous work? Uh, not social services, but the grant process I'm defining. Yes. Any suggestions? I think I think just a maximum number awards or maximum number of a maximum award amount uh I think gives council a lot of flexibility within that whether it's a new program or not. Um I don't know if we try to incentivize new programs. You may analyze a program that's existing um unintentionally. Um but certainly again they can be worked in.

Yeah, that's kind of like my thinking with the with you know you don't want people just making up a new program for extra 20, you know, because what is a new program? What is the tweak to my old program that may get me, you know, extra $20,000? And so um uh you know that's that's what's on the table. So we can we can come back that and decide that uh set aside for new and that's what you included in there, right? Okay. Uh annual scoring matrix. What's city man? Why don't you just tell them

this was just if if if if the council is comfortable with staff publishing the process of having an annual scoring matrix that actually uh adjust based on community needs. And the thought process behind that is is you could also include some of these in the annual scoring matrix. For instance, you don't necessarily have to have a policy that's a set aside for a new pilot program. you could weight the scoring so that an existing you know program doesn't get you know typically in a grant process that that organization will get a significant amount of additional um points on the scoring application because of their organizational history and capacity. So you can adjust the scoring in the matrix or you can do it in the policy either or. So that's just up there for discussion points. Just my question would be would the the matrix system would be inclusive of the dollar amount allocate. So they would make a re um whoever group group A we're recommending as a priority if we're going to recommend $100 to them or whatever it be. So the the the recommendation would not only include how much they get as well, right?

Which groups and which and how much. Correct. The recommendations from staff would include which which groups and uh the funding allocation based on the scoring matrix that council would approve essentially during the budget process as they're allocating funding. Um that makes sense. I got it. Yeah. No. And I'm and they would come back to the council to the council as a recommendation and the council could tweak it based on our our experience for lack of a better word or knowledge of it. I mean,

correct. It's it's essentially the same process we followed just with more structure uh from staff scoring ahead of time. I know I got Uh any other questions, comments?

Okay, we'll open up the public comment. Public comment is open. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone.

Good evening. I'm Michael Inovas. I um appreciate a lot of what the city council and the mayor have done, but in a few seconds I'm going to get very critical. I think the original goal of this was to try to avoid another incident like the George Floyd incident. George Floyd was not a youth. The uh data that we were given about crime, crime reduction during the five years of this program, we're taught in economics and I've been trained quite a bit in economics that correlation is not causation. So the fact that crime went down during these 5 years doesn't mean it was because of the funding for these programs. If you wanted to get a better idea about that, look and see who was served by these programs. How how was their tendency to be criminals or commit crimes? How was it changed based on these programs or because of these programs? The homeless are far more likely to have an encounter with police officers. If you're trying to avoid another George Floyd incident, you need to keep it open to the homeless um organizations. Uh again, um people of color are far more likely to have an incident with a police officer. So again, George Floyd was a man of color. If you're trying to avoid another incident such as that, maybe you need to consider which organizations are actually helping people of color. As far as new organizations go, uh what if organization C came to you with a plan for tiny homes or the homeless on say a plot of land that was underutilized or not utilized at all within the city of Seaside that could provide housing for the homeless with very little funding. uh person in this room during public comment tonight complained about a homeless person in front of this building to this we were told to the police chief. I'm just saying that as a piece of evidence to show you how often the homeless come into contact with the

police far more often than your average resident. So, as far as the scoring matrix would go, I would recommend that you look at the goals related to the George Floyd incident, the original funding idea for this program, and score it based on how well those organizations actually meet that goal. And if your goals change, that's fine. Change change the scoring matrix. discuss it amongst yourselves about how it should be changed based on what the staff gave you, what you think should be the goals going forward. But um in particular, I I would really like to see better analysis of how well the funds were used in the past. If the goal is actually to see crime reduced and not a repeat of another George Floyd incident, that's really a different goal. Um, but if that's the goal, then analyze it and please uh do your best to see that it's taken care of. Uh, thank you for your time. Um, first I I just want to uh I want to thank uh officer uh Chief Borges for sharing with us about the 42% in the last couple of years crime going down because he could have just not shared that. But um I want to say I am the original uh person who initiated the group and motivated the people to come and request the city do this and do something in the community to make a difference. And I want to say it was designed to refund the community and help our youth in the community and have programs basically uh newer

programs that were going to be working to help better the community. It has the whatever you were doing in the last two years seem to be working a little bit more according according to Chief Borges. But but I want to say that uh it's still and will always be important to make sure our youth are funded in the community with various programs to help them. Not to not that it was against cops in any type of way, but that we have less. And we our team at the time did the numbers of how many African-Americans were being arrested in our city seaside and how many Latinos were being arrested and how many white people and it was a a very um very un very very unequal rates of of arresting black people when we were only 7% of the community. and uh the Latinos were 43% of the community and the whites were 37% of the community. So it was at a very unfair rate and it was to to stop harm to the people in our community. It was to help the people in our community um have a better footing as uh vulnerable community members in our community. So, um, we we we want to kind of stay on the scale and not get too far away from, uh, the original. That was the benefit and the reason. And if it's working, you know, we want to keep going on that scale that's working, not just to be able to uh um, as they say, they're changing it to uh, they want the city, the council, and the council should be completely involved all the way through. Uh, they want the council involved in it. they want more staff involved in. Well, it it was an issue that was coming from having problems with the police. And so, when we get away from looking at

that there were problems with the police and and and try to uh sugarcoat things, then we're going to miss, you know, the point and miss what's supposed to be done because we want to make sure our youth I appreciate that. Ever since then, we have a youth employment in the city. I love it. That's beautiful, you know, and we need more of that. And we need to be able to fund our nonprofits and motivate them to be able to do things in the community that's going to uplift our community and help our youth and and help stop crime. It is reducing crime.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Hi, Linda Cunningham, Seaside Homeless Commissioner, but I am speaking as a resident of Seaside. I would like to point out on slide two, I believe there's a typo. It says established 2000. I think you meant 2020. Um, under program origins, I think there's a typo there. Uh, because it looks like it was established in the year 2000. It isn't it saying it was established in 2020? 2020. Thank you.

Yeah, it's just a typo. Um, I was confused because I just thought community social services grant meant for the whole community, not just for the youth. So, if it's for the youth, I think the name should be changed so it's clear um that this is for youth. It's fine if that's what it is, but community social services, I thought it was for the entire community. I was confused on that. Um, it's a confusing name. If it's really only for the youth, if this is planned for 17 to 25, I think 17's too late. I believe the person who turned themselves in was 17 and shot somebody outside of the pot shop. So 17's too late. I I don't I think we need to get with these kids far earlier than 17 so they're making better decisions by the time they're 17. Um I I think probably a 10-year-old could probably find a gun if they wanted to get one. So I think you know I I just think if it's about youth I think we need to start sooner. And I think it's great that all these um these organizations that Seaside is funded. I agree with the police chief. Anything we can do to create a way for people to have especially young people it drive I don't have not seen them recently but the kids that ride around in a gang of bikes that interweave within traffic popping wheelies coming at cars not in the sidewalk. These kids need something. They want to ride their bikes. Where can you ride your bikes in seaside? Why don't we have a bike track where these kids can pop wheelies and jump on hills and do fancy turns like they have up in Marina? I I mean there's people I talked to a lady who drove literally from Carmel to take her kid to ride her bikes there. It's the coolest thing. If I was a kid, I'd love it. We had hills, the dirt hills where I grew up in Phoenix. We just called it the hills. Nobody's parents went out there, but it was much like behind Seaside City, I mean Seaside High School where the mountains of dirt are from construction. Kids just rode their bikes so long. We had trails and we just were doing BMX before that was a thing off-road. Anyhow, I'm grateful the

city's funding this. Again, if it's really only for youth, I think the name needs changed. If it's for the whole community, then the age name, the age range needs widened. Um, I think everybody could use more things to do. Uh, it's hard to communicate that because the city of Seaside does a lot of things. We have this fancy slideshow we do. We get emails. I can't tell you how many people have no idea what's going on at Seaside. And it's like, well, how do you want it? You want to come to your phone? I mean, nobody there's no way to get into people. Um, all these good things that are going on. And again, I'm really grateful the city of Seaside is funding this. I like the matrix. I think that leaves flexibility and I look forward to seeing how the city decides to spend its money to help seasiders. Hello, I'm Regina Mason. I'm a lifelong resident of the city of Seaside, born on the former Ford. Have lived here all my life. I'm also a master's level professional social worker. And all of the services that I have provided as a social worker before and during the time that I've uh founded a nonprofit are to meet people where they are. Not what I think they need, but not only working with the child, but the whole family system. And as you know, there is a mental health crisis in this country. And there's a lot of data and studies that have already been done. And you know that Proposition 63 went away with the passage of Prop 1. So all the mental health funding that came from Prop 63 is no longer. And that Prop$1 dollar is going to support the homeless population. Many of the homeless population have mental health needs that

are not being met. there is a shortage of mental health practitioners not only here in Monterey County but in all 58 counties in the state of California. So, um I would recommend that however you make these decisions that you go out to the the nonprofits that are serving the community right now because they are your partner. They're your stakeholders. They have the best anecdotal information about what the community needs are because they see people every day that they're helping. And it's not only the children that are suffering. It is the whole family system. And many kids are suffering from being unhoused, living in vehicles, and so on and so forth. So we nonprofits see all of this every day. But we don't just make up programs. We literally create programs based on the needs of the people that we're serving. So, we're constantly doing surveys to find out what the needs are. And that is how uh the programs that we create come together. We were only supposed to be a mental health clinic, but the village project over the past 17 years pivoted to the needs of the people of the community. And so I would recommend that you go and do some research, find out what the issues are and make datainformed decisions and use all of us as your eyes and your ears and the boots on the ground. So that's my input and I don't think that people should not get refunded. We are your eyes and ears and we're your partners and I think that um you can um basically lean on us to help um inform your decision-making. Thank you so much.

The caller ending in 4436. You now have the floor to make your public comment.

Okay. Good evening. Um this is Eloise Shim calling and um I lived in Seaside during the pandemic and I did apply for some of these grants, these social service grants. one year I did in the arts and um performing arts and education and um I didn't receive any funding and I don't live in seaside anymore but I notice I've sort of been keeping track of this since I was kind of an an um someone who applied and I notice that the same people every year get funding the village project building healthy communities DPY palinki arts and you know that's just it's like every year they're sort of guaranteed so it doesn't really in my mind it really doesn't um open the door for anything new in the community that I have to say about the homeless situation is that the homeless issue is loosely is is very closely related to uh the rental costs and the the um the annual and even uh more frequently the rentals get get increased. The rental costs are higher and higher

and the rent is already high in in seaside all over Monterey County. So, and then workers wages that lends to higher rates of homelessness. So, um you know, you're building healthy communities. They are very active in Selenus. I don't see them active. I mean, it's fine with me if Seaside wants to fund building healthy communities, but they're doing all their action in Selenus. I don't see them doing anything in Seaside. So, um they're doing rent stabilization. They're very active there. So also I just have to say, you know, you have contradictory and ambiguous policies about drugs because you have all those cannabis places in Seaside and Drugs and violent crime go hand in hand. So you know, thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Carla Lobo, you now have the floor to make your public comment. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes.

Okay. I want to begin with a few clarifying questions. Who is currently serving as the pro program manager for this grant program? When did the ad hoc committee structure formally end? And was that change clearly communicated to the community and past applicants? Transparency is not just about posting agendas. It is about making sure people understand when governance structures change and how decisions are now being made. Historically, the ad hoc committee created space for community experts, lived experience, and shared evaluation. And it was supposed to involve into a commission. While in perfect they represented an effort towards equity and inclusion, removing that structure without comparable community-led process, risk shifting the program from partnership to control. What concerns me is that we keep hearing that staff and council want to streamline or manage the program, but streamlining should not come at the expense of community voice or shared power. Right now the direction seems to be moving towards staff administration with community involvement limited to consultation and we know what consultation is alone. It is not equitable. Consultation means input. You can be heard but not necessarily valued or acted on. Equity requires shared decision making, transparency in scoring and clarity in how priorities are set and applied. If the city is serious about a diverse and inclusive community, this grant must reflect that in its structure. That means clear evaluation criteria, public scoring or recommendations and meaningful community participation that goes beyond simply submitting applications. It also means consistency. The program has shifted repeatedly

between competitive processes to budget allocations and minimal application reviews. That unpredictability disproportionately harms smaller grassroot organizations that already operate limited on limited capacity. So if we're talking about this program, let's get something straight. Building healthy communities is a nonprofit that has several initiatives. And one of those initiatives is Monterey County Black Caucus, who actually began the movement when George Floyd was murdered that caused the uproar of wanting to defund the police. I believe it was Tanisha Dunn that was in front of city hall with over a hundred people and that's why this was formed. Now we are taking away from that. We're talking about, oh yes, let's uh um allow us to make the full decisions and take full control of this. That's not how this works. Again, this is a unilateral decision that is trying to be made here without the public's input. Do a town hall. Thank you for your comments. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone.

Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment on this item.

Uh thank you u so much. Uh hearing no one else's public comment is closed. Bringing it back to the DA for further discussions. Go ahead. the paper and I'm just thinking and one thought without processing all maybe we can child care is a definite need in in the city maybe we can consider and I'm open to anything uh there are some programs um in the city I won't say who that provide education um teaching mentoring at that early level so it might be a thought to expand the age I'm just throwing that as they thought. And I just want to clarify something because I've been around for a day or two. Um I believe in my memory and I think I'm this was very um contentious at the time that whole um time frame as such. And um I want to give some credit to uh Jason Campbell was on the council, the mayor was on the council, I was on the council, and Mr. Wizard was on the council and we I don't know if the mayor remembers or not, but we bannered this around and the importance of it and we were the only city that stood up stood forward and we were the examples for the other cities. That's what I I mean that's what my mind tells me, my memory tells me and I know to this date we are by far in the county the only city that gives this much money. I think Selenus is at around 300,000 plus. Um, so those that were on the council understood the need of the youth as I remember to um

to accept this and and anything you do in life I I believe evolves. So plan A evolved to plan B deol and this city will continue to evolve and they'll continue to try to improve things and my hope is in a five-year program. This is a step in involvement of this program to reach out to more residents. Uh I know last time the first couple times there was 20 applicants then it went down. This time there was 21 22 applicants. it was I said so the community staff did a great job of getting that word out. Uh so that's what I want to recall is that we were the leaders and we understood the value of the mentoring and the education the child care making sure they had computers understand so we so that's on a good side which I'm trying it uh I believe those are the things that we're and I I really believe in anything from a recreation program to a social service program what you do day one may be different in year 10 because time changes and the way you get maximum results changes. I kind of sort of believe that uh and I think this process has as most things we do with staff and everything else you go up you come sometimes you go back sometimes you go up it just changes and that's part of the what makes us better. If we're able to change, we're able to improve this system. Um, that's all for the good. Uh, and I would hope we look at it as this is a step in change for the good to focus rather than give

26 groups $15,000 each and go home. And we really don't impact anything. And I'm using that uh number just generically. Uh, so we stay focused. We we reach who we think whoever it be to the best we can and their job is to max my service. And I I believe I want to say this. Most of those groups that got money not only came to the council, but they came back and wrong verbiage and I apologize, but they did a dog and pony show about what they did, how they did it, who it reached, how many jobs were gotten, who's moved up in the um I think in certain groups as I look at you, Regina. uh uh they might have been a employee here and a higher employee and then they moved up to be get highpaying jobs because they were part of that process. If we can do that keeps obviously them in a positive nature gets them back hopefully they come back to seaside and provide that service. I think that though this has been a a challenging program, I think it has benefited uh and I heard tonight it benefited and I think that matters. So I so my only question and I'm sorry Mr. city manager will be if this is if we go with the metric system which you know here or there um the coun when they come back to the the council for making a decision those groups can still have the right to say what they want in front of the council and the the council can accept that or not accept it change it flex it whatever they choose to do. Is that a fair statement?

I think at a minimum they would have the opportunity for public uh comment and council could elect to expand on that or not. Yeah, like kind of sort of like we did this year. They the groups uh had a voice in their and tried to sell what they believe is the right thing. Okay. Certainly that's my thing if there's a thought to um maybe considering the child care issue and um just as a and again I'm not you know just just a thought uh council member then whoever wants to go next.

Yeah. Today I think what we're hearing is more community involvement in the process. I'm wondering if one way that we can do would be to release a community survey or a community poll to figure out what the top five most important issues throughout the community are. Um, I think it is a learning experience for us as elected officials to see what what's needed out there and how we can best allocate the funding, but it can also help divide the maximum amount amount of boards that we're trying to to give out to to the community. Is it one per each category? Is it uh and and I think that just adds a little bit more structure figuring out what the top five issues would be out in the community? and that I'm throwing that out there as an idea.

Council member Miller. Yeah, I'll second that idea. I think that um my comments earlier were to create a group that studies this issue to get feedback from our community. That's what I believe I'm hearing and that's what my I believe my C colleague is saying. So, I I would second that what uh Councilman to my right just said.

Okay. I I don't know if I support that concept. Um the let I want to just level set for a little bit because you know can this thing change and can we change the what we do with this money you know to to you know anytime we can stop this money going out that's the first thing right but I'm supportive of it going out but we can stop it going out then the second thing is what do we want it to do every year if that changes then then that's fine we can do that right But it should be about what we believe the community wants and you can get there by a survey. But if the survey is not if it doesn't have any boundaries, but then then it goes back to what you guys said you didn't want, which is the need is all over. Okay. So, I want to level set about why this money was here from the start and why I've been supported because it was a response to uh George Floyd and a respon it was a response to close to 2,000 uh people walking up and down our streets talking about there was, you know, majority was, hey, what is going on? We don't appreciate what's going on. and it was a little bit defund the police out there, but I won't put that on the group of 2,000 people. Everybody, a lot of people had different thoughts. Uh, but when it came here to to and I was inside the march, right? And I talked to those young people and I'll get to that in a second, right? But when it came to the council and the council wanted to do something and the community wanted us to do something, there was nothing for us to do because the conversation was defund the police and there was no support on the council to do that. It wasn't well let me let me it it was not enough support to do that and and it was a couple council members that that wanted to defund the police to the

tune of close to 30% of their budget and I just want to be truthful right and so there was not enough support to do that but it was support to find money to reinvest in the community and someone said earlier to refund the youth in our community Because what I got out of that march uh that that the community did that day was the youth were saying and I'm going to talk about youth. This person was you know 18 20 he might have been 21 22 at the time but we get the age for the youth from uh our youth violence prevention right that's just the standard number that the government used 17 to 24. Some of these organizations that have been funded, they serve youth underneath that, right? They ser everybody and and some of them serve people older. But money was found and it was found by uh Jason Campbell that said he was willing to go into the reserves to fund money to go back to youth serving programs to give them something to do.

Now I was with the youth. They did not say I wanted mental health. They did not say I wanted uh CPY. They did not say I wanted the community service. They were not talking about I want already I want you to expand organizations that are already in our community. They didn't say that. What they said was is where is our warf? Where is a ferris wheel? Where is a bike track? Where is a basketball court? Where is big major CIPs? But we don't have an extra23 million dollars laying around. So we did what we could do which was the little bit of money that we have. We took it out of reserves and we said we're going to push it into the community and we will let these organizations ask for this money if they were serving youth. And that's how we got, you know, uh up to 19. And I know some of those 19 you counted uh that we we're trying to come back from. But that's the goal of this money is to put it back into organizations that do youth serving and and all of the ones that we funded do great work, but there's some great working organizations in Seaside that have not received funding and that's the new improved that's the pro, you know, those uh uh pilot projects. And so I I also say is it it wasn't for to reduce crime, right? And I know the mayor prom said that he used that as a talking point, but I don't want that to be the overlay. That was not the reason why he put the money back in there. But as adults, we know if you give any person something to do, more than likely they're not going to come up against uh or interaction with law enforcement, right? So, we're trying to give the youth in our community more things to do. and those organizations that are working on mental health that are working on a CPY after school program that uh community human services uh uh

what is it planky arts all those guys are doing things that are impacting a lot of uh youth in our community and so it makes sense for us to fund them right but that I just wanted to to get back to what really happened right they were not clamoring for us to fund already uh funded programs in our community, but that's all we can do because I think if you go back to that slide that says, you don't have to, but it just says since the beginning, it's $2.5 million that we were able to push back. I could ask city manager right now, how much of a new indoor basketball court would that get you or 2.5,

right? A baseline,

right? You know, Yeah. Yeah. You might be able to get the property, right? But that's my point. They they were asking for major things like that. And we're working on those things and and what I don't want us to do is try to compare ourselves to other communities when we say, "Hey, look at Marina. They got a a pump track." Well, you know, uh they don't got they don't got a Catino Park, right? They don't have that uh they don't have a you know, I don't want to talk about Marina, right? But my point is, don't compare yourself to them because they're not you. And and we have different things that we have to accomplish in this city. And our commitment was to push that money out. And it it goes to the organizations that it goes to and they're providing programs, but it wasn't about to reduce crime and and it wasn't about um uh just funding money. and it and it and so when we talk about what type of survey out there, what type of parameters are on that survey so we can focus it on youth and my last comment is, you know, I'm I'm not supportive of of the the daycare type thing because we shouldn't get back we should get back into, you know, something like that, right? Because that that actually uh um that type of supportive program is well, which daycare center do you support? And then that allows their parents to save money when you're not doing it on that side. So that just, you know, it's about those young people that are, you know, eighth grade going through high school. What is there to do at Casside? And it's a lot of stuff, right? It's a lot of stuff to do. But they were saying, can you guys do more? And and the way we do more is to have more programs. And we get it through these grants. uh we get it through you know the budget cycle all the stuff we do OD automire we increase the job uh programs we double it triple

it and so this is just one thing but I just wanted to level set about what this money is for and it's not going to solve everything but what it does is is what we could do right because at a certain point the city manager you know is going to say well we can't increase it and so how do we focus said, and so I'm I'm I'm okay with that survey, but I just want to hear more about how do you you know, what is the guard rails? And I know it's easy to answer, but I just want us to get back to uh why we're doing it. And it's not about um you know, it's not going to solve every ill, right? It's not going to solve every ill. It's not it's not a lot of money. My last point is the city the mayor makes a good point about we are leading the field. other communities. I think it was only one other community and you mentioned the name that only not only but they did what they did and I don't think any other community was doing anything like what we're doing and so I appreciate you you putting it on it.

Thank you and I I appreciate your comments. Mayor, I'm wondering if we could sort of set a timeline or or an action plan. Is our objective create clear objectives within this grant? are we trying to you know reduce mental health disparities by x amount of percent by 2045 or 2030 within the youth and have like a living document where we analyze and have those guard rails of defining program eligibility um really focusing towards our goal. So there is a document that people community involvement via that survey can help us identify the key issues where we should be spending that money and it's I think a way where we're not changing back and forth the eligibility of this program and I think it adds a little bit more clarity and structure. I'm concerned and I'm not sure if we're going that way with the u I'm sorry I'm concerned about uh the certain I think of surveys I think of questionnaires top vote getter Stephen Curry you someone's going to vote 100 times for Stephen Curry or someone's going to vote 100 times for for the homeless or or Bill whoever it be they're going to vote for their interest uh I kind of think and I would love I believe I hope this council are bright individuals in our community are intelligent people uh that we should be able to uh do that but I think sometimes when you do surveys you get very the numbers are are not correct because it's based on who you like and who you don't like uh when you see the results on different stuff because you know sometimes they just don't make sense to me u and I think

I just think we should be able to whatever way we do it figure out a solution without delaying this down the road and down the road and down the road. Um, and I'm just thinking that, you know, I my only bottom line goal is let's focus on what we who we can help, how we can help without with a limited amount of funds because $420,000 is to me a lot of money. But when you have 20 groups or 15 groups, it's probably not a lot of money. um you know salaries are extremely high equipment cars you know you need uh whatever it be it's expensive so I just think the scope the the vision was the last time was way too wide and we couldn't we did what we did but I think maybe we could have gave more groups more money that would have had better results uh nothing that we did wrong I just think that's just my thought I just think that We need to focus with the limited funds we have. We have to focus on the budget with the limited amount of funds. Anything you do, you got to focus on what you what you got in front of you. And I I think I hope anyway that's I'm just rambling. So I apologize.

Oh, that was fine. I I think as let me ask the city manager is there is there a way we can uh uh do u the survey at the as the mayor pro tip said a focused way you know uh and then really what I'm getting to is just expand on the technology because one of his concerns was can you can you vote a thousand times and I think it's ways that we can uh eliminate that but it's important to gather um the information and yeah so Yeah, there's survey technology that'll prevent multiple uh responses at least from the same uh input user on the email. There's there's systems we can do to protect that. Um I think um as staff I would recommend some council input on developing that survey and that could be through an ad hoc group or some other future action.

Oh, okay. Okay. Uh yeah, any anything that that we do has to meet the timeline that he put out, right? We don't want to get behind a timeline. That's something happened to us the first time. Um, I like I like the concept and I know we wrapping up, but I I like the concept of, you know, collecting the data and and judging judging it down the road, what may or may not happen. And, you know, and we kind of like get that from the organizations, but we don't keep it, we don't say what we're looking for as as close to outcomes. And I think it's important going forward that you know the program is the same but if we're saying hey well what is the adjustment just we're going to figure out how to keep this data and how to track it to be able to put the improvements out there and it's not it's not a a big change because these organizations tell you well they keep them and they're successful right they're making a difference. Um, so say man, why don't you go down the list of things you think you still need from us and we'll see where the council's at.

I think I've heard quite a bit to to to to incorporate into the draft policy. I think I think I wouldn't want to present a draft policy without having that input process complete. Um, so I think the next steps would be to to develop that input survey process if that's what council wants, which will inform the draft policy, which will bring back to the city council for tweaking prior to adoption. Everybody had enough.

I'd like to see if it's possible for a couple of us to come up with the questions. So I'm in favor of some kind of committee that appoints council member Garcia Arizona and council member mayor promo to a group that looks at the questions for the survey. That's I guess my my opinion on that and include other members of the community in terms of the questions and how the questions are to be scored. I don't I don't hear no support for that. Uh so anybody that wants to uh share uh some thoughts about the questions for the survey with the city manager and his not that's and his team but the city manager is free to do so. Um yeah any anything else city manager?

No I think we'll we'll take the input we've seen tonight. I think we've I think there's been some some progress on some of these, but again, the survey can help guide the input for future policy development.

Yeah, Michael, sorry. possible that staff creates the questions as such, turns it over to the council to look at and reports their suggestions after we see a a a example of what you're presenting uh by by blank date. So we we can you do your questions what you think is value gives us a sense of where you're going. If we want to tweak that or make recommendations, we can we can do that as individuals via email by a particular date. Is that feasible?

Anything is feasible at this point. Staff's just want that direction so we can from council. I'm just thinking get council soon, but that's all. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Of course you can. So you're not supporting an add-on committee. It just I'm I'm fine with it. I like the idea as a whole that council have have individual input after we see a starting. That's what I prefer. Well, then it's not ad hoc. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Um I think that's more than enough. Uh but it it's good that we talked through that. It took a while, but um you know that was the use another term that was level set that that I think may pretend that's what you wanted to come out of this. I think we came to a a direction at least if not any major answer. So we got a starting point which is a good thing. Okay. All right. So I think that was enough direction. City manager. Yes. Okay.

What? Oh, I'm I'm getting notes that we need to take a break. So why don't we uh take a break. So let staff members take a break. All right. I'll be back at the sound of the gavl recess.

Coming back from recess, we had item number 9B. Adopt a resolution approving a budget transfer of $250,000 of short-term rental revenue funds from the the Gruner Grande Park synthetic turf project to the Lincoln Park improvement project. Mr. City Manager. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. This item will presented by Dan Mis, assistant city manager.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members, city council, city staff, and members of the public. I am Dan Miwis, assistant city manager, and we are going to have a quick presentation on item 9B about reallocating some short-term rental funds. So, a little bit of background. Um, the short-term rental toot funds um help support recreation, neighborhood improvement, and quality of life throughout the city of Seaside. Um, generally projects allocated during our annual budget process in partnership with the Neighborhood Improvement Commission. Um, during the budget process for fiscal year 2526, allocations um were approved on June 12th. Um, and during that process, the uh neighborhood improvement commission had um a list of uh projects that they wanted the city council to review and bless to move forward. And in addition to that, the city council also gets 15% of the short-term rental funds um that are established each year. And with that, the the the projects that were approved through the NIC, there was um some leftover funds around $120,000 give or take. And you mix that with the 15% for the city council, it got us to about $250,000. And those those funds were allocated to um the Laguna Grande synthetic turf project which was to really kind of change out the grass and and add synthetic turf on the event lawn space. So when we look at the the project itself, it was like I mentioned conversion of the event lawn to of grass to synthetic turf. Um we wanted to the some of the objectives were be were to reduce the maintenance um for the park um including um watering and mowing. Um

improve the durability of the event lawn um during times of year the the grass can become holy the it's uneven and not as easy to walk through. Um and it also addresses um the reoccurring sanitary impacts of our local residents uh the Canadian geese. So the the project when you look at it this way um the the picture on the right shows the entire event lawn. It is approximately 40,000 um square feet is estimated to convert the lawn to synthetic turf in the range of $13 to $32 per square foot. So the estimated cost would be in the range of $530,000 to $1.3 million. Um this project would be a prevailing wage project and those um tend to be on the higher level. Um this project was added to the CIP list and if the council does um move forward to reallocate those funds, the project would remain on the CIP list. So, when we talk about Lincoln Cunningham Park, um we know that we've recently had the trails done. We've had some upgrades, picnic benches, um some gazeos have been put in there, and we have um purchased a 5 to 12year-old playground. Um it is there, it's on site. Initially staff was um going to install the playground ourselves but um during that process we we've determined that staff capacity has been quite limited um for a variety of different capac we've determined that we do have um a shortfall in the funding um in order to get the project completed. It's going to cost around $70,000 to have an outside company to come in and actually install the equipment itself. Um, and then we are also looking at some additional funding for the two to five-year-old playground, which is another component of the park. And so we are hoping that

with some additional funding, we can get the 5 to 12 playground installed and also purchase a 2 to five playground and have that installed as well. Um, just this was the the conceptual design that was developed back in 2023. You can see um you know right here the 5 to2 playground. This is the area that you could see in the picture that is currently um in progress. You we have some swing set the the frames of the swing sets have been installed but there's a variety of other playground equipment that would be um put there. And then the five to two playground is proposed right here in this area on the front side of the basketball court. And you all are aware that the basketball court was installed um about a year and a half ago, which was the first piece prior to the um the trails being completed. So, it is our hopes that if we are able to have both playgrounds installed, um we could really get the park is almost 90% complete um with the help of FOSPA and everything else they've been doing with the native pollinator garden and and some other areas that the park is really taking shape and would be really um beautiful park. So with that, um the request is to authorize the the finance director to transfer 250,000 from the Laguna Park synthetic turf project um in the CIP account to the Lincoln Cunningham park improvement project. Um this would complete the improvements for Lincoln Cunningham Park. There is no impact to the general fund. Um and then the Lagona Grande synthetic turf project would remain as a long-term CIP project. This um meets a variety of the pillars within our strategic plan, pillars three, four, and five. So, the recommendation tonight is to adopt a resolution approving the $250,000 budget transfer of short-term rental revenue funds from Laguna Laguna

Grande to Lincoln Cunningham Park. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Uh thank you so much. Are there any questions? I'm able to

just for for my clarity or at least what I believe I'm for this. I think this is a great idea because of the changes. um when you show the picture of the overall uh whatever outline of the I've heard from FOSA countless members that the fitness course keeps on getting up there but nobody has any desire for a fitness course that's associated that's what I'm hearing on a pretty constant level. So I just if we keep on putting it up there there's no interest and we build it and then there but that's me uh again I'm for this I just want to be clarified the reason why I brought the 254 the city of course uh because you're going to be spending probably 1.8 million on um Laguna Grand Park with the with the um with the trails and all that. And then you're going to adding some picnic benches and so it's going to be what? And my fear factor or not fear factor concern is you can't walk on the lawn because of all the uh as the the geese that you showed in the uh picture it impacts the quality of of activity and that and also the concerns that you mentioned the water people driving on their truck the gasoline uh all those things that negative that cost money and also impact the environment. uh but the need to do something is is is um relevant. So as you mentioned all all phrases to the question if we do A and B of the playgrounds 90 to 100% from what I've heard they will be happy the park will be complete other than improve the overall maintenance. Is that a fair statement?

That's correct. And then we can move on to the what's the word? There's um there's three parks that they want to move. We can move on to the other two. I forget what the exact verbiage is. Um so I just wanted to uh point out about the park why I was for it and I'm definitely for this because we need much activity over there as possible because of the challenges of maintenance and the opportunity for youth involvement. Thank anyone else?

I I maybe about two one question and two clarifying points I guess. Um keep hearing I think you went back and forth and mayor prot went back and forth about uh would this complete the park or not? That's, you know, it said 80 90% at one point. Then that part right there says it it be complete. So this 250 and some additional monies for the second set of of youth playground equipment would, you know, just straighten me up on when would the park be complete?

The park would be deemed complete after we get the playgrounds. There are some areas that could be in the future could be added some extra areas if we wanted to go that route, but right now they're they're going to be more set for grass kind of open. Maybe not even grass grass, but they'll have some some bark in areas that you could get out there and throw a ball around. But what we've been talking about over the last handful of years, that project will be complete. It's areas could you can always add stuff in those areas. Correct. Okay. Okay. That's what I'm just trying to understand.

Yeah. I I um I tend to agree with the mayor pro Tim I guess um about the uh workout equipment, right? You know, if if that's not what we want to put there, then it should be a line drawn through that saying that's no longer going to be and maybe that's a process, city manager, to to properly take it out of your guys review to make sure it is really what people want to happen. Um, but if that's what direction we going, we need to let everybody know. Where can people find that diagram at? Is it on the website?

Yes. And it is on the website, and I pulled this from an old staff report um is where I got it, but it is on it should be on the website under um the park areas as well.

No, sometimes we go there. I go there and there's just so many clicks that we need to do and I know the city manager is working on him and the city clerk are working on a better so-called website responsive website but uh it's good to you know citizens want to go and they want to see what we're doing right then what is the long-term CIP right what we talking about you know I have concerns with uh Lerna Grande that that park uh rehab synthetic grass so to speak uh long term term. So, I you know, this is the direction we're going is fine, but I I still think we had to figure out how to move that quicker. And I know the city manager is going to tell me, well, then you had to find me some money or something, right?

Uh and but up until then, how can we program cleaning up the the the droppings from the animals out there a little bit more often, a little bit consistent before the major events? You know, I think I think you guys been doing that and people really been appreciative when they come out there for those major events that it's it's pretty clean. So, I would ask that we think about doing that. Uh, anyone else? Uh, let's let's take it out to let's take it out to public comment.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Hi, my name is Jeannie Reese and I'm the FOSPA secretary and also a steward at Lincoln Cunningham. And I just want to say thank you for the support of this initiative and um thank you for uh recognizing the need to bring in other more expert um people to install the equipment because we were having major concerns and we really appreciate your attention to that. So that's it. Thank you. Katherine Crockett, you now have the floor to make your public comment.

Good evening. Um, I support the proposed $250,000 transfer to the uh uh from the Lagona Grande Park project to the improvements at Lincoln Cunningham Park. We're already seeing real positive change at Lincoln Cunningham Park. The new basketball court brought new life to the park and um with the new um safe pathway, we see kids walking to school, families, people biking, they're using that every day. This new additional funding would help keep that momentum going. So, I urge you to approve this transfer and I appreciate the city's continued investment in our neighborhood parks. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Carlo Lobo, you now have the floor to make your public comment.

Thank you. Um I completely missed the portion where someone asked if this will complete linking Cunningham. I also um missed when we spoke about when the actual finishing of Laguna Grande would be or when that will begin and how long it will take um and if it will interrupt or will it be done around um our major city events that take place there specifically for the farmers market. Um I also agree with the mayor with regards to the website. It is very difficult to navigate even computer savvy individuals specifically because the parks and recre does have a master plan and it's very tedious to try to navigate and actually get to the document to view it. So, if we can have some sort of upgrade, and I know that it was mentioned that city manager and the clerk are working on that, but perhaps um we can get an estimate or an update on how much longer that's going to be just for the accessibility portion of it. I know that some individuals can't always come to city hall to access it, so it would be nice for it to relatively be accessible online. I yield the rest of my time. Thank you for your comments. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature. Dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Mayor, no other members of the public

have come forward to make public comment. Thank you. Uh you want to go during public comment? Let me close public comment. That way nobody can come behind you. Uh public comment is closed. Mayor, uh Council Member Middle. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I just wanted to uh say that the bridge that uh connects the two parks uh I I hope we could look at I know we are looking at ways to fix that bridge but since Lincoln Cunningham will be finished that we can the pathway into the bridge could be looked at with that I'll make a motion to approve 9B. Second you made a motion I think you did

it's been properly moved. Yes, sir. It's been probably moved and second. Uh on the question, were were there any questions? Okay. I thought um yeah, it was a question for the public about being complete. So, could you come just clarify what you guys mean by? Yes, the park will be complet.

Okay. You got a rough estimate on when? Uh we the the plan would hopefully be to um once approved tonight to engage the consultant and have bring a contract back for the purchase and installation of the playground at the next council meeting and then from there we just determined on their schedule. So we are hoping within the next couple months. Okay. Then the for the upgrades to Lingham I do we have an estimate on that? Oh you mean Laguna Grande?

Laguna Grande sir. So before the break um I did finally have a meeting with the state in regards to our um state parks grant and they are supposed to be issuing us a contract um for the grant funds. Once we get that contract it will go through the process here for us to review. We will you know execute that. Um we are currently in the process of engaging consultants to do the the design of the park. Um this will be quite of a a probably 16 month to 24month process depending um to get everything done primarily because of the coastal zone and the areas of having to work within our m migratory birds and everything else involved in in the park. Our environmental reports and permits are requiring us to be very sensitive around those areas. So, um it should bo we're gassing around a two-year project,

right? Uh whenever you get started, right? Uh and then uh I guess my last comment is you know it went the comment went towards what it would impact and I would say we don't know right now and it will probably impact a whole bunch of stuff going on there because what we can't do is be s well what we will do is be sensitive to the environment and endangered species work around them but then we cannot then also work around uh events at the park. the events at the park is just going to have to be impacted. Is that is that a true statement? Like what say that is true? And and I'm already starting to work on backup plans for all those events. Thank you, sir.

On Yes. Can I just ask one quick question? Uh is it possible at least as a goal to have those playgrounds done by by summertime so the kids could take advantage of that? Yes, we will make that a goal. That's all. Just be nice. Yeah. Is that a hard ask? I mean, when you think about it, you know, when you guys think about your plan, is that hard to do by I don't know. I don't even know what summertime is for school. But what I'm saying is I thought we are doing this so we can um put that equipment in there uh as soon as possible. That's that's what I'm looking at. I thought that was what the goal was.

That is correct. and and as soon as we can engage in a contract for the 5 to 12 since we already have the equipment, they should be able to put that in within a couple of weeks. I think that that the the lead time would be on ordering the new equipment. So, but this as soon as possible, correct? Okay. All right. And thank you so much. I did on on my questions. I do want to thank the uh city manager for for hearing the council and and and finding where this money could be taken from to to uh make this happen. Uh so we appreciate him and his team. All right. All those in favor use regine voting which is I

I nays have the same right abstensions hearing. None's eyes have it. Motion carried. Uh let's go to item number 10. Council members request a new council member's request. Yes. Uh Mr. Mayor, I have a request to look at the capacity fee uh capacity for our water system and an update on our wells, including the property behind Chili's that that the city acquired for a well and I would like an update on if that well is working. City manager had those things. Yes.

Okay. Uh anyone else? Okay. Follow up on previous request. Um, one receive a report and I think as city manager said earlier is a is a typo as it relates to report. Uh, but this is the opportunity for council member Garcia Zola to uh u get support for um his concerns around vacancy commercial properties in seaside and what he wants us to put on the future agenda.

Yeah, thank you mayor. to me. I think we heard a little bit about it when we started opening up the meeting about vacancies throughout the city and I've seen some buildings that have been vacant for around two to three years, but I just want to have a final count as to how many vacant buildings we've had in the city of Seaside. How long have they been vacant? Has that number increased, decreased? Um, and uh, just to get an overall sense of where we're at and I I would say the time the duration in which a building is vacant for we can get that. Perfect. Is there support for that to put that on the

enough to Okay, seems like enough to put it on there. Okay. uh city manager has his uh directions and um it'll be on some future agenda, not necessarily two weeks from now. He has to work up his numbers. Uh item number two, which is mine, consider adopting process to determine the true cost of housing affordability. I'd like us to put on the agenda uh a discussion on h on giving the city manager directions about how to not how but to go out and try to collect the data that really determines what is the uh prohibitive cost to housing in our community. You know, anecdotally we can say, hey, it's the cost of housing. Okay, that's fine. But again, that's just people speaking in the ether, right? What is the data? what is the information that he can collect um the city can collect to determine uh you know what is the um um difficulty in affordable housing at all income levels in a sense um and so I think with that information um that would be helpful to us uh moving forward so I would ask uh council's support to to put that on a future agenda Um and then at the future agenda is when we give him the more clear direction about it. Uh if that makes sense, right, city attorney have to be on the agenda first to get something done. So

no, I don't need it if you don't. Uh so all right. Is there is there enough you want to Okay. Are you asking for a sort of presentation the next time that it comes back? Correct. for more.

I'm asking for it to be put on the agenda for action to, you know, accept what information he has and to see if that's enough information for you guys to be comfortable with and maybe it needs to be in another form, right? My my Yeah. And so that's that's really what I'm asking for. Yeah. Because I don't want to push him out there to bring all this information back and that's not really what what what we're looking for as a council. So, but this is the only way to do all that is that put on account yet is to put on the agenda. So, if there's uh not too many objections, then we'll city manager will deem that as supportive. Okay. So, let's go on to uh city attorney, city manager, city council, and mayor's comments, reports on committee assignments. Uh madam city attorney,

thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, members of the public. I hope everybody had a um wonderful holiday season and happy holiday season and um I am looking forward to the year 2026. Um since our last meeting, I was able to participate in the senior holiday lunchon and the New Year's Eve dance. Both were well attended and wonderful events. I was also able to participate in um two holiday gift um programs, one at the Greater Victory Temple and one tail end of one at the Hem Plaza. Also all attended in wonderful events. And finally, I was able to um attend a Bospa um park cleanup at Durant Park this past weekend. And that concludes my my comments.

Uh thank you same manager.

Uh yeah, happy new year to everyone and a a successful 2026. We've started some partner uh meetings with our partnership agencies in the water side, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District and Marina Coast Water District. And uh on the tourism and econom e economic development side, we've had some meetings with Monterey County Hospitality Association, the Bayonet Blackhorse Golf Course, as well as Monterey Bay FC. So we're trying to move uh you know in those in those areas with our partners um for um you know, Seaside's prosperity. On January 8th, we attended a fire department badge pinning ceremony that was uh at held Moose Lodge in Delray Oaks. We appreciate the chief and and his staff for uh for that recognition. On January 13th, uh we had a inmarket site visit with Retail Strategies LLC. We toured the community as well as got an update on the data that they have uh completed, which is a void analysis and a leakage uh study. And so we'll be um putting all that into marketing materials again to to go after uh to help solve our vacant property, commercial property issues and and uh expand uh Seaside's economy. And then uh finally last night the city attorney and I attended the joint community social at the Prescidio of Monterey with Colonel Daniel Artino and the incoming Colonel uh Christy Whitfield. Um finally uh I want to say a special thank you to our police department. Uh regarding the shooting that occurred on the 5th um in the 1900 block of Fremont. Um just want to shout out to responding officers uh Deaz Bernal Prasad and acting sergeant Hazar. and then the detectives that were working the case, Detective Sway, Detective Salmon, uh the Commander Doza, and then a special recognition to Chief Borges, who again uh continues to redefine community policing. So, thank you to you and your staff.

Uh Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh it's been a while since our last meeting, so uh quite a long list, but uh it was uh nice to be with my uh uh the council at the senior lunchon and the New Year's event. And then our fourth annual youth summit at Oldmire Center was great. And then of course the uh toy drive at Crater Victory and uh the also the fire department badge pinning, wonderful event. Uh but one of the highlights for me was our the shave save save our shores event at the uh porta hotel. I was with uh council member Garcia Arizona and he gave a speech that just gave me chills. Um it was an incredible speech uh about saving our our our ocean, our our coastline. Uh kudos to him and his um leadership on that. And also um I want to say thank you to the to the chief. I did also see one of our sergeants left the city. I would have I met him during PAL uh Eddie and when I was working with PAL in 2008 so I was sad to see that he was leaving. Um I would have loved to have been there um but that's okay. And um I also want to announce that on March 28th the CHS pres uh CEO is retiring and there's an event for her on March 28th. the community human services and on ambag last night. We are working towards an EIR for 2050 planning growth forecasts and transit oriented um and seaside is definitely on their radar for projects and in our corridors and um so they they are familiar with the projects we're working on. So some things good things should be happening this year uh with Amag and we met last night and the EIR was released and our staff did provide I believe our staff provided comments uh to them directly. So uh that's all I had

to report and happy new year. Thank you council member Marks.

Happy New Year. Um since our last meeting, I too was able to attend the holiday lunch and New Year's Eve lunch. Um, thank you to fire department for being out there busy day, but they were still there to help um, serve food. Um, and to the wreck department. I also attended uh, the gift giveaway at the Hem Plaza, which had a fun visitor. The Grinch showed up um, as well as Greater Victory. It was amazing to see the coordination and organiz organizing of everything so that they could have hot chocolate and pizza and gifts by age. Um, not just the littles, but even teenagers. Um, and then I also was there for Pastor Les's Christmas seasonal basket giveaway, um, giving out food and clothing as needed. Um, I too was at Seaside Rising's um, youth summit. It was an honor to be asked to sit on the panel. Um, and again, great to see our teens, not just from here in Seaside, but from our local communities coming together to play, have fun, and just get to learn. Um, and then just want to say thank you to the engineers for excellent planning and communication for the calming traffic, the traffic calming project on Soma. Um, it's made a huge difference seeing the striping, the speed humps, and even the crosswalk being much clearer, not just for the students at Damp, but for all the kids living in the hymn and crossing back and forth um for the ice cream truck. So, thank you um for all of that. Council

member Garcia. Yeah, I also just want to reiterate I al I too attended the senior holiday lunchon um as well as I know city attorney and um Miss Rita was uh in the kitchen serving those plates and I think uh it gets really busy for for for holiday season and I also want to appreciate the fire department for coming out and and helping serve that makes a difference and just showcases how many people are involved in these events. So really great to be there. Seaside rising annual celebration. I was on a panel with Councilwoman Burks where we discuss sort of obstacles we faced or we've seen, but also our commitment to the city of Seaside. And I also attended the New Year's Eve lunchon, Greater Victory Temple Church toy giveaway, which was mentioned, the Hemp Plaza toy giveaway, Seaside Fire Department badge ceremony. That was a great one. Um although it was working while people were getting bad uh pinned I was paying attention at the same time but it was a really good event. Monterey people's hearing u as council member Miller mentioned uh I think there was around I read an article at roughly 270 people in attendance at that hearing. Um, but it was it was really impactful and powerful because we showcased how Seaside as a whole managed to get the resolution forward and it's an updated resolution so other municipalities might have something similar but this one was really targeted to the current date and it was really important for us to showcase what we are doing here in the city of Ciss and how we also have a role to play and we were joined by um the entire board of supervisors. uh Senator Larard was in attendance uh and amongst others as well. So really well attended um event and I don't have anything else to say. Again, I think we've all said thank you to Chief Borges for his outstanding work on and swift uh

reaction to making sure that our community was kept up to date, but helped keep everyone at ease knowing that our police department is working day in and day out in ensuring the safety for everybody and our youth as well. So, thank you for that, Chief. Mayor Pro.

Thank you. I attended the Mon transit meeting. uh focused on moving the surf project forwards, expansion and purchase of land to enhance bus terminals and Selenas for the bus state station maintenance and officers plus maximum opportunities for AI and safeguarding operations. You know, I think we all attended the senior Christmas uh party and wanted to thank all those that were involved. uh you know it's a celebration of community and family and I think when we can do that uh and get seniors to actively participate it makes us all better. Uh tenant the victory temple Christmas program want to thank the Bull family and all those to include the fire department for what they do. Um obviously the kids truly enjoyed it. Ted the Fosa park cleanup at Beta. Um very fortunate to have a group like Fauca that's um a community change agent as far as enhancing learn parks Christmas Eve New Year's Eve Christmas party. Again, it was fun to bring in the new year with the seniors and with all the council attended the uh neighborhood improvement retreat. Uh the goal was to review some significant programs and uh priorities. uh they did a really good job as far as uh moving their ideas forward. Dan did a really excellent job as far as facilitating the me meeting and keeping them focused on what they need to do as far as uh hopefully next year. Uh obviously the police chief uh thank you for all you do as well as all the officers. Uh it was a creative and process and a helpful process and it made a difference to our community. Uh thank you. Thank you. I I think we Well, yeah, some of us were at different places, so I'll

just mention mine. Uh Christmas was great. You know, I think Seaside really continues to lead the way as we continue to support those organizations and show up at those organizational uh functions in our community that um make a difference in those kids' life. And it was Christmas season. So like like people said before, Greater Victory had an event. The Hem Plaza had an event. There was something else. I had like three that that day. I forget the third one. But uh and then uh uh Pastor Lethal had a Christmas giveaway uh closed in basket. And I wasn't able to make the American Legent uh Christmas annual Christmas um kids giveaway, but I know the American Legion uh did a whole bunch of gifts. U but we want to thank those individuals and I know it was more people and more organizations that that supported kids and gave kids uh gifts and we know the police and fire department donated to uh certain organizations at the best they could. attended the uh lunchons with the other council members, the the seniors in our community and really for the peninsula because they come from all over. Really enjoyed uh the uh Christmas party, city manager and the New Year's party and so we appreciate you guys finding the wherewithal to to fund that every year. Uh Ted the Seaside Rising uh annual summit. It was good to see uh council member uh Garcia Arizona and Burks on the stage uh interacting a answering the hard questions from those youth. Um but we all were in the room and and they seen their local leadership supporting them uh at their summit. So I want to appreciate the council for being there for that. Attended the uh Seaside Groundwater Masters uh meeting. Uh we hired a new executive director. Our

long-term executive director of 20 years um is retiring has retired and so we had to hire a a new executive director. Um and then attended a couple several park cleanups. I attended the Lavco personnel ad hoc committee. We're in a process of uh hiring a a new Lavco executive director uh there. So we just started that process and and going through the uh process with the HR consultancy. Attended the mayor's meeting um and also attended the U Monterey Peninsula uh Asian student alliance uh their annual culture show. I think they had at least 24 different uh groups and then each group did about two or three uh performances either singing, mostly dancing, uh had some tai chi out there and so it was wonderful. Uh two explosive hours of of three Yeah, I'm sorry. It was three three explosive hours of watching different cultures from around the world Pacific Pacifically around Pacific uh uh Pacific Islands and and things and places of that nature. And so it was wonderful annual show. So I really appreciate that. attended a rail policy committee uh meeting um still working and and trying to make sure um Monterey County particularly uh Selenus it's in the in the link for the trains that'll be coming down here in the next u couple years uh on their way to uh King City but stopping off in Selenus uh attended and moderate Selena's mosquito abatement district meeting. Uh

that was a a routine uh meeting there. I attended the uh police department's um bash penny ceremony. It was a well done ceremony by our chief of police. He he did it with the dignity and the honor that those uh firefighters deserve. And so we appreciate our fire chief. Did I say I said it wrong first, didn't I? Yeah. He gave he gave me that look. It was like Okay. Uh but we appreciate the fire chief for uh running that that program the way he ran that program because I think we all appreciate it and of course the families appreciate it.

I want to say that um like everyone else we appreciate um all of our employees. Um but I want to highlight the the police department. this evening because once again, you know, with the leadership of our police chief, uh he showed us what community policing really is and and what is the best practices in community policing is how do you uh maintain the trust with your community? And sometimes that's just letting things go the way they need to go. And so I have full faith in him that he's always going to make the right decisions and and we always have the right results. And I think he says something like he always gets his man or something like that, but you know, letting letting the situation play and I won't go into all of it, right? letting the situation play out the way it played out shows that he has the uh maturity to run a police department no matter how big or small and and we are a small city but that doesn't mean he doesn't run it as though we're a big city and our citizens feel it and we appreciate it. Um, and then I would just end with uh, you know, happy new year, right? We're getting back into it. I think the city clerk said this is our first meeting of the year and and how are we going to meet down here to do the business of the citizens. And so I say happy new year and we'll just move forward. Uh, I do have something uh, for you city manager. It's it's some it's it's some property. One man's property is another man's, you know, access property, right? It's been been on the corner over there

by Angelina's and two shopping carts for I guess at least 10 days, right? At least 10 days. And and I know sometimes, you know, we look at it, oh well, we don't want to grab it because it's somebody's property. Well, you need to go look and you'll see it's just a bunch of garbage bags with nothing in there. And if it is property, I think we have a process for that, but we just can't leave it on the side of the road acting like we don't see it. And I know it's uh staff members running around this city that sees it. So, thank you, city manager. All right, let's go on to item number 12, which is close session. uh be how how are we going to do this? City clerk, uh we're closing the meeting and someone's honor. So, I'm going to let her let the city attorney read us in the close session. Then I'll make some comments after um public comments closed. All right. Uh city attorney, could you read us into close session?

Uh right up. She reads us into close session. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, members of the public. The council will have a conference with real property negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956.8. Property in question is commonly referred to as a portion of main gate at Devarti and 1st Avenue. Agency negotiators, city manager, city attorney at all negotiating parties, four-door hostile society and the city of Seaside under negotiation price, terms of payment or both. uh they will have a conference with legal counsel pursuant to government code section 54956.9 on one matter of existing litigation. The case name is Seaside Highlands Homeowners Association versus the City of Seaside. That's Monterey County Superior Court case number 24 CV00002872. And finally, they will have a conference with legal counsel pursuant to government code section 54956.9D2 on two matters of potential litigation. For the benefit of the public, I do not believe there will be any readout of actionable um actions taken during close session this evening. That concludes my readin.

Uh thank you so much. Uh, I will now open up close session. I will now open up public comment on our close session items. Public comment is open. Did you have something? Okay, public comment is over.

Thank you, mayor, city council. Also, happy new year to you all. Um, I'm just going to read this. I'll provide it to the clerk as well. And I believe it was provided earlier. My name is Peter Say. I represent SE Enterprises. Uh we call it SE. It's a city approved sublease operating at the hostel site in building 4420. We often call it 6th Avenue Studios. I understand the council will be considering real property negotiations with the Ford Hostile Society in close session pursuant to government code and I believe you read it out. I'm submitting this comment to raise a narrow procedural issue for the council's awareness prior to those discussions. Site Enterprises was reviewed and approved by the city as a sublec with possessory interest and is operated in reliance on that approval at the site. In addition, site enterprises own operations. We have incubated and supported an ecosystem of multiple artists and related arts businesses with sole proprietors running at the site. All of which have been directed uh all of these have been directly affected by the same city created uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding lease status and permitted use there. To date, site Enterprises has not been provided with notice identifying any specific statute, ordinance or code provision governing its status. Nor has site Enterprises been afforded an opportunity to cure or respond to any alleged deficiency affecting its subleaser operations. My purpose in submitting this comment is not to request action or approval, but it's to ask that in the event that this master lease is terminated, amended, or restructured with the hostile society, that the council consider whether an approved subc my business and the and those operating underneath me uh have any independent status, notice requirements, or renewal considerations that should be addressed rather than

assumed resolved solely through the changes in the master lease. Site Enterprises has not received clarity or direction from the city regarding its status despite being directly impacted by the city actions. I believe it's appropriate for city council to ensure this issue is considered as part of its close session deliberations so decisions are made with full understanding of all the affected parties. Thank you for including this comment in the record. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Carla Lobo, you now have the floor to make your public comment. Thank you. Um, that last commenter threw me off. Uh just out of curiosity, that close session item that he's speaking about, um does that have anything to do with the property out in Ford that was a hostile or a hospice? I wasn't sure if I can get clarification on that. Uh but my original comment was going to be with regards to the litigation that we're currently in. Um I believe we had a court hearing and I'd like an update on that. I know that you can't say much, but um just to understand where we're at. Uh I believe the last comment that I made was with regards to the record and that was already established. And so I'd like just an update on the litigation if we've had litigation um when the next court date is. Uh I personally haven't had an opportunity to look that up. Um though I can, but it would be nice if you'd provide that. Uh I yield the rest of my time. Thank you for your comments,

mayor. At this time, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment. Uh public comment on our closed session items remain open. No other members of the public are present at this time to make public comment.

There you go. Thank you. Uh public comment is closed. Uh madam city attorney, are there any questions, issues, or comments you can speak to at this time? Um, with respect to one of the commoners asking for clarification on item B, the conference with real property negotiators, um, the, um, property is located on former Fort and it does involve the Fort Hostile Society. Um, that's what I can say on that one. And I am not 100% certain how to respond. I don't think I can respond to the uh uh prior litigation comment because I'm not sure which case was being referred to at this time. Okay. And and any other comments or or requests from uh any other uh community member or interested parties, we will uh make sure we understand better and reach out to them to let them know. Uh how about Mrs. T?

I I I I Okay, thank you. Um I I think with respect to uh those comments um that can be a part of the discussion during real property negotiations and you'll later. Okay. Okay. All right.

Uh public comments closed. We will go into uh move into close session. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. the uh Yeah. Did anyone else wanted to speak on on Ken? Did anyone else know Ken? Uh I didn't know him as as well as others in the community. U so I didn't have the the benefit or the pleasure of of knowing uh Ken. Uh Mr. Renzale uh as long as others I I do know he was a good man, a caring community leader, a great father, and a loving husband. He's also a highly uh successful uh construction business owner uh here locally uh him and his wife uh and they did many of projects uh throughout the peninsula and quite a bit in the Carmel Pebble Beach area. Uh but he was also spent a lot of his time, his extra time uh being a community leader here in the city of Seaside, long-term uh planning commissioner. Uh and he did other things within the community. Uh and he was a role model for those that that was able to watch him up close and and just see how he carried himself. Uh I I do want to say that uh uh his passing was brought to my attention by a former council member uh Daryl Shotay that uh mentioned a lot of respect for uh Ken and uh Kenneth and and what he did when uh he was here and so that carries a lot of weight uh because Darl knew him for I guess a very long time. So, uh, we know, you know, he's at rest right now and we offer our sincere condolences to his family and I would say, you know, rest in peace and, um, may God continue to, uh, hold

close and bless his family in this time. Uh, thank you so much. We will move into a close session. Appreciate the city clerk for putting the fisher together.