City Council - Special Meeting

All right, everybody ready? We're going to start our Selma City Council special meeting. It's a community goal setting meeting. It's April 2nd, 2026. It's 2 p.m. in the Selma City Council chambers at 1710 Tucker Street, Selma, California 93662. The teleconference phone number is 3017158592. The webinar ID is 891-6864-50005. When on the phone, if you wish to address the council during the public comment portion of the agenda, press star 9 to raise your hand and we will select you from the meeting queue. Press star six to unmute and mute yourself. We invite all community members to join us for an informal goal setting session with the city council. This is a great opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas that will help guide our future budget planning. Your input matters. Notice to meeting attendees. Members of the audience shall not engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of threatening or abusive language or other acts which disturb, disrupt, or impede or otherwise render the orderly conduct of a city council meeting in feasible. Would you call the role, please?

Council member Abalos, here. Council member Oera, here. Council member Trujillo. Mayor Promggera here. Mayor Robertson

here. Potential conflicts of interest. Any council member who has a potential conflict of interest may now identify the item and recuse themselves from discussing and voting on the matter. Agenda changes or deletions to better accommodate members of the public or inconvenience in the order of presentation. Items on the agenda may not be presented or acted on in the order listed. Additions to the agenda may be added only pursuant to California government code section 54954.2B. City Manager, do we have any such changes or deletions? No changes or deletions, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, sir. Moving on to oral communications. Notice the public at this time. Any member of the public may address the city council regarding any item on the regular meeting agenda over which the council has jurisdiction. No action or discussion will be taken on any item not on the agenda. Issues raised will be referred to the city manager for review. Members of the public are asked to limit their remarks to three minutes. Does anybody have anything they'd like to say at this time? With that, we will move on. Do we have anybody online or on the phone with anything any oral communications at this time? Mayor, I see no hands raised right now.

Thank you. With that, we will move on to our main event today, which is a goal setting workshop. This is going to be a discussion regarding fiscal year 2026 2027 goals and priorities to incorporate into the budget. City manager.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um, as stated, this is a policy setting workshop. This is not a budget adoption. What we're looking at doing today is identifying departmental needs uh for council consideration and identifying council priorities as well. uh while receiving direction from council. This is to establish the framework of the 2627 budget. Uh staff is currently working on that diligently right now and we are trying to emphasize alignment with the city's long-term visions and goals and that comes from having these types of meetings. And so as we move into this, what we're looking at is highle discussion. This isn't um line item budgeting. That'll be at a later date uh when we look at those specific budget numbers. Uh what we're focusing on is those priorities of uh staff department needs and of course the public and council as well. Uh this discussion is meant to be informative and collaborative. So, when we're doing the presentation, as our departments are moving forward, if there is a question from uh council on that, feel free to interject and ask any questions that you may have. And then we'll follow that up with um uh council discussion, more priority setting, and then public comment at the end of it. And uh with that, we do have a presentation that we'll go ahead and kick off with. Patrick, do we have that presentation?

Oh, yeah. All right. Uh, next slide. So, that's the basic agenda. Kind of went over that in my opening statement. Next slide. All right. So, we wanted to let you know about some of our initial budget assumptions that we're looking at or incorporating into the uh next budget. Sales tax we've met with our HDL consultants uh is remains relatively flat right now. It's about 1.5% is what they're estimating uh which gives us that figure right there. Uh measure S is in a similar situation as that with uh 2.7 million estimated. Um we are anticipating will be anticipating in this budget loss of measure C funds as we do not know what will be happening with the citizen initiatives that are out there. So that's a quarter of those funds that totals $230,000. Um, additionally with uh some of the currentus we are showing about an average of 6% increase in personnel costs related to pay and health and then other concerns KPERS uh hasn't provided them yet but we

do anticipate Kalpers increases um as we move forward with uh creating that budget. Next slide. And so now we're going to go into our departmental needs. Uh each of our departments here have uh a slide or two that they will go ahead and talk about some of those priorities that they're looking at. And as I stated, if there's any questions, um then we can have council um ask and we can have uh public interact as well. Next slide. and we'll go ahead and start off with our finance department, Director Moreno.

Thank you, Jason. Um, yes, Mayor and council members. So, for the finance division, um, right now, we're currently not no asking for no requests at this time. Our current focus right now is, um, solely just, uh, the full implementation of Tyler ERP Pro. We have successfully implemented the general ledger, accounts payable, cashiering, and accounts receivables as well. Um currently now as of this week we've started working on the bank reconciliations. We're going to start working on fixed assets and as well as project accounting. Again this is going to help the finance division for the workflow and efficiencies. As far as strategic direction going forward we're hoping for the budget award um not this year but the following year as well and to also to complete the fiscal year um audit for 2526.

Yes. Yes. um department left or are you sure? We are currently fully staffed. Perfect. Thank you. And it looked like the audit's going to be on the next agenda. So, we're ahead of the game this year on that.

That's correct. I think last year was in May. Uh we pushed them and they worked really really hard staff to get everything in. They'll be coming up at the next council meeting. Great. Yes. Thank you. All right, next slide, please. And for this, I'll defer to our city clerk.

Good afternoon. So you'll see here that my current focus is compliance and legislative administration, election coordination and management, record and meeting management and agenda management. So moving forward, these are my focuses for this year um and currently the key challenges that I face in the office of the city clerk at this time. Um they primarily focus around municipal management, agenda management, the lack of software and training systems uh and then having clerk assistance. So um I am a department of one the increase in workload um has been prevalent. So with that being said um I do request some assistance. My strategic direction right now is procurement of an agenda management system. So that would be the most helpful for not only the clerk's office but throughout to um to become become the most efficient possible. With that said, I would also like to implement department cross trainining so that when we do have absences, you know, um, in the city clerk's office that we can have someone step in. And then next slide on that, please, Patrick.

And these are some of the operational needs that uh, Clerk Carlson was talking about. um related to agenda management software. Um we are currently looking at various ones and that can range from about 30 to 42,000 for initial implementation of that. Uh currently the way that it's managed right now is through um our documents are submitted in Word and then they're converted over in PDF which uh you know is nice when it works but when you're dealing with large agendas and stuff at times sometimes those can crash and cause issues on getting stuff out in a timely manner. Um and then uh as she stated there is a request for a part-time clerk assistant um or office assistant too. Uh currently none of the personnel staffing requests that you'll see in these slides um are with in the budget um that we're working on right now. But these are requests that we are currently examining. And then um as as mentioned looking at technological implementation in order to increase organizational efficiency and uh any questions I have a question can you explain what the civic plus and the granicus legis

they are both agenda management software programs. Those are the two most common commonly utilized and those are the two with the best ratings. So it's 32 initial and what is the per year after that? It it really depends. Um there are several different aspects uh variables with that. So it depends on our customization. There are certain modules that you can choose and it depends on what modules we choose. Okay. So when we come to budget, can you let us know which bud which modules you're going to choose because I'd like to know exactly how much it's going to cost?

Yes, definitely. Uh as I vet this, the numbers will become more precise. So I'm still vetting the systems to decide which is the most which we will benefit from the most. According to the city manager, it's not in the budget. This is not going to be in the budget. This is a request from the city clerk at this stage of the game. Is these are currently requests. Okay. Right now. Yes. Another item is on the um the assistant the administrative assistant position that's now open again. Is that is there a possibility of that person doing some of this work um with the city clerk as well?

Yes, that is um a potential and that's something that is being loo looked at as well. Not only that, but it's being looked at as whether that position continues as well. You're looking at whether to continue, correct, filling that position as well. And if you don't, then that will just be a will that be an unbudgeted position that we don't have to allocate money towards even notionally potentially. Okay. And then um terms of your time um do you sp I understand you spend a lot of time on public records act requests. So would your so people from the public are constantly sending in public records act requests some more than others?

Yes. Do you would that office assistant be able to um assist with that activity? That is the intention is to have someone that can step in and assist with with that. I would oversee. However, that would be their primary function. The acquisition of Madison AI is a software program for the city, which we've gone over. I think it was like 50,000 bucks to acquire it, but it's not going to cost that much. As council member Sigara said, it's it's less each year for that licensing fee. Does that acquisition help you to research those documents that people are asking for?

It does not only for my research but throughout the agency. Okay. Okay. I have a quick question as well. Sarah Mike, um you mentioned that you're looking to maybe crossrain another individual, but for now when you're absent, who takes over your position? I do not have anyone. No one. I I do not have anyone as a backup. Okay. I don't think we ever had a backup, did we? Do we? Yeah.

Yeah. And it and that's also a concern as well that we've noted because it can everybody's entitled to be sick, have sick days off or vacation time as well. Um, and staff does a good job of uh trying to schedule vacation times, but sometimes you have family events and other functions that happen to come up and just in case if there's an emergency or something that uh is there, having somebody to be able to step into that role um and assist with those functions um is much needed. Would that be uh would the backup be someone you would look for in-house or would it be someone who would be along the lines of the city clerk assistant that the city clerk is requesting? If I might add, the former um HR director was a city clerk and she served as the backup. And so you have had a backup in the past and so um when the former clerk had left, she actually served as your clerk um for about a four-month period until they brought Sarah in.

Um so the clerk's office had a backup previously um but we have not identified one internally right now.

I have another question there. Forgive me. I I'm you know on I I know you know the city clerk's responsibilities are and sometimes you know you know there are some issues that you know have to come out and meetings person has to be at and you do need a a person that uh a backup plan as far as you know to alleviate some of the issues. Um now now I'm myself I'm old school here. Uh I'm looking myself if one of the the finance department if someone's over in the finance department or um for example um even Jose down there or in in whoseever department you know uh to be crossrained to assist you. You know certain days you know you you have to be at a meeting. I understand that. and certain days like like he says emergencies you're sick whatever it happens it's no one in life it happens and and you got to have a backup plan or you know and I I'm I'm a firm believer in contingency you know action plans behind the sit you know situations when it happens you know uh like with Jason if something happens there's a backup plan always a backup plan so uh and I'm a I'm a firm believer in that. At the same time, uh I believe in training people myself inhouse. You know, uh I come from a corporation where we train people inhouse because if something happens, they'll be able to step in. They know the system already. It's not like they're not we don't have to call them in. They're there already. You know what

I mean? It's it's to me it's cost effective, very intelligent to do this way. ological and I look at those things overall. That's my opinion. I have a couple of things on that. Um

perhaps we need to look at hiring a full-time office assistant that could fulfill that that need. And the reason I'm saying that because when you take people from one classification and you put them in another, that's a working out class and that's that's a no new. So something to think about when you're saying we got to train Jose or whatever. His classification is completely different. He can go to the union or to us and say I'm working out of class, man. You know, you going to pay me going to pay me more. So I think if we hire a full-time assistant, the person can be trained to fulfill the the needs of ripping her or whoever else who needs an idea.

Thank you. Thank you for that feedback and input. All right, next slide, please.

Thank you, city manager, mayor, members of council. Um the human resources department is continuing to um improve our processes and efficiencies while maintaining um and decreasing costs as much as possible. Um we do have negotiations with both the fire unit and COIA mid managers this year. Um so that will be um some items coming forward. Um in our information technology, this has been um a focus of both um Chief Webster and myself. Um we have put into the budget um a request for DocYsine um which is about a $10,000 purchase. Um this was would allow us to um have the mayor, vice mayor, um council members when needed to sign documents um electronically versus um the way we're doing it now. We would also be able to use that process in the human resources department when we're onboarding new um employees etc. So um that will assist um citywide uh with that process. We're also taking a look at our um network. um our network is slow throughout the city. Um but especially coming kind of if you think of a pipeline coming out of city hall, it's very small and then it's trying to feed out to all the other um agents uh our different um buildings. So we're looking at um increasing our internet services to city hall um getting internet service out to animal services and better service to our public works corporation. slide. We um requested that um departments submit any new um employee requests to human resources so that we could take a look at the cost for those. Um these as the manager had um said, these are not in the budget. These are requests that have come in um and will be highlighted in the department um overviews today. Um the fire department is requesting three EMTs and three paramedics. Um, Chief Webster has spoken um several times about a fourth ambulance um to the

council. That cost is about $800,000 um fully wrapped. Um that is a July 1 cost. Um we certainly would not be able to get those employees on right away. So we would take a look to shrink that cost based on um projected um date. Um but we I like to give you the full u view of what that would look like in a in a budget year. Um, animal services um is requesting an animal services officer um to help with the standby issue um that council has identified that they would like. Um they do not currently have a u vehicle. Um and so um this 145,000 is for the actual officer. It would be the purchase of a vehicle with the right type of um bed on it um to be able to pick up in the summertime, etc. Those are usually air conditioned beds. Um, and then there's some miscellaneous costs um with uniforms and snares and different things. Um, the recreation department is asking for a part-time um arts aid. This is a part-time position um at uh $20,000. Uh we believe this could be funded through the decreasing um part of their overtime and so it's not a full 20,000. Um and then the city clerk just alluded she's asking for a part-time clerical support. Um, and we've costed that because it's at the for at the part-time position um at 30,000. You have any questions? I'll be happy to answer those for you.

Correct. They have a van um and they use that um during the day for all of their um if they take a rescue, if they do those kind of things. If you're going to have a dedicated officer, you would need to have a vehicle that was operationally available to them at all times to go out and you would want them to be um patrolling your city looking for loose animals. They wouldn't be um at the shelter all the time. They'd be out in your community to

when we took a tour and Councilman Osar and I took a tour and our new director of the shelter was kind enough to take us through with the city manager. We looked at one of the trailers for a rescue event and and that would be a kind of a long range type of travel, too. Um, it needs to get fixed.

So, it's it's ready ready to go. And remind me, does it need to be towed by another vehicle? Is it a trailer? And it could be And our director Fletcher was with us, too. Thank you. um director, would they be able to use that vehicle that they have over there right now to tow that um trailer to the rescue events? Correct. So, we do have a truck on site that um would be available to tow that vehicle, the trailer. Yes. And it as of today, it is fully operational.

I apologize, mayor. Um my reference to um the rescue was if we're going to um have a rescue go let's say to Modesto to take an animal um to another facility for that rescue. That was what my reference was, not to a rescue event. In the in the past, the uh the the the protocol of the animal shelter has been call for service. If there's a call, um folks go out, not necessarily patrolling for animals out there. So, I don't know if that'd be a huge function, but definitely the there's a need for a shelter vehicle with appropriate, you know, kennel crates in the back that have the air conditioning in the summer.

And then the vehicle assists with that standby as well because then whoever's on standby is assigned to that vehicle during the week that they are on standby. So, it goes home with them, allows them to respond uh in a much more timely fashion rather than having to go all the way to the yard and pick up a vehicle. What's the protocol right now until we get to the budget? Because people aren't going to wait for the budget to come out to have emergencies with cats and dogs. People can still call the PD non-emergency line and then if the situation is severe enough, we can um get staff out. And does do you have folks who are on call now for that for that purpose?

We're working on establishing that policy internally right now.

Scott, I have a I have another issue on that on that note. Uh on I know they they transport animals to different locations and I know that sometimes it's gone nothing to go pick them up. I I learned that, you know, paid attention. Uh the other issue um on those uh people that on the animal shelter, I I was uh they're all given cell phones by the way to case of emergency contact, we we can reach out to them like you guys. They call in uh because they can be out in outside the I want to say the office and they can't hear the phone. If you're out outside the phone, what I'm saying is you can't reach them unless they're they're walking a dog and you know they're outside.

Right. Our current line is a cell phone. That is have cell phones. Yes, that is assigned to staff. Yes. We've uh we've gone a while without public input. Would anybody from the public like to weigh in at this point? Oh,

do we want to 1057 Mil Street, Rose Robertson. Um, just quickly, can somebody just give me the total? Is it about 650 that we the taxpayers pay right now? Can you give me the total, please

for the animal shelter? for for the department of the animal shelter with all the staff staff that we have right now staff before before the request of 145 what what is the amount we're very very high I I just want to remember that accurate amount 520 to start but

the budget is 588,000. How many on staff with that amount?

Five. be just with history. We were lucky to get 90,000. We were second chance animal shelter. We paid for workers comp insurance, directors and offer officers and a fulltime acco on staff. A full-time acco was trained, who was able to go after hours if necessary if they didn't go towards the tree, the calling of the tree, which was the board members and volunteers. So, I'm just really confused. Are we going to have a full-time acco? We don't need our officers to be going after our an uh these um these animals that are in need or need to be sent to the vet. We we really truly need a full-time acco. I'm just beside myself with this amount here of our taxpayer money that is going towards the animal shelter for how many years now? Let's see. When the former council took over and eliminated it just to eliminate it when it was working extremely extremely well with 90,000 if they were lucky to receive for payroll. We are at 5.88 plus they want to add 145. I understand you guys should have had a a really nice vehicle previous to all this. this would save, you know, you guys trying to throw the animals in these type of heats in our central valley. We even had that done correctly. So, I I I just really need to let this city and this staff truly understand the

fact that we keep climbing and I'm still not hearing a full-time acco, you know, we do have after hour emergencies when animals get hit, cats get hit, whatever it is. It should be a really easy thing. I I I'm just we we could have just even been in heaven with $150,000 during that nonprofit organization time. And you know, it was it was full. We never even when we were full, we started doubling up on on on animals if they were nice and sweet and we know there was a possibility of them going to rescue. So, we need to be really cautious with these amounts that keep climbing and we're not getting the full services for our citizens here in Selma. Thank you.

Um, thank clarification on that. the position of animal control officer would be I mean that's an acco would the would there be current positions who do the same thing as an animal control officer at the shelter

there is the possibility to cross trainin and is there a reason that we don't call them animal control officers anymore is that industry standard now is that where the city is what's the what's the reason for not having the acco and like deputy acco position that kind of thing

the AC u an acco is actually usually a designated um in the field response person um in most of the cities and so um at this shelter we mainly have in in the shelter the aids that are working with animals um so they're not designated to be out on patrol and so um in the other agencies the acco is typically a patrol person that is designated for animal services to pick up and respond to calls.

And you know what I said before with Selma is Selma is a a call for service. So it's a response type of agency, the animal shelter. It's been it's not going out and patrolling. It's responding to a call for service. So that's the way Selma's been since I can remember. Um, so the maybe the acco, you know, is is a little bit different of a definition, the practical application of that. Um, in terms of the positions at the animal shelter, it seems to me there are people, I think we're looking at one right there, um, with our animal services manager who could go out and respond to a call for service and probably often does if there is a call for service. Is that is that correct? Okay. And how many people at the shelter could also respond to a call for service and go out and pick pick an animal up if necessary? Two in addition to you. Okay. Out of five. So that's three out of five. That's 60% who could respond

with this new manager that's being looked for, this new animal services officer. Is that a synonym for animal control officer that would do the same thing? Yes. staff.

Thank you. Thank for that. Um, is there any more input from the public at this time about the topics we've covered so far? I just want to make a comment as well is um looking at the staff and the amount of money that we're paying into the um animal shelter. I do I would like to see a full-time acco. So, and that would I would like to see that be a cross train from the five staff that you have. I really don't think with the amount of dogs that we have there, we need to look for additional staff. That's just my feelings. My other feelings is, and I've always been I've always voiced this in the past, is we don't pay our officers to go out and go after animals or pick up animals. That's not what we pay our officers for. Our officers are there for our safety, for the citizen safety. Now, I can understand if you got three pit bulls that are attacking an individual and that person's about to, you know, pass out or really get harmed. I can understand that. I can understand they're calling out PD, probably EMT, you know, because this individual is probably very hurt. That I can see. But to call our PD because you got two dogs roaming around, that's not PD's job. my comments. Okay, that is acco's position to do that. So, that's just my feelings and like I said, I've always felt this way and I hope that we can finally get this department straightened out because we're going on two two years now, three years on this and I think that we really need to get this department straightened out. Okay.

Anybody else with a comment? Del Romero sama resident. Um I just walked in and I picked up kind of the end of it. So it's an additional $145,000. Did I hear correct that they wanted to add to what's already to the existing budget? Y. So that would make a total of $588,000. Is that correct? Plus plus the 145. So that's over half a million dollars, right? 733. 73.

Okay. There was an incident that happened a couple of days ago. A cat got hit. No response. Someone called the Selma PD and they said that they can go out there. So they said to call the shelter. No one picked up on the shelter. No one answered that call. They said call the Fresno. They somebody told them from the public call to Fresno. So, we're paying over half a million dollars and no one's picking up these animals that are hurt. I don't even think we should even have half a million dollar. Should be way less than that. It's too much money being spent on things that aren't happening. So, please reconsider this amount, you know, cuz it's a lot of money. I've been by the shelter. It's never at full capacity. There's empty cages out there. There's probably like maybe three or four dogs. So, in my opinion, it's way too much money, too much taxpayer money for things that are not getting done. It's not the full service. Get if you're going to get someone, hire someone that's going to be there available 24/7, but not with this kind of money, you know, that's just my opinion. Thank you.

So, so most of the payroll for the city, thank you for your comment, is payroll. It's operations. It's payroll. So, I think that's what we're hearing is, you know, with all this payroll that's being expended, there should be it should be a full-ervice animal shelter. And I think that's what I'm hearing today and that's what we've heard in the past. I'd also like to bring up a good thing that now we are getting more services. We're going to have a a a shot clinic, a rabies shock clinic that we haven't had in years. So, that service is going to be provided. That was one of the first things that the new animal services manager uh did and we're going to have that I is it next week on the 11th? That's for the community at Pioneer Village. Is that correct? And I appreciate getting the hundreds of pounds of of complimentary dog food from Walmart as well. So there's some good things happening there. There are some challenges ahead and I think this is why we have a day like this so we can talk about those challenges.

Exactly. And that and this is part of getting to that service that um you know we're wanting and um and I understand you know having somebody dedicated 247 but people are people need their breaks too. So getting the right amount of staffing to allow us to have 247 coverage um is is what we're actively um looking for right now and trying to get to that point. So that way we don't have any of those gaps like what may have been witnessed uh the other day. Yes, sir.

Yes, I'm Brian Maris. Um I also agree with some of the citizens as well. 145 additional for the shelter is just way too much. Um, I've had multip multiple incidents that have happened um after hours after 5 when the shelter is closed and um they're waiting for PD and I know it's not their fault because they're on calls. It's not their fault, but I just sit there waiting like not knowing what to do. So, as a as a taxpayer, it's it's it's very unfair. It's very unfortunate. It's very disappointing as well. Um, you know, I can understand that if they were at full capacity, like the way Second Chance was, um, back in the day, I I could understand. It would be more helpful that way, but, you know, I I constantly pass by as well. I haven't haven't gotten the chance to get off to see the the shelter itself, but from what I see on the outside, cages are always empty as well. So, are we still picking up animals as well from Kingsburg and Feller? Are we still receiving funds from them? We do have the agreement with Kingsburg, but we are reviewing that scope with them. So to try to bring back some of our services and focus on our area,

right? I think that should be eliminated as well, Fowler and Kingsbury because we need to take care of animals first. Like I said, I've been out there multiple times. U I'm an animal lover. Um and I would hate to see an animal get run over. I've saved multiple animals as well. Um, so it's it's just very disappointing that we're not at, you know, full capacity. You know, we should we should be collecting all these animals that are here in Selma first rather than worrying about other people's animals. Um, you know, like I said, it's 145 is just way too much. I think that should be applied somewhere else. There's a lot of things that we need in the city that that could be applied to as well. Thank you.

And I should note that the 145 is just a rough estimate. Um, and that's the full cost of the employee plus the vehicle as well. Uh, additionally we have the enterprise fleet management where we lease uh, vehicles through enterprise. Um, and so that full cost of that vehicle would not be in the next budget. It it would be leased over a period of 5 years. We buy those vehicles from local dealers first and then lease them through enterprise. Is that correct? Yeah. uh through Enterprise. We have them purchased through our uh local local auto dealers

or we can ask Second Chance to sell us theirs. They have two of them fully equipped. Y so I mean I don't know why we're spending thousands and thousands. We can make get a good deal and be on the way, you know. Let's try to save some money, guys. Okay. Anybody online or on the phone with a comment at this time? Okay, are we ready to move on to the the next presentation? Next slide.

Good afternoon, mayor, members of the council. So, my current focus right now is updating policies and procedures and focusing on our facilities. So, one of my main priorities is going to be Pioneer Village, the animal shelter, the art center, and then just increasing and improving all of our special events that we currently have um within our city. Um some of our key challenges right now are just facility updates um regarding to Pioneer Village, mostly some updates that need to take place over at the senior center, um just um some TLC over at the arts center. Um things along those lines. Um but reviewing our internal policies and procedures and um reviewing contracts that we currently have with our youth leagues, sport leagues, um Pioneer Village contract, all that good stuff. Um that's definitely going to be my focus and drive for the upcoming year. Um and then our you know part of our strategic direction is just to try to find some additional funding through grants and sponsorships um for you know improvements that we do need internally within our department. Next slide. Um our operational needs. Um you're going to see an increase in our funding for our special events or sports and our senior meals. And the justification behind all of this is that all of our programming and everything that we're currently offering to our community is growing and increasing. We're seeing numbers um increase in participation um within our special events. Our sports leagues are growing. We just closed our T-ball registration and we have a lot more T-ball players than we anticipated this year, which is a wonderful thing. Um and same thing with our senior meals. we're a lot more participation over at the senior center and um with inflation every single year the cost of that individual meal increases every single year as well. And so, um, with that, um,

you're going to you're going to see a staffing request for a part-time, um, arts aid over at the SA Arts Center to help, um, alleviate some of the, um, heavy workload that, um, our staff currently um, is in charge of. We only have two full-time staff over there. Um, currently our department is stretched a little thin there and so we're looking for some extra assistance to assist with the larger community events that they're currently um trying to establish and bring back and make sure that um that they're able to provide, you know, a lot different programming to our community. And then you'll see some projects that um that we're wanting to focus on this year. And so through our recreation commission, we've been working with them diligently trying to establish what our goals are for the upcoming year. And um we've come down to a few. So right now we're looking at, you know, the Pioneer Village restroom improvements. Our Shaper Park softball fields need to be um graded re regraded and you know um fixed a little bit in order for safer play. um we would like water fountains at all of our local parks. And then um one of the biggest um community complaints that I receive is, you know, a trade structure over our playground equipment over at Brett Linger Park. And so um you'll see some of those requests coming through in our incoming budget. And then other than that um our goal is just to create and establish a spay and neuter program over at the animal services Any comments, questions to director Fletcher? You know, I have a question. Um, I know you have an event coordinator

for parks and wreck or your department. Is she able to assist um the art center with their events? So, those are conversations that we are having. So, um, we do offer not just our events coordinator, but all of our staff to assist over at the arts center as needed, but what ends up happening is they need such a specific trained person that is well-versed in um in their technology over there and we're just not there yet. And so having somebody that would um would get appropriate training would be really helpful to run sound to run lighting to assist props and and things along those lines would be beneficial.

So I know that most of the time the lighting and all that stuff is done with volunteers or people who who help with the shows and stuff. So I was just wondering

and we do have a wonderful arts council that does assist but this is just in addition to that to to help. um a lot of our arts council members are only available after hours and so when we have um different events and programming running during the day, that's when it becomes a little challenging and staff has to work very long days in order to meet our needs over at the art center. Those are very long days. And we have the director of the the the art center over there, um, Miss Nichollet there. And for many years, she's been there and put in a lot of long, very long hours. And just the nature of the events in parks, community services, it's

games and snack bar. Do you guys actually staff the snack bar too at Schaper during the games? I do. Yes. and and that happened as a result of no third party, no no contractor being able I know the city used to have somebody would go out and sell it and take a cut. Fortunately, um we did lose that third party during COVID and so that is something that I am actually currently reviewing as well um to hopefully bring in another third party to assist with that and that may alleviate some staffing there. Um, but

I was thinking that would be something that someone could come in and do and could make money doing it and uh they Yeah. or a nonprofit that wants to raise money for their organization, too. Um, city manager, just refresh all of our memories here if you would. What is the funding source for the for the uh the arts center? Um, is there just general fund or general fund and um Measure K. So that is Measure K as well. Yeah. Is the T the transient occupancy tax does that fund the art center? Yes, mayor.

That is I believe a small portion does but director Mareno can verify that is correct. Mayor a portion of it does how much last year we budgeted um of the tootund I believe it was 149. Check double check here. So 59,000 went to the culture arts and then a portion of that also from the toot goes to Pioneer Village of 89,000. So it's a a percentage of each depending what we get for toot. And the toot is what percentage of sales tax?

Uh I believe is it says 50% of 12%. So I would have to get that number for you once we get the true calculations for the new budget for 26 27. So, I guess what I'm getting at is the in terms of the arts center, we're probably the only city. We're definitely the only small city in South County that has a publicly supported arts center. So, that is a budget item that a lot of other cities don't have. So, we're always looking for more revenue for that. So, how much of the arts So, in terms of percentage, the the TOT funds a lot of the arts cent's operations. Is that correct? And the parks. Yes. It's a combination of both. Um

I believe it's like 50 30 and 20 of 50% 50% parks, 30% pioneer village which is recreation and then um 20% arts and the other 50% of toot. Where does that go? I believe it's general fund. I can get numbers for you. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Just a quick comment or a question, Director Fletcher. I believe that last year you guys were awarded a grant, right, for the Arts Center. Am I correct? If I believe we applied for the California Arts Council grant and we were not awarded.

Not awarded. Okay. So, are will you be applying for any grants to help support some of these? You are. Okay. Yes, we currently have a letter of intent out for um a grant for about I believe we we submit $5,000 and then the California Council grant um currently just opened up and so we're also working with Sonia to submit for that as well.

I believe the Pioneer Village is has a grant that our uh communications director um was instrumental in filling out the application for and sending a video. I think it was the T-Mobile grant that we haven't heard about for the restrooms at Lioner Village. Anybody like to make a comment? 1057 Mil Street. Um, just just I got a little confused there with the amounts. Toot is how much exactly? Regardless on where it goes, how much is the total per per year?

Victor Toot,

she's looking. So toot that was budgeted last year um in the general fund was 600,000 and between that Pioneer Village receives 89,000 a year budgeted last year um was Pioneer Village was um 89400 and culture arts was 59600 and And then we have 149,000 that went to parks 4108.

And um they're requesting uh another 420 for or for Pioneer Village restrooms, Schaefer Park. Is that 420 or is that the total on the very bottom of your guys' community service priority request? Is that the request? Yes, request. Okay, that is the request. It's a breakdown of all the different projects that we're currently looking at improving.

And then um this might not be the time or it may be. Um hopefully I know that um it's been uh requested for that um Rock Wall Pond to come back. We have a $4 million uh state grant that's going to be expiring and I know that you guys were going to be looking at that to come back with all the development going down there. As you guys all are aware, as a citizen I'm speaking of, not as a board member, the cemetery uh is looking at another cemetery for for that area and and there's other things as well. So hopefully um that grant um that Rock Wall pond also is um park. Um, I know that when we go and I I like that the fact that our parks are getting cleaned up and they need um a whole lot, but let me tell you, our parks are are not accommodating our our our kids, our our baseball teams, our soccer kids. They're just not. And we had money uh from the grant that $4 million that again former council and I I'm going to admit to it every time um it's on the record that they pulled that Rock Ball Pond um uh park plan that that all the all the soccer kids and a lot of families in our in our community were looking forward to because when you drive by I'll just give Schaefer for example because I drive by there two to three times a Hey, and let me tell you, people can't even park there anymore. And it's very unfortunate because we would have been already 3 years into this Rock Wall pond. Something to look forward to in our future for the kids and families. Thank you.

Next. Come on. Come on up. Sure. My name is Dwight Nelson and uh want to speak to the mic. Hi, my name is Dwight Nelson. Uh I'm here about the toot tax and I know that none of you even know what it's all about. I heard it's $600,000. You know where that money is coming from? Hotels. Who's it coming from?

Hotels. No, the hotels get their money from somebody. Who brings that money to Selma? The people that are driving through Selma. Does Selma have a recreation facility like Disneyland? Maybe a lake for boating, maybe a place to come and camp out. No, we don't have any of that. We're not a place where people come to stay and visit because we have these great facilities like Pioneer Village. There are people that are traveling through Selma that use their iPhones now where they didn't have them before and they can go on their iPhone as they're coming through Vicelia looking for a place to stay and they see what it costs to get a hotel room and sell them. You charge McDonald's a toot tax,

Mr. Mayor? Not yet. Not yet. But you want to? No, I don't want to charge anybody taxes, but we have four hotels, so obviously it's not keeping um you know, people from coming in for a profit motive to make money in Selma. We have we have lots of hotels in Selma. So, people are make finding a way to make money.

Last year, you took $213,000 from my hotel. I lost 134,000 last year and I find we find more and more often the people are going you know what what's this other tax support you know we're not no we'll stay here one night we're not coming back because there everybody's looking for a good deal for a good night's stay a clean facility and that toot tax is a killer it is a killer and it's not fair to the traveling public that we get because that traveling public is not coming here to stay to enjoy the wonderful things that Selma has to offer. They can go to Walmart anywhere. They can go to McDonald's anywhere. And they're coming mainly, our our guests are mainly coming for the agricultural community. Sunmade raisins, lion packing, they're they're buyers that are coming in to spend one night, two nights, and the toot tax is an absolute killer. And it's nuts. It just it just doesn't make sense on the uh was it the eight hotel? Is that what it's called? or section 8, pardon me. What?

Super eight hotel. You charge a toot tax there. All hotels get charged. Just asking. Yeah. You got all the people here. Do you charge a toot tax? I don't charge anybody anything. It's the hotels that get charged like every other city. You've been to Vegas lately. Does the Super Eight pay a toot tax? Do you see your resort fee and your toot? I mean, I'm not comparing us to Vegas. I'm just saying it is a reality that in cities there are transient occupancy taxes charged. I don't like taxes at all. I'm a business owner too. What does it fund? Why do you think I just brought that up? It funds things like the arts center that we wouldn't have money for in our town.

B Scott, that's not what that started out to be. where it started out to be a tax the tax people that were using our facilities in Selma and you were using that money for that but then that changed then it got put into the general fund now you can use it for anything you want to have the dog catcher I'm just I'm I'm explaining this the toot tax is not fair to the traveling public that comes through Soma it's not you're the highest you guys are the highest well percent so pardon what percent is the highest Yeah. Yes, it is. Frozo's eight. Okay. There's You are the highest L.

Lower than it.

So, what happens is these businessmen that are coming and staying in our hotel, it's mainly business people. They go, you know, we're on a budget. We we're sent out here from Chicago to come out and buy raisins from Sunmade Raisin or Lions Packing or whatever and we're on a budget and at our office back in Chicago they identify where we are going to where we're going to stay and when we come out we have a reservation Holiday in Ampton in whatever it might be and we find more and more and more they're dropping us because of that toot tax and it just isn't fair. It's just not fair at all. um for like three years, four years maybe. I've been trying to get to come in and be able to sit down with somebody at the city to talk about this. What happens is we have to come in before this whole massive group of people that you guys are going to say, "Oh, no. We got to have that tax. We need that money for Pioneer Village. We need that money for, you know, it's just it's silly. It's not what it's for and it's too high. And I ask you, please lower it to 8%. answer is

consideration of that would be on like a future budget agend not budget agenda it would be on a future council agenda that would be a specific policy change I'm no fan of any kind of tax none but like I said this goes 50% 50% goes to the parks infrastructure and operations and

and the arts center the other 50 let me finish the other 50% goes to the general fund. So it used to be 6%. When I got on in 2012, the toot was 6%. And the entire the thinking was there was too much money being led on the table. So maybe it's time to go back and take a look at it and just see how much we're bringing in from the tot. We got the numbers, but what would what if we did lower it, where would we make that up? And how would the city be able to to make that amount up if the toot tax did go down? So what I'm saying is not saying we're going to do it, not saying we're not going to do it, but we can look at it. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Okay. Can I ask another question? Sure. What is a super eight to pay? I don't know. Well, your people are all here and I know that somebody knows super eight. Well, we wouldn't be able super eight pay. we wouldn't be able to provide what each business pays. Um we're not allowed to give that information out. That's confidential. Um so I can I couldn't share what um Mr. Nelson's properties uh pay in taxes um as much as Super 8, unfortunately. So what we could do is bring it back as a as an agenda item if the council agrees. We'll bring it back. Hang on, Scott. Let me let me say something. Okay,

let me just finish then you can ch in but so we could bring it back as an agenda item, take a look at it. I hope you folks will come out for that and offer your input and in the meantime, you know, you can offer your input. But I'm not saying it's a yes or a no. I'm saying we just haven't looked at it in a long time. So maybe we can look at it. Let me ask you this question. If you can't tell me how much Super 8 pays, can you tell me do they pay? Do they pay a transit tax? the hotel as a hotel, they would be subject to the toot. Yes. Are they a hotel? Yes. Isn't that where the homeless people in Selma live?

The homeless people in Selma. Well, during uh co I think there were rooms that were allocated folks. During now, where do they live? We're kind of getting in the weeds. Let's just stick to the budget. We'll look at it again. This is why see that's why I don't want to come to a meeting like this because you can't sit down and just be honest be forth right there's more going on here than just toot so we're trying to get we're trying to look at the budget and the department so we'll get there but that's going to be a specific item council member advalos Dwight brought it up and you know you give me this paper Dwight you know okay if you look at it Fredno 12% more okay

and then you look at valor 10% small community 10% said, you know, real smaller than us. We're three times as big as them, right? And and it doesn't say where their money goes to. Okay? And it's done. Neither does Fresno. Okay? And I mean, Selma, at least we identify 50% goes to, you know, the arts, the parks. We understand that. We get that. But the taxes I mean are you are the question is don't you like to help the parks Dwight Art Center? Are you are you against it or what? Thank you for asking. No, I'm just asking. I'm the largest taxpayer in the city of Selma and have been for like 30 years.

Okay. I provide more tax dollars than any other person in this town. So don't say don't you want I do more for Selma. It's crazy. Oh no no no you didn't say that.

I live in Freso now. People in Fr, why do you put your money in that damn town? I says, because I've done it my whole life. Everything I've earned has gone right back into Selma. And when I see something's wrong, like this transit tax, why should we be at 12%. 10%? Okay, 8% would be great. It would at least help us tell the customers that come by, hey, we don't have that 12% tax that Freso has. You need to stay here because we need more people staying in Selma. That hotel costs money. I lose money every year. I lose money every year. I go, "This is nuts. It doesn't make any sense." So, don't you think that would be a good idea? Well, I know what you guys are doing with the money, but it just you're, you know, you get sales tax already. We're going to take a look.

No, raise your sales tax if you want to raise the sales tax, but don't hit those four hotels with that crazy tax. It just isn't fair. Let's move on. Okay, we got a Thank you. Thank you for Thanks, Dory Nelson. Appreciate it. Yeah, I I wrote a note on that is something that we can explore. we can request as a as an agenda item. Okay, let's move on.

Sorry. Um, next slide is fire department and I'll let Chief Webster take over.

All right. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh, my section of the presentation for the fire department. Starting off with the current focus for the department is expanding service capabilities to meet service demands. And um it's a fairly broad statement, but ultimately we we provide a a multitude of different services between fire protection services, uh EMS and ambulance operations, uh training, uh public services like community CPR. um what our focus is is to expand upon all those services um to meet the demands for those services. And so with that, we've done a great job here in the city of Selma on the fire protection side. We currently staff two engines and a ladder truck within the city limits. Uh on the EMS division, we've been on a steady growth plan um over the course of the last few years. Uh this last year, uh one of the adopted budget items by the council was to bring on a fourth ambulance part-time. Uh for this next year, uh we're looking to bring on that fourth ambulance 24 hours, 7 days a week. And so uh with that, the service demands, call volume. Last year, our ambulance division ran just over 6,100 calls, um which is a significant number. Our exclusive operating area that we got established in 2024 is 125 square miles that covers the city of Selma, the cities of Fowler and Parlier as well as all the unincorporated areas um that we serve within that area. Uh that fourth ambulance will uh one mitigate the dropped calls that occur in our exclusive operating area and then also will allow us to support the EMS system that uh serves our neighboring communities as well. And so as we uh

cast a larger net to those communities uh by bringing on this fourth resource, it also uh brings on the potential for a greater amount of revenue to bring back to not only cover the expenses associated with that ambulance but also assists in supplementing the uh cost for fire suppression as the model does today. key challenges that we face today is uh fire administration support uh EMS service demands uh facilities and fleet replacement costs and so over the course of the last two years we've had multiple meetings uh regarding facilities the exorbitant costs associated with that as well as the cost for fleet uh we have an aging fleet in both fire suppression as well as EMS services we have a very good model for a replacement plan on the for ambulances um this year and I'll be covering that on the next slide uh is one of our two ambulance years but ultimately we replace you know one ambulance annually and then every third year we replace uh two to obtain that fleet um strategic direction before I get into all the weeds of those costs um is growth and service capabilities solidifying the funding for facility and equipment replacement uh next slide please so operational needs uh for the fire operations fleet. We have um currently we have three fire engines. Our oldest one is a 2006, so it'll have its 20th birthday this year and uh that exceeds the recommended service life for a fire apparatus by 5 years. Uh we've been able to to keep that um just running through a pretty robust preventative maintenance program. And then also just out of uh necessity, uh we have a fire engine that's on order um that we have not identified funding for as of yet. Uh that engine will be um ready to go, not

this coming fiscal year, but the following, which would be the 2728 fiscal year. Uh new fire engines cost uh in today's market about $1.2 million before you put any equipment on that fire apparatus. That's just the just the rolling stock. And then there's a complement of equipment that goes on there that's in the ballpark of 250 to 350,000. Uh that's a note on here not as a consideration for this fiscal year, but just as a uh something for you to consider as we appropriate funds uh for fleet replacement into the future. Uh the next item on there is a command vehicle for 125,000. Uh the last council meeting uh the approval of purchase of a command vehicle was approved by council that was budgeted in this current fiscal year. Uh this is an additional uh command vehicle which will have or allow for all of our battalion chiefs to be in four-wheel drive pickups. And again, you know, just to highlight that uh our purchasing and procurement plan policy allows for us to purchase those vehicles locally. Uh the funding for that vehicle would be coming out of our equipment replacement fund. uh which generates revenue uh from our state fire suppression uh reimbursement. Part a portion of that reimbursement is for equipment and so um annually that uh generates revenue that we can utilize for that. Uh next option is the two ambulance or I'm sorry the next item uh EMS operations fleet. Uh we have two ambulances requested for this fiscal year. Uh one ambulance uh was approved uh previously in November of uh 2025. um that is on order and is due for delivery I believe in June of this year. Uh the the uh I'm sorry that is not we have one ambulance on order that's due in June. The one that you approved in November is due in March of 2027 and then we'll be

requesting another ambulance um that would be arriving in June. And again, our fleet replacement plan for those ambulances is uh one ambulance annually and then two ambulances every third year, which allows us to have uh eight ambulances on a six-year cycle. Staffing requests, Deputy City Manager Fowlard already touched on this, which is an EMS division uh personnel, and this is the staff to bring on the fourth ambulance in a 247 capacity. There will be some salary savings in the budget uh associated with the part-time salaries and then also we um are planning on an increase in revenues uh from that department as well. Uh capital projects uh fire station one and fire station two both have some items and the dollar amount's not on here. Uh for improvements station two uh we house an engine company and an ambulance there. Uh currently they have one restroom that services both males and females and and uh what we want to do is just remodel that to have two singleuse restrooms to mitigate any of the privacy issues there. Um and then we're also working on a project to replace the uh dry vpin that is um in the front of that station. Uh that may come this fiscal year, but if not, it'll it'll be part of the plan for next. uh station one, we're currently going through the roof replacement for that. Um there's some uh water damage to the sheetrock in inside of the apparatus bay and we want to get that replaced next fiscal year as well. Uh we're currently working through the EMS facility uh planning and design and that will go to construction and it'll be split between this fiscal year and next and so there'll be some money there. Um and then the last portion is the uh the new fire station design. Um that

project has been um placed on hold as we work through the details for that EMS facility, but ultimately uh my request to council coming up would be to continue to work through the design so we have a shovel ready project. Um that way when funds uh come up that are available, we can capitalize on that um to get that project done. Um that completes my report. if you have any questions. Be with any questions for Chief Webster. Chief, you mentioned we'll be getting an ambulance June June of this year or June of next year.

Uh yes, so uh June of this year. Yeah, I apologize for the there's a lot of moving parts in the ambulance division. So we currently have uh two ambulances on order. There was one funded for this current fiscal year 2526. That ambulance was ordered a year ago roughly. uh that will be delivered June of this year, so this fiscal year. And then in November, I brought a decision item uh to council to order another ambulance that would arrive in the upcoming fiscal year, which is 2627. That ambulance has also been ordered and will be included in the appropriations for this budget. And then I'm requesting a second ambulance for that fiscal year as well, which would be delivered the following June. And so there would be two ambulances delivered in fiscal year 2627 and then one ambulance delivered at the end of this current fiscal year.

On on the other note uh chief now that will that will generate more revenue for the city of Selma. Am I correct? Uh bring that extra ambulance. you know, as it is now, we're generating money, but this will actually generate a little more. Correct.

Yeah. So, the ambulance division, we've brought on a fourth ambulance uh for 12 hours a day, four days a week. Um for the first quarter of 2026, we've seen an increase in call volume or um incident response, not call volume, an increase of incident response of roughly 6% and an increase in transports of roughly 10%. Um and so we anticipate that bringing on that v uh that resource in a 247 capacity would further increase uh the response and transports. With regards to revenues, there's a lot of uh complexity to how that gets calculated. uh we're um we're going to see an increase in cost recovery through the PPGMT program, which is one of the federally and state subsidized uh reimbursement programs. Uh we've been receiving the 2024 uh rate um through all of 2025 and um to current in 2026. Uh there's um there is money now getting pushed down through the feds to to true up 2025. So we should anticipate seeing that over the course of the end of this fiscal year and the beginning of next fiscal year which will see an increase in revenues there as well as the increase in uh in revenues or in call volume. So ultimately we should be seeing a per call increase on average as well as an increase in calls. So overall uh increase to our ambulance division revenues. Well, last year in the budget there was a lot of uh overtime on the EMS and the parameds. So, and that's just the nature of that type of work. Has anything changed in the last 12 months since we since we looked at those line items,

chief, in the way that that's built out? Has the city changed its um payroll system on that? So, we're not going to see as much overtime or is that just the way it still is in that in that line of work? uh overtime in general, specific to the EMS division, the staff that we employ in that division, um are treated differently than safety personnel with regards to FLSA rules. Uh and so firefighters, they fall under a specific um rule pertaining to FLSA, which allows us to pay them over 40 hours a week at a regular time rate. And so our firefighters work a 56-hour work week. They're paid at regular time up to 56 hours a week and then anything beyond that they would receive overtime or time and a half. Our EMS staff um they are non-safety employees and so they're treated the same as general staff uh that are employed by the city where they uh they work 280 hours a week or a 40-hour work week. Anything in excess of 40 hours, they're compensated time and a half. uh for the deployment model for those personnel. Um they are also scheduled a 56-hour work week. And so they are scheduled for 16 hours of overtime as as the baseline of their schedule, which is an industry standard uh in the EMS field just because of the nature.

Your normal week's 56 hours, you're going to get 16 hours over time no matter what.

Yep. And then in terms of all the new growth that's coming to Selma, the residential, we all see the housing project that the Amberwood coming in. So how is the public safety impact going to be accounted for with those new homes coming in? Uh so when we look at the impact to um both fire and EMS uh you know new homes tend to have fewer incidents related to fire just because they're new construction and um you know they don't they don't have the same issues that older construction have. Um as far as the the medical demands um we're seeing the the increase in call volume there and that's the reason for the request for that that fourth ambulance. Um the fire suppression response is really dictated or driven by geographical area and uh drive time is is where that comes from. And our ambulances are really driven off of call volume um just because they're a uh a more of a transient resource in the sense that they're always on the on the road driving around. They don't necessarily come from a specific location. And so as the city grows and we look at the general plan development um you know we look at how our city uh the fire suppression component at least we cover all of those areas of the city. And so um I'm satisfied currently with uh the trajectory of the facilities for fire resources. We're looking at that new fire station facility at Thompson and Huntsman. Um, and I think that we'll be able to, um, at least for the foreseeable future serve those areas. And as we start to expand out, we're going to have to look at areas and and, um, potentially relocate some of our existing facilities as we as we build and identify ways to do that. We do uh recoup uh fire impact fees um with all

of the new construction that goes into a fund that we can utilize for construction uh or new um new resources, fleet, etc. um as as we grow as well. And so, additionally, if I may add to um newer divisions such as Amberwood typically enter into um CFDs, community funding districts which uh allow for services such as road maintenance, uh PD staffing, uh fire staffing, um and Amberwood is one of those that has a CFD and it's one that we are pursuing on all new um

subdivisions that go in other words city manager every year. So there'll be initial costs that will go to fire services being provided through impact fees but also on an ongoing annual basis those service needs on an annual basis will be recouped through the a portion of them will. Yes.

Yeah. So that they're subject to when they did their environmental and everything it identified a percentage of what you know they'd be responsible for and then it's based upon that cost. So then uh they would get that typically they also have an escalator on it based upon CPI or 3% or something. Um so that way those funds will come in and help to augment some of that additional cost for um going and serving those new areas.

Thank you. Anybody with any questions or presentations we just heard Ramirez resident I have a question um do we provide services for Fowler and Parlier? We do provide services for both Fowler and Parlier uh but different models based on the service provided. And so our ambulances uh we have an exclusive operating area that that has a geographic area um that's exclusive to our ambulances. We do share resources still with neighboring um ambulances based on demands. And so the entirety of the city of Fowler and the western kind of half if you were to draw a PL parlier north and south the the west half is within our uh our jurisdiction for ambulance services as far as serving those communities for fire protection uh that's operated through a mutual aid agreement with Fresno County Fire Protection District.

So we wouldn't get any type of funding from them then. Is that right? if

for ambulance services, the funding is generated through um uh service fees. And so if uh somebody contacts an ambulance and is transported to an area hospital, they pay that bill either through their insurance depending on their insurance type or self-pay or whatever the circumstances are. You know, if it's a traffic accident, go through your auto insurance, that kind of thing. But a fee is assessed depending on the nature of the service provided for that as well as the loaded transport mile to whatever hospital facility that they transport to. With regards to fire protection, um the mutual and autoate agreements that we have in existence today, um the expectation for response is within an operational period. Uh which basically means that our resources will go and come back within a timeline. um really less than 24 hours, but we um there's mutual benefit there because we share resources. And so Fresno County or Kingsburg um they come into our area just as much as we go into their area. Um and one of the benefits to that agreement with Fresno County is there's a ratio that's applied to our dispatch agreement. And so currently because of our response mix uh we see a 50% savings in our dispatch agreement which is roughly $60,000 a year.

You about halfway through the time that was budgeted for today's meeting. Little joke there. So we'll take a five minute break and we'll come back. So 331.

They feel better. So much better. Oh, did you? Yeah.

We can't help it. You got two more. You got two more hotels here. Nice hotels. So, guess what? They're going to stay at theirs. Wow. Everything. Yeah.

And yet that was a good thing when he said something years That has been agreement. That's right.

Who does that? What other city does that? Nobody does that.

I know. Crazy. Why don't you go first? Yeah. If they Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. Exactly.

Some good progress there. Now, who's next? Public work.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council members, uh I just have three uh uh topics to highlight here uh that are beyond what would be a typical budget for uh public works. Uh the first one uh is the senior center ADA uh and re and structural repairs. Um, we have the ADA restroom upgrades, which would include uh the stalls that were compliant for with the bars for pulling yourself up and down uh from the toilet fixture itself. And we're looking at also placing uh push buttons on the bathroom doors uh just like we have at the front door. Um so those costs are ADA restroom upgrade approximately 35,000. Uh, and then the structural repairs are the pillars to the front of the entrance to the senior center that have dry rot uh that need to be pulled out. They are structural supporting the awning around the outside of the senior center. Um, so we're looking at replacing those and that repair cost we're estimating at around 40,000. Uh, the second item I have is the city hall roof and flooring repairs. Um, the city hall roof is pretty much gone. Um, we have leaks all over the place. uh public works has been patching those leaks to the best of their ability and with the resources that we have for several years now. Um and so we've had some testing done to kind of see what we've got going on there. And um that roof replacement uh we're looking at between 4 to 500,000 estimated cost. Flooring replacement would be the flooring system that was put in by uh previous staff in the back areas of finance, HR, and then on the other side where building uh community services or community development and the city planner uh and engineering are at. Um those flooring systems were not the right flooring systems for this building. Um there was caution given to

staff previous of putting those in, but the the request came anyway and they got put in. So right now what's happening is those things uh shrink and swell and so they buckle and so we have area we have one area in engineering we actually have an orange caution cone sitting over the top of it is a bubble in the floor. Uh there's another bubble back by the back door going out of engineering uh community development. And then there are bubbles that are starting to separate under the cubicle locations where the chairs are rolling back and forth uh on the entire uh finance side. Last year staff went in and placed um plastic mats, extra-l large plastic mats because the chairs rolling on that flooring system were causing a lot of the damage. uh and it sufficed until now, but it needs to be replaced. Um staff is currently looking at going back with carpet. Um public works really likes the carpet tile system. We I've spoken to the city manager about it. We're looking at options for that right now. Um that flooring system, estimated cost to get that done, move all the cubicles out, get the new system in and put them back. We're between 150 and two 200,000 estimated cost for that. Um the third uh item is the Schaefer Park splash pad. Um this is in the location where the small playground equipment was removed this last year by my staff because it was non-compliant. It was out of uh compliance for ADA and for OSHA, what the OSHA requirements are. So we removed that and it's been since fenced off. Um, and so what we put in there, uh, per request from the council when we spoke about that, whether we go back in with a, uh, new playground equipment or a splash pad, um, council seemed to waver towards the splash pad since we have a brand new playground system there, the big equipment. And so we're looking at engineering estimated cost

for design about 50,000 and for construction installation about a 100,000. Uh, next slide please. Uh these pictures are the location at Schaefer Park. Uh showing the shelter right there in the background. Uh directly behind me on that first picture would be the location of the large playground equipment. Uh and then the second picture is just showing a different angle facing toward north towards the basketball courts and the upper parking lot for that location. So that's the location that we are looking at for the splash pad. Next slide please. These are pictures of the senior center. The two first the two top pictures from the left looking right is the a couple pictures of the columns and the structural uh needs for repair and replacement of those holding up that front uh canopy or awning going into the senior center front door. And then the next picture to the right would be one of the I believe the women's bathroom. Picture on the bottom left would be the men's restroom and then the far right bottom would be also the men's restroom. I'm just showing that there's no uh bars that it's just not ADA compliant. The picture in the middle bottom is a picture of the wall leading into the men's and the women's bathrooms. That would be the location that we would be installing the ADA push button door openers. And that's all I have.

Great. Thank you for your report. Any questions for Director Han? Uh yeah. Um, I noticed the uh Lincoln Park, the uh the the pavilion band stand in need some uh help there. Have we looked at that there on? So, we we I can tell you that we just uh between public works and actually community services staff just finished painting the cabana at Pioneer Village. We are looking at painting the uh gazebo that's here at Lincoln Park. And we have also budgeted in this coming fiscal budget to uh paint the entire outside of the senior center.

Yeah. Because if you look at the stuckle, it's kind of cracking and everything, you know, it needs some little TLC there a little bit because I didn't see it in your in your presentation. I'm just throwing it out there. It's budgeted in the budget. Okay. Yeah. These are just uh special items that are kind of non-traditional for the public works budget.

A lot of these items get taken care of with grants. Do we have uh granted solutions working on some of these ADA upgrades? Because I know there occasionally grants that come out for improvements like that to public buildings. Yeah, we we send the information to uh Granted Solutions u with the hope that they can find something for us or if we find something we send if if we see receive a NOA notice of funding availability we'll send it to her as well. Um but we don't want to schedule based upon whether or not you know there's a grant available. Uh some of these uh like the roof and everything are stuff that uh happen and need to

capital improvement projects. They they are if I could just piggyback on uh the city manager the deferred maintenance that's taking place or some of the issues that we're seeing here like the rotted uh wood for the pillars and the roof at station one the roof here. Um, we're the city's program now is to start rectifying and remedying some of those deferred maintenance issues. And these are some of them. Why uh why is the roof so expensive? What's the square footage of city hall here? Uh, everything's expensive, but I can tell you twothirds of the cost of our CIP projects are labor costs. Uh, typically about a third of the project cost is your material. The rest of it labor labor compliance because it's prevailing wage. That is correct.

Correct. Anybody from public with a question, comment? Anybody online or on the phone? Mayor, I see no hands raised at this time.

And just quickly, um I don't know where this would fall under for the budget, but I know everybody's this just the Christmas list that the Christmas wish list. Where would the um bid fall under? And I'm not talking about the grant where uh council allocates a certain amount for um the business improvement downtown because um with that stated um if maintenance was able to do that and you know how we're looking uh we're looking into um adding lights for uh second street, west front street and first street more or less the the square. Um and maybe you know looking at some kind of potted plants versus you know trying to do all this other stuff. This is just for now and I don't cafe likes that go across on both sides. You know that's kind of looking at those estimate costs and if maintenance was able to do that it's not going to stay forever. It's just until you know we're able to work with the uh bid grants and all that that comes in the future. And if you're looking about I calculated really nice potted plants with some nice flowers on on each street so they could feel included with what's going on with the bid. Um that that would be I'm I'm speaking or as as I know you guys and then the bids eventually going to probably come back. I'm I'm just speaking as a citizen um not as a board member. Um, I like to see those cafe lights included, especially um of how they got rid of them when they really didn't have to do that. They could have waited. Um, so uh a a calculation of 10,000 probably um with uh four on each side, three streets. Um that's a calculated eight potted plants with cafe lights, which are not expensive, but they'll look they'll look very nice. But if you allocate about 10,000, you'll be able to do a really really nice job and allow maintenance to

put that in. And that would be um something we could um do pretty quickly if you guys have any additional funding. Um um I tell you with all these events um hopefully they could look into more money for the events. That's a a big hit uh with with the bid and the Selma life. Um hopefully you guys can continue that. That is one huge um positive effect in our community and and I love that you guys we there we look at all genres, all types of uh music for for everybody to come out and enjoy. Thank you.

So the department heads are all doing their reports and then council gets to take a whack and um and yeah add some add some items too. So we're not we're not done. All right. Anybody else before we moved on to Chief Alcarez?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'll make this Kurt. Um, as as always, our current and continued focus at the police department is property crime reduction as well as violent crime reduction. Additionally, we want to improve our overall aesthetics in the city via the use of code enforcement. So, that's really a continued trend that we're we're uh pursuing at the at the police department. Our key challenges are always fiscal resources and to maintain staffing levels. Um so that those are just some of the challenges that we face at the police department. However, um in 2026 2027, Next slide, please. I'm so sorry.

I I was trying to be Kurt, boss. So um our for strategic direction in 2627 we are looking at uh implementing a FL drone flight response program. What this would a enable us to do is have faster situational awareness on certain call types as well as improve officer safety and enhance incident management. Uh basically we be able to fly a drone upon a call for service and get eyes on the scene which are able then to uh relay data back to communications to broadcast to our responding units as they're in route to those locations. As you all know, we have significant challenges with the freeway 99 corridor uh and the geographic challenges it is that that we face getting across the freeway and because of traffic because it is Selma. it is not such a small town anymore. So, um, additionally, what this program would allow us to do is ensure that our current labor force is as efficient and as effective as they can be as these new uh, developments become to come online due the infrastructure improvements that the city is implementing now. And that is it for the police department.

Thank you for that. Any questions for Chief Alcarez at this time? Yes. What other cities are implementing this? I I believe that I think Fresno already has it, right? Fresno and Clovis have them. Uh for small cities, we we would be the first. Okay. You're actually right. Uh Sarah, they do. Fresno does have a program with the drums and operational. Yeah, they actually do. Uh and one of my uh one of my best friends son is part of that team,

believe it or not. It's it's and he is he's actually right. It's more efficient when they're called to the scene. Uh the assessment is uh phenomenal. They uh the data that gives the officers uh from the backyard, front yard surveillance is um it gives the protection of the of this I want to say isolation of the situation and and it gives them an idea what their their challenges are taking place. And I I I it does work. I have to say it works. So guys, quick question. Um is there any has it been around long enough to quantify the results? How much is it reduced in terms of crime

for the actual So just for clarification, we do have drones at the police department which we use on scene, but that is uh driven by or flown by an operator at the scene. What this would do is allow us to to dis deploy a drone from our base camp here at the police department to pretty much this within our jurisdiction and the operator would be housed at the police department. So that that's why it drives up the cost a little bit more. Additionally, um, uh, the drone flight response, um, yeah. Anyways, it it it I don't Clovis again just deployed theirs about 6 months ago. I don't know that that how we can quantify it right now. Um, I don't know the data in yet. And it's going to be tough just like anything else, right? Um, it's tough to see what crimes we prevented. Um, I can tell you that uh I'm working with the communications director to push out um our 2025 annual update. The numbers are more than impressive. Um and that's really kind of we have to wait a year to get the data to see where where were we today and where we where we at next year.

Next related question, where's this going to go do you think in a year? How far is this going to you know as technology? Who would have thought AI three years ago was going to be what it is now? where where is this going to go? Th

this truly is the additional infrastructure that we'll deploy within the city as we grow out and Chief Webster me mentioned earlier about as the city expands, you know, and we've talked about this in the past about having satellite stations, both police and fire, so that we have a public safety footprint to the north, east, west, whichever way the city's growing. As we as we grow out these buildings and as the city's geography expands, implementing these technologies and infrastructure at those locations are going to be crucial to our success in the future. And again, it create it ensures that our current workforce is as efficient as effective. So that instead of hiring five or more cops because of population um influx, we only have to hire three. And that's where the savings comes in because we have the infrastructure to be able to support that that personnel. Chief, just currently, are you fully staffed in your department?

I was for 3 hours. I just we just lost somebody today. So, Brizz, um, are we fully staffed at at PD as of three hours ago? Yes. Yes, we're we're short staff one.

Okay. because I made a few calls recently and they've been said that PD's um you know out doing other um you know taking care of other um you know calls as well but um the only reason I asked is because I believe circle the area of Circle K and um where the Valley Fitness is the gym is at a lot of homeless there um there was a situation where there was a homeless crossing the street almost got ran over the car where the driver cussed him out and he cussed back Um, so we called PD and it, yeah, it took a while for them to get out there. Um, it's just situations like that I believe that need to be taken care of. That's why I asked if we're fully staffed because if calls are taking long, you know, I think we need to be more staffed. Um, the drone, I'm going to lie to you, I'm not a fan of it because I think we need more data, more, you know, more stats on it. I believe would be more effective would be maybe a uh like a trailer like uh like a police station like, you know, that you can haul. um think that that would be more effective and you could tow it, you know, different areas of of the of the city. Also, uh cameras that are mobile as well, that would also help um a lot. Um I don't know if the cameras are currently working in the city. Can that question be answered? So, if I can respond, um, my 29 years of law enforcement experience, being a chief for nine of those 29 years, as well as my experience as a patrol officer 20 years, uh, and then speaking with Cal Chiefs, uh, board of supervisors, as well as sitting on the Cal Chief's law laws and legislation committees. Um, I I'd like to say I'm pretty well versed in police operations as well as technology improvements that are going to positively impact the police department. So like the drone flight response program is absolutely a force multiplier as is the uh ALPR system with lock that we just installed in the city. Um when it comes to staffing, we can be fully staffed. However, if we have a critical event such as a domestic violence, things of

that nature, that's just going to be a huge drain on labor and we have to be able to prioritize those calls for service. Additionally to speak of the in events with the homeless near uh the save mart or I call it the old save mart but planet fitness what I would say is we are actually meeting

we we're we're actually uh inviting the uh floral floral corridor businesses which is a strip mall where K is. We're going to invite the uh businesses um across the street where Wendy's used to be Ann's Donuts and those business owners. I'm actually inviting them to breakfast on April 19th to talk about how we can work together to ensure that their properties are successful and how we use code enforcement as well as public safety to leverage uh and ensure that that goal happens. However, um like uh Miss this gentleman spoke of the homeless is a continued problem throughout the state of California. I think that the city of Selman, our police department does a phenomenal job of mitigating the community's concerns. Um, however, is it going to be perfect? No, it's not because uh homeless have rights because they are citizens. We have to respect those rights. Uh, otherwise we get ourselves uh into undo litigation. And uh if you're watching any state uh city, everyone's having issues with this with this situation. And I know that um the legislation or Supreme Court just u made a ruling on Oregon and Grants Pass um legislation. Um however, the city of Freso is looking at pending litigation uh because of their new ordinances. So those are things we have to keep in mind as we mitigate the community's concerns, but also uh weigh that against our citizens rights. Now that you mentioned that, chief, let me just get some clarification in regards to business owners. If if they're in front of your building or behind your building, as a business owner, you have a right that's your property to contact PD and say they're being nuisance here. You know, my clients can't come in or they're disturbing my clients. I mean, that's something that you guys can come out and

take care of, right?

And that's that was the reason for inviting these business owners to breakfast. so that we could reinforce that to them because our law enforcement officers our primary goal and I will tell you if you ask any one of our officers the number one goal that they are um achieving or or their direction is to take guns off the streets. So that is our primary goal. Everything we do is geared towards taking guns off the street because it makes it safer for our community members, safer for our law enforcement professionals. Um that said, um we cannot be just driving around and just dealing with the homeless. Uh it is always preferable if we're going to call for service from a citizen because then it gives us standing to be able to say, "Hey, there's there's a problem. You're causing an issue because we have a business owner that's calling, right? Um for example, you cannot disturb the peace of a police officer. So you can yell and scream and call us names there. That's not disturbing the peace. However, you can disturb the peace of a private citizen, right? And if the citizen calls us, then we respond to that, right? So those are that's why we're going to meet with our business owners to reinforce that with them. Also give them a cheat sheet to some of the things uh with regards like code enforcement or mun code violations that that are on the books that they can do so that we can help them. So really we're asking for them to help us help them. But it really has to come from not just the police department, but our community members, right? That's how we That gives us more standing and reduces our liability tremendously.

Um, yeah, cuz the only reason why I bring that up is because, um, you can't even put gas at night, like past 8 once it gets dark. Um, but again, just the other day, I was going to put gas and there was two guys just sitting down Circle K yelling, "Bro, bro, I didn't look that way." You know, I don't I don't know their carrying. I don't know what they have. I don't know. Are they're high as a kite? You know, I'm not going to take that risk. So, I just put it put gas right away and just took off. Um, so that's what I'm saying like it's a huge concern. Um, I understand that there's other issues that need to be that need to be taken care of in the city. You know, things are more high priority, but again, we do have this issue. It's an ongoing issue. Um, again, Fowler um, Kingsbury, I rarely I don't think I've ever seen a homeless there before. So, um, like I said, it is a big concern for the city of Sama, for citizens. You know, we are growing. You know, Amberwoods is coming in. Looks like it's coming in fast. And then we have the cashing project as well that's also going to come in. So we are going to need a more PD as well. So that was just my concerns. Thank you.

Dela Ramirez. Um some resident. I want to just uh piggyback and elaborate of what just was previously said. Um the incidents there was two incidents that happened. And I want to say within a week and a half, we went to Domino's to pick up a pizza and the guy that was crossing the homeless almost got run over and he was he started cursing at that car and um Brian was coming out of the Domino's Pizza with the pizza and I'm like I literally had to drop my phone and like keep an eye to see what was going to happen cuz we didn't know the reaction. So that was one. And then the second time was at Circle K got off to put gas and they were sitting on two homeless on the curb and they were um bothering everyone, you know, bro and hey, and they wanted money. They were panhandling. So I did call the PD and they said we're busy, but we'll get out there as soon as we can. So um I think that 175,000 is u how much for the drones. I think it would be better if we invested into the staff because staff is hands-on. Drones are just what statistics and I think that that's what we need. We need more staff. Like was previously said, we're growing and we're growing big. We're getting Amber Woods. We're getting cashews over over at Walmart. You buy Walmart. So, we need more police. If anything, that's what we need hands-on. You know, that night that we went um to go pick up the what is it? the to go put gas. I didn't see that night not one police car and the previous night patrolling not one. And I was I was like, "Wow, you know, where are the where are the cops at?" I I usually see them. I I didn't see them. So maybe Yeah, we are short on staff because it was just mentioned. So we do need I want to say taxpayer I want to see taxpayer funding go into more patrolling and more police officers. Thank you.

comment online or on the phone.

Mayor, I see no hand raised at this time.

That will bring all right back to council. So the next one on our slide, council priorities. Now in general last year, looking at what was done, um these were sort of the overall categories that um council had selected um to list their priorities under. So, what I would like to do is do an exercise whereby we have each council member give their perhaps top three priorities that they'd like to see within the budget. And then if you saw something on all these presentations today that is like, you know what, that's a no-go for me, uh, let us know, too, so we can uh, put that down. And then if it's a consensus among people, then that just makes my job easier on saying no to it right away. So um us to blame for it then.

S. Exactly. Go ahead, Councilman.

All right. You know, I'm also going there again. Um you know, I'm all for public. Public safety is important in the communities. Bottom line. I don't care where you live, wherever, what town you live in. public safety you it requires fire and police you know I'll cut to the chase and number two is also very important I think downtown res you know renovating your downtown is very important without your downtown renovation to make it spruce it up people won't come and look at it okay that's number that's number two number three number three is your parks parks and you know faculties were very important because when they come to your town. They're going to look at if you're going to have an event, if it's not big enough, they're going to go to your bigger parks and have those events. You know, Pioneer Village, whatever. Those are important. You know, they're going to look at your your amenities, your bathrooms, your park, your grass, the trees. If it looks nice, they're going to come back. That's, you know, that's my three priorities. So then specifically within those priorities then like the projects that Liz brought up for parks specifically Pioneer Village um and the uh budget requests of PD and fire

two gentlemen here. Thank you sir and can't forget Hunt down there.

Okay. So um what I have is um you know we're this is our second year as summer live and we've been doing events and uh seem like every time we do an event event I'm sorry it gets bigger. So this is just on my wish list to maybe allocate about $10,000 for for events or some life cuz you know some of these um artists that we're getting uh they're charging more and more every time. So, uh, also money for the spay and neuter, uh, ongoing program. I like to see it happen not just once every year. I mean, we have this really strict ordinance is going to go into effect. And we need to start helping the people out there because in all reality, you know, it's got a lots of fines and stuff, but if we don't assist them in getting their their animals spayed and neuter, uh, it's it's going to fail or, you know, or they're going to make us look bad. also lights and plans for the um area that Mrs. Robertson or Citizen Robertson uh mentioned. I don't remember exactly what it was, but they needed the lights and the plans and all that good stuff to make it look good. Um I know downtown right here on High Street is looking beautiful, but people on the other side are saying, "Hey, wait a minute. Not that we're part of the business improvement district, too. So, we need to start moving on the other direction." Also, one of the issues that was brought up about the the part-time OA, I think we should just cut out the administrative assistant position and hire a full-time office assistant to help the city clerk and everybody else that should that they can help with. Um, because I think the office assistant would be cheaper and we could save a little bit of money on that. That's my thoughts. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Well, I'm going to stick with public safety. public safety is number one far as I'm concerned because I strongly feel that our citizens should be protected at all times. So, I would like to see that we continue to stay um focused on our public safety and do what we have to um to fund what we need to do for our our departments. And also, I'd like to stay on track with our fire department, our new fire station. uh make sure that we don't lose sight on that and do what we have to do. If that means meeting with our Congress people, our sen our senates to try to help us fund some of this, you know, let's let's do that because this is an opportunity and they're all saying, you know, they're willing to help out, but let's just, you know, we got to have a plan and we got to stay focused. So, I'd like to see that continued. our infrastructure. I'd like to continue infrastructure and slash with economic development pushing our our businesses. We need to get businesses here and we really need to focus on staying on top of that because businesses want to come here. It's just doing what we have to to get them here. Okay. Um the downtown revitalization that's that's in place. So that's going. I think that with the uh grants that are helping out, I know that urban grant that should be getting completed, I think by June of this year is going to be a huge impact. I mean, a huge improvement. Um, also the city is looking to fund some of that money for our downtown as well. So, I think we're getting there. So, parks and facilities is always going to be a priority as well. And I'll tell you, I've had calls from citizens that go and watch their kids at Schaefer

Park, and it took them 30 minutes to find parking because it's so packed there. That park is definitely getting overwhelmed with people, you know, and we're saying we want more kids to sign up because that's what we want. We want to keep these kids busy off the streets, but we need the parks. We need these parks. And I'll tell you one thing about Selma. You go to other parks, and I did this for years, taking my kids to other schools and playing it. Selma has one of the best facilities in Selma. We do. We have great facilities here. And you know what people always say? You guys keep those parks nice and clean. It's the truth. It's the honest truth and I want to give you guys kudos for that because our parks are nice, very nice. But I think that with all this um growth, we really need to look at bringing back Rockwell Pond. We got to start looking at that that park because that park is going to be is going to be huge for city of Selma. So that's those are my comments and Thank you. I agree with everything I've heard. Just exclamation point. What and I really want to say thank you to all the department heads. I just want to say thank you to everybody and everybody for coming out on a busy day. This is unity. You know, we're all kind of pulling in the same direction. What's interesting this year is I don't see anybody shaking their head. No. When I hear these requests, everybody's kind of like on the same page. We would love to get these going. And I think at the end of the day to to be able to fund that, we need to keep attracting businesses. You know, I think that's important. commercial development as well as the residential development that's coming in collecting those uh impact fees and

doing smart things like um those community facility district citizen facility districts CFDs that are very important to keep funding public safety so that we can have those services to keep maintaining our city as a great place for people to come. Um, we had, you know, a gentleman come in today and talk about, you know, toot. Um, but, you know, that was half the story. That's a business owner talking and I respect that. You know, they got to they got to make payroll. They need to make money or they won't come to Selma. We got four hotels here, so obviously they're doing something right. They do want to make money here. But, you know, we have a lot to attract people to Selma. We don't, you know, have some of the amenities, but we do have an arts center that people come to visit. We have an uh we have a um nightife that's flourishing. We need to keep that going how how we should, you know, keep encouraging our business um improvement district like April 10th when we have John Peton and his wife Tammy for line dancing. I mean, the other cities have things like this, but we are programming it. We're going to have a farmers market. We're just making more and more um in terms of attractions for people to come to Selma with the long term. So those are shortterm goals of keeping, you know, promoting business, having events downtown, making downtown look good, but in the in the end, we also need more downtown parking. I think we want to look at the uh police station. We're already already doing a lot of this, but let's make it a priority to allocate some of those parking spaces um to the public and work with the FCRTA. They're right in our backyard. Their maintenance, their $20 million maintenance facility is right here and people work there every day. Let's utilize that relationship. Let's leverage it and see if we can get them to help us with park and ride downtown.

Um we need a recreation center big time. We just need it, you know. So, let's Why are we doing all this? Well, we want a place for our people where they want to be, where they want to move, where they want to live. And we do need that recreation center. So, let's uh let's try to get that on our CIP and make that a real priority. And we, as uh Mayor Prom said, we need a park. We need a regional park, not a pocket park. We need a regional park so people can come and play soccer. I mean, every every Sunday at church, we see the uh the pe the folks from the soccer teams and they say, "We just don't have enough space. We got to share it. We um you know, we have to share with baseball and football. We love baseball and football, but we don't have any place of our own. So, let's look at that." And finally, we haven't had an economic development director in a while. Um it would be great if we could look into that. Our comm's director has been a real gamecher for our city in terms of marketing, working with the departments. He's one person. So I think the other side of that coin is economic development. Someone to look at what we're doing and to leverage those relationships with EDC and with those groups out there that are at large. They are like regional organizations, but we need a a smaller organization or a smaller um person here, a person here that can uh communicate with those organizations to leverage that information to make our city a better place to um to work and to live. And that's it. So, um do we have shall we move it to the public and ask the public for any priorities that

that's the next slide? It's uh questions and comments, which is essentially for the Well, it should have been the next Oh, there we go. Hey, look at that. Uh for the public to come up. Um we've had some really good discussion from uh the public and the input that we've received so far. I've been writing it down, so I appreciate that. Um and uh I've got a ton of notes to go through.

I do too. Um but yeah, this portion is for the public. Thank you. public safety, parks, uh economic development was brought up um few times which can include down downtown improvements, stuff like that. Yeah.

Yes. Right. And as we move through the budget process and we'll be bring stuff back. We try to fit whatever we can in and then there may be further discussion amongst council of well we have this uh in here and we have this in here. We need to prioritize which project. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was on. It was a light. My apologies. Did you want to identify yourself?

Uh, Louisis Franco, California. Um, so basically my question in a nutshell is what are the three top priorities coming out of this workshop? If if I know two seem clear, I'm just ambiguous of what is the third one? And so that's all my question. Just a general information question. That's all. public safety, parks, and I would say economic development um were the top three. Now, there's items within those subcategories within those that these fall through. But looking at what I have here, it would be uh those are the three. And if council would like to confirm that to make sure that I understand that then

well we have four of us up here and we all had different items but that's definitely a theme that you mentioned. So there that's the theme that I'm start over that's why we're having this this meeting here so we can pull you can pull all that information right and it'll coales more as we move forward through this process. So this is just the foundation for us building that budget moving forward.

I just want to say thank you to everybody and everybody who's come out. It's it's it's very nice that you guys put a lot of work the effort in it and um also we understood very very well that um this was a a Christmas wish list and you know you you go from there and I'm sure you'll get citizens that will also um put in their input and but there's still another budget meeting coming up and I also like to say I'm we're are we seeing the the $10,000 furniture chairs and desk are these the ones that you guys did purchase. Very nice. And you guys look all very comfortable in it. Good job.

Um I just want to say thank you to staff, thank you to um everybody that came out today. U thank you to council. I think the vision is very clear here. You know, citizens first, Selma first. Um I think we didn't have that in the past, but we do have it now. So, thank you guys for everybody. Uh, thank you guys for doing that for us. Um, for being transparent, for, you know, asking all the right questions. Um, so, uh, yeah, that's pretty much it. Thank you. Anybody online or on the phone with a comment or question? Mayor, I see no hands raised at this time. Sounds good. Anything else?

All right. Well, that concludes uh our workshop today. Uh we appreciate all the comments that we receive from the public, from staff, from council. Um this is a process. So we do have a number of steps moving forward that we will continue to do. Our next uh budget workshop will most likely be end of April or uh beginning of May. Sounds good. Thank you everybody for coming out. We're gonna turn the meeting now.