Council - Regular Meeting

Can we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call.

Mayor Gerardo Anaya.

Present.

Vice Mayor Juan Castillo.

Present.

Council Member Miguel Villalpando. Present. Council Member Luis Galindo. He is in, he might be muted. Council Member Jesus Rondan.

Present.

Council Member Lorena Delgadillo.

Present.

Council Member Martha Gonzalez. Present. Mayor Havacorn.

Thank you. We're going to move on and call to the public. Anybody from the public want to address council? There's none. There's none. We have a proclamation, elder abuse awareness.

Present, sorry.

Too late.

Whereas older adults deserve to be treated with respect and dignity to enable them to serve as leaders, mentors, volunteers, and vital participating members of our community. And whereas the mayor's office, along with the city council and Western Arizona Council of Governments, Area Agency on Aging recognized the importance of taking action to raise awareness, prevent and address elder abuse. And whereas as our population lives longer, we are presented with an opportunity to think about our collective needs and future as a city. and ageism and social isolation are major causes of elder abuse in the United States and recognizing that it is up to all of us to ensure that proper social structures exist so people can retain community and societal connections, reducing the likelihood of abuse. And whereas preventing abuse of elder adults through maintaining and improving social supports like senior centers, human services and transportation will allow everyone to continue to live as independently as possible and contribute to the life and vibrancy of our communities. and whereas where there is justice there can be no abuse therefore the mayor's office and members of the city council along with the western arizona council of government's area agency on aging urge all people to restore justice by honoring older adults Join us in our engaging and empowering movement and putting an end to abuse. Now, therefore, I, Gerardo Anaya, Mayor of the City of Somerton, do hereby proclaim June 15th, 2026 as Elder Abuse Awareness Day and encourage all of our citizens to recognize and celebrate older adults and their ongoing contributions to the success and vitality of our community and urge all citizens to continue their support of the Somerton Senior Center's programs and activities.

Welcome our members of our senior center. I want to welcome our members of our senior center. I want to welcome our members of our senior center.

How are you?

Like this. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Bye. Bye.

We're going to move on to consent agenda. We have two items. Check register for the month of May 2026. An approval to award GCE as the lowest bidder for the County 17th Street and Orange Avenue. Pathway face one. Install new two inch compacted asphalt or multi-use pathway. and curb and gutter concrete in the amount not to exceed $123,206. Does any member of council want to remove an item from consent agenda? Is there a motion? So moved, Mayor. Motion by Councilman Roldan. Second, Mayor. Second by Councilman Galindo. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. We're gonna move on to new business. Item 7.1, discussion and possible action to approve the city of Somerton proposed fiscal year 2026, 2027 position grade and salary schedule.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, Chona Medell, Finance Director. The item before me is the 2026, 2027 proposed pay scale, sorry. the proposed pay scale. Human Resources and Finance have reviewed all the pay scales in the current pay grades. Over time, City of Somerton current salary scale has become less aligned with the surrounding municipalities. The proposed salary scale provides current comparisons with the City of Yuma and the City of San Luis to show where adjustments may be needed to support recruitment, retention, and address current staff compression issues across all classifications. And these issues now support our efforts to maintain a qualified and stable workforce. This serves as the beginning of a broader process to ensure we continue to remain competitive and actively address some compression related issues and concerns moving forward. Arizona minimum wage is expected to increase in January, 2027 under state required annual inflation adjustments and planning for this anticipated change helps our projected growth and operational needs as our community continues to grow. The updated scale also incorporates new positions that reflect our projected growth and operational needs as the community continues to expand. As stated in our work session, not all of these additional positions are budgeted in the current fiscal year 27 tentative budget that is going to be proposed to you at the next item. The financial impact for the budgeted positions comparing to 2026 budgeted salaries to 2027 is a 4% increase of $392,862. When reviewing these again, some compression issues are addressed as well as some of the minimum pay grades. We utilized City of San Luis website pay scale that was affected back in January 11th of 2025. And we used the City of Yuma posting careers on their website as the comparisons for the actual comparisons. When both vice mayor and council have had an opportunity to review these items, I would like to open it up for questions or concerns or changes or suggestions.

You left off.

Thank you, Mayor. Jonah, I do have, again, I would like to express my opinion on regards to two of the positions that you have on your list, and one of them is the public safety analyst full-time position. As I mentioned in the work session, you know, doing my research and analyzing the salaries on here, I just feel that at this time, I would like to request from Council to exclude that position for now I understand what you stated, this is for future growth, maybe when we're there, we can bring you back again but. I understand that it was vetted I understand that it went through administration, I understand I understand that, however, I just feel that when I read the job description and the salary that's on there, which is quite high. FOR THE POSITION, IT DOESN'T REQUIRE AN UPPER LEVEL EDUCATION LEVEL COMPARED TO OTHER POSITIONS THAT WE HAVE HERE. AND I'M NOT SAYING THAT WE DON'T HAVE QUALIFIED PEOPLE BUT I'M JUST SAYING THAT AT THIS MOMENT I RATHER WAIT UNTIL WE ARE THERE. I DON'T THINK WE ARE THERE YET. Also for the facilities assistant manager, I'm gonna have Councilwoman Gonzalez address that, but the executive administrative assistant for three departments, I do wanna express my concern on dividing an individual into three. Is that what the three was for, right?

It's actually, no, no, no. So we have one, currently we have three administrative specialists.

Oh, and you wanna convert those three into?

And then we want to convert those three into executive due to the fact that those three individuals take on multiple divisions and departments.

Okay, so that's my question then. What takes precedence? Which department's more important? That would be a question for- And all departments are important. Correct. So if I was the administrative assistant and I answered to three different departments or I have to help three different departments, your department's important, but so is Parks and so is Public Works. So who am I going to follow first? First come, first serve, grab a ticket? Because everybody wants the duty that was given to that person done yesterday. And so to me, you put an individual, not you, but you know, the city puts the individual in a predicament where, well, who's more important? Which department is more important? Everybody's important. And so I do not agree on us approving a position or that someone which I'm sure they do it now. I rather, if they're gonna need it, then have three different administrative assistants. I don't understand what the executive word is for. Is it just so it can sound more executive? I don't know.

It's due to the higher level because an administrative specialist usually is like under one department that kind of does the duties of one department has one boss.

And you're talking about growth and future growth. Water is growing. Public works is growing. Parks is growing. And so the more we grow, that individual is going to be so overwhelmed that they're not going to want to stay. And we're going to put that person in predicament. We're going to be wasting more money in training when that person leaves. And now we have to hire someone else and train them in three different departments. I just do not agree at this time to reclassify or anything like that. I seriously feel that if there is a need and because of growth, then there has to be three different people. That's my opinion on those two positions. There was another, I'm so sorry. It's cause I let everybody, everything on top of my desk at work. The risk does yeah it was a human resource specialist senior. I understand it's for future growth I completely understand I looked at the salary I compared it to other employers in our in our area and. The degree, you know, even though so sometimes we'll say okay years of experience subsidizes the degree, but. I just feel that at this time, even the risk management specialist, I just don't understand the justification for that. but um for now mayor um that's my my spiel on the public safety analyst full-time and the administrative executive administrative assistant to be divided into three departments and put that person in predicament to decide who's more important i don't want to do that i don't think it's fair

council yeah so i'm going to go on back to what i said during the work session regarding the assistant parks um in my opinion is is three months, bring the new person in three months earlier. It could be also, speaking to legal, it could be a contract where we would have to find a way, legal explained it a few minutes ago, it can be done. If the person that's retiring would like to, there's a way to do it. I don't think funding or putting out a position that's gonna be just funded for three months. And I'm gonna use the department public works department. I don't wanna diminish the workload. but public works has many departments um parks has a lot less um there is a position already in in the pay scale to have an assistant administrator i don't remember exactly off the top of my head but it hasn't been funded and you know why not use those resources for that i'm not saying that like diminishing parks or anything like that. But I don't think at this time having that position is, I don't think it'll, like I explained, we haven't done it with other departments. I understand what Vice Mayor is saying that, you know, it was vetted and everything. But again, this is my opinion on that position. I wanna also, taking back on what Ms. Delgadillo said about that administrative assistant to executive for multiple departments. I think that's a lot of stress. I know you guys wear a million hats, I really do. But as far as having that person prioritize what's more important, finance is important. You know, community development is important and having them, we just found out we had hired one person to fill out one of those positions and same day we're gone. It's a lot. If we can find a way to what is the administrative assistant? Is it the current?

Administrative specialist. We do not have, currently we're requesting or proposing administrative assistant, because that's an entry-level job. We have an administrative specialist, and we're requesting an administrative executive assistant. executive assistant, sorry.

But it's to cover four departments or whatever. Is there a way to be able to have this pay scale and just reclassify it as executive assistant. I don't know, you know, find ways to, yes, I know community development needs an administrative assistant. They've shown you guys or administration, it's gone through the vetting process. Okay, let's give one specifically to that instead of, you know, to give it to each department that needs it, of course, within budgeted, within the budget, but I do agree, it's too much for, and I don't think, and I think we'll have difficulty also hiring people that are gonna wanna be under four bosses at the same time. That's my take on those two positions.

Any other questions or comments?

Mayor, if I may.

Councilman Villalpando.

Yeah, Chona, what's the job duties, well, what's the difference between administrative specialist and administrative, executive administrative? What's the difference?

Administrative specialist takes care of one department, one division. The concept behind the executive assistant is they take care, they have a larger workload. It's more, they take care of multiple divisions.

So is there not enough workload for one administrative specialist that you guys feel the need to combine other departments to that one executive?

I would direct that question to city manager, because they're the first of any process.

Yeah, so on, and excuse my voice again, you know, if there's different levels of what we had, right now, there's only one level, and that is that this specialist, correct, Shona? The admin specialist. is taking on these responsibilities. And this is taking on various responsibilities of high level. This has to do with credit cards, purchasing, those types of things that are assisted by the divisions and the director. and correct me if I'm wrong, is what's being commented is you'd want each of the directors to have a specialist because there's plenty of work. But one of the ideas, and I think this was a conversation that we had when we first hired the specialists that oversaw that supported admin, economic development, community development, and the clerk was that, you know, work-wise, how much work would there be? And they said, well, let's try it. And if there's more work that needs to be done, And of course, the city's grown the last couple of years, not just in the normal responsibilities of the day to day, but also with everything that's coming in and more responsibilities, more processes and so forth. So That was the intent at the beginning, but now we're seeing that like was mentioned was the workload and responsibilities we feel should be at a higher pay scale and because of the more responsibilities that has grown. But again, we look for your direction. We're trying to get, and we can go back and look at this, Right now, we just have that one position and no other levels, am I correct? So we're trying to see, okay, is it where we can get someone to assist that person to do things? Or as mentioned previously, each director, if there's, like Councilor Villalpando mentioned, is there enough workload for all of them? It's been different and it's grown and it has grown with SOPs, processes that we've implemented and so forth. So we'd have to analyze that, but that would be something that we can look in the future. We were trying to find someone that could take on that current responsibility, but also reflect the responsibilities on the salary side. And that's what we're trying to do this time around.

No and I get it I understand that you guys are trying to address something but but the Councilwoman Delgadillo has a point in the sense of why would you want to have one executive assistant serving for when it might call for additional support. So I don't mind approving the positions. But I think that needs to be looked at a little bit more careful and analyzed and making sure that that position is what's needed and not something else or you need more of those positions. But as far as just doing it for possibly looking to increase a salary, I don't think that's something that we should – consider or look at it in that fashion. We need to look at it as the responsibilities and fair pay for those responsibilities.

And Councilman Villalpando, I agree. We were just in trying to address the needs as slowly, but I mean, we can look at that and we'll come back with you and say, you know, if that's the direction we were, you know, we don't have, we didn't have as many subdivisions. Economic development has been a little, has increased. So a lot of things have increased in that, even with public works, with what's coming on and what we have going on and some of the projects. So again, we can look at that. We have no issue. We're just trying to see if that would work for now to get someone competitive in there because, I'm sorry, go ahead.

No, and see, what I was going to say, one of the problems though, Louie, is that what's happened in the past, people have worked, different hats and we have been trying to get away from that. And it seems by creating this position, you're reverting back to somebody taking on too many departments when they shouldn't. So again, I mean, I, I don't mind the position, but I think it needs to be looked at a little bit more careful and analyze whether there's enough workload or, or for maybe one or two or there isn't enough workload and maybe it needs to be something else. I just hate to see somebody wearing multiple hats after all these years that you guys have been trying to get away from that.

I just have a question. So hearing the comments, you know, I'm under the impression that you guys did kind of like analyze this before it was presenting to us. And this is a recommendation. I mean, at least for me, I mean, I understand about individuals wearing different hats and everything and how it can be overwhelming. But at the same time, I do believe that there are individuals out there that can manage those tasks. You know, and I've always said it myself. I mean, I think, you know, it's not time management. It's not about managing time. It's about managing oneself. And so at least for me, I mean, at least I feel if this is being presented to us, you guys did your due diligence to, you know, ensure that, hey, this is something that is needed for us as a city to, let's say, to make it better. And I mean, I definitely understand Councilwoman Delgadillo's concern about overwhelming. I mean, yeah, we don't want someone to get overwhelmed. But at the same time, I mean, I feel like, hey, this is a job that needs to get done and someone needs to do it. And I think with proper training and proper efficiency systems that are in place, I mean, I feel that individuals can manage two or three or four departments, again, with, you know, having the priority set, you know, what's urgent, what's not, what can wait. I mean, I think that's where the department heads can collaborate and that this individual can, you know, can decide what, not decide, but have a sense of what's urgent, what's not, based on what's being asked and needed. I mean, at least for me, I mean, I feel that individuals are capable of doing that, and I don't see it as like, oh, no, we should wait, you know, because I think that's where we start putting limitations on what we can do, when in reality, I mean, there are

And to answer your question, yes, it was evaluated. It was vetted, as I had stated in the workshop session. We do have a process. And the way it was vetted, it was vetted to reclass the individuals and that position into an executive's. And this is a stepping stone, because this is brought back every year. It's a stepping stone to say, OK, will it work? Is Somerton growing so fast that maybe, yes, we need two positions. Maybe they can't handle the foreign take out one department, but that will get reevaluated. Those items are reevaluated. We're constantly, all of us, as far as departments are constantly putting in requests for the evaluation of a individual because they are wearing multiple hats. We all do. And we understand that coming in. And so we know that the salary scale is never gonna be just standard to Yuma or to San Luis. And we're working with that. HR gave me a few points as far as the total 21 is separated employees from the city from fiscal year, this fiscal year through May, through the end of May. Their exit interviews, they were saying that they valued the work environment and the organization. However, the compensation was not sufficient. And that was some of the reasons why. And so this is just a stepping stone on this pay scale is to try to move forward because it hasn't been touched in a few years. And it hasn't been addressed as far as compression, as far as comparison, and we are losing. to the other municipalities around us. And of course, we'll never get to that point. I always said never say never, because we might, you never know. But at this time, you know, in the foresee future, we always have to at least stay a little bit competitive. And that's what we're asking here as far as the positions and the pay scales.

So what I'm hearing, this is, additional workload is more for retention purposes?

It's for retention basis, yes. Their workload is their workload. I mean, they're gonna have that workload. It's just a matter of- For retention, so that's- so that we are not constantly filling that position over and over again.

At least for me, that's what I want to hear. Just this is for retention. It's not additional because, yeah, at least that, because from what I sent from council is that they just don't want to approve a blanket pay scale or positions, and then they want to be able to And if this was an additional reclassification or additional duties, then that's just the but. From what I'm hearing, it's more a retention, more to be, because they lead to other agencies, so.

They get more money and less work.

Mayor, if I may?

Councilwoman Delgadillo, then Councilman Villalpando.

I have three points that I want to kind of have a rebuttal in what Vice Mayor Acasio mentioned about managing tasks. I don't see that that's the issue. I'm sure there's very qualified people that can manage a task. That's not the issue here. The issue to me, in my opinion, is managing who comes first. um there's grants there's deadlines there's budgets there's each director's so overwhelmed as well that they need that help and so i don't think the issue is managing the task i think the issue is What is the priority? Who is the priority? Each manager is going to think or each director is going to think, well, I'm a priority because finance needs these reports and I need you to help me because I have to go deal with something over here. And so leading to what the administrator said that, you know, they're trying to find a way to to manage this in a sense where covering something for now, it's a for now, it's a for now, just in the meantime, to me, that's a bandaid. And so we're just putting a bandaid on something that when the city grows further, then we can probably address it. And you mentioned multiple hats. Yes, I'm sure you have staff in your department that wears multiple hats. But it's one department. This individual is going to wear multiple hats for a variety of departments. That's a major difference. And so to me, in my opinion, you can't compare your individual because they belong to finance. And I'm using you as an example. In finance, and it's the finance. you're not sharing it with public works. And so whatever your individual is doing multiple jobs because you haven't been approved to fill a position, but it's still in the one department, they only have you to answer to. AGAIN, I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THAT EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO ME IS NOW, AS THE CITY ADMINISTRATOR EXPLAINED, TO ME IT'S A BANDAID. I STILL FEEL THAT WE SHOULD NOT HAVE THAT. AND SO, YEAH. I'M JUST GOING TO RAMBLE ON AND ON. BUT I APPROVE MY POINT. THANK YOU.

CONSULTANT VILLALPANDO.

YES, MAYOR. MAYBE STAFF SHOULD LOOK AT I can't even pronounce the word. Compartmentalize things. Where I work, we went through that whole process just because everybody was a little bit around everywhere and nobody knew the direction. Who was responsible for what? And when we reached that process, it actually gave a clearer definition on what was the expectations. And believe it or not, our finance director said she loved it, felt a lot more comfortable with it, because now she was basically told you only focus on finance and finance only. Everything else, forget about it. Nobody needs to go to her or anything like that. So it did lower her stress. And those are some of the benefits of using this method. And so that's the only reason that I brought up the fact that dealing with four departments wearing basically four different hats is going to be a tough ask. But if... If you guys feel comfortable with it, then you guys feel comfortable with it, but you might have run into some issues down the road. And I'm just trying to express that to make sure that you guys aren't shortchanging yourself, that if things need to be changed, might as well change it now and do it right versus going down a road, then later on, you guys are gonna say, hey, they're wearing too many hats.

Any other questions or comments?

only we're doing is this title so they can get a little raise so they can continue yes

I have a question on overall the whole pay scale. Is every employee or every position that's already currently filled within City of Somerton that it's projected here, is everybody gonna benefit from this pay scale this fiscal year?

So what we're focusing on for this pay scale is the minimum requirements, so the minimum starting pay. So any individual or any employee that is within the new proposed minimum, if they're above the minimum, the effect on them won't be as detrimental as the effect that somebody is underneath the minimum. So I have proposed an tentative budget, the 3% COLA, as well as the 2% merit that is addressed. Compression, I did go through departments as far as personnel is concerned to look at some of those individuals that have been and have served the city of Somerton for quite some time. and have not been increased at the level that they should have been increased according to time served. And I did address some of the compression issues amongst throughout the departments. Again, it doesn't include like the vacancies and what people are coming in at because some compression might be have to be addressed at that point in time somebody qualified, have the experience, has the time, has the experience for a position and comes in at a higher level in a department and say that that department has individuals that have served their time and that have been there and then some of those individuals are training those individuals coming in. that might have to be addressed at a later time because those are unknowns. But yes, to answer to your question, not everybody will be impacted by this new salary scale. But again, this is a stepping stone. This is a starting process. I mean, we're gonna have to go back and some of the comments and some of the direction that we may get after this, we'll have to address those issues and come back to you. But for the most part, this is our starting point. We need to move forward at some point in time.

MY QUESTION TO COUNCIL, WHAT TYPE OF INFORMATION WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BEFORE WE APPROVE THE SCALE AND BEFORE THOSE POSITIONS ARE I GUESS BROUGHT UP TO PART OF THE ONES THAT ARE IN QUESTION? ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT

Personally, my suggestion would be pull them out and talk about them separately so we are able to approve the pay scale to address the minimum, like she mentioned, and the compression issue. I would feel more comfortable doing that and discussing those positions. It can even be assumed. And leave those out so we're able to approve this pay scale, because I know you guys put a lot of work into it. but there's still some concerns and mainly that what we've discussed here, the main concerns are the new positions.

At least for me, I mean, I think I have enough. I mean, I think staff has done their due diligence before they presenting this. And I mean, they've compared the salary scale with our neighboring municipalities and everything. I mean, that's been done. I mean, so for me, I mean, I'm okay with what was shared. I mean, you sent it to us, you sent us this information, what, about a week ago, week and a half ago? So, I mean, I mean, for me, I'm okay.

The thing is, you know, before council has requested either a time study or like I mentioned, just justification. And I can see some of the concerns, the, And at least for me, I would be willing to separate those that are in question and approve the salary scale and then bring it back as soon as next week and we can have a more of a discussion.

I'm agreeable to your suggestion, Mayor.

Okay.

So is there a motion?

I make a motion to approve salary scale by removing the positions in question, the added positions, and approving the salary scale along with the compression portion of it.

There's a motion by Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Second.

Second by Councilwoman Delgadillo. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 7.2, discussion of possible action to adopt the tentative budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. Continue where you left off.

I do have a question due to the fact that the upload on my item is not what was in the work session. Is it okay to continue with that?

Yeah.

So this agenda item is to work on the tentative, to approve the tentative budget for fiscal year 2027. And I'm continuing as far as where we left off on the work session. which is administrative, administration. Administration, you have the line items. And the additional is 11,399, which is a 3% increase. Nothing necessarily highlighted. Most of it is operations. um clerk's office is a 27 percent item um her big uh item is the 29 it's the increase of 39 656 due to the um the icompass and the iworks management module that was approved last year and this is the annual renewal Oh, and elections, I'm sorry. And then the elections, the 12,000 for the elections. Finance department, we have a 6% increase of $50,048. I did get questioned in regards to the line item of accounting and auditing an outsiding firm, and that is still there due to the fact that the workload is still needed.

Can we just comment on that?

Oh yeah, I'm sorry, you want me to stop and comment? I just have a question on the finance on the- Sure. On the bank fees, I know you mentioned that, and I know we all have bank fees, day charges, but the vendor late fees specifically, how much do we pay?

That is barely minimal. I would say maybe $500 at the most a year. Okay. Yes, we have cut that significant, like 90%. And you can ask any department. We are on top of that as far as making sure that those invoices are in on time.

And then- Because that was one of my questions, and I know you just addressed the- The bank part, I'm sorry. Yeah. So that's why I wanted to follow up.

And then on top of that, our accounts payable negotiates. So if we see a late charge that a payment is maybe missed by a couple of days or they didn't get posted by a couple of days, our AP will go ahead and call them and usually gets reversed.

But you put 13,000 on there, but you said it's very minimal.

No, no, no. So 13,000 is our bank fees from our actual institution. So Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, they charge us monthly for our transactions of our ACH checks, our deposits, how many deposits. That's a standard business account that we get charged for. It's never been addressed as far as an expense is concerned. We've always paid it, but it's never been addressed as an expense and it needs to be addressed as an expense. So that's why we put it there.

And so we're showing it now, it wasn't before. Yes, correct.

Thank you. You're welcome. Human resource department, 11% increase due to the fact that they now use NeoGov and that is an annual subscription for our employment job descriptions and our employment advertisements. IT manager did call me right before the meeting. This line item is going to get changed because it looks like it was duplicated. A one in line item 24, 155,000. Some of those items were in line item 59 that did not get removed. So that will be removed.

It's gonna help you with your budget.

It's gonna help me a little bit. It's 158,000, I believe it was, or $138,000. So it'll help me just a little bit.

With our budget, with your budget.

So that will change. So the increase is not that substantial as far as the 136%. Community development is a 28% increase at 214,000. The majority of that is the capital improvement item.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. Back to IT. I'm picking on IT, I'm just going. But it does say include a public safety IP network. Is that the position that we're holding?

So if you're holding that position, I'm gonna have to remove that from the budget.

And it's gonna decrease.

Yeah, so after the work session that is prior. So with the tentative budget, It's the bottom, it's the maximum amount of item. We can decrease, we can't increase from whatever is, but we can decrease. Any questions on community development? I'll stop and make sure that I ask questions. Economic development, the bottom line item, is 34%. It's 336 increase. A good portion of it is the capital improvements, the land acquisition of 400,000. And then the capital outlay of the strategic prime and the new vehicle. And this is a scrivener's error because it did not get removed in description. It's not a Honda record cord replacement. We changed that as when we went over to the CIPs, it was an SUV. Any questions? Next line item is courts. The bottom line figure is 13% increase of 101,680. Again, their biggest change is the court house assessments for the CIP. And then they have some building repair and maintenance items that I know that they had stated that it was increased. Any questions? Police department is a 26% increase. I don't know if you all can see that. Let me make it a little bit bigger. For those in the audience that can't see it. The increase is 1.2 million. A lot of it is the CIPs as well. I mean, we went over the CIPs, 595,000, 300,000, as well as the fleet. I mean, the radio, sorry, excuse me, the radio. Any questions? animal control is a 39% increase. Due to humane society MOU that increased significantly. So that is slide item 37. Any questions?

Mayor, I have a question. Just go ahead. That was the, I don't remember off the top of my head. That was the agreed, what we came back with when they, okay.

Correct. That was the agreed upon amount. It's 43,730. Okay. And Mayor, oh, go ahead.

So for other services, 100,000.

SO IT'S THE AVERAGE WAS LAWN SERVICES FOR 33,768 FOR THE HUMANE SOCIETY WAS 43,730. SO LAWN SERVICES ARE BEING PLACED UNDER? THEY HAVE LAWN SERVICES FOR THE CLEANING OF THE SHELTER. YES. The next one is a little too big. It's fire department. 37%. Again, this is another departmental item that it's the capital outlay of the ladder truck, the ambulance, the rescue truck replacements.

And those replacements take years, that's why we have to-

Correct. Correct. The last time last year we came back, it was a million dollars less and now it's a million dollars more. So we fortunately chief worked with the vendor and it's not technically like a loan. It's just we're making payments because it takes three, four years to build for that price. It's locked in for that price as we started. Yes. Any questions on fire? Parks and Rec. Bottom is 10% increase of 200,000. The highlights, of course, there are a couple of actually one CIP in here, I believe. But a lot of the operations is just the increase. And then, of course, the part-time requests of personnel. Any questions on Public Works? I mean, excuse me, Parks and Rec?

I have a question or a comment. I know that in the past, we've talked about the League of Cities and participation, and I know that it was part of, I think most of it is part of Mayor and Council's budget. Correct, 100% of it is. but I'm thinking, or my suggestion is adding, because we always say after every league that takes place, we need to, increase the budget for for that uh event if you want to call it that um my suggestion is to add um for special events and under parks and rec in their line item the 5642 um add additional funding for it or i don't know if we can move stuff around because i know it's a pain in the butt too um but it's just a suggestion, because I know parks does participate with the League of Cities that we do every year.

Mayor, if I may, I think currently we have 7,000 budgeted for the showcase. So we would leave that up to Mayor and Council for direction.

No, currently in Mayor's budget, in Mayor and Council's budget for League of Cities is 13. No, this is, oh, no, no, no, I lie, sorry. I, let me, that is your dues and subscriptions, so hold on. Why don't you even? Yeah, it is broken down. It's 8, 8, 8,000 currently for the league showcase. Any more comments, questions? Facilities division, 41%. So during the year, we've been trying to allocate the facilities to the actual facilities budget. The increase is 203,000. The big substantial one is due to taking some of the salaries from parks that were in parks and putting them over to facilities. Any questions? Senior Center has a 28% increase, 86,075. Most of it is operational, and of course, food prices have been increased. So most of it is just operational increase. Any questions on Senior Center? And we do get WCAG funding for a portion of this. Fleet Services, bottom line is 123% increase, 375,995. The majority of that is their CIP to address the fleet facility department. Special events, we have a 9% increase at 28,431. It's operational increase. Any questions?

Question on special events. Specifically on the line item that says special events. because I've said it in past meetings, that contract, you're gonna hate me for it, James, but I've talked to you about it, the contract for the third party alluvial, I asked if that was included for next fiscal year, and I was told it was. For next fiscal year's events.

Yes, and you're asking. So Mayor and Council, James Jones, Parks and Rec Director. Up there in 1070-33, it says advertising. We have a set amount in the advertising budget. We can go with alluvia media or we can do it in-house. That's why we put it in advertising so that we have options. If the direction is we're not using alluvia media, then we'll go forward. We have budget for the advertisement and going out and procuring that ourselves.

And like I said, I really don't think we need that third party. We've done it in the past without a third party. There's a lot of trade offs that we do with, you help me, I help you. A lot of our news stations do it for free. And all we need is a couple of minutes on air to advertise. One of my examples of the, one of the expenditures was for 4th of July. 4th of July sells itself in any of the cities because our residents wanna come out and, you know, have a good time on 4th of July. We're the only city that does the water balloon fight, which I'm very proud of. And at this time I checked with neighboring cities, we're the only city right now that continues having those water features for the kids. And I think our community and families appreciate that. So, and that's just one example that I can use as far as we didn't need, to spend 4,500 to promote that event when that event sells itself. And that's, if you decide to go with it, I would rather not, but I'm just gonna always come out.

We're gonna have a work session to discuss special events here. So that's probably the forum too.

Next is streets division. 78%, 978,328. The big large item is the capital improvement for the pathways and then the capital outlay for the equipment. Next item is water division.

So if we add the vehicles, this could be 100% increase.

Bottom line figure is 65% increase at 1,465,873. One is the water meters. A lot of the CIPs is the big chunk of that. I believe CIPs were 1.2 million. So the increase is 1.4. And then also the two additional water three positions that was requested.

Any questions on that? We're gonna come back and talk about the vehicles, right?

Sewer, wastewater division. the bottom line figure 65 percent the increase is 3 million 333 687. the biggest item on that is the um cips which is the orange grove rancho mesa verde um payment for the water line at a two million dollar amount um as well as um the the pay scale differences as well as the block wall Any questions on wastewater? Sanitation is an 8% increase at $81,248. It's mostly operational increases as far as increases in chemicals and other items. Recycling is a 21% increase. It's 140,000, excuse me, 23,977 increase. And that is the portable office CIP. And that is the end of the presentation of the continuous work session.

Any questions or comments? I WANT TO COMMENT WE HAVE WE SEE THE INCREASE IN EACH DEPARTMENT BUDGET AND AS WE KNOW THE ENTERPRISE FUNDS ARE NOT COVERING THE SO THE GENERAL FUND IS SUBSIDIZING A LOT OF IT AND I SEE A LOT OF LINE ITEMS THAT could wait or they're not emergency but that's probably something that need to be looked at but now that we have nexus on board i think staff should put an emphasis on grant funding there's several a lot for public safety stuff that it's not immediately needed maybe we can start looking into a two-year look ahead at what we're going to need in two years because all that is coming out of our general fund which is direct directly to most departments their salaries and we're talking about that we can't pay but i think if we can change our mindset into actually using those resources that we got and start identifying projects that we can go and and request those funds from a from our legislators. That's something I think that I want staff to start thinking that way. Two years down the road, right now we need it, but we know that all the funding we request, they get approved and it takes two or three years. So that's, like I said, there's, staff has had meetings with Nexus and they know the type of projects that we'll get funded federally you know any drainage projects any uh public safety is big we can team up with uh the uh kokopa there's there's uh there's funding for tribes and since we are the fire department that's something i think that that we we can maybe louis have projects that are identified here in the next couple years that we're going to go after for the funding

Mayor, if I may, sorry about the voice. We're hoping this year to bring you each department's five-year to present ideas so that council can help us, give us direction on prioritizing which ones you'd like us to focus on, and if there's any other ones that you'd like to include.

But I would like to see... identify for federal funding in the next two, three years. So when we go to Washington, then we can start advocating. We or somebody else can start advocating.

I don't know if I'm gonna be here. And just to remind everyone, we are working with Nexus. We have bi-weekly meetings with them and they keep us posted and we keep asking questions. I think the most important is, you know, shovel ready to a certain extent. That's what we have to be ready for.

Like I said, like equipment, there's equipment for public safety.

You're correct, Mayor. Like something new that we learned was like this year, the police vehicles. And so we're gonna, so they're gonna help us identify those and we can bring them back to council.

This administration is big on law enforcement. So those types of projects we can start, identify what's needed and...

Mayor, if I may, that you mentioned Nexus. I saw in the budget that we pay them 7,000 a month. Is it possible for them to give us a report every quarter or every month or something in order for the community to know that we are trying to find other funding sources through these individuals, because that's a lot of money that we pay them. And I think I've met, we met with them once, I have, once.

And I'm sorry, the mayor, if I may, they are more than happy to meet with mayor and council. If that's the direction, I can schedule those meetings. They wanna be good partners with us. And so If that's the direction, we can definitely get those set up.

Every three months, I think it will be at least once. Once a quarter? That's three months. Once a quarter. Twice a year, maybe. Give us an update of what's going on. Like you said, Congress has certain days, so we're probably not gonna get a lot from it, but at least twice a year so we know that they can give us the updates on what passed through appropriations.

So Mayor, what I can ask if that's the direction is I can, I'll follow up with Nexus and have them kind of propose updates for council, and then I can bring that back, and if you're good with those dates, then we can schedule those. The next presentation can be, that staff presented, which ones they would feel like in that type of information. Sounds good, I will work on that.

Yeah, one of the funding was two days approval, right? I asked Mayor, the $7,000 that we're paying monthly, I know it might seem like a lot, but we already got our investment.

$100,000 on that.

The $500,000 that we're getting from Army Corps of Engineers, they help support that. And if, of course, if...

Army Corps of Engineers has already been approved prior to Nexus, but they are helped pushing. So Nexus is their lobbyist to push our projects, and they did help us push through our projects to the next level. This is as far as we've gotten since the last couple of years. the last time that the appropriations went from Main Street redevelopment. So this is the farthest thing, but nothing's been approved yet. It's just the steps that we've taken and we've gotten into the list of their proposal, basically. So I wanted to clarify that they don't find funding. They give us alternative methods to try to negotiate and push our funding forward.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

MAYOR, IF I MAY, I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION FOR CHONA. OVERALL, THE REVENUE THAT'S BEEN COMING IN, HAS IT BEEN, HAVE WE BEEN ON POINT? HAS IT INCREASED, DECREASED? BECAUSE I DO SEE A BUNCH OF DEPARTMENTS WITH LINE ITEMS THAT HAVE INCREASED. Can you speak a little bit about the the trend and and whether it's going to you feel it's going to maintain go up or it's going down.

So we've been Council maybe up on, though we have been maintaining our revenue stream in fact it's it's been slightly at a 2% increase and. in as far as sales tax revenues generated. But it's pretty maintained. When I budget, I usually try to be really frugal and budgeting the lower end of the cap than the higher end of the cap. This provides us with that availability to, you know, address the increase in inflation, address the increase in, you know, just the inflation overall um equipment construction um some of that has almost doubled in the last couple of years so but we have been very fortunate that a lot of our revenues are not relied upon we tried to be frugal from the beginning so therefore it kind of sustains us throughout and so and i think thank you shona because i think that's very important for our community to understand that even though

It looks like on paper that we are spending a lot more and we probably are. We we budget ourselves in a conservative manner thanks to administration's efforts. And so just rest assured that that we are financially conservative and we are maintaining a budget that is workable for for our community.

Any other questions or comments? Is there a motion?

So moved. Second.

So motion by Councilman Roldan. Second. Was it Galindo or Villalpando?

Galindo.

Second by Councilman Galindo. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

I think it was Villalpando.

So Villalpando seconded. OK. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you.

On number three, discussion of possible action to approve first reading by title only of ordinance number 2026-026, an ordinance of the city of Somerton amending chapter two, mayor and council article two, ordinances resolution and contracts by repealing section 2-5-3, same day passage prohibited and 2-5-4 to separate readings and renumbering the sequence sections in article 2-5.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND COUNCIL, ANDREA MORENO, CITY CLERK. THE CITY CODE JUST MENTIONED ESTABLISHES THE PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND CONTRACTS BY CITY COUNCIL. UNDER THIS CITY CODE, ORDINANCES MUST UNDERGO TWO SEPARATE READINGS AT TWO DIFFERENT MEETINGS AND CANNOT BE ADOPTED THE SAME DAY IT'S INTRODUCED EXCEPT FOR EMERGENCY ORDINANCES. So the proposed ordinance removes Section 2-5-3, same-day passage prohibited, and Section 2-5-4, two separate readings. These provisions were adopted locally and are not required under state law. IF APPROVED, ORDINANCES WOULD NO LONGER BE REQUIRED TO UNDERGO TWO SEPARATE READINGS ON DIFFERENT MEETING DATES PRIOR TO ITS ADOPTION. THESE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS DOES NOT AFFECT ATTORNEY REVIEW REQUIREMENTS, COUNCIL AUTHORITY TO INTRODUCE NEW ORDINANCES, SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS BY THE MAYOR AND THE CITY CLERK. publication and posting requirements, emergency ordinance procedures, or the effective date requirements established by the state law. The ordinance will continue to become effective 30 days after its adoption by the city council and approval by the mayor, unless adopted as an emergency ordinance. The proposed amendment would result in administrative efficiencies by reducing the time and resources required to schedule and process multiple readings of ordinances. Also, the remaining provisions within Article 2-5 will be renumbered for consistency and continuity within the city code. And this ordinance has been reviewed and approved, asked to form by our city attorney. So Mayor and Council, any questions on this proposed ordinance?

Any questions or comments? No. Is there a motion?

So moved.

So motion by Councilwoman Delgadillo. Second by Councilwoman Gonzalez. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries. Item 7.4, discussion of possible work.

Mayor, I believe we need to read the first reading.

I thought we had eliminated that. Let's eliminate that. Thank you. Is there a motion? Is there a reading or motion?

I need to just read the title.

I'm tired with those numbers. I don't know how you do it.

All right, an ordinance of the City of Somerton, Arizona City Council amending Chapter 2, Mayor and Council Article 2-5, Ordinances, Resolutions and Contracts by Repealing Section 2-5-3, Same Day Passage Prohibited and 2-5-4, two separate readings and renumbering the subsequent sections in Article 2-5 related to the first reading on adopting ordinance, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances and providing for severability.

Anything else on my end? I lost that agenda item.

No motion, nothing?

Yeah, yeah.

So that's it. OK, yeah. I don't know where I put the. Item 7.4, discussion of possible action to approve IGA between Yuma County and City of Somerton for weekend and holiday municipal court coverage services with a term beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.

Mayor and Council, I believe we have Judge Lugo on the line to present this. Judge, are you there?

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, you're yelling.

Perfect. Am I yelling? I'm sorry. I've been up since five. I can't tell my.

You woke us up. That's good.

Good. Coffee no more. I've had five cups of coffee.

Okay.

So good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here before you today to request the annual renewal of our intergovernmental agreement with Yuma County for weekend and holiday initial appearance coverage. So under the Arizona law, individuals who are arrested and detained must be brought before a judicial officer without a necessary delay. And so through this agreement, the Yuma County's initial appearance master conducts those proceedings on behalf of our city during the weekends and county recognized holidays. This agreement ensures continued compliance with state law and uninterrupted court operations. The annual cost for the city is of $691.50. This is a cost that we budget yearly in our municipal court budget. That would be line item 1053.37. So that's something that we budget for every year. So we are recommending and asking for your approval. Now this, this, agreement is a four-year agreement that I can go before council every year if that's what council would want, but we can actually do every four years. We get an invoice every year, obviously, and we attach the letter of the agreement to submit to finance. So we're asking, obviously, for the approval for this year, but we can also manage it every four years, and we're just submitting their invoice on a yearly basis. But we would ask that it be approved today.

How would that work? Will it need to be brought back in four year?

So right now the term is one year, but it has an automatic renewal. So we wouldn't have to go back to council until it runs out of automatic renewals.

Okay.

If you approve it tonight. Yes, that's correct.

Okay, any other questions or comments? Is there a motion? Some more motion by Councilman Roldan. Second. Second by Vice Mayor Castillo. All right.

All right.

Any opposed?

Motion carries. Thank you. If I may, just to clarify, Judge Lugo is at a conference. That's why she was coming in virtual. She's attending the conference this week.

Item 7.5, discussion of possible action to award GCE, the Somerton Heights space number three project in the amount not to exceed $438,344.55.

Hello, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Rosanna Douglas, Public Works Director. Public Works is seeking approval to award the Somerton Heights Phase III to GCE Gutierrez Canales Engineering PC. The project includes approximately 2,555 square yards of pavement removal by milling and pavement replacement. installation of approximately 611 linear feet of six inch PVC water line, fire hydrants, water services and gate valves, tie ins to existing water mains, 45 linear feet of sewer main and replacement of two existing sanitary sewer manholes. The project also includes removal and replacement of miscellaneous curbs, sidewalk ramps, cross gutters and other incidental work on the project. After soliciting bids from multiple contractors, GCE submitted the most responsive bid at $446,724.25 with a 5% contingency for a total project cost of $438,344.55. MOUNTAIN HIGH EXCAVATING WAS THE LOW BID AT $417,921 AND NO SENSE WITH GCE AS THE SECOND LOWEST BID. HOWEVER THERE WAS A DISCREPANCY WITHIN THE BID SUBMITTAL TOTALS REFLECTING AN ACTUAL BID OF $471 and no cents. Mountain High excavating submittal was deemed incomplete and not recommended for approval. This project is budgeted at 450,000, so GCE's bid is within the budgeted amount for the project.

Any questions or comments? What streets are the ones being worked on?

Give me one second, please.

Those daffodil and orchid and those are like the worst conditions.

Yeah, it is daffodil, you are correct. Thank you, Louie, for saving me the time.

That's one that we hear from residents and we gotta explain that we're waiting on the bestest lines.

Yeah, Mayor's Council, we have heard that those roads are like orchid stuff and that's coming in the next phases.

Okay.

Yes.

Any other questions or comments? Is there a motion? So motion by Councilwoman Delgadillo. Second. Second by Vice Mayor Castillo. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 7.6, discussion of possible action to rescind the award for the pavement preservation project to M Paving LLC and award ALK Asphalt as the next lowest responsive and responsible bidder subject to all applicable procurement requirements to install new two-inch compacted asphalt overlay and new striping for County 15th Street from Somerton Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue and Marshall Loop Court in the amount not to exceed $100,000.

Thank you. Good evening again. This is my second and final item. Rosanna Douglas, Public Works Director. Public Works seeks approval to award the Pavement Preservation Project FY26 to ALK Asphalt. An award was made previously to MPaving LLC. However, bonding requirements were not attained. Therefore, a motion to rescind the award has been suggested. The project involves furnishing all labor equipment, materials and supervision necessary to complete an asphalt overlay and restriping of the design roadway sections in accordance with city standards and specifications. The work includes service preparation, track code application, hot mix asphalt placement, compaction, payment markings, and traffic control. This is a two-phase project beginning June, 2026 under FY26 CIP approved funding and ending August, 2027 pending formal budget approval for phase two for a total budget of 500,000. Project areas include County 15th Street, Somerton Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue, approximately 113,495 square feet. and Marshall Loop Court, approximately 13,437 square feet.

Any questions or comments? Is there a motion? So second. So motion by Councilman Delgadillo, second by Councilman Roldan. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you, Council.

Item 7.7, discussion and possible action to approve an IGA or non-exclusive public right-of-way between City of Somerton and Yuma County for the installation, operation, and maintenance of wireless infrastructure within the city's public right-of-way.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. Carmen Juarez, Deputy City Manager. The request before you tonight is a request from Yuma County. This is for an approval of an intergovernmental agreement to install, operate, and maintain a wireless infrastructure on the city's right-of-way as part of the Yuma County Agriculture Project. If approved, this IGA will establish a long-term arrangement for encroachment of the city's public right-of-way for a term of 50 years. The general location will be approximately 1,500 feet west from the intersection of Avenue D and Main Street, and it's more generally located across from the Lozano property on Main Street, across the street on the south side of Highway 95. The Yuma County Board of Supervisors will be reviewing and potentially approving this idea at the regular meeting on June 23rd, 2026. Legal counsel from both parties has reviewed and approved this idea. And tonight we have an official from Yuma County. If you have any questions in regards to this project, basically what they submitted is an application plans for a 50 foot um height monopole that's what is going to be at the on the cities right away that's what what is going to be installed at the cities right away right now um they already went through an encroachment permit uh they're going through the plan review um mca is approval all this is contingent approval from you from city council tonight any questions any questions or comments

Is there a motion?

Make a motion to approve an intergovernmental agreement for non-exclusive public right-of-way between the City of Somerton and Yuma County for the installation, operation, and maintenance of a wireless infrastructure within the city's public right-of-way.

Second, Mayor.

So motion by Vice Mayor Castillo, second by Councilman Roldano. Those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Mayor, I would like that Diana Veloso says pass.

We're gonna skip that, go into 7.8, because we're gonna discuss in a secular session and then we're gonna reconvene and discuss it. So summary of current events.

So we have Rosanna Public Works

Good evening again, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Rosanna Douglas, Public Works Director. The update I have for you is effective tomorrow morning. As a matter of fact, the staging will begin for the mobilization of the Main Street Redevelopment Park redevelopment but the parking lot across the street is where the staging will take place. So street closure will actually take effect when the construction occurs the 22nd, which is Monday. The project is set to run through October 20th, 120 days. So that is my update, thank you. Yes, so the closure will be from Somerton Avenue and Main Street to Union. Just the two blocks.

The whole Main Street will be closed?

Yes, Main Street will be closed from Somerton Avenue to Union for 120 days. A traffic control plan has been in place, submitted and is in place and been provided notice to the community. Jasmine and her team at Economic Development has been very... top notch in providing their support with all of the public notification from the top down. So we do have the notification out there that it is gonna begin the 22nd.

And Mary, if I may, just to add to that, Rosanna's gonna be meeting weekly on this project with the contractor. One of the things that we extended is that prioritizing, making sure that we can get some kind of flow when possible, because there will be some hard closures to keep traffic going through because our local businesses is important, so they're gonna work with us as much as we can to do that, but there will be some hard closures because the project, what it entails, but they're hoping to get at least the mainstream middle part and the cross sections done, and then work on the side to get that traffic flowing as soon as possible. So we're hoping it's not 120 days, but it all depends on the projects.

Thank you.

Chief Hernandez.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. Just want to let you know that yesterday we had a new EMT firefighter start working with us. His name is Jose Rodriguez. He is from Somerton. And at this time, we're fully staffed. I also would like to thank Mayor and Council Members for your support. Last week, we celebrated our 25th year anniversary as the Somerton Copa Bofar Department. So thank you very much for your support. We have four firefighters that have been with the department with 25 years, one with 20 years, three with 15 years, and another three with five years. So all these firefighters have been here all this time, staying working for Somerton, and we enjoy it. And like I said, we look forward to continue working this partnership between the Cocopa Indian Tribe and the City of Somerton. Thank you.

That's all we have, Mayor. Council Member Galindo.

Nothing there. Thank you. Councilman Villalpando.

I don't have anything, Mayor. Thank you.

Councilman Gonzalez.

I wanna congratulate the chief for the 25 years. I thought it was a very nice event. It was nice to see Mr. Thomas's family there, reminiscing of his years here with us. And although it was really hot. But But yeah, I wanted to congratulate you on a good event. I attended, I guess, the soft opening of circle K, we were able to be first purchasers on where was it to that Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, I think I love it. It's nice if you haven't had a chance. I'm pretty sure you have, but I love it. It just needs that welcome to Somerton like the Chevron has. And I was able to attend today also the McDonald's ribbon cutting. Congratulations to Jasmine and her team for putting that together. really hot, but well worth it. At least for me, on my part, I was able to meet the owner and I hadn't had a chance to, but good event and thank you guys. Thank you finance for, I know it's a lot and we have a lot of questions, but thank you for putting the budget together.

Thank you.

I also attended the McDonald's ribbon-cutting and thank you, Jasmine, and your team and administration. It was a great event. You know, McDonald's is a good addition to our community. And so thank you so much for that. And I want to thank McDonald's for trusting Somerton and investing here. After so many years that the mayor has spoken to the owner that I've had the privilege in the past to meet. We're very lucky to have them and the rest of the communities, businesses that we have. I didn't attend the Circle K Soft Open because I'm not a morning person and it was super early, but I was the second.

I'm just kidding.

I went later that afternoon and I purchased my first soda and it was great. It's beautiful. It's great to have and see the growth and the potential that Somerton has for future businesses. Chevron is amazing. I love the sign. Yes, Chief, that's the first thing I saw when I walked in that door because it piqued my curiosity when she told me, when you go to Chevron, Let me, let me know what you see. And so I'm like, man, we gotta go. So he went and yes, it's great. Thank you so much. I guess, are they going to have a ribbon cutting for them or no, we're done? We're working with all of them. I also know that the bodega is coming along. I saw the big old banner in the front and it's gonna be great. And so thank you so much for all the hard work. Jonah, I know here I am, saying that one person has to answer to three different bosses and you have to answer to seven. And even though you don't answer to us, but yet you stood in front here trying to answer to us. And so thank you for all your hard work and your team and all the directors for putting in the hard work and making sure that this budget, we all have our opinions and we all wanna make sure that the city thrives and that we make the best Decision that we can for our community, because we all live here, so thank you so much for the hard work Louis and your team as well, so thank you.

I also attended the last week that part of where they generating a station tour it was. It was nice to see how everything works out there. There was other dignitaries there, so it was not also to speak to them. And the tours were, the guy that was giving the tour was very informative. He knew what he was doing. And I think there was a lot of, even though it was hard, but at the same time, it was a lot of information coming from them. I ALSO ATTENDED THE MCDONALD'S TODAY AND IT'S NICE TO SEE, YOU KNOW, I DRIVE THERE EVERY MORNING AND EVERY MORNING THERE'S VEHICLE. I THINK THE CITY OF SOMERTON IS GOING ON THAT, YOU KNOW, GETTING THE BUSINESSES HERE. the general manager there and he was sending her but you know uh apartment complexes that are coming that other houses are coming i think they were excited about that they even said about they want to sponsor an event and so forth so i think that shows that you know you know jasmine and the team and you know they're part of this community and i think they're feeling that way you know So thank you for that, you know, for today and also for all the legwork that was done in order for them to get him here.

You know, for me, last week I went ahead and I attended the groundbreaking for the for those townhouses or homes. So it was great. Also attended the Circle K opening on that Wednesday. You know, got that first, I got that thirst buster at 6.30 in the morning. It was Coke Zero. And this morning, you know, I was at, you know, I also attended the McDonald's, the ribbon cutting. So a great job for Jasmine and everyone involved. You know, can't wait to do a ribbon cutting for a grocery store. Jasmine, no pressure. You know. But that's all I have. Yeah.

So attended the Circle K and McDonald's and just talking to the construction manager at Circle K and talking to the owner of McDonald's. They were saying how easy it was to work with staff. So kudos to you that they was very helpful. They were very happy to be here. And I also attended the APS. The nuclear plan is just eye-opening how You know, an operation, the, you know, the three reactors and the amount of energy they produce with nuclear energy, it's amazing. You know, just, you know, it was a really good tour. And also attended a 25th anniversary celebration. Congratulations. And we have two items from an executive session. An executive session pursuant for discussion or consultation for legal advice to consider its position and instruct the city attorney regarding the public body's position regarding an IGA for the Forefronted by National Program. And item 9.2. discussion or consultation for legal advice with city attorney to consider its position and instruct the city attorney regarding the public body's position regarding contract for cost sharing for an expanded transmission system being designed for Orange Grove, Rancho Mesa Verde infrastructure improvements. Is there a motion to go into executive session? Some of my so much in my councilman Roldan second, my councilwoman Delgadillo's in favor.

Aye.

Aye. The opposed motion carries. We'll take a five minute break.

There are a motion to exit executive session. Second. Second by Vice Mayor Castillo.

Reconvene into the regular council meeting. Well, item 7.8 discussion and possible

Be able. Any questions or comments?

I'll make a motion, Mayor.

Second. So motion by Councilman Roldan. Second by Vice Mayor Castillo. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries.