Council - Regular Meeting

Council member Miguel Villalpando.

Present.

Council member Luis Galindo.

Present.

Council member Jesus Roldan. Council member Lorena Delgadillo. Present. Council member Martha Gonzalez. Present. May we have a quorum?

Thank you. Gonna move on call to the public. Anybody from the public want to address council?

We have received none.

There's none. We have two items on consent agenda. We have approval to renew a five-year agreement with Fruit Group, the lowest bidder to replace the expected printer services agreement and approval to renew those. And then item number two, approval to renew the city's Microsoft 365 licensing with Liptoff. Does any member of council wanna remove an item from consent agenda? Is there a motion? So motion by Councilwoman Delgadillo. Second by Councilman Villalpando. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. We have one presentation. We have recognition of Cofa High School Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Mildred Hernandez National Rifle Championship gold medalist. So I'm going to call you. I'm going to read the, we have a plaque here for you. I'm going to read it and then come up. We're going to take pictures. City of Sumter Honors Cadet Mildred Hernandez, National Rifle Championship gold medalist. In recognition of your outstanding achievement in earning the National Rifle Championship gold medal and becoming the first national champion in the history of Cofa High School, rifle team. Your dedication, discipline, and commitment to excellence are an inspiration to others. Your remarkable accomplishment brings great honor and pride to the City of Somerton and our entire community. Congratulations on this extraordinary achievement. Presented by Mayor and City Council of the City of Somerton.

One, two, three. That's a professional. One, two, three.

congratulations and number two discussion impossible the discussion and potential future direction regarding the public works department recycling plan activities for fiscal year 2027.

Good evening, mayor, council, council members, Rosanna Douglas, public works director. So as previously discussed, council was requesting a recycling operations plant report. I have prepared and provided this for you. So I'm gonna give you a facility overview. We operate Monday through Friday. We don't operate on the weekends from 6.30 a.m. to 3 o'clock p.m. We have one full-time employee, as well as eight inmates. We do utilize equipment, backhoe, bobcat, forklift for material handling and maintenance. I've attached our weekly operation schedule Monday and Tuesday is maintenance and processing. Wednesday and Thursday, collection and operations. Friday, sorting and staging. So basically, Monday and Tuesday, all preventative maintenance on equipment is performed, greasing machines, machinery components, pressure washing conveyor belts and floors, and bailing. Wednesday and Thursday, citywide routes conducted by sanitation with two drivers. Each collector drives an average of five to seven tons per day. The facility unloading capacity is less than seven tons per day. Excess recyclables that cannot be processed is then transported to Republic Services landfill for proper disposal. On Fridays, continue sorting and processing preparation materials for bailing, shipment readiness and staging is performed. The average output is three to five bales per day, primarily of aluminum and plastics. Market values. I have attached our market values that we sell to Republic broken down by cardboard, aluminum, tin paper natural color and plastics we get most of our return from aluminum so here's our financial summary and i broke it down through the month oh my gosh um this is different from what i have i my apologies there was a couple of edits that went through I did upload the correct one, but I'm not sure what happened. So basically our subtotal for tipping fees is 57,505.96. We received revenue of 11,015.73 cents for a total of 46,490. Our total expenditures from July 25 to June 26 is 126,591.22. The operating budget was $70,065. So we went over budget roughly a little bit more than 30,000 after the fees, expenses, and the tipping. So challenges that we faced is limited unloading capacity. The current capacity is at negative seven tons a day. Each driver collects five to seven tons daily. So what that means is we're actually bringing in, if both drivers are on route, 10 to 14 tons, and the rest must be diverted. This does not include special events and holidays, which contribute to unplanned disposal, and these fluctuate. storage constraints, insufficient onsite storage limits, the availability to hold materials between collection days and billing cycles, reducing overall recovery efficiency, even with the assistance of inmate labor. And we do have eight inmates out there. landfill dependency. Currently, infrastructure forces excess recyclables to Republic Services landfill. This is undermining the facility's core diversion mission in addition to the collection of mixed recyclables, which are categorized as contaminated and are not suitable for recycling. These contaminated collections are diverted as general refuse. The average contaminated recyclables So what I mean by contaminated recycles. Let's say you have a household who wants to recycle milk cartons. If they're not washing them out, it's considered contaminated. So although their efforts are there, it's actually not considered recyclable and it's considered contaminated, which is basically trash. Infrastructure limits recovery, expansion of storage and processing capacity could decrease diversion rates, reduce landfill dependency, and improve financial performance, however, would require additional personnel, at least one dedicated full-time employee to support effective manpower. To support this effort, we would mitigate a recycling campaign, we would initiate, I'm sorry, a recycling campaign to educate our community on recycling. And that's basically like, as the example I just gave, just give more information on what is allowable and what's not. Because again, these efforts are there. They are being collected. It's just more education to the public that needs to be held. So I anticipate a decision, maybe not tonight, but will be made on the efforts of the recycling plan continuing for term 2027. Option A would be continue operations, maintain the current Monday through Friday schedule, retain the employment of one recycling plant operator, continue present labor workforce agreement, commission annual cost benefit audit. So at the end of the year, we would come back and again, do as I'm doing now, another report. and explore commodity revenue optimization. So perhaps maybe seeing what California may charge. I know that summer cycles in California, they do produce a higher feedback rate. However, then we have to consider transportation costs. So again, this is something that hasn't been done yet. It's something that we would have to look into if we stay with continued operations. Option B would be to expand and reform. Address the negative seven ton day unloading cap. Expansion of onsite storage capacity requires immediate site overhaul and cleanup to address the years of accumulated material from historical disposal practices to improve operational efficiency. Basically, overall the site, clean it up and expand the services. We would also need to evaluate staffing models such as the inclusion of an additional full-time employee. We can do that and come back and report the findings to council. Option C would be a planned closure. This would establish a public closure timeline with 90 to 180 days, begin transition of one employee to streets workforce, and notify the prison labor program partners. We would arrange for material to be transferred to regional processors, access facility repurposing, or disposal. This would also support the new Yuma County landfill because we would be diverting trash over there. So under discussion, I had potential direction. Option number one, council authorizes continued operations while expanding and reforming services. Option number two, finance and public works complete a cost analysis for closure in comparison at the end of the next fiscal year. Staff returns with capital improvement recommendation for council action, which may lead to expansion because if we go towards a closure, there will be costs in that as well. I know it's kind of brief, kind of fast. It's the first time we're discussing it. I can always come back, but I'm open to answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions or comments? Well, for me, what I would like to see here soon is more of an economic analysis of what, you know, you showed some numbers, but THERE'S ALSO, THERE'S A REASON WHY THE OTHER COMMUNITIES NORTH AND SOUTH OF US, THEY DON'T HAVE A RECYCLING PLANT. AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE WITH THE WASTE, IS IT REPUBLIC OR WHO? REPUBLIC. WHAT IS IT AND WHAT THE ECONOMIC IMPACT IS BECAUSE AS WE SEE WHEN WE FIRST OPENED THIS, THE RECYCLES WERE HIGHER We got more from recycling, now they're low. And so, yeah, we need to just make an informed decision. It's good for the environment and everything, but then again, there's a price to pay. And as we've seen, our enterprise funds are lacking. So if anything we can do to alleviate and reduce the amount of fees we charge to our customers or the need to it. But I would like to see, and like you said, exploring additional, maybe California and bringing a plan actually for us to see and we can make a decision. But we do have the numbers for the last year or so. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING MAYBE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR SO WE CAN START SO WE CAN MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION AND DECIDE IF WE'RE GOING TO KEEP THIS OPEN OR WE'RE GOING TO GO THE ROUTE THAT THE OTHER ENTITIES HAVE.

CAN YOU GO BACK REALLY QUICK TO THE FINANCIAL SUMMARY? I'm trying to understand this a little bit more. So your total budget for that was, was it like 70,000?

Yes.

For it?

Yeah, and that did not, the total recycling budget does not include salary and benefits, which are there. So the total budget is actually 116,000.

Okay, so what's also included in that operating budget?

within the operating budget, the contract labor, test management, gas and oil, Southwest Sanitation Services, computer, and other miscellaneous.

Wow, and it totals to $70,000 for all that? Well, that's a budgeted amount.

That was the budget amount.

Okay. See, because it's probably at a point where we're really upside down, I mean, the plan when we first started it was in order to to reduce our tipping fees and right eventually it would balance itself out or we would probably lose a little bit of money but we also looked at the environmental impact that it would have. But if we're, I agree with the mayor, I think it's time that we look at the real financial benefits or pros and cons actually. And so we could analyze and make a determination which route we go. So thank you.

Any other questions or comments? There's none. So thank you.

Thank you, Council. And I'll be back with the report in December.

We're going to move on to old business discussion and possible action to amend the approval approved fiscal year 2027 P scale to include the additional positions and to approve the vehicle capital improvement program by authorizing the city administration to enter into a contract with Enterprise Fleet Management to lease 19 vehicles.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, Chona Medell, Finance Director. This item is old business in regards to our fiscal year 2027 budget. Click on it. in regards to discussion for approval on the new proposed positions for pay scale fiscal, for the pay scale 2027, and also to get an approval to move forward with the proposed leasing options and meaning that the lease agreement will be brought back as well as the list of vehicles to lease at a later date.

from what I got from the work session is it was just going to be direction to go ahead and bring additional or is this item already we're giving approval for the lease, going for the lease instead of buying and purchasing the vehicles, is that?

This option is to move forward with the lease so that we can get an agreement and get it, if that's the direction council wants to do. If council wants to bring back, as far as the monetary value between the two, all monetary value is gonna be under the $186,000 CIP.

At least for me, I would like, like I said, I would like to see something side by side and we can make a more important decision.

Mayor and I agree with you because we did, I know I'd missed the work session and I'm sure you guys covered it all. But a few years ago, we went through the whole lease or buy type thing. And right now you could lease a car for like about 400 bucks as long as you meet the criteria. So I think our leasing amount is a little bit high. And also I'd rather be able to sell the trucks and get some trucks or cars back after they lived or after we used them as much as we possibly can without having any issues. So I'm bigger on buying vehicles than leasing vehicles.

Just to let you know that this leasing program is not the same as a individual lease. These vehicles, we will basically own them in the five years. It's basically to revitalize the fleet itself because we cannot afford to buy 19 vehicles in one shot. It is to give us a better just a starting point like I said in the work session between a three or five year it it's it could be we can buy 19 vehicles for a third of the price that we would go out to buy 19 vehicles brand new. And this will give us a better lifespan on our vehicles. They will only be used for five years in service. So it's not a typical lease like an individual you or I will go out and buy. a vehicle and lease it, or lease a vehicle, and then they put restriction on it as far as mileage.

I guess to me I would like to see all that in writing and we can analyze, you know.

Yeah, I do have Enterprise on the phone as well if you want to go into detail with that. But I can bring it back.

Yeah, I would like to see more documentation on it.

And then on the second part of that request is to request to add the additional positions to the pay scale that is currently approved.

Any other questions or comments? Is there a motion?

I make the motion to approve the pay scale with removing the assistant director of parks and rec and for the second portion to bring back the vehicle leasing at a later date.

There's a motion by Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Second.

Second by Councilwoman Delgadillo. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to new business. Item 8.1, discussion of possible action to approve the award of request for proposals number 2026-016 for citywide uniform services for the Public Works and Parks and Rec Department to Osco Uniforms.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. James Johns, Parks and Rec Director.

And for the record, the Vice Mayor is here.

The City of Somerset issued the request for proposals 2026-016, seeking a qualified vendor to furnish, fit, customize, and deliver employee uniforms and related apparel to the Public Works Department and the Parks and Rec Department. The solicitation was undertaken specifically to modernize the city uniform program so that each department and division is outfitted with uniforms designed with the OSHA standards with the required personal protection equipment PPE to build directly into each department's daily uniform. By incorporating PPE into standard uniform, the city reduces the volume of separate PPE it needs to purchase, issue, and manage while improving worker safety and regulatory compliance. Two proposals were received and reviewed, ALSCO uniforms and UniFirst Corporation. Proposals were evaluated against the standards in section 1.14 of the RFP, including cost, quality of uniform and materials, service capability, vendor experience with municipal uniform contracts, inventory management, delivery timelines, and availability of online ordering system, The evaluation perceived the following findings. Universe Corporation, we found to be non-responsive. They did not submit its proposal on the city required proposal form or in the required pricing schedule format. UNIFORMS PROVIDED A SINGLE UNIFORM GARLAND PROGRAM FOR THE CITY EMPLOYEES RATHER THAN DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC UNIFORMS REQUIRED BY THE SPECIFICATION. ALSCO WAS RESPONSIVE. THEY SUBMITTED PROPOSALS ON THE REQUIRED FORM, ITEMIZED DEPARTMENT AND DIVISION LEVEL PRICING PRODUCT INFORMATION, FOR INSTANCE, STREETS, WASTEWATER, MECHANICS, WATER, SANITATION, AND PARKS AND REC WOULD ALL HAVE UNIFORMS FITTING THEIR JOBS. IN THE PRIMARY, SORRY, INCLUDING ANSI high visible classes, which are needed for our streets department for safety reasons. The primary improved deliverable by this award is that each department and division will receive uniforms designed by OSHA standards and with a group PPE requirements engineered into the uniform itself rather than issued in separate equipment. Staff's recommendation is to approve the award for the request for proposal 2026-16 for citywide uniform services to ELSCO uniforms and authorize the city administration to execute a three-year uniform supply service agreement with an additional of one year renewal for year four and five exercised by the city's sole discretion. I do wanna point out kind of so you can see, we currently have one uniform for all of our divisions. You can see that the format of the RFP was approved by legal and fits every description. So what we did is we went out and we looked for streets department. Those are high visible uniforms that our residents will be able to see as they're crossing. This is something we don't have. They also have the gene option for what they're doing to make sure that their legs are protected. Wastewater, you'll see the same type of uniform, high vis, safety, and you'll see the pricing. A mechanic shop, it's similar to what we have, but there's also a short sleeve, not just the long sleeve option. Sorry. Parks and Rec is also in here, water. And the main thing that we want to do is these are built for our employees. They follow the OSHA standards, the safety guidelines, and everything that we've been building towards with our safety department and working with ADOSH. So we're kind of getting ahead of the curve and making sure we modernize our city uniform. I can answer any questions that you would have.

Any questions or comments? Is there a motion? So movement so motion becomes a real panel second second Vice Mayor Castillo's in favor. I I oppose motion carries. Item eight point two discussion of possible action to approve resolution number twenty twenty six zero zero seven.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Terry Trujillo, Human Resources Manager. Today we have before you the action or the agenda item regarding the Personnel Policy Handbook. I'm going to first do a presentation or a slideshow to let you know what items were changed throughout the handbook and I would also before I move on, I would like to thank the personnel committee meeting for meeting during their lunch hours and late at night to get this policy handbook and these policies in order. and to make sure that they met all federal, state, and local laws. So my first page is the City of Somerton's Personnel Handbook. It's presented by me for the Personnel Policy Committee. A brief history is City Council updated and adopted the City of Somerton Personnel Policy Handbook excuse me, on November 19th, 2019, that personnel policy handbook had two revisions, the resolution number 2020-005 and resolution 2020-021. In 2025, the Personnel Committee initiated a comprehensive review of the 2020 Personnel Policy Handbook. The review resulted in a series of recommendations for the City Council to consider and potentially adopt. These recommendations incorporate required regulatory updates, administrative corrections and policy revisions to ensure that the handbook remains current, effective and aligns with the applicable laws and organizational needs. The comprehensive review was of the entire handbook. We started fiscal year of last year and we finished it in March of 2026. The review was conducted in coordination with legal counsel, who evaluated all proposed revisions to ensure compliance with applicable federal and state labor laws. The revisions presented tonight are being recommended by the Personnel Policy Committee. Do you have any questions so far? The first revisions that were made was Article 3, Section 312, the dress code and personal appearance. We had this policy in place already, but we just revised it to include the appropriate guidelines and did a not inclusive, but we did a clear guideline for employees to follow. Currently, right now, we only have a one paragraph for the dress code. And now it's a little bit more has a guidelines, what they can and cannot wear, what is appropriate for work. The second one is Article 8, Section 801, City Observed Holidays. Council approved the motion on April 7, 2026, to remove Caesar Chavez Day as an observed holiday and made Christmas Eve a full day. As a result, there are four holiday hours remaining available. The Personnel Policy Committee recommended combining those four hours with additional four hours to create a new eight-hour floating holiday for eligible employees. We have Article 8, Section 802, Probationary Employees PTO. The waiting period for a new hire to be able to use our PTO was reduced from six months to 90 days. Employees will become eligible to begin using accrued PTO after completing 90 days of employment. Article 13, section 1306, employee business travel. This policy was previously maintained as a standalone draft and has since been revised to align with the city's current standards. The updated provisions have been incorporated into the employee personnel handbook, eliminating the need for a separate policy.

Any questions so far on this paper? Yes, Mayor, thank you. Terry, thank you so much. I do also want to thank you for your time and your staff and everybody who was there at all these very long meetings that we had as I was part of that committee. Can you please explain to Council that one particular change where we added the additional four hours to create a new eight-hour floating holiday for eligible employees? Can you please explain to Council what the floating holiday means?

The floating holiday is kind of considered what the committee at first originally thought was going to be for a birthday holiday. But then the policy, excuse me, the Personnel Policy Committee asked that we check with legal to see if that would be considered a gifted hours or a benefit for the employee, his recommendation came back as no, you could do it as a legal holiday.

Thank you. And I just want for the record and council to know that I was part of that committee and I did not agree on the eight hour floating holiday. And so, you know, my stance at that is, you know, we are a, municipality we are running a business and you know we we offer really great uh benefits and including great holidays and and in my opinion as part of a committee member of that personnel committee is not to recommend the eight hour floating holiday just you know it's a day where employees can just take off because they want to right correct um And that's in addition to all the holidays that are on, that will be part of the schedule. But that was my only vote. At that time when they, I wasn't at that one meeting. That's when they decided to agree, but I just wanted for the record that I do not agree on the eight hour holiday. That's it, Mayor, thank you.

Mayor, if I may. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman DelGaudio, I, AS WELL, DON'T AGREE WITH THAT FLOATING HOLIDAY. WE ALREADY OFFER OTHER HOLIDAYS THAT AREN'T MANDATED BY THE STATE. SO WE'VE ALREADY PROVIDED A LOT OF HOLIDAYS AS IT IS. BUT MY OTHER ONE THAT PROBATIONARY PERIOD IN THE PTO, TERRY, WHAT'S THE What's a probationary period?

Six months.

Six months. And knowing that, my concern is reducing it to 90 days so they could start using PTO as they're still under probationary period. We still are undecided we want to keep them or not. So job performance, showing up to work, all that plays a key role. in determining whether somebody is gonna work out or not. So for me, I'd rather keep it the way it is. After six months, they could use it. I honestly believe that every employer needs as much time as possible within those first six months to determine whether that employee is gonna be adequate for the position that they were hired. So I disagree with that one as well. Mayor, if I may? Yes.

And I believe, Terry, correct me if I'm wrong, when we're having this discussion, Councilman Villalpando, was that we do have employees that when they start work, there's certain commitments that they've made prior to starting and they ask if I get the job, I have this previous commitment, can I still take them? I still need these days and that's one of the reasons. I think the other was we have, I was trying to remember the other examples to justify this one. I think it was that.

Emergency purpose.

Right, emergency situations.

Oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Gonzalez and the committee also, I'm sorry. Thank you for, I'll let you talk.

But one of the ones mainly was the 90 days because of emergency purposes, sick time being because PTO, we just have, the city only has PTO and we don't have a separate bank for sick hours. That was one of the reasoning behind it. And if I can just go back to the observed holiday, we're only adding four hours. It's not a full day.

Yeah, but that's the way it usually starts, four hours, eight hours. That's the way it started. Now we have Juneteenth, which is a federal holiday. It's not a state holiday. We're honoring that. And so for me, we got to draw the line somewhere. And as far as the PTO, I agree with you, Louie. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HIRE THEM AND THEY'RE UP FRONT AND THEY TELL YOU, YES, WE CAN MAKE EXCEPTIONS, BUT IF WE'RE GOING TO GO THIS ROUTE, WE SHOULD HAVE A POLICY ON WHAT'S ALLOWABLE, WHAT'S NOT ALLOWABLE INSTEAD OF USING A BLANKET APPROACH BECAUSE THIS, LET'S SAY WE GET A BAD EMPLOYEE, HIRE A BAD EMPLOYEE, THEY'RE ABLE TO, THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS, THEY'RE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. SO IT'S NOT IN OUR BENEFIT TO DO THAT WITHOUT HAVING A PROPER POLICY.

We got back to that. I think what we had discussed in the committee is, for example, I have a planned vacation for two weeks. My probation is extended an extra two weeks. It doesn't end at the 90 days. I think that's what we discussed, that if they are away during their probation, their probation is extended to fulfill the 90 required days, right? Correct. Okay.

Thank you. Councilman Villalpando, and just so you know, employees earn 4.62 hours of accrual time or sick leave. So it's just all like Councilmember Gonzalez said, it's all in one bank. It's not where they're going to divide it and say, oh, I have sick time. I'm going to use eight hours of my sick time. It's all pulled out of one bank, which is the PTO, and they earn 4.62 hours.

Oh, I'm fully aware how it works, trust me. I've been here a lot of years, so I'm pretty familiar how it works. But again, it goes back to us having a proper policy to be able to cover ourselves. I understand somebody gets hired. They have commitments elsewhere. Sure, let's work with them. If that's why we hired them is obviously they're qualified and we want them. So let's work with them. Same thing in emergency. Give me a definition of what these emergencies are going to be. So that way we can hold people to these standards. There has to be a policy. You just can't have a blanket approach.

Any other questions or comments?

No, I guess for me, I just wanted to, and I think Councilwoman Gonzalez carried it out for me. So back on the holiday one, so it's literally only just four hours, right? Because we removed the Sister Chavez one, which was eight hours, and added the four hours to Christmas Eve. You know what, I mean, the floating, I mean, we would only need to get four hours. I would say the birthday sounds good. I mean.

The day after the Super Bowl.

I mean, it's a benefit. I mean, I understand council members, we have found this point also about many holidays, but I think it's also one of the benefits working for a state government agency. You know, I think that's more of a reason to kind of people being attracted to positions like this within our organization. So I'd be okay leaving it as a floating. Mayor presented a good example. I mean, I like the birthday one, you know, but I mean, if they want to miss after the Super Bowl, I mean, as long as we don't have everyone out on a specific day, I guess for me, that would.

You know, I feel that, you know, we have this committees and AND ACTUALLY THE ONLY TWO THAT ARE ACTUAL BENEFITS TO THE EMPLOYEES ARE THE PTO AND THE FLOATING HOLIDAYS. THE OTHERS, THE DRESS CODE, THEN THE OTHER ONE, THE TRAVEL, THAT'S PROBABLY JUST MORE OF LIKE CLEANING UP SOME STUFF. BUT THE OTHERS, WE HAVE TWO COUNCIL MEMBERS THERE. SO WE COUNCIL HAD A GOOD REPRESENTATION. And yeah, maybe we don't agree technically with some of it, but it was a committee and with employees, and I'm sure it was discussed. And I'm also fine with it. At another agency, there's They establish a personal fund that you could, you know, for like $700. So it's, you know, we're always competing with other agencies. So this is, you know, something that, you know, it was discussed. We have committees as a reason. If not, then why would we have committees just present each individual to council will make decisions. So I feel that, you know, we did have representation, but I just wonder with two council members. Any other questions or comments?

So that's the first revision. I have a few more pages and they'll go quick. These are new policies that were added to the personnel policy handbook that currently weren't in place. We've added Article eight, Section 804 personal time off buyback. This allows eligible employees to sell back up to 40 hours of accrued PTO per fiscal year based on city's budget. Article eight section 808 absence without official approval leave when an employee is absent from work without obtaining prior approval for leave and fails to notify their supervisor or manager of the absence. Article 8, Section 809, Time to Vote, allows employees a reasonable time off during their schedule, work hours to vote in local, state, or national elections, provided they comply with applicable laws. Would you like me to keep going to the next section, or would you like me to do it page by page? These are all just added new policies.

Go ahead, unless the council has any questions, we can stop Terry.

Okay. So does any council member or mayor have any questions on the first one?

No, go ahead. We have questions.

The next one is Article 11, Section 1101, Open Door Policy, encourages employees to communicate openly with supervisors, higher management, or human resources to discuss concerns, ask questions, or provide feedback without fear of retaliation or negative consequences. This policy promotes transparency, trust, and the timely resolution of workplace issues. Article 12, reinstatement of former employee. This policy, employees who voluntarily resign and leave the city in good standing may be eligible for reinstatement if they apply for reemployment within six months of their resignation. Reinstatement is subject to the availability of the previously held position. Article 13, section 1308, city credit card use. This was added to establish guidelines for employees issued a city credit card and to define the responsibilities regarding the appropriate use, management and accountability of that city credit card. SECTION 1204, COBRA BENEFITS, THIS SECTION WAS ADDED TO PROVIDE EMPLOYEES WHO RETIRE OR RESIGN FROM THE CITY WITH INFORMATION REGARDING CONTINUED HEALTH BENEFITS, OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THEM UPON TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.

THAT ONE, WHAT'S THE TIME PERIOD FOR THE COBRA BENEFITS?

If they retire, resign, or quit, they have 30 days on which to, 60 days, excuse me, to respond back to see if they want the insurance coverage for them.

How long would that be?

They give them 18 months. 18 months. Mm-hmm. and they would be responsible for the full amount. Article 13, section 1302, temporary modified schedule. This was added to provide employees with the ability to request temporary adjustments to their work schedules for qualifying circumstances such as caring for a parent or addressing childcare needs. Temporary modified schedules may be approved for a period of up to three months per fiscal year based on the operational needs and with prior approval from the city manager. Article 15, section 1501, safety. This was added to emphasize the city's commitment to maintaining a safe work environment and ensuring all employees follow appropriate safety practices to reduce the risk of workplace injuries and promote employee health and well-being.

Mayor, if I may? Yes. Terry, on Article 8, Section 1302, what do you mean by

adjustments to work schedule are you talking about just from the time they clock in and clock out correct like say if someone needed to take their parent or their child to school they would instead of being here at 7 30 they would come in at 8 30 until they found you know appropriate daycare or someone to help them with their elderly parent but nothing to do with working from home or anything no sir okay i just have a

So an example of that one would be like you just mentioned like child care. I'm thinking about FMLA. What is that?

You know, that's FMLA is for medical purposes. This is just for like saying if they had to take their spouse wasn't there or their significant other wasn't there to help them take the child to school or to help out with that parent just to get them to and from a location.

Now, I do see here that it would be for three months. Well, hypothetically speaking, what would happen after that?

Then they would either wanna have to apply for FMLA or they would have to go through city manager for approval, if it's for an extended period of time.

Okay, sorry.

THE NEXT ONE IS ARTICLE 15 SECTION 1501 INJURY AND ILLNESS REPORTING. THIS POLICY WAS PUT IN PLACE TO CLARIFY EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR PROMPTLY REPORTING ALL WORKPLACE INJURIES AND ILLNESSES TO HUMAN RESOURCES. THE POLICY ALSO EMPHASIZES EMPLOYEES RESPONSIBILITY TO IDENTIFY AND REPORT POTENTIAL WORKPLACE HAZARDS REQUIRING ATTENTION TO HELP MAINTAIN A SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT. Section 15, workers' compensation. This is to inform employees that the city provides workers' compensation benefits and to provide information regarding the coverage, employees' responsibilities, and procedures related to workplace injuries. And the last one, Article 16, Section 1601, Employee Referral Bonus, encourages employees to refer qualified applicants for public safety police officer position. This program recognizes employees who assist the city in attracting and recruiting qualified candidates for critical public safety roles. And that is the end of my slideshow. Does anybody have any questions for me on any of the policies?

Any questions or comments? I have a comment, Mayor. Yes.

You know, I think after looking at them, I think they're, you know, the committee agreed with them. I think they're very, very friendly to the employee, which is good if we want to make sure that we create that environment. you know for uh we want to make sure that our employees are happy you know and and we also understand that you know life has some commitments and everything um but it you know just uh know i think this will fall more on directors and supervisors just to make sure that the level the quality you know the work and everything doesn't it's not any less you know as long as it's maintained um you know at an adequate level uh you know i think you know it it'd be great you know but um i'm just looking at it i mean it's i mean i see it's very

very employee friendly which i i think is very well it's it's great but just i wouldn't want that level of service to you know and of course not um vice mayor castillo this kind of helps human resources because we have sometimes employees who will come up and say well can you point it out in the employee handbook currently right now we don't have anything on cobra work safety. So this way we can go in and say, yes, it's under this section. You can find it here. They always come into my office and I'm always there to help them out.

Like you said, I mean, I think it's great. I mean, I think that for an individual, I think looking at all these, the flexibility, more importantly, I think it goes a long way. You know, just hope they think about that when they're off.

They look at the hourly rate.

you know so but i mean i think this is this is a good um a good step and you know that work-life balance i mean we know we all have a commitment so what's the generation current generation it's very forward thinking different generations no any other questions or comments is there a motion

So motion by Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Second.

Second by Vice Mayor Castillo, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Nay.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

My agenda, there was no, let's take the session, right? Okay, this is the last item, right? Okay, summary of current events.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. First we have Rosanna Douglas, Public Works.

Good evening again, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. The water treatment plant water media replacement project is about 60% completed. We expect it to be completed around the 22nd of August. Somerton Heights phase three began last week and is going as expected. Madison Street opened today. Main street development project phase one, all irrigation has been completed along with the catch basins. ABC will be installed on Friday and Saturday this weekend, as well as next weekend. All fixtures and amenities have been ordered and will be installed upon arrival. And RFQ went out for a fleet safety shop repairs last week. Unfortunately, the first firm declined. So I'm on to the second firm and they have until Monday to respond. Lastly, I am very pleased to announce that we had our ADEQ sanitary survey last week. If you're unfamiliar what that is, is ADEQ comes down, ADEQ is Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. They come down and complete a survey. There's several things they check, our operations, our equipment, our maintenance, capacity, reporting, everything. It is a very comprehensive survey. site visit that they make is actually prepared four months in advance. They start collecting reports and drawings and anything pertaining to the water system. And our operations went very well. So I really wanna give a shout out to the water treatment plant operators and team. and while i'm up here really quick um in closing i did want to make a comment because the question came up on the positions so our our systems our plants the water and wastewater are classified as a level three so with them being a level three you have to have an operator at all times available at a level three or above so my example will be the water plant We have the supervisor. However, we didn't have anybody available for him to take leave or take any type of break. He had to be available at all times to the system. So that was the initiation of the Water 3 operators. The wastewater treatment plant has that capacity, so they're fine. But with that in mind, in closing, Keep in mind that with the new developments we built, we will be needing to upgrade probably next year because as far as the reclassification, it goes on different things. One of them is the complexity of the system, the capacity in the actual population. So probably next year we will be available or able to move into a level four classification for both plants. So you will probably see that coming in my next budget. So thank you.

Thank you. So most I've heard you talk.

James Jones, Parks and Rec.

James Jones, partner director. The RFQ for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and general contracting was released and posted in the UMass Sun. I have had a few local companies reach out. Last time we posted it, we got zero response, so that's a good sign. I do want to state that the pickleball courts are currently curing the 28-day cure process according to construction standards. We'll end on August 19th. They'll be painting the court at that time. And then staff will have an event early September. So if anyone needs pickleball lessons, that PE teacher in me will come out and I can be happy to teach you before that event. And then the last thing is the Toro Monument Project is currently under construction at Paraconi Park. We'll be having an unveiling on that on August 28th at 6 to 6.30 p.m. right before the Toros play their first football game.

Thank you. Mayor, that's all we have.

um just um informing that i'll be attending the league of cities next week um i saw the agenda and it has um really good um uh sessions that maybe I don't know if you've looked at them that some of our directors can also benefit from, but I don't know if all that arrangement has already been made. But yeah, I'll comment back in the next meeting how it went.

Councilwoman Delgadillo. Councilman Villalpando.

Thank you. Vice Mayor.

No, I want to apologize for being late. I was at a board meeting for the San Francisco District. That took longer than expected. But I went to the soft opening of the bodega. It was great. I mean, it was awesome. Also went to the ribbon cutting for Sunset on Saturday. It was very well attended. It felt like a sauna. Mayor, great speech. You couldn't even hear it. But, you know, I won't be able to go to the League of Cities, but that's all I have.

No, what he said, but I will be going to the League of Cities. So hopefully we make some good connections, good networking. All the state legislators are going to be there. So we're still going to be asking for the Highway 95 funds and hopefully they keep Somerton in mind. At 7.57, meeting's adjourned.