City Council and Authorities - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome to today's May 12th city council meeting, our first one at one o'clock. uh... before we get to roll call uh... i do want to uh... uh... ask a couple clarifying questions regarding california government code five four nine five three uh... going down to uh... to uh... to be actually d three uh... from the city attorney uh... regarding teleconferencing and it states it shall post agendas at all teleconference locations each each excuse me as i go to the next page each teleconference location shall be accessible to the public correct five four nine five three five four nine five three point six uh going down to the um item under d3 okay d3 it says uh teleconferencing If a local agency elects to use teleconferencing.

D3, correct. Correct, Mayor. It says if the legislative body of a local agency elects to use teleconferencing, it shall post agendas at all teleconference locations. Is that what you're referring to? Yes. Okay.

And then for the city clerk, how far in advance must it be posted?

Agendas must be posted 72 hours in advance of the meeting time.

okay i know that the location was contacted and somebody also went to the location but through speaking to the hotel there was no posting done so if there's no posting done

If the you're talking about for the vice mayor's presence, if the agenda was not posted at the location where he would be participating, then he would not be allowed to participate.

Okay. Okay. So with that being said, then unfortunately the vice mayor will not be able to participate in tonight's meeting or today's meeting. Okay, but feel free to watch from the website. You can log in and watch from the website. So let us go ahead and do roll call. There is no point of order. There's no violation that's done. There is no point of order. Okay. Thank you. So go ahead and do roll call.

There's no point of order. You're not going to acknowledge.

There is no point of order on this item.

So there's a point of order because I was not noticed that there needed to be a posting of an agenda at the conference room.

Okay. Okay. I'll let the city clerk answer that.

And unfortunately, it does need to be posted at the location where you're participating from. Unfortunately, it does need to be posted at the location from which you are participating.

So who notifies us when we're away of posting that?

That should come as part of the posting process whenever the agenda comes out.

Okay, well I just want to go on record to say that was never advised by any staff person, city attorney's office, city clerk's office. And if the mayor's choice is to shut out 50,000 voters from being represented. Thank you.

We will move on from there. Let's go ahead and do roll call.

Council Member Blower.

Present.

Council Member Enriquez. Present. Council Member Ponce. Present. Council Member Padilla. Present. Council Member Villapedua.

Present.

Vice Mayor Lee is absent. And Mayor Fugazi.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Wonderful. OK. Moving on into the agenda then. We have our invocation. Look around for all my stuff. We are gonna go with the pledge. That's what we're gonna do first. So if I can have Kenneth Huntley please come up. Kenneth Huntley is a very active member of our community. He knows how to get in touch with me and he's always looking out for others. And so I love that about Kenneth and you are in charge of today's pledge.

Thank you. All right, if everybody could face the flag as we do the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all.

Well, you're now the ambassador of the city, so I'd like to wear a crown. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, we have our invocation with Chaplain Kevin White from our Stockton Police Department. Good evening.

Good evening.

Or afternoon. Gosh, I've got to get used to that.

Hard to make those changes. All right, let us pray. Almighty God, we are so grateful that we live in a country that was founded on the concept that you created all people equally and that you have endowed each of us with certain inalienable rights. Lord, these are by your decision. These are your gifts. And when we look one another in the eye, That is the lens through which we should see one another. And so Lord, we thank you for this. We thank you for the dignity that you have given each and every one of us. Lord, we thank you that we live in a country where we can speak our mind, where we can elect representatives to speak for us in government. Lord, many places in the world do not have these rights and privileges, and so we do not take them lightly. And so, Lord, we ask that you would give us wisdom as we use those God-given rights and privileges. Lord, we ask that you would give us wisdom as we speak to one another. Lord, we are so grateful that we are not in a room where everybody looks exactly alike. We are grateful that we do not live in a world that is just black and white and grayscale. Lord, we thank you that you have splashed color across our world and color and form across the people in this world. And Lord, we are so proud that Stockton is possibly the most diverse city in these United States. Lord, we thank you and feel blessed for our neighbors that look so different from us. And so, Lord, as we receive with gratitude these gifts you have given us, Lord, we ask that you would give us wisdom in making decisions, wisdom in looking out for one another, wisdom in reflecting the God-given dignity and respect that you have endowed each of us with. Lord, you have been really good to us, and we greatly appreciate that. We thank you for all of these things and more. In your holy name, amen.

Now we are going to go ahead and have a presentation from the San Joaquin Partnership on its 35th anniversary. So I will invite Mr. Gutierrez. I didn't do it on the mic. So we are moving on to the San Joaquin Partnership presentation, 35 years, Mr. Gutierrez.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. It's a pleasure to be here this afternoon. Today we have a presentation to provide for you for our 35th anniversary as an organization, as your economic development corporation here in San Joaquin County. The city of Stockton has been a long standing partner of the organization and we appreciate the mayor's participation on the board and certainly her input as far as vision is concerned for the future. So thank you for all that you do for us. You can see our new logo for the 35th anniversary represented here. It's reflective of all the assets that we have here in San Joaquin County. You'll see the air, the shipping, the manufacturing, the trucks, the roadways, the railways, and our agriculture. So we wanted to make it reflective of everything that we have here to offer in San Joaquin County and Stockton. Next slide, please. Oh, thank you very much. Is it the left side or the?

It's not the left side.

It's that one, okay, very good.

So San Joaquin County, we've made the home of opportunity, and what better way to describe our region as being home. For those of us who live here and grew up here, we're the first in wine grape growing and production in California, the second in the US for concentration of transportation and warehouse employment, the third in milk production in California, and the fourth busiest port in California. So we've got a lot going for us here, and it feels just like home. When you think about the San Joaquin partnership, you might be wondering, what do we exactly do? We focus our services around site selection, which is what we use as the basis to recruit businesses here. We do market and cost analysis for would-be clients that want to come here and do business. We help with permitting and regulatory support. So if there's any issues that arise from their developments, we try to be a conduit to the cities and the county on how to get through that and get their projects approved. We work with workforce development assistance. And so we provide access to those organizations that provide training and workforce development. The mayor's task force is another example of that. So we participate in those efforts. But I'll get into a little bit more of that here in a second. economic incentives for the region. So the county has economic incentives, the state has economic incentives, so we try to promote those and market those for our would-be clients as well, and those that we want to retain here. We don't want clients to leave either, so we work with both of those. Business needs assessment. It's kind of how we got here 35 years ago from the business community. It was a needs assessment that was applied to our region and looking at how we combine resources and collaborate to form an organization that could be the clearinghouse for all projects, whether it be at the state level or the federal level or locally working with brokers. So business needs assessment is a constant working tool for us with our organization. And of course, marketing and outreach, which is the focal point of what we do as an organization. We're always marketing the region, marketing our cities, looking at those opportunities to expand new industries into the area as well. This is our newest program that we're offering roughly 400000 just shy of of employment training dollars. What this allows us to do is actually pay for businesses to scale and train their employees. And so long as they stay for a retention period of 90 days post training they can receive up to twenty four dollars an hour for that training that takes place for their employees. So we're working with advanced manufacturing we're working with new companies that are coming in the area. existing and companies we're looking to recruit. So this tool is a vital tool for us moving forward and we look forward to implementing it across the county and here in Stockton. In Stockton in particular, we have two companies that we're working with right now to get into the program for the reimbursement. So we look forward to being able to report that at our main meeting this month, at the end of the month. Some of our outside partners that we work with that help advance our agenda, the iHub of San Joaquin, who we've been a founding member of.

Good afternoon and welcome to today's council meeting on April 28th, 2026. This is for our closed session part of the meeting. Let's go ahead and do roll call.

Council member Blower is absent. Council member Enriquez?

Present.

Council member Padilla is absent. Council member Ponce is absent. Council member Villapadua?

Present.

Vice Mayor Lee? Present. And Mayor Fugazi? Present. We have a quorum.

Boop, boop. Okay, so we don't have any additions or announcements for closed session. Do we have any public comment?

We do not.

Okay, so item 3.1, conference with labor negotiator. This body will recess to closed session pursuant to government code section 54957.6 to discuss agenda item 3.1 and 3.2, public employee performance evaluation. This body will recess to closed session pursuant to government code section 54957B. to discuss this item. We will adjourn.

okay we are back from our short recess and we are ready to go the floor is yours Mr. Gutierrez thank you mayor I'll go ahead and continue on with our advanced manufacturing partnership amp that was born out of north valley thrives California jobs first initiative this program is wrapping up but will continue to live on through the manufacturer council of the central valley and we will continue to work with them to advance the opportunities in advanced manufacturing. So we're looking at recruiting more folks in the region. We're also looking at the job training in the skill set building that we can do through that organization as well. So more to come there, but there'll be a lot more taking off as summer comes. And one of our newest marketing tools, and you might have a copy there in front of you and city manager, you as well in your binder, our latest edition of livability San Joaquin. This is our third edition that launched at the end of the year, beginning of this year. And this allows us to showcase San Joaquin County as a whole. what our culture is, what our community looks like, what opportunities we have available here, what assets that we have available to us, what quality of life opportunities there are here, our housing projects that we have that are going on, and then also some of the other amenities that we have like our arena and other assets that we have. So really want to look at the activity side as well as what the quality of life is and then also what we have to offer as far as jobs are concerned. So this is a holistic view of that. We look to have the city of Stockton participate in this as well. We're going to be going out to market in the next week or two. Well, you'll get some information to talk about some of the articles that we'll be writing. So there's a lot of features. Yes. You like that?

Well, yes, Manteca. I like it for Manteca. Right. And Mayor Singh really likes it, too. And I'm like, wait, we need to have one for Stockton.

Yes, we do. Absolutely. So we'll be generating some articles as well, and we'll be circulating that to the teams, your economic development director and the council here, so they can participate in that effort. But really want to showcase what San Joaquin is doing and what Stockton is doing. So we look forward to your participation in that. And with that, this is how to get ahold of us and our team there at San Joaquin Partnership. We have Ed Winkett, who's our director of economic development. And then we also have Raina Dacasha, who's our COO. But we rely on great partnerships and our board of directors to help guide us. And we look forward to the future and working with your team on economic development here in the region. So thank you for having us today.

Thank you. I have a question, and I don't know if any of the other council members have questions, but the workforce training grant program that you have, and we weren't allowed to know who was participating in that, but are there still funds available? How do businesses find out about it so that they could tap into

training workforce for their business yes absolutely thank you mayor for that question so here's how you can get a hold of us uh we'll go directly to our team and we'll get them onboarded for the program uh basically what they need to show us is the receipts for what they paid for training uh and that they've been retained for uh they have the retention period of 90 days and they'll qualify we have a group of qualifications mainly in the manufacturing space is what we're trying to highlight right now and focus on but we did have a warehouse business come to us as well and we're looking at getting them onboarded in the near future. So there are still funds available. Basically the way it works is the funds are available till they're not. And we haven't submitted any just yet because we're still acquiring all the data from their participation. So we're in that process right now with their HR departments. But once we are fulfilling of all the funds that we have, we'll be able to go out for more. So this is an annual opportunity for us to reapply. We reapplied last year, we were awarded in December. So basically retroactively from December 18th when we were approved any business that we connect with on this program as long as their employees been there for 90 days post-training will qualify. So we want to get that information out to everyone.

And can you give us, I know you said manufacturing, but can you give us an example of businesses that would fall under manufacturing so that they could reach out and take advantage of the program?

Yeah, so companies like the aerospace company here at the airport would be a good example of that. Also, Premier Finishing would be another one that could qualify for that. So any of those types of jobs that have some technical skill sets would qualify for those positions. And again, that rate is $24 an hour that they're in training for each employee.

Wonderful. Any questions or comments from the council?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you, Mayor.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council.

Now it is time for a proclamation for National Public Works Week, and I saw him all in the hallway. So come on out all of our public works. Well, not all of them, because I think you guys have like, I don't know, couple 100 more of you, but.

Whereas the city of Stockton joins communities across the nation in recognizing National Public Works Week and the vital role public works professionals play in planning, building, and maintaining the infrastructure that supports our daily lives. And this year's theme, Rooted in Service, Powered by Community, highlights the deep commitment of public works professionals whose work, both visible and unseen, helps our communities grow and thrive. At public work services, including transportation systems, water and sewer infrastructure, Stormwater management, parks, libraries, community facilities, and other essential services are critical to public health, safety, and quality of life. And these essential services are made possible by the dedicated efforts of engineers, managers, and public works employees who work to build, maintain, and improve the systems that serve our community. And the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association, and the public works staff of the City of Stockton demonstrate a continued commitment to providing reliable, high-quality services that enhance the well-being of our residents. And now, therefore, I, Christina Fugazi, Mayor of the City of Stockton and members of the Stockton City Council, do hereby proclaim May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week.

Is it going to be Penny? Is it going to be Rosa? Is it going to be Eric? Who's coming up to the podium?

Good afternoon, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. I will come up to the podium, but Rosa is going to receive the proclamation from you. It gives me a great honor and privilege to be a part of this great group, Public Works staff. The theme for this year, as you've heard the city clerk read, is rooted in service powered by community. And it honors the deep roots of service in public works in our connection to community resilience. For public works this year, there is an acronym we've been using, STACI. That stands for, and I'll just share briefly, S stands for service, being open and approachable to members, to each other, first of all, as employees, to the citizens and council members at all times, treating our customers like we would like to be treated. So focusing on service. Teamwork, recognizing the importance of working together to meet everyone's needs. Again, treating everyone with respect and equality, sharing resources, information freely, and communicating regularly and honestly with council members, citizens, and employees, and having a can-do attitude, aka give Stockton a chance. Accountability. Delivering on promise made, taking personal responsibility for achieving community-minded goals by keeping each other honest, humble, and proud of our individual and collective accomplishments. Commitment to community, demonstrating through our actions that we can be counted on and do what we say we will do in the timeframe that we say we will do it, and doing the right things the right way. And of course, I stands for integrity. I think having integrity, possessing an unwavering commitment to doing the right things the right way, consistently adhering to high professional and ethical standards, and keeping commitments to our citizens, coworkers, and others. With that, Madam Mayor, we are very grateful for the opportunity to receive this proclamation, and we extend an open invitation to the Council and to staff. Next week is National Public Works Week. On the 19th, which is a Tuesday, we will have an open house at the Corporation Yard on Lincoln Road. Please stop by and visit us. What is the time for that, staff? 10 to noon. And I know we have the State of the City Address on Wednesday. On Thursday, we'll kind of have a closed-door barbecue just to celebrate staff for their work, but everybody's invited from the Council and City Manager's Office. So with that, again, we express appreciation for this opportunity to be here, and thank you for your time.

I was going to make you go up there and save the time, but Penny didn't make you.

Okay, so I'm gonna be hanging out with you guys for like a whole week.

I need to visit everybody's apartment and see how you guys are doing. Yeah, well I did it with BD, I did it with Byers, you guys are next.

Can I recommend Bontini's when you come?

Oh, you're trying to get me there. Okay, we are now moving on to a public comment for items that are not on the agenda.

the city of stockton invites the public to participate in various ways if you have any questions regarding forms of participation please contact the office of the city clerk this is the time for public comments for items not on the agenda announcements or invitations you may comment on any subject that is not on the agenda within the jurisdiction of the city council if you wish to speak on a specific agenda item comments will be heard during that item To ensure sufficient public participation and conduct the agendized city business, the public is limited to one three-minute comment opportunity. Citizens' public comments are not a time for discussions with the council regarding subjects not on the agenda for this meeting, as the Brown Act limits such discussions. Comments made by members of the public or council may not reflect the viewpoint of the council. We ask that you maintain the rules of decorum as outlined in city council meeting decorum policy. The mayor shall preserve strict order and decorum at all meetings. Persons addressing the council shall not make personal, impertinent, unduly repetitive, slanderous, or profane remarks to the council, any member of the council, city staff, or the general public, nor utter loud, threatening, personal, or abusive language, nor engage in any other conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise unreasonably impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting. the city council members will practice civility and decorum in their discussions and debate a member shall not delay or interrupt the proceedings of the council or use personal impertinent or slanderous remarks council members will not speak twice on any given subject unless all other council members have been given the opportunity to speak every member once recognized shall be limited in their debate to five minutes Any council member who violates the rules repeatedly shall be sanctioned and be barred from further participation other than voting on the subject. Members shall not disturb any council members while speaking nor disobey the orders of the presiding officer. If a point of order is requested, the presiding officer will ask the interrupter to state their point and the presiding officer shall make a ruling. The rules of decorum set forth above shall be enforced in the following manner. Warning. The presiding officer shall request that a person who is breaching the rules of decorum be orderly and silent. If, after receiving a warning for the presiding officer, a person persists in disturbing the meeting, the presiding officer shall order him or her to leave the council meeting. If such person does not remove himself or herself, the presiding officer may order any law enforcement officer who is on duty at the meeting to remove that person from the council chamber. For general public comment, I have Bishop Dwight Williams, followed by Donald Tafoya.

Good afternoon, Mayor Fugazi and members of the Stockton City Council. This afternoon, I stand before you in my capacity as the President and CEO of New Genesis Housing Development Corporation, which is a 501c3 nonprofit housing and community development organization based here right in the great city of Stockton. to extend a PSA, if you will, a public service announcement on Saturday, May the 23rd, just a week, not this coming Saturday, of course, but the following Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. New Genesis Housing Development is presenting a community event called Faith and Physical Health. It is a program where we are connecting spiritual wellness and healthy living. health and wellness workshops, as well as inspirational messages, free health screenings, and fitness tips will be made available. The location, or I should say the time is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the location is at the Hilliard Chapel. AME Zion Church, which is located at 209 South C Street in the city of Stockton. And for more information, you can either call us at 209-298-1357 or visit the New Genesis website at www.newgenesiscorporation.org. I have made flyers for each of you to give to I would love for not only you as council members, but of course this is an invitation to the general public as well. This is a free event. Lunch is included with that, so not only you and not only all of you in the audience are invited to participate, but all those who view this on Channel 97 or whatever other platforms that may be available. So again, please, we look forward to your continual presence and help spread the word with this. Our partners at Community Medical Centers are bringing its mobile health clinic, and they are collaborating with us along with a number of other of our partners that's going to be made available on that day. So please come and join us on that day. Again, May 23rd from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hilliard Chapel Church, 209 South C Street in Stockton. Thank you and God bless.

Donald Tofoya, followed by Diana Buechner.

Good morning, this is my second meeting in one day. The first one, San Joaquin County's Board of Directors, or Supervisors, but great meeting. Good afternoon, Mayor and all council members. Kind of disappointed not to see Jason here. The first thing I wanted to do was compliment him on his last meeting here where he voted no on that raise for the council members. Not that you folks don't deserve it, you're way behind, But the rock in my shoe is how can you give yourselves a 10, 20, or even a 30% raise when our police officers do not have a contract? All of you folks knew what the pay rate was when you ran for office, but so be it. But I was gonna compliment Jason, and I'm not saying you guys don't deserve it, you do, but the police officers should've been taken care of first. And using his reason why you should not have pay raise goes to the same reason why you should not have additional substations. We're 60, 90% officers short, It reminds me of a song about there's a hole in the bucket. You guys keep adding water in it and the water keeps coming out. You never fix the hole. I'm not gonna tell you who sang it, but you can look it up. I wanna compliment Brando over here for the council member district five doing the work for council district six, cleaning up the homeless camp, great job. That being said, sitting here reminded me of when Jason's best favorite President Trump was running against Biden, and the saying was, where's Hunter, where's Hunter? And today I say, where's Jason? He might be in New York doing Black and Beauty. He wants to restart that program. He said he wants to be in it so he can take care of the main character's son, so he can have his way with them and whatever. But that being said, the words from his mouth that are on the internet. But then again, on his most recent post, he said he had something on his chest that started with an S and ended with a T, so maybe he's somewhere getting it taken off. Whatever. I'm impressed with the council, the meeting this morning with the county, and I hope that the environment when she go to the new building will be the same as it is over there. Have a good day.

Diana Buechner, followed by Pandora Crowder.

Do I get my accommodation? Because I did call on it, but I can't go. All right. Hi. I'm a little annoyed, and I know I'm not supposed to attack anybody, so we'll just make it a blanket statement. Bringing this meeting to this time of day is a means of silencing the people's voice. And clearly there is now a way to do that to the council members who represent the people with this up and coming thing that's going on. You know, this whole thing has been a nightmare. I just tried to get... a ride over here, guess what? It was not the ride's fault, but I couldn't get the ride to bring me back over here because I was given the wrong information. Because wait for it, it was RTD and they don't have enough people or vehicles to take care of everything. So there's a lot of issues going on here. And I see what's going on. And I'm really sick of people silencing the people's voice. This is not OK. And you guys know me. And you're going to silence me. It ain't going to happen. And I don't care if you throw me out or whatever you got to do. But the bottom line is, this is about us. This is about us. And those who don't know how the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 works, we have a Koch Brothers facility within our, I don't know, city limits or county limits. But we have one of those. And for those of us who understand what that means is that we bring in our politicians from the school districts. And that's how they take over cities. So if you didn't know that, now you do. I got it from a very progressive convention years ago. And I'm watching it, and I counted. This is the one since I've been paying attention. There's been five. Five mayors that came out of the school district. So we should pay attention to who these people, where they're coming from. And I'm not anti-Republican, people, don't get me wrong. That's not the deal, and I'm not pro-Democrat. This is about what happens to the people when outside forces come in, and it takes over the city councils, and we have people that are having things done to them that are not cool. When you silence the voice of the one district that speaks out the most loudly for their people, and say, you only get one chance to say something, but you only get five minutes. Why is that a new rule? That never was a rule before, that council members were silenced and squashed to five minutes. I watched Michael Tubbs do that to you, and I chewed out the entire council because you are all responsible for these things. All of you. And I get it. The setup is such that the mayor has the last vote and we're all screwed. But I'll tell you what, when you vote 3-3, this is why they do that. This is exactly why the system works this way. And it's not in favor of the people.

Pandora Crowder, followed by Dan Richardson.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. I am here to just smile and invite you all and everyone to, actually, I'm representing Unbound Charter School, so let me preface that. And I wanted to come and invite everyone who's watching here to the end of year community celebration, which is May 16th. All of council should have the flyers on the dais. From 5 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. at 444 North American Street, our students will be doing a showcase. There will be live performances. There will be leadership awards. And there will be food and community celebration. So I really just wanted to invite you all. This is also their first year. completing as an actual school. And I think we should all celebrate because schools are not one size fits all. So where some kids thrive in SUSD or a KIPP school or an Aspire school, this school has a very unique model and I hope that you all are able to go and understand what this school offers. And then also, I would also like to invite to volunteer, but also let the community know that Unbound is doing a literacy and leadership summer program, which is free. There are 30 spots open to children who are not part of the Unbound school. they will be doing English language arts field work on Fridays problem-solving and math foundations and enrichment activities and that is June 8th through July 3rd and it's held at the school on North American Street and again it's all free so and there are 30 spots open so Get in while you can get it. And then I would also real quick just like to say a great big thank you to all of you for just showing up. I know that this time of year sucks. But showing up and doing the work that you're all doing and I appreciate you all. Thank you.

Dan Richardson followed by Sergio Ortez.

Afternoon mayor, council members, city manager Ford. I'm back. It's been a while since I've been here. I wanted to pass along my thanks to council members, the city staff, city manager, code enforcement, and the police department for trying to educate the vendor community on the use of our parks and how to follow the ordinances that are out there. One concern I have is code enforcement will show up, educate these people, they'll leave because they don't have the proper permits or whatever, and the following day they're back. So they're not following the ordinances. Citations need to be starting to be issued to these people who are frequent offenders. One other suggestion I have is that code enforcement does ask for if these people have permits. Some of them say, yeah, I have it, but I don't have it with me. Others say, I don't have it. Well, you need to get one, so you need to leave until you do get the proper permitting. I would like to see the permit department, the city, require that these people have on display, like any other business in the city of Stockton, has to have a business license on display so that when they're inspected or somebody comes in to review their business license, it's available immediately. The vendors can put these permits in a plastic pouch for inclement weather. and just display it on their pop-up or have it on them so that they can immediately show it to a code enforcement person so they can verify whether or not that person actually has a permit to be there. But again, I want to thank everybody. Mario, thank you for coming out and walking the park in the dark to talk to people who were not only violating the vendor laws, but they were breaking laws about consuming alcohol after dark. They were playing theater. They had a theater set up. uh... just one other note i did just get a call from one of my neighbors and from my wife regarding a truck that pulled onto the grass at victory park about a half hour ago set up loudspeakers and is now playing music loud enough for people on persian avenue to hear inside their closed up houses in this heat so uh... you know it it goes on and it's a constant battle uh... the police department not having a Contract, I think, is a problem right now. We're not encouraging officers to come and join the Stockton Police Force when we can't get a contract. I know it's going to be expensive. We need to look at alternatives and things that we can cut within the city. Nobody likes cuts. but we need safety first. Stockton is not gonna attract business. We're not gonna attract good people if we do not get the crime rate down and keep it down. The chief has done a great job. We have a great police department, police force. I really admire a lot of the individuals on our police force. They're good people. We need to really, really work to find the money in the budget to get them a contract so that we can start attracting more good individuals to the city of Stockton. Thank you.

Sergio Ortiz, followed by Julie Dunning.

Hello everyone. Uh, my name is Sergio Ortiz and I, uh, you know, I, I have a home in, uh, district three and off Benjamin Holt. And I have a home in Southside Stockton, my childhood home that I grew up in. Uh, when my children's mother and I separated, she stayed in the North side home and I went to my South side home. And so I've been there roughly for about a year. And I'll tell you the honest truth. I've been blind to where I live, where I grew up because it's my comfort zone. Right. And I know everybody on the block that's where a hunter and charter where, uh, Martin Luther King drive. That's, that's where I grew up, uh, Boulevard, sorry. And I want to say thank you to all of you for McKinley park. Right? I think I've had that inside of me for a very long time. So thank you because I used to go, I played there as a kid, tackle football and everything like that. And it wasn't the way it was now. I don't have to be cautious when I'm walking on the grass, uh, or when my son is practicing soccer inside of that awesome little facility there. So thank you. I say that first. Now, the other side of that is on Cinco de Mayo weekend, my eyes were really opened to my Northside Stockton privilege that I somewhat grew up with half of my life, right? And I say that because in driving home, I was driving down MLK, and I've always said Charter. I don't mean that in a rude way. That's just where I'm from. And so I'm driving down Charter, and I notice all of these tow trucks. But I just keep driving, and I'm going home. And who do I see on the corner of my block? I see Jose there. And so I stop and I get out and I say, hey, what are you doing over here? I've never seen you over here. And he goes, do you see what's going on here? And I said, what's going on? And I took a moment to look around and I noticed, you know, it was folks that look like me or my grandparents or my father who were all pulled over on the side of the road with a lot of their belongings out in the street. And one in particular individual named Maynor, he had a 20-day-old son, a 5-year-old son, his wife, his mother-in-law were right next to him, and quite a bit of belongings that were in his car for a long time were just out on the side of the road. They're just waiting on the phone, sweating like crazy, not knowing what to do in fear. And so luckily, Jose pointed it out to me. Go over, pick them up, put them in the truck, take them home. But during the drive home, we're talking about what happened. What exactly happened? And he said, well, he pulled me over because I didn't have current tags, but my tags are current. And I did check. I checked the registration, looked at everything, connected them to CRLA, connected them to El Concilio now. But just the fact that he was pulled over for a reason that wasn't really reasonable, it wasn't justifiable, it threw me a wrong way. And I've really never had to deal with anything like that in my life. I've been very blessed in that sense. But in that moment, I told Jose that my life was changed. And so I just hope that everybody's being treated equally in Charter Way and the Northside. Thank you so much.

Julie Dunning, followed by Joey Veltri.

Good afternoon. I haven't been to these meetings in a while, but I came today not because I agreed with the time change, but because I wanted to be supportive. I wanted to be optimistic. I wanted to give it a chance. I wanted to see how many people could actually participate. But what I witnessed in the beginning of this meeting is beyond the pale. It is retaliatory to say the least for those of us that know what happened a week ago. It's more than obvious what took place. I've attended almost all city council meetings since 2023. I've seen people participate from cruise ships without it ever being verified that there was an agenda posted in their cabin 72 hours in advance or a common room on that cruise ship for them to participate. This isn't about one person over the other. This is about democracy. This is about the process. And Madam Mayor, it's about leadership. You can ignore me, but I'm being recorded. It's on the record. It lacks integrity. It's not high school. We don't get back at each other for wrongs, perceived wrongs done to us. But then, as I'm sitting there shaking over this event, when I came here to be supportive, a speaker is allowed to get up and make a very derogatory sexual comment regarding somebody's sexual orientation on the dais. I am offended, and you As the controller of the meeting, did nothing to caution the speaker, nothing to remind them of decorum, nothing to tell them that the sexual comment was inappropriate. I was offended as a participant in this meeting that that contact was allowed to happen on top of what already has happened, and I will be filing a complaint. Thank you.

Joey Veltri, followed by Ralph White.

Hello, Mayor, Council Members, Mr. Ford. I'm Joey Veltri, and I'm a California realtor and notary, and I'm here to address the issue of rent stabilization, which, in other words, is rent control. While I understand that many residents are struggling with rising costs, excuse me, Well, I understand, okay, I firmly believe that rent control is not the solution. It may sound appealing in the short term, but it discourages investment in our housing market, leading to fewer rentals, reduced quality, and ultimately a tighter supply. Instead, I believe we need to focus on streamlining development, easing regulations. using regulations and creating more housing supply so the prices come down naturally. Let's work together to build a much more vibrant and affordable future for Stockton. We must not drive away business. We need to embrace it. We need to give incentives for those who want to build and make Stockton a landing place instead of a pit stop. Thank you and God bless.

Ralph White followed by Jose Rodriguez.

Thank you.

I must say the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a whole lot being black, is what I saw during Cinco de Mayo's function at the fairground. You had police from Lodi, Manteca, Tracy, what did you have right over here, Linden, the other one out in, Every county, every city, you had policemen in here stopping everybody that you could see for almost anything. That is the most embarrassing thing that can happen. People come from all around to Cinco de Mayo's thing, and especially to the thing that was going on, that was going for those three days. That's their weekend. That's a celebration weekend. Don't do that on ours. Please don't. On January the 1st, don't do it on God's Appreciation Day that black folks was freed That is embarrassing, and all of you should be ashamed. And please tell your policeman, don't do it next year. I ran him out of my parking lot, put in a little lady over with her daughter and her little baby getting out in a stroller while the police take their car. And every one of you that got a Tesla know darn well you don't have a license plate on the front of your car. Now start riding around looking, and they were citing people for no license plates and taking their car because they didn't have a license plate. And the next thing is, too, if you stop bringing so many policemen up here, which you don't need up here in the daytime or at night. I served 16 and a half years, and we only had one policeman up here. You got these bulletproof curtains sitting right up there right now. Who paid for them and how much did you pay? And did the council authorize that? Bulletproof curtains for who? For Jason Lee? You got to go over to the... State Capitol, you don't see no two places on every floor that you got to go through to check and see if you got a gun or a knife. Ain't nobody did nothing. You don't even have no protesters up here no more. And you got all these policemen up here. You're wasting taxpayers' money with them all being out there. That's where their race can come from. And all that overtime they're getting. If the city, these people knew how much overtime. We're spending almost as much on overtime for policemen as we're spending for the budget itself. You need to start looking at things. And that's something they don't do. But do not do, I will black people and I will brown people like that again. You're not gonna do it on St. Patrick's Day, I guarantee you that.

Jose Rodriguez.

Good afternoon, Mayor Fugazi, members of the City Council. My name is Jose Rodriguez, and I am the CEO of El Concilio, California. I'm here today to express my disappointment at the recent actions by the Stockton Police Department that took place on Saturday, May 2nd, and Sunday, May 3rd. In January 2026, the City Council unanimously adopted a compassionate city resolution, a seven zero statement of principle intended to affirm dignity, safety, and support for all the residents. It was not framed merely as symbolism. It was presented to the community as an issue of trust. This message was supposed to be simple. People should not be afraid to report crimes, seek help, attend public events, or access city services because they fear government power. For over 30 years, El Concilio California has sponsored a family festival and a parade for Cinco de Mayo. This festival should have been an example of starting at its best, a celebration of culture, unity, food, music, heritage, and community. We have multiple schools and organizations participate in the celebration along with many small business owners. Under the sighted guise of addressing street shows, targeted law enforcement activity took place around the festival area, but there was no street shows occurring there. There were no plans for street shows connected to the festival. What happened instead was families were being stripped of their cars, sighted, and in some cases arrested. It was reported by Stocktonia that over 140 cars were impounded. 1,500 people were stopped and 1,200 citations were issued. When six out of ten people in the United States cannot afford a $1,000 emergency, and I am sure that percentage is much higher in South Stockton, it should concern you that the cost of getting a car out of impoundment is anywhere between $400 and $2,000. This is where the language of compassion collapses under the weight of reality. When a family living paycheck to paycheck has its car towed, the harm is not theoretical. It is immediate and destabilizing. That family is suddenly forced into the impossible calculation to pay to get the car back, pay rent, pay the impound fees, or buy food, or satisfy the state, or meet the basic needs of their children at home. To these families, a vehicle is not a luxury, but the difference between getting to work or losing a job. When I learned what was going on, I went out there and documented what was taking place. And despite what I'm sure was reported to you, I witnessed people having their cars towed who were not involved in sideshows. One family consisted of a young married couple with a five-year-old child, a 20-day-old child, and a grandma. They were forced to take their belongings from the car and were left stranded on the road. A good Samaritan gave them a ride home. The principal concern for that young man was how he was going to get to work on Monday because he knew he could not afford to get the car out. This is not public safety. A compassionate city does not speak of dignity while humiliating families in one of the poorest sections of town. The contradiction is impossible to ignore. This is not about Cinco de Mayo. This is about whether Stockton's compassionate identity is governing.

That concludes public comment for general comments. I do have two comments for consent items.

What two items on consent?

16.2 and, I'm sorry, 6.2 and 6.3. Okay.

Are there any, oh, 6.2 and 6.3. Are there any items that council would like to pull?

6.9 and 6.10. 6.2.

Okay, that being said those items are pulled to cook that for 6.3, okay, so to clarify we are pulling six point two six point seven six point nine six point ten and six point two one Yeah, okay So 2, 7, 9, 10, and 21. OK.

I make a motion to approve the remainder items. Second.

Before we continue, we need to hear public comment for the items.

Go ahead with the public comment.

Diana Buettner for 6.2.

I have an issue with this particular deal. When we are asking people to choose representatives from outside of their area that was not represented, I don't know if that's a good idea. When we look at who represents who and why, the people elected this person. They wanted a person from their district to represent them. when those representatives don't materialize, and I don't know the issue and how that happened and why it happened, but there should be someone maybe to help them find people within their district rather than appointing someone who might come from another district. Because the person that lives in that district is the important part. That's the important part when we're electing from our district, we need to be able to have a voice from that district. So I do have a problem with this and I'm not sure, like I said, I'm not sure about the whole details of how that whole thing happened. But I have a concern that the people that get represented are not gonna be the ones from that district if they don't know this person. So that's pretty much my take on that. I really believe that what's most important in this room is the people being represented. And, man, that is being shut down, stomped on, and it is absolutely insane. And that last comment, gee, I'd be in tears. This is my hometown. This is disgusting. Why is this happening? You know, we can hang a flag, I'm fine with that, because that's a symbol of safety. But when we can't even protect our people from ice, seriously, and I don't care if it's the cops or ice, either way, it does not need to be happening here. There are ways that they can handle that. but to set it up so it happens at an event that the city puts on, that gives us a black eye like nobody's ever given us a black eye before. That's disgusting. I'm done.

462, Dan Richardson.

I didn't get to read this entirely, but I wanted to just make a comment about boards and commissions committees. I just stepped down as chair of the strong communities and I will be vice chair, but there's been a number of times when we have not had a full quorum. And the people that do show up, including staff, including members of the public, cannot participate because we cannot get a quorum. And we have seats that remain unfilled for a year. We really do need to focus on getting these committees and commissions filled so that we have the... business of the government aided for the council and also done for the public. If the public in a given district is not concerned enough to participate, then they sacrifice their right to have representation, in my opinion. You need, if you're really concerned, show up. Come to council meetings. Come to committee meetings. Show up and participate. Become a member. I was fortunate enough to have Mario nominate me to be a member of a committee, and I take pride in that, being able to show up and ask questions and participate and ask the staff what they're doing to improve the city of Stockton. If it's important, show up and become a member and participate. Thank you.

For 6.3, Diana Buechner.

I'm not aware of anyone ever having an issue with phone calls in the middle of council. A quick little turn off your phone in the beginning of the meeting should handle it. It kind of sounds like, I was curious, and I know you can't talk to me from the dais, is this about silencing the ability to have a phone in the room? Okay, so it's just about making sure, is it the public that's having the problem or is it the council that's having the problem? Okay, you know, that should be rather simple. Why do we need an ordinance, you know, something to state that, like is it another shaming event? I'm like so sick of the shaming events in this place. I get it, sometimes phone calls happen. And I don't know what to say about this other than it's just, It's distracting. Not the phone call, but what's distracting is these petty, petty little deals that we keep talking about, and we talk big game about how we're gonna change the safety, and we can't give the cops their money. We can't give them a contract, which is why we don't have the cops. Why would anybody wanna come here? We know what happens here. We've been this route. We have been this route with this stuff. So all of this pettiness, it sounds like it's important, but it's not. It's really not that important. What's important is that we have officers for safety. Now, good luck with that. I don't have a lot of faith in any of that anymore. But that is... Sorry, no offense meant to the officers in the room. I have family that were officers and that died in the force. What I see happening in this country, you guys already know what I see happening. And I'm not kidding. And we're sitting here playing patty cake. Don't bring your phone. Turn your phone off. Like, literally, that's simple.

That concludes public comment for consent items.

I'd like to pull 6.3. Other than that. Motion to approve the remaining. We have a motion and a second. Council please vote. Motion carries 6 0. OK. Let's go ahead. Numerical order. Let's go ahead and go with 6.2. Thank you.

I don't know who's presenting, but I just have one question and then a comment.

That would be for me. Go ahead.

Okay, great, great. So based on this resolution, would the council members still retain discretion over their appointment after the 90 days, or will it be all up to the council from then on?

So with this current version, what council would be considering is if recruitment at the end of recruitment, 90 days following the end of recruitment, if the council member hasn't taken any action, they haven't selected someone, they haven't said, hey, I want to go out for additional recruitment, no action has been taken, then it will automatically come to council, and council has three options at that time. Council can either select from the poll of applicants that's already available, they can ask for an additional recruitment, or... My brain just blanked, I'm so sorry. My brain just blanked on the third option. They have a third option that the council would basically direct at that time how they would like us to proceed. Okay, thank you for that answer.

So I want to thank the public comment that was made with regards to 6.2 because it prefaces what I want to say. I feel that collaboration and communication are for are far more effective than adopting a resolution that could unintentionally cause divisiveness among council members I'm gonna be completely honest these appointments are not easy they may be simple in some districts fantastic you may have people in districts that want to step up, want to volunteer, want to have the time, can make all the meetings, are gung-ho for the city, I get it. It is challenging. However, I do understand the consequences or the impact that it has on maintaining the work of the city. Instead of creating policies that may feel punitive, we need to work together as colleagues. We need to work together as a team, support one another, communicate openly. If we see an appointment, hey, I know somebody in your district. Do you need help? Can I give you their phone number? The spirit of of cooperation straightens this council. And you know what, as the public has said, I don't want to see us creating these policies that are going to divide each other. And so working together serves this council serves this council better. And I know we've discussed this before, and I'm just going to say I'm not in support of this resolution. I'm in support of collaboration. And when this was first presented, we've heard it loud and clear. And I see we got some appointments. You know, there may be some positions available still, but that's where we need to work together. behind this dais. So that's my two cents. I don't know if there's any more comments.

Councilman Enriquez.

Yes, thank you. And City Clerk, I want to thank you. I know you put a lot of work into this and I know this has been through ledge and, you know, Councilman Padilla, I really appreciate what you shared. I know this is something that When we first talked about it last year, we discussed it. We then brought it on to council. As many of you know, it did not pass, I believe, in November. Six months go by, we brought it back to ledge. At the last ledge meeting, all three of us had no issues with this text. So I'm a little surprised that now there's an issue and about collaboration because that's all we've been doing. You know we have emails. We get phone calls since last year. The reason why this came up was because from last year almost a year ago we had so many issues with filling in vacancies for whatever district. I don't not going to give specifics, but we all know who we couldn't appoint. And from roughly March through July, we gave our Council colleagues the opportunity to share what's been going on. How do you need help? No answer, no response. So that's why we took it to ledge. That's what we said, let's develop a policy where we can then figure out if you can do within a certain time, then let's open it up. We have other boards and commissions that we open up these opportunities. There's no issue there about collaboration. All of us are always in the know of who we can appoint people. I always use the example with Councilwoman Padilla and I, where I offered two folks that I thought would be great to represent District 1. We had a good conversation, and then she reviewed that applicant, and then she onboarded that person to represent District 1, even though she doesn't live there. And so far, from what I've been hearing, she's been doing a fantastic job. Ms. Ray is. So there are opportunities. It just takes that council member, whoever is up here, to make the effort. Yet, there is no effort. So this is on all of us. If you all want a CPRA request, please. I have reached out to my colleagues in certain districts, and I get no response. I'm an adult. They're an adult. I don't need to keep harping on them to get a response.

Through the chair, point of order. What's your point? 3. 3.13.010, we just want to keep order and just keep respect amongst and just stick to the topic.

Yes, I am sticking to the topic and I'm not naming anybody. So did I break anything, presenting officer?

But you're talking about adults as if somebody was an adult.

Thank you. Well, yeah, that too. Well, also in general, All of us have a responsibility to respond to emails and we don't, that's on them. So we all make an effort to hear from others and they don't. So when I see reports from our city clerk of 30%, 40%, zero out of zero vacancies for nine, 10, 12 months, now a year, that's alarming. So then it comes to the point of how often are we then gonna keep bugging our colleagues to fill in those vacancies if they also are not giving us a report about what they're doing? Have they given us a status? Hey, you know what? I'm really stuck. I need help. Yet we still have zero vacancies for now 12 months for certain positions. It's not my job to have to then go out to that person and say, hey, what's going on? I'm always available. I think at all the council meetings where we've had this discussion, I've always offered my help. No one's taken me up on that offer. I think if I see folks that apply, I recommend, just like the example I used with Councilman Padilla, and we did that. But there have been vacancies still for about a year, and that's the challenge where the 90 days makes sense. I remember I was joking with the city clerk about 60 days, but To be fair, we said 90 days. And I think what this policy does, and there was no issue when Council Member Padilla, Vice Mayor Lee, and I were talking about this last, to send this to council, we had even said, are there any issues with the current edits? All three of us said no. Now there is. So now here we are. This policy is almost a public checkpoint. It's saying, to the city clerk's point, is that once we get to the 90 days, We can say, you know what, if three people applied for, let's say, District 4 Planning Commission, and let's say I had a vacancy for 12 months, and I gave no outreach email to any of my colleagues about what I've been doing to get someone appointed, which has happened, then you can say, you know what, Council Member Enriquez, there have been three people that applied to the Planning Commission the last 90 days. What is the pleasure of the Council? This is a public check on all of us to say, one, direct the city clerk to initiate an additional recruitment, or two, direct the city clerk to schedule interviews for the applicants. There I can say as a council member, colleagues, yes, I've had a vacancy from my planning commission for the last 90 days. I would like to request that we do an additional recruitment. Since we're all about collaboration, and we say, you know what, Councilman Rodriguez, we trust your leadership. We trust that you can continue two more months to get someone, so be it. But then the 90 days goes by and it's another public checkpoint. And I think we need that because we've had vacancies for over a year. So it is our job, and we have 50 to 55,000 people in our respective districts. And yes, some districts are more active than others. then those public checkpoints can say, you know what? This person does need help, whether you want to admit it or not. Then we can actually go in there and support either the rest of the six of us, if it's one district, or the city clerk's office, who I know does continuous outreach. But we don't know, because we don't know. No one's saying anything. That's the challenge. Now this publicly says, I need help. What else do you need? We have the data. We have vacancies. We have some that have been appointed where they don't even know the council members. And some of them have even said that on the record in newspaper articles. I'm not making that up. So I'm glad that you get to represent your district, but you don't even know your own council member. So how you got appointed, you probably applied and that council member probably just chose because they didn't know what else to do. That's my guess, but you'll have an opportunity now to push your button, clarify. I would also ask, push your button, if we have vacancies for so long, why you have vacancies. And this isn't a gotcha moment. This is more like, hey, if we're collaborating, say why you need help. This policy isn't to put you in a 90-day mark. It's to say if you can't do it within 90 days, you have two options. I think we're all pretty flexible to say if you need more additional time, I'm pretty sure option one is going to be more likely than option two.

Before you start, Councilman, I want to make a couple comments. Timing of meetings, I know that sometimes becomes an issue for individuals who definitely want to serve, but I know for example measure a was meeting at like 9 in the morning or something like that and it was difficult for a couple people and we looked at possibly changing that but when our council chambers available rolling appointment periods I said it would sure be great if it was January 1st or July 1st but we have these rolling do we not city clerk summer expire October 31st some expire at this time so I mean it's I

The majority of them expired January 31st and that's in order to facilitate the turnover of council.

uh... also uh... there might be only four meetings a year on some of these uh... which is yes why it's so important that that that people are there uh... and then uh... in terms of maybe no issues at ledge committee since it posted there could be public input uh... there was public input today on this one opposed one in favor uh... so we we don't just say It's done at a committee level. That's why it comes before council. So I just wanted to clarify on those points. And I will say, you know, I don't have an issue appointing only because I served eight years on council. I have relationships in the community. And as mayor, you get to point at large. That's one of the wonderful things. But as a council member, too, I was always on my people. to be there and i think i have one absence since i have been here but it was excused um and it is it is a volunteer for the most part except for planning commission that everyone and that one's voluntary anyway because it's what 25 bucks um and it's been 25 bucks for 30 years or 40 years i don't know a long time But I think it's important that a council member is able to appoint, yes they do right now, yes they would within the 90 days. I don't think 90 days though necessarily is enough time if you haven't, if there haven't been people who have applied as well as people who have been able to commit to the time of that meeting. And I will pass it over to Council Member Villalpudoa.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Clarity, City Clerk, how many vacancies are still open?

Currently three.

And which ones are those?

District 2 Water Advisory Group, District 2 Measure W, and I'd have to look up the third one, but it's also in District 2.

Okay. is very hard picking certain committees people I have chosen from different districts I've had before councilmember Enriquez on one of mine before he was a kid a candidate but I don't think that council should be able to choose who should be I think they should recommend it right and say hey you know I have someone for you but at the end I think the council members should be able to choose who they want and that's how I feel I do like the role of having a certain time because positions are very important. Planning commission is an example. It could be a very important item in the agenda and one vote could go one way, another one if someone would have been there. so I understand how important it is so I do I'm in favor that we there should be a certain time that there should be you know to choose a certain person on a committee so that's where I stand and I'll let the rest of my colleagues speak on it Councilman Blower

Thank you mayor. So the last time we looked at this issue I think that was what did we say November. So that's been about six months. I guess my question is that we identified a problem that there were vacancies and it makes it hard to get a quorum and get these things together. So six months later we're taking another look at it. Can you tell me the vacancies that we now have. Are they the same vacancies that we have then. Are they new ones.

No these are the same vacancies.

So here we are six months later we have the exact same vacancies. So I think coming up with some sort of policy that can address that if you know if a council member is unable to to make those appointments I mean is the solution we just don't do anything and then those positions just never get filled. I think coming up with a policy to you know where we can step in and help that individual I don't. and see what the problem is with that. So I'm in favor of us doing something. And if you don't think 90 days is enough, you want to compromise and say 120, but I feel like there needs to be something. Because again, here we are six months later and we still have those three vacancies. So clearly something needs to be done because I don't think that it's fair to those committees that have trouble getting a quorum to do their work. That's my two cents.

Has anybody applied for those vacancies?

Yes, we do have applications for those vacancies.

And has the council member looked at those?

Yes, the council member has been in communication with that and we believe coming to the June 9th meeting there might be appointments.

Okay, so there's been a selection made and it will come before council at our next meeting.

That's my understanding correct.

OK that that helps tremendously and at that point then all positions will be filled.

Yes, as long as it goes through council and gets approved, all positions would be filled at that point.

Okay, so that's good. That's a good thing to have those all filled, and hopefully everybody shows up for their meetings. Okay, so with that, I will look at, okay, go ahead, Council Member Enriquez.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Blair, thank you for what you just said, because at one point, I mean, yes, I'm thrilled that we now have folks that have applied and we're going to have zero vacancies, which is good. The bigger conversation is, why did it take so long? So accountability is really important, Mayor. I know you would want all your council members, right? We're doing our work. Some of us voted to increase our pay. So with all that extra work and time that you all are putting in, I get every district is different, but as a leader, I know you would want all of us to be active and to get people to get these positions filled. So my biggest thing is, and I think the public deserves to know why these vacancies have been vacant for so long, for about a year, a year and a half, not for some of them, but I think the residents deserve to hear that. And whoever That district is, that's on them, but I want to put it out there because I think the residents need to activate and ask us if there's any vacancies that have been longer for 90 days, 120, eight months, a year, we should be able to at least ask why. And I think all of us, it is our job to share that. Whatever district that is, I think that's our responsibility because to what he was saying and to why I think even the three of us started at Ledge was because there were meetings being canceled due to lack of quorum. And we don't want that to happen because if I come all the way downtown, to spend my gas, be here, and then have my meeting canceled, I would be upset. And that's happened to me when I was in the Measure W Oversight Committee for Council Member Villaputua. Through the chair, I'd like to call the vote. Mayor.

There hasn't been a, you want to end the discussion, but there has to be a motion. Am I correct?

I'm just, it's going to be interrupted, but okay, I'm trying to make a point.

Well, she's making a point of order. So there has to be a motion in order to call for the vote. like to make a motion to call the vote you have to make a motion to approve or disapprove the item I would like to make a motion to disapprove this resolution okay so a yes vote would mean a no and a no vote would mean a yes if that makes sense and so do is there a second I'll second Okay, so we have a motion and a second. May I ask a question, Councilwoman? Yes. Okay. And it's just because after all my years, it is not always easy to get people. I know you are trying to recruit all the time, are you not?

Correct. It's an ongoing recruitment. Applications are retained on file for a year for that purpose because it is hard to recruit people.

And this isn't new just for this council?

No, this is, I've been here over 11 years and it's been consistent.

Okay, okay. So we have a motion and a second.

Just one question, just for clarity. So what I heard, the two positions are going to be filled?

I currently have staff reports for the ninth for two of them and I believe we have a third one coming.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, okay. Okay, yes, so the vote, if you vote yes, that means there is not going to be an amendment to chapter 3.02. If you vote no, then you want one, but we'll have to do another motion for that. Correct, city attorney? Can you please repeat that again?

I'm looking at it right now, the tagline on this particular one.

Yes, so the motion is not to adopt Chapter 3.02 amendment. not to adopt yes okay okay and should that let's say it's three three then we would need to have a subsequent motion to that yeah it's just high tie about so then nothing happens yes then nothing happens correct there can't be a another vote

Well, no, you're voting on this one unless somebody wants to make another motion. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Let's go ahead and...

I would like to make a motion to approve the resolution.

Okay. So now we have a second one. We take the second one first. Council, please vote. motion does not pass with Padilla, Villapuado, Ponce, and myself dissenting. Okay, so now we'll go to the first motion. Council members, please vote. Okay, 33, which means So it remains the same?

Correct. So the first vote already voted it down.

Well, I just want to be able to clarify that in my comments. OK, thank you. Moving on then to item 6.3.

Are we being timed on our discussions because the clock is not running?

Yeah. I told her to wait until the next one because we had already started. Thank you. Okay, so item 6.3. This is due to the new rule that is going to be happening on July 1st that allows people to remotely participate in our council meetings. And there are things that could happen while they are participating. And can you elaborate on that? Because this doesn't have to do with anybody in here having their phones.

Of course. So SB 707 is a new addition to the Brown Act. And that addition, effective July 1st, requires us to have a policy that should there be a technological disruption in terms of broadcasting the meeting, allowing persons to participate remotely, that we have a policy in place dictating how we're going to handle that. So that's what this policy is. It doesn't have anything to do with people being on their cell phones in the audience or anything else like that. This has to do with a technical disruption to our services.

OK. Perfect. OK. So with that, I'll make the motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Sorry. Motion carries 7-0. Oh, excuse me, 6-0, so used to it. Okay, moving on to item 6.7, the next one, which is a resolution approving a property tax allocation agreement between the city of Stockton and San Joaquin County for the LeBaron Ranch Residential Development Project annexation and the drive-through quick-serve restaurant development annexation. So, did... Oh, sorry. Sorry.

Yes, thank you again. I was just curious as to giving context as to why they're both put together for this vote. I thought they would be separate just to make it more clear.

Sure. So as we are concurrently working on a master tax sharing agreement, which you will be hearing later on in this meeting, these are two projects that were both approved in November of last year. They have been waiting for some time to be able to proceed to the LAFCO stage. They cannot go to LAFCO without a tax sharing agreement in place. So for the purposes of efficiency, we put them together into their own side agreement and are bringing it before you for your approval.

thank you and um i mean ideally if i have to make a motion i would like to vote separately on these two items only because my question was when we voted on the one particularly i believe the drive-through was in district one uh councilman padilla vice mayor lee and i voted no against it so i guess what i'm trying to figure out is if we voted for it as a city now they're trying to get back into the city so Were they in a county pocket and we support it? I don't get the shift.

Sure, sure. So I'll explain the process. So this is a number of parcels in a county pocket. The subject parcel is the one for the proposed jack-in-the-box development. So it's always been unincorporated. It's in a county pocket. That whole process that went through Planning Commission and City Council was essentially that pre-authorization process. to be able to go then to LAFCO for annexation and absorption into the city territory. So all of those approvals, the pre-zoning, the environmental, the authorization to submit to LAFCO, that is what is required in the process in order to add territory to the city.

Got it, I see. Thank you. I don't know if I have to make a motion, but I would like to request to my colleagues if we can vote separately on these two.

if you're making, is that your motion?

Yes, I would like to make a motion that we vote on these two items separately just to clear up any differences with two of these projects.

I don't hear a second, so we will take it as one then. Okay, well I'd like nothing more than to annex all the county pockets into the city.

No.

So I'll make a motion to approve 6.7. Somebody second? Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Council please vote. Motion carries five to one with Councilman Enriquez dissenting. Okay, moving on to item 6.9, approve a motion authorizing a vehicle use agreement between the Eastside Rural County Fire Protection District and the City of Stockton for a Rosenbauer tanker, 3,000 gallon water tender. Hello.

Thank you. Yeah, I was very excited to see both of these items. It seems like I think Chief's been busy with the different Eastside Rural and Lincoln Rural County fires. So this first one, basically we're getting them to buy a big tanker, but then we'll have use of it?

Correct, yes. The Eastside Fire District, in a great collaboration with the fire chief, decided to enhance services by providing us with a water tender, a critical piece of equipment that we haven't had in our inventory at all. So we're definitely grateful for that.

And so people understand the tender is so that if you have a place without like a fire hydrant, that kind of thing, you can bring a bunch of water, is that?

Correct. It's a fire apparatus that has about 3,000 gallons of water. It can supply and refill four fire engines or 10 of our smaller brush rigs. So that water goes a long way when we need that with no fire hydrants.

That's great. We've never had one of those before or?

No, we never have. So this is a great first step water tender, this one. And thank you for the type three a few weeks ago as well. So these are all step forward for the fire department.

And my understanding, I seem to recall it was almost, what, almost $700,000 worth of equipment. Correct.

It's a little over $600,000. Yeah.

So that's great. And then moving on to the other one, Let's talk about adding the three fire positions. And what I'm really excited about is that means the truck will be fully manned now, correct?

Correct.

So normally you want four people manning that, and up till now we've done three.

I'll turn over this to our deputy chief that has more info on that.

Yeah.

Good afternoon. I'd be happy to answer your question.

Okay, so we're getting basically with this amendment to the Fire Protection Service Agreement with Lincoln Rural County, we're basically getting them to pay for three positions, is that it?

Yeah, that's correct, three positions.

And then that will be on the fire truck at the sevens.

We're going to evaluate where we're going to place those three firefighters. It's going to be in the north side of Stockton near Lincoln Rural Fire Protection District.

Do you have an idea? Do you know the number? Like how much money is this saving us?

Do you have the number? Six to 800,000.

Six to 800,000 a year. And it's, yeah, that's pretty darn good. So I just was very excited to see those and just wanted to point it out and just thank the chief and whoever was involved with the negotiations of getting both of these things. So kudos to you guys. Kudos to the fire department. And with that, I'll make a motion to approve both items. Second.

so we're taking six six point can we take 6.9 and 6.10 together okay so we have a motion and a second council please vote motion carries 6-0 then moving on to the last item which is 6.21 adopt a resolution to authorize the alpine and alvarado conversion to three-way traffic signal project so people can get home and out of home Is that Penny, Public Works? There he comes.

Mr. America.

Hi, so thank you. Just one quick question. I appreciate it. Obviously, I know this is going to be a really big win for District 4. As you know, that intersection over the weekend at Oak Park, the only one, just so the public knows, where specifically are the ADA ramps? Are they on both sides of Alvarado? Because I know across the street, it's just a straight shot. Because it includes ADA ramps on the ledge decks.

I'm going to pull up my map here, my design. But it's going to be on both sides of Alvarado, as you indicated.

Yeah.

So when individuals are crossing the street, crossing Alpine and coming to Alvarado.

if i'm on the west corner of alvarado going east across the street before the train tracks it's going to be those two are going to have ada ramps yes and then if if i'm on the main street turning left onto alvarado that's what this uh like what the infrastructure is going to be yes okay great off of alpine great thank you and then the construction is anticipated to be completed by spring summer of 2027. that is correct okay great no i really appreciate it i was just I'm curious about the specific locations of the ramps. So thank you.

I am certainly excited about this project too. As you know, their ball fails down on Alvarado. And so during the season, it's a very busy, intersection for families and children crossing. And so it's a huge safety mechanism, particularly making the left turn from Alvarado into Alpine. And it also gives us an opportunity to help slow down traffic in that area. There is no light from California to West Lane. And so having this opportunity to have this top light here will help.

no i appreciate it yeah any traffic calming measures that this council supports i am all in support as well and yeah just a couple weeks ago there was a car crash right there right over the train track so i appreciate that this is one way to slow down traffic and not speed thank you yes and off of that i'm glad you brought up the train tracks because there's train tracks again just to the east of that again on east alpine if you go to montego

traffic gets backed up there because you have people trying to pull in to the housing development and you have people trying to pull out uh i don't know if we need a stop light but i do believe we need a designated turning lane there because it backs up all the way across the tracks and i worry that somebody's in the tracks and is going to have to move because there isn't a very long distance and i see diana over there nodding her head because she knows what i'm talking about because around rush hour it is they're lined up there AND I HAVE TO RELIVE MY TIME WITH COUNCILMEMBER WRIGHT ABOUT A SIDEWALK TO HARRISON, AND I KNOW THAT WAS DISCUSSED. I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNDED, BUT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO, BECAUSE THERE'S A DITCH ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE STREET WHERE KIDS EITHER HAVE TO WALK IN THAT DITCH TO SCHOOL OR THEY HAVE TO BE ON THE OTHER SIDE, AND THEN THEY DART ACROSS. SO I DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE AT AT THAT. I'd love to hear more about East Alpine Street and what we can do to help with traffic management and safety.

Certainly. We'll take a look at it. Thank you. Great. Thank you. And with that, motion to approve?

Second. We have a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries 6-0. Okay, moving on then to administrative matters. Were there any items that, I know we've got a couple more meetings left in this fiscal year. I didn't know if there were agenda items that people wanted. Okay, moving on then to public hearings. Item 9.1, city initiated ordinance amending Title 16 of the Stockton Municipal Code, Division 3, Chapter 16.80, Section 16.80.310, and Division 8, Chapter 16.244, Section 16.244.010 to support implementation of the 2023-2031 Stockton Housing Element in compliance with state law. I declare the public hearing open. Can you shorten it next time for me, Ms. Ocasio?

I will do my best. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members. Stephanie Ocasio, Director of Community Development. Before you is an ordinance to amend the development code to comply with state ADU law as part of our implementation efforts with our general plan housing element. The City Council adopt the sixth cycle housing element in July of 2024 with state certification occurring the following September. The sixth cycle housing element is an eight-year period ending in 2031. The housing element is full of policies, goals, and implementation programs. Its main objective is to ensure that the city has sufficient capacity to meet our regional housing needs allocation numbers. For this cycle, our arena number is 12,673 units. The housing element has 33 programs with objectives and timeframes. Program 6 specifically mentions ADUs. The city has an objective to approve 180 ADUs by 2031. We also have an obligation to keep our ADU regulations compliant with state law, which, as you're aware, multiple housing laws get passed every year, so it is quite a feat to consistently consistently maintain an updated code that reflects state laws. It's constantly changing. Nevertheless, it must be incorporated into our code, and that's why we're here today. You've likely heard different acronyms regarding ADUs like ADU, JADU. An ADU stands for accessory dwelling unit. It's a separate living facility on a property that is independent from the main dwelling. Typically, ADUs are detached as a separate structure, but they can be attached to the primary dwelling. They have a square foot limitation of 1,200 square feet. JADUs, or Junior Accessory Dwelling Units, are smaller, they're capped at 500 square feet, and they must be built within the existing footprint of a primary dwelling, or if it's new construction, must be incorporated into the initial footprint of the primary or an ADU, because there are construction projects that have ADUs already built in. These are often garage or room conversions. JADUs are allowed to share a bathroom with their primary residents, but in that case, owner occupancy is required of either the JADU or the primary residents.

I have a question. Sure. I love that we have a goal of increasing the amount of ADUs. The previous slide, over 12,000 units is what we need. And I would say, what did we approve in 2025? What have we approved thus far in 2026? And we're nowhere near that number. So if we can encourage people to do ADUs or these JADUs, that would be wonderful. Is there any possibility of like a tax credit or deferment? I'm just saying in order to encourage people to do it, If we were able, I know that the permits for that are usually less.

We don't charge any impact fees on ADUs. And that is a significant savings of fees. We cannot waive other pass-through fees. So county still collects, and so does school district. So I am aware, though, that some folks can go to the school district and ask for a deferral. But I can't speak to how their process works. But I have heard that that is something that sometimes happens. But yeah, we have pre-approved ADU plans that are already engineered at the permit center at no cost. Someone just has to submit a building permit application. We have different sizes available for free. That makes it much faster to go through plan check. Plus, you're not having to worry about any kind of issues with the plans because they're already approved. We waive the PFF. It's a very streamlined process here at the city. So we go above and beyond to try to encourage this housing type.

i know you can go on costco and order a she shed he shed whatever shed but and they're pretty you can make them very fancy if if you so choose uh and people are doing containers whatnot well maybe not so much now but i know that there was a wave of that across the united states for additional housing a unit so whatever we can do to encourage people and maybe getting it out there that there are no impact fees. We've got plans already available. Do we have plans for 500 square foot units?

Yeah, we have a variety of sizes. I think we have one that's at the 1200 and down. I think the lowest one is like 385. Okay. Yeah, there's like two or three available.

Okay, well, let's get that out there so people know.

Sure, happy to.

Okay, thank you.

All proposed changes to the ordinance are highlighted in attachment B, also called the red lines. Those changes include eliminating setbacks for the conversion or replacement of existing structures. The clarification on the ability to rent and sell ADU units. Changes to the height allowance, so depending on conditions, they could be as tall as 25 feet. The removal of owner occupancy requirements for JADUs if they have separate sanitation facilities. The clarification of floor area requirements, an allowance for tandem parking, allowance for non-conforming conditions on the site, and other operational standards such as fire sprinklers, etc., All these efforts will make it easier to build an ADU in the past because of setbacks and lock coverage and connection requirements. It made it harder to add these units. So all of that's been greatly reduced to allow the most flexibility available on a parcel. In addition to the amendments to regulations and standards, ADU-related definitions were also updated. The definition for an ADU has been altered to comply with the state's definition, clarifying that an ADU can be built concurrently with a primary dwelling. So a lot of developers are starting to look into this type of dual development with a primary and an ADU. Also, the state now deems efficiency units and manufactured homes are considered ADUs. So that is another addition to our code language. And the JADU definition had a minor edit to clarify that it must be in an existing space and to update a reference to a state citation. So that is all reflected in attachment B. On March 26th, 2026, the planning commission recommended that the council adopt the proposed ordinance before you. Therefore, to meet state law, staff recommends that the city council adopt a resolution finding no additional environmental review is required and adopt an ordinance amending Title 16 of the code. This concludes staff's presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Was that vote unanimous? Because I'm looking at it.

You know, I don't have it in front. Oh, wait, the resolution's attached. It should be, I believe it was, but I don't wanna lie, so let me double check.

I looked at the bottom of the first page.

Oh, it's not on there. I believe it is, but I don't wanna misrepresent.

Yeah, no worries, no worries. Any questions from council? Any public comment?

We do not have public comment for this item.

Okay, I declare the public hearing closed and bring it back to council. can discuss it or motion it or second okay we have a motion and a second council please vote motion carries 6-0 thank you okay moving on to our next item Less words, thank you. Resolution authorizing the city to apply for and receive permanent local housing allocation program funds for the California Department, excuse me, from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and to amend the PLHA plan. Hello, Jordan.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I just want to do a quick, yes. Thank you, Mayor. I'm just going to do a quick introduction to Juan Gonzalez, the city's housing manager, and say that this item really has to do with staff's ongoing commitment to shepherding these various housing funds that we receive from the state and aligning them for the highest and best use to have the greatest impact for the community and to create housing units for low to moderate income households. So with that, I'll turn it over to Juan Gonzalez, the city's housing manager.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council Members, Juan Gonzalez, Housing Manager, as Jordan mentioned. Before you today is an item for consideration related to the city's permanent local housing allocation plan, also known as PLHA. PLHA is one of several sources that the city uses for production of affordable housing. And just provide some context this item is has dual purpose first is to approve the Application for the final two program years of the city's five initial five-year plan And second a recommendation to reallocate some funding among program categories, which I'll review in more detail. I So to provide a little bit of background, PLHA is a state program created in 2017 under the California Building Homes and Jobs Act. It was created to help cities and counties facilitate housing affordability by increasing the supply of housing for lower income households. those at 60% of the area median income and by also increasing affordable owner-occupied workforce housing for households at or below 120% of the area median income. And finally, to create housing opportunities for the homeless population. As is customary with state grant programs, the overriding condition for eligibility is that the state be compliant with housing element law and any related requirements.

a question for you on that um so i like seeing the owner occupied workforce housing that 120 because there's such a gap between people who can uh people who rent and people who can afford a home right you know buying it there's such a big uh separation of that because you got to save for your down payment you know you have it has to be 33 or less of what your uh income is um so How are we putting that out there? I mean, we've done NOFAs, NOFAs for 30, 50, 60, 80, but this is 120%. So what would that look like in order for the city to be able to put those funds out so we can get people into homes, permanent homes?

And that's part of this amendment. Like you mentioned, up until now, PLHA has mainly been used for rental housing, 60% AMI, up to 80% AMI. And this amendment includes a homebuyer component to the use of the PLHA funding. So I'll get that into a bit further.

Sorry to steal your thunder. Oh, great.

In terms of Stockton's PLHA program, the city adopted its five year plan in 2020, 2021. It had a five year or has a five year span from 2019 to 2023. with an award of up to $10.2 million. The original plan intended to use the money for rental housing, owner-occupied housing rehab, creation of a housing trust fund, and home ownership activities, and of course, program administration. The program allows up to 5% of the item grant to be used for program operations. To date, the city has secured the allocations for the first three years, 2019 to 2021. I'm sorry, I failed to change the slide. We've used or secured program funding for the first three years and used the funding for several affordable housing projects, including Grandview Village, Sonora Square, and Fairview Terrace. In terms of next steps the city must apply for the final two years of funding allocations 22 and 23 as I mentioned The reason why we're just now applying for these funds four years, you know from four years ago three years ago is that HCD typically releases these applications late late in the year and they do allow a 48 month window to for the cities to apply and So we're within the application deadline for these last two years funding sources. In addition to the application for the 2022 and 2023 funds, EDD is recommending that the reallocation of funds between activities. I'll get a little bit more into that in the next slide, but here providing context. Under the original plan, one of the intended uses was to use approximately $1.8 million as matched funds to a local housing trust fund. For rental and ownership housing. However, the local housing trust funds was never created. Given that establishing a local housing trust fund requires an ongoing revenue source to continue replenishing the. The fund examples are of that are residential impact fees, inclusion, inclusionary housing fees, commercial Lincoln linkage fees, or other mechanisms. So without an ongoing source to fund a local housing trust fund, staffers recommend that the best use would be to bring back the home buyer or affordable home buyer down payment assistance program, which would address the last step in the housing continuum, which is home ownership housing. Finally, the reallocation of funds would trigger a formal amended process, which is why we're here today. That includes a 10-day public comment period and a public hearing. So this slide provides a side-by-side comparison of the original plan and the recommended amendment. The reallocation of funding revolves around three main categories. First, the original plan intended to use about 1.7 million for owner-occupied rehab. Staff is proposing to reduce that to about $293,000, given that that program is currently funded with federal CDBG funds. And as mentioned earlier, staff is recommending the reallocation of the local housing trust fund allocations to the homebuyer assistance category. Lastly, about $1.1 million would be reallocated to the multifamily rental housing category, which is to be used for projects that were recently approved by council on April 14th. So really no new funding would be available given that staff had intended to use that money for those new projects, recent projects. So getting into the home buyer assistance program, The concept would be to provide assistance to first-time homebuyers in the form of down payment assistance, closing cost assistance, and or interest rate buy-down to make the payment a bit more affordable for the buyer. The loan structure would be a silent second 30-year loan with deferred payments, a shared equity component, and the loan would be due at sale, refinance, unallowed transfers, or at loan maturity. Overview of the schedule we've been following. The application or initial application was submitted to HCD in February. However, a council resolution is required to formally secure the last two years funding and to approve the proposed amendment. On April 20th, staff presented the item to the committee and received approval by motion and recommended that the item be directed to council. Again, due to the reallocation of funds, HCD requires a 10-day public comment period, which began on May 1 or May 1st and ends here today with the public hearing. In terms of next steps, staff is looking for Council approval of the PLHA amendment and application. And upon approval, staff would work on the drafting the program guidelines and then engaging alleged committee through that process and bring back the guidelines at some point to Council. With that, that brings us to staff recommendations. To authorize a city manager or designee to apply for and accept the appropriate PLHA grant funds for years 2022 and 23, approve the amendment to the 2019-2023 PLHA plan to reallocate funds, authorize the city manager or designee to administer the PLHA funds, and authorize the city manager or designee to take the appropriate necessary actions to carry out the intents of the resolution. With that, staff is available for any questions.

Any questions from council? Okay, any public comment?

We have no public comment on this item.

I close the public hearing. I have a comment. I really believe that helping people with home ownership is the right thing to do. We have people who are in this cycle of being renters, but if you want to create generational wealth, that usually comes with home ownership. And when you move somebody into a home, then you're able to free up for other individuals that are looking for a a place to live but and i also think there's something a pride in in ownership too why do you want to pay somebody else's mortgage when you could be paying your own mortgage um so i'll leave it with that councilman blauer

Thank you, Mayor. As somebody that's been a real estate professional for almost 25 years on the real estate side, I've worked with, over the years, many, many first-time buyers and people that I know the hardest part to make that step to be able to get to the American dream of home ownership is getting that down payment. And these sort of down payment assistance programs are just Very, very helpful. The dream for all, the state has one. The problem with the states is the second they release those funds, I mean, you've gotta be good to go and it's gobbled up rather quickly. So anything we can do to help our people here get into a home and make that step. And what the mayor said, I can't tell you over the years how many times I've made the very same comment to people When you're a renter, you're building equity for somebody else. Whereas if you own that home, you get into that house, every time you make your payment, you're building your own equity. Not to mention tax benefits and a whole host of benefits. That stability of knowing when you're a tenant, who knows if the landlord's gonna sell the property or whatever. But if you own that, you have that peace of mind. So I'm so much in favor of this. I'm thrilled to see this. So if nobody else has comments, I'd like to make a motion to approve the recommendations.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries 6-0, go get that money. Okay, moving on to the next item. We are going to new business, item 10.1, adopt a resolution approving a master property tax allocation between the City of Stockton and the County of San Joaquin. We've been waiting a year for this, so let's go.

Hello again. I keep forgetting where I'm supposed to sit. Before you for your consideration is the master tax sharing agreement between the city and the county. A master property tax allocation agreement establishes the framework for governing the allocation of property tax revenues between the city and the county for an annexation. Typically, it's within a certain time frame, more recently 10 years. The most recent agreement that we had expired on July 31st, 2025. Per state law, annexations can only occur with LAFCO approval. LAFCO's role is to promote orderly growth, discourage sprawl, protect ag lands, and ensure that boundary changes result in efficient service delivery. Thus the requirement of a tax sharing agreement for annexations. Without a master agreement in place, Each project would be required to negotiate an individual agreement, causing project delays and increased development uncertainty. A master agreement ensures that annexation proposals meet LAFCO tax allocation requirements and streamlines the process from city to LAFCO. The former 2015-2025 master agreement provided an annexation property tax sharing structure that split both the base and incremental property taxes at a rate of 80% county and 20% city. This often resulted in positive financial impacts for the county as they no longer provided all municipal services However, the city typically bore a more negative financial impact post annexation as we were now providing those services and not getting an equitable share of those property tax revenues post development. Therefore, a more equitable share of property tax revenues is necessary to support orderly growth. If approved, the proposed master agreement would establish a new framework outlining tax sharing for base, incremental, and special districts. Base property taxes are the existing revenue generated from the assessed value of the land at the time of annexation prior to any new development. So this is typically bare land or something just with very minor development investment. This would act as that baseline. Incremental growth property taxes are the additional tax revenues generated after the annexation as a result of development and investment, and that is reflected in that increased assessment value of the parcel. The proposed agreement outlines a base property tax split of 90% county, 10% city, and an incremental tax sharing of 60% county and 40% city, which is much higher than the city has ever received in the past. For special districts, an innovative tax sharing allocation is being proposed. For annexations that exit a district's service area, also known as detachment, that affected fire district would receive the higher of the following two options. Option one is 2.5% of the incremental property tax revenue for five years following annexation approval. that two and a half percent would be shared proportionately between the city and the county uh the same way as 60 40. so that equates to one and a half percent of the increment would be bore by the county one percent of the increment would be bore by the city The other option would be property taxes would be at the proportional formula at the time of annexation, essentially the existing tax rate plus a CPI inflator. The higher of the two would be automatically calculated by the auditor controller each year and then forwarded to the special districts that are impacted by that annexation. As typical with any type of agreement, there are certain exclusions. Annexations that include or contain significant sales tax revenues that exceed 1.7 million annually. Areas that generate TOT taxes, so this would be like hotels, it's that transient occupancy tax. large county-owned properties exceeding 50 acres in any case that those exist and that would need to be an individually negotiated agreement the master would not apply further this master agreement would not apply to anything that already has an individual agreement those are locked in to whatever those rates were negotiated such as the Murray ranch that recently got approved There is no immediate general fund impact resulting from approval of this agreement. However in the long term revenue capture from annexations would increase and support more sustainable growth for the city. The proposed framework also creates a more equitable distribution of property tax revenues to the city county and special districts. Approval of this agreement would provide a predictable and strategic framework to support future annexations, economic development, and sustainable service delivery. Staff recommends that the council adopt the resolution approving the agreement and authorize the city manager or his designee to implement said agreement. Happy to answer any questions.

So we're the first part of this.

Yes.

After tonight, or this gets voted on, if it passes, it then goes to the county, correct? Yes. And the county then can solidify it. They can vote yes or they can vote no. Yes means we move forward. No means we're back to our original tax sharing agreement.

If it's a no, we would then have to negotiate projects individually. That's why it would hamper development so much. It would slow things down.

Just like the two that we did today.

Yes. Okay.

Great. Councilwoman Padilla. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Stephanie, for a fantastic PowerPoint. And, you know, after conversations, lengthy discussions, I'm actually happy to finally see this come to council. This agreement is important because it allow us to move forward as a city. with future annexations, like you said, development opportunities and just long-term city growth. You know, I do want to publicly thank Vice Mayor Lee because he actually initiated this conversation quite some time ago and was very aggressive in making sure that this has moved forward. So without him raising this early on and and for staff and speaking to our city manager and the county to help make this move forward. So I just wanted to give a shout out to that. And absolutely, collaboration, partnership, it definitely matters when it comes to moving our city forward. So thank you.

OK. Public comment on this item?

We do have public comment for this item.

May I have Brett Jolly followed by Diana Buettner. Here on behalf of the Montezuma Fire Protection District is their council. I'D LIKE TO START BY SAYING WE SUBMITTED A LETTER YESTERDAY EVENING TO THE COUNCIL. MY CLIENT AS THE FIRE DISTRICT WHO WOULD BE A PROPOSED PARTY TO THIS AGREEMENT IS VERY SUPPORTIVE OF THE IDEA OF A MASTER TAX SHARING AGREEMENT. AGAIN, AS STAFF EXPLAINED, WITHOUT A MASTER TAX SHARING AGREEMENT, the city and the county and any districts that are affected through a detachment, meaning the territory comes out of that district goes to the city. Anytime you have that, it's got to be individually negotiated under Revenue and Tax Code Section 99. Or if you have a master tax sharing agreement between all of the affected parties, it gets streamlined and you bypass all that negotiation. That's a good thing. We're here to ask for a continuance of this to June 23, however. The reason for that is because all of the fire districts that are listed and proposed to be part of this have not had sufficient time to review or participate in the negotiation of this at all. To my knowledge, none of the districts have even received notice of this hearing. I could be corrected on that. Montezuma has not received notice of this hearing. In fact, under a settlement agreement we had, we were supposed to receive notice when the city and county started negotiating this agreement because we wanted to be part of that. That said, the fire districts all received or most received notice of the concept of this agreement and the draft from the county in an after-hours email on April 30th. The issue is the boards of directors for most of these independent fire districts meet once a month, and most of them haven't even had a chance to meet to review this since receiving it from the county. So they have not had a chance to even review it and chime in as to whether they like it, whether there are issues they want to change. I can't even come here today on behalf of Montezuma and tell you this is what we would like to see in the agreement or we agree with it or we reject it. because my client's board has not even had a chance to meet. They meet later this week. So it's obviously beneficial if all of the fire districts are involved in understanding this and signing on to it. Right now, as you'll see in my letter, there were emails from several of the chiefs that were saying they had no idea. They were caught by surprise. That creates a sense of distrust in a negotiation process. So we would ask that this be continued to June 23 to allow all of the fire districts the opportunity to review it, provide comment, and touch base with the city and county on any comments that the fire districts may have. So we ultimately have a true master tax sharing agreement that will allow streamlining. Without that, without the fire district signing on, the city and county have a master tax sharing agreement, but then on any detachment, the city will have to negotiate with each fire district. So that's our request, thank you.

Diana Buettner.

All right, I'm gonna probably sound a little ignorant here because I'm not sure how this works, but anytime I hear annexing by the city of where I live, I'm kind of having a hard time with that because we don't have a vote here.

This is new development.

Oh, just new development? I'll see. I told you I would sound ignorant. Okay, I guess. You know, I hear these things and I go, So the people that live in the county are now going to pay, the money that they pay are going to be giving it to the city too? No, it's not that? Okay, good. All right, thank you.

That concludes public comment for this item.

Councilwoman Padilla? Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if maybe Chief Carr would be able to comment with respect to the overall feelings of the fire stations not having a voice, not being involved.

I can't actually speak to that just in the sense that under tax code 99, the county is responsible to negotiate on behalf of the special districts. So I have no part of that. I'm a city fire chief. We have a unique position here because I have four fire districts that I do have a contract with. Those districts are in a slightly different and unique position. I'm not gonna stand here and tell you what their opinion of this is or isn't. Mr. Jolly is representing Montezuma, which is in a slightly different position than those districts, but again, I'm not responsible to do anything on their behalf. That's a requirement of the county. And I will kind of leave it there unless there's an additional question.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

okay um i i would like to make a comment and i appreciate that chief because that's what i was thinking city does its part and county does their part uh and i do want to thank a couple people as well of course miss acasio thank you for all your work on this it's been more than a year uh of working on this i want to thank uh uh deputy city manager crew i know he was working on thank you to our city manager and this one's going to shock you but i want to thank the mayor of manteca mayor gary singh because he was the first one to get that 60 40 and when we saw that 60 40 i remember vice mayor says they got 60 40 we should get 60 40. and i know that's when the whole thing kind of really we started to push for that And I know that this isn't a public hearing, this is new business for us. I don't know if the county, this would be a public hearing for the county or not, but we need to move forward. We have all this development that is coming and things aren't getting cheaper by any means. And those developments that are getting annexed in the city, we need to be able to provide for our new residents. or the people that are moving into those areas. And I'm excited about this. I think that it's been a long time coming. I know for existing residential, it stays the same, but for this new development that's happening, I think it's great. And as far as relationships, we just had Lincoln Fire District and we had Stockton East Fire District. We just had those items on there. I don't know. where a ball might have been dropped with Montezuma or if there was one at all I don't I'm not sure but I I think this is fabulous I won't make the motion even though I really want to I'll bring it back to council okay I'll make a motion to approve then since no one's second okay council please vote Motion carries 6-0. Thank you. Okay, let's go get that 40%. Okay, item 10.2, the fiscal year 25-26 mid-year adjustments. Hello, Mr. Garcia. Yes. Third time's a charm, I think.

This is the third time. So as you recall, City Council, Mayor, City Council, a few months ago at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 25, we had about $3 million available. We had about $2.5 million of requests approved and about $500,000 is remaining out of the $759,000 of requests. SO COUNCIL RECOMMENDED THAT THE BUDGET AND FINANCE BUDGET AUDIT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE REVIEW THE REQUESTS AND FORWARD THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL. SO THE COMMITTEE MET ON THE 26 OF APRIL AND MADE THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS. SO REMOVE THE FENCE REPAIR FOR WESTERN RANCH BECAUSE IT HAD BEEN COMPLETED. CHANGE THE LOCATION OF THE WESTERN RANCH SUBSTATION TO THE LIBRARY, USE CONTINGENCY FUNDS TO COVER THE FULL 700,000, WHICH WOULD BE IN EXCESS OF WHAT WAS REMAINING, AND DIRECT STAFF TO WORK ON A PLAN TO REPLENISH THE CONTINGENCY. This attachment or this slide mirrors the attachment A in the staff report, which lists all of the projects. I think these are familiar. So these are the remaining projects that were not considered time sensitive at the last council meeting and so remain unfunded up to this point. And that concludes my presentation. Yes.

Do we have any public comment on this item?

We do have one. Alicia lepergy.

Good afternoon, mayor and members of the city council. My name is Alicia Leperge and I'm the community development manager at the Villa Monterey Family Resource Center, a community partnership for family site located at 4707 Kenfield Road in Stockton. The mission of Community Partnership for Family is to strengthen families and improve quality of life by connecting residents to coordinated services that promote stability, self-sufficiency, and long-term success. At Villa Monterey, we carry out that mission every day by supporting families experiencing serious challenges. Our center provides access to food assistance, financial stability support, benefits navigation, employment services, and family-centered programming. These services are intended to prevent crisis, reduce dependency, and create positive outcome for children and families. However, the high level of crime and insecurity in the Kentville neighborhood directly impacts people's ability to access those services. When family do not feel safe walking to our building, when parent are afraid to bring their children, or when seniors avoid the area altogether, those services become less effective. Food insecurity increases, financial instability worsens, opportunity for prevention are lost. That is why reintroducing a police substation in the Canfield community, particularly one housed in our resource center, is so important. What this neighborhood needs is a preventative police presence, visible, consistent, community-based policing that builds trust in the terrorist crime before it escalates. A substation will provide that presence and improve safety, not just for our staff or participants, but for the entire community. This proposal also represents virtually little cost since the infrastructure already exists and the location is central, accessible, and well-known in the community. It is a practical and efficient solution. Real change happens through combined effort. When law enforcement partner with social services agency, we address both public safety and root causes. This partnership supports effective crime reduction strategies, creates a safer environment for families, and improve overall quality of life in the Canfield community. On behalf of the families we serve every day, I strongly support the continued discussion and approval of a substation's presence in Kent Field, and I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the city, the police department, and our partners to make this model of what integrated community safety can look like in Stockton. Thank you for your time and your service and your commitment to our community.

Stephanie Alfaro.

Hello, thank you Mayor, City Council. I actually wasn't gonna speak today, but when I saw that 35,000 for Gibson Park science tables and benches, that is amazing. I mean, that park, we haven't had anything in that park, like I said, probably over 10, 20 years, so just to see that money on there and it getting, you know, that's a start. Thank you.

That concludes public comment for this item.

Okay, I will bring this back to council for discussion. Councilman Enriquez.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank you, Council Member Blower and Vice Mayor Lee. I saw the Budget Committee meeting, so I was thankful that you all were able to have just a more extended conversation on all the items. It was great to hear from the last Council meeting that we had. I know there was some clarifications. I know something that Council Member Padilla and I were chatting about just because I did tell also to our city manager that some things weren't updated. And the reason why it's important to update it because we had Claire the councilman had clarified it But it wasn't updated for this upcoming council meeting So just so that way we know and the folks know that what's on the listed is Does reflect the conversation from the last council meeting? I believe the 35k for the Trinity Park cleanup was for the street clean streets initiative initiative, right?

So I just I'm sorry to interrupt but this is not for Trinity Parkway and it's been put out on social media as That it was for Trinity Parkway tent and captain cleanup. That's not the intention.

And yeah, and the reason why I wanted to just put that out there, because we did have that clarification at the last council meeting, which is again, ensuring that when documents are updated again, they are updated. And I know something that the mayor and I, she mentioned last time was the more specifics, the better, because if we just see. five six words in a sentence we want i mean i at least we all want to know specifics so if i see community engagement you know it says here advisory committees how many you know just to give us a full picture of what that actually means because we're going to eventually ask later on how many do you plan to do throughout the year uh is a mid-year report if you're going to do something for Gibbons Park signage tables and benches how many I mean to some people they might say well we don't need to know but for our districts and for our constituents they do want to know those specifics and it is helpful just to give more context so I appreciate the the budget committee that you all had because I think the public that did see I think learned a lot so I just wanted to put that out there but thank you councilwoman Padilla oh that was for my comment oh okay okay

So I will admit that if you watched it, I was a dissenting vote on this. I brought up multiple times about the fire department, my concerns with the fire department. I don't know if Chief or Penny can come out regarding that. I think that the mold has been taken care of. but I believe that we need to take care of the people who take care of us. We've talked about PD, we've talked about the needs of our city, which I know there's a lot out there, there is. there are things that sound good and feel good, but are they the best for the health and safety of our city? And so I was curious, I asked you about the potential cost for repairing the roof, because if we fix the mold, great. But if the roof isn't fixed, that black mold can come back. Correct. And I know you said that your budget is limited on what you have. It's the end of the year. I mean, this could potentially be the only funding, as I see many public works projects up there.

Yes. So roof. The roofs are, I don't have the exact cost for the repair that needs to be done right now at the fire station that we're working on. But certainly the current public works budget is not sufficient to be able to handle it. So any additional funds to address that issue is going to be helpful.

Okay, and I don't know who would, well, Chief, do you mind coming up? Because I have a whole list, and I have a whole list on my phone, and I don't know if you've reported that, passed that on to a public works department, and I'm going to my phone just to look up the list that I have. Let me get to it. Oh, is that my list? Hang on, okay. So I have AC, generator, drainage outside, roof, black mold, and then there's IT, phones and computers, and that is only at station three. That's just the small list I have for station three.

So my facilities chief is here. I can probably let him speak to specifics. Chief Patton, I'll turn it over to you.

So are you aware of that at Station 3?

Yes, yeah. Station 3 is one of our older stations. We've been having issues with it for a while. I know we did get, they did come out and give us some quotes. We're still waiting to hear what the actual quotes will be. They walked it a couple weeks ago. They went out and walked. They were a lot. The roof at 3 is we need, yeah, we need that repaired. The roof at Company 2, we need repaired. I think those are coming back. That's going to be.

few hundred thousand dollars okay so i've done a patch on my roof uh and that works for only so much time and i mean we we talk all the time about putting band-aids on things correct so i don't know when the last time that roof was even touched

Threes has been touched on and off for the last five or six years. But when was the roof put on? With hot mops and yeah, just trying to patch it. But I think we've hit that point where yeah, we are gonna probably need a new roof on company three.

Okay, and then Station 6, ceiling, I saw it myself, drooping, linoleum missing, the asphalt in the back is so uneven, and then it gets these water puddles there, and they're having to get their water from outside, their drinking water. They have to go outside of the building to a little blue tube and get their water.

Or the filtered water, yeah. Yeah. It's out by the ice machine.

Well, yeah, I just think that it's crazy that we have something that people spend a third of their life living in that is in such poor condition. conditions. And as I said, we have to take care of the people who take care of us. And I can't imagine living in those conditions. I didn't want to do it in my house, which is why I did a patch. But it seems crazy for our fire personnel to live in those conditions.

It does. And it's things we've addressed over the years and we've been trying to fix a little bit at a time. And I think we've just gotten kind of to that point now where We need to actually address the major problems.

Okay. Okay. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Councilman Padilla.

Thank you, Mayor. So looking at this right now, our asks or what's listed here totals $759,100, which is over what we actually have. That's correct. So something needs to be cut. That's what we need to discuss today, correct? Because we're over budget 254,175.

So what's available from the fiscal year 25 unassigned fund balance is the 500,000 or $504,000. So anything beyond that, we would have to try to find money for. Right.

So I spoke to somebody that ran a nonprofit and he would get allocations from the city of Stockton or he would get donations here and there. And he was, I believe, a very fiscally sound person. And what he had mentioned to me is sometimes somebody would say, I'll give you $2,000. And his response to that was, $2,000 is really not going to make a dent or an impact to my organization. I'd rather see you give somebody more money, meaning splitting up the pie 10 ways, and give an entity or an organization, whatever it may be, more money where it's going to be more impactful. And I only say that because looking at this list. We really only have 504,000. And so we need to discuss how we're going to allocate that money where it's going to be more beneficial and impactful to our city. And Um, thank you mayor for bringing up the fire department because I, I had no idea that there were issues with regards to infrastructure in our two, um, fire departments. And, um, three could chief or somebody tell me where that's located. Cause I'm not familiar.

And then six is okay. And typically where.

Where do those funds come for things like that? You just have to put them in your budget to fix roof, mold, things like that?

So generally, that budget is actually, it falls under public works and CBM. So we don't actually budget for that. At the end of the year, if we do have some money left over, we work with public works and try to figure out what projects we can work on together and to get... paid off and a lot of it's like AC units things like that so we'll work together on that company three is South Stockton so just south of Charter off Airport right there by Rancho San Miguel so that's where company three is located thank you and we all know that Public Works budget is very limited so again

reiterating the fact that all of us need to have the discussion with where this $500,000 is going to be more beneficial. I'm just going to be honestly blunt, knowing how much encampment cleanups cost and what we spend on a yearly basis because we know that every single day our COS department is out there in our city cleaning up encampments. And most recently, cleaning up a portion of the slough, I can guarantee you didn't cost, I mean, was way over $35,000. So honestly, I could say on a cleanup that may cost 100, 200,000, Is 35,000 really going to make an impact or can we as a city find 35,000 somewhere? So I would like to see a discussion and explore opportunities where either 500,000 can be more beneficial to our fire department or more beneficial to clean up encampments with regards to Mormon Slough. So I would like to hear from my colleagues.

Council Member Villalpudo.

Yeah I agree as well I think Public Works is very important I mean just the other day appreciate FIRE as well as Public Works doing the the major cleanup on Anderson Street but that's another band-aid you know the next day Cam, it's back on again. But we got to come up with a better plan, better solutions in that. Some of this money funding going to public works could create getting a fence. in rocks, ripping rocks there. But I also agree it's taking care of the roofs of the fire stations. So somehow we can get some type of information of how much it needs for the roofing and see how we can maybe the rest could go to public works. I would recommend. So thank you.

Councilman Blower.

Thank you, Mayor. That was a question that what Councilmember Villaputa just mentioned. I'm curious, do we, Penny, do you have numbers? Do you know like how much it's gonna cost to repair or indeed replace that roof? Is that, have these things already been costed out?

So right now I'm just trying to get ahold with staff in regards to for four roofs for four or five stations, replacement comes to about $2.6 million. Yes, sir.

That's for four stations?

For four stations.

Okay, what about for the station?

Well, even if we just average it out, four into 2.6 is going to be right at about 850,000 per one, just on an average basis.

So it sounds like we don't even have the money really in this pot to do that. So what is the plan? Like, is there money that I'm sure... What is the plan?

I'll jump in and help with this. Throughout the CIP program, we do schedule for roofing over a five, six-year time frame, and we can go back as part of it. the upcoming budget cycle and give you an update information on that. But if you choose to redirect the funds, I'm sure we can get it across the top to do whatever we need to do as it relates to the roofing at the fire stations.

Another question I have for you, the $180,000 for Pixie Woods, if they don't get that, can you tell us what's going to be the effect for Pixie Woods?

With Pixie Woods operations, I'm not certain what the direct impacts are, but there are certain things that Public Works have been kind of assisting with. Somebody from Pixie Woods here? But there are certain things that Public Works is able to assist with, but it's not necessarily within Public Works' budget. But I'll let the staff from Pixie Woods speak to that.

Hi there, I'm the department finance officer for the economic development department and I'm here on behalf of Tina McCarty. So the 180 ask, it's a combination of things. It's actually to restore budget because we are currently over budget in our maintenance line by over 80,000. It's also to cover the two remaining months for the landscaping contract. IT'S ALSO TO FUND THE TRAIN TRACK REPAIRS THAT ARE NEEDED. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE AWARE, BUT THE TRAIN TRACK CURRENTLY IS NOT OPERATING. WE JUST OPENED THE SEASON LAST TWO WEEKENDS AGO. AND THAT COST WAS ESTIMATED AT 50,000 WHEN THIS ASK WENT IN. AND IT'S ALSO TO REPLACE THE LAGOON WATER CANAL GATE ESTIMATED AT 30,000. SO ONE THING WORTH MENTIONING IS THAT SINCE THIS ITEM WAS TAKEN TO THE BUDGET COMMITTEE, STAFF DID IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE FUNDING SOURCES FOR THE TRAIN TRACK REPAIR. AND THIS IS GOING TO COME OUT OF AN EXISTING CAP PROJECT THAT I BELIEVE WENT TO COUNCIL BACK IN 2022. SO THE ASK HAS BEEN REDUCED TO 130,000. GREAT. DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?

yeah yeah no that's great that whittled it down a little bit so and i i feel like some of these things like this are kind of critical for you know for pixie woods to continue and that is just i think a crucial facility for children in our community to be able to have that to go to i think looking at this list you know i look at some things like i'd really like to get the money for the the field lights at groupie but that's not i i can see that that's not necessarily one that we have to do right now that maybe we can push that onto a future and maybe that's something where we can look around and see if we can get some individuals to maybe help with that. My part of sharpening the pencil, I'm comfortable with pushing the field lights off to another budget, and then we just got Pixie Woods down 30 grand, so we're getting there.

It's down 50,000. 50,000, excuse me, that's right, 130. Yes.

Councilman Enriquez.

yeah thank you mayor so i guess one of my questions is what was the takeaway from the budget committee meetings so this so this list didn't change after the budget committee meeting and then they would stop going to figure out if they were going to go over a little bit what i guess what was the main takeaway your your company yeah so councilman blauer was there uh and we we kicked around all kinds of numbers i had math all over my paper

trying to whittle it down in order to accommodate, we just couldn't. But there was a motion made to move it on and it was missing, I don't know if it was $80,000 or something. It was a number, like if we take from here, if we take from there, and I didn't it didn't pencil out on my paper so that's I said I voted no I also was looking at fire and wanting to take care of the needs of there if it was patch or whatnot but it was it was a combination of things and I will defer to councilman Blauer to shine some light on it well I think that's why you know coming in here we needed to sharpen the pencil a little bit so we just reduced

If we're gonna take the 145 off the table and we're one, took Pixie Woods down 50,000, that's 195. So what number are we now working with? 374. 374, so. Okay, so we've done it. We've gotten down below what we have, correct?

I was saying so 504 minus the 130 if we're doing that leaves us with 374. Okay. 374,000 left.

So 374, I guess what my question was, whatever we, I guess I should have had that.

We gained 175,000. So we need to take the 254,175 minus. One seventy five.

Ninety five.

Yes, it was.

CFO is working on it right now.

So to summarize, we have fifty thousand, so we have two fifty four. I'll just do it right here on the fly. Minus the fifty thousand for Pixie Woods, correct? And then, so that's a 204 gap, and then what else did we, no. The lights. The lights, which are 145. So that leaves 95,000, yes, correct.

So that adds up to what, 564? Yeah, 594. Okay. Let me see this. So we have total number of remaining requests. We're 759 coming in. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Minus 195,000. That's with the reduction in Pixie Woods and putting the lighting to another budget down the road. I get 564.1. So that leaves us with... $60,000, basically.

So I got $95,000. So I started with $254,000, subtracted $50,000, and then subtracted the one, what is the, the $145,000.

You would, $254,000 over, so that's why he used the $254,000, and he subtracted off of the $254,000.

So we were 254 over, right? Correct. And we just reduced it by 195, correct? So does that leave us about six, like we still need 60,000? Yes. That's what I said. Okay, yeah, sorry.

I think my math was wrong, so yes.

Okay, so we need to sharpen our pencils for another 60, and then we're there. Or check the cushions and see if we can find it. Yeah, I'm done.

Councilwoman Ponce.

Thank you, Mayor. So like I mentioned, unfortunately, as I mentioned before, I would love to bring back the police substations in my district, District 2. But I feel it's not the right moment. The police department are down in staff with police officers. If we allocate police officers and remove them from other tasks, this is definitely a problem. Retail theft, side shows, task forks, smoke shops, homeless encampments will be affected due to the police staffing shortages. what i would like is for now to have the chief and staff to come back with the plan to deploy a dedicated dedicated police unit to kent field and the surrounding areas just like what currently exists in western ranch and sierra vista i would like to dedicate a police unit in my district in the meantime i do want to say that i support our fire stations to have a safe for our firefighters. Our firefighters are currently already breathing in smoke, chemicals, and many dangerous toxins while doing the job every day to protect our community. The least we can do as a council is to make sure that they're also not dealing with black mold or unsafe conditions in the stations that they work to me this is very important this is something that it should be a priority right now for us some other projects can wait but protecting the health and safety of our firefighters is very important and it could become a serious issue if we don't address it now This is why I support moving these funds over to Public Works so these immediate needs can be addressed as soon as possible. We should always protect those, the people who protect us. Thank you.

Councilwoman Padilla. Thank you Councilmember Ponce for bringing that topic up because I know people are watching and this ultimately is the elephant in the room, if you will. But first and foremost, I do want to state that this council did vote to have two substations in District six. They voted seven zero. So most definitely this council is supportive of substations. So I just want to make sure that that conversation and the idea that this council does not care about the families that are affected by crime, that this council doesn't care about loved ones that have lost because we do support substations. We didn't anticipate that at that time, we didn't anticipate that the operation of adding an additional substation, um, could impact our city, um, with regards to count men and cleanments, uh, sideshows, just, you know, all the things that, that council member Padilla had mentioned Ponce. Oh my God. Okay. And it's early. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Okay. Um, Just this week, we had an encampment cleanup. Sergeant Hite and his COS department ran the whole thing. Those are the type of things that would be affected. We wouldn't be able to do things like that. So I just want to say that we can't base our decisions whether or not it feels good, sounds good. We heard from our police chief. that we are currently down 62 officers with people that are nearing retirement, and this is gonna have serious safety ramifications citywide, including impacts to Weston Ranch. I also wanna comment that Sierra Vista, as well as Weston Ranch, benefits from a dedicated community patrol officer. They have a truck. patrolling their city. I have to say that I'm jealous and I would love to have that level of focused community policing to have an officer that they could know that they could call and they can build a relationship with. And when there's an incident or activity going on, All this technology is in his car. He doesn't have to lock up the building and get in his car and go. He's already in his car patrolling that area. And so, you know, with that, we simply cannot make a decision that's going to have an adverse effect on us citywide. I guarantee you, every one of us up here wants to have a substation. But we need to make decisions that make sense. And again, I'm going to state, we are all supportive of substations. We would love to say yes to a second substation. But you know what? Right now, they have community policing and

I want to have that in District 1 so thank you and that's all I have to say Thank you Mayor these are all great projects I would love to fund all of them if we can And as well, I agree with my colleague about the substations. And I wish we had more officers to manage all of them. But what's the most important thing And it's still going. I probably was here yesterday, I was probably on three news channels talking about the Mormon slew. The Mormon slew, the candidates. And I tremendously thank firemen for being there and putting these fires away, but Public Works came up. I called Penny, and they had a schedule, and their men came out and did a phenomenal job. That is our biggest issue right now. You go to any channel that is talking about Anderson Street, the community is waking up. They're asking for us to help. And for this funding right now, it should go to Public Works. They need it. We need to come with some answers. It's not all the money, but it's something. So that being said, Mayor, I want to make a motion to move in the money, all of it, $504,000 to Public Works.

we have a motion a second do you would like to make a comment just really quick and uh i know there's a motion so i don't want to take up too much time on this but uh I hear in terms of a lot of the projects are based on infrastructure, which is, I know, something I mentioned last council meeting. And when I look at the list, it's really about how much is each going to really do 100% of what the project is. So if it is, great. I don't want it to just be a drop in the bucket if it's not really going to fulfill the project, but infrastructure projects where people can see it, they can feel it, and the money goes in. The one thing, and this might be a separate conversation or something to talk about down the road, but as Councilman Villaputua said, there was a lot of news about Mormon SLU. And in terms of the number, I think that's something that we all should know what exactly that is. So when we talk about a Mormon SLU cleanup, how much did it cost? I believe it happened when I think the mayor and I were just coming back from Washington. that's a question i have again right if we have 35 000 to unhoused initiatives so to speak uh what does that go towards to and if it's been dropped in the bucket should it be directed there if there's not anything specific so let's say hypothetically i don't know i'm making a number up if a cleanup costs 250 000 or a million dollars how much is this money actually gonna be effective? And if not, let's redirect it to the council member's point about infrastructure and things that Public Works needs versus something that we don't even know the actual number. I know this is a separate conversation, I don't wanna go too into the weeds, but this is something that we are gonna have to discuss in terms of cleanups, their effectiveness what data we're capturing how many folks were served not served because there was a lot of discussion on it whichever side you're on i'm not pointing fingers or anything but i think this is something that we still have to discuss because we don't have the actual numbers and in terms of cleanups some people can say it's successful some people will say it's not so That's something that if we can discuss at a future point, I think that'd be helpful. I know there's more information coming from the ad hoc committee, but in general, I don't want it to say that cleanups in general fix the problem because then folks will come back. So ultimately we have to have that data that we're capturing. So staff is spending eight, 10 hours, I don't know how long, in a certain area, what numbers are they going to bring back? And I think that's really helpful because if you're not capturing the data, then you're just wasting taxpayer dollars and your own time. So that would be very helpful. But I agree with the councilman. If these are funding that goes to infrastructure projects and will likely complete a project, then great.

Flower.

So my concern with this motion before us is that, much like Council Member Mariga said, we're going to take that money and just put it into public works and it was added to the pile. And I guess my question is, some of these items, like the Pixie Woods one that we discussed, they brought it down. I think them not getting that $130,000 is going to have a real detrimental effect on that park. So I'm not in favor of that. And my little Gibbons Park, I've been fighting for them since last July to try and get a little love to that park. Their sign has been missing. And $35,000 is not a huge ask. scheme of things now if if this money gets sent to public works how are we going to determine where that goes so i mean those are the two that you know i feel like i've i think we're trying to compromise here but to just throw it all in there then we don't really know what's happening

Just try to answer one of your questions about if the money goes to public works. Part of what I heard from you, you correct me if I'm wrong, those $504,000 would be directed to public works for the fire department to begin to take care of some immediate attention of things that they have. that are ongoing within their department at the firehouses. Correct.

So we're going to throw the $500 at a $2.4 million problem?

No. No. What I said earlier, the question was asked about roofs and how many. And they said four. And I said, CIP program, we would schedule those in at the appropriate time. on an average or at 2.6. It's about 600,000 650,000. So that's a long going issue that no we're not going to take 500,000 try to pick for Ruth because we won't have to funds what we will do is begin to look at all of the issues that the fire department talked about mold water damages ceiling replacements and prioritize those to get those type of things done. And then also begin to, as part of the budget process, bring forth the CIP to begin to address the four or five roofs that needs to be replaced over a course of a timeframe, depending on the condition.

And I definitely agree that we should address those issues. And I think some of us were sort of surprised by that, some of those issues that are there. So I'm glad at least we know about it now. And I definitely think that's stuff we need to move forward. I mean mayor your thoughts on the pixie woods.

Yes, so if I can chime in I am in support Obviously, I'm the one that brought all the fire issues. I want to address I agree with councilmember Enriquez I've been a supporter of rip rap rock forever and So if we could get something, because the infrastructure under bridges is highly compromised. They're digging underneath there. I have video, I have pictures I can show you all day. So... we gotta get to the point where we're not having to clean it up all the time. So I agree with you there. I do agree with Council Member Blauer as well, that we're over budget on Pixie Woods. We owe people money, right? She talked about landscaping, that we owe them more money. I mean, she was saying that there are things that We under budget, or we don't have enough revenue to pay the bills for Pixie Woods, but the railroad track found funding for it. So I would say, I hate to say it, patch it as best we can, maybe that side of the roof we do one year, and this side of the roof we do the next year, I don't know. But if Council Member Villalpudo wouldn't mind a friendly amendment just to take care of Pixie Woods to clear out the bill for them, because we're already in arrears, meaning we owe money and we haven't paid it yet. So that's... Yeah, that's fine.

That's fine as long as, you know, we've fixed the mold as well for the substations and every other repairs. So I'm okay with that.

And I do know signs are made in-house, and I know lots of parks need signs like no alcohol after midnight, no driving of cars. I do know that as well. So if there's any change and Givens Park needs signs, if there's any change left, you know, if we, because they're done in-house. I don't know if you've ever been to see where they make signs out there at Public Works, but maybe we can get a good deal on that. Maybe we know somebody. So, okay. Yeah.

yeah so he wait so he approved my friendly emotion do you second the friendly emotion i just want to reiterate the motion the motion is for uh 150 000 to pixie woods and then the remainder to public works is that what's on the table for fire for fire

But even then, with all that, it's still not going to fix the entire problem for fire. So are they just going to determine which firehouse is going to get that drop in the bucket?

Yeah, I was thinking Firehouse 3 because that's the one where the black mold was found. Yeah, so making sure that one gets fixed. And then as the city manager pointed out, looking at the CIP budget to plan out, for repairs on the future. Sorry, I didn't mean to speak over you.

Okay. Yeah, just a comment, a question is in terms of, I know that's important, just in terms of timeline and how all this came about, and I ask because I'm also learning, when we have a meteor request, these items have been discussed since the last council meeting, but I know I didn't hear a fire. And not to say that, someone didn't communicate or didn't, but if there's a need, I just, my thought process would be, well, why not add it here and then have the council decide on it and have a discussion versus now I feel like it's just being put on me on the lap, on the, on the spot to put a chunk of money on something that's not going to fix the entire problem, even if it's just one firehouse.

Well, I can address that very simple. Uh, these are the items that came out of the budget finance. As you've had your discussions today, just as you're making decisions, we're making decisions and talking over here to make adjustments as to now how to fix some of the issues that you're now directing us to do. So this is not something that we pre-plan ourselves, that's why I've been

talking over here with gilbert to make sure that we're going to be on the same page and so you know this is not pre-planned on our part sir and i know it's kind of hard to guess to me i'm not saying specific percentage but if this passes and that chunk of money goes to firehouse three for example how much of the percentage of that problem will be resolved 50 70 a quarter just a rough estimate i mean again right if you have that amount of money what would it fix

There we go. It's going to depend on what our quote is actually for that roof and the damage at that firehouse. So we have some initial quotes on the mold and fixing the black mold. But for us, we were still waiting on the quote for the roof itself. Um, but yeah, company three, that one, it rains inside the apparatus floor when it rains outside.

So, yeah, no, and I appreciate it. I know that's obviously it's a health hazard. Oh, sorry. I don't want to interrupt you.

No, that's fine. I was just going to say, yeah, I know that it's, it's definitely something that we need. It's been on the CFP for a little while now. So that's one of those issues where we've. We do need help there. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. No, and I guess, yeah, I mean, I think obviously I know it's, you don't have the specifics now because this is all being discussed as we're talking, but I mean, it is a good chunk of money where at least having a sense and the public can get a sense of what exactly it's going to. I know you don't have the answer now, but I mean, if we're going to commit to something, same thing, how we said before, we have a list, give more specifics if best is possible, right? Staff, I know there's a breakdown of something that the mayor just provided, but in general, the more specifics before being asked of this council to approve money to go to something is better versus just saying, we need it, please approve it. And not say that you're doing that, but I feel that's even what happened with the Zen City contract as well. There was no data, I mean, except the mayor, but. We voted on something because staff said we needed it, but there was no data to approve it. For me, at least to say, I don't want to speak on behalf of my colleagues, but for me to feel comfortable to say, yes, this is taxpayer dollars that's going to go to something that I don't know. Which is why with this, if it's more specific, then the people can say, this is where our taxpayer dollars are going, especially infrastructure projects.

So for company three I can tell you would go to roof repair and it would go to the mitigation of the mold that was found in the in the sleeping quarters and also to repair our showers also because that was one of the issues we have water in the walls that's gone up into the ceiling so that it would all go towards those projects at company three.

and I will say I did bring it up at the April 20th meeting about fire because it was after I spent 12 hours with the fire department so I learned about all these things while I was there and I just said oh my gosh I don't I apologize for it and said we need to fix it it's not it shouldn't be a discussion it should be fixed in sleeping quarters where people are and in yeah I'm sorry Yeah, I brought it up it when we first discussed it Anyway, so we have a motion on the floor. We have a second council, please vote Motion carries 6-0 Thank you, I appreciate the discussion and I would say go to solar lights, let's not repair old lights, let's move towards solar so that they last longer and have a warranty and all that good stuff and people can't steal the wires. Okay, moving on now to the city manager's update. Are we in for another video?

We are, and we will be fairly quickly, especially in preparing for Small Business Week.

Hi, I'm Louie Ambrys with the City Manager's Office, and I'm going to present to you a video on the City Manager Report.

We were able to have 18 organizations, 20 events throughout the week.

We were able to. The outcomes.

Okay, if we get a second, there is an issue with wiring in here that we're dealing with.

Do we have any money for that?

When we get to the new building.

So just so you know, I did make a video that has audio, but there's a wiring issue.

West Lane Bowl, Misaki Sushi and Bar. Hi, Tina McCarty. About the outcomes from our Small Business Week. Small Business Week took place last week and we were able to have 18 organizations, 20 events throughout the week. We were able to recognize six legacy businesses. These are businesses that have been in business here in Stockton for 20 to 80 years. We were able to recognize Super King Grocers, Gym Star Gymnastics, Lou's Chicken Bowl, West Lane Bowl, Misaki Sushi and Bar, and Moore's Spring Service. And the cool thing we heard about from all of these businesses is we found that they were all generational. These are businesses that started long ago and have been turned over to the next generation. Families that have dedicated and stayed here in Stockton. Even so much, we heard stories of professionals successful in the Bay Area that left those careers to come back to Stockton to run the family business. It's such an amazing testament to the community we are here in Stockton and the vibrancy we have here. Too often, I think Stockton gets a bad rap. We hear about, you know, our story is led with crime stats, homelessness and the negative about Stockton. And the reality, Stockton is so very much more. We are a big city with 325,000 people with vibrancy and culture and real community. Our small businesses are the heartbeat of our community, and they speak to the resilience that happens here in Stockton. Let's continue to shop, dine, and support our small businesses and make our community great. Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lisa Brown, and I serve as the City of Stockton's Procurement Manager. I bring more than 13 years of public sector procurement experience, which includes the State of California, the Stockton Regional Transit District, and most recently, a joint powers authority formed on behalf of the federal government, along with more than 12 years of private sector experience in purchasing, sales, and customer service. Today, I am going to provide a very quick overview of the purpose of procurement and how it benefits the city. The purpose of public procurement is simple but extremely important. It is to ensure public funds are spent responsibly, ethically, and in the best interest of our community, while also ensuring compliance with federal and state laws, the public contract code, the city charter, and the Stockton Municipal Code. By doing so, we reduce risk, prevent conflicts of interest, and protect the city from audit findings, legal issues, and unnecessary costs. Our role is to ensure every purchase is conducted in a fair, transparent, and competitive manner whenever required by law and policy. This promotes equal opportunity for businesses, encourages competition, and helps the City obtain the best value for taxpayer dollars. Procurement helps City departments acquire the goods, services, and public work needed to deliver essential services to our residents, from public safety equipment and utility repairs to construction projects and everyday operational needs a quick definition of procurement is the strategic beginning to end process of sourcing negotiating and acquiring goods services or public works from external suppliers it involves the entire life cycle from identifying the city's needs to managing vendor relationships and contract closeout, aiming to secure high quality items at the best value while simultaneously managing risks. The procurement division is here to support every city department and to help ensure Stockton continues delivering high quality service to our residents efficiently and responsibly. Thank you for the opportunity to share the important role that procurement plays in safeguarding taxpayer dollars and supporting the services our community depends on every day. We are proud to serve the city of Stockton with integrity, transparency, and accountability. Thank you.

That concludes our report.

Okay. Let us move on now to council member comments. Okay. Councilwoman Padilla.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you to those that were in attendance today. I know it's very slim right now, but usually that's what happens in the late evening. It trickles down. But, you know, and I didn't really see a significant reduction in attendance. And I see this as a pilot program. So if it works, great. If we need to make some tweaks, then we will. This Thursday, May 21st at 4 o'clock will be our ad hoc homeless committee meeting to discuss the progress of Safe Grounds initiative and also some other progress on some shelter for our families. As our city continues to address cleaning out encampments, I always see on social media, well, where did they go? Where did you push them off to? And that is a fair question because they are in an area and then they're given 72 hours to evacuate. And so everybody's wondering where did they go to? But I do want to be clear that with our shelters and with our nonprofits, there are beds and resources available out there for many individuals experiencing homelessness. The challenge is that under the current laws with cities, we don't have the authority to force someone to accept help or to accept shelter. So there's other cities and I know San Jose explored a different approach that would give more accountability or teeth, if you will, to those compassionate services and discussions previously were had to have a concept such as a 1, 2, 3 model, meaning when approaching those experiencing homelessness, giving them the opportunity. You're either going to go to safe grounds or number two, you're going to have a connection with our nonprofits or our supportive services or three simply offering transferred transportation assistance to reunite those individuals with their families in their hometown because that is definitely occurring a lot of our unsheltered are not from Stockton and are from other areas but before any type of future policy discussions or talk or collaboration we need to make sure that we have safe grounds in place and that we are addressing the impacts that these encampments have in our neighborhoods as well as our public spaces um and i know many residents many here many people here public comments social media are asking give spd a contract and i i can't elaborate too much but i'm always like i always like to give some education with regards to the process and you know our staff is currently working with the unions to they're going through the bargaining process and once they reach an agreement then that agreement will come forth to city council for consideration and I can honestly say that there is no one up here that doesn't want to provide some closure with negotiations or give them a contract. And so we all understand how important stability, recruitment, retention, and support of public safety is to our community. So again, there's nothing more that this council wants to do, but let the bargaining process go through what it's supposed to, and then it will come to council. I have been working diligently on mail theft. It's not one day or two days that go by that someone reaches out to me and lets me know that their mail has been compromised. Currently, we live in a world where there's community boxes. It is what it is. And unfortunately, we have those individuals that get a hold of those master keys and they compromise your mail, they compromise your identity, and it's extremely unfortunate. It is so important when that occurs or if you experience mail theft to report it to Stockton PD to also report it to the United States Postal Service. Because if we are not notifying the United States Postal Service, guess what? They think Stockton has no mail theft problem, we're not on the radar, and we're not gonna get any assistance. So reporting is crucial. When you report, I have so many people that reach out to me and say, Michelle, here's the SPD report number, here's my USPS report number. I then immediately send it to the appropriate departments and the police department, and I forward it to Josh Harder and his staff. Because that is who will help us on the federal level with regards to those boxes being compromised or whatever changes that may be in the works with regards to digital access or you know different keys different processes but again reporting that information is crucial I mean I was point blank told that Stockton, it really isn't high in crime with regards to mail theft. And that is because they didn't have the data. And so every time somebody sends me a picture of an empty mailbox with the street, I text it right on over to Josh Harder and his staff to let him know that it's serious here and we need some help. So I am extremely accessible when it comes to city-related issues. Technology and social media is very easy to report or shout out your problems or issues, but I'm not always on social media 24-7. I don't always see those tags maybe for one or two days later. So I don't know what I don't know. So it's extremely crucial that any city related issue you reach out to me directly either by email or by phone and that's the best way that I can assist you. I am looking forward to more of these 1 o'clock meetings. It was a little hard getting used to this morning. I felt like I was, you know, I walked my dog, I took a shower, and then it was like, oh, I got to be to council. But I think maybe the more, you know, we get used to the schedule and individuals, you know, participate and We get the teleconferencing up in regards to public comments. I feel confident that maybe this will be successful. And if not, that's why we can always make some changes. So I will finish there. Hope everyone has the great rest of your week. And thank you.

Councilman Villaputua.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. First of all, I just want to thank City Manager Johnny Ford and Public Works Penny for all their tremendous job every day. I call these two individuals for help, and they step up and hit hard runs, as well as Chief McFadden and Chief Carr. You guys are amazing. You know, what you guys do every day. even when I was out there the other day with Councilman Padilla and Anderson Street. You guys just cleared out, made us feel safe, stopped the fires. And I know you guys do that every day, but seeing what your men do that day was pretty amazing. So I just want to let you guys know that you guys are our true leaders in our community. tomorrow i will be having my neighborhood watch the community center i have every month every second week of the month from three to four come out there hear about what's going on the neighborhood i love coming out and hearing the community i bring donuts bring good donuts too But today I was very happy. Every year I choose a school and I bring 50 kids to the Ports game. And this year I brought Unbound Charter School. And I love these kids. I've known some of them since the third grade or fourth grade. They'll be in fifth grade next year. So I want to see these kids grow. They've been seeing us since I've been a councilman and they're growing up like my own kids. So I'm always checking on them and they're phenomenal. So they deserve watching the game, having a hot dog and some popcorn. Ain't no better than that. And standing up and, you know, pledge allegiance to the flag, which I'm looking forward to that. But I threw the first pitch. It was right in the middle. You know, the coach was like, hey, man, you want to get in, throw a couple innings? I was like, no, I got to go cancel me, but, you know. I'll come back if you guys need me a ninth inning. But I'm very excited as well. I want to thank City Manager and Public Works as well that on Sousa Park Pool, it will be grand opening. The pool will be open May 30th. I'm going to have a big celebration for that neighborhood and everyone's welcome to come. It's from 12 to 4. I'm going to have a barbecue, hot dogs and water and chips. And I never really do this, but I'm going to do what the mayor does and jump in that pool. So be prepared, wear some shorts and something. But I'm I've been looking forward to that. And I want to thank the mayor and my colleagues because I've been pushing for that for a long time. So. it is a free event so i will be putting a flyer out so look out for that um as well i've been going twice three times a week um as well to columbus park and it's coming around i just did a video today i put the rocky theme song you know i i it's uh but I would I understood to be ready the mid June so I'll be looking forward to ribbon-cutting the basketball hoops are ready the bathroom is ready the everything just about just aside needs to just grow but I'm i'm monitoring it i'm looking at it i'm always watching the the people out there and i'm putting my sleeves up and helping them out what i can they went and made me sign a waiver because they think i'm gonna get hurt um uh besides that uh i just want to recognize some of the people talk about single the mile parade uh why there was so many uh officers i mean we asked for more officers we got it but that's a question that i i will talk to uh chief mcfadden and what was his reasons um you know it's maybe there was concerns there was things why they were stopped i mean i i stand by chief's um plans and what he does he keeps our neighborhoods safe so i will but but i saw some of the comments of people asking and i will have a chat with them and get back to some of my constituents um so that being said i want to thank uh my community everyone came out here i'm gonna thank my colleagues a lot of great wins and we got a lot of more uh coming down the road so keep up the great job i'm very proud of today so everyone have a good good week and great weekend councilmember blower

Thank you, Mayor. OK, first I want to talk about last week. So last week there were a number of us in Washington, D.C., for various reasons. I know the one voice trip was there with SJ Cog. I was there. as the chairman of Sajafka, which is the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency. It was a quick trip for me. I flew in on Monday and came back on Wednesday. But it was really a productive trip. So what we were there to do is working on the lower San Joaquin River flood control project. And that's a project that has been approved and is moving forward. We had a ribbon cutting for it a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, we did not receive funding in FY25 or 26 from the federal budget. We do have carryover money, so work has continued, but we're getting to the point where if we don't get more funding, it's going to be difficult. This is really a critical project that once complete, and right now I think 2037 is when it's projected. It'll probably take a little bit longer than that, but once completed, we'll increase flood protection by 83%. So it is a big deal, and that's for over 300,000 Stocktonians that that will provide protection for, as well as I I think the estimate was $21 billion worth of property. So very, very important work. On that Tuesday, we had meetings with Congressman Harder and then the staff from Congressman Adam Gray's office, as well as staff with both of our U.S. senators. Those went well. Then the second day, we had the really important meetings. We met with the US Army Corps of Engineers and concluded with a meeting with the Assistant Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon. And as we left that, our lobbyists said the meeting could not have gone better. So very, very good work. Working very hard to bring home the money for the flood protection that we so desperately need. Okay, then I got back and last Friday, there was something online. There was some information put out through social media where people were planning to go and create havoc at the mall. And very unfortunate that these things get thrown out there and some of the youth will come and a great deal of problems so i really want to thank city manager i reached out to him made him aware of that and i worked closely with the management at the mall and the mall made a switch to their one of their policies where they changed it where you had to be anybody under 18 needed to be accompanied by an adult so all these were done to prevent something tragic from happening and I'm happy to report that it worked. The mall takeover, whatever that was, was unsuccessful. It did not happen. There was an incident in the parking lot the next day. I understand about 30 individuals got in a fight in the parking lot. PD responded, took care of it, and I think about 10 individuals were detained. So anyway, kudos to the Stockton Police Department, and thank you very much to City Manager Ford for helping with that. Let's see. Exciting news yesterday had a couple of projects get started. We had a groundbreaking ceremony at Groupie Park for the Pickleball Court. Had a wonderful group that showed up. Congressman Harder's office showed up and gave us a certificate. So Mayor, if you'd like this certificate. And other projects in my district that started yesterday, the street resurfacing on Ben Holt and Hammer Lane, the areas going under I-5. And that has been just big potholes for a long time, just a rough road. Times where you drive through that, you feel like you're on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. So I'm glad that that's going to be resurfaced, that's going to be done. And again, work just got started. And that's been something... we've been working on for quite some time, so glad to get that started. Let's see, today before the meeting, I went to the Children's Museum Luncheon, and I did have to leave halfway through to be here on time, but it was very well attended, so I was very glad to see the room was packed full of people, and that is a fundraiser that they are doing to just raise funds for ongoing operations and different exhibits and things like that at the Children's Museum. And looking to the future, I don't know how much I can say, but I'm very excited about a certain press conference that's going to happen tomorrow at 10 a.m. At the arena. At the arena. And let's just say after the announcement, I hope that there is thunderous applause. Let's see, coming up this Thursday, May 14th, there will be a community meeting on the proposed adjustment to the stormwater utility rates. I strongly recommend people, if you have questions, please come to that. The stormwater rates have not been raised since 1992. Our infrastructure, dealing with storms is crumbling it's very very important that people do get educated and this is a fine opportunity to come if people have questions kim floyd she will be there she's a person that puts on the educational component in fact she spoke to my sales meeting this morning spoke at my rotary a couple of weeks ago so that's somebody that if you if you have questions if you want You know, if you have a group that wants to hear more about this, but I'd say do it sooner than later, but she is willing to come and give the presentation. So the stormwater rate adjustment ballots, they look like this, so everybody should have received that in the mail by now. But again, please educate yourself, please. I'm not gonna tell you which way to vote, but please educate yourself. crumbling infrastructure, and we have not raised the rates since 1992. It is an enterprise fund, which means the stormwater system, the only way that they can maintain it is through the funds that are done through the rates. So it doesn't come from the general fund, it's just that. Okay. Also, this May 14th through the 18th, the moving Vietnam Memorial Wall will be here, and that will be at Weber Point. So that's something I think on the 14th, I think it's 2 p.m., they're going to have like an opening ceremony, and they will be reciting all of the names. It is a It's smaller. I forget what the scale is, but it is a replica of the Vietnam Memorial that is in Washington, D.C. Then also looking forward to May 25th, which is Memorial Day. My Rotary Club for the last, I believe, 24 years The Rotary Club of Stockton is the one that put in the World War II Memorial. And every Memorial Day, we do a service there. And so we'll be doing that again this year. And that will be at 10 a.m. Everyone is invited. So I'd love to see the public and my colleagues, if you're available. Love to have you there. And then just looking down the road, since we don't have a council meeting for a while, June 11th. The Cal City Central Valley Division meeting will be down in Merced. And so if anybody's interested in going with that, maybe we could carpool or something like that. And that is all I have. Thank you very much.

Six minutes to spare. Councilman Enriquez.

Thank you, Mayor. So I will start off, as usual, with infrastructure. I want to thank Penny and his team. We got some graffiti fix. You all know I'm famously known for my potholes and my before-after photos. So graffiti, we got a fix on the back of the, I don't know, gastropub on Yosemite Street Village. I want to thank the business owner who flagged it to me two weeks ago. We were able to get that fixed as well as an electrical box right in the middle of Oak Park. So again, I want to thank my constituents for flagging those issues and our graffiti abatement team for getting those cleaned up. And also right now, there was some potholes that were fixed at the last council meeting I gave. I think there was about 25 I said that we were able to get fixed in District 4, and there's currently 10 in progress via the Ask Stockton app, which I'm also happy this council approved extending the contract today, so thankful for that. But more to come at the next council meeting, as I'm sure by then we'll have some more progress on these 10 potholes that I currently have in the Ask Stockton app. In terms of events, so before I went off to D.C. for the One Voice trip, I did attend on April 29th the Be Safe Visitation Center. I want to thank the owner there who opened up her grand opening, and it's really a space focused on family connection, healing, and support for children and parents in our community, which is right on the overpass as you go past University of the Pacific on Pacific Avenue. And then also that same day, I went to the St. Joseph's Groundbreaking, also in my district, and then after that, few days later I went off to DC for the one voice trip it was great overall I want to thank the entire team San Joaquin Council of Government staff also I know our city staff and just everybody who contributed to voice the the concerns about getting more infrastructure projects here in our region and I know particularly for me I was able to advocate for my district 4 projects the Miracle Mile improvement as well as Pershing Avenue, which I know is something that we've been working for years now to slow down traffic. I know we've had some adjustments and upgrades over the last year and a half, but again, we know that there's a lot of work that we need to do to slow down traffic, not just on Pershing, but all throughout the city of Stockton. Also, I want to thank the Miracle Mile Board. They had their first annual Arts and Lit Walk this past Friday from 5 to 8. so as i got back from dc thursday night the next day we had our arts and lit walk to be out there to support but again just a great way to have a lot of local arts and talent out there playing music designing painting art selling their art and just to have the the space activated and open on a friday night was really great again fun things to do in stockton so we always want to improve and show the great things we're doing here in our community In terms of additional constituent services, for those that are probably watching, they know I got some phone calls. We're working right now on Bradford and Wilson, which we know we had a fire there, which we mentioned at the last council meeting. But the business owner and I there across the street, which is my district, we've been discussing better ways to support the area. We've done some walkthroughs in the past. But there's some additional work right now. We're looking at potential fencing. We're looking through their cameras to see just in terms of, again, break-ins that they've had in the last year or so. Know that I'm actively in that area. And I know Councilman Villaputo and I get a lot of calls from that area as well since we border our districts. Also on Adams Street, I want to thank my constituent who called me this past Sunday regarding clogged gutters. That is being worked on as well as loose dogs, which I know has been an issue all throughout our city. But I know particularly Mr. C, as I will name him today, called specifically about that. And I know our city manager and I are working on that. And then, of course, I want to thank our police department, especially Captain Benavides over the weekend at Oak Park. similar to my hands-on activity, I should say, when I was at Victory Park a couple weekends ago at night, this time at Oak Park, where we had footage of trucks driving over the grass, over the driveway that we just repaved in the last year. There was at least 10 vehicles that drove over the grass because the driveway was gated, so they went around instead. Plus, drinking alcohol during the day And leaving trash everywhere doesn't help. So just as I said last time at Victory Park, just because you think that there's not enough police or there's no one to get you, trust me, people are watching. Try not to break the law because we will get you. So as these gentlemen learned over the weekend. But overall, in terms of Oak Park, I also want to say that we are working on the double parking issue. Please do not double park. I know there's a lot of folks at Oak Park that do that across the ice rink. Please know the city council is very aware of that. We have one of the biggest parking lots in terms of the city of Stockton Parks, yet it always looks vacant because everyone's double parking alongside the road. IT'S AN ADDITIONAL 20 FEET. I'M BIG ABOUT GETTING MY STEPS. I DON'T KNOW WHY 20 MORE FEET TO A BIG VACANT PARKING LOT IS SUCH A STRUGGLE. BUT PLEASE KNOW THAT WE ARE GOING TO START DOING MORE ENFORCEMENT. please say you know note that as a warning but we are going to be doing more enforcement of that in general as Mr. Richardson said about Pershing Avenue and our street vendors I know city manager and I we want to be able to discuss with our code enforcement team again about the full plan for the year as I know the ordinance passed a couple months ago I'm one of seven I'm one individual but we also know that it is our code enforcement team that needs to be actively out there on the weekends And if our chief says that code enforcement is out there, let's get some more reports. Let's get some more activity about what they're doing. Just as much as we get email reports about our police activity. I think the same should be for our code enforcement. then what else upcoming uh we have our oxford circle meeting we have our third meeting which is uh usually about 30 to 40 community members tomorrow from six to eight at the first unitarian church and i want to thank again our public works team for again just to continue conversations about the funding we do have currently and what we can invest in for that area Let's see. Mornings with Mario is set for Saturday, May 23rd at 10 a.m. at Groundstack Coffee with special guests, our Stockton Police Department. So if folks want to know about public safety in District 4, there's always an opportunity to meet with our police officers. And also there, I'll be giving an overview of our District 4 crime stats. Each council member got a presentation on crime stats in their respective districts. I know I will be communicating with my constituents at that coffee meeting, and also I will be posting it on my council member page that way folks know about what's been going on in the last six months. And I'm proud to say that crime has been going down in District 4. And again, that's thanks to our police department for their work and also for capturing the data for me to share with District 4 residents. We have our Legislation Committee meeting on Monday, May 18th at 4 p.m. Please join us. And then also our Tree Stockton folks, I want to thank them. We have our Lewis Park cleanup this Saturday, May 16th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. We invite anybody to come out. We expect a lot of folks out there to plant trees, clean up, you name it. We will be there from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. So please be there if you would like. And then what else? um one thing too i know we're not meeting until a couple months but you know um with the start of the year so to speak with flag raisings i do want to invite all of you to our pride flag raising June 1st at 9 AM and that's something that you know I want to just be able to first mention a couple things when it comes to that. You know we we talk about decorum and I was pretty alarmed that earlier today we had someone from the public that was saying some homophobic remarks yet nobody up here called him out on it. And I want to just be able to address that in terms of holding order that I do expect future meetings moving forward to call that out because we have no room for hate. in anywhere in the city of Stockton, let alone these chambers. So I want to ensure that we have more accountability moving forward when remarks like that are said. Because again, there are folks that are watching, young LGBTQ youth, two openly LGBTQ members that sit on this dais. So when we talk about respect, I expect that in these chambers as well. especially when you know if I'm make a comment and I get called out on it I expect that when things like that are said that it's even worse to be called out as well so that's something that I will not allow moving forward and I will again talk privately with our mayor but I want to ensure that that is respected standing with our pride flag raising I think this is a timely There was a lot of conversation online that went out to the media, to voters. But the important thing about that is that, again, our young people are watching, our community is watching. And no matter what your thoughts are on that, I still ask for respect. We do the pride flag raising as well as raising the flags of our veterans, something that I led and got passed through ledge last year. and that's something that I'm very proud of. So it's not just a pride flag thing, but it's also ensuring that our veterans are seen and heard. So I think it's very timely, and I want to thank our Central Valley Gender Health and Wellness, our San Joaquin Pride Center for standing in solidarity, but also at the same time, I ask for elected officials to say something and hold a stance that they also should value and respect the entire community and so many elected officials have been silent on that. So that speaks volumes. I think these organizations that I mentioned, myself, Vice Mayor Lee, have called on other elected officials to say something yet have said nothing in the most diverse city in America. And again, I go back to that because You can't say that and then not be a champion for everybody and you can't speak up or pretend you didn't hear about it because trust me everybody up here and other elected officials have heard about what happened in our community about a homophobic text that went out using the image of myself, Vice Mayor Lee and Council Member Blauer. I believe we're better than that. I think we again we should have maintained mutual respect. I don't ask what people do privately in their bedroom, nor should people ask what I do privately in my bedroom. But at the same time, we have to respect everybody. And that's a simple ask. I don't think it's asking more than others are asking. So please call it out. If you see something that is hurting a community, we're all leaders. Call it out. We have our pride flag raising at June 1st at 9 a.m., which I invite everybody to come in solidarity and stand with our community because that's something, again, I will not tolerate for hate anywhere. And then in terms of our legislation committee, I know I mentioned the date that we have coming up, but just some policy issues that we are working on. I want to thank Vice Mayor Lee. We talked about animal control. My heart goes out to the woman that was attacked in Weston Ranch. And that's something that we want to be able to just discuss further as alleged committee meeting. I know this council we've been very aware of a lot of the the animal control issues we've had so I look forward to my colleagues and I having a conversation about that and then also rent stabilization we we had an interview I had an interview last night with ABC 10 and I want to thank my colleagues on the ledge committee as we have further discussion as we are still exploring that conversation with housing policy folks want to put out there that it's rent control uh it's not and i appreciate that you know i've already asked folks that are on the other side so to speak of the policy debate to i'm open to make to have have a conversation i have yet to hear from anybody but that was something that was set out in the tv interview yesterday but this is a real thing that folks are hurting there is a reality when it comes to tenant protections as i i know i have been saying and focusing on not rent control rent control freezes rent RENT STABILIZATION LOOKS AT ENSURING THAT THERE'S NOT RENT EXTREME RENT SPIKES WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY LEAD FAMILIES CHILDREN ETC TO GO HOMELESS BECAUSE THEY CAN'T PAY THE RENT WHEN THERE'S AN UNEXPECTED RENT INCREASE So that is a conversation that we want to explore. We've asked staff to look into what other cities are doing, but this is still an exploratory research phase. We're not going in one direction or the other. I think my colleagues that were at the last meeting can attest to that. But any misinformation, you know how to reach me, 209-645-2711. If you want to have a meeting, you have my number. My email is dist4 at StocktonCA.gov. so uh looking forward to that conversation and i appreciate it because it always informs when we have a policy debate policy discussion to ensure that we create something that works for everybody and i think something that people can see and it's tangible moving forward so that is coming up and then of course I invite any of my colleagues if there's any specific issues that they want to see addressed through ledge I'm always open I'm always all ears I've never been against anything and then other than that the next slew is opening up going back really quick to infrastructure and excellent is opening up at Oak Park coming soon So please be on the lookout. And then other than that, I think I covered everything, constituent services, graffiti, potholes. I do want to thank Mr. Oscar from 209 Toys. Him and I had, I dropped by his business, which is right on Harding Way in Pacific, roughly. And we had some good discussions on just some challenges he has in terms of break-ins and code violations with a liquor store that we are looking into right now. But the moment he told me that there was potholes, I panicked. I said, what potholes on Harding? There are no potholes on Harding. And then we discussed a little bit further and I found out where exactly they are. I said, okay, got it. Because I said, I would have known. So, and I'd say that was right, but I know Harding Way and I know my district. So when you say there was a lot of potholes, that's dangerous to say to the district for a council member. But we figured it out. Don't worry. No one panic. We've identified the potholes and they will get fixed. But other than that, thank you again. And just please reach out to me if anything comes up. And I want to thank my colleagues again. I think debate is healthy and good. So I appreciate it.

Okay, my turn. Just want to start off by what happened at the beginning of the meeting. I do want to provide clarification on that and the reason why I did what I did is because you have to notice when you're having a meeting and this is a conversation that the city and clerk and I have all of the time because I sit on other boards and I attend remotely and I attend remotely I haven't been able to participate in some of them because we didn't get it till Monday and the meeting was on Wednesday and she can tell you more about that but I will tell you when I've gone out and I've done it and it's this was a meeting that I had on the 24th of July and I posted it this was the room I held the meeting in This was posted, as you can see, on July 21st. The meeting was on July 24th, and I realize not everybody knows that, but now everybody should know that. So moving forward, because had there been votes taken, we would have had to redo them if that was challenged. So I didn't want that to happen, especially in light of the update we got regarding the Brown Act recently. We all got a very in-depth update, and we can't be doing anything – that could Jeopardize our approval process, especially when some of these things are time sensitive also on that The five minutes that is part of council policy. It's in Rosenberg's we have meetings that would last nine hours Because it was going in excess of those five minutes many times or many bites of the apple And just wanted to let people know about that First Amendment I was schooled on the First Amendment as to what people can and can't say, what I can and can't enforce. As much as I'd like to say, you can't say things as long as it's not of a threatening manner and the city attorney can weigh in on that at another time maybe when we have our study session we can weigh in on that I don't like it I've been called all kinds of things I've had slanderous things said and I don't like it I don't like it I wish everybody would come in here and have some kindness towards one another I would love that but in the end They have a First Amendment right. I also wanted to talk about the enforcement. I was out there with police on Friday. We were at the mall for part of the night and we were in the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard area. the cars that could have potentially been towed. They weren't. It was because they had an unlicensed driver. So we waited until somebody from their family could come and pick it up. And I will tell you, it was every shade of the rainbow. But I will say, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, you look at the demographics for that area and it's unfortunate they were stopped for missing equipment illegal tent modified cars you know because they were an exhibition of speed there's all kinds of reasons I'm not saying that that's what happened with the family but that is I'm saying if it wasn't if there wasn't a licensed driver then those kind of things happen or if the car was altered so much then it was towed and I will tell you I was on one of the stops where there was somebody in the car that was on parole and had a firearm that was fully loaded in the car with them and we removed that gun from the street. And so I supported that effort, and it's unfortunate. Actually, I knew some of the people we stopped. One of them was a former student. He says, I've got my permit, though. I said, you can't drive with a permit. You have to be a licensed driver. So anyway, his dad came, got the car, and they went home. Shelter beds, so we're talking about homeless, all the things I always get are the unsheltered. People tell me, I say, where's the money? Where did all the money go? We have built, we have beds, we have lots of different projects that we've done and the Pathways project is low barrier. You could be under the influence you can go there they will not close the door on you they have 200 beds available right now so where's the money some of its over there and there are beds but again as councilwoman Padilla pointed out we cannot force people to go into a shelter even though we have it available for them low barrier that's why we have kennels for pets some of us donated to that effort so people can still have their pets with them their possessions and their partners which are the three big items If you didn't read all the agenda items, I didn't pull them, but 16.6 was about Ask Stockton. I hope that it gets better. We redid our renewal on that for three years, and it could use some tweaks. Those of us that use it regularly, we know where it can be difficult. Item 16.12 and 16.13, if you didn't look at it, I say check it out. You look at the difference in pay, it is right there in black and white, and our Civil Service Commission is doing what they can on their end. And then 6.5 was committee meeting minutes. I know that audit committee, their investigation was concluded and they recommended that it be released to everyone, not just the short version, but the entire version. And I asked for the cost of that. We haven't gotten there yet, but I'm sure we will eventually. Talking about mail. I spoke to Congressman Harder and he said, why don't you change the building code or create an ordinance that says that the mailbox has to be at the house for new development instead of having it in those boxes. So all these new developments that we just approved, let's put it in there that mailbox mail goes back to the house. We can do that. So even though we can't fix it for who's there now, let's think into the future as to what we can do. Washington DC, Washington DC. So 31 meetings, 31 meetings from Monday to Friday morning. Everything from the Department of Justice, Transportation and Infrastructure, Department of Labor, that I got an email from them today giving us funding opportunities. Super excited about that. Meeting with the office of our federal, our senators, and our congress members. as well as some other individuals because guess what our area is expanding so we have more than one congress member for this area and we went to council member enriquez and i went to a congressman garamendi's office and spoke to them about some of the projects that we have and what we need i was worried though because on thursday i didn't see you i know florence was texting you um because we went to great meetings on thursday We were pushing for funding for Miracle Mile as well as for Pershing. Did a whole thing on safety for Pershing. You know, we were talking about that. Oh, I want to go back to Congressman Harder. He's working on Build America. And it's with 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans that are working together, build better, faster, cheaper. And he said these projects need to get done, which is what this council has been focused on, is getting things done. done and then I'm saying hey let's get those resources back home because again people fly over they drive through let's bring those money that those dollars here if we've got five people that are representing this area hey I am all for it but with the city of Stockton I had 11 meetings and with COG I had a total of 20 meetings, 20 meetings. I have them all here, all listed up. I have my notebook with all my notes, just so people know. I was really happy with all those who participated. We have a mega region about shipbuilding, part of that. That's what the Department of Labor, they said, hey, we have funds for a CTE program if you want to do that. And I said, Delta College, can we get the funds to put at Delta College? Because that's one of their initiatives that they've been told to move towards. Oh, and while we were there, if you didn't know, the Smithsonian has an exhibit that is from Stockton and it is based on our rich Filipino community that we have here. It is done by Little Manila. and they put it in there. Philip Merlot from the San Joaquin Historical Society, he helped with it as well as Dylan Delvo going around and explaining all of the things. They found trunks. They found these trunks in somebody's basement that had all of these artifacts that go back to the Philippines and then made its way here. And that's one of our sister cities is Iloilo in the Philippines, but it was a great I mean, to think about it, Stockton in the Smithsonian, and letting people know what a rich history we have here in the Filipino community that we had then, and we still have this day. And the last thing I want to talk about is State of the City. State of the City is next week, on Wednesday the 20th. All the council members have been included in that. They have done filming in it. and i am looking forward to a very positive uplifting meeting or meeting of people in our city and my request will be to spread it around to everybody they know and you can attend for free if you want to be at the there are there's a way for you to come attend for free if you want to pay the fifty dollars and go to lunch you can do that as well but i'm excited about that opportunity to showcase all the things that council's been doing because i hear over and over again nothing's getting done all you guys do up there is fight uh there's drama well guess what drama for your mama we're still getting stuff done okay we had the ursula meyer's library community center fabulous oh my god i am so excited about that northeast stockton is getting some love now we need northwest and we got it because we got to hit all the corners of stockton um but but state of the city next week doors open at 10. it's going to conclude before two o'clock promise you it will be before two o'clock but be there or be square and with that I think I got to everything on my list yep I think I got to everything so I will take a oh we are going to close session so stop my time I'm not talking about my stuff anymore

Mayor, if you can also make one quick announcement on the budget.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. So council will be getting budgets are due to council members by the 15th. Our next meeting will be June 2nd and 3rd. We will start at nine in the morning. This is our budget hearings. This is when we'll hear what our department needs are. We will look at where we can find funding to allocate towards different items, but we really need to hear from the department heads what it is that they need and how this past year went, because we don't want to be We don't want to overshoot. We don't want to undershoot. We want to be somewhere right in the middle where we have revenues and expenditures that line up. Because I know this council does not want to go back into bankruptcy no matter what. If you lived through it, you know what I'm talking about. Okay, so that's the second and third, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the second and 9 a.m. to I don't know how much time we're going to need.

Hopefully noon.

Okay, till noon. We think we'll have it done by then. And then we'll have another council meeting on the 9th of June and then the 23rd of June, and that will close out our fiscal year. Okay? Okay. Let's move on now. We are going to be going into closed session. So item... Yes, item 14.1, conference with labor negotiators. This closed session is authorized pursuant to section 54957.6a of the government code. And before, is there any public comment?

We have no public comment for closed session.

Okay, so a city attorney, because this is labor negotiations, will we have anything to report out after closed session?

My understanding is there will not be anything to report out.

So we're going to take a five minute recess and then we will report into a closed session into the round room. Let's make it 525. Or 530. 530. 530 into, yes, into their, wow, that's probably our earliest time we've ever ended a meeting, 530. right oh do i have a motion so move second everybody okay we're adjourned