City Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. No, I'm digital.

30 seconds.

Thank you. Just saying.

Is Council Member Mateo back there?

Okay.

So did I. Walk in with me. All right, we're going to go ahead and call the special meeting to order for September 15th at 6.16 p.m. At this time, we have no disclosures pursuant to government code section 5495.3.8.3. Roll call on declaration of conflicts, please.

Council Member Bedoya. Council Member Evans.

Present, no conflicts.

Council Member Nygaard. Present, no conflicts. Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie.

Present, no conflicts.

Mayor Areola.

Present, no conflicts. I see Council Member Bedoya has joined us at 6.17. No conflicts present. Thank you. Members of the public can participate in tonight's meeting remotely via Zoom by visiting cityoftracey-org.zoom.us slash join and using the information as provided on the screen. This is also available on the City of Tracy website as well as in paper here at City Hall. That brings us to item 2A related to a closed session item on anticipated litigation. Do we have any public comment on this item? Seeing none in chambers, do we have any online?

We have none online.

With that, I'll go ahead and close the public comment period for item 2A, and I'll entertain a motion. Motion to go to closed session.

I'll second.

We have a first and a second. Councilmember Evans, roll call, please.

Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie?

Yes.

Councilmember Evans?

Yes.

Councilmember Bedoya?

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard? Yes. Mayor Areola?

Yes. All right. We'll be in closed session return shortly. Thank you.

the loving home they've been waiting for. Visit Tracy Animal Services, meet your new best friend, and help us clear the shelters this August.

Some dogs wait a few days for a home. Some wait a few weeks. Cholula has been waiting for more than two years. This is Cholula, a three-year-old Pitbull-Sharpay mix who spent 763 days at the Tracy Animal Shelter. When she first arrived as a stray, she was scared and unsure of people, but with patience, love, and time, she's learned to trust. Today, Cholula is affectionate, loyal, and loves spending time with the people she knows. She's house trained, crate trained, knows basic commands, and enjoys walks, car rides, and cuddling on the couch. Cholula would thrive in a calm home with someone willing to let her settle in at her own pace. In return, you'll gain a devoted companion and best friend. Could you be the one to give Cholula the second chance she's been waiting for? Visit the Tracy Animal Shelter and meet her today.

Hi, I'm Amanda with Tracy Animal Services. Did you know Tracy Animal Services offers a foster to adopt program for kittens that are too small to be spayed or neutered? This helps free up space in our kitten rooms and reduces the potential spread of illness while giving kittens a safe place to grow. The process is simple. families complete a one-time application and once staff reviews and approves it, usually on the same day, the kitten can go home with its foster to adopt family. We then do check-ins every two weeks until the kitten reaches two pounds. At that point, we schedule the kitten's spay or neuter surgery, microchip, and vaccinations. After the procedure is complete, we finalize the adoption and the kitten officially becomes a permanent member of the family. If you're looking to help a kitten in need and open your home to a future furry family member, contact Tracy Animal Services to learn more about the Foster to Adopt program.

Hi Tracy, I'm Mari with the Utilities Division. Summer is pool season, but did you know the way you maintain and clean your pool can help protect local waterways? When cleaning your pool filter, never rinse it into the street, gutter, or storm drain. Filter backwash and wastewater can contain chlorine, copper, and other pollutants that flow directly into local waterways without treatment. Instead, dispose of cartridge filter wastewater in a dirt area on your property or through the sanitary sewer system. Spent diatomaceous earth filter media should go in the garbage. To reduce pollution, maintain proper chlorine levels, keep your filtration system running efficiently, and minimize algae growth to avoid using copper-based algaecides whenever possible. When it's time to drain your pool, never discharge water to the storm drain. A properly maintained pool means less draining, fewer pollutants, and cleaner waterways for everyone.

Hi Tracy, I'm Heather with the City's Public Works Department and with the summer heating up, it's time for a quick reminder about our outdoor watering schedule. Your watering days are based on the last number of your address. Super simple. If your address ends in an odd number, 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, you can water on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. If it ends in an even number, 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, your days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There's no outdoor watering on Fridays, and please remember no watering between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Watering in the early morning or evenings helps reduce evaporation and keeps your yard looking its best. By sticking to the schedule, we're all helping conserve water and protect this important resource for our community. Thanks so much for doing your part, Tracy.

Hi, I'm Cade Lovell here at Gretchen Talley Park with a quick construction update. One major milestone is already complete. The basketball courts have been freshly paved and are looking great. Work is still underway throughout the park, including new fencing at the sports courts and dog parks. Final electrical work for the restroom building. Installation of rubber flooring at the exercise station. Concrete work for the new ADA accessible on-street parking. Landscaping and seating of the new grass. We're excited to see everything coming together and look forward to welcoming the community back to these new and improved park amenities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Amanda from Tracy Animal Services. If you've been thinking about adding a furry family member to your home, now is the perfect time. August is Clear the Shelters Month, a nationwide campaign encouraging people to adopt from their local animal shelter or rescue. This is Tracy Animal Services' sixth year participating, and for a limited time, adoption fees are just $10, the cost of a microchip. Every adoption also includes spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, and a microchip. Most importantly, you'll be giving a deserving pet the loving home they've been waiting for. Visit Tracy Animal Services, meet your new best friend, and help us clear the shelters this August.

Some dogs wait a few days for a home. Some wait a few weeks. Cholula has been waiting for more than two years. This is Cholula, a three-year-old Pit Bull-Sharpay mix who spent 763 days at the Tracy Animal Shelter. When she first arrived as a stray, she was scared and unsure of people, but with patience, love, and time, she's learned to trust. Today, Cholula is affectionate, loyal, and loves spending time with the people she knows. She's house trained, crate trained, knows basic commands, and enjoys walks, car rides, and cuddling on the couch. Cholula would thrive in a calm home with someone willing to let her settle in at her own pace. In return, you'll gain a devoted companion and best friend. Could you be the one to give Cholula the second chance she's been waiting for? Visit the Tracy Animal Shelter and meet her today.

Hi, I'm Amanda with Tracy Animal Services. Did you know Tracy Animal Services offers a foster to adopt program for kittens that are too small to be spayed or neutered? This helps free up space in our kitten rooms and reduces the potential spread of illness while giving kittens a safe place to grow. The process is simple. families complete a one-time application and once staff reviews and approves it, usually on the same day, the kitten can go home with its foster to adopt family. We then do check-ins every two weeks until the kitten reaches two pounds. At that point, we schedule the kitten's spay or neuter surgery, microchip, and vaccinations. After the procedure is complete, we finalize the adoption and the kitten officially becomes a permanent member of the family. If you're looking to help a kitten in need and open your home to a future furry family member, contact Tracy Animal Services to learn more about the Foster to Adopt program.

Hi Tracy, I'm Mari with the Utilities Division. Summer is pool season, but did you know the way you maintain and clean your pool can help protect local waterways? When cleaning your pool filter, never rinse it into the street, gutter, or storm drain. Filter backwash and wastewater can contain chlorine, copper, and other pollutants that flow directly into local waterways without treatment. Instead, dispose of cartridge filter wastewater in a dirt area on your property or through the sanitary sewer system. Spent diatomaceous earth filter media should go in the garbage. To reduce pollution, maintain proper chlorine levels, keep your filtration system running efficiently, and minimize algae growth to avoid using copper-based algaecides whenever possible. When it's time to drain your pool, never discharge water to the storm drain. A properly maintained pool means less draining, fewer pollutants, and cleaner waterways for everyone.

Hi Tracy, I'm Heather with the City's Public Works Department and with the summer heating up, it's time for a quick reminder about our outdoor watering schedule. Your watering days are based on the last number of your address. Super simple. If your address ends in an odd number, 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, you can water on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. If it ends in an even number, 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, Your days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There's no outdoor watering on Fridays, and please remember, no watering between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Watering in the early morning or evenings helps reduce evaporation and keeps your yard looking its best. By sticking to the schedule, we're all helping conserve water and protect this important resource for our community. Thanks so much for doing your part, Tracy.

Hi, I'm Cade Lovell here at Gretchen Talley Park with a quick construction update. One major milestone is already complete. The basketball courts have been freshly paved and are looking great. Work is still underway throughout the park, including new fencing at the sports courts and dog parks. Final electrical work for the restroom building. Installation of rubber flooring at the exercise station. Concrete work for the new ADA accessible on-street parking. Landscaping and seating of the new grass. We're excited to see everything coming together and look forward to welcoming the community back to these new and improved park amenities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Amanda from Tracy Animal Services. If you've been thinking about adding a furry family member to your home, now is the perfect time. August is Clear the Shelters Month, a nationwide campaign encouraging people to adopt from their local animal shelter or rescue. This is Tracy Animal Services' sixth year participating, and for a limited time, adoption fees are just $10, the cost of a microchip. Every adoption also includes spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, and a microchip. Most importantly, you'll be giving a deserving pet the loving home they've been waiting for. Visit Tracy Animal Services, meet your new best friend, and help us clear the shelters this August.

Some dogs wait a few days for a home. Some wait a few weeks. Cholula has been waiting for more than two years. This is Cholula, a three-year-old Pit Bull Sharpay mix who spent 763 days at the Tracy Animal Shelter. When she first arrived as a stray, she was scared and unsure of people, but with patience, love, and time, she's learned to trust. Today, Cholula is affectionate, loyal, and loves spending time with the people she knows. She's house trained, crate trained, knows basic commands, and enjoys walks, car rides, and cuddling on the couch. Cholula would thrive in a calm home with someone willing to let her settle in at her own pace. In return, you'll gain a devoted companion and best friend. Could you be the one to give Cholula the second chance she's been waiting for? Visit the Tracy Animal Shelter and meet her today.

Hi, I'm Amanda with Tracy Animal Services. Did you know Tracy Animal Services offers a foster to adopt program for kittens that are too small to be spayed or neutered? This helps free up space in our kitten rooms and reduces the potential spread of illness while giving kittens a safe place to grow. The process is simple. families complete a one-time application and once staff reviews and approves it, usually on the same day, the kitten can go home with its foster to adopt family. We then do check-ins every two weeks until the kitten reaches two pounds. At that point, we schedule the kitten's spay or neuter surgery, microchip, and vaccinations. After the procedure is complete, we finalize the adoption and the kitten officially becomes a permanent member of the family. If you're looking to help a kitten in need and open your home to a future furry family member, contact Tracy Animal Services to learn more about the Foster to Adopt program.

Hi Tracy, I'm Mari with the Utilities Division. Summer is pool season, but did you know the way you maintain and clean your pool can help protect local waterways? When cleaning your pool filter, never rinse it into the street, gutter, or storm drain. Filter backwash and wastewater can contain chlorine, copper, and other pollutants that flow directly into local waterways without treatment. Instead, dispose of cartridge filter wastewater in a dirt area on your property or through the sanitary sewer system. spent diatomaceous earth filter media should go in the garbage to reduce pollution maintain proper chlorine levels keep your filtration system running efficiently and minimize algae growth to avoid using copper-based algaecides whenever possible when it's time to drain your pool never discharge water to the storm drain a properly maintained pool means less draining fewer pollutants and cleaner waterways for everyone

Hi Tracy, I'm Heather with the City's Public Works Department and with the summer heating up, it's time for a quick reminder about our outdoor watering schedule. Your watering days are based on the last number of your address. Super simple. If your address ends in an odd number, 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9, you can water on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. If it ends in an even number, Your days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There's no outdoor watering on Fridays, and please remember, no watering between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Watering in the early morning or evenings helps reduce evaporation and keeps your yard looking its best. By sticking to the schedule, we're all helping conserve water and protect this important resource for our community. Thanks so much for doing your part, Tracy.

Hi, I'm Cade Lovell here at Gretchen Talley Park with a quick construction update. One major milestone is already complete. The basketball courts have been freshly paved and are looking great. Work is still underway throughout the park, including new fencing at the sports courts and dog parks. Final electrical work for the restroom building. Installation of rubber flooring at the exercise station. Concrete work for the new ADA accessible on-street parking. Landscaping and seating of the new grass. We're excited to see everything coming together and look forward to welcoming the community back to these new and improved park amenities.

Thank you.

you

Hi, I'm Amanda from Tracy Animal Services. If you've been thinking about adding a furry family member to your home, now is the perfect time. August is Clear the Shelters Month, a nationwide campaign encouraging people to adopt from their local animal shelter or rescue. This is Tracy Animal Services' sixth year participating, and for a limited time, adoption fees are just $10, the cost of a microchip. Every adoption also includes spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, and a microchip. Most importantly, you'll be giving a deserving pet the loving home they've been waiting for. Visit Tracy Animal Services, meet your new best friend, and help us clear the shelters this August.

Some dogs wait a few days for a home. Some wait a few weeks. Cholula has been waiting for more than two years. This is Cholula, a three-year-old Pit Bull Sharpay mix who spent 763 days at the Tracy Animal Shelter. When she first arrived as a stray, she was scared and unsure of people, but with patience, love, and time, she's learned to trust. Today, Cholula is affectionate, loyal, and loves spending time with the people she knows. She's house trained, crate trained, knows basic commands, and enjoys walks, car rides, and cuddling on the couch. Cholula would thrive in a calm home with someone willing to let her settle in at her own pace. In return, you'll gain a devoted companion and best friend. Could you be the one to give Cholula the second chance she's been waiting for? Visit the Tracy Animal Shelter and meet her today.

Hi, I'm Amanda with Tracy Animal Services. Did you know Tracy Animal Services offers a foster to adopt program for kittens that are too small to be spayed or neutered? This helps free up space in our kitten rooms and reduces the potential spread of illness while giving kittens a safe place to grow. The process is simple. families complete a one-time application and once staff reviews and approves it, usually on the same day, the kitten can go home with its foster to adopt family. We then do check-ins every two weeks until the kitten reaches two pounds. At that point, we schedule the kitten's spay or neuter surgery, microchip, and vaccination. After the procedure is complete, we finalize the adoption and the kitten officially becomes a permanent member of the family. If you're looking to help a kitten in need and open your home to a future furry family member, contact Tracy Animal Services to learn more about the Foster to Adopt program.

Hi Tracy, I'm Mari with the Utilities Division. Summer is pool season, but did you know the way you maintain and clean your pool can help protect local waterways? When cleaning your pool filter, never rinse it into the street, gutter, or storm drain. Filter backwash and wastewater can contain chlorine, copper, and other pollutants that flow directly into local waterways without treatment. Instead, dispose of cartridge filter wastewater in a dirt area on your property or through the sanitary sewer system. spent diatomaceous earth filter media should go in the garbage. To reduce pollution, maintain proper chlorine levels, keep your filtration system running efficiently, and minimize algae growth to avoid using copper-based algaecides whenever possible. When it's time to drain your pool, never discharge water to the storm drain. A properly maintained pool means less draining, fewer pollutants, and cleaner waterways for everyone.

Hi Tracy, I'm Heather with the City's Public Works Department and with the summer heating up, it's time for a quick reminder about our outdoor watering schedule. Your watering days are based on the last number of your address. Super simple. If your address ends in an odd number, 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, you can water on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. If it ends in an even number, 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, Your days are Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There's no outdoor watering on Fridays, and please remember, no watering between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Watering in the early morning or evenings helps reduce evaporation and keeps your yard looking its best. By sticking to the schedule, we're all helping conserve water and protect this important resource for our community. Thanks so much for doing your part, Tracy.

Hi, I'm Cade Lovell here at Gretchen Talley Park with a quick construction update. One major milestone is already complete. The basketball courts have been freshly paved and are looking great. Work is still underway throughout the park, including new fencing at the sports courts and dog parks. Final electrical work for the restroom building. Installation of rubber flooring at the exercise station. Concrete work for the new ADA accessible on-street parking. Landscaping and seating of the new grass. We're excited to see everything coming together and look forward to welcoming the community back to these new and improved park amenities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Amanda from Tracy Animal Services. If you've been thinking about adding a furry family member to your home, now is the perfect time. August is Clear the Shelters Month, a nationwide campaign encouraging people to adopt from their local animal shelter or rescue. This is Tracy Animal Services' sixth year participating, and for a limited time, adoption fees are just $10, the cost of a microchip. Every adoption also includes spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, and a microchip. Most importantly, you'll be giving a deserving pet the love...

All right, good evening, everyone. All right, good evening. We are reconvened to open session. At this time, Council has given unanimous direction to the staff to work accordingly. With that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn closed session. Motion to adjourn. Second. I have a first and a second with Councilmember Evans. Roll call, please.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie?

Yes.

Council Member Evans?

Yes.

Council Member Bedoya?

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard? Yes. Mayor Areola?

Yes. All right. We are adjourned at 6.51 p.m. We'll have our general meeting at 7 p.m. Thank you. All right. Good evening, everyone. This is the regular council meeting of September 15th, 2026. We will call to order at 7 p.m. At this time, we have no disclosures pursuant to government code section 5495.3.8.3. Roll call on declaration of conflicts, please.

Council Member Bedoya.

Present. No conflicts.

Council Member Evans.

Present, no conflicts.

Council Member Nygaard. Present, no conflicts. Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie.

Present, no conflicts.

Mayor Areola.

Present, no conflicts. Please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ready. Salute. 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, with liberty and justice for all.

Now please remain standing for our invocation from Pastor Doug Diesler of Tracy City Mission Church.

Greetings from Mission City Church. We love our city. We value and honor our mayor, our city council, all of our city leaders. Just join me in a word of opening prayer. God, we just love you. Lord, we honor you above all. God, we just pray blessings over the city of Tracy, a great grace over our city. God, I just pray blessings over our mayor, our city council, all of our city leaders. God, that they're making wise decisions, Lord, to better our city. God, we pray protection over our men and women serving in our police department. Watch over them, God, as they're watching over all of us. God, watch over all of our schools, all of our teachers, all of our small businesses. Lord, we just pray blessings over our city. God, thank you that you're good, you're loving, you're forgiving, you're so kind. And so, Lord, we just pray that you would just move in the city of Tracy. Thanks that we get to be a part of such a great city. We just pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you. Are you guys getting us a Chick-fil-A yet? That's my only question. I'm waiting. Come on. We've got to have a Chick-fil-A and Tracy. We'll accept that as public comment. Thank you, Pastor.

All right. Members of the public can participate in tonight's meeting remotely via Zoom by visiting cityoftracy-org.zoom.us slash join and using the information as provided on the screen. This is also available in writing here at City Hall as well as on the City of Tracy website. Next up, we have presentations. I will ask Council to join me, please. All right, tonight we have one proclamation and it's for Hispanic Heritage Month. At this time, I'd like to invite President of the Southside Community Organization, Anita McManus, as well as her team to come join me for their proclamation. All right, got a great team here today. National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15, 2026 to October 15, 2026. Whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationwide from September 15th through October 15th each year, the observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover the month in which it is celebrated today. Understanding September 15th is significant because of the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th and 18th, respectively. Whereas the objectives of National Hispanic Heritage Month are to create a greater awareness of contributions to American culture, to illustrate the diversity of the Hispanic community, and to encourage a greater curiosity within young people about the history and cultural heritage of Hispanics. And whereas the City of Tracy recognizes the significant contributions of all Hispanic residents as drivers of our economy, as business owners, workers and entrepreneurs, as contributors to our academic environment, as protectors of our health and well-being, as advocates for social equity and justice through civic leadership, as elected and public officials in our government, and through cultural enrichment as artists and writers. And whereas the City Council takes pride in the growing diversity of our community and encourages all residents to learn more about the rich culture, traditions and history of Hispanics and celebrate the valuable contributions Hispanics have made to the growth, prosperity and well-being of our region. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Dan Areola, Mayor of the City of Tracy, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2026, as National Hispanic Heritage Month, and encourage the community to learn about and celebrate the generations of Hispanic and Latin Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society. Thank you so much, and go ahead and turn it over.

Well, thank you City of Tracy for acknowledging our nonprofit organization, the Southside Community Organization of Tracy. We are incredibly proud to be recognized by the city during Hispanic Heritage Month. As our team and community show, we are beautifully diversified and we take pride in preserving and carrying out our Hispanic traditions by hosting cultural events throughout the year. Our biggest celebration is the 16th of September, which we just held this past Saturday at Lincoln Park. We extend our sincere thanks to the city and council members who attended and participated in these festivities. Many are here today. They were in the parade and attended our event. Thank you for that. Our next event is going to be the Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos. We invite everyone to come and view beautiful altars displayed in honor of their deceased loved ones. Thank you once again for this recognition and for your continued partnership in supporting our organization. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, Annie. And Council, can we come this way for a photo, please? All right, we have one more round of applause for Hispanic Heritage Month and Southside Community Organization. All right, that concludes our presentations. We'll go ahead and start back in just a minute. All right, next up, that brings us to our consent calendar. Council, are there any members of the City Council who'd like to pull any of the consent calendar items? Seeing none on this side, any on this side? No? Staff, do we have any consent calendar items to pull?

Good evening, Mayor. I don't have any consent items, but I did want to, at the top of the meeting, request that we pull item 5A, which is the public hearing that was noticed. and have council direct us to return at a future meeting and direct us to re-notice at a future or a future meeting.

All right. Item 5A is related to the environmental. No, the warehouse. Excuse me. It is the warehouse policy. So this time I'll make a motion to move item 5A to a future meeting to be designated by staff.

Second.

We have a first and a second. Mayor Pro Tem, roll call please.

Mayor Areola?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie?

Yes.

Council Member Bedoya?

Yes.

Council Member Evans?

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard? Yes.

All right, thank you. The item passes. So if anyone's here for the warehouse policy, that will be reconsidered at a future meeting. So just go ahead and follow the City of Tracy to hear more. All right. Are there any members of the public who would like to pull any of the consent calendar items? Please raise your hand. Seeing none in chambers, do we have any online?

None, none, none.

Okay, with that, I will go ahead and close the public comment portion for Item 3, Consent Calendar, and entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor, make a motion to approve the Consent Calendar. Second. We have a first and a second with Councilmember Nygaard. Roll call, please.

Mayor Potem, Abercrombie?

Yes.

Councilmember Nygaard? Yes. Councilmember Bedoya?

Yes.

Councilmember Evans?

Yes.

And Mayor Areola?

Yes. All right, that brings us to items from the audience. As a reminder, this is a public comment portion for any item that is not on tonight's agenda. We still have a number of regular agenda items to get to, and the City Council is limited in how we can respond to non-agendized items pursuant to the government code. Are there any members of the public who would like to speak on an item that is not on tonight's agenda? Could you please raise your hand? Okay, I see six requests, so pursuant to public comment guidelines, they'll be each speaker getting three minutes. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker cards?

We have four speaker cards, and I believe that of the four, they raised their hands.

Okay, let's go ahead and start with the speaker cards.

Catalina Pina.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members.

Good evening.

My name is Dr. Catalina Pina, and I serve as the Delta College Trustee representing Tracy and Mountain House. I want to share an update on Measure K, the $598 million bond approved by voters in November 2024, with a particular focus on our south campus in Mountain House. At the main campus in Stockton, the first Measure K construction project broke ground on June 30th. Work includes solar canopies over parking lots, parking lot repairs and repaving, and upgrades to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. The solar installations are expected to save approximately $1 million annually in utility costs, allowing more resources to support students and instruction. For our South County communities, the Board identified a permanent South Campus building as a first phase priority in February 2025. In December, we selected an architectural firm to help develop the project requirements. These are important steps toward fulfilling a promise to our communities that have waited a long time to see realized. The planned facilities include modern classrooms, science laboratories, and specialized spaces for cybersecurity, aeronautics, and computer networking programs, along with student services and common areas. Delta's published timeline calls for design to begin this fall, followed by state approval, with construction anticipated to begin soon after. As an educator, I see how ACT-IS shaped students' choices. For students in Tracy and Mountain House, having more educational opportunities close to home can make a meaningful difference, especially for those balancing school, employment, and family responsibilities. I will continue advocating for our communities as this work moves forward. Our responsibility is to honor the trust voters placed in us through transparency, careful use of public dollars and regular updates. Thank you to our voters for investing in our students and our region's future. And thank you for the opportunity to provide this update.

Thank you, Dr. Pena, especially for your work in our partner Delta College. Next speaker card, please.

Andrew.

Let's see, does this go high enough?

There's also a button on the side to raise the entire platform. Oh, no. Sorry.

On the... Over behind your right, underneath right hand. There you go.

There we go.

Good enough.

Okay. Good evening, council members.

Good evening.

I already made my entrance by breaking the microphone. I'm here to ask that you reconsider the city's contract with Flock Safety. Hundreds of other cities and counties across the US have already done the same, and for good reason. Lago Vista, Texas, Pasco County, Florida, Grass Valley, Los Angeles, and soon Folsom, right here in California. They've all canceled their contracts. This is not a partisan issue. This is not a knee-jerk anti-police action. We take issues with these surveillance systems because of the dire threat this prevents to our individual rights and privacy. By collecting data about all citizens, allowing a third party company to store the data, and then sharing that data with hundreds of different entities, we've invited the greatest privacy nightmare of our generation. According to TPD, 648,000 plates have been scanned this month alone and Flock provides many tools to analyze this data. One for example can create a behavioral profile on any license plate generating a heat map of where any one of us is likely to be in a 14 or 30 day period. This is only the tip of the privacy iceberg. They have other tools like Flock Nova which can be used to gather open source intelligence on any individual citizens we're talking name, date of birth, address, political affiliations. This is really only the tip of the iceberg and I urge the council to come to their own conclusions as to why hundreds of cities are dropping their contract. I lost my place here. To ask our police or flock to address the privacy concerns of our citizens is not the solution. They will always advocate for this technology because it is in their interest to do so. I will leave you all with this. The Fourth Amendment reads in part, the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause. I make not a legal appeal but an appeal to your morals. Are we living up to this ideal? Does placing ordinary people under constant surveillance in public uphold this ideal? I've already made up my mind. I only ask that each of you do the same. I yield my time. Thank you, sir.

Next speaker, please.

Kyle Cefalo.

Not quite as tall as him. I think all of you individually know my last name through my uncle. I'm not him, although I share a lot of his political ideals. Not all of them, though. And I did Canvas for two of you, so two of you definitely know me by name. And I'm kind of regretting that with regard to the flop camera situation. I feel that any law enforcement solution needs to be fully vetted before it's implemented. I feel that any city that decides to implement a new law enforcement solution whatsoever needs to know the consequences of that solution. And there are cases, recent cases, as recent as a couple months ago, of women being stalked using these flock cameras. I have signed a oath as a member of San Joaquin County local government, because I work for San Joaquin County Public Works. That oath says I'm going to uphold the Constitution. Do you guys really think that we're upholding the Constitution? When we say that, okay, we're going to allow someone who works for the police department to access these cameras. What guarantee do any of us have that the same won't happen here? I personally do not believe that we have any guarantee. Ethics is a hard thing to fight back for. Ethics is a really hard decision to make when you have an easy decision to say, This will help out police. I guarantee you they will help out fight crime. That comes with a cost. And I think that that's a moral cost, and I don't think it's one that's worth sacrificing my moral compass for. So I'm not going to say revoke your decision. You guys may have made up your minds. I'm going to say reconsider. Reconsider. Come back to it. Look at the contract again. Are they selling our data to private individuals? Do you know that they're selling our data to private individuals? Do you know that they're not? Because they have done that in other cities. Those contracts have been amended in other cities to do the same. I just ask for careful consideration from my government. I'll leave the rest of my time.

Thank you, Mr. Cefalo. Next speaker card, please.

Diana.

Good evening. It seems like we have a theme here. I am also here to request that the city council reconsider its contract with flock safety for their surveillance cameras. We all want to feel safe and know that our police will be able to solve crime and catch criminals, but you may have noticed that cities all over the U.S. are now joining a growing wave that are canceling their contracts with flocks. Unfortunately, the city of Tracy is out of step with this trend. What everyone else is realizing is that these flock cameras, while sometimes helpful, are also a huge Pandora's box of vulnerability for our citizens. They track everyone's every trip, everywhere, every day. The pan, tilt, zoom cameras that have been approved for the parks, they actively track people and zoom in on our faces. You don't have to do anything wrong for them to focus on you. Flock says that collected data belongs to the city, but how can that be so when Flock reserves the permanent right to our data and stores it on their servers? This data can be searched by any of hundreds of law enforcement departments Tracy PD shares data with. Flock also reserves the right to train their AI systems with our data. Flock likes to claim their cameras don't use facial recognition despite the fact they provide people search via their web portal. Once they collect facial images, they can use their software to begin to identify individuals. A growing number of cases of misuse by police are being reported. In fact, this last Friday, San Jose PD disclosed that they fired an officer for giving a woman's location to his cousin after she reported him for domestic violence. To me, Big Brother is no longer just a fictional surveillance state of George Orwell's novel, 1984. It is fast becoming our reality here and now. I do believe that the people of Tracy do not want this. And once again, I request the city council reconsider their flock contracts.

Thank you. Do we have any additional speaker cards?

No additional speaker cards.

Okay. With that, whoever raised their hand previously, you have your time, please.

How you doing? First time doing this, do you guys answer any questions or do we just speak towards you? We just speak. Okay. So same thing, block camera system. It seems like we're getting to that territory of government overreach. Like this is a private company. You guys are enlisting them as a private company. That means there's a cost behind that. What is the cost? Has that been disclosed? Is there a plan to add more or is there a plan to reduce? I think my biggest concern around it for the public and everybody else, this has access to our DMV files. DMV files have our social security numbers. Everybody's social security number. Why is that an acceptable situation to have a third party come in and have our data that can go to our social security numbers. It's not regulated by government in any stretch. It is a private company. Their data use that they use for their security cameras is owned by Amazon. So it seems like there's a lot of gray in this and that we've moved faster before we actually understand what we've gotten ourselves into. And I love looking and tracing. But as soon as I saw those goes up, it made me question if I want to stay in the city. Because it just seems like you're watching with the public, and we're using tools that we don't fully understand, and we don't know all of the risk to the public. And it's getting pushed onto us. Even though I know they just changed their servers to seven days, and then they dumped their data, that's still seven days of our data. And if a foreign country or foreign entity gets into our systems, all of our information is at risk. So that's realistically all I have to say, and it's like a serious consideration to get them removed, because it doesn't seem like it's for public safety, because living here, I don't feel unsafe living here. And I'm not sure what it's doing to reduce crime or reduce the situations at hand in our public settings. So I would support more officers, anything like that, because it feels like we could spend our money more wisely and not leave it up to a third party entity to solve our problems.

That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Seeing no additional speakers in chambers, do we have any speakers online?

No speakers online.

Thank you. With that we'll go and close out items from the audience and that will bring us to just as a reminder item 5A has been pushed to a future meeting. So that brings us to item 6A related to the general plan update. Staff report please.

I think this, okay. Good evening council and members of the public. My name is Brianna Alamia and I am the project manager for the general plan update. Tonight council has the opportunity to learn more about the general plan update process and share input on their priorities and vision for the future of Tracy. With us here tonight is Beth Thompson from DeNovo Planning Group who is assisting the city in completing this major project. I would like to welcome Beth to the podium to provide a more in-depth overview of the process and what's to come. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. It's a pleasure to be before you tonight to kick off the general plan with you. And I'm just going to get a clicker so we can go through the slides. So there's a lot to the general plan. We could probably spend six hours, but I won't do that. I'll keep it brief and high level for you. But we'll introduce the project team, talk about the roles of the different members of the project team. We'll talk about the purpose of the general plan, go through the process of updating the general plan, and then how we engage the community and what the strategy is to get community input and make sure that the general plan reflects that. We'll talk about next steps in the process. And then, of course, we have some questions for you, the council, to get your input on the vision, priorities, and challenges for us to consider in developing the general plan update, as well as some input on the planning area boundary. So there are a lot of players in the general plan update process. It's a detailed, long-term, comprehensive process. It takes about three years. City staff is key. They're the facilitators of the general plan update. They manage our work, so they review all of our work. They make sure that we stay on time, on budget, and that we're addressing all of the things we promised that we would do. Consultant team, we are advisors. We're hired by the city to provide technical expertise in the general plan update. And we have a number of members of our firm. So I'm Beth Thompson, as I said. I'm a principal with De Novo Planning Group. We're the prime consultant on this project. So we will be the key authors of the general plan update and the environmental impact report. And we'll do the majority of the work overall. But we also have a number of specialty consultants who provide technical expertise in specific areas. So for traffic, we have fair and peers addressing the traffic demand, traffic modeling, mobility, and circulation. For economic development, we have EPS. For infrastructure and utilities, West Yost will review wastewater, water demand, and what the implications are of that associated with the general plan, particularly the land use map. We have JZMK. I always get their initials a little confused, but they're an architecture firm. They do urban design. They'll make sure that as we're talking about different land uses, kind of get a vision for what those could look like and how we fit those in and how they work together. We have resource preservation for cultural resources. And then we're also joined by Kerns and West for public outreach to make sure that we have really involved and engaging opportunities for the public. The city council has appointed a general plan advisory committee or a GPAC. They are a special advisory body and they focus on the general plan update. So we will meet with them many times throughout this process. Every single element of the general plan will be reviewed and discussed by the GPAC. And when we're talking about potential changes to the land use map, they'll be reviewing various iterations of changes. And then we'll bring those changes to the community, to you and to the planning commission. the planning commission will also be reviewing the general plan they're the city council's chief advisory body on planning and development matters whenever there's a general plan amendment or a zoning code amendment or zoning code update they provide a recommendation to the city council and then the city council you're the ultimate decision makers so you're the legislative body directing the affairs of the city and ultimately you decide what goes into the general plan update and whether or not you want to adopt it or how you would like it to be revised as we bring you various pieces of the project. So the purpose of the general plan, it covers a lot of bases. So it's intended to define a long-term vision for the future growth and resource management within the city. Typically, they have about a 20-year time frame, but we're really looking also at potential build-out conditions of the city. So it's intended to work for the next 20 years, but we're also not just stopping where we think growth will occur in 20 years. We're looking out beyond that because we don't always know where and how the city will grow exactly. So this gives you a lot of flexibility and meeting demand and addressing change. It's intended to reflect the goals and values of the city, and we'll talk about that in a couple of slides. It includes extensive opportunities for community input, so we have a lot of opportunities for the community to participate in the general plan update, to provide comments, and then we provide a few ways to make sure that those comments are considered and reflected. It balances a number of concerns. It addresses growth, economic development and fiscal sustainability, conservation of resources, and then the quality of life that your city wants and deserves. It strategically identifies various priorities for the city's budget and capital investment priorities based on the vision of the general plan. And then it also serves as a tool for staff and decision makers. It provides a lot of the city's goals and policies and it articulates those so that as you're making various decisions, you can go back, you can look at the general plan and see what the community said and what you determined was the appropriate path forward for different topics. Every city and county in California is required to have an adopted general plan. There's REQUIREMENTS OF STATE LAW, WE'LL TALK ABOUT THOSE IN A FEW SLIDES, AND IT HAS TO BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY. SO FROM TIME TO TIME, THERE ARE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS THAT HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED IN THE GENERAL PLAN. ONE OF THE KEY COMPONENTS OF THE GENERAL PLAN is defining and refining this community's vision. So your last general plan was updated comprehensively in 2006. It had some significant updates again in 2011, and it's been updated from time to time since then, but it hasn't been comprehensively opened up, reviewed, and made sure that it's really continuing to address where Tracy wants to go, what you want to see. So this is really a chance to talk to the community, to talk to the decision makers, the various bodies, and to make sure that The vision articulated and supported by the general plan is still where you want to go and to refine that as necessary. So we look at issues like quality of life, the standard of services being provided to the community, parks, recreation, all of those things that make Tracy a great place to live. Opportunities to preserve important resources to the community, open space, the downtown, different areas that just are vital to the community and how you preserve and revitalize those. Opportunities for innovation and sustainability. As technology and different trends occur and change, how are you embracing those and how are you positioning yourself to meet opportunities in the future and really to support a vibrant economy for the city? The general plan, as I've mentioned, is comprehensive. It's a fairly large document. It touches on a lot of topics. And it serves as the city's playbook, sometimes called a blueprint or a constitution, for land use and planning decisions. And it addresses land use and economic development by looking at different types of residential, commercial, industrial, office, business park, open space, recreation uses, where those should go, how they should work together. So we provide just a lot of information on that. You have a land use map as well as a lot of policies that support that. We look at infrastructure planning. So once we know where and how the city wants growth to occur, how will the infrastructure be in place to serve that growth? looking at public services, police, fire, parks, libraries, cultural, et cetera. How is the city ensuring that your residents maintain a high quality of services as you also expand those services to serve new development? And then also looking at how we conserve resources. As you have growth and change, there can be impacts to habitat, to waterways. So making sure that you have clean air, clean water, and you continue to support special status species and important resources like your agricultural lands that surround the city. So the general plan is about a three-year process. Work happens on the general plan in three separate phases. So in the first phase, we establish the baseline conditions and community priorities. So for establishing the baseline conditions, we need to understand where we are so we can figure out how to get to the vision that the community tells us they want to see. So this involves a lot of information gathering. This includes robust community engagement and workshop activities. We develop an existing conditions report, which is a extensive document that addresses every topic in the general plan, the current conditions related to that topic, and then the regulatory framework that the city has to consider in addressing that topic. We look at key opportunities and challenges for the general plan to address. And we prepare a community outreach and vision report that describes the input we received from the community, summarizes it, and also includes every single comment we received at the various workshops. So it has very thick appendices, but it's a really useful document. In the second phase, we developed the land use alternatives. and the policy options, as well as start working on the overall general plan update. So in this phase, we prepare a series of issues and opportunities memos that address various topics that come up throughout the process. And we also prepare a land use alternatives report. And I'll talk about the land use map in a couple of slides because that's key to moving forward with the environmental impact report. And it's also key to developing the draft general plan policies because we need to know how you want the city to look and grow so that we can look at the policy framework that supports that growth. During this phase, we'll hold several community workshops to get feedback on the land use alternatives, as well as draft general plan information. And then we'll have a number of study sessions with the city council and the planning commission to get feedback on key points in the process. In the third phase, we have the public draft general plan. So all of that information we gathered in the second phase, we turn that into a policy document that goes out for public review. And we also prepare an environmental impact report that addresses the environmental ramifications of the potential development or the development accommodated by the general plan. So that's called a draft EIR, draft environmental impact report. That's prepared in the third phase. And then we prepare responses to comments received on those documents. They're both available for a public review period. And we review and respond to comments received on that. And then we come back to the planning commission for a recommendation on the draft general plan that goes to the city council for consideration. So a lot of opportunities for public input, a lot of steps in the process. So as I mentioned, the General Plan addresses a lot of topics. State law requires very specific topics to be included in the General Plan. These include land use, circulation, conservation, and air quality as part of conservation, environmental justice, open space, Safety, noise, and housing. Your housing element was recently updated. It's on an eight-year cycle. It's separate from the rest of the general plan, so that was recently updated. We don't expect to fully update that as part of this process, but we will make sure that the general plan is consistent with the housing element. If any refinements are needed, we'll identify those and bring those to you. The city can also address optional topics, so things that are of local importance to your community. So in the case of Tracy, your general plan will also include an economic development and fiscal sustainability component. It will address public facilities and services, and it will address the community character. We will also include a new component, an administration and implementation chapter, and this takes every single action in the general plan, assigns a responsible party at the city, and a timeline for implementation. And that way you really have a way of tracking how your general plan is implemented and not just having a document that sits on the shelf and you look at it from time to time and you really wish you were doing it, but you don't really have the time. So this gives you a really good way to take stock every year and make sure that your general plan is being implemented and see how you've prioritized all the various policies. So as I mentioned, the draft land use map is a big component of the project. So we always want to make sure that we have land use right, so we prepare a land use alternatives report, and we do this through the GPAC, but we also get a lot of community input to inform the land uses that are looked at in the land use alternatives report. So we go through a series of visioning workshops, We'll have surveys available for the community. There will be some pop-up workshops. And then we'll also have workshops on the land use alternatives report. So that feeds into what's reflected in the land use map. We also have opportunities for property owner input. So there will be a land use change request application. So somebody who would like a general plan amendment, they would like to have a land use designation change for their property. They can submit an application. It doesn't have to be approved as part of this process, but it gives them an opportunity to be considered in the context of the general plan update, and that way you're not looking at things separately from the overall update. Applications have to be signed by the property owner, so if someone can't submit one for their neighbor's property, the property owner has to submit it themselves or have their agent submit it on their behalf. We also will have city input, so the city staff's technical advisory committee will provide input to us on the various land use alternatives and help develop and refine those. The land use alternatives will go to the GPAC for a recommendation, and then that recommendation will go to the Planning Commission, which will then go to the City Council. So before we have the draft general plan, we'll come to you with a series of land use options. We'll have a report that discusses what the ramifications of the different land use options are in terms of the amount of growth. the type of development you would see, economic impacts, traffic impacts. So you'll have a report that addresses those, and we'll ask you to give us direction on which one is preferred for us to further analyze in the draft general plan and the environmental impact report. The timeline, as I mentioned, this is about a three-year timeline. I won't go through every step in the process, but you'll see a lot of the general plan team as we go through this process. There are a lot of meetings and a lot of workshops. As I mentioned, we're starting off with the existing conditions report and the visioning process. So that's going to be the next three to six months. And then next year, we'll start with the land use alternatives development, policy development, and then the environmental impact report. So as I mentioned, we want to hear from the community. A general plan should not be a document that's just updated with the name of Tracy in it where we grab a few policies from other areas. We want this to reflect what your city wants to see, what's important to Tracy, what you value, and what your challenges and priorities are for the next 20 years. So to do this, we have a variety of ways that we engage the community and people who are interested in what's happening in Tracy. We'll have multiple opportunities. We make those meaningful. We have both opportunities for in-person meetings as well as digital engagement. I'll talk about both of those in the next few slides. So we really have a way of making sure that we engage We gather and develop information from a broad variety of your community. And we really want to remove barriers to participation as well. So we make sure that we have survey opportunities. We have pop-up events in a number of ways that aren't your traditional show up at a meeting and make public comment ways for people to provide input and kind of have it be a little more fun and exciting. And we also make sure that as we go through key milestones with the general plan update, that we're aligning workshops and opportunities for community input with those key deliverables so we're getting feedback at very specific times. So as I said, lots of opportunities for community input. So at every planning commission, every city council workshop, study session, hearing, there will be an opportunity for community comment. And then we also have a number of community workshops. And these are directed toward the community. So these have typically a presentation of what the general plan is going to address and then a number of hands-on activities to get input from the community. So we often ask people to write down their ideas, to work in small groups, to brainstorm. We roll out maps. We ask people to mark up the maps. All of that information gets put into our reports, and we bring that back to you so that you know what we heard from the community. And then as we're preparing the general plan update, we're cross-referencing how we got that community feedback and how it's reflected in the general plan so that you can see where we move forward with different ideas and recommendations we've heard. We also engage specific stakeholders. We'll hold a series of focus groups to address specific topics. The General Plan Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public, so the community is invited to come and listen to those to hear the GPAC discussion and to provide comments. And then city staff will be hosting a number of pop-up events at various activities throughout the city. You'll probably see Brianna at a few of those. And then we also are preparing a workshop toolkit for the staff to use so that when there is a pop-up event, it has really similar information and activities as the in-person workshops we're holding at the same time. That way we're collecting really streamlined, consistent data. And then, of course, people can comment at all of the public hearings. But we hope to hear from them well before the public hearings. So, in addition to these in-person opportunities, there's a lot of other ways people can learn about the general plan update and participate. So, the city's website has a dedicated page to the general plan update. This will include any upcoming community engagement activities. So, as workshops are scheduled, those will be added to the website. If there are any surveys available, there will be a link on the website. We have a number of interactive ways that we can do surveys to have people do some hands-on mapping. And we really also want to make sure that the city's existing social media, your mailing lists, your stakeholders that are engaged on other issues with the city, that they're invited to participate and we're really leveraging that interest as part of the general plan update. So next steps. So our next steps, we're going to hold two visioning workshops, one on October 27th and another on November 19th, both this year, both at room 105 of the Tracy Transit Center. And those are at 630, correct? So those are at 630. So we hope to get a lot of people there who are going to provide some hands-on mapping input and really hear about the general plan and have some chances to provide their input regarding the city's priorities, those assets that should be protected and preserved and challenges we really need to address. Pop-up events will be throughout the city. And then we also have an online survey coming soon. And so those will all be our upcoming activities. And then we're preparing the existing conditions report. That takes a while to prepare. We have a lot of data to gather. And then we also have to get some issues identified, like the planning area boundary that we're going to ask you about in a few slides. So tonight we're asking the city council to provide input on two issues. And so none of this requires a vote or is final, but we want to have some direction and some input so that we're looking at issues that are of concern to the council. So we'd like each of you to let us know your vision, your priorities and challenges for the general plan update. So to consider what notable challenges are facing the city? What should be addressed in the general plan update? What are your priorities for Tracy? What do you want to see it do in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years? What's your vision for Tracy? As I said, we don't really want this to just be a short-term document. So thinking out into the future, future generations, what do you want Tracy to be like for them? And then we also have some questions about the planning area boundary. So the planning area boundary is an area typically larger than the city that's included in the general plan. So the city's limits are your city's corporate boundary. So this is the area in which the city council makes decisions and they affect this area. You also have a sphere of influence, and that's established by LAFCO, or the Local Agency Formation Commission, and that identifies the probable area that the city may grow and annex, so kind of where you intend to grow, where you intend to provide services over a 10 and a 30-year period. You have a larger area that's called a planning area, and this is the geographic area that's outside of the city limits, outside of the sphere of influence. where we can analyze future growth, if growth is desired in those areas, and we can also identify areas that you might want to have stay the same. And so we identify the potential growth plans, potential conservation plans for these areas, and we address this through the environmental impact report, as well as the mapping in the general plan. The broader area gives the city more flexibility when you're looking at your general plan, when you're looking at potential changes in the future. So a broader area is more flexible. So we wanna make sure you're looking at any long, long-term growth options. And you also want to make sure that you're looking at the areas you want to analyze. I also call this kind of an area of interest. So it's also, because it's not your sphere of influence where you expect to grow in the next 10 to 30 years, It might be areas where you're just interested in what's happening, the area that's south and west of Lathrop. You might be interested if they decide that they're going to grow to that area, so you might want to include that in your planning area and make sure you're notified if there's any plans for growth in that area. The areas to the south, the areas to the east and west of the city, all of these areas, if there are big changes in those areas, you want to know what's happening, and if you have an area of interest, that can identify your vision for those areas, even if they're not under city control. There's no commitment to having a planning area boundary, so it doesn't say that you're going to grow there. It just says it's an area that you're interested in. So establishing this perimeter for your study area for the general plan, there's no obligation associated with it, but it does give us, when we're gathering data and developing your existing conditions report, we make sure to address all of that area that's within the planning area boundary. And so with that, I'll take a pause. Happy to answer any questions and then to get the council's input on those two issues.

So I think it would be more effective, I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and go through all of it and then we'll come back and we'll have the council give individual inputs.

Okay.

Thank you.

And that is it. No. Oh, okay.

All right, so I'm going to go ahead and do public comment first before we go through council statements. But before we do that, council, do you have any preliminary questions before we begin? Seeing none. Okay, we'll go out for public comment on this item. Again, this is merely an informational update. We're taking no action today. This is to get more information, but we absolutely want to hear from you. Can I please see hands raised for folks who would like to speak on this item? Seeing one, per our public comment guidelines, we'll allow four minutes. So go ahead and allow public comment on this item.

Thank you. Robin Cole, can we go back to the slide that had the required guidelines on it, please? If possible. If not, that's okay. I can just talk to it. They had a bunch of items that were required, items that we needed to look at. Back one more, I think. There we go. Require topics and then optional topics. One of the things I didn't see was light pollution, and that has become an issue throughout the United States with those folks that live near commercial districts. It interferes with a child's ability to sleep through the night because of the light coming from the larger streets, and I think it's something that we should add to our general plan to review. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Cole. Do we have any additional public comment on this item? Seeing none in chambers, do we have any online?

Not online.

Okay. With that, we'll go ahead and close out the public comment portion for item 6A. We'll return to council, and I believe our finance committee did have a review of this beforehand. Am I understood? No? No. Okay. Never mind. Then we'll go ahead and start with anyone on council who would like to start. I'll go ahead. Mayor Paton.

The other day we met with the school district regarding they're in a process of looking at possibly no go crazy. Possibly readjusting some boundaries, but then they were looking at some of our development areas. How much input or how much contact do we have with our schools regarding our general plan update so that they're also aware of where potential development is going to go so that they're ready to serve those children?

They're definitely an important stakeholder. So when we have those land use map alternatives, we do ask for their input so that we can get feedback. And then when it goes out for public review, there's specifically an agency that we request their comments. So, yeah, they'll have, and we engage them throughout. They'll be invited to meetings, et cetera, but they'll specifically be, we'll do outreach at those components and specifically request input.

Great. Thank you. And then one of the things when we did districting that I thought was really helpful was, and I appreciate Nessie and April, they went to Farmer's Market and provided info to people about the districting so that they were aware of it. Would that be something that would be possible for us to have a few times at the farmers markets to allow people to be aware of these workshops and such that we're going through this process so that they can attend those? Not necessarily providing detailed information at the farmers market, but allowing them to know what's going on that they can then attend those.

Absolutely. I see Brianna smiling as you talk about that. Yes, the city, those are called pop-up events. So yes, we go out to those and typically we'll have like either like business cards or something that we can hand people so that they actually can go home and learn more about the general plan update.

Great. Okay. And then if you want to go to, if you want to go to the questions and I'll provide my input right now.

Slide 20.

Okay, so- I'm just gonna add, we are having a pop up this Saturday also at the Tracy Connects event to give information to the public. And we're planning to do farmers markets and other ones as well.

Great, thank you very much.

And I was talking to the school district today, so they're very aware.

Perfect, both school districts, right? TUSD and Jefferson.

Today just Tracy Unified, but we will be talking to all of them, yes.

Great, thank you. Notable challenges, one of the things that people continually talk about is the warehouse, where the warehouses are going, how that impacts with the trucking, trucks going through our city. So that's something that I definitely see as a challenge that the city needs to make sure that when that development is going in, that it has minimum impact on the residents as much as possible. That's one of the challenges I've continually heard from people. Priorities for Tracy is making smart growth, right? Making sure that we're providing, we have the infrastructure in place to provide the services that we need. We sometimes seem to be doing catch up on that. So I'd like to make sure that we have those priorities, those things in place as we're going. And You know, the vision for the next 20 years is just, again, being smart about how we use our land, how we use our resources, infrastructure, keeping all those in place, making sure that we provide the amenities to our citizens, that they can have all the services that they need in Tracy. I liked when you did the planning boundary, I liked the yellow as opposed to the purple. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Bertin. Who'd like to go next?

Thank you. I would say the biggest challenges that I perceive is managing growth. For me, the big thing would be responsible growth. I think we need better local jobs, better roads, enough water and public safety, and definitely more things for families of all types to do here. I want to make sure that we're not putting heavy industrial uses right next to neighborhoods and schools. And I'm fine with studying a broad planning area. But that shouldn't mean that we're committing to development everywhere inside of it. Thank you, Council Member Evans.

Thank you, Mayor. So when I first got elected to City Council, I think within my first few meetings, we got a presentation from a consultant that the prior council had engaged to study our city and bring potential opportunities for how we might grow and plan more effectively. And they said a lot of things and brought a lot of things to the table that aligned with what I was feeling about our city and how we'd planned in the past. And so I thought it was really effective and a really good study. But one thing that they said that really kind of nutshelled it for me was Tracy needs to start planning and growing with intent. Tracy needs to start planning and growing with intent. And so I really feel like this process that we're engaged in right now is a really great step towards that. So I'm really, really excited about it and looking forward to seeing what we come up with. Two things. One was community engagement, which I think was already covered. And I agree with everything Mayor Pro Tem said on that. Second thing is a big part of this process that I think is really going to be important is our GPAC. So our General Plan Advisory Committee. And so I don't really have any questions. I really just at this moment just want to say to staff and our consultant, I just want to be sure that we give them everything that they need and allow them to be engaged in working the process a little bit on the meetings and how the meetings are going to be run and facilitated. I just want to be absolutely sure that they have what they need and are given all the opportunities to get what they need to make the best recommendations. It's going to take a lot of digesting, a lot of information. And I know there's, we'll say, some varied... perspectives, which I think is great on that panel. And I'm very excited about what they're going to bring to the table. But I just want to be sure that this is going to be new for some of them. And it's a new process for all of us. So that would be my two cents on that. So again, thank you for the presentation and the information update. Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Nygaard.

Thank you, Mayor. Wow, this is a lot of great, it's really an opportunity for, like you say, a good vision. I think all of us here do wanna make sure that our city can continue to grow but thrive. We need to make sure that we are allowing opportunity to stay upfront and available for all of our residents. So I wanna start with a question, because I think on that one slide that had the required guidelines. Every single one of those items is addressed in the CAP, a climate action plan. So I do want to ask, how important do you feel the climate action plan has a role in this update?

I may be skewed towards general plans since I'm working on the general plan update, but I really see the climate action plan as being something that branches off and supports the general plan update. So your general plan update is going to give you that broad vision of the community, where and how you want growth to go. The climate action plan is going to look at what are the implications of this growth and what specific strategies can you have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to address climate risks. So that really comes after you've figured out the map for the general plan. When you're preparing a climate action plan, you have emissions inventories. So you establish a baseline inventory based on current conditions. And then you have a projection for what those future inventories will be. So you want to have the right land use map so you don't waste your time and energy like looking at your current general plan land use map, which you know you're going to change. So I think the cap's an important process. I would recommend it start like midway through the general plan or people gear up and start looking at some of the topics. But you don't want the cap to necessarily drive the general plan. You want the community input that's in the general plan to then be tiered down to the cap. It's kind of like a zoning code where it's an implementation measure that the city can use. Okay.

Well, ours, I will just say ours hasn't been updated since 2008, so I know that it does have a vital role into how some of the decisions on the general plan will be affected. So I do have two, I think, priorities for myself and my family in this community. I think... One is definitely transportation. Yes, my colleague has mentioned that yes, we're a a transit hub that reflects also we have a truck route map that we have to utilize in this city because we do have three corners of our city have truck access and do impact you know, many areas. So I think transportation connection, you know, making sure that we are having a long-term plan for the continued growth in this city. Yes, we still have a lot of industrial growth that's going to be coming. And how do we make sure our transportation reflects a good plan to keep the flow going moving, not just our residents and products, but making sure that we have good connection and that we are really addressing the traffic issues that come with growth. The other thing I really would like, because I think this is really important for all of this community ag as being part of our history. Just the green spaces that we are used to seeing that are kind of starting to be less and less. I really hope that we have a vision to keep green space important so that our cities don't grow together. I want to make sure, you know, I would really envision that we have green space between us and Mountain House and green space between us and Lathrop because I'd hate to see us in 20 years where we are all just merging together and you have one big metropolis because that, you know, definitely can happen. So that, I think, is really important because it just allows us to feel like we are a unique city. We still have our identity and we're not flowing together. So I think, you know, a lot of this is, yeah, still evolving around transportation, connectivity. But really, I think green space is really vital for us to make sure we have boundaries and identity.

Thank you, Council Member Nygaard. With regards to my comments on this, for notable challenges, I think the biggest one essentially would be to prevent urban sprawl. I remember that the first time I saw the City of Tracy in a textbook was while I was a UCLA student, and the City of Tracy was the literal textbook example of urban sprawl. And so I believe that in past general plans, We have grown in a way mostly to the south that hasn't been particularly balanced. I think there have been amendments to previous general plans, but ultimately many of our challenges today are now trying to meet the moment because of the challenges that came with urban sprawl. So I think as we look to the next 20 years, I like to make sure that we're planning intentionally to avoid the problems that come with urban sprawl. Beyond that, I'd echo my colleagues here. I'm very interested in making sure that we have balanced growth. I think that'll likely look like limits on industrial expansions upon commercial, but ultimately making sure that we're balancing growth along with our infrastructure as well. I'm not sure if this is the opposite to Councilmember Nygaard, but similarly, another challenge I think we need to take into consideration is coordination with Mountain House, Lathrop and the County. I think that we need to recognize that we are all very interconnected and as time comes and goes, there are impacts that can be felt and we should be working on that. Specifically, I remember a decade ago when I was a school board member, it was a few years after Mountain House was removed from the school district and there were fiscal ramifications for the loss of that amount of students because of Mountain House leaving. So I think that we need to look at the totality of the region and engage those other stakeholders, our partners, to make sure that we're addressing that as we look towards the growth of the next 20 years. For my priorities, The biggest one is essentially going to be economic development. I want to make sure that we have jobs and educational opportunities as well as entertainment opportunities for families, for young people. And the thing that I want to highlight is it's been a priority for my time as mayor, but I really want to make sure that we're looking at prioritizing youth engagement. I think it's something as part of my mayor's youth initiative, we've really been working on engaging with the youth, but we need to recognize that over the next 20 years, they will be the workforce. They will be the people who become our leaders. So I want to make sure that we're engaging them now to get their input during this. And then finally, for my vision for Tracy for the next 20 years, again, it's just looking at that really balanced growth. And I will echo Councilmember Nygaard, I want to make sure that we focus on public transit, in particular, recognizing that over the next 20 years, I HOPE THAT WE HAVE STRONGER COORDINATED EFFORTS FOR TRANSIT TO THE BAY, TO SACRAMENTO, TO LOS ANGELES, TO WHATEVER ECONOMIC MARKETS MAY ARISE, BUT MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE TAKING THAT INTO CONSIDERATION AS WE LOOK AT A LARGE MULTI DECADE VISION FOR OUR COMMUNITY. SO THOSE ARE OUR COMMENTS. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD? All right. With that, I will move to accept an informational update regarding the general plan process.

Second.

We have a first and a second. Roll call, please.

Mayor Areola.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie.

Yes.

Council Member Bedoya.

Yes.

Council Member Evans.

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard. Yes.

All right. That takes care of item 6A. Next up, we have item 6B related to the council's 2025 to 2027 strategic priorities. Staff report, please.

Mayor and council, one moment, please. We have to make a quick IT adjustment here. Absolutely, no problem. Can we get Channel 26 to come out here, please?

So good evening, Mayor, council members, Brian Bravo, legislative analysts. Tonight, I'm here to give you an informational update on the city's 2025-2027 strategic priorities. I'll be walking you through the five initiatives council has identified as its top priorities and share some of the progress we've made. So first, a bit of background on where these priorities came from. Council adopted them on June 8th, 2025, coming out of the council's strategic planning retreat with input from executive staff. They are meant to guide where we focus our resources. So really the idea is that these strategic priorities is to reflect what we hear from the community and council, which is to have a city that is financially responsible and running efficiently. while continuing to push on economic development, job creation, and public safety. Let's start with the five priority areas. First, it's public safety, which deals with engagement, education, prevention, and response. Second is local economy, which deals with strengthening Tracy's competitiveness, supporting local businesses, and creating opportunities for Tracy youth. Third is infrastructure, which deals with our roads, sidewalks, parks, utilities, and transit, and making sure that we maintain those investments over the long term. Fourth is the quality of life, which deals with housing, sustainability, our homelessness response, and arts and culture as well. And fifth is government accountability, which deals with fiscal responsibility, modern technology, and being transparent with the community. Together, these five areas cover the city's major priorities and help organize the work that we do. In the strategic priorities, we have 26 initiatives. Out of a larger list, council has identified five as a top priorities for the city. First, supporting the construction of public safety facilities. Second, implementing Tracy economic development strategic plan. Third, enhancing the city's roadways and sidewalks. Fourth, supporting the economic programs that prioritize Tracy youth. And fifth, developing environmental sustainability strategies. I'll go through each one of these and share the progress that we've made. So first, the priority is public safety facilities. There are five efforts I want to highlight here. The mobile command posts, the animal shelter expansion, the police substation and fire station number 97, and the potential hospital. Starting with the mobile command posts, the city received a $500,000 Homeland Security Grant in 2025. And council authorized another $600,000 to fully fund the purchase. This will replace the police department's existing mobile command vehicle with a newer, more reliable space for coordinating during major incidents. We should be receiving this mobile command post in the first quarter of 2027. For the animal shelter expansion, we were awarded 836,000 in federal funding plus a million in state funding. That will help us expand the shelter and improve our ability to care for animals and support pet owners. For the police substation and fire station number 97, staff negotiated the return of 50 acres from Valley Link and land that can support future public safety facilities. And in terms of a hospital, staff continues to actively engage with Sutter Health as they evaluate potential healthcare investment in Tracy. So overall, there's been a real progress here For the priority number one, which is securing funding, getting land back under city control, and continuing conversations about future healthcare services in the city. The second priority is implementing Tracy's economic development strategic plan. I wanna highlight three areas here. First, it's supporting downtown and local businesses. We facilitated a 10-year renewal of the Downtown Tracy Community Benefit District, and we're working on a new Shop Tracy campaign, along with a Facade Improvements program as well. Second, we're attracting investments. Council approved two hotel projects near the mall, and we've welcomed new businesses like Trader Joe's, Dutch Bros, and Sprouts. Third, infill and affordable housing. The triway project brings 275 small lot homes and 49 ADUs, and the city has committed 4 million to help advance the San Joaquin Housing Authority Senior Apartment Project, which is expected to provide more than 80 units. Together, these efforts support our local businesses while bringing new investment, housing, and economic activity to the city. The third priority is our roadways and sidewalks, both the big projects and everyday maintenance. On major roadway projects, design work is underway for Coral Hollow Road, MacArthur Road, pavement management program, and the International Parkway of Commerce bridge project is moving forward as well. On maintenance and safety, council provided 75,000 for traffic calming studies and 200,000 for sidewalk replacement. The Tracy Boulevard pavement rehabilitation project is underway. And our fiscal year 2025-2026 eight-phase seal coat program continues to help expand the life of our existing roads. So this priority is really about both sides of the equation. Bigger roadway improvements alongside the everyday maintenance our streets and sidewalks need. The fourth priority is creating economic and career opportunities for Tracy youth. One part of this is connecting youth to workforce opportunities. We work with partners including WorkNet, the Boat Institute, and Small Business Development Center. The Boat Institute has already delivered several advancement manufacturing training programs here in the city. The other part is introducing youth to city government. through Youth and Government Day, which lets students learn about the city departments and career paths. We also have paid summer internship program as well, which gives young people hands-on experience in working for the city. So this priority is really about helping young people explore careers, build skills, and see the paths available to them right here in the city. The fifth priority is environmental sustainability. On the citywide energy upgrade program, we're conducting an investment grade audit of the city's facilities to identify opportunities like HVAC upgrades, solar and EV charging, with the goal of reducing energy use and costs while modernizing our facilities. We're also investing in recycled water along Lambers Road and in our urban forests. We planted 860 trees in fiscal year 2024-2025. with another 244 planted so far this fiscal year. So before I move on, I also want to flag additional wins on this slide, projects that we've been either completed or been working on for the city. One of them is by district elections. It's by district elections, yeah. At our February 3rd, 2026 meeting, council unanimously adopted the ordinance formally establishing by district elections for city council members excluding the mayor, finalizing the city's transition following unanimous introduction on the first reading on January 20, 2026. In homelessness, the Sprung Shelter is now running operations 24-7, and we're working with CalAIM to bring a medical respite program so that we can better serve residents who need a higher level of care. On recreation, The Tracy Aquatic Center took a big step forward this year when council gave direction on next steps at its June 16, 2076 meeting. And the project is now in the construction documentation phase. Another project that will bring significant recreation and wellness benefits to the city will be track, which is on track to open in the next calendar year as well. In terms of parks, we've opened a brand new BMX pump track at the Clyde Bland Park. And Gretchen Talley Park is also adding new amenities as well. Internally too, we filled 69 full-time positions and 77 part-time positions as well, reducing vacancy rate as well. So these are concrete examples of priorities turning into results that residents can already use and see. And everything I've covered tonight is a high-level overview But we'll be able to check online as well for anyone who wants a more detailed regarding any specific project for the city. They can start on our website, go to our strategic priorities page on the city's website and click on explore 2025-2027 strategic plan. Once you click on that, you'll be able to click on a specific priority area to see its mission statement and overall status. within that priority you'll be able to see all the initiatives that fall within that and the individual action items in progress. So there's quite a bit of more information available online that I didn't cover tonight. And this concludes my presentation tonight and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Bravo. Council, do we have any preliminary questions? Seeing none. Seeing none. All right, with that we'll go out for public comment. Again, this is merely an informational item. Can I please see hands raised for any members of the public who would like to speak on Item 6B? Seeing none, Chambers, do we have any online?

We have none online.

Okay, with that, I'll go ahead and close out the public comment portion for Item 6B. Do we have any additional discussion? Mayor Pro Temo.

Just for staff, I know at the end of meetings we seem to throw a bunch of things at you. How much does that impact... when we gave you these strategic goals, how much is that, be honest, how much is that impacting you?

Brian? No, I'm just kidding. I'll answer that. Mayor Pro Tem, yes, of course, it does have an impact on staff's capacity. I do appreciate that council, this council at their retreat, one of the things that we did different in this go-round, while we have 27 different initiatives that council identified, you did as a council identify the top five, which really helped me focus my staff and resources so that you can see some concrete progress that we've made in those five priority areas. In addition, we have the other 22 initiatives that we're working on in the background as well. When council does have asks that are going to take more than three hours, we do ask that you bring that to council and have council sort of direct us to reprioritize. Depending on the ask, for example, the district elections by district elections came after these priorities and we had to adjust and so some of the some of the priorities got pushed a little further back so you might see that we don't have as much progress in some areas so it is a balancing act and you know but different priorities come up you know throughout the life of the strategic priorities.

then i would and this is just for me but and council is welcome to weigh in but i would i think might be might be helpful to us is when we ask for that sometimes we envision it being quicker it might be helpful for you to say okay send a memo to us saying you know this was asked on council this may not come back till march of 27 just so we have an idea because there's other things going on and that AT LEAST ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND MAYBE WE'RE ADDING TOO MUCH OR IT GIVES US A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORKLOAD THAT WE'RE DUMPING ON YOU. OKAY. THAT'S JUST MY SUGGESTION. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, MAYOR PRO TEMP. ANYTHING COUNCILMEMBER BODEAU.

JUST A FEW COMMENTS. STARTING WITH PUBLIC SAFETY. AS YOU KNOW WE IDENTIFIED NEAR MARK THE FUNDING FOR THE NEW PD SUBSTATION AND FIRE STATION AND JUST ASK STAFF TO CONTINUE focusing on that as expeditiously as possible. Those things to me are a number one priority for us, just speaking for me. Economic development, I don't think everybody realizes we started from scratch. New economic development team, new economic development plan is a really great plan. And I feel like what we're seeing, Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Dutch Brothers, is just kind of the opening salvo. So I'm really looking forward and excited to see what staff and economic development team brings here in the next year or two. So excited to see that. I recommend continue on with a constant improvement mentality. There's more there we can grow on. Roadways and sidewalks, I think to me that's our biggest opportunity. It was noted by staff some time ago, a couple meetings ago, maybe it was a finance committee meeting, that we weren't yet to a point where we're spending all the dollars that are allocated to resurfacing and repaving and streets and sidewalks. Really recommend that we do what we can to get to the point where if the money is allocated, we really should efficiently spend it. I don't want to go, you know, recklessly throwing money at contractors, but recommend that we recognize that opportunity there as quickly as we can. It's something that I hear often from constituents, and I think we do have, again, opportunity there for us to improve. Great work. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Nygaard.

Thank you, Mayor. Great report. Thank you so much for all the information and for the updates. It's really great to see progress. I think for me, one of my main priorities is still our health access for Sutter to be able to work with Sutter to get a timeline together. You know, we've outgrown our small hospital here and it is really important that we continue that conversation on how we can expand services and I'm talking about in-hospital services for critical care beds. and for more critical care resources. So that's one of my priorities. Connectivity is still big for me. I still ride my bike a lot. I still would love to feel like we flow better. So roadways and bike paths are really a must. And then, yes, I'm going to continue to navigate us into this realm of more sustainability and how we can have a more active role in playing our part in protecting our natural resources and planning for a future that can be healthy for all generations. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Nygaard. As for my comments, I would echo many of my colleagues up here. Some things I did want to highlight. I'm so appreciative that we're looking at the police substation and station number 97 that the council has fully funded those. We look forward to getting those into development soon. And as for the mobile command post, I think it's one of those things where I didn't quite realize the ramifications of it until we had an emergency, until we had the Medline fire when I was there alongside Ms. Lightworth, Mr. Sanchez, and of course our chief. I think at some point the air conditioning went out and just really seeing that these critical public safety facilities were integral to the communications ongoing. So I'm just really proud of the fact that we're moving forward with that. and making sure that we never want an emergency to happen. And I'm so thankful that our public safety, our police and fire did such an incredible job when we had an emergency with Medline. But I want to make sure that we're well prepared for the future in case anything were to happen again. And I want to have a huge thank you to Councilmember Nygaard. I have been with her in meetings with Sutter leadership, and we have made substantial progress along with staff. And I think having Councilmember Nygaard at the board really changed the face of that. So thank you, Councilmember. We really look forward to that second hospital coming diligently. And I would echo council member Evans with our economic development team. We have seen a complete turnaround. I think we've really done the work to kind of change kind of the reputation for our city as ready for business. And we look forward to bringing in more. And then finally, I want to thank staff for working with for me and working with a lot of our youth on really focusing that youth priority and engaging young people in a way that they haven't before. So I think staff is doing incredible work and we look forward to more work from you all in the future. With that I will move to accept an information update regarding the progress in City Council's 25-27 strategic priorities.

Second.

We have a first and a second councilor roll call please.

Sorry, Mayor, I didn't hear the second.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Mayor Ariella?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem, Robert Crombie?

Yes.

Council Member Bedoya?

Yes.

Council Member Evans?

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard?

Yes.

All right, thank you. That brings us to our last general item of the night. That is item 6C, related to an ad hoc climate action plan committee. Staff report, please.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council, Arturo Sanchez, assistant city manager. The item before you is to discuss whether the city council would like to form an ad hoc climate action plan committee, shortly named CAP committee, or other council-avoidant body, and if so, by motion, form and appoint the two members of the council to the CAP committee. Brief background and then turn it over to the Council for discussion. On August 18th, 2026, during Council items, Council Member Bedoya raised the issue of the need for an update to the City Sustainability Plan. Subsequently, Council Member Nygaard requested a discussion item as a direct link to the Sustainability Plan. for consideration of the formation of a two-member council-led ad hoc committee, the purpose of which would be to revise and update the city's climate action plan cap in advance of the city's general plan update to address the city's climate goals. This item is for the council to have a discussion related to that and if the council decides to establish an ad hoc committee by motion, establish the ad hoc committee and at the same time appoint two members of the council to that committee. That is the staff report at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll go over to preliminary questions. Are there any preliminary questions before we start? I'll go ahead and start with Council Member Nygaard. I believe he made the ask.

I'm just going to just share that I really am grateful and thankful that we are at this moment to have this discussion. I think the Climate Action Plan is really a vital component to really address how we are required to meet a lot of our state goals and mandates. So, you know, it brings into a lot of that conversation, you know, land use, water, energy. And I think this, you know, and it plays a very integral part into our general plan. So I think the timing is, you know, beneficial that, you know, we can update this plan to allow the general plan to have even more, you know, opportunity to integrate it cleaner and better for the future. So yes, I'm in full support of a ad hoc committee and hope that I could be involved on it to help move this, our own action plan forward.

Thank you. I did have just a couple questions. I just wanted staff to clarify what are the different types of commissions or committees that we're kind of looking at? Can you describe the differences for us so we can take that into consideration?

I will do my best, Mayor, but I may rely on the city attorney who may have a better memory about the different types. A council ad hoc committee is not subject to the Brown Act, and again I'll defer to the city attorney if I get any of this wrong, and is an informal committee of the council that may meet on a semi-regular basis to discuss the matters as established by the city council. City Council may also establish a similar committee or commission of members of the public to have a very specific and finite term to discuss a very specific topic or subject as directed by the Council. Then the Council has established commissions that exist by a resolution or ordinance, such as the Planning Commission, which is a formal body of the Council, and it has a very specific role for the City Council, which is land use and policy related matters related to land use, and makes recommendations to the Council before the Council considers it. and Parks Commission, the Environmental Sustainability Commission. These are established commissions which meet regularly and make policy recommendations to the council and have a formal designation within the city and are appointed with an interview process by the city council through the mayor. So those are the council bodies that I can recall off the top of my head. I'm not sure if the city attorney would recall any others.

You did very well. But to kind of just add a little bit more there, the big thing with an ad hoc committee, mayor and council, as the assistant city manager noted, it is not subject to the Brown Act. However, it is limited in time, scope and duration. It's not something that can go on in perpetuity. So we would need to make that point very clear in terms of what it's doing. With an ad hoc committee, they would be able to meet you know, outside of the dais. If they needed to do that, they could choose to also meet in public as well. For any other committees that are formed, you could do a standing committee similar to what you all did with, you know, the THAC and or the finance committee and kind of set it that way. If you want that to be more of a Brown Act body, you could appoint residents. And then again, that would also be a Brown Act body. you know, limited to time, scope, and duration. Or you could do a hybrid model, similar to what you all did with the GPAC. Or you could do it with, you've got some council members and some members of the public too. So those are all the options. The big thing with an ad hoc is that it is not subject to the Brown Act. It's not a Brown Act body, but the rest of them would be.

Okay. I just kind of wanted to understand, just kind of as an example. So in the past, We had a standing committee, THAC, or Tracy Homelessness Advisory Committee, which was very open. But prior to THAC, we had an ad hoc homelessness subcommittee, and that was a scope and purpose for creating the homelessness strategic plan. So I think if I... I have a question, Councilmember Nygaard. When you brought this up, were you intending to model it after the homelessness ad hoc committee, which later kind of came into the standing committee, or did you, what was your vision for that?

That was pretty much my vision, much that same model, what you guys did with the homelessness.

And then the other thing I wanted to highlight, can you say what is our current sustainability commission, where do they fall into this?

Mayor, at the moment, the Sustainability Commission lacks sufficient members to meet. They lack a quorum. So we currently are seeking applicants for them to meet. So at the moment, they are a standing committee that is unable to meet in order to continue their purpose. They would cover a portion of this, but have not dealt with the cap in some time.

Understood. Thank you. Council, do we have any additional preliminary questions?

okay i do have a question so what are we talking about i guess for duration on an ad hoc committee i think it could does it have to be in time or can it be with regards to the purpose it could be the goal or the purpose so if the goal or the purpose would be to present a climate action plan to you know the other Planning Commission, Parks and Rec Commission, and the Council for Ultimate Approval, it would expire at the point where a climate action plan is approved.

The reason I'm asking is it seems ill-timed as three of us are up for election. We've got election in a month and a half, so it seems like ill-timing to appoint any of us unless it's going to be the two that are not up for re-election. So just a thought there. We can move on from there, but that would be my first concern. Understood. Thank you.

Council Member Bedoya. Thank you. Should we go through with, you know, the recommendation that's in the report today? Would that, I guess, for lack of better words, take it out of, even if it's temporarily, take it out of the ESC's hands or purview?

Through the chair to Council Member Bedoya's question, yes. It would specifically carve out a portion of their purview so that this ad hoc committee could deal with the cap.

Okay. I could ask this question later, but I know the ESC's PREVIEW WASN'T, THEIR SCOPE WASN'T JUST THE CAP. FROM STAFF'S PREROGATIVE WHEN DISCUSSIONS KIND OF WERE PRELIMINARY AND KIND OF, YOU KNOW, FORMULATING THIS COMMISSION BOARD, HOW MUCH OF THE ESC WAS, HOW MUCH OF THE SCOPE WAS MEANT TO BE DEDICATED TO THE CAP PLAN? MAYBE IF NOT SPECIFICALLY WITH THOSE TECHNICAL TERMS, BUT the impact, the purpose of the ESC. And I guess, you know, I'll kind of prime it with this. The reason I ask is I'm just really thinking carefully about this decision and how it impacts with another decision that Council has made and the body that was created.

Through the Chair to Council Member Bedoya, it's a very thoughtful question. The ESC, if we were able to find members to continue, would still have a rather robust amount of work to do as there is a sustainability plan, as you rightfully referenced the last time this was mentioned during council items. And there's still a robust list of other work that is a subset because the climate action plan is a subset of sustainability as a whole. So there's still a good amount of work that they can take on, including making policy recommendations around trees, around bike, and all sorts of other components that they can work on. But this, as I understand it, and I couldn't speak for the council member, but what I heard was from your two comments that this was a very important item that you felt needed to be addressed.

Thank you, staff. So I guess I would ask the question to whether it's council that wants to respond or staff. Sorry, it was based on the train of thought there. How does council or staff, I like to laugh, how does council or staff envision, should this pass today, get merged into, rolled into, I heard it was possibly be presented to different boards or commissions planning. When does that go to council? ONCE AGAIN, I'M JUST NERVOUS ABOUT COMPARTMENTALIZING OR CHOPPING UP SOMETHING THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA IN ITS INCEPTION. TO ME THIS IS AN ITEM THAT COUNCIL WANTS TO GAIN SUPPORT FOR, BUT IF STAFF HAS A, YOU KNOW,

If I may, and then I would defer to the council member, she has a vision. Certainly from staff's perspective, it would make sense for whatever the ad hoc committee comes up with to be presented to the Sustainability Commission, assuming it's embanked again with a full body, for them to have an opportunity to provide comment. and to weigh in. It would also make sense for that same plan to go to the planning commission as a lot of the components that will be there, Tracy specific, are components and elements that will likely pop up in the general plan and they should have an opportunity to weigh in. Likewise with parks. So probably we're talking about presentations at the majority of the, including transportation, the majority of the commission so that they have an opportunity to weigh in on the elements of this plan. But I defer to the council member as it is a policy issue.

Yes, I think you actually are very correct that, yeah, all of our departments are integrated into the CAP. So yes, it would be beneficial for all departments to have input in the planning. I do just have a question for our attorney. This current climate action plan that we have was drafted back in 2011, I believe. Do you know what the state is requiring for cities right now as far as a current climate action plan?

We do need to get it updated. I can tell you that. And that is something that we will need to do. The other thing, too, to the extent it is would be helpful is I did pull up the bylaws for the Environmental Sustainability Commission. And it talks about providing updates to the climate action plan, but not creating and or drafting the climate action plan. So I think to Council Member Nygaard and Council Member Bedoya, I think, you know, to the extent those could coexist, I do believe that per the bylaws, they could. If you were worried about one usurping and or the other, it seems that the ESC really is there to give updates to that, but that you all as council can appoint a body, which we would recommend to, you know, go through and work with the consultant and draft a plan, present it to planning, any other bodies that they'd deemed necessary and then present that to council. And then moving forward, the ESC's role would be to provide updates to that cap as necessary.

Thank you for that clarifying. No, I just said thank you for the clarification there.

Appreciate it. The other question I have is, so understanding the Environmental Sustainability Commission lacks a quorum currently. Once they have a quorum and once we've built that commission back up, is this not something they could take on? as far as at least bringing forward a recommendation to council?

Through the chair to council member Evans, as I just heard the distinction made by the city attorney, the distinction that was being made was the development of a plan versus commenting on the plan and the status of the plan. And so in those two distinctions, it seems to be the purview of the council to develop the plan and the purview of the Sustainability Commission to comment and comment on the implementation of the plan.

Okay. So it couldn't be developed by at least a recommendation developed by Environmental Sustainability Commission, then come to us, and then we develop the plan based on their recommendations.

You could designate that to the Environmental Sustainability Commission. Okay.

Because when we developed that commission and implemented it, my understanding is this is the exact kind of task they would be taking on. So it feels to me two things that I'm seeing converging at this moment. I understand the intent here. However, one, we've got three members up for election, three council members up for election in the short term. So appointing at this moment seems ill-advised. Number two is we're working on the Environmental Sustainability Commission. So I guess my thought is I'd rather see those two things happen and build the Environmental Sustainability Commission up until January, appoint, council members to the ad hoc committee in january and i'd like to see it come through the environmental sustainability commission to the council and work it from there to me that's the the proper way to do this just like planning just like transportation just like any of our commissions that's why we appoint them and why we build these commissions that's my two cents thank you council member mayor i just wanted to get staff's input so when we were doing when we

little while ago we had the general plan update and it was this particular thing was asked and my understanding correct me if i'm wrong the consultant said we should not that we shouldn't do it and i understand we need to update it but maybe it shouldn't be done as the not at the beginning of when the general plan is starting but part way through did i understand that correctly from the consultant on that

Through the chair, Mayor Pro Tem, that was my understanding of the response. It has been my understanding of the recommendation from the consultant throughout that it would be better if it was contained within the general plan development. But we are here in response to a council.

No, I understand. No, I understand why we're here right now. And I'm not trying to say this isn't important but if we're paying this consultant and we're doing all this process for the general plan and she's recommending that part way through the general plan process that we then start working on this that maybe we're starting to do something ahead of what is being recommended by somebody that we're saying as an

Can I clarify because I did ask that question and I did actually respond to say that ours was not updated. So that I think is the key comment here. Ours has not been updated since 2011. I think she was assuming we had a current plan, you work You know, this does come into the plan down the road, but we don't have a current plan. And that is why it's going to be really vital to get it, because it's going to take time to update the climate action plan. And so when they do need it, that it's readily available, that it's an updated plan. So, and I do believe that we have a deadline too with the state.

Well, and mayor and council, I think it's worth adding that we have the DeNovo who was here earlier would be consultant for both the CAP as well as the GPAC. So I think that would work hand in hand. So I believe there would be synergy there. And again, we would work with the recommendations one way or the other on that. So I think we would be okay if we would have to get going on one and then kind of wait for something to get caught up. I imagine we would be able to do that, and that would make sense. Because I think what Beth was saying, too, again, you know, your general roadmap, long-term plan, climate action is a huge part of that, very specific, but we want to make sure that they're in sync and in synergy together. And I think because utilizing the same consultant, that's actually to the benefit of the city.

Thank you.

All right, before we go into further discussion, I want to make sure we have public comment on this item. So we're going to go out for public comment. Can I please see hands raised for folks who would like to speak on this item? Okay, so with five requests per our public comment guidelines, each speaker will get three minutes. Do we have any speaker cards for this item?

We have one speaker card and one person online.

Okay, that's still three minutes at six requests. Let's go ahead and start with the speaker card, please.

Ross Bogan.

Well, that's what I get for filing a speaker card.

I wasn't intending to lead off this period of commentation. But I want to thank you, First Counsel. My name, first of all, off the record, is Ross Bogut. I am a Tracy resident. Thank you for bringing up this issue in this formal way. It's kind of nice not to be talking on the agenda rather than just to the general comments. WHAT I WANTED TO START WITH WAS FORMING AD HOC COMMITTEE IS AN IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY FIRST STEP TOWARDS IMPLEMENTING AN UPDATED CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN, WHICH IS A CRITICALLY URGENT NEED. BUT I WANT TO BE CLEAR, IT'S JUST A FIRST STEP. THIS CAN'T BE A PUNCH LAND OF A GEORGE CARLIN JOKE. THE SKY IS FALLING. SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING. OH, YEAH, RIGHT. LET'S FORM A COMMITTEE. You have to set up a committee to succeed for it not to become that joke. Sorry, I wish it hadn't fallen flat like that, but anyway. Starting with a realistic and brisk schedule for deliverables. We face serious risks from increasingly frequent, potentially disastrous events such as wildfires, storms, extreme heat, and infrastructure failures, which could happen at any time. as we're seeing across the world and right now, today, on the East Coast with the heat dome and flash flooding that's occurring in places that hasn't even happened before. That could happen here. I think we need to be prepared for it, and the Ad Hoc Committee could look at that. But beyond that, it also has to be a good plan. A bad plan is worse than no plan. That's actually not my experience of doing this sort of thing for 30 years, but rather common sense. A bad plan creates a false sense of confidence. A good plan, to begin with, has to reflect the concerns and needs of the community or it won't have public support. The committee must have community members. Just two of you and staff I don't think will do the job. And let's face it, as I think Councilmember Evans alluded to, in January, the membership may change. And in any case, in six years or at most 10 years, all of you will not be there. You'll be down here, obviously, with us, I hope. And we'll all be in the position of asking that council to stand behind the plan and to maintain it. This has got to be a long-term proposition. And, of course, the public is going to have to be here dealing with the consequences. Let me just finish up by saying this may be a long, extended journey. Even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Let's take that step tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bogan. Are there any additional speaker cards?

No additional speaker cards. Okay.

With that, we'll allow public comment from the chambers. Who would like to begin?

Good evening, my name is Cynthia Reese. I am a Tracy resident. Thank you to city council for agendizing this item today. On August 18th, council requested an ad hoc committee outside the general plan process to move the climate action plan update forward. I'm here to ask the council to take the next step and formally establish that committee. and ensure it includes community members, not just staff and appointed officials. Residents have been asking for an updated climate action plan dating back to 2021. Community representation on this committee will help ensure the plan reflects the needs of those most affected by fire, heat, and growth. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Reese. Next speaker, please.

So it's not to repeat what others have said. I will focus on the representation from the community, and I ask that the ad hoc committee be at least one person from each of the new city council districts participate in that, that we set a timeline, we have a trackable schedule, that we don't procrastinate on this. Yes, elections are happening. Some of you may not be sitting up there in January. You're sitting out here. You could be on that committee. I think it is a disservice to the community to kick this can down the road. We've had climate denialism for decades, and look at where it has got us. We can't be part of the problem. We must be part of the solution. And it seems like if the Environmental Sustainability Committee can't get its act together and show up to work, then we need the CAP to start that work and show them how it's done. I would like to make sure that whatever committee we have, whatever commission we have, if people can't show up to work on it, that they are asked to leave so that we can have someone that does want to put in the effort and the time. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Cole. Next speaker, please.

Pat Howell, hi. I'm really happy that we're discussing this ad hoc committee for our environmental climate action plan. I want to state something. This plan includes areas of air quality, conservation, transportation, land use, public health. It includes a lot. Your sustainability commission, environmental sustainability commission, is an unpaid commission, and they should not be asked to do our climate action plan. Of course we want their input, but they should not have the responsibility. They are not a paid commission. I think that should be considered. I understand that many of the goals of our old plan were split between many city departments. And what I'm concerned about it is all the times I've been at City Council, we don't seem to be able to pull all the information together for a presentation on what we're actually accomplishing on our environmental sustainability. The staff did an excellent job in reporting on the needs of our water delivery. We get information from the community group, Tracy Earth Project, the Tracy Press. We get a report from the South County Fire Department. We get the reports on the needs of the public work department. But the environment around us now requires that this information be pulled together, measured against the goals of a climate action plan. We must monitor and update actions as we need to take in order to meet the current and upcoming needs of our community. I believe that an ad hoc committee could concentrate on improving our sustainability planning and budget process as well as ensuring the public and our city that it is protecting our environment by making periodic assessments of the climate action plan publicly. I think the huge warehouse fire and the huge fire in the south hills of our city two years ago make this committee more important than ever before. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Helm. Next speaker, please.

Hi there.

Thank you so much for having this on the agenda tonight. You all know me. I'm Jenny Wood, and I am a member of the Environmental Sustainability Commission and a past chair, but I am not here in that capacity. I am, of course, here as an individual by myself. At first, when I heard about the Ad Hoc Committee, I was very concerned for the reason that Council Member Bedoya brought up, that this felt like it was initially a purview of the Environmental Sustainability Commission, and then maybe it was being taken away. After learning some more, I feel that an ad hoc committee from the city council is a really good idea. The city council has more information from the community than we do on the ESC and from the state and about the laws and about the legalities of different policies than the ESC does. We also on the ESC, of course, have never had consultants that would be able to help us with updating or redoing the environmental, I'm sorry, the sustainability action plan, which is what we've been working with. We've also had a lot of problems getting specific data from the staff to help us understand where we are today and compared to the goals that we set back in 2008 and 2011. So I believe that the ad hoc committee from the council would probably be a great idea. I think you would be able to have a lot more power and weight to that. I think if the ESC could have access to the same resources that the council has, that possibly we could take that, but we would definitely need more access to consultants and data that we have today. I would like to suggest that the Ad Hoc Committee or the City Council keep in closer touch with the Environmental Sustainability Commission. Some of the suggestions I have are either attending meetings, meeting with the chair on issues or on things that the ESC is doing and how the City Council can help. Having an ESC member on the Ad Hoc Committee could be a good possibility. and for collaboration or maybe just more regular and detailed reports from the Environmental Sustainability Commission. For myself, speaking for myself, I want my position on the ESC to serve the city and the council, and I believe that there needs to be greater communication between these two groups. Thank you so much. I hope that we do get a climate action plan, and I hope that the Environmental Sustainability Commission can serve the city with that climate action plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Wood. Next speaker, please.

Good evening, everyone. Yeah, as I read through the, you know, online information about agenda for tonight, I was a little bit, you know, upset. That's the reason why I came back again about this discussion on whether the city council should form a climate action plan committee. You know, I want to urge you guys not to be intimidated. into making decisions that will impact our city for a long term in terms of spending unnecessary funds on things that is not necessary. About the brush, you know, the bush brush and all this fire all over the place, it's been found out, we've discovered that it is caused by people dropping fire or maybe brush not being cleared, the bush not being cleared well enough. And the climate change crew are lying about this issue. They are not giving us enough information on it. About the greenhouse gas emission, people should study more on that one. We breathe greenhouse gas emission as human beings. Does that mean we need reduction? As a human being, we need to be reduced? So we need to be mindful of all this. So I would encourage the council member to thoroughly research all of this and to think about the financial impact on our city, okay? The cost, the unnecessary cost. I believe they are setting a trap for city members or the council members to sit with them so that if you are not on their side, they will vote you out. Because this is, what do you call it? This is the time, this is the time we're supposed to be voting for our members in Tracy here. And you guys should not be intimidated. This city belongs to our children and to us. If anybody needs to be part of this council member, it should be the residents, and it should be equal amount of people. Those for it, those not for it. Council members don't need to be part of it. You guys don't need to be part of it. You should elect some people to go there. Then you can counsel with them. They can talk with you what they decide or what they did not decide. But do not let them intimidate you, guys. Remember... that the importance of council, the council members, it is to do what the people want, not the selected few in the city, not what the selected few in the city want, but what the population of this city of Tracy want. So please, I will encourage you not to be intimidated. All the three, I don't know who's running, you know, to be reelected, do not be intimidated.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Seeing none in chambers, do we have any online?

We have one online.

Okay, we'll go there.

Hello, can you all hear me?

Yes, thank you.

Hi, this is Larkin Fleckner here to... Thank you all not to intimidate. So I hope that my comments are accepted as well-intentioned, humble, and respectful thanks. Just to, again, identify myself, I am a proud Tracy resident, not part of some nefarious committee. I have children in this city. I care very much about our citizens, the health, safety, just like I think we all do. So I don't think this needs to be any bigger than you know, what, what it needs to be like, sorry, I was just a little bit taken aback by those previous comments. So thank you for getting the cap on the agenda. I appreciate feeling like as a resident that I was heard because this is important to me. I do recognize that our council is going to be different in the next few months, but I want to remind you all that this isn't about you as individuals. This is bigger. It's about our community and what's best for our community. And we haven't had an updated cap since 2011. So, you know, it's not like we're saying, hey, let's do this new thing while everybody's about to get, you know, up for reelection or potentially not reelection. This is... been at the bottom of the list for a long time. And we're like trying to comply with state, you know, guidelines anyway. There's a need to do this. There was a need to do it yesterday. So I don't think we should be holding off any longer. Yeah, let's not delay. Let's see if we can get the committee started. Other steps like getting the sustainability commission back on track, like those things can happen in parallel. getting started now means that we might actually have like an updated cap match up with the general plan guidelines so to me it feels like you know you're doing the parallel work let's not like feed into those stereotypes that like oh government takes forever to do anything like you guys are you guys have gotten a lot done uh keep keep going um yeah thank you thank you ms plockner

Do we have any additional speakers online?

We have no additional speakers.

All right, thank you. With that, we'll go ahead and close out public comment for item 6C. We'll return to council for discussion and eventually a motion. Mayor Pro Tem.

So then, since you brought this forward, what's your vision? Do you want... Two council members, do you want to, it was suggested that we try to get a member from each district. Now, what's your vision?

I like that idea. I really do. I would agree that ad hoc is most realistic, but do like the suggestion of a member from the districts.

So how would, City Attorney, I guess, how would we go about that process? Do you see that?

So, yes, that would be a Brown Act body then at that point in time. And so, you know, you can basically make it be a hybrid body. If it's one from each district, and I'm assuming one at large appointed by the mayor, then it'd be a seven-member body. And they would meet, you know, to do that. We would need to get direction from council as well. And then set out the purview of that body to, you know, basically come up with the climate action plan to present to the council and additional boards and commissions.

So I just have a question on as far as the two-member council. Do they, you take into consideration their districts or are they separate districts?

It's the, as I understand Mayor Pro Tem, what he was saying is that you all would select two amongst yourselves, and then each council member from each district would then make one selection. Now, just be mindful right now, we are going through a transition phase. We are not fully in districts yet. And so, for instance, Council Member Nygaard, yourself and Mayor Pro Tem are at large. So I don't know, maybe the better suggestion would be that Each council member nominates one person to do that, and then plus you'd get two members of the council on there. But it's really dealer's choice for you all as a council how you'd like to set this up.

Because right now we don't have a council member in District 1.

Yeah.

Two and four, yeah. Yeah, right. Technically, I live in four. I understand I'm considered at large. Right. Councilmember Nygaard technically is at large, but she lives in two, but nobody up here technically lives in District 1 right now. So we don't have a councilmember from that district. Yes, that's correct. Okay.

What about an option of having the two-member council, but having public input, having meetings in the public and taking in public input?

So more, Councilmember Nygaard, you're talking more like the way the... homeless advisory committee was set up. So that would be, again, instead of opting for an ad hoc, you'd be opting for a Brown Act, you know, body of two members of the council. The meetings would be noticed and you would just, you can go from there. That is absolutely an option as well.

Okay. So as we're speaking about the member makeup, this is kind of my position on that. I think that we're looking at something that is particularly, this is an innovative policy, public policy that we're evaluating and we have models with which to look at. So first we have, what did we do with regards to homelessness? We created an ad hoc committee to create a plan and then after the plan was completed, it was passed by council and then we had a homelessness advisory body essentially to advise as to the administration of that plan And I think it was particularly effective. We have a completed homeless shelter campus with a strong program. But ultimately, the city of Tracy was the first city to have a strategic plan on homelessness. We had a plan before the county had a plan. So I think that model has proven to be effective. I want to highlight a few other things. We have implemented a social equity initiative at a point. Part of that was an attempt to create a commission to help advise and that component did not happen. And so particular portions of the social equity initiative ended up failing because there was no standing committee to oversee. In the opposite with regards to sustainability, when there was essentially no plan and we went straight to a commission, BUT WITHOUT THE BASIS OF A PLAN IN THE FIRST PLACE, HAVING JUST THE COMMISSION HAS NOT BEEN EFFECTIVE IN IMPLEMENTING A CLIMATE ACTION PLAN. SO WE DO HAVE VARIOUS MODELS TO EVALUATE. AND I DO WANT TO RECOGNIZE AND I THANK STAFF, HOWEVER, I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT THE FACT THAT WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT WHEN WE LOOKED AT HOMELESSNESS INITIALLY, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SOCIAL EQUITY, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY, Our current staff, these are innovative policy points and our staff isn't particularly experienced in these new policy points. So I think it is more effective for the elected officials to create the plan to then be considered by the public and to be evaluated by the public council, implemented and then reviewed by a public commission. So although I generally kind of support this new idea of district representation, In order to be effective, I think it would be most efficient to do this with a two-person ad hoc to create the plan. During that ad hoc process, I would invite maybe public workshops to bring in the public so they can advise that ad hoc committee. That was something that former council member Ransom and I did when we did the homelessness strategic plan. Then create the plan, bring it to council, have it approved, and then have the Environmental Sustainability Commission advise upon it I think that is the model that has worked, and that's the model that I would like replicate for this. So that would be my intention. What would your thoughts be about that, Council Member Nygaard?

I agree. I would like to model after something that has been effective and successful.

And I think the other thing that we want to highlight is, I mean, I'm very appreciative of our Environmental Sustainability Commission, but ultimately they've had a year and we just haven't gotten this point done. So if we have a seven-person commission, that framework essentially models the Environmental Sustainability Commission. So my hesitation is that it would be tough... TO GET THEM MEETING AT THE SAME TIMES AND I DON'T WANT TO SET IT UP FOR FAILURE. I WANT TO SET IT UP FOR EFFECTIVENESS AND I THINK WE'VE SEEN MODELS WHICH ARE EFFECTIVE SO THAT WOULD BE MY PREFERENCE. I AGREE WITH THAT. DOES THE COUNCIL HAVE ANY OTHER OPINIONS BASED ON THE PARTICULAR MAKEUP?

IS IT OKAY IF I SHARE MY COMMENTS? Sorry, we already did public comment. It's been a long meeting. I can appreciate the passion from those who are heavily invested and interested in this. It's the same passion that I had have when I proposed the idea in 2021 for a sustainability action plan update. As mentioned, previous council meeting, it's been five years. As well as when I proposed a commission to You know, now it's called the ESC, but I proposed a water energy commission that would study the water energy nexus and, you know, try to reach sustainability for our city. That was sometime before 2023. So I definitely support, you know, the SA sustainability action plan, the CAP and the ESC. Like I said, I was one of the original motion makers asking for the ESC. I appreciate how the ESC is literally made up of members from our community the way that public input kind of asked for this to take shape. At this time, I would, I guess, need more education before I push for what I would see as cutting into the purview of the ESC. I would be much in support of letting them continue to work. Kind of in tandem, editing one of our newer committees or commissions that many of today's speakers, like I said, thank you for coming today and continuing to stay involved, supported at the time. I think we've identified that the Commission needs help. Just like when you're at work, right? You know, this is the first time I really heard concerns aired out, I want to say respectfully. BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE IT NEEDS HELP, IT NEEDS THE RIGHT TOOLS TO SUCCEED. I HEARD A LOT OF, I DON'T WANT TO CALL IT COMPLAINTS, BUT CONCERTIVE CRITICISM THAT THE COMMITTEE COULD DO BETTER AS PROPOSALS FOR THE NEW AD HOC COMMITTEE, WE SHOULD FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THOSE. THAT WOULD BE MY BASIC OPINION. SORRY. CAN I ROLL OVER MY PAPER? SO WE'RE WITH THE ESE THAT'S TAKEN A FEW TRIES. I BELIEVE IT'S TIME FOR IT TO REGROUP, TRY AGAIN, NOT TAKE MORE STAFF TIME in a different capacity for something that is already a resident-led commission. And when I was on this council, this was discussed as proposed. And I know we can split hairs on what update and create slash really update means. But in my mind, and we can probably check the records, that was the intent of the ESC. Like I said, I mentioned the weaknesses that I hope, I mean, we've identified, first step is not just, you know, cut off a limb, it's, you know, can you save it? You know, pardon the kind of gruesomeness. I've seen the Sustainability Action Commission, sorry, the ESC, since its inception, I've seen it take on multiple council and staff-directed initiatives that were not in the queue before 2021 and before the ESC actually took shape. So if we're really going to be honest about, you know, have they been given the time and resources with not throwing anyone under the bus, but could we do a better job of supporting? We haven't exhausted those efforts. I don't think right now is the time to change players or roles, but like I said, get them to help to succeed, not create another committee at this time. In my opinion, it would be an incredible duplication of efforts if approved, and it does not have to be. Thank you. Thank you.

I haven't heard from Council Member Evans yet.

No, I mean, my comments essentially stand from what I said earlier. I just think it seems like odd timing. Good chance that the next council is going to have to reform this HATOC committee. in January, so it just doesn't make sense to do it now. I agree if it's going to be done, if it's Council's will, two-person ad hoc is probably the best option. I just, I don't see the rush. I would wait till January. Let's wait till the new Council is in place and then take a look at this thing again. Perhaps we'll have built back up the ESE by that point as well. I don't know what the status of that is and where we are with getting additional candidates, but that to me was the intent of that when we built it and put it into place. And that's to me where these things should start. I don't like the idea of if it's not functioning, just us taking and manhandling this to the ground. I think we should start with the commission or do away with the commission. Either the commission stands and does its job or We do away with it and start with something different. Same goes for any of our commissions. We have transportation. We have planning. We have parks and recs. I mean, these are important commissions. People are passionate about these things, and that's how these commissions get formed, with people from the city coming together and bringing these ideas. They come to council. We take what they give us, and we run with it. So that would be my preference. I would start there personally. If we're going to build an ad hoc committee based on council members, I would wait until we have a full council that's going to be in place for a couple of years. We've got, again, a month and a half, two months, I guess, all told until this is a new council. So those are my comments. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, do you have anything to add?

Okay. I think I've stated my piece. Up until the point when the sustainability commission is up and running, I think it would be appropriate to proceed with an ad hoc to create the plan such that the environmental sustainability commission could then advise upon such a plan. I think if we recognize now that we've had trouble securing applicants who want to serve on the commission, we will find similar problems trying to find individuals to serve on another type of body to get this done. So I think that when particularly when we're looking at innovative policy, we can identify strategies that are used and pivot as necessary. And I think that this is a strong pivot. So I'll just go ahead and I will move to create an ad hoc climate action plan committee for the sole purpose of working with the consultant to develop a climate action plan for a limited duration to include such time as a climate action plan will be submitted to the city council for approval. Did you want to put in who you're appointing at the top? Let's try and get the, let's get the commission passed first and then I'll make a second.

I'll second.

We have a first and a second. Roll call, please.

Mayor.

Mayor, will you allow another motion?

Do you have another motion?

Yes. May fail. You can make a substitute motion. Sure. I would move to provide the ESC all the tools that they need to complete this task and make sure that we get all the members of the ESC fully filled. That would be my motion.

So, Mayor, Council, and Council Member Bedoya, to clarify then, would your motion be, just because, again, we're limited by what's on the agenda this evening, to designate the Climate Action Plan authority to the ESC? Correct, yes. Okay, thank you. So, that would be the motion.

So, wait a second. For clarity on that, my understanding is they would bring recommendations to us, and then we would develop the plan with consultants. Sorry, is that?

That's the current process, right? For the ESC where they like analyze and then present a draft to council as the same as planning and transportation. Am I?

So as again, as I went and looked at the bylaws earlier, they provide updates to the climate action plan, but that it sounds like you're MOTION WOULD BE TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THE ESC DEVELOPS THE CLIMATE ACTION PLAN? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?

IN THE SAME FASHION THAT OTHER PLAN, OTHER COMMISSIONS DRAFT PLANS AND THEN IT COMES TO COUNCIL. OKAY. FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL. OKAY. GOT IT. CAN I ASK WHAT OTHER COMMISSIONS HAVE DRAFTED A PLAN? TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN. DON'T ALL THOSE RUN THROUGH, SORRY, NOT FOR ME TO ANSWER.

IS THAT A QUESTION DIRECTED AT ME? The transportation master plans and the other city plans are developed by consultants and worked through by staff and then brought to the appropriate committee, typically the planning commission for adoption prior to coming to city council. The parks commission is usually brought a parks planning document that is developed by consultants and that they approve with a recommendation to council. And if I got any of that wrong, did I get that?

But regardless, the staff develops it.

Staff develops it.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Understood. And for how many meetings of the Environmental Sustainability Commission has there not been a quorum?

At least three that I'm aware of. Three. Understood. Okay.

So are we in the process of getting...

We have received applications. We are now in the process of trying to determine an appropriate interview date for the council to consider the applicants.

Okay. So I heard a substitute motion. Do you want to clarify, Council Member Budoya?

Sure. My substitute motion would be to provide the ESC all the tools to draft this plan, the SAP, the CAP, and should it formally need to be said, grant them the purview of drafting the ESC in the same capacity as our other city plans where it's, you know, with staff, complete staff imports, staff input, staff led for the technical parts, and then resident led for the resident parts.

That's not exactly what I had proposed, but it's slimmer. My preference would be that it comes to us from ESC, so I will second the motion.

Yes, I'm good with that.

Okay, we have a first and a second. Roll call, please.

Council Member Bedoya?

Yes.

Council Member Evans?

Yes.

Council Member Nygaard? No. Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie?

No.

Mayor Areola?

No. Okay, we still have one motion on the table. We had a first and a second with Councilmember Nygaard, and that was for the creation of the ad hoc committee for the sole purpose of working with the consultant to develop a climate action plan for a limited duration to include such time as a climate action plan will be submitted to the City Council for approval. Roll call, please.

Mayor Ariella?

Yes.

Councilmember Nygaard? Yes. Councilmember Bedoya?

Yes.

Councilmember Evans?

Yes.

And Mayor Pro Tem Abbott-Carnby.

Yes. All right. So we'll look forward to, oh, sorry. Okay. Now we have the next point. Who is a, with regards to ad hocs, there is more flexibility in timing. Can Mr. Nifusi, can you please clarify that?

You mean when those appointments can be made?

Or when meetings can be.

Oh, when they can meet. Yes. Sorry. Basically, because you're not subject to the Brown Act, you can meet when you deem fit. Again, you can have public workshops. You can go out into the community more. It's still encouraged that you provide some noticing to that, but you don't have to worry about the Brown Act requirements. For instance, the current finance committee meeting with the agenda postings within so much time for the regular meetings. and whatnot, but you are limited in time, scope, and duration. That's the biggest thing. It can't go on in perpetuity.

Understood. And so my ask would be that whoever serves on the ad hoc committee that you do the work with a consultant to draft the plan and make sure that we have public workshops so we have community input before it comes to council and then we look forward to council doing it. Who would be interested in serving on this committee?

I would be interested. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. I'd be interested if it works in my schedule, but it looks like there's some flexibility. Is anyone else interested? Okay, then I'll move to appoint Councilmember Nygaard and myself as members of the Ad Hoc Climate Action Plan Committee. Second. We have a first and a second. Roll call, please.

Mayor Areola?

Yes.

Mayor Prachibambakambi?

Yes.

Councilmember Bedoya?

Yes.

Councilmember Evans?

Yes.

And Councilmember Nygaard?

Yes.

All right, I look forward to working with you, Council Member Nygaard. That brings us to our second item from the audience. Are there any members of the public that could speak on an item that is not on tonight's agenda? Seeing one hand, we'll go ahead and allow four minutes.

Thank you, Council. Kevin Toback, resident of Tracy for over 40 years, employee of the city of Tracy for over 30 years. So I have some familiarity with the city. I'm up here tonight to talk about something that's kind of near and dear to my heart, being someone who was so intimately involved with the city in public works and having parks maintenance, an association with that as well. And I drive around our community today. Well, let me go back one other step, too. Working with your predecessors and Tracy Tomorrow programs back in the 90s, I know it goes way back in the early 2000s, and being on the Pride and Beautification Task Force as a facilitator, I worked very closely with your group as well as citizens. And we took a lot of pride in setting up what we wanted the city to look like, whether it was parks, landscaping, you name it, that type of thing. And so that gets me to my point that when I drive around Tracy now, the last 5, 10 years, it has really become sad for me when I look at what is happening to our landscaping throughout the community. And you can go anywhere in town. I'll throw out a few examples for you. If you get off 205 on MacArthur, and you can take MacArthur all the way to 11th Street, All of that that used to be irrigated along the sidewalks is all now dead. There's no grass. There's no ground cover. It's become dirt. In the spring, it's weeds. But it's just sad that you see something that used to look so beautiful. It's not there anymore. It was great that council, and I think maybe five or six years ago, spent almost a million dollars to renovate the median coming into town from the west on 11th Street. Looks great, other than the water feature hasn't worked for a couple years now. But if you get to Corral Hollow Road and take a left or a right, in particular, you take a right, look at the medians. Compare what has been done on 11th Street to what's in the median all the way down to Schulte Road. Take a left on Schulte, keep going, and look at the landscaping there. It's just sad that I see so many places where there's not funding because the LMDs are underfunded. to pay to renovate or to replace or to fix irrigation. It's just left to die and turn brown. It's so sad for someone like me who was so close to that mayor. I think he went to West High. Look at the median in front of West High. It just blows my mind that this continues to go on. And there's other situations. I guess one of the other high-profile ones that I think of, and I remember submitting a CIP to try to improve this, is the median in front of Walmart and going out to Costco. Highest traveled commercial area in town, and take a look at that. We in public works put some rocks out there just to cover up the dirt. But it's just, again, sad that you have people going out there, thousands and thousands of people, and that's what they see. is something so, in my viewpoint, ugly. When you've got other parts of town that still look very nice where the LMDs are fully funded, but I think it's about 60% of the LMDs are now underfunded. And it looks terrible. I'm hoping that there will be some type of effort made to find funding. And when I see, and kudos to these people that won an aquatic center. And you're going to spend $65 to $95 million to build it and another $2 million a year to take care of it. And you can't take care of what's out there that your predecessor worked so hard to establish to make our community in Tracy look so nice. And my last thing, as I'm running out of time, is I just remember the conversation with Clyde Bland, council member, mayor, after one of our meetings and we were talking and we had a list of new things people wanted to say. And I never forgot this. And it was when I was early on with the city. He said, Kevin, it's great to see all the new things people want to see in town, but I really worry about taking care of what we got. And I hope the council will take that into consideration as well as staff. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Toback. Do you have any additional speakers? Do we have any online?

No speakers online.

With that, we'll go ahead and close out items from the audience. That brings us to staff items.

Good evening, Mayor. Just a couple of announcements and updates. We have a couple of events, Tracy-sponsored events, along with some partners on... September 18th, just a couple days away from 1 to 5 at the Transit Center, we have the first Tracy Pitch event. Visit our website for more information. And then we also have on... September 26th, the Grand Fest. It is the Grand Theater Center for the Arts celebration kicking off its 20th anniversary. There is a free community celebration, which will feature live music, downtown Tracy Art Walk, arts education activities, and special gallery exhibitions. There will be a free outdoor concert that begins at 6 o'clock along Central Avenue. with a flock of seagulls headlining to all my 80s fans. So expect to see people out there with long bangs. And then also wanted to provide an update from the last council. I said I would do a memo, but I think I can do it here. As Halloween is approaching, the Tracy Police Department is going to be hosting a trunk or treat event on Saturday the 31st, actual Halloween, from 5 to 8. The event will take place in the Raley's parking lot. at 2550 South Tracy Boulevard. The event will provide free, safe, family-friendly alternatives to Tracy families to celebrate Halloween. And it's in partnership with the local community and community organizations. And the event will also promote Halloween safety and provide an opportunity for community members to connect with the Tracy Police Department. Additionally, high-visibility patrols will be conducted in the Gandy Dancer Drive area to discourage folks from crossing that street. So keep them on one side of the street. There's going to be some great trunk-or-treat opportunities in the Raley's parking lot. And that is all I have for this evening.

Thank you, Ms. Lightboard. I have seen some marketing for the trunk-or-treat. I would just ask that maybe we do some for the high-visibility patrols at Gandy Dancer as well so folks know about it. All right, that brings us to council items. Council Member Doyle.

Thank you. I brought it up at last council meeting. I just had someone reach out to me again. I know, you know, possibly UP, but just whatever we can do as a city. There's the railroad tracks behind Schulte. I think it's basically both sides, but it's worse on the side going east. CARS HAVE TO SWERVE INTO THE BIKE LANE AND EVERY CAR IS DOING IT. IF THEY'RE NOT DOING IT, IT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T BEEN THROUGH THAT PART OF TRACY YET. THE NEXT TIME THEY WILL DO IT. SO THEY'RE SWERVING INTO THE BIKE LANE TO AVOID LIKE A TWO TO THREE INCH DROP ON I GUESS ON THE SORRY, ALMOST LIKE IN THE MIDDLE OF BOTH LANES BUT LIKE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE EAST BOUND LANE. I'LL GIVE STAFF MORE. THERE'S A GO REQUEST THAT'S BEEN UP FOR A COUPLE YEARS TOO. SO DIFFERENT UNRELATED. I WANT TO MAKE A FUTURE AGENDA REQUEST REGARDING THE CITY SURVEILLANCE CAMERA PROGRAMS. WHEN FLOCK ORIGINALLY CAME BEFORE US I SUPPORTED IT. IT WAS PRESENTED AS A PUBLIC SAFETY TOOL FOR STOLEN VEHICLES, SERIOUS CRIMES AND MISSING PERSONS. SINCE THEN NEW INFORMATION HAS COME OUT NATIONALLY ABOUT ACCESS TO ALPR DATA, DATA SHARING AND MISUSE AND OVERSIGHT. I'M NOT AT ALL SAYING THAT ANYTHING IMPROPER HAS HAPPENED HERE IN TRACY AND IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT ANYTHING HAS. BUT I DO KNOW MORE TODAY THAN I DID WHEN I CAST THAT VOTE. and I would not vote today to simply continue or expand the program as it currently exists without a full public review. I'm asking that we bring back a comprehensive review for both Tracy's flock license plate reader program and the surveillance cameras in our parks. I want the public to see how many cameras we have, where they are, what they cost, what information they collect, how long that information is kept, who can access it, which outside agencies it is shared with, what audit controls and safeguards exist, and what measurable public safety results we are actually getting. And this doesn't mean that anything was not presented in certain capacities when it came before us. For the park cameras, I also want to know who monitors them, what is recorded, who can access recordings, and how incidents are referred to Tracy Police, and how long that footage is retained. And I want Council to understand our options to continue these programs with stronger safeguards, restrict them, suspend them, or terminate them. I'm not asking us to decide that tonight, but I'm asking that it be set for a future agenda so that we have a discussion publicly.

Are you looking for support on that? To bring full transparency to the community about what we have, how it's being utilized, I'm 100% behind that. I do think at the time, I recall, I think it was before my time at council when it was initially approved, but I was here for the meetings and We can get a lot of community engagement on that, as I recall. So I think in light of the fact that it's in national news, it would be good for us to have some kind of workshop and engagement just to, I think there's a lot of confusion about it. So I would support that part of it for sure.

Okay, I see one, two, good, okay. Okay, thank you.

Can I get clarification? Council Member Bedoya, are you looking for a presentation from staff? Do you want us to do it in a workshop format like an education? Just to be clear what we're...

I guess if we were looking to like get all the details about this program so the public can see it and we can provide input or see where we're at before providing any input, what's the best format for that? I would leave it up to city staff unless council has any.

I agree. I think like a public forum, you know. Right. A workshop I think would be good. Workshop.

Workshop. That's what I would recommend. Okay. So bringing back a workshop where we can present information about our flock program history and we'll have to go back and listen to the tape. I was going to say I'll make sure to give you the exact yes. Make sure we get all those components.

and um get feedback from the community as we'll also hear um feedback from council and then potentially further direction to come back including you know the the numbers on because there there have been some really great results like chiefs like wants to get up here probably and explain some of the things that happen because we we've seen that um but the public hasn't and a lot of folks were asking questions what are the benefits we have we've seen it and we have seen some some good results. So I'd like that to be public as well. So for sure.

I will endeavor to bring that back as quickly as possible, but given the short time we have before elections, I cannot guarantee that we'd get it. I'd get it back to you before that, but we will put it on the calendar to get it back as soon as possible before council. Okay.

Can I ask a question? Will you incorporate also, you know, the bills that, you know, there's SB 54 and then there's also 34 that actually do require our state not to share info. So will you incorporate that information too to be public?

I WOULD HOPE THAT STAFF INCORPORATES ANYTHING THAT COULD BE RELATED TO THIS. ANTICIPATE ANY QUESTIONS WE MAY HAVE SO WE DON'T HAVE TO DO A MEMO LATER.

OF COURSE, STAFF, PD STAFF IN PARTICULAR, BUT STAFF IS TRACKING WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA, SOME OF THE CONCERNS, AND WOULD WANT TO BE ABLE TO SHOWCASE you know, what safety protocols we have in place and how we might be running our programs differently than some of the things that are making the news. So be reassuring, I think, to the council and to the public. So we will work with the chief and his team to get something back to council shortly.

All right.

Mayor Pertem? First off, I want to give a big shout out to West High, the JROTC. They did a great presentation on September 11th. They take a lot of pride in doing that, and that was a great event to attend. Also, this Saturday morning from 8.30 to 11.30, I'll be out with some DARE kids and some high school kids. We're going to clean up downtown, so if anybody wants to come and help beautify the downtown area, you're welcome to. We're going to meet right out in front here, and I'll have the different You just have to bring your bodies. We'll provide you with the supplies to do that. Thank you.

What time was that?

8.30 to 11.30. Okay, great.

Thank you. Councilor Evans. Thank you. So quite a few things going on around town. Always encourage the public to get involved in local events. We attended the 9-11 Memorial. Jas Sangha puts on every year. This was on Friday. Great event. Great to meet with people and remember where we were on that day. Raised also a lot of funds, great funds for Tracy PD and South San Joaquin County Fire Authority. And then we took part in the Mexican Independence Day Parade as well and the festivities following out at Lincoln Park. And someone asked me and it reminded me during that event that so many people have asked me about us bringing back the festivities for Fourth of July at Lincoln Park. There's an incredible amount of nostalgia, people remembering this event that's been going on for many, many years, and it's changed now as of last few years, and just had many, many requests for us to talk about bringing it back. And I don't know about the fireworks display. That may have to stay out at Legacy Fields, but the whole rest of it that so many in the community adore THEY'D REALLY LIKE US TO TALK ABOUT BRINGING IT BACK. I DON'T WANT TO ADD ANOTHER THING TO STAFF'S PLATE, BUT IS THAT CONVERSATION THAT WE HAVE I would support that.

I was going to ask Councilmember Evans, when you were talking about bringing back some of the events, I was thinking you were meant the fireworks that used to be shot off from, or you could view them from the Tracy High School. What in particular, because we still do the pancake breakfast, we still do the, I think the air, the hot air balloons in the morning, and then also the parade. Was there something else that...

I think the parade used to go down to Lincoln Park, much like the Mexican Independence Day parade does. And so that brought a whole crowd down there that I don't think ends up there on 4th of July.

The chamber, the problem is that chamber used to run. They would have booths there and such. It wasn't city organized that. It was the chamber who organized the event at the Lincoln Park. So city have no involvement at all. No, not in organizing.

It was all the chamber that did may have been part of an MOU, but I think like the breakfast lions do the pancake breakfast.

Um, Tika now does the parade. I believe Tika, right.

I wonder if we have any influence or can have a conversation, but I can certainly reach out to Tika and see what, what can be done. I know that's kind of a different, they've kind of different, um, set of objectives, perhaps.

If you want to get some more information to me, I can, that's something I can probably handle administratively, at least to see if there's some conversations without needing, um, direction from council. That's something within my purview. If, if you give me some more information, what you're looking for, I can work with park staff to see if, sure.

I think that's really history is, is the, you know, the parade route. And, you know, if the same festivities are happening down there now, then, then we're, you know, 10 years ago, then, That part probably doesn't require change, but people seem to think it's different.

So a consideration of the parade route.

Yeah. Okay. That's that part. Also, I think at some point we do have to talk about LMDs, as Mr. Toback said. I think that is something that has been a thorn in a lot of people's side for many years. I know we've heard many come up and voice this, but he seems to be continuing that message, and I'm not going to ask for anything tonight, but I think, God willing, if I'm here next year and going forward, I'm going to ask for that, for us to reevaluate and figure out a plan to fix some of these issues. Last but not least, I just want to say thank you to Nessie Lopez. I think this, I'm hearing this might be your last city council meeting in these chambers with us, so I just want to thank you for your service. moving on to bigger things and just want to say how much I appreciate all of your help over the years I've been here. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Nygaard.

Yes, you will be Miss Nessie. I just want to first off thank my colleagues for supporting the Ad Hoc Committee and just really looking to help do the work. I did have an email, actually a couple emails over the last couple weeks about, you know, our dog shelter that they don't have a very large area to exercise dogs. And the city owns that vacant space in front of the dog center or dog shelter out to Grant Line. I want to ask if this could be... an idea to bring to staff if there's funding for a fence to just fence that in so there's an area for the dogs to exercise or would you need council support to have this come back and actually have a discussion on it?

I probably would want to have an opportunity to talk with the shelter staff for our animal services to find out. I know what area you're talking about. We just talked about in your council priorities, strategic priorities, how we've gotten some grants funding for some of the expansions. That is not part of, I don't recall if you're hearing about fencing for that. So if you give me an opportunity to check with my staff, and then if there is an ask, we can come back and ask council for, if that's a solution that might work, we can come back with some costing and a proposal to council.

Thank you. Yeah, I think it would be nice to allow them to have an exercise area right there. I think they depend on a lot of volunteers to come in and actually walk dogs, but I think actually having a space where they can actually really get out and run. Okay, my second ask tonight is a topic that is very much out there and something we have not dealt with yet, and that is data centers. So in the same type of seriousness, you know, I know that our county just asked for You know This topic to be discussed and how they want to address it I too think it's time for us as a council and I hope I can have consensus that maybe we start with an urgency ordinance and and address how do we actually as a city want to to address data centers And I think it is urgent because, yeah, there's, you know, talks all through our county as well as, you know, surrounding counties that are dealing, you know, with this issue. I just want to be, I think, more proactive than reactive.

Second. Can we get some clarification, Council Member Nygaard? Are you asking for us to bring back an urgency order?

Yes.

To do what exactly? I'm sorry, just...

To actually pause or...

So a moratorium, an urgency ordinance having a 45-day moratorium under state law, is that what you're asking?

Correct. Okay. So that we have time to actually develop what do we want to address on this topic.

Okay. So... That was a second and a third. Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, just want to thank council for your work. Just want to thank you for the community for coming out. We've had some really great events. I was also at the 9-11 event and was participating in our Mexican Independence Day Parade. Just great events for the public. And in light of that, just want to highlight a couple other ones that are coming up. We have our downtown wine stroll. It's coming up September 19th in downtown brews and barbecues on October 3rd. So I hope our community continues to come out for some really great community events. With that, I'll go ahead and entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. We have a second with Councilmember Nygaard. Roll call, please.

Mayor Potem, Abercrombie?

Yes.

Councilmember Nygaard? Yes. Councilmember Bedoya?

Yes.

Councilmember Evans?

Yes.

Mayor Areola?

Yes. We are adjourned at 9.46 p.m., and thank you, Ms. Lopez, for all of your work.

Kimberly. Kimberly, good night.