City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, residents of Tulare, staff, and fellow council members to our Tulare City Council meeting for Tuesday, April 7th. With that, the items that we have on our agenda is our Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation. Council Member Dennis Medeiros will lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance. And if you'd please remain standing for Pastor Dennis Sunderland, who will lead our invocation.

We will salute the flag and please remember The last six words of the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Shall we pray?

Father, we're so very grateful that we could come in the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we could come having just celebrated the resurrection, Easter, the joy of the season. And I pray, Lord Jesus, may your presence be real in this room. real in the life of each one that is gathered here. I ask that you will give wisdom and direction to those that are council members, city staff, lead them and guide them that they may direct our city in a way that all of its citizens can prosper and be blessed. I ask for your peace to be upon this meeting We commit it into your hands. We give you the glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you, Pastor Sutton. Next on our agenda is proclamations and recognition. 3.1 is a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month, and this will be led by Councilmember Terry Sayre.

Good evening. Whereas children are our nation's most valuable members and our nation's most valuable resources, helping to shape the future of Tulare, and whereas positive childhood experiences and safe, stable, nurturing relationships help mitigate the long-term impacts of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, supporting the healthy development of children, And whereas child abuse and neglect affect every community in the United States and preventing these issues requires collective action, strengthened family supports and community engagement. And whereas the Child Abuse Prevention Council CAPC of Tulare County, established in 1982, brings together public and community-based organizations to prevent child abuse through advocacy, collaboration, education, and information sharing for children and families. And whereas the CAPC's mission is to prevent child abuse by coordinating community partnerships and quality services, and its vision is to end child abuse by promoting healthy families where children reach their full potential, And whereas the CAPC values the strengths of families, the empowerment of communities, and a united commitment to preventing a child abuse and neglect in Tulare County. And whereas the City of Tulare recognizes and appreciates the CAPC and its network of partners, educators, health care providers, law enforcement personnel, nonprofits and volunteers who work collaboratively to ensure children and families receive the support they need to thrive. Now, therefore, we, the City Council of the City of Tulare, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. in the city of Tulare and encourage all residents to support families, participate in prevention efforts and help build a hopeful, healthy future for every child. Dated the seventh day of April 2026 and signed by the Tulare City Council.

Is there anyone here to receive this?

So I'd like to present this to you on our behalf, and would you like to say something?

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Griselda Ibarra. I am with the Tulare County Child Abuse Prevention Council. I am the program manager. On behalf of the Tulare County Child Abuse Prevention Council, I want to extend our grateful gratitude for your support and recognition of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Your leadership is an astounding way of acknowledging the importance of protecting our children and sending powerful message that every child deserves to grow up safe, supported, and nurtured. At the Tulare County Child Abuse Prevention Council, our mission is to raise awareness, educate, and provide resources to family and the community to prevent child abuse and neglect. We work with schools, social service, businesses, law enforcement, health care providers, and community members to ensure that our children and family have access to programs that strengthen families, build resilience, and prevent harm before it occurs. Throughout the years, we have led different campaigns, community events that highlights the importance of prevention and early intervention. We advocate policies that protect our children and support our families. Child abuse prevention month is not just on April, it is every month of the year. It is our commitment to support and reinforce every day of the month and year. Your support helps amplify our message and our mission. Together, we could create a community where children feel safe, families are strong, and prevention is shared responsibilities. Let us continue working together, not just this month, but every month to prevent child abuse. Our priorities are to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive in our communities. Thank you to our city council members, mayors, city council personnel, and everyone here tonight to show our efforts to prevent child and our commitment and leadership and advocating for our future children. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next item on our agenda 3.2 is a proclamation for Donate Life Month. Do we have a representative from Donate Life here this evening? Yes, thank you. If you would, please, if you would join me at the podium. All right, yes, if you'd come up here. Welcome, welcome. Yeah. Good evening. This proclamation is for National Donate Life Month. Whereas National Donate Life Month is observed each April to honor the individuals who have given the gift of life through organ, eye, and tissue donation, and to celebrate the lives that have been saved or healed through this generosity. And whereas more than 100,000 people in the United States, including many Californians, Tulareans, are currently the National are on the national organ transplant waiting list, each hoping for a second chance at life through the generosity of a donor. And whereas, organ, eye, and tissue donation is a life-saving giving act recognized worldwide as an expression of compassion within a single donor able to save up to eight lives through organ donation and improve or heal the lives of up to 75 more through tissue donation. And whereas this year's Donate Life theme uses trees as a symbol of life, growth, and connection, reminding us that just as trees support one another within a forest, donations connect donors, recipients, families, and caregivers, creating a lasting legacy of hope. And whereas the gift of donation is not limited by age, or most medical conditions, and more than 14 million Californians have already registered their decision to be organ, eye, and tissue donors through the Donate Life California registry. And whereas Californians, you, me, and our neighbors may register their donor decision when applying for or renewing a driver's license or identification card through the California Department of Motor Vehicles or online. Now, therefore, we, the City Council of the City of Tulare, do hereby proclaim the month of April as National Donate Life Month. Thank you. You have a wonderful group with you, if you'd like to say a few words. Yes, very, very cool.

Hello, everyone. My name is Leonardo Hernandez, and I'm the Community Engagement Specialist at Donor Network West. And my role is basically to raise awareness about the issue, just get people talking about it. And through one of those ways is telling stories. And today, I'm actually going to have two people who are residents of this area who are going to briefly share the impact of what donation can have on them. And with that, I'm going to invite Jennifer McClung to briefly share her story.

Good evening, everyone. I'm honored to be here this evening, not only to share my story, but to also tell you how organ donation has changed my life. At 16 and a half, I was diagnosed with kidney failure. I went to the hospital thinking that I had just a bad case of the flu. My parents took me to the doctor multiple times, and it just seemed I couldn't get better. Finally, the doctor ordered a lab test and a chest x-ray. When the results came back, it showed that I had pneumonia, my heart was double the size it should be, and it seemed my kidneys had failed. The doctor decided to give me a medication called Lasix, hoping to pull off that excess fluid and that my lab results would be better the next day. The next morning, my mom took me back to the hospital, and once again, they drew blood. There was no change. A nurse came out to meet my mom and I, and I remember walking along the long, white, narrow hallway, scared to go to my hospital room. There, the nurse handed me a file telling me about the different types of dialysis treatments I could choose from, what foods I could and could not have. and what my life would be like with kidney failure until I received a kidney transplant. At a time that I should have been picking out my prom dress and kissing boys instead, I was picking out the type of dialysis I wanted and kissing my freedom away. I did dialysis for over 17 years, doing both a gentle form of dialysis, peritoneal, which allowed me to sleep as the treatment was done, and a much more invasive form of dialysis, hemo, which caused me to go to a clinic three times a week and be poked with large needles. Hemodialysis was extremely hard on me. And when I went for a transplant, at one point in time, they thought I was going to need a heart and kidney transplant. But after being tested, I was very blessed that my heart was just good enough to receive a kidney transplant. I remember on December 3rd, 2015, my phone rang at 6 a.m. I see UCSF flash across the screen. This was it. On the other end was the transplant team nurse. She asked me a bunch of questions and she let me know that my daughter was from a 13 year old boy who sadly died from a traumatic brain injury. In the background, I heard my mom banging on my siblings doors. Jen's got the call. Jen's got the call. My mom and I got in the car and we drove the four hours to get to San Francisco through the Tulare fog, as you all know, the rain and a little bit of sun. When I got to UCSF, the nurse once again met me with my mom. Once again, we walked along the long, stark white hallway, but this time it was filled with bright and colorful pictures symbolizing hope and the bright future I had before me. I went into surgery, and four hours later, I looked down at the bag attached to me. Little drops of yellow, liquid gold. The kidney was working. Since then, my life has done a 180. How many people can say they have more energy and look better in their 20s? I no longer depend on a machine to live. I can enjoy the foods and drinks that I love, even in moderation. Kind of hard when your sister's a baker and makes some good cakes. But most importantly, I'm still here to enjoy my friends and family, such as that sister who's in the audience tonight to support me. I am forever grateful to that family who I can't imagine the grief they were going through when they lost their son, to have the courage and kindness to say yes to donate his own organs. Every morning I wake up and I am forever thankful because with this gift from my donor, he did not just change my life, he saved my life. Thank you. And now I'd like to turn things over to my fellow Ambassador Craig.

So first off, I just got to say it feels really good to be back here in this space. Yeah, a little bit.

And I think you're supposed to identify yourself first and say what city you live in. You understand that, don't you?

Okay, so I'm Craig Vavida. I used to sit on this dais 10 years ago. last time I was here. Anyway, first off, I want to thank you all for the job that you are doing. Sometimes you don't get thanked for what you do. As a citizen of this community, I very much appreciate it. Doing good work. Keep it up. So most of you know that I got a heart transplant three and a half years ago. And then shortly thereafter, I volunteered to be a part of Donor Network West. I I weighed a lot less than the shirt actually fit. So I've been living a little bit large since then, but it's been a real blessing. I have a rare blood disorder. Milt Stowe shared the same rare blood disorder. Milt was our Parks and Rec director here in the city of Tulare and then was mayor of Porterville subsequently. Milt's doing great. I'm healthy. And I'm here because of the grace of God. fantastic medical teams at Cedars-Sinai, and a donor. And you gotta have all three of those. So if you are registered, if you're on the donor registry, I thank you. I do ask that you let your loved ones know that you are, because it's a tough time for people when they lose a loved one, then to have to say, okay, can we harvest some parts? Let your family know. Makes it a lot easier for them. You've heard that if you're not registered, it's so easy to do through the DMV online. There's multiple options online. And I'm going to share one other thing. Steve Boots was a math teacher and a football coach at Tulare Union High School. Did anybody know Steve? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So Steve Boots had a son, Steve, who's my age. He played football and he was a heavyweight on a wrestling team. And Steve needs a kidney. And his best chance of getting a kidney is through a good Samaritan donor. He's my age. so i i share that with you to say let's spread the word and maybe there's somebody out there there are a couple organs that you can donate while you're still alive kidney and part of your liver the liver regenerates the rest of them are harvested after you've passed so um i thank you for this time and thank you all for uh you know, helping save lives.

Appreciate it, Mayor.

Hello, my name is Maria Grijalva, and I am a 39-year organ recipient donated by my living donor brother. So living donation is right here represented. Now, I'm going to challenge the uniform population out here. We are having our first Gift of Life run. in Cutler Park this Saturday. Now, Sheriff Harold Lyles received his kidney from his son celebrating one year. These are all the Sheriff's Department. I'm challenging you, Tulare Police Department, everybody out here, to represent Tulare now. So I hope to see you out there, all right? So this is a formal invitation.

Thank you very much. Thank you for being here and sharing the stories. And Maria, I understand you've kind of one of the founders of this. You've been to this for a very long time. Well, again, 39 years.

Yes. Yes. My lifetime. Yes. Yes. Thank you.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Thank you to everybody. PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Next on our agenda is 3.3 California Parks and Recreation Society CPR s awards of excellence presentation. Good evening and welcome. Yes. PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Would you

There we go. Hi, everybody. I am Mel Johnson. I am the region three rep on the state board for the California Park and Rec Society, CPRS. It's a distinct honor to be here to celebrate the hard work of an incredible team of dedicated park and rec professionals. And I dare say there are other city staff members that worked hard on these projects as well. The CPRS annual awards program celebrates the outstanding examples of quality facility and park design, programming accomplishments, effective communications, community leadership, and professional successes that take place daily in our profession. Through our five award categories, we highlight the people, places, spaces, programs, and stories that make communities like Tulare special. This year, there were 186 total applications. Only 52 were awarded. and two of them were awarded to City of Tulare, which is a big deal. As an Innovation Award winner, you are in an elite group. There were only 12 awardees in six subcategories for this brand new award. The program Letters to Jack Skellington is a truly innovative approach designed to promote literacy, community connection, and holiday spirit. In 2025, the program went viral, receiving 5,000 letters from all 50 states and two territories of Guam and Puerto Rico, as well as from Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, and Australia. The program not only connected local residents, but created a global connection through a shared themed activity, creating a sense of belonging and community excitement during the Halloween season. The program provides a fun and engaging creative writing prompt and motivates children to practice letter writing and communication skills. It promotes inclusivity, accessibility, and equity by leveraging digital tools to remove traditional participation barriers. and engaging in kid ulting hobbies and imaginative activities also helps lower stress levels invokes a sense of nostalgia and provides a healthy creative escape you'll find this next in my agency parks and rec is a bag barrow and steel industry so a huge congrats to miss lusk for your efforts on this i was told to do that that's a cool award Okay, so there were two awards. The next one is the park. You good? Great. The Park Planning Award of Excellence for Zumwalt Park featuring Adventist Health Amphitheater. The category only had eight awards earned through three subcategories. So it's one of the most difficult awards to earn through CPRS. The renovation of Zumwalt Park has transformed a once underused green space into a central hub for entertainment. recreation and economic revitalization. The addition of the Adventist Health Amphitheater provides a space for world class live concerts, community celebrations. The park serves as a cornerstone of the city's downtown master plan, drawing nearly 35 to 50,000 visitors annually. And local businesses have reported increased business, indicating a significant boost to the local economy. New features include custom designed playground, a zip line and a splash pad with integrated misters and colored lighting for summer cooling. The park offers free events to promote public wellness and connections such as yoga cross training tai chi and folklorico dance lessons it's inclusive design includes Ada accessible restroom upgrades and Ada Ada accessible playground. and walkable paths to ensure the space is accessible to all residents. Beyond concerts, the park hosts movie nights, car shows, holiday celebrations, nonprofit events, and my picnic dinner later, because I'm going there next. That sounds amazing. So congratulations, City of Tulare, on your two awards for the well-deserved awards of excellence. I don't know who to give this one to. Who do we have?

Ooh, I like when people fight over awards. I stepped down here because I certainly am representing the city council, wanted to as well extend a hand-shake and congratulations to our staff and those involved. So Mr. Orr, if you'd please join us then.

I'm going to fill time on the long walk down, Mr. Orr. The one-of-a-kind award plaque that's in your hands was made by an artist through an LA-based nonprofit. It's called Piece by Piece. So not only are you being recognized with a unique piece of artwork as an award, but CPRS likes to help people who were formerly unhoused or experiencing lower SES and develop marketable skills, self-confidence, and improved quality of life. That is a unique award. Congratulations to all of you.

Is it on now? This wouldn't have been possible without the amazing Parks and Recreation staff I have, as well as our Community Development Department and pretty much everyone in the city. It really was a group effort on Zumwalt Park. So thank you again. Thank you.

Also.

And of course we have a city council appreciates the leadership of Mark Mondale. And of course with the staff and directors and everyone involved that I know if there was something, I don't want to put you on the spot.

That's your efforts. 5 000 letters i definitely did not do this on my own we had an entire part-time staff of two main girls and then like six other that i like helped with the five thousand we had a whole system going with tubs and boxes all the way up until october 30th and we even got some in february that got delayed through michigan and alaska so we were still doing letters all the way up until february because they got lost in the mail somehow um so i could not have done it without my part-time staff they were amazing because we wrote back and responded individually customized letters back to 5 000 kids they're all individually customized so i could not do without them because i don't have that creative ability to think of 5 000 letters so thank you

Oh, a picture? I'm sorry, Melissa.

Okay.

All right, moving forward on our agenda is number four, public comment. Members of the public wishing to comment on any item not appearing on the agenda may address the City Council at this time. State law prevents Council from acting on any matter not on the agenda. However, your comments may be referred to staff for follow-up. This is also the time for the public to comment on items listed under the consent calendar or to request an item from the consent calendar be pulled for discussion purposes. comments related to public hearing and general business items will be heard at the time those items are discussed in fairness to all wish In fairness, to all who wish to speak, public comment is limited to a total of 15 minutes with each speaker allowed three minutes, unless otherwise extended by council. Please begin your comments by stating your name and providing your city of residence. For those that wish to provide public comments while viewing the meeting online, you may call 559-366-1849 and the clerk will assist you with your call. As we start the public comment, I do have various yellow cards that were turned in for item 9.1. So I'm going to hold those cards specifically for item 9.1. I have others that are listed as general comments. As I said in setting up the rules and conditions, with the timeframe tonight and setting the 15 minute time limit on our public comment. But of course, council members, council, myself may extend that depending on the discussion or presentation. So the first item that I have is Eric Ferreira, TPFA contract. Good evening, Mr. Ferreira, good to have you. Welcome.

Well, council members, my name is Eric for I live here in the city. It's Larry and I serve the citizens via the city fire department for the last 18 years and I've been on our executive board that represents the professional firefighters association for the last 12 years. And I saw the vice mayor when I came in with my posse here, he got a little nervous, but I, I can assure you that this is, uh, praise and, uh, gratitude for the individuals that you have empowered and entrusted, uh, with negotiations between, uh, my represent my organization that I represent and the administrators such as chief. Mark. thomas jason and janie from my association to to the council i want to let you know that we've had nothing but uh respectful conversations and um we have nothing but praise for your administration that you've that you've empowered and there's a lot that you guys don't get to see when we go to the table um because it's illegal and it's not moral but um i'd have to let you know that the conversations we had and when we came to our differences which when two entities come to the table there's always going to be differences what we noticed with this administration because like i said i've been there for 12 years so i've seen numerous administrations they explain the why and they've been trusted uh they let our people know why we can't come to a certain agreement and we really appreciate that we can go back to our Brothers and sisters, and who I represent and explain to them the vision of the city artillery. And, um, we're just very thankful and grateful. We want to think, uh, Mark, she fought. Thomas, Jason and Janie, and I know you'll see the contract took quite a quite a bit of time, but. Me and Thomas even talked about it. Keep in mind that there were some HR changes, people coming into the game midway through. So getting everyone caught up to speed and getting a good contract, not only for my organization, but for the city. We thank you.

Can I ask one question? Yes, sir. Why did you leave Mario Zamora out? Did he offend you? Isn't he part of the team?

You know, we actually had a good, pleasant conversation with him.

I thought maybe he was the lawyer.

No, no, no, no. No. Thank you very much.

Mr. Ferrer to you and your team, thank you for your comments. Thank you. Appreciate the presentation. And thank you to your team for all that you do. The next card I have is Esther Vasquez and Patty Minya. Good evening, Esther. Welcome.

Hello and God bless you all. It's good to be here. My name is Esther Vasquez and I live in Goshen, but I am coming tonight to represent Iglesia de Dios or Church of God here in Tulare on E Street. And our main concern is that Well, our purpose here today is to bring your attention regarding some accidents that have been occurring at two intersections. And some of our members have had car accidents and we noticed that there's always a lot of people surrounding this intersections here in Tulare, walking, or having to deal with the traffic. And we noticed that on these two four-way intersections, which are on I and Cross and E and San Joaquin, that there's only like two signs at the four ways, there's only two stop signs. And so the cars that are coming like from cross or after they pass the light on J you know they're just they just keep going straight and the other cars. don't know that they don't have a stop because there's an intersection there so they they're having car accidents and a couple of our Members. From church have had accidents there and so before any more fatalities or anything I don't know that that they. they perished or not, you know, but I was asked as the secretary of the church to come and speak to you folks, you know, here tonight to see if we could get more stops on those two intersections. And I mentioned, I think, E and San Joaquin and I and Cross. And so that's my spiel for today. And we're hoping that, you know, you guys can see fit, you know, to do something about putting more stop signs there on those two intersections to prevent more accidents.

Thank you, Esther.

Thank you very much for your time today.

It's good to see you. And I have your yellow card and we will pass that to staff and our team will be in touch with you.

Thank you very much. God bless you all.

The next yellow card that I have is Mr. Bruce Young. Good evening, Bruce. Welcome.

I have no idea how to work this thing.

It's all right.

Oh, I see. OK, perfect. So I'm here to address the council about the lack of access to the social services building here in Tulare. The social service building has been closed since March 25th, 2025, and I feel like that has had a very negative effect on our community. A light touch on what's been going on in my life is that I just moved back to Tulare after living here my whole life about two months ago, and it took me almost For two or three weeks, I was being run around with 10 hour calls and I could not reach anybody. I tried to get access to our local social service building. I didn't have access to a car. I didn't have access to a computer. And with that lack of accessibility, I couldn't get anything done. The only way I was able to get these things done is by contacting our mayor and by contacting our district representative. And I know that many people in our communities don't have the ability to reach out to our district representatives and to our mayor. And so that is a negative. And there's another story I'd like to add where I talked to my neighbor who just lives right next to me. It's James and Beverly Silva. They're a veteran and 70 year residents. They oversee the health of a Miss Rosalie. And she took... four weeks to get access to any medical information. They had to travel to Lindsay and it took them once again, three weeks to like find the information to be able to get access to that medical. And in the time of that three weeks, Miss Rosalie her health declined and she ended up on hospice. And these people are too old to be having to travel all the way to Lindsay by car to wait six to seven hours to be hung up on on phone calls waiting for their social services. And so this is just two houses in what I would consider to be a middle income neighborhood in Tulare County. So I can't even imagine the effect that this has had on our poor residents. And so like, 17.4% per the last census data makes up the poverty line in Tulare County. And so that's over one fifth of your residents. And one fifth of your residents do not have access to their social services because of this problem. not having an alternate building to go to or anything that seems a little ridiculous to me. So because that building was my lifeline when she was born in 2021, when I became a solo dad and I gained full custody and without the access to that, I don't know what I would have done then. And so I can't imagine all the single mothers, all the other elderly people out here and the problems that they're going through. That is all.

Thank you, Mr. Young. Appreciate you sharing the situation.

Mr. Mayor, if I might just add, just so that I have clarity, I believe what you're referring to, our social service was provided by Tulare County, not the city of Tulare. Is that correct?

Well, the social services is provided by Tulare County, but we had access to a social service building specifically here in Tulare. The other nearest buildings are Lindsay and in Visalia, both about 20, 25 miles away.

Just so I was clear and in the public that was listening, social services is not a function of or a department of the city of Tulare. It's a function of Tulare County, that organization, but it's located in the city of Tulare. Is that correct?

I don't have that knowledge, sir.

I think what I understood, if I can, as Mr. Young referenced, reaching out to the mayor, and if I can, Mr. Young, if I have this right, what Mr. Young is sharing and advocating for is the access point. So the county, the access point, many folks in the situation for which Mr. Young described, being in Tulare, and having to go through the communication bureaucracy travel just those access points. And I think you shared your frustration need in those areas that did share your information with other leaders of that organization. And you do have here tonight who are also hearing this very much of healthcare providers of the community in the audience this evening. So I hope I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I i appreciate you sharing and i hope we've captured a quick summary of what you're conveying yes absolutely all right thank you sir and just once i appreciate your comments and uh i'll see if we can at least uh write a letter from our city council thank you for this county thank you thank you mr sorry for being a child and i will stop with the interruptions with that perfectly welcome thank you next i have is uh charlie

and a bird sorry Charlie if I got your last name wrong I apologize bird okay good evening Charlie welcome good evening Council my name is Charles Byrd and I've been in the city of Tulare for approximately since 1960. and why I'm here is I want to complain on the allies in the area where I live at And the alleys looked terrible up and down through the streets. Even on Martin Luther King, they got a lot of bumps. And we was walking on the day of Martin Luther King, and we couldn't hardly walk on the turf because it was so many bumps and lumps on that highway. So I feel that I look in the city and all the rest of the cities look beautiful. Two areas of beautiful company, county, city that you guys did a great job on park and it looks good in the city here. And I'm proud of that. But in my area, nobody never do anything over there. They just kind of neglect that area, the Lincoln track. So I would be like to see if we could get a little love down those alleys that clean them up and make them look nice.

And I really appreciate that. And you referred to it as the Lincoln tract. Is that what you said?

Yes, sir.

OK. Thank you, Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Byrd. Thank you. Appreciate it.

With that, that's Carter. Is there anyone else in chambers who'd like to make public comment at this time for items not on the agenda? Madam Clerk, do we have anyone on the phone? OK. Do we have anyone on the phone? okay yeah alberto if you give me one second if i can just go to the phone real quick you can remain at the microphone so i want to if i can then i want to address the phone call first

Ma'am? Yes. You may proceed with your comments.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Rhonda Quintero and I'm from the City of Tulare and I was just calling. I know that it's being presented for a citywide yard sale to happen in the City of Tulare and I'm just asking that you guys would hopefully consider that. I know that a lot of people in Tulare would really appreciate being able to have one. I had asked online, and we got a lot of feedback where people would love to participate in that event. And I think, you know, if you know, Morro Bay has one every year. I think the City of Exeter actually has one once a year. all goes well with the city of Tulare and maybe we can um do this maybe yearly at the most I know it also will bring in a lot of um a lot of other people from other cities um going to our shops and using our services here thank you that's all I have yes thank you for your comments

Mr. Aguilar. And I think just to clarify, maybe you're asking, I just said Al's first name just because of knowing each other, but there's no special calling into the microphone with that. He just asked to speak. Oh, when that time comes, I will call you by your card. Mr. Aguilar.

Thank you very much. I think you may have overlooked that I wanted to speak during public comment. not only on item number nine one but also i want to make a public comment and my public comment is regarding the brown act and i know for a fact that all of you including the senior manager is required by state law to go ahead and take ethics training uh according to a similar assembly bill 1234 and that covers the brown act okay and i went ahead and i went to the city council and uh I've got a report that's written, it's a staff report and it's under the city manager, Mark Mundell, that makes some interesting comments that makes me believe that there was a violation of the Brown Act. Specifically, it indicates that the Following public statements by council members regarding covering the removal of the monument, staff placed a temporary cover on the sign. Although this action did not receive majority council direction, staff moved forward out of caution. What that tells me is that more than two members had some kind of dialogue with Councilman Zagala, which makes it a violation of the Brown Act. It's called a serial meeting. Even if he didn't speak directly to him, if he went ahead and contacted, for example, Councilman Harrell, and he went ahead and contacted Ms. Sayre or Mr. Medeiros, that is a violation of the Brown Act. That is a serial meeting. And if it's a serial meeting, if it's a serial meeting, Any action taken regarding the issue that was brought forward will be null and void. That's the Brown Act. All right? Thank you.

Thank you.

You got a question for me?

Question?

It's far away.

Mr. Eggert, did you say that I made a phone call to him?

No, no. I said, for example. Oh, okay. I used you as an example. I apologize for using you. I should have used Mr. Isherwood instead and Kerry Sayre. No, I would never go ahead and say that you did something like that. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Okay.

Moving forward on our agenda, just for clarification, and that's also assuming that everybody was contacted.

I just read what's been said.

No, I understand. I wasn't contacted.

Mr. Mayor, I do have another phone call. That's it. Okay.

Go ahead now?

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Ishwood and members of council. This is Donette Silva with the Tulare Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for the opportunity to share comments. I'm sorry that another commitment is keeping me from being there in person tonight. First of all, I just wanted to start with a thank you to the city for the collaboration for our participation at ICSC Monterey. for business attraction i feel like it was a very successful and productive trip to that conference and the opportunity for us to have a booth and to engage with entities as an opportunity to bring them into our community as prospects for development i think you'll hear more i'm sure from jennifer gomez and from council member sagala to that end we also want to thank the community in general for coming out to cars on k We had several thousand people out last weekend and 150 vehicles. It was a great day in downtown Tulare and a great opportunity as well to put a spotlight on all of the reinvigoration efforts in our downtown area. I'd like to invite everyone to join us at the International Agri Center this Thursday evening 530 to 7pm, where they will host our business after hours networking mixer come out and mingle to grow your business. And then finally, we will be presenting an in-depth report about TBIZ efforts at the next council meeting, but we want to announce our new partnership with CIVIC and we will be offering courses in Spanish and focused on our immigrant population that does start later this month. So if you know any emerging entrepreneurs who may be interested, we want individuals to get in touch with us there at TBIZ or at the chamber office. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share out information from the Tulare Chamber.

Thank you, Donnette. OK, with that, I'm ending the public comment period and moving forward to item five, presentations, status of public health presented by local health agencies. And with that. I was all ready. I have an agenda for this, and I don't know what I did with it. That's the 5,000 documents that I have. I think somebody does anybody else have the cover sheet for this as well, and I say, if you wouldn't go ahead.

Oh, well, the mayor finds his documents. I just wanted to thank The folks that are here today to talk about the status of of health care here in our city. I appreciate the council supporting this a few months ago to be here this evening and we've had some changes at the federal level in regards to health care access and. budgets and the number of things that eventually will trickle down and affect our local clinics and hospitals. So I really do appreciate those folks that are here tonight to share a little bit about what they do for the public to know and hopefully share with us what they see down the line in terms of any concerns that people will have to their either their funding for their clinics to continue to provide support or any lack of access that will come as a result of the federal legislation that was passed last year. So Mr. Mayor is ready.

I think with that, as I know our staff had reached out to our partners, perhaps of our staff would be interested in introducing our partners that are here with us this evening.

Good evening, Council. So we reached out to three of our local organizations. We have Family Healthcare Network, Altura Centers for Health, and Adventist Health, who are going to present on the current status of healthcare here in Tulare. First up will be Family Healthcare Network.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Mallory Barragan. I'm the Director of Special Programs with Family Healthcare Network. And first off, I thank you for the opportunity to be here today to talk about healthcare changes alongside with other community health partners. But I wanted to first begin by grounding us really in the reality of the patients that we serve. collectively here in the San Joaquin Valley. A new 2025 market report included data from the Valley and here's where we fell. So if you look at the slide here, it says one in five children in our region experience food insecurity. Over half residents rely on medical solely for their health coverage. 7.6 of residents remain uninsured and nearly one in five people live in poverty. So, this is really the landscape in which these federal health care decisions are going to affect our local communities. And we know that even the smallest changes will have rippling effects. So, with that context, I want to just briefly talk about family health care network and why our role in the community is important. So family health care network exists. specifically to serve these vulnerable populations. And we have since 1976. We are celebrating our fifth year in service. This picture here actually depicts our first health center. It was an old gasoline station out in Porterville. And our network has definitely grown, but we like to remember our humble beginnings. So, as health care providers, we provide primary and specialty care access now across 4 counties. So, Larry King's current and Fresno counties, and our footprint has really grown over the years each year. Our clinical system sees more than 254,000 unique patients. 90% of whom are low income and over 100,000 of them identify as migrant seasonal farm workers on an annual basis. We deliver over 1Million patient visits across our more than 50 sites. So patients trust us to care for them. And that trust has been earned through care served to them with dignity and respect. But patients rely on us for more than just medical services, but also for our programs that are designed to address social determinants of health. So I want to share a little bit about some of the programs we do have. First, being those programs that address food insecurity, such as our food pantries, our food distributions, who collectively serve over 5,000 patient visits a year and distribute more than 203,000 pounds of food annually. Also our literacy programs that include our Reach Out and Read program that offers children zero to five free books at their pediatric wild child visits and of course our bookstore that was opened in 2022. Um, and then with the addition of our bookstore, we created a reading our X program. So our providers hand out reading our X's at visits and the children are welcome to come to our bookstore to redeem a free book. Um, and collectively our programs distribute over 19,000 books annually. So, to kind of put this in context, uh, 1 week without family health care network, 20,000 patients would need to find alternative care. So in short, we like to see ourselves as a stabilizing force in the communities that we serve. So with that foundation, I want to turn to currently what we do know about the potential impacts. I think first it's important to acknowledge there's still a lot of uncertainty. The full impact of these changes are really still unfolding before us. We know that there'll be potential decreases in Medi-Cal enrollments due to immigration status. And then there will also be work requirements. And so we assume that those will have a significant impact on the retention of Medi-Cal coverage. Folks will be required to have 80 hours per month of work, study, or community service. And this is set to take effect January 1st, 2027. And also the renewals will change to every six months to retain coverage. But it does look like the state of California will be implementing optional short-term exemptions, which include exemptions from work requirements for those living in a county with high unemployment rates. And in the state, it does appear that over 22 counties in California will qualify for this exemption with Tulare County potentially being one of them. So this would significantly decrease the impact on the patient coverage specifically in our service area. But please keep in mind these changes that are being discussed are for adult expansion population only. So, for adults, ages, 19 through 64 years of age. So, really the pool that is impacted either way is smaller than our total patient population. Effective October 1st, 2026, those who no longer qualify for full scope medical due to immigration status, they will transition back to what we call restricted scope medical, which only covers emergency or pregnancy related services. And we're really still unsure of how the counties will respond to this kind of each county will take their own charge in response to these new changes. But we are actively engaged in conversation with the counties to ensure that we're a reliable partner. Uh, but there are some things that we do know will not change 1 of being that family health care network will still be here to serve the community. We have no plans for reductions to services to reductions of clinical sites, or even hours of operation. But we do actually have a robust expansion plan over the next 2 years to open 20 additional sites across our service areas. Um, so really our focus remains clear on communicating with our patients any changes that we know of as soon as we get information because we know that they will have a lot of questions. Um, we do have outreach and enrollment teams that will continue to be out in the communities every day to, um, address these concerns and questions of our patients. Um. And then there are some system level challenges that we are watching closely. Obviously, a great concern is not only funding, but also system capacity. So, within our network, we know we all we offer specialty services, and we're able to use our sliding fee scale to offer those at a discounted rate to our patients. But in the larger scope, access to specialty care is already strained. And many of our external specialty providers don't accept safety net programs. So we know that they're not able to offer those discounted programs to patients. So any reductions in coverage, we know it's gonna place a lot of pressure on our patients and even on county systems. So those could lead to longer referral delays and increased emergency department utilization. So these are some of the things that we're watching closely. But given those challenges, we recognize that preparation and partnerships are important. And our message today is not one of panic, but really just our commitment to remain vigilant and responsive. And we will remain here and focused on the health care to the communities we serve. And with that, I open it to any questions that you have for me.

Mayor Mrakas, I think what we'll do is appreciate the information the sharing and perhaps let all of the partners go and then we'll go around, of course, i'm sure Council members will have.

Mayor Mrakas, Thank you, thank you.

City Council Chambers, Okay up next we're going to have a presentation by alter.

Mayor Mrakas, Good evening out to our good evening graciela.

City Council Chambers, graciela from would like. But today I am representing Altura Centers for Health. I'm Graciela Soto. I am the chief executive officer for Altura Centers for Health. And once again, good evening, mayor and council members. Thank you for having us. So we were asked, what is the state of health in Tulare? So one of the big issues we have ongoing is not just Tulare, but the whole country is provider shortage. So some of the challenges of recruiting medical doctors, doctors of osteopathic medicine, which are DOs, primary care doctors especially, which is pediatrics, family medicine, OBGYN, So when you go to private offices or specialists, you tend to see more nurse practitioners or physician assistants because there's a lack of doctors. Specialists, as Marisol mentioned, specialists are very difficult to access. We're very fortunate that we do have a lot of our specialists that come to the clinic and treat our patients. But we still have that shortage. We have OBGYNs. We have, they still deliver at the hospital. They're very expensive. So luckily we still have them. Dentists, behavioral health, and et cetera. They're very difficult. It's taken us years to find some of these providers. So the H-1B visas for those, we are a clinic that we can sponsor. We are a federally qualified health center as well and a nonprofit. We can sponsor J-1s. We can sponsor H-1B visas. But they just recently, the federal government just recently increased the immigration fees for H1Bs to $100,000 to bring a doctor. That's a lot of money. And what we bill versus, it's just not, it's very expensive to hire these providers now. So some of the solutions that we've come up with is we continue to host doctors from Cahuilla Delta. They rotate through our clinics. Our OBGYNs do deliver at Cahuilla. We also have residents from USC, other universities, also physician assistants, nurse practitioners. We try to grow and retain our own here. So we do have that partnership that tries to help us. We also have been hiring. We were part of that pilot program. There are four clinics that were part of this program. We were the only ones in the Central Valley. We brought doctors from Mexico who are alumni from one of the largest universities in the Western Hemisphere, which is called UNAM. And they are alumni. And they've been a blessing. Some doctors have subspecialties. They're pulmonologists, cardiologists, emergency room. So we have one at the West Clinic who's a pediatrician, pulmonologist. And because it's difficult to access specialty, our pediatricians are referring a lot of the cases to him because he's a pulmonologist. And we bought state-of-the-art equipment for pulmonology for respiratory because that's one of the biggest conditions here in the Valley. We have poor quality there. So that's the provider shortage. So I mentioned Tulare County has one of the worst. Well, we don't have very good healthcare in the Valley. That's just what that shows. We're not compared to, well, national average or fine, but the state, we're not, we have one of the poor qualities. And I think part of it is also the respiratory. The next one is federal. So you all have been hearing what prompted Mr. Sagala-Paoli to talk about healthcare. What are the impacts? So the beautiful bill, which is HR1, what happened is Covered California was eliminated. We call it Covered California here in California. California always calls something different. Like, for example, Medicaid program is called Medi-Cal in California, but Medicaid and Medi-Cal are the same. So Covered California, there was no funding for it, and that's why anybody who has that coverage, their premiums have significantly increased because there's no more funding for it. It was cut out of the federal funding. And the Medi-Cal cuts, we, of course, you already heard, there's a work requirement for 19264. We have to report proof of work, volunteer hours. There's going to be a cost sharing now. It's going to be $35 depending on your income. And it used to be free, but not anymore. Thirty-five dollars is going to be the case for those, for that category. Medical determinations is every six months. Right now it's every year. And there's going to be cuts to the SNAP program as well, which is the food program. And as I mentioned, there's that restriction. Also, they have, it's not going to be as easy accessible. Now there's more requirements for the food program. So this is very important to note, is the Medi-Cal program, based on the Department of Healthcare Services, there's over 14 million people enrolled in the Medi-Cal program as of January 2026. Tulare County has 286,186 enrolled as of January, 2026. And if you look at the next one to get a better idea, So the county of Tulare has 286, 886 enrolled in the Medi-Cal program now, and there's 14 million. That has to be processed right now every year. The state of California does not have the manpower or the technology to enroll people every six months. And this is why many people are going to drop. And if we go to the next one. These are the new applicants. The left is the Tulare County. How many people have are in process, have applied. And then on the right is a whole state. We, Tulare County, are completing with that whole state. That's a lot of people. And the next one. So in the city of Tulare, we have about over 74,000 population, right, Mark? Something around there. And Medi-Cal eligible, I believe it was 34,000 or something. I have it in the form. But you can see that in the city of Tulare, 57% of our Tolarians are Medi-Cal eligible for the Medicaid program. So we have a high percentage of poverty in the city of Tulare, and they're going to be impacted by this, and it's going to impact the whole economy. And the next. So what are we doing at Altura to address this? Oh, let me give you another stats. So over 21,000. About 22,000 of our patients are Tulareans. 14,991 are on Medi-Cal of those. So about 70% of our patients are on Medi-Cal. Now, we see not only people from Tulare, but the whole county and surrounding areas. And overall, we have 68% of our patients are on Medi-Cal. So all of these patients are going to be impacted by this program. But city Tulare has a high percentage of, again, Medicaid patients. So what we are doing, we are enrollers, our counselors. We have placed them in all Altura clinical locations. You don't need to be a patient. If you know somebody who you think may need coverage, needs Medi-Cal, they don't have to just go to the county. We work with the county, and we can enroll patients into the Medi-Cal program or Covered California. And they don't have to be patients. We'll help them.

We are collaborating with the Tulare County Community Care Coalition.

Collaborating with the Tulare County Health Department to, again, to enroll and we determine Medi-Cal patients. Collaborating with Food Link and the city of Tulare schools. We go to Mulcahy, Wilson, and Roosevelt, do food distributions through Food Link. Collaborating with St. John's Baptist Church here in Tulare. And they have more. They have food and fruits and vegetables. They have more variety. We are also educating our promotoras, which are our bridge to the community, and community health workers to educate our patients and community on new medical requirements for the undocumented. As you know, they're going to be impacted as well. They're going to be grandfathered in, but once they drop, they won't be able to get back on. So education, but we have no way of identifying who are those patients are undocumented. Educate all the employees and patients that visit the clinic, collaborating with TURP. Some of you may know that term from Tulare because that addresses the homeless here in the city of Tulare. Advocate for an easier process for redetermination through our state, through advocacy. And enrolling patients into our federal sliding fee scale program. But the thing with the sliding fee scale program is we can give them a discount, but any services we need, like acute care, hospital, x-ray, we can't help them there. Those are the expensive items. We try to do fitness through Walk with the Doc, which we do at Del Lago every third Saturday of each month. Fitness activities through the South Health building here in Tulare and Farmer's Zone. So some of the things that we're doing. And so that is the state of Tulare. We have a lot of challenges ahead. We try to not be so gloom. There is hope. It is better than before the SEA because with the ACA, before only children and mothers qualified, for healthcare for medical. Luckily, they still let that left the adults eligible men can still qualify even though you don't have children. But it's going to be challenging still going to be a huge hit, especially in California. Any questions? Oh, we're gonna wait.

Thank you, please. Thank you for the presentation. Graciela. Thank you. And yes, I'd say please wait this we go through the presentation. I'm sure council members will have questions.

All right, our last presentation will be from Adventist Health.

Good evening, Adventist. Welcome. Thank you for participating tonight. Thank you. Appreciate the invitation.

Hi, everyone. My name is Tim Haydock. I'm the operations executive for Adventist Health in Central California, responsible for our hospital here in the city of Tulare as well. I have with me a couple of our superstar members of our executive team, Katya Soto, who's our vice president over specialty services, and Daniel Ruiz, who's our executive over operations of some of our key service lines, including surgery. So we're going to go through a few brief updates of things that we've got going on right now. And then we'll talk a little bit more about the legislative changes. We can go to the next. Please. So we represent the Central California Network. We have eight hospitals, two in Fresno County, one in Kings County, our hospital here in Tulare, and four in Kern County. We have 137 clinics across those counties as well. And Tulare is kind of the geographic center of that whole network. So everything that we do is kind of growing toward the center and building on what we've got going on here in Tulare. If we go to the next slide, just a few pictures of our clinics here in the city.

And in Tulare, we have three clinics right now where we continue to expand access so that we can keep care here for our patients. Some of the specialty services that we've recently added is our orthopedic joint specialist, Dr. Golan, who actually volunteered to help the community. He saw a need and volunteered some of his time over here, so we're super to have him. And our GI specialist, Dr. Nadeem, who joined us late last year. And Daniel, do you want to add a little bit about?

Yeah. Starting with Dr. Nadeem and our GI specialists, we put significant funds into increase into bringing GI to Tulare. And then as we spoke with Dr. Golan, he's one of our key orthopedic surgeons in Kern County who once again saw a need in Tulare and wanted to start doing these. Instead of having the residents go to him in Delano or in Bakersfield, he decided he wanted to come here to Tulare and service the Tulare and surrounding areas. So really excited for those moves that we made.

If you want to go to the next slide.

One of the things that we are extremely proud of is our resident program. On here, you can see our class of 2026. This is specifically, this program is very critical for us. It is a way to, for physician recruitment and workforce strategy. I'm happy to say that these 50% of our artillery or of the graduating class is going to stay in the Central Valley. So we continue to expand our residence so that we can ensure a pipeline and keep our workforce here.

Yeah, one last thing on the residence. We are starting to see more of them that are graduating from the residency program in family medicine or internal medicine pursue fellowships. So hopefully the pipeline for some of those specialty services that we sorely need everywhere will start to grow in the future. We are starting to see that shift. um a few upgrade updates on clinical quality so we're in a graded hospital here in Tulare one of the few in central valley by the leapfrog institute which is an organization that leads across the country in grading hospitals on safety and quality protocols and outcomes and then we are a gold plus designated stroke center of excellence here in Tulare as well we go to the next slide please we have in Tulare a cardiac program that has a diagnostic cardiology program as well as an electrophysiology program. And we after over two years in the process with the state of California just received approval for our interventional cardiology program. So that'll be starting here in just a couple of weeks. Just another way to keep care more local and here in the city of Tulare. If we go to the next please.

Yeah, so as we had spoken about Dr. Nadeem before, and like I said, we did significant investments into our GI program. GI is one of the hardest things to get into a local community, a smaller community. And so with Dr. Nadeem as being kind of our staple, we look to just kind of grow and keep that service line within the Tulare so people do not have to travel to other sites.

Yeah, and then we're going to have our breast care center opening up here in just a few weeks at our hospital here in Tulare. That's been a long time coming as we work through some facility issues to get through some sign-off on the fire panel. But we're here just a few weeks out from a new breast center. It'll have all the latest technology, 3D mammography services. Next slide, please. All right, and this is the last one. So the Tulare Tower, I think we all know probably the story of the Tulare Tower. Well, we're really excited in our partnership with the healthcare district to start to see meaningful progress being made on that tower. They have done an incredible job. We work very closely with them. public information they submitted an rfp which is a request for proposal for contractors to bid on building out the first and second floors as a first phase and getting the tower complete and open and so that process is going through it's a it's a public process it takes a little while obviously to get through the the selection process but we do believe we'll start to see construction happening in 2026 and start to see some of these new spaces opening in 2027. Those first two floors are brand new emergency department, and the second floor is all new operating rooms and procedural spaces. So exciting things. We've got some things planned to show some developmental videos along the way as construction's unfolding just to build the excitement among the community. As you can see through all of this, our goal is to continue to expand access to incredible healthcare. in the city of Tulare and across the entire Central Valley. And as we know, there are going to be some implications from legislative changes that are going to potentially restrict access to services because people may lose some of their coverage as The experts already kind of laid out the specific details, so I won't double down on those things. But our biggest concern, aside from just some of the straight reimbursement cuts for hospitals, is going to be around people falling out of coverage and I think somebody said it the not yet sure exactly what it means for the counties each county is going to kind of handle it differently but it calls for the counties to assume responsibility for caring for the uninsured and obviously counties have different direct patient care resources some have hospitals some have small clinics some have large clinics but it's going to require us to go back to a different form of a of a partnership probably here in Tulare County Once upon a time before the Affordable Care Act, you know, counties had the indigent programs where there was a funding mechanism that came through to pay providers for caring for uninsured. I don't know that there's another funding stream coming for the counties for that. So it's going to be a collective effort for us to figure that out. And so, yeah, as we look ahead, it's it's daunting and it's scary. And I have seen what the city of Tulare and the people that live here are capable of when they go through scary times in health care. When the hospital closed under prior operators, I've seen the grit and the fight and what can be accomplished together. So I think all of us kind of have a similar message. We're here to provide hope. And I think we can accomplish it together. And we've got a lot to figure out still. We don't know exactly what the final product of this legislation looks like, but we are all committed to fulfilling all of our missions, which is to care for the entire community, regardless of background, regardless of race, regardless of financial backing or any of those sorts of things. And we're all going to be here to do it. City Council Chambers, But anyway, I think that's the end of what we've got prepared, I don't you want us to leave you wants to stay up here, what do you guys want us to do.

City Council Chambers, First, thank you for participating, if you would please remain Okay, and I think if you would have a seat appreciate but stay in the front, because our Council might have some questions, maybe directly to you, or perhaps you could have insight into an area with that. City Council Chambers, In their insight into the area asked. Well, with that, I want to go around and ask council members. I know it's an important topic, but if you could just keep your comments or questions brief as we work through our time limit. And Mr. Medeiros, would you have any questions or comments?

No, I appreciate the presentation from all three. And I have no particular questions that I can't also ask them individually as opposed to publicly.

Okay, thanks. Council Member Sarah?

I concur with Council Member Darius. Having lived in this community for a while and been a patient of some of these facilities myself, gone to the clinics, I know that the heart and the soul of healthcare in Tulare is in good hands. I know that each organization that's here tonight is doing the very best that they could do under the circumstances. Unfortunately, these circumstances have arisen, and I know that you'll put every effort and resource that you have to continue the vision of caring for all of the Tulare residents. And I appreciate that and know how difficult it is to work under circumstances you have no control over.

Councilman Segal.

Yes, thank you all for your presentation. you know, was hoping that whoever listens to our council meeting understands the great work that our health care providers do in our city and the challenges that they face as legislation, as other things get voted on outside of our area that may have an impact in our community. But I had a couple of questions. I think what concerns me is obviously the fact that there's going to be a lot of people that lose their health care. We know that. Exactly how many, we don't know, but I am sure some will lose it and some will definitely be hurt by it. There are also going to be, as Misoto talked about, some very chaotic bureaucracy, as I call it, that needs to occur for people to continue to be on coverage. So you go from yearly renewal, I guess, or whatever that process is that you are eligible to now every six months. And I could imagine, you know, I hear stories, I used to rep as a union organizer, I represented a lot of the Tulare HHSA staffers, social workers and all that. And so I understood that the tremendous pressure they were on under to enroll people. And how that process can be long, you know, there were, there were some departments, they were a year and a half behind in just mailing them a packet. a packet of information on, hey, this is how you can sign up. They were one and a half year behind in sending Mr. Isherwood a packet that he called 19 months ago. Just say, hey, this is how you can enroll. So I can imagine just how more difficult it would be. But I think one of the things that I'm not sure how we can continue to collaborate if it's even possible. What strikes me is that some people are going to be required to do volunteer hours. I think all of you guys mentioned that. Either work or volunteer or do some community service. I hate to envision that a lot of people that have health issues and want to rely on their health care have to wear a vest and be like the DUI guys or the court guys and out there cleaning parks and picking up trash to do that kind of volunteer. So my question to some of you would be, what type of volunteer would they need? And then the question to our staff, especially the folks that deal with the senior center, Is there a way for us to help fulfill those hours? So that's a question if anybody can ask. What are we looking at when they say volunteer?

I should have added, there is a group that is exempt. For example, if you are ADA, physically disabled, and you have a doctor's notice and so forth, then you don't need to do, you're exempt from the work or volunteer hours. There is ambiguity still exactly what the requirements are going to be. Now, this takes effect January 1st, 2027. So that's when all of this starts and California is not ready. But if that answers that question.

No, no, it is. I know. Yes, I do. There's exceptions. So I think for me, I don't know if it's something our city could do, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of seniors that are, you know, are getting Medi-Cal or are eligible. If there's a way for us to prepare and say, hey, if you want to do two or three hours a week or 10 hours a month, here's something you can do. So that's definitely a longer term discussion. So that's one thing. And then the last thing I wanted to ask Advent is, I really appreciate that chart that you had of all the incoming doctors. They all look young. They all look eager. They're all ready to take care of people. You know, years ago, I worked for two legislators, a guy named Marco Fireball and a guy named Richard Polanco, who were the authors of legislation that allowed clinics like Altura to bring doctors. I remember visiting a dental school in Mexico. It was the equivalent of USC, Universidad La Salle, that's what it was called. It was like just being at USC, but it was down in Guanajuato. The question to you is, Have you in any of your clinics, I enjoy your map, have you guys ever decided to invest in doctor housing? In other words, provide some housing, either you help build it or you help identify it, because that's an issue I know for doctors is finding a place to live. So have you guys ever invested in doctor housing?

We have not not for the the doctors that work with us full time in the in the area we do at times if we have to bring like a super specialist or something here on a periodic basis will have to provide housing to get them here but it's an interesting idea is that something you've seen in your experience.

Well, yeah, I've seen where some universities, I mean, excuse me, some communities that don't have the retention, you know, because, you know, as Graciela mentioned, now the visas cost a lot, but some may partner with local cities to try to help encourage housing, maybe a 10, 12, 15 unit complex that is set up for doctors or young residents. So I don't know if that's something that you guys would look at. I think something that we we I would love our city to explore. And that's an idea how we might be able to partner build 15 apartments downtown Tulare where your your doctors can live. Yeah, I don't have to worry about. But again, it happens in L.A. and San Francisco where, you know, housing is unaffordable. But I think the concept of doing something like that, you know, I ask you because you guys have more means, I would imagine, in a clinic. But there's always a partnership that

Of course. It's something we can explore and talk about. We have some sporadic apartment units and things like that, again, for some specific purposes. But the dynamics have changed so greatly, really year over year. And the Central Valley It's tough. It's a substantial uphill battle to get people here. And that's why we're firm believers that if we can get them here and train them here, we certainly increase the odds of keeping them here. When they're in training, they're members of our community. They're buying homes and all those things. And we forgot to mention, we just added a GI fellowship, so our very first fellowship, which will be attached to the Tulare Hospital starting this summer. We'll take it back. We're going to have to keep evolving with the dynamics for sure. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Harrell?

My only comment is that having some background in one of these entities, I really appreciate everybody's willingness to deal with the unknown. It's scary not knowing what's going to happen. And it's greatly appreciated that you're willing to take that on and try to come up with a solution, make it work so everybody has health care like they should have.

Yes, as we surely want to extend our gratitude to Family Health Care Network, Altura Centers for Health, Adventist Health. Thank you for sharing this information, which is the health spotlight on Tulare. And in a quick summary, and I think as the council members touched on that was highlighted, I appreciate the dive into Tulare's impact. Provider shortages were touched on, HB1 visa fees, other doctors scale with the reimbursements. um a lot of the unknown as mr harold touched on uh but really the way that uh the impact for tulare and if i had your stat right graciela 57 are eligible in tulare for the medicaid uh program and of course what all three of you touched on family health care network and altera of your patient count you know so touching somewhere amongst your agencies combined of roughly what i have of about 40 000 of our population, at least. I mean, that was just from our light jotting notes of our conversation. So the three of you, have a deep relationship with residents of Tulare. So I think that was part of the purpose of being here tonight, amongst others. And with that, unless there's no other questions or comments, again, we'll extend.

Yeah, just one last comment. I was looking at my notes. Again, I do appreciate everyone being here, sharing those statistics and the work you're doing to face those challenges that are either unknown or known that are coming down the road, that affect our community. And I hope I hope that our congressional representatives have the opportunity to listen to this and know that the votes that they take in Washington affect the community here. And when things like this come before them, I hope they realize that there are real impacts on the lives of many people from Tulare and Tulare County that are affected by those votes 3,000 miles away. So I do hope that they listen to this. Thank you.

All right. Any other comments from our partners? All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Appreciate it.

All right, moving forward on our agenda communications, uh, city manager, any communications to only that we did receive, uh, several emails, uh, from Lydia who are to down a bed, uh, directed to council and myself, I forwarded all those to council. And I'm sure some of that will be discussed this evening under agenda item 9.1. That's all. Thank you.

Item seven council reports and items of interest. Vice mayor, Harold.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On March 30th, I attended the joint meeting with Tulare Union High School District and College of Sequoia's board in order to participate in the evaluation of our three respondents to the sports park RFQ.

All right. Mr. Segala?

The only thing I wanted to bring up was what Donette brought up earlier. I wanted to thank our staff, Jennifer and Gladys and Donette, for the amazing work they did in Monterey a few weeks ago, I guess now it seems a few weeks ago, where they were very prepared. We had a great booth that we shared and provided a number of opportunities for developers and business folks, business leaders to see Tulare, understand Tulare. There was a moment where I think all of us were on the same page on a particular business that's thinking about coming to Tulare. And so I appreciate that. I had a chance to talk to developers and real estate folks and everybody directly at our booth about how great Tulare is doing. And so I wanted just to thank them for their big effort. And it's a smaller venue. I know Las Vegas is a lot bigger, but Monterey, we did have an opportunity to make sure Tulare was on the map as well. So thank you to the staff and to Donette.

Mayor Mrakas, Councilman materials.

Mayor Mrakas, For the second time i'll i'll pass.

Mayor Mrakas, Council member Sarah.

There now, you can hear me. A lot of amazing things went on in our community since our last meeting. Leadership Tulare held their fundraiser with the Dooling Pianos, the Hospital Foundation Proud to be Pink, Laura Fonseca with her Enchanted Evening. They served over 250 young women that received prom dresses at no cost. Also, Cars on K Saturday. All of those were wonderful community events that I was excited to attend. And then, of course, the joint meeting with COS and the high school district.

Yes, to all of you who attended the joint meeting with school district, my apologies again for not getting back in time and attending that meeting. As well as great cars on K great spirit great weather and energy downtown to Larry was honored to represent the city and recognition of Mr morehead for the farmer of the year award. And for those have attended the appreciate city staff hosting the budget presentation and community webinar last night at 6pm attended that with Mark Mondale Thomas Mark and quite a few staff. And of course, I have one more note. I can't read my own handwriting. Oh, and as well, appreciate a lot of the feedback. I put a note out there about our sports complex survey that the city has going on. And with that, and of course responding. But the part that really I touch on this and grabbed is one, if you're out there and you're hearing this, I think there's still time, go on and take the sportsplex survey. But the outpouring of text messages that I got from so many volunteers and leaders in the community from baseball, football, softball, groups that had shared that information and were texting me about that sparked quite a bit of energy. So I hope with that is complete the survey, but it was great to hear the response, especially from families that have children in sports in our community. And with that, Then we'll go on to item eight, which is our consent calendar all matters listed under the consent calendar are considered by the Council to be routine and will be enacted in one motion without discussion. If the discussion is desired that item may be removed and considered separate day and counsel with that I do need to wreck. We can pull item 8.6 because I will need to recuse myself from item 8.6 And counsel, do you have any other recommended action?

So Mr. Mayor, I'd like to request 8.4, 8.17, 8.20, and 8.21. 8.20 and 2.1.

Okay. Council members, do we have any other recommended, any other items to pull, or do we have an action to move forward?

Mr. Mayor, if there are no other items, then I would request that we, or I would move to approve the consent calendar minus the items that were stated, unless I need to repeat them.

Sure. Your motion is approval of the consent calendar. with retraction of 8.4 8.6 8.17 and 8.21 and two oh two and two one okay we have a motion no second we have a second is there any other discussion all in favor aye any opposed okay with that 8.4 I don't think I have to leave the room. I just need to recuse myself from. Okay.

8.4. Well, Mr. Mayor's Council, I just wanted to take a moment. I know that the firefighters were here earlier today. So I just wanted to take this moment on this item to really thank them for their service and the things that they do to provide public safety, as was stated by their union representative, Ms. Ferreira, that I also want to thank our staff for keeping us informed in terms of their needs. And, you know, I think these I guess if you want to call them, wins through the bargaining process are definitely deserved. And I'm very proud to have been part of this process to support our firefighters as well as the management association. And so I just wanted to take the opportunity with this item to state that publicly. So that's it. And unless anybody has any further comments, then I'll move to adopt 8.4.

We have a motion and a second. And I think any other comments other than with that is great job to the collaboration and effort as Mr. Ferrer touched on our city staff and everybody working on this. It's a united front and united collaboration for public safety. We'll go to the vote. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, 8.4 is approved. And Vice Mayor, I will hand 8.6 over to you. Well, I hand it to you, but Mr. Secretary, I just need to recuse myself from the item.

I separated it out.

Well, Mr. Vice Mayor, then I would move to approve item 8.6.

We have a motion to approve 8.6. Do we have a second? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. So moved.

I think it's just for the record, our Mayor recused himself from that vote.

I did, yes, thank you. Moving forward, 8.17.

Mr. Mayor, Council, this particular item is stated on the agenda, asks for a request for qualification for our Corporation Yard Master Planning, has been Discussed in previous council meetings, and even at our last joint meeting with the board, this is a very important project for the city to take a look at. To see what's going to be the best fit for us to expand and modernize. I would imagine our corporation yard and I did get a chance to look at some of the items that are being requested of the. vendors or companies or whoever is going to respond to the RFQ. And I think for me, one of the things that I wanted to ask our city manager was in the process and looking at potential sites and a number of things that are listed out are environmental, residential, type of concerns in that work. In other words, right now, the corporation yard is down on South King, and I believe they're Are no residents in terms of like, there might be, I'm not sure there are north of it. There are some residents, but they're not neighborhoods next to. A potential move would move them on West. By the wastewater treatment plan a lot closer to neighborhoods. So, I guess 1 of the things that I wanted to find out is in the. Is there and I, and I couldn't find it and if there isn't and something like that be incorporated as part of the study, if we put it there, then what kind of impact would it have on? Yeah, you're buying.

Yeah. So so what the consultant will do is that the site analysis piece will come a little bit later. The really the 1st piece of the project is. To meet with all the departments to figure out our long term needs space needs. Right? Uh, that has to happen 1st, because as you figure out how much space we need for each department, and then you figure out the relationships between those spaces that develop that starts creating the development program. And then you, that tells you how many square footage, how many square feet you need, right? How much space you need between buildings to be able to have trucks to maneuver so on and so forth. And then that tells us how many acres we need. And so after they go through that effort, and we'll have multiple steps in the process where we bring this back to the, we bring this back to council to take a look at it. Then we'll start moving into the properties and as you notice, then the, it says they are going to identify at least a property on the West side of property in the East side. They'll look at the existing corporation yard to see if we could expand that facility and they'll also look at the city's wastewater treatment plan. So, at least 4 sites are going to be examined. And when they come back to you with those sites. They'll do sort of a pros and cons of each, and there's a lot of different headings for pros and cons, right? They really won't do a full environmental analysis on the site at that point. They'll talk about some of the environmental impacts, but they'll talk about a lot of other things like this site cost X dollars, that site cost Y dollars. This site in order for us to acquire this property, we would, there's not a vacant property next to us. We'd have to acquire a business in addition to that land. Right? So they'll talk about. All of those potential pros and cons and impacts once counsel, they might even do a little bit of a limit, a preliminary analysis on the environmental just to see, for example, if a site we haven't talked about this, but. We'll, we'll get into this a little bit more when we start looking at the sites. If you do a title search on a property, you might find out that this site has potential environmental contamination. So we have to do a phase 1 analysis. Right? But the full environmental will come later once we really get into selecting the site, and then we'll have to go through the secret process. Just like we would just like any other development project would and can look at all of those factors and through the secret process. You know, if it's near a neighborhood, for example, then we'd have to mitigate environmental impacts to a neighborhood. So, whatever, whatever sites we're looking at, there are going to be pros and cons and impacts for every site.

Well, I appreciate that response and what I'm looking for is, is perhaps. If this thing is phased out, as you stated that as part of the pro cons, obviously, I'm not asking for a full environmental impact report or either sequence stuff, because we don't know exactly what site we're beginning. And that's a big investment, right? To be able to do that is Mario may know a lot of a lot of money goes into that. But what I like to do is a preliminary in the pro and cons of the sites that some of that stuff is noted. In other words, for example, if we pick the west side by the wastewater treatment plant, that there are 15,000 residents within half a mile. Or if we pick some site on the east side of Mooney, there are 5,000 residents within a half a mile. So I'm looking to see what I would like to do is have council have an idea of what the impact could be without having to kind of pick a site and then do the full environmental concern. So I'd like to kind of have a preliminary beforehand, if possible, like what pro and con can come out of that process.

And that is a part of this scope of work.

Okay, so I just, I didn't, I didn't, I wouldn't, I didn't find it, but that's what I wanted out.

Yeah. So, task three dot one, the candidate site selection that includes one of the things they're evaluating is the compatibility with select with surrounding land uses. Then, as they move forward into the. Um, relocated facility, feasibility, technical letter that 1st bullet also calls out land use approval and environmental reviews. So, even though it isn't that full process, just assessing that feasibility as you describe is already included in staff scope.

Right? And I think just to the last 1, I think I appreciate that sin, but what I want is real people in it. In other words, we can say, well, yeah, it's, it's next to multifamily or is next to single family. You know, track. But if they can go a little bit further and say, well, hey, that track has 5,000 people. That track has 3,000 people. I think that would be, for me, helpful in terms of looking down the road to see what site. Because I'm hoping that as part of that process, as you mentioned out, Thomas, there will be the analysis of, well, we build it there. There's going to be x amount of heavy trucks driving by every day, every morning, every afternoon. I mean, those are things that we'll decide later on. But for me, I'm just curious to see what sites that we currently have now, what the impact could be on residents. And quite honestly, what would be the impact on the west side, my council district residents? So that's what I'm looking at.

We understand. Thank you.

Any other questions on 8.17?

If there are none, I'll make a motion to adopt 8.17 as indicated.

We have a motion in a 2nd for 8.17 all in favor.

Go ahead.

Opposed. With that 8.2.

Oh, that's another 1 of my Mr. mayor council. So this 1 particular is the amendment to professional services agreement with. Is it drink peppy? Is that what I call it? For Pepe Smith, professional services agreement. I understand they've done some great work with our staff. to do public relations and a number of things. And in particular, contract and amendment. I know that they're looking to assist with the upcoming tax measure that ends up becoming an item that the council supports and votes on. But the question I had was, as part of this contract, is there any access that council members may have with some ideas in terms of maybe some PR work? what that process looks like or that would be something different. For example, I wanted to maybe put together a little flyer for my district in terms of what's going on. So is there any access for council members if they choose to work with this firm to maybe do some PR outreach work?

Well, I guess I would say it this way. Um, couple couple responses 1 would be. Um, they are producing a variety of, um, collateral materials that are intended to be used. By the city organization to communicate with the public and share the information about the sales tax measure. It'll take variety of forms, shapes and sizes. All of that material will be made available to city council members for their use in communicating with their constituents in each of their districts. It'll be available both in English and in Spanish, for example. If there are specific things, I would encourage you guys to take a look at that, that that amendment and the things that they list. And as those materials become available, we will be sharing them with you. We'll be putting them on the city's website. We've already started some of that process. if there are specific things that you would like, or you're not seeing, I would just ask you to send me an email and allow me to sit down with the consultant and talk through it to see if we can do that within the budget. There may be something, for example, that we say, you know, this is a great idea that council member Sagala had, and can we do this? And maybe instead of this other thing, we do the thing he is asking for. And they say, yeah, that fits right within the budget, or no, we could do that, but it's going to cost another $10,000. And then I'd have to come back to you and talk to you about it. I'd ask you to do that all through my office because what I don't want to have happen is the consultant get confused if they have 5 different council members and a city manager talking to them and then asking them. Can you do this? Or can you do that? Right? They'll think they have 6 different masters that they're working through. So, if you'd work through my office or through Melissa. We can get them that information and then they can respond to. Hey, this is how we can, we can get you what you need. And I, and hopefully that'll get you to exactly where you're at, but you can start that process now by sending me your, your email and your comments and your thoughts and we'll get that to them and get you back a response.

Okay, so just to be clear, I mean, like I said, I'm not interested in us. Or whoever's interested in talking directly to the consultant, but if there is some kind of format. That, you know, would like favor to share. Hey, you know what? I've seen other city council members share with their constituents. What's going on? Here's. Kind of a newsletter format. Can they put it together? You know, kind of that stuff. So I'm not, you know, but I definitely will send you some ideas. And I mean, I definitely don't think a newsletter will be that much, but I didn't know what you were talking. Yeah. But it's like, you know, newsletters where, you know, you give me the template, I'll fill in the, I'll fill in the stuffing. And, but just wanted to find out if that. Uh, if that particular consultant would be able to provide those type of services, if a council member wanted, I think so if you send me the stuff you're interested, I can get you a better response once I see it.

City Council Chambers, And I think it's extremely important that the message that goes out to the public, whether it's your district my districts. City Council Chambers, You know anyone's a district that it's consistent, so I think going through the city manager is the only way to keep that consistency. City Council Chambers, So that somebody said oh console woman Sarah said they're going to do we're going to do this and we're going to get this and we're going to get that you know it just needs to be consistent, because those decisions haven't been made.

Well, I'll keep that under advisement. All council districts are different, but thank you.

They're not that different.

Well, what we do is different. What we do and what we haven't.

Right, what we do might be different.

Yeah, so I appreciate that.

Just to add to that, I think I don't want to speak for Councilmember Serra, but I think there's a fundamental difference between a position taken by the City of Tulare, which would be a vote of majority council, or a position taken by an individual council member. Which would be for your district and I think that's kind of where she's coming from.

I understand.

I've been I don't think there's a disagreement there is there.

I understand. I've been on the council 10 years. So there's some of that.

Yeah, I've been on 8 years. So we're on the same. That's about that's how long it took me to become a lawyer. So I've been here. Yeah.

All right if there's no other question, Mr mayor, then I'll move to adopt.

I know there are a couple of other questions. I just want to highlight. So. Even though I just want to also clarify this, even though the staff report notes about initiatives and deliverables for which. Smith works for distribution of numerous press releases to highlight the positive work of the city, new social media. This element, though, is to help with factual information organization of the tax. So it's not to. Mark it or campaign it. It is just to help your staff to factualize it, to make it a document of here's what's taking place and how to share that.

And to your point, you mentioned the information session we had the other night, last night.

um there was questions asked you know so for example those questions and the responses were feeding to the consultant those may end up as part of the information campaign because they're like that was a great question maybe a lot of citizens have that same question here's the response so yes you're correct the next question which I I didn't pose to staff beforehand but kind of catching this and I think it's important to constituents it notes that seven responses were received were any of the responses that facilitated the virtual interviews from the city of Tulare Just the staff report notes, and we look through 7 responses were received. But did any organization, did any organization in the city of Tulare apply for this?

Any organization within the city limits? Correct. I don't believe any. We did not receive any. And this type of work is fairly specialized. So I think most of the proposals we received are from the firms that kind of operate with throughout the entire state and maybe even beyond the state boundaries. It's a little bit more specialized.

No, thank you. I just wanted to just touch on that, that if any of our responses were from the city of Tulare and the answer is no, no, it's not. Okay. Mr. Segala, you had a motion.

Actually, before you do the motion, one last thing, just for a point of clarification. This covers, I think, all of the work that they've identified. Again, if council members send us some stuff and there's great ideas and there's some other things, there could be some additional costs. If there are minor additional costs or ancillary costs related to this work, if it fits within my authority, I will probably move some of those things forward just so that we don't have to get the process bogged down because we're getting ready to move into things. I just want council to be aware of that, that we have some flexibility and there may be some ancillary costs and things we may have to deal with. And if it's under my authority, I would move those forward.

And when you say authority, you're talking about up to the... That is correct.

No more than $50,000. I don't expect anything to come anywhere near that, really.

Mr. Mayor, Council, then I'll move to adopt item 8.2 on the consent calendar.

Second.

Oh, 8.20, sorry.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second for approval of 8.20. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Approved. And the last item we have under consent, 8.21.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, Council, I'm extremely excited that this item is before us. It's been a long time. I can probably say since Councilman Bader has been on the Council on that time. But it's coming to fruition. This item will move forward.

As long as it took Dennis to be an attorney, right?

Yeah. West traffic signal on prosperity in West. The only question I had that a couple of business folks have asked me on this. And obviously I'm using it as the example, but not necessarily the case, but in terms of like vendors that could help local vendors that could help with some of these projects, we currently don't have a list of minority vendors that could be sort of tapped into for these kinds of projects. Is that correct? electricians and carpenters and whatever trades?

We do not. We point potential contractors to the state website. They maintain a website for disadvantaged businesses. It's a huge undertaking to maintain that list because people come and go so frequently that it's pretty much impossible for us to maintain a list like that ourselves.

Now, so the question is, so they could, I know that we can't force them. Correct, because I've had a lot of developers come to council and you want my vote, I want you to hire local people, but we can't do that type of thing. But is there, so right now there's the state website database and all we can do is just point them towards that to see if there's someone they can work with.

That's correct. In fact, on a federal level, the rules regarding disadvantaged business Um, enterprises and the requirements for local agencies to go through that process have changed significantly under the current administration. So, with this backed way, way down. So, at this point, yeah, it's, it's mainly and largely depends on the funding source being used for the project, but it's. Largely just encourage them.

yeah so well it's something that definitely would we'll explore to see maybe if there's anything we could do as a city but um i just wanted to bring that to your attention that i've had several contractors and say hey how can we be part of something like this with the city because they see a lot of these companies from fresno and other areas right so that was the the only thing that was brought to my attention but in that i'm very glad that's moving forward and Look forward to the ribbon cutting of the for sure. Yeah, the street sign of the street signals soon, but that those are all the questions I have for this night.

So, Michael, in my understanding that any contractor can get their name on the list themselves.

If they're qualified, yeah, they can certainly register.

So we can encourage them to get registered on the state list. And then when contractors want to know, they can go to that list. And we've encouraged people to be on the list.

Yeah, exactly. And when we advertise projects and put them out to bid for construction, obviously they're advertised. They're available on a website called BidNet, where they all have... Contract has an ability to monitor for upcoming projects. So I would encourage any local contractors to, of course, be plugged into that and always be looking to see what projects are coming out.

So that's something we could do for our constituents.

Yes.

Okay. Do you want to include a bottle of champagne with your motion, Mr. Segal?

If I had one of those where we launch it off, yes. Here we go. I'd like to move that we adopt item 8.21.

I'll second that. We have a motion and a second for 8.21. Any further discussion? Motion is approved.

Did we vote?

We have voted.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Stick to the script, Patrick. 8.21 all in favor aye any opposed 8.21 is approved 5-0 Item nine, general business. Comments related to general business items are limited to three minutes per speaker for a maximum of 30 minutes per item unless otherwise extended by council. I just share with perhaps members of the community there in this room tonight or those attending by phone that those parameters for public speaking on general business are not new. Those are the same established guidelines in our agenda from yesterday and today. For those that wish to provide public comment while viewing the meeting online, you may call 559-366-1849 and the clerk will assist you with your call. So with that, as we get into general business items, we have 9.1 regarding the Cesar Chavez Memorial Park, 9.2 our fiscal budget review, and 9.3 I just want to share is I'm going to monitor public comment based off topics and material. And I will be keeping to the three-minute schedule of course the mayor council members or others and depending on the conversation or topic might extend that time but just i want to let speakers know that um aware of the uh the parameters of our public discussion as we get into these items so moving forward i'm 9.1 our caesar chavez memorial park And Mr. Mondale, if you want to open this item.

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council, as you're aware, over the last several weeks, there have been some claims made regarding Cesar Chavez. And those claims have raised concerns around the country and certainly within our community. and given those claims there have been discussions leading up to tonight we've heard from a number of citizens sharing their viewpoints on should the city do anything in response to those claims regarding perhaps the renaming of the park should the sign be removed or covered or left as is so on and so forth and so You know, I just want to remind Council that the park is owned and operated by the school district. We share in its operation by having some use of the features of the park itself. Back in 1994, the park was renamed from Lincoln Park to Cesar Chavez Memorial Park. If you recall, we sent you some e-mails with pictures of the sign. Very large sign is out there with a number of bricks and commemorating statements. You know, this is a complex issue. And one there, there's a lot of opinions on what should be done and what speed should a city move at in terms of making its decisions. We did go out and cover the sign as staff. There was a discussion, I believe, between council member Sagala and the mayor. In response, we started seeing a number of communities covering signs or removing signs immediately. And so council members and the mayor had a conversation to my knowledge. That's my understanding. I'm not aware that any other council members were involved in any discussions. The mayor reached out to me and shared that the 2 of them felt that it was in the best interest at that point in time to cover the sign. I concurred with their decision from the perspective of. It's important to remember that while there's many community views, and there may be many individuals and community organizations. Ultimately, is the city council members that are elected to represent the citizens in the decision making process and so they are trying to be very transparent by having this meeting and discussion this evening. but because the two of them felt that for a temporary period at least the sign should be covered not removed staff complied with that request and we went out and covered it the initial covers were removed by someone I don't know who removed them and so we replaced them with a more permanent or more sturdy cover to get to this meeting for council to make some decisions now You know, there's a lot of different ways of approaching it. Staff had shared that some of our initial thoughts were that perhaps if Council were going to decide to rename the park, that rather than an individual, it might consider a broader term, something that captures the essence of what the original movement, as we understand it, was trying to address. So perhaps something like the Farm Workers Park or Freedom Park or Unity Park or some other Term, we're not suggesting that council make that decision this evening, although it certainly can do that. Council will recall that our ordinance doesn't it doesn't really identify the exact process. I know there's other communities that have other ordinances. Our ordinance does not identify the way. Parks are to be named what the, what the city's practice has been in the past and most recently with the canine being dog park. was to remit that issue to the Parks Commission for them to have a discussion and discuss some potential names and come back with a recommendation to council. In that case, the recommendation was the Canine Bane Dog Park and council accepted that recommendation. It's not obligated to do so, but it did and named that park. And so given the fact that we've had a little history of doing things that way and not having an ordinance that specifically dictates how the park naming is going to occur, our initial thought was perhaps council would want to consider establishing a two by two committee where you have two council members that are identified and you identify two park and recreation commissioners and the four of them work together with staff To hold public meetings outside of the city council meetings for a period of time to take input and suggestions. Our thought was, it's best to do that in an organized manner, not have each of the individuals going out and having different conversations because it's very difficult to record who is saying what. It's better to have sort of the four of them together with staff advertising the meeting date and locations, allowing them to be in several different locations at different times. So people have access to those meetings and share their thoughts and then staff would record all of those minutes. We could also do a survey as part of that process if you wanted to. So those were our initial thoughts. I think whatever direction Council decides to go, there are a few questions that we would need some direction on. You know, is there generally support for renaming the park, either from Council or the community? Should the monument, if that were the case, should the monument be removed, altered, maintained, or should it be uncovered, or should we leave it covered for now? Are there any immediate operational or communication steps council wants us to take? Do you want us following this meeting to reach out to the public and say, this is the way council is moving, the direction we're moving, and the vote they've taken, so on and so forth. Those are our initial thoughts. We are ready to respond whichever direction council wants us to take. We're certainly here to answer any questions that it may have, and we welcome that dialogue.

One of the I'd like to do to start before our public comment on this is a little bit of the background that Mr. Mondale had touched on. And I see it said that Councilman Seagal and I touched base is this community conversation was taking. And just a kind of a wake of the conversation, the community. I do appreciate because Councilman Seagal reached out to me directly. said, hey, here's what I'm hearing what's going on. He shared his thoughts, and I absolutely appreciated him doing that. In doing so, then I reached out to the city manager as well, and we were sharing about this issue. One of the parts which I will share that escalated that came up, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think you on this on your side, as well as I know on my side, is then it turned to threats as well. If the city doesn't perform this way, we're going to vandalize. There was threats placed upon the park in doing so. Okay, with that was then reaching out to city staff. It's a very intimate and passionate issue that's taking place which care about but also was the part we those and many that are in the community here that are in the room here tonight had contributed and participated with that overall dedication the park element there's with with the name on it but the whole enormity of it we we don't want people taking matters into their own hands and surely destruct having destructive nature with our parks so can we get out there and cover that and as you said even when that happened there was other actions that took place with that Um, I think in emergencies and threats and situations, we surely want to act. And, of course, appreciate that communication. And with Mark, how do we jump on this here tonight? And, of course, as as Councilman Segal will note, as of putting this on our agenda with that is to have a community conversation. We need to surely our our process that we have here tonight. And I know with all council members in that discussion of let's bring the community together. What is that conversation look like? Of course, it's an extremely important and impactful dynamic that has happened. There was the creed for which the city of Tulare recognized and with our community towards the park represents is extremely important. And as with that is we have members that are here in the crowd tonight that the history and their lives travels through the spirit and intent. And of course, the medication of movement and being involved with the spirit of what that park symbolizes and participate in that process. It's all important. So with that, we have it on the agenda and we go to public comment. I just want to share that's really the spirit behind it. and the spirit is to having the open process with that. Please, we want to hear that.

And I just not interject on the comments of public comment, but just clarification on something that was brought up. And it's the fundamental aspect that, as I understand it, in 1994, The name was changed from Lincoln Park to Cesar Chavez Park.

That's my understanding, yes.

And it was city council that did that?

That is my understanding.

Even though city schools own that property?

That is my understanding.

And it's also my understanding we have no joint powers agreement with the city school district?

We're not aware of any. We've not been able to find one.

So under what authority did the city change the name?

I wasn't here. I only looked at the minutes and I'm not able to give you that answer to this evening.

So, um, I, and I just kind of the protocol, um, council member dares, but two is if, if. City Council Chambers, Council members, I just wanted to open this up and I wanted to also open that this isn't an element of just jumping into performance. City Council Chambers, it's really that Community connection, you know what does this mean what's right for to Larry What does this mean to. City Council Chambers, To the purpose and, of course, to the residents of our city so before we go to public comment Council members is anybody else that wanted to add something briefly before opening to public comment. Okay. With that, I'm going to go to our yellow cards. Number one, which I have, Mr. Aguilar, you had it for 9.1. If there's comments you'd like to share.

Yes.

I have number two on my yellow card by all means. I should have called on you for the segue with that.

Again, video word to Donovan. I didn't get a packet to the city clerk because I was hoping to address the time change. that i submitted here and i was hoping to address that for the city council so i gave her the packet and i put it on the public comments but i wasn't called so if we can put that on the next session for the city of tulare regular meeting

You'll recall that Ms. Donovan sent an email suggesting that the city council reconsider the start times of our council meetings as a whole, separate issue from the question of the renaming of the park.

So I do apologize. You absolutely did do that. You did mark that. I think as Mr. Aguilar had mentioned on general comment two, I saw the 9.1 agenda item. So I do extend my apologies to you for that. If you would like, I will surely allocate the time for you if you'd like to touch on the request for City, and I will then let you speak on the second item for Chavez Park.

Okay, thank you. Well, first, again, I'm submitting a formal request for the Torrey City Council to reconsider their 5.30 PM regular meetings to accommodate maximum public input. The current 530 regular scheduled meetings falls outside of typical working hours and shift work commuting outside of city limits, and I have data attached. Overall, this timeframe does not present an optional public participation and accessibility by both in person and online. Cursory analysis indicates that current website usage levels are disproportionately low, relative low in regard to each district one to five concerning districts overall population that each district represents. Efficiency of streamlining public meetings, even if legal, comes at the cost of excluding a significant working class of concerned public. Again, I have provided data. Basically, you have prior towards staff convenience and city council meetings over convenience over democracy. The public does not delegate their right to be informed. recommendation solution this is one right now sitting here for three hours there are some city council meetings that are separating their agenda their administration business and then adjourning to a portion where the public comments can come in like for this issue they'd say for an hour so that gives there's three hours now on administrative time One of the recommendations is to separate that meeting. And I can see now where the website people are not going to be here listening for three hours and getting to an item that we have here. uh to maximize your public input you know you need to have more town hall meetings before city council and on regular meetings special get-togethers walk about walk about your your district find out what's going on observe conditions of housing streets need improvements get to know your constituents uh regular surveys there's all other things that you might do to reach your content the reason i mentioned this Do any of you know how many registered voters you have in your district? District one, 13,698 is your population. Your registered voters is 6,500. District number two, 13,600. Your registered voters, 6,500. District number three, 3,600 registered voters, 5,418. District four, 13,600 registered voters, 7,300. Number five, well, we went to three minutes, but anyway, I did give the demographics to the city clerk.

Sure. If you would like to make your final point, I'll surely continue.

OK. We did a cursory review on your website. And from 2023, you had almost 2,000, 3,000, 3,000. As of this year, you only have 630 users. The website is failing for some reason. I think the time change has made a direct impact on that. So I provided that data, the city clerk has all the populations and everything and to remind the Council. The Hispanics have a 65 to 70% representation in the city of Tulare and it's growing by 4% and it's going to be the highest increase with the city of Tulare and. they're not getting their fair share and they're not getting what access that we need. A lot of you need to go do a walkabout. Go talk to your constituents because it shows here that you're depending on the website and these meetings, yet you're not reaching out to your total population or your registered voters. And then that's critical.

It is. Thank you. I have a job to do. So I have to keep our meeting going. Your points are well received on that public comment. Thank you. And as well, you wanted to speak on 9.1, and we appreciate you being here. And if you need a moment to collect your notes or to switch gears on that.

Doing this for a while. To let you know, every time I went to a department to ask for records, public records, they wanted to know my name, what question I gave them. What organization do you represent? I mean, it was like a third degree before I can get a public record, which I could personally have just gone there and not go through your records thing. So to let you know, there's a group of us throughout the years. And then in 2008, Grace Calderon, who's not here yet, she worked with Joaquin Navala. This is why you're all sitting on districts, because we sued the city. And that's why the districts are here. And to answer Mrs. Sayers, if you're all thinking the same, you're not thinking. Each district represents a different culture, a different population, different needs. So there can't be that consistency because you're not representing the same group of people. Mr. Seagal is representing a different type of group of people than Mrs. Sayre, Dennis Medeiros, or you, Mr. Isherwood. That district, that's why we had the districts, because we wanted representation for each part of the town. So you can't have that consistency. He has a right. You have the right, all of you, to recommend what your district population wants, what they need. You need to be able to go out there. Mr. Cigale should be able to represent what he feels, what he needs for his district, just like every one of you. We haven't heard from Councilman Harrell yet on that district as far as the park or anything, the Chavez. but uh i do understand that you want two city council members and two from the public from the parks and recreation that i feel forms a legislative body you have two people from the council two people for the park and recognition and concerning that right now i don't think you're changing your meeting time parks and recreation meets at 6 30 in the morning To me, because of their job employment, because they have to go to work. To me, any members from that group do not want public input. They haven't changed it. They've been working on that for a number of years from 6.30. Who's going to attend a public hearing at 6.30 in the morning? And their time is about 45 minutes and they're out the door. But anyway, if you have a legislative body, You have the two city council, you have two members of the park, then they become a legislative body that is subject to the Brown Act and hopefully they will open the public and have town hall meetings and you don't have a date time for them to end. which you need to do according to your provisions. Then it becomes an advisory committee. But if you put when is it going to limit, if you can only have it for 30 or 40 days, then it doesn't have to meet the Brown Act provision. But according to you, it stated that there's no end date. So that has to be clarified. Is it going to be an end date or are they going to be A committee that is a legislative body is going to conform to the Brown Act.

Thank you for that part. If I can ask, in the time that we have left quickly, one of the items I think, as Mr. Aguilar had noted, You have a plaque there at the park. You involved in the history of this. Would you perhaps share a moment of the history that you participated in?

Yes, it has never been linked in part. I worked for the City of Tulare as a planner, city planner, for nine years. So I know the history. And we were part of that Cesar Chavez movement. That is a park ponding basin. It's a 100-year rainfall, and it's the deepest park at Ponding Basin that you have within the city of Tulare. It's the deepest area. So it was a park, Ponding Basin. It is the property of the city of Tulare. It was never part of the Lincoln School area. I talked to the superintendent. He said they had nothing to do with the park. They can use it. They have a sign here to use it for the recreation. But other than that, it is a city community park. It doesn't have any property rights with the school district, but they, but they're able to use it. And when we did the Cesar Chavez part again, that's the area that they gave us. And that was back in 95 and We named it the Cesar Chavez Park and we raised the monies for it. And we had the committee for it. It was never associated. There was never a Lincoln School Park. So that never existed. The Cesar Chavez Park, it's a park ponding basin for a 100 year rainfall. And that's how it's designed. It's the deepest, actually, it's the deepest park ponding basin that you have throughout the city of Tulare.

Ms. Donabed, I have your summary real quick. You had recommended, you talked with us about a legislative body, a two-person from the commission, two from council members, but a legislative body that allows public input is what you have endorsed.

Yes. Not only it's the quality of that public input. They're going to be a legislative body because there's two, four that means of a legislative, so they're going to have to follow the Brown Act. as far as open meetings, and hopefully they're going to be proficient in getting that public input, going out to the different areas and maximizing the public input. I don't, me, I don't have an opinion yet, but I'm still going through the motions of what happens, but then I'm still going through the motion of the Epstein files. which is kind of difficult. But at the same time, that's what we're looking for, is to get maximum public input. And again, each district, was made so they could represent their community. And you have every right, you don't have that consistency, you don't represent the same communities. So that's why we have CIGALA, you have CERD, all of you that represent a certain section that has different needs than another section.

If I may, I need to continue on and let other speakers, and if you would please, I hope you plan to stay throughout the discussion and might call on you again on some of the process pieces of when this dedication took place.

I had to identify myself because I don't know who you are. We have been involved, not only in the district, but we got involved with the 95 of the death of Michael Coleman, we worked directly with the State Department of Justice to get the Human Rights Committee to get a complaint process, hopefully to get a cultural sensitivity training for the police officers. We also worked with getting the districts We've done a lot of work. So we go from one issue to another as people contact us. School district. I taught people, came to me on family school rights, student rights, suspensions. We eliminate the suspensions from school because they took away from the education. So there's no more suspensions where kids are not in school. So we do this for that work.

Thank you.

Thank you. You have my utmost respect towards your history and engagement with Tulare. And with that, just in keeping fairness with the group, if I can, is if I can thank you for your time at the moment, and I need to move on to some other speakers.

Okay, that's fine. And thank you for the time.

Yes, thank you. Mr. Aguilar. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Yes, I totally agree with the recommendation that was made by our city manager to go ahead and form a committee and have public involvement. It's very important that we go ahead and have public involvement and input in different areas of the city. It's also my recommendation that The meetings be held at a time that many individuals can attend as stated by Mrs. Donabed. We have to be able to go ahead and have input as to what the people want. I would recommend that each of you go down and take a look at the monument and take a look at the bricks of the individuals whose names are on there that paid to have that monument put up, okay? When people pay for a monument or people pay for whatever it may be, that's money that they contributed for that. Take that into consideration. Now, I know that when people read the report and the story that was written out by Dolores Huerta, it seems to me that some individuals jumped the gun and right away, you know, hang him, hang him, crucify him. But, you know, there's been no action taken by any court at any time against this individual. None. I mean, where's the proof? Okay. In this country, a person is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. All right. But I got no problem with if the majority of the people in the city of Tulare want to go ahead and change the name of the park to the Farm Workers Memorial Park. whatever it may be as long as the majority if that's your desire then i got no problem with that but how are you going to get that information i would recommend a survey get a survey out there get it get it to all the people where they want you got bills to come out and mail every month right we now have watering days we can water now we went without watering for four months but now we can water why don't we put a survey out there what does the people want to do do you want to change the name do you want to keep it the same but if you're going to do that please do not destroy what people have paid for that's on there that belong to the people the names of the individuals the schools okay the districts that went ahead and paid to have those bricks put on there respect that okay thank you much very much for your time appreciate it

Thank you, Mr. Aguilar. Next I have is Ethel Shaver. Good evening, Ms. Shaver. Welcome.

I want to give honor to our mayor and to our city council and all the city officials. I'm grateful to be here today. And I want definitely to do things in decent and in order. I've been in the city for a long time. However, I'm from Burkhorn, Alabama. I was raised in Tulare, California. What I wanted to address is in 94, just a quickie, I was the chairman of the coalition. And I know basically every step, how it occurred. However, Lydia hurt her down a bit, has already covered that. So it's not necessary or mandated for me to do it. However, I would like to address the Tulare, well, the Claude Meisenheimer Center. That's what it was renamed. I called it the community center at one time, and then the city council changed it to the Claude Meisenheimer Center, which is fine. It's absolutely okay. However, I was the one who wrote the proposal for the community center. Not only that, the people that marched for it was my late father, my late brother that died at 38 years old, Reverend Freeman, so many people in the neighborhood, because we needed a place for our children to go. We needed a place for them to experience wonderful things in their life that they hadn't. We had a swimming pool there at one time. That kitchen should be renovated. The whole center should be redone. We need help. It's a poor area. I still live there. I live on S Street. I've seen a lot. I've been all over the country, been out of state many times. However, I support you. I will give you my support, but I want to compromise as well. And while I'm up here, I want to apologize to Mr. Beck because the conversation that I had was him. I'm sorry, I'm out of time. I want to apologize to him publicly because I'm a person of my word. I believe in God heavily and I want to make that apology public because he is a good man. Every one of you are different because I'm different. We're all different. But one thing about it is we may not all agree, but we want what is best for the community. And I want to revise some of the things. When I made conditions with that center, when I wrote that proposal, I had conditions. And I don't want to have any rejects, any regrets about it. I want to compromise with that too. So perhaps I should be put on the agenda for a long length of time. But today, I want you to consider that. I want you to come and go and look around the community. Go and look at the center. Look how it's just like drained. Our pool was taken away. Our kitchen was taken away. We don't even want to utilize it anymore, so we go to Wilson School and pay. That's not fair. I'm a person of fairness. I'm a woman of God because I believe in him. So I appreciate you giving me this special time tonight, and I love each and every one of you, and I'm grateful for all of you. And may God bless you.

Thank you.

uh mr victor gonzalez good evening victor i have a yellow card for you well good evening never city council my name is victor gonzalez i reside in the city of tulare i was shocked and embarrassed um uh, ashamed, um, that someone that I had respected and, uh, worked with, uh, was accused of these, uh, horrible things. And, um, with a number of revelations that came out, it just, uh, was shocked and embarrassed. Um, so, um, I, spoke with Councilman Sigala and said, and we discussed it. And at that time, there was a movement across the state to cover up the monuments to Cesar Chavez. At the same time, recognizing that the movement that he led and participated in, and many of us here participated in, did many good things for farm workers, for members of lower income communities, and we think their efforts should be recognized. So I'm in favor of renaming the park something that honors the movement, such as Farmworker Park or something of that nature without committing to something now. And I think that what the city manager has proposed is totally appropriate. And we should establish some kind of a joint commission and I'll leave it to the council members to figure out how that should be done. But I just wanted to, so my counter is counting down there. But yes, it's something that I feel strongly about. And it's something that affected me personally and emotionally. But thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Victor. Appreciate your comments. Mr. Bustos? Good evening, sir. Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

I was there 50 years ago. I'm one of the original. Okay. Roberto Bustos. a.k.a. El Capitan of the historic farm worker march that we did from Delano to Sacramento. Cesar Chavez named me El Capitan of that march. But I was there 60 years ago, yes. We went through a struggle, and I want to be in that committee. When you guys interview, you want to be in the committee to interview about the statue, about his work, his dedication, and the sacrifice that he did. I want to be in that committee. So whenever you guys go around and interview people, I want to be there too. Because I was there 60 years ago. And I can't believe what's going on. I can't believe it. I don't like it. And I'm asking you guys, please, leave the statue alone. Don't mess with it. Don't mess with it. Don't be like the other people already condemning him, already sacrificing him already for the work that he's done. He sacrificed. He gave his life for the farm workers. And we've been doing the same thing too. I've been doing the same thing too. We had to cancel our 31st annual celebration event. We had to cancel it. But not because of what was going on, no. the union told us you know just to be we want you guys to be safe we want to be you know nothing happened to you guys we don't want no deranged somebody with a gun and start shooting people when they're marching we don't want that we don't want that and then they get pardoned by by the white house no way so please Put me in the committee. I want to talk some more. Because I was there and I know what's going on. And I didn't see nothing that he did anything. He was more respectful for men and women. He respected everybody. And he was not alone all the time. There were so many people with him. Farm workers were there. The staff was there. The family was there. He was never alone. So I don't know what they're talking about that happened 60, 70 years ago. OK, so thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments, Mr. Bustos. Those are the yellow cards that I have. Is there anyone else in chambers who'd like to speak on this matter? Mr. Mendoza, good evening.

Good evening. Welcome. My name is Lupe Mendoza. I reside at 435 Fallbrook Court. And, uh, I'm here to basically just voice my opinion about this situation. Um. When I 1st heard the news and saw your reaction. To me, it upset me because I have. I've been here since 64 and I've never seen any city council react to a situation so fast. The 1st thing that was done was to cover up that, uh. The monument and to me, I think it was a. overreaction. It's really not an emergency that you guys took, in my opinion, inappropriate action. You acted too swiftly without getting more information. And I just want to basically express my disappointment in that. The city leadership just took it upon themselves to react without getting the facts and without taking public input. Now I see that you're trying to do that now. But I hope that you guys, before you take permanent action on this, whether to remove or rename, I would be in favor of renaming the park if we get to that point. But as far as removing the monument, I'm totally against that. Because that monument was there for a purpose, it was put on by public funds and, uh. I believe that, uh, you guys need to act, but act, uh, in the proper manner. Take your time, get all gather all the facts, get input from the community and then do what is right for the city. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Mendoza. I know you're here for this item, and I know we're in a busy meeting, but you just returned from your family from a very special trip. And if you feel comfortable, I'd love for you to maybe share your important trip that you have with your family if you're okay doing that.

I'll try.

I tend to get emotional when I talk about that kind of stuff. So I just returned from doing a pilgrimage in Spain. my my two sons i'm gifted with two boys michael paul and luca mendoza and i was able to make that trip with them basically it's a pilgrimage we walked the last 100 miles of a 450 mile walk and it's a religious it's it it's a pilgrimage but people do it for different reasons I did it for a spiritual purpose. Others do it as a challenge for themselves and whoever goes with them. But it's an experience that everybody has to do at least once in their lifetime. You meet people from all over the world, the sweetest people in the world, because we're all doing the same thing. You're carrying your backpack with all your needs for the duration that you're going to be there for. They'd be 10 days or 30 days. And so you're basically a pilgrim. You're trying to survive off the ground. Like they say, the Camino will provide for you. If you go with very minimal supplies, somebody will always be there to help give you a hand. as an experience that i was fortunate to have uh with my two boys and something that i will never forget um if you people are interested in what that is all about youtube has a lot of special uh uh videos of people that are experiencing their they're sharing their experience with with the people at the time that they're doing it uh my son michael did a pretty good job at doing his part and so i would invite everybody And, you know, the reason I got involved with this here is because the movie The Way with Martin Sheen. I saw that movie about 15 years ago, and I told my wife, I got to do that someday because it's very emotional for me and for most of the people that see it. Because you suffer, you go through pain, hunger, or you're climbing hills. My sons, the worst time for them was the downhills. It takes a beating on the knees, your feet, but it's a sacrifice that we're willing to do. And we have nothing to complain about because we did the short stretch. There's people that are on there doing 450 miles. Just imagine that. Day after day after day after day. Anybody can go up there and walk 20 miles one day. But can you do it for 30 to 40 days at a time?

I run out of breath walking to my car. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. I didn't mean to embarrass you on this, but thank you for sharing.

I can't explain it, but if you go into YouTube and type in El Camino, you can see everything you want to see there. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you.

Anyone else in chambers who'd like to speak on this issue and Madam clerk. Do we have anyone on the phone and like to speak on this issue. Okay. If the call gets connected again, please let me know. Thanks. All right. With that, council members, comments or thoughts? There's a few questions that I have, but I think maybe our questions and conversation here will bring that up. But Mr. Harrell, Vice Mayor Harrell, I'll start with you.

I think the very first question that has to be answered is, Who does that part belong to whether it belongs to the city or whether it belongs to the school history? Before we start making any kind of taking any kind of action on that, we need a definitive answer on that.

We can certainly do additional research. I will tell you that the research we have done, if you go to and look at the APN numbers, it indicates that it is owned by the school district. I'm not saying it has always been owned by the school district. I don't know if it was by the city and then at some point was transferred. I don't know any of those answers. All I can tell you is the documents, the legal documents we have access to tell us it's the school district. We can certainly do more research, get a title search done to see. Who owned it when and when did that title change? We could do that research if council would like.

I don't want to take up staff time to do all that research if you have. From the county recorder or whatever right now that says by APN that belongs to the city school district. Yes. Then this issue is their issue. Ours also, but basically it's for them to deal with too.

Just to interject, there's a fairly simple process with a title for you to get a chain of title. I think legal counsel can verify that. That isn't very expensive, but could clarify it under those circumstances.

I would recommend that. Okay. Okay.

Councilman. Yes, Mr mayor counsel. 1st of all, I'd like to thank everyone who came forward with their. points of views and history and perspective on this issue. Like when Mr. Gonzalez talked about this, we did have a pretty good conversation. I, like everyone, was very disappointed to hear the news, was very shocked, was very taken back. As I share with Mr. Gonzalez, I remember hearing the news and his passing. I was up at Berkeley. uh hearing diseases passing a professor one of our chicano studies professors uh rented a van for us and uh eight of us jumped in the van And we drove all the way back down to Delano and participated in the funeral. You know, saw Jesse Jackson, saw all kinds of people come to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez. And I remember here, right on Beachwood, 373 Beachwood, where my mom lived, all of us slept on her floor. You know, as we came back and, you know, my mom fed everybody and, you know, we ended up going back to Berkeley, but it was... And the first time I met Cesar Chavez, you know, I grew up in Venice in Santa Monica. And the first time I met Cesar Chavez was in Santa Monica. He came to Santa Monica to support the workers, the hotel workers that worked on those very, very nice hotels along the beach. And so the first time I met him when I was about 18 years old, 19 years old. So it was very, very shocking to hear the stories, to read the New York Times report about what's going on. And, you know, obviously Dolores Huerta, who I've known for a long time. When I used to come home on the train, there were four or five times that I was very lucky that my train mate was Dolores Huerta. So I sat with her for hours and she would tell me stories about the farm worker movement. And then when I worked up in the state legislature, I did everything I could working for the senators that I worked for to support the farm workers. So it was very disappointing. And yes, we reacted and I saw what was going on in the community. I did talk to community folks and it was shocking. So I reached out to the mayor to have a conversation about it. And yes, I made the recommendation that we should join other communities to cover up the name. And then I also asked that we have a council conversation about what the next steps would be. and i do appreciate the city manager you know looking at it and trying to come up with the best solution i did talk to miss huerta for for a couple hours about this issue and other things you know i i have a lot of respect for folks who were involved back then you know i came to know that mr mendoza you know commissioner on our parks was a mapista you know, head of MAPA. I was one of, I was a student supporter of the MAPA, the Mexican American Political Association. You know, they sent me to Berkeley with the big scholarship. So I'm very familiar with all the work that a lot of people have done in the past. And so, but it was just shocking, disappointing. uh to read that and and and embarrassing that uh you know someone that a lot of us looked up to now had issues and yes he's not around to defend himself but those stories even if you believe half of them are are just crazy but um That will work itself out through the national conversations, local conversations. What I like to do is see what's the best process to move forward to, as Mr. Aguilar mentioned, figure out what is best for our community. There are a lot of communities up and down the state all across the country who are taking actions in various forms for everything from renaming Cesar Chavez Street in Fresno to dropping the issue in Bakersfield to painting over murals and removing monuments. There's a lot of things going on. But what's the best thing for Tulare? And so I'm definitely supportive of what the city manager is recommending. There'll be two commissioners and two council members. I'm still thinking of whether the process would be maybe to have some community members, but then again, how is that process going to work? Do we put the word out, hey, who would like to sit on this commission and have applicants and have a whole interview process and all that? the more public input, the better for me. But I'm okay with what the city manager has recommended thus far and moving forward in trying to figure out how we address this locally.

Mr. Medeiros?

I agree with the vice mayor. As I've indicated, we need the foundational facts determined as to who owns the property, what the city schools involvement was at that time. And I think the committee that's being discussed and recommended can do that with the assistance of staff that we have. I appreciate the input that we got tonight from all the different members of the community. I'm glad to hear Mr. Segal is in favor of the recommendation of the city manager and basically the way it's formatted with two council members and two members of Parks and Rec who take input from the community. They can then turn around and make a recommendation to city council to take the appropriate action, which at that time will give a further opportunity for members of the community to give input. So I'm in favor of the recommendation.

I do want to thank everyone that came this evening to educate us. I wasn't here when all of that was happening. I listened to the news. I tried to stay in support of those that were being marginalized. and not given opportunities that I was given growing up and as a young adult. So thank you for sharing your thoughts and your experiences with those of us who didn't have that firsthand participation in that activity. I agree that, I just believe that personally, I believe that tearing down monuments negating history and negating the good that maybe some people that made mistakes dead is not a good thing to do. That's my personal opinion. That when we started tearing down all the the Civil War monuments, when we start tearing down President's monuments, we start tearing down, you know, it's just, that's our history. It's our history. And if we feel like it's embarrassing, that it's shocking, it's still our history. And I think it's important that we learn from our history, that we have grace and forgiveness, that we move forward with what we know and what we can find out factually about the, you know, the perimeters of what we can do with this park. But I agree, you know, we need to, um, be transparent. We need to have public input. We need to hear what the citizens of Tulare. I would hope that it wouldn't end up being like our nation so polarized that we couldn't come to a decision because we have 50% 50%. Then then what do we do? um and that's what's happened in our nation and i i would hope that tillary has more heart than that that we can come to a compromise to a conclusion that honors the good that came out of that movement um probably more good needs to be happening and some of the things that happen in our nation now are reversing a lot of that good that came out of the united farm workers movement so um I don't know, that's my opinion. I just feel like our history is our history. We learn from our history. We learn from our mistakes and we learn from the mistakes of others. And that's what makes us human and makes us greatest commandment was to love one another it gives us that opportunity uh you know to love one another and to forgive one another and to learn from the things that happen that are maybe we consider ugly or shocking in our in our you know in our past our past is the past we live in the moment and the moment to me is that we honor we respect and we love one another in our community so that we don't have these divisions and we can come to a compromise mrs Schaefer brought that out, you know we come to a compromise. From both sides of the issue and. Mrs. Donovan, I just want to say to you that I think you and I have known each other for a long time. I think that when I said our districts are the same, I meant we're all human beings. And yes, I live on the west side. The situation on the west side is different from where my kids live on the east side. But we have the same needs, exactly the same needs. And we know Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They're the same for all of us as human beings. And so that's what I meant when I said we're not that different. I know that we have different. But when it comes to that tax, the tax thing, that tax thing needs to be consistent throughout the city where that money comes. That's what I was talking about. So not to defend myself, but just to be clear that that's what I was talking about. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Harold, yes.

I think the idea of the survey included in the utility bills might be beneficial also.

Yeah, um, council, you know, certainly we, we have a number of means by which we could do surveys. For example, you mentioned an early meeting about the regional sportsplex survey that we've done. Right? So, if council ultimately follows staff's recommendation and sets up the committee and provides us direction to make sure that we're doing surveys, we will come. I will come back to you and let, you know, the different methods by which we can do surveys. So we can reach the maximum amount of people. Um, and that's that's not a concern of mine at all. We can make sure that that happens.

I've always operated on the idea that everybody gets a bill, but they don't. Tricia, what's the percentage now who actually?

Jason might know it a little bit better, but I think it's at least a third. Actually get a bill? A third that don't get a bill.

Yeah, I'm sure you're taking 33 percent and eliminating them entirely from the conversation.

Then the ones that do get it electronically, I don't know how many open it. Yeah, my mom asked me about shred day the other day and I said it was in your bill and she's like, I don't open it. She just looks at the amount.

the reality is is there will be some folks that will be able to do a survey we can't reach every person the same way so we'll probably have to deploy at least five or six different methods to reach people and we're familiar with those techniques when i i think in summary of it though is is the methods are perhaps the second part which is the first part is what what does this look like how does this conversation perhaps continue i think that's what you want direction on do we continue this conversation um The the part which I endorse, and I hear in the summary of it is there's some fact finding that needs to happen. And i'm i'm just I don't think i'm saying anything different that other Council members know i'm sensitive to the fact, of course, that we have this moment that was paid for by citizens in a committee, and it's its purpose. and I think the nexus of what it represents. And then the second part is, OK, is that the school? Is that the ground, the city? And what does that look like? And it sounds like there's also at least a majority, which is from there, you recommended, the staff did, two city council members, two people from parks, And I think that that conversation evolves is perhaps maybe it's two from the school district or what does that look like to expand? And then the community part. So I think if to keep our conversation a bit pointed, but start with the next steps anyway, so because we don't debate all the steps going forward is, is there a consensus here that first we want to do the fact finding? Yes, there is an endorsement for setting up a I don't want to speak for all of you. I'm just giving a summary. There's an endorsement for this process. We'll start there because other things might come out of that if that looks next.

So, counsel, if that is your, that's a general consensus, here's what I would recommend. Nick, can your office coordinate with a title company? You probably are working with 1 pretty regularly to get to do the title search. We can see the chain of ownership. Yep. Yes. So you can put that into motion very quickly. If you can get it done soon enough as soon as we have that, we can, if you would like, unless you're ready to make a decision tonight, we can certainly schedule. At the next council meeting, or whenever we have that information, a staff report that says, here's the ownership. You know, let's say it's the district. We reached out to the district and have this conversation if you would like, and they're ready to appoint 2 people. We can come back with the names potentially for the committee, right? For the council members for the, if that's what you want. Once we have that all together, we can put that together in the staff report and you can adopt it or or you can give us more direction this evening.

There's, there's one that I didn't say yet, steps. And that's, of course, community or community being a part of this group. And I share with that is, I think, out of the fact finding and at least getting that group, then we get into the next steps of does it involve an expanded part of the community? So what does that look like? I just I don't want community members feeling like this conversation left that out. Yeah, it's just to start this process.

And that's what you're in. I think the idea of of two and two on the committee is sufficient making sure we get the input from others but if you if my personal opinion if you expand this committee to a side size that it's inoperable almost because people can't make decisions we'll never get a recommendation yeah absolutely it's just the starting steps but i i don't i'm just leaving this only patrick speaking summary is

I don't want folks feeling as was mentioned tonight that they're left out of this. This just starts this and it gets some facts to us.

And so we can make some decisions and we can also, you know, let's say the committee stayed fairly tight. 1 of the things we can do is we can post, you know, for, for example, tomorrow or this week we can say, hey, council had a discussion. Here's where we're at. Anyone who wants to be made aware of these meetings when they're going to occur or be part of the survey process, please send your information to the clerk so we can start a mailing list and a list to contact people. And every time we're going to have a public meeting of the committee. So there's a lot of things we can be doing, getting ready so that anyone who wants to have a voice has the opportunity to have a voice.

And they'll still feel left out. There may be people who can't change.

Uh, I think part of the research, I mean, I, I would be in favor of starting a committee and then, you know, doing the research, the diligence, but, um, I did have an, uh, I did talk to Ira Porsche, um, and for my conversation with him, he did not feel it was a school district's purview. So, uh, so I think, uh, I think part of the thing is like I brought up at our, uh, joint meeting, my understanding is we have joint use agreements. with the school district. I mean, because all of our parks, and this is an issue that I have in general. I mean, I have a hard time calling a basin a park, but it's a park. But we have, like for example, Prosperity Park, Softball Park, is that a school district property or city property? But I understand that they do have, we do have joint use agreements

Yeah, but won't they determine, I mean, let's just move forward and let them determine those.

That's what I'm saying. I'm in favor of establishing the committee and then in the same time processing that. But, you know, I don't want to wait two, three months to get this process going.

From our standpoint, I do think we can go ahead and select which two council members, if we adopt this, and my proposal would be Mr. Seagal and the vice mayor. It's in your district. Yeah, so we have some, or did I assume, did I make an assumption I shouldn't assume?

I want the information first. Okay.

So, Mark, is that a consensus, I think, of our steps, right?

Yeah, and we can get you that information as quickly as possible. We found another document that talks a little bit about the... The situation, and so we got to do a little bit more digging. So we'll, we'll immediately pull the chain of command. So the chain of command. Kind of ownership, so we know who owns it now and who owned it in the past. And we'll do some more researching on if there's a maintenance agreement, right? I think there's a couple documents here that probably are applicable. So we'll get that as quick as we can and get it back in front of you.

And that probably, I mean, we probably could have that before that committee ever meets.

Yeah, I think in the next 2 to 3 weeks, we can probably get most of this information. That's my gut feeling for sure by the next council meeting. Yeah.

So I'm a little confused here. So I understand that it's important to get that information. I mean, does the school district maintain the park as it is currently? Does the school district clear the bathrooms?

Chris, would you speak to that?

No, we maintain the turf area and we maintain the general maintenance around the playground and the restrooms.

So how about the interior part of it, the basin and the little amphitheater and all that? Who's in charge of that? I believe that's on our landscape contract. I need to double check that. I just know we do the outline. My understanding is the city pays 100% of the maintenance of the park. That that's my understanding, but let us do that research to find, but I'm just trying to get at, you know, if that's the case, we're paying 100% of all the, all the products that are abutted against all the school districts. So there's gotta be something that. Says what?

Because I don't, I'm just going to say, I don't, I don't think any of us disagree with you with that. I think the part is hashing that out right now as we walk through that.

So the question is, do we hash that out? 1st. And then come back and do another vote on whether establishing a committee or do we establish a committee tonight? I'm in favor of establishing tonight and having the process run concurrent. So I'm one vote. So I know Mr. Harrell thinks otherwise, so that's one and one. So I'd like to see what the other three think.

What do you propose, Mr. Harrell?

I want all the information, if I'm going to sit on this committee, I want all the information about ownership before we have a meeting or anything happens.

Even the establishment of the committee?

We can establish it, but I don't want to have any dealings with anything until I know definitely who owns the property, who has responsibility.

So if we established the committee on the recommendation as indicated in the staff report, with you and Mr. Sagala as the city's representative with the understanding that the first meeting would not take place until this information was obtained. Would you be in favor of it at that point? Yes. OK. That being the case, I'll make the motion exactly as I just indicated. Second.

And before you vote, really quick, the caller, she did second. I'm sorry. The caller that you had asked for is back on the line, I believe.

Okay, so person say i'm gonna real quick. I'm gonna look to legal counsel, though, since we have a motion a second. Can I suspend a vote, though?

Yeah, you can take further reference.

Okay, so we'll further discussion. We'll take in further information and go to our caller. Okay, unfortunately, if the if the caller hears us we're trying to get connected even after the vote if you have comments, I will show they recognize that but i'm going to move forward with the votes we have a motion and second all in favor. John Potter, And your posts. Okay, our direction is set. And then again, please let me know. It's clear that the color comes back in. I want to respect.

John Potter, And I apologize for throwing a wrench and all of this, but I do have one other quick question, which is, are we leaving the sign covered for now or are you wanting us to take the cover down

That wasn't in our discussion or vote.

On social media, weren't there some threats made towards damaging? Yes. That's what we're trying to prevent. I know. We don't want it damaged.

That's why I, that's why, you know, frankly, I think that decision. If we were splitting hairs, I would say that decision is actually the city manager's decision. Uh, because the city manager's decision in terms of the operations of the city, how do we handle those things? I, I'm bringing it to you because I recognize the. The sensitivity of this issue, I think keeping it covered for now is still the best situation because we're not having people vandalize and try to sledgehammer the sign. Right? Once that happens, that's not going to piece it together again. Right? I know there's some people that are offended by the cover, but I think it's protecting the sign right now.

Well, as I had stated, the reason why it came up was, yes, the sensitivity of it was the threats, unfortunately, with that. So I know with the public comment here tonight and the sensitivity of it, and I look to council members, was, and unfortunately, if it's seen as like a political statement towards it, which it's not meant to be, it was people coming out and spray, whatever that means. What does that look like? So I look to council members of what we want to do. with that. I know, Sigal, you and I had a conversation on the sensitivity of this, but it's the five of us up here and our thoughts are for that. So I look to each of you of your thoughts on it remaining covered or taking the cover off.

I would leave things as they are. And then, which is as they are now. It's covered. It's covered. So I would leave things as they are now. But I do know that, you know, This situation is just having different impacts, you know, because I know that we were supposed to celebrate Arbor Day there, and now it's been moved to Delano. So, I mean, that's already, I mean, I got the letter here that it was going to be there, but then I saw online and now it's moved. So things like that is what I think. I prefer it wasn't done. So I think just trying to keep things emotional and just keep it as is, I think, would probably be the best way. One, to protect the monument. You know, I'd hate for someone to even just go spray paint it or anything like that. So that would be my thing for now.

So, Chris, are we going to plant trees then at that park on Arbor Day?

Arbor Day will be at Del Lago this year.

So are we going to plant trees that are at Del Lago instead of at?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Anything else to add on the thoughts?

So I think with, I look to you two as well. Yes. I couldn't hear what the vice mayor indicated.

I said to keep it protected.

And you originally said protected. So I'll defer to what the three of you have indicated in detail. And we've got a consensus.

Thank you.

And I would say to members of the audience that are hearing this online, if you have, by all means, opinions or views on that, feel free. You can email me or email city staff with that. Yes.

Not in my knowledge, no. No.

Yes.

As it is now, yes.

Can't hear her. We can't hear you, but she'll have to come in.

Yes.

Yeah, I can't hear her.

Ma'am, we're going to do that research. We're going to do the research and nothing else is changing at the park. It's going to keep the same hours and everything else that we have currently, other than what you heard today.

Yes. Yes, sir. Sure. April 24th. They're saying that the Arbor Day ceremonies will be at Del Lago Park.

Again, we have to make decisions at the time as we plan forward to things. And at the time when this was occurring, there was a lot of angst and energy. And we were concerned that if we did something at the park, that it could result in some negative occurrence. We're not saying we're changing it forever. We're saying for this period of time, for this one time of the Arbor Day, move the event so we don't have any negative, you know, people start showing up and get in a fight because somebody says, we don't want it to be named Cesar Chavez. And we say, we want it, and we're trying to avoid that kind of outcome, right? Keep the temperatures down for just now so we can get through this issue. Yeah, and next year, we'll bring it back to Cesar Chavez. Okay. They are not not not for this event. Not at this time for this event. Okay, next year we would happen to bring it back and plant trees next year.

Okay, thank you for the questions and comments and, um. With that, I just want to be mindful because I know part of that discussion will go over into Arbor Day, which isn't on our agenda tonight. But with that, I want to thank the public comment for your input on 9.1. Thank you for being here. The conversation will continue. And again, if your thoughts, feel free to email the Council of the City and we'll surely receive your communications. Moving forward with item 9.2 as we go into fiscal year 2027 budget review. Thank you. If we can, as we shift gears into the budget, I just would like to take a two-minute, well, it never turns into two minutes. I'm just going to say a five-minute break to allow for restroom and getting ready for those documents. We'll reconvene here at, what's five minutes? Help me, somebody. I can't see that far. 854? All right, 854. Be right back.

And he's real. Yeah.

Thank you.

You know,

You ready? You might do some stretches, Matt. Calling back our council members. Hear ye, hear ye. We are to reconvene.

Thank you. I have speaker. Okay.

Wait for Mr. Harrell.

Make it a balance.

Jacob, let's move quick through this.

Show those slides. Yeah.

no i don't i look forward to this item on the agenda it's important item and i hopefully i think we have 9.2 and we have a couple items to go so our budget's important i'm going to recon kind of reconvene. So we'll open item. Where we are is 9.2, which is fiscal year 2027 budget review. Mr. Roberts or staff that will be opening this item. Feel free to proceed.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers. It's a pleasure for the City's Budget Manager, Jacob Del Cid, and I to present the first preliminary budget to you this evening for fiscal year 27, of course. Before we begin, I'd like to thank Jacob for his work in putting together the information before you.

I'd also like to say thank you to the council for being with us tonight. I'd like to thank all city staff, department heads, and all other staff under them for helping put together this information. They submit a lot of their MNO, and I just compile everything and all the other things. So I'd like to thank them for their assistance as well.

I don't think so.

Total fiscal year 2026 revenues are currently estimated to be 179.9Million dollars. Preliminary operating appropriations are 166.2Million dollars. The seemingly large disparity between revenues and expenditures is primarily due to capital projects appropriations not yet being included. Also, typically, we don't show transfers for the budget as a whole because transfers in and out should wash, which they do, except for a small general fund transfer to the successor agency, the budget of which is not adopted with the city's budget, so there is not an offsetting transfer in. And at the city manager's direction, that concludes the presentation. We'll take your questions.

No?

Okay. So, uh, total revenues and transfers, uh, preliminary total preliminary fiscal year, 27, uh, uh, revenues and transfers are about 75Million dollars a 1.6Million dollar increase from the 73.3Million dollars adopted for for the current fiscal year.

So now I'll go over the revenues and transfers in by category. I'll try to summarize it as best I can. When we put together fiscal year 26 budget, we're talking about sales and use tax revenue currently. When we put the 26 budget together, we were extremely conservative when it came to projecting our sales and use tax revenue. After evaluating fiscal year 25 actuals, which are still being unaudited, so I like to take those numbers with a grain of salt, we ended fiscal year 25 at around $14.8 million. Combining these fiscal year 25 actuals using trend analysis and integrating our most recent consultants projections for fiscal year 27, we've come up with $15.9 million in sales and use tax projections for fiscal year 27. Transactions and use tax or measure I revenue is projected to see a slight increase year over year of around $400,000. Property and property tax and property tax in lieu of BLF revenues are also projected to see a slight increase of about $562,000 and $600,000 respectively. Utilities users tax revenues are projected to see a decrease in revenue. We incorporated our UUT consultants projections during the fiscal year 26 budget process. And as the year has gone by, we believe those projections may have been slightly overestimated. And we did include that in the mid year for fiscal year 26 as well. These lower projections account for what we think is more accurate and more in line with those revenues. Franchise taxes currently project to remain flat, increasing only around $50,000. Cannabis and dispensary tax, or measure Y revenue, is projecting to see a year over year decrease in I've analyzed the past three fiscal years for this cannabis measure by revenue and every single year it's been decreasing. So I'm not seeing an increase year over year and I don't feel comfortable projecting an increase on that currently. Transient occupancy tax is projected to see a $250,000 increase in revenue and this reflects our belief in the new amphitheater and the concert series we're bringing more people to the community over the next fiscal year. Lastly, other revenues are projected to see a $920,000 decrease, and this is largely attributable to two duplicate revenues that we discovered partially in fiscal year 26, and we're making sure that we account for it in fiscal year 27. Those revenues lie within the community development and the engineering departments, and so we've taken those into account and made sure they're not re-plugged into the budget twice. Those account for roughly $1 million alone. Transfers in are projected to stay the same. These transfers include transfers in include $50,000 from the Traffic Safety Fund and roughly $8,000 from the Police Department Grants Fund to fund capital purchases and improvements. And again, in total, we're currently projecting right around $75 million, right under $75 million in total general fund revenues in transfers.

I had a quick question for you. Yes, sir. The transaction and use tax, is that Measure I?

That's Measure I.

Why don't we just call it Measure I?

No, we generally go with the technical term, but we can call it measure on.

I mean, I think that would be helpful for people to know that. What they voted on is helping the city, so.

Well, corporate that moving forward.

Okay, moving on to, uh, to expenditures. The total expenditures for fiscal year, preliminary expenditures for fiscal year 27 are estimated to increase approximately 3.1Million dollars from fiscal year 26 to 72.8Million dollars. Transfers out are, which Jacob will address in a moment, are $2 million less currently in the preliminary budget than the current fiscal year. And total expenditures and transfers out are expected to increase, are $1 million, about $1.1 million higher than the current fiscal year at $75.8 million.

So, 1st, I'll dive into salaries and benefits. So salaries and benefits are anticipated to see a 1.9 million dollar increase year over year. And this is largely attributable to approve negotiated salary increases. But I'd also like to note that this amount accounts for also accounts for current vacant positions right now at this moment in time at a 33% vacancy factor. And I'd also like to note that the. This also includes a 15% assumed savings for health insurance costs due to the employee clinic that's open now. And so we're assuming a 15% savings for health insurance costs as well. We don't have any official data from the clinic, but once we get official data from them, we may change the 15% or depending on what that data ends up being. But currently it's at 15%. Next, we'll go over maintenance and operations expenses, and they're expected to increase about $1.9 million. And in about three more slides, we have significant drivers listed for you separately so you can see them all. So we'll review those shortly. Internal service charges and allocated costs are expected to see a $771,000 reduction. And this is due to the temporary suspension of equipment replacement, internal service charges, general fund wide. This temporary suspension is to, we're doing this temporary suspension because we do have sufficient fund balance within the equipment replacement fund itself. So we believe we can go ahead and suspend those to help balance the budget. Capital outlay is projected to see a roughly $52,000 reduction year over year. The capital outlay figure you see here, the $707,000 accounts for all public safety equipment, such as police department training and tactical equipment, fire department PPE and training equipment, and also public work streets, electrolyters. Debt service is projected to see a $45,000 increase, and this is based on the debt service schedule for our energy debt service. transfers out are projected to see or currently see a reduction of around $2 million, but that's largely attributable to no CIP currently being included yet. That $3 million roughly accounts for $2.2 million to our financing authority fund for debt service for the 2018 lease revenue bonds. $375,000 is an operating subsidy to the senior services fund $272,000 is to resume the operating subsidy to the surface water management fund that was suspended last year. $50,000 is another operating subsidy to the aviation fund and another 50,000 to the unemployment insurance fund to help pay for unemployment claims. And lastly, like Mark mentioned earlier, $38,500 is for the housing successor agency fund. Again, combining all of these, we get a roughly total about $75.9 million for expenditures and transfers out, which is a roughly $1.1 million increase year over year. One thing I would like to reiterate before we move on from this slide is that that $75.9 million does not include any new position requests or new CIP projects.

On the $75 million, does it include the homeless shelter operation?

It does.

So that's in there?

Yeah, it's in there. We'll go over that soon.

Sorry, but go back to your previous slide. And what I was looking for, I want to understand. Includes this, this asterisk is not in the materials that we have this I'm missing it somewhere. So that's what grabs me to understand includes assumption of 15% health insurance claim reduction from employee health clinic and 33% vacancy factor for current vacant health insurance claims. Can you perhaps touch on that definition again?

Yeah, for sure. So this only pertains to the salary and benefits category. And so the salary and benefits for fiscal year 27 at this time are 45.5 million dollars. When we project the salary and benefits for the entire year, we're accounting for full cost of health insurance and health insurance claims for every employee throughout the general fund. That 15% we're baking in, reducing that amount because we're assuming a savings from the employee health care clinic at the same time. So we're assuming that the clinic's going to help reduce those costs.

The savings is put into that number? Correct.

It's already baked into that right now.

And then the 33% vacancy factor, is that just of the 15%? Or is that an independent factor?

So that's another separate independent factor based on the current vacancies in the city right now. Okay.

So I don't mean to cut you off. Salaries and benefits is based off that vacancy factor. That's not the full factor should all positions be filled.

Right, just the 30% of only vacant positions as of right now. Okay. Thank you.

At any given time, we have vacancies, right? Yes, that number goes up and down. Right? So we have to put some assumption in there that we're going to have vacancies over the balance of the entire year. That's the assumption that we're using. So that's where we're at now. That number may go up or down as we go through this budget process.

So the, the partner and understanding statistics 33% vacancy perhaps is a vacancy of all things, not necessarily that we are sitting at 33% vacant positions. Okay.

That accounts for the position being making for about three months. Thank you.

Combining, combining revenues and expenditures and transfers, preliminarily for fiscal year 27 in the general fund uh results in a use of fund balance of approximately 871 thousand dollars a 582 thousand dollar improvement over fiscal year 26. now we should note that as council may recall that you adopted a budget where revenues uh equaled expenditures and separate separately adopted uh uh capital projects For the purpose of this exercise, because that was 26 operations, we combine those things, and that's where the $1.5 million at the bottom of fiscal year 26 comes from.

Mark, I have a question on this one. I have some eagle-eyed constituents. They ask me, why do we use the term user fund balance versus deficit? because they're used to seeing you either got a surplus or you've got a deficit. So they're like more like why are you guys using that?

In part it's because in government we use fund accounting and the use of fund balance is separate and because deficit can be confused with structural deficit. A structural deficit is when you have an ongoing excess of expenses over revenues. Um, and we don't want that to be perceived. Uh, we don't what we right now we do not have a structural deficit. We do not believe we're going to have what we have to do some work, but we do not believe that our, our operating expenses are ongoing expenses are going to exceed our ongoing revenues. And the use of fund balance can happen when you have balanced those things in such a way where revenues meet or exceed expenditures. But you also decide to make one time, one time, or have one time expenses like capital items, like vehicles, other capital items, and to perform capital projects.

So a use fund balance covers a shortfall.

Yes.

Yes. So what old school people call a deficit.

Yes. Yes. And just to clarify, you can have a use of fund balance without a structural deficit, but you cannot have a structural deficit without a use of fund balance.

Yeah. So another way I would describe this would be right now. Right now we're saying we have a deficit of eight hundred and seventy one thousand dollars. But this is the first time we're showing you this budget as we go through the budget process. When there's a lot more information that comes in, like, we don't have all the information from our consulting firms on the revenue, what we're anticipating revenues be right. So that number could grow or to get less my opinion based on our ongoing discussions and everything I'm looking at is that number is going to get lower. Right? I believe by the end of June, we're going to present to you a balanced budget. My hope is we're going to do a balanced budget without the use of fund balance, right? We'll see. I can't tell you that for certain, but I think we're trending in that direction. But a good example where, you know, so even if at the end of June, we ask you to adopt a budget, let's say we say to you, council, to balance your budget this year, we think we should use $250,000 of fund balance to balance the budget. Yes, we have a deficit. Yes, we're using this surplus fund balance over here. We're not tapping into our reserves. We're using this extra money over here to cover our fund balance. I would say you would have a structural deficit if, for example, and you're going to see in a minute. All the position requests. If council decided to fund all those position requests right now, and that adds another two and a half million dollars. And now we're and now we're going to be using that money, not for a 1 time expense. We're going to use that money year over year. Now we're moving into a structural deficit situation because we could project how long before we running out of money. We're not in that situation.

Next, we'll go over the significant drivers.

So, as I mentioned in the previous couple previous slides salary and benefits is a significant driver in the year over year increase and it's accounting for about 1.9M dollars. Again, due to negotiated compensation increases and other benefits, but the main one, I want to talk to you about and show you is the drivers for maintenance and operations costs so. Our largest driver currently is $852,000 increase for the homeless shelter. So in fiscal year 26, we budgeted a little over $1.1 million for the homeless division. However, that $1.1 million covered the temporary encampment through the entirety of fiscal year 26 until we opened up the shelter. And so now for fiscal year 27, we need to account for a full year of shelter operations. So currently we're breaking in about two, a little over $2 million, and that's why you're seeing that $852,000 increase for the homeless shelter and their services. Next is software maintenance. Software maintenance is looking to see about a $295,000 increase, and this just reflects higher licensing support costs across multiple systems. We also have budgeted $250,000 for Zoo Mall Park operations, specifically tied to the concert series. The council approved 500,000 for this program back in December. And based on that increase of appropriations, we believe $250,000 is sufficient to get us through the rest of this year, the calendar year. So that's why we're only baking in $250,000. We'll reevaluate that at the end of the year if we need to. There's an additional $200,000 for an increase in fire PPE. And finally, we have about $100,000 increase for city attorney expenditures that are now being budgeted within the police department. Together, these large drivers total $1.7 million. that are currently contributing to the roughly $1.9 million increase in M&O expenses.

Well, before we move on, I have a question on my favorite topic, the concert series. So my understanding from my math, we did 550,000 earlier this year. So this is an additional $250,000.

Yeah, because remember what we did.

Hang on, hang on. So those $250,000. So in a matter of, I think we voted in January. So between January and August, we're spending $800,000 to subsidize the concert series?

Well, let me answer that. That's my math. Yeah, not exactly. So... In December of last year, you allocated the money you described, the $550,000, to carry us through December of this year. But this budget doesn't go from June of this year to December of this year. This budget, the fiscal year 27 budget, goes from July 1 to June 30th of next year. So we have to, the 550-year budget was not to carry us through June 30th of next year. That was to get us through this calendar year. But this doesn't go, this isn't a calendar year budget. It's a July 1st to June 30th next year.

Well, I understand that. But what scares me is that you'll come back in December for another $250,000, $300,000.

We might.

I don't know what we're going to do. My point is that this $250,000 starts july 1st and goes through june 30 and i understand that budget but the way things have gone i'm i wouldn't be surprised if his money's all sucked up by september october and then we got to come back again next year for another whatever yeah we don't create so so remember and this isn't and i get it i understand your perspective on a council member sagala i'm just going to remind council of a different perspective which is

When we did this project, we've always said it's going to take us at least three years to figure out how much it's going to cost to sort of operate this park and subsidize this park. But remember why we do this. This is very important. I think most people are forgetting this. If you want downtown redevelopment to be successful, you have to do things that are investing monies that are attracting people to come to downtown. Remember, we've talked about this many times. The city of, this is just the reason I use Visalia because they're right up the road. You can drive up there and look at it for yourself. The city of Visalia invests $3.1 million every year. Every year they're putting $3.1 million into the convention center. Why are they, I'm talking about just to subsidize the convention center. I'm not talking about maintenance. I'm not talking about all the money they put in. I'm talking about just to subsidize the operation. Why did they do that? Because the convention attracts people to the downtown. They put almost $800,000 a year into the baseball stadium. That doesn't count the $10 million they have to put in new capital improvements. That's just the subsidization of the annual operation of the stadium. Why did they do that? To attract the people downtown. We're not doing anything different than most cities do to try to encourage downtown redevelopment. And the thing you have to remember is when we subsidize the operations, our goal is to get the concert series to be successful, that more people are coming and the ticket revenue starts covering more of that cost. and the investment that other businesses are making to downtown to create to generate more property tax revenue sales tax revenue tot revenue ultimately people are staying here for the concert series so they're buying gas they're generating more gas revenue gas tax revenue all of those revenues ultimately work to try to cover this cost long term this is a this is an investment we're making for a long-term gain so i don't want It's easy to focus on this number right here and say, my God, we're subsidizing this. This isn't coming at the cost of any other services. This money that we're talking about here, we're talking about that money that we have, the surplus reserves money, not our operating. We're not taking this from police or fire. We're taking that extra surplus reserve for a short period of time to try to get this park to stabilize so that the concert series and all the other revenues could cover those expenses. That's what the goal is.

So just real quick, so the 3.1 million Visalia spends in their convention center, does that money go to help pay the bills of the concert promoters?

That goes to help cover their operating costs of that facility.

They run that promoter. I know they're going to have a bunch of Mr. Mayor.

Well, hang on a second. Mr. Mayor. That's not what we're doing here.

We're not talking about subsidy money.

We're not, but you're, you're that 1 line, whether it's good or whether I'm trying to understand where the same things up over and over. I don't want to be here till midnight. I don't feel well, but I want to complete this meeting. I've been sick all weekend and I'm here. Agenda, please.

I am on the agenda I'm talking about 250,000 is that is a 250,000 you have listed here what it would be what in your mind is it for it would be ultimately for the same things we've been using the money for paying for the production cost playing for the janitorial paying for the artist pay all those costs that we use to go it's the same thing so to subsidize speed entertainment.

That's your opinion. That's not what I said.

If we pay for a janitorial service, Bay doesn't touch that money. Any other items?

Gentlemen, gentlemen, let's go.

Continue on.

Where do we leave off? Oh, okay. Okay. Um, as I'm sorry, let me get back to where we were on the, uh, on the item. As you saw a few slides ago, the overall general fund preliminary fiscal year 2027 budget is $72.8 million. Here you can see the preliminary budget by department. As expected, and as was discussed at last night's community budget meeting, public safety is the city's largest expense at approximately 38.7Million dollars. The community development combining those last 2 items is approximately 10.6Million dollars. And the, uh, administration of city activities, which is those top for mayor and council administration, finance and human resources, uh, combines for approximately 7.1Million dollars. And then you can see the other departments there here on the, uh, on the following page, which make up the, uh. The 72.8Million dollars.

This slide shows the current council member appropriations that are currently included in this version of the preliminary fiscal year 27 budget. It includes travel and event expenses per council member per district for $5,000, community improvements per council member and district for $5,000, and the community arts for $50,000. That was a request at the end of the last budget cycle that has already been pre-banked into this fiscal year preliminary budget as well. And we wanted to let you know that that's currently in there.

As we speak, so we've had a couple of years where council has asked for money for community arts. None of that money has been spent on anything. We're assuming you're going to ask for it again. So that's why we put it into the budget.

Next, we're going to go over personnel. So, this current version of the fiscal year, 27 budget includes a handful of re, classifications, which include. City clerk and public affairs director. for about a rough estimate cost of $45.5,000. Community maintenance manager for $35,000. Senior project manager for about $9,000. Senior administrative assistant, roughly $6,000. And a senior records specialist for about $4,600. These reclassifications are currently included in the budget and they total about 90, almost $100,000.

So these are not new positions. They're taking existing classifications and reclassifying those positions.

Next, we're going to talk about position requests. And before I even begin, I'd like to note that these are these positions are not currently included in the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget. And they will be brought forward for council consideration at the media review, depending on if there's adequate operating funds available during that review. So the personnel position requests that will be brought forward for council consideration include about 12 police officers, which include two corporals, two sergeants, two lieutenants, and six police officers, and two fire department positions, which include a deputy fire chief and a fire inspector. Those 14 positions total about $2 million just between the public safety departments. We also have a traffic maintenance worker too at an estimated cost of about $85,000. Two community maintenance workers at about $67,000 a piece. A lead custodian for also $67,000 and a department assistant for $64,000 roughly. These additions will total about 2.4Million dollars. And like I mentioned before, these are not currently included, but they will be brought forward for consideration at the mid year, depending on what the fiscal year 27 operations, um, throughout the 1st year ago.

And before we leave this really quick council. So, every year, all the departments will sit, submit their position requests, just like their capital expenditures, equipment, expenses, et cetera, fleet related vehicles, expenses. And then we have a committee that goes through all these and reviews all these. So these are not all the positions that were requested, but these are the ones that ultimately made it through the committee saying that we believe these positions are necessary, but because we can't afford these positions, they're not in your budget at this time.

Are these positions at the high step? I mean, is it like... I think they're C-step. Is it a C-step?

So in other words... Yeah, C-step. Okay.

We wouldn't necessarily hire at the C-step. We try to hire at the entry step. Sometimes we are forced to hire it at a mid-step.

And we always have to consider that if a new employee were to start at the beginning of the year, he or she would get a step increase before the year is done. So that would get them to the second step. So if we hire somebody at the second step because they're well qualified, they would be at a C before the end of the year even.

But also keep in mind, let's say at mid-year we came back with these positions and we had adequate savings or dollars and council decided to do it with these. we would even at mid-year, it'd only be half of this number because it'd only be six months. And that's assumed you hired everybody on day one, when the reality is we're probably gonna have another three months of savings because we can't, we have to recruit them and interview them, right? Okay.

And these positions are all general fund, not enterprise?

Correct. Correct.

Moving on to the to the city's municipal utility enterprise funds. Of course, these funds are under the purview of the board of public utility commissioners. So this information is informational only. For for the fiscal year, 2027, preliminary solid waste and street sweeping budget is 14Million dollars. Wastewater is $29.6 million, and water is $13.8 million. As with the general fund, there is still work to be done, and we will be going back to the BPU with updated numbers, and of course, we'll inform you about those updates as well.

Taking estimated revenues, proposed expenditures, and transfers out for the solid waste and street sweeping fund, we are estimating a surplus of about $1.1 million currently. For the wastewater fund, we are estimating a $500,000 surplus. And for the water fund, we are estimating currently a $2.9 million use of fund balance.

And let's talk about that for one quick second. why is that and that's because you know every about five years you should be updating your water sewer rates or any of your rate structures we're about two years behind in updating our water sewer rates we're in the process now of looking at them but what happens is when you get off track and you get a few years behind Your costs keep going up, but you're not collecting enough revenue to cover those costs. And then you start seeing that kind of start hitting you right now. You're starting to go into fund balance to cover those costs. If we, we don't ever increase the rates, then you'd have a structural deficit. Assuming we are going to, at some point, increase the rates, we'll get back on track with covering those expenses.

Yes. And also with respect to the to the water fund staff is reviewing an audited fiscal year 2025 June 30, 2025 fund balances and current year financial activities to confirm. But we we believe that fund balance is more than adequate to cover the the use of fund balance. Should that be what it ultimately is? Or in that vicinity.

Next steps. For our next steps, the primary focus over the next few weeks for myself will be adjusting and refining the data you see here today, especially within our salary and benefits section. As the council knows, the city went live with a new financial system in July. However, the payroll module itself just became operational this past January. Because of that transition, because the new system includes a personnel projection model, we need to do another detailed review of our position level data. And I'm currently working with HR and we're working with all the departments to make sure that those allocations are correct. The main effort will be to look at, a deep look at the current employee allocations to ensure that employees are being distributed correctly and across the appropriate funds. This refinement is important to make sure the budget accurately reflects where personal costs should be charged. We have some key dates coming up for the Council and the BPU. At the next Council meeting, we're hoping to have a fiscal year 2027 CIP workshop. At the first Council meeting in May, we're going to have another preliminary budget review for you. At the May 7th meeting for the BPU, we'll also have another preliminary review for them as well. On the May 21st BPU meeting, we're hoping to adopt the BPU budget And at the first meeting in June we're hoping to adopt the fiscal year 2027 budget with the city council, however, if we need more review, we can we also have an alternative date for the June 16 meeting to adopt the budget if need be. And that concludes our presentation and staff is ready to answer any questions and is prepared to receive any direction from the city council. Thank you.

If I can quickly in a series of notes in the in the beginning when you were going through expenditures. One of the things you'd mentioned, and I think it's in here. I'm on city of Tulare preliminary budget by fund. Restoring the surface water fund. The operating transfer? Yeah, so I see the surface water management fund on the enterprise side. And then on the general side, I don't know if that's like the fund 195. If you can go back, what did you touch on? The fund was being restored this year. What was that and how much was that amount?

So last year, the enterprise funds and the general fund suspended the operating subsidy to the surface water management fund. For the general fund, it was in the amount of $272,000. There it is. And the reason why we suspended it last year is because the surface water management fund itself has sufficient fund balance to operate for the year. But we can't keep doing that every single year. So this year we are making sure that we continue that operating subsidy between all the funds. So water and wastewater are resuming those transfers this year. And so the general fund is gonna do the same thing. And that's currently baked into this iteration of the budget.

And I just have one more question. I know I'm not sure the council and the members don't mean to hog all the questions. In that in going back and what you proposed basing our personnel and benefits package budget. Sorry if I close my eyes when I'm talking to you. I'm just kind of pulling that information in the thirty three percent calculation. I first have a little. This is more subjective, just a concern then of what that looks like if it turns into ten percent or five percent. However, if I could pose a question to staff mark team, could you, I would like to know what that number is based off specifically out of the police department. So if that calculation of 33% is based off includes what does that number mean from the police department of John Potter, One point one or $800,000 is that dynamic because reason why I want to break that one out is again then if police department were to be 100% full. John Potter, What does that mean an impact to the budget, so if you could break out that number, I would I would appreciate understanding that better for police. John Potter, I reason I don't mention fires, it seemed with the position count the fires, not so much. an understanding of a weighted amount with the Fire Department. We're looking to add two positions, so forth and so on. But with the Police Department, I'd like to know what that number is.

Council members, any other questions?

I had a question on Measure I. Are we still within the It's a projected revenue. In other words, I saw that this last year, the money was about 8.3 and the projection is 8.7 and we stick. Are we still under in terms of like what Measure I pays for. I mean, I know we pay for police officers, firefighters, and I don't even do streets anymore, but there was a little bit of streets. But are we still under that? Because I can't tell from the budget documents if you guys are projecting 8.7 million revenue for Measure I, but we're spending 8.8, 8.9, 9 million. How do you break that down?

We have a spreadsheet where we track that. We don't have that information for you tonight, but we can have it. We can update you on that.

Yes, if you can have that for the next time we talk about the budget, that'd be great. Okay.

Okay. Perhaps one more item, because this came up last time, and I think to get this out in front, last year we had some surprises. We had to walk through the allocation for the INYO Mr. Friend, is that is that just to put that item out there? Would that come under the CIP discussion?

Thomas, we budgeted some money in this year for the annual corridor for the consultant. We have that RFP on the street right now, right?

Correct. And right now I'm showing that they'll be engaged sometime this year. I don't know if we'll be spending from it or not, but whatever we haven't spent this year will be reallocated in the next year. And that's been I want to say it was 250, but I could be wrong on that. Correct.

That was the amount.

Yeah.

All right. So our next meeting, we'll go through CIP. And of course, council members have questions. They can email our city manager and Tim. And we want to get those questions in. So as we go down our schedule, go from there.

Okay. All right. Mr. Mayor, how do you, how do you want to handle like a direction? Like, is it a form of a motion or a consensus? I like to, I mean, unless you have specific, I like to recommend one thing and then figure out where the council is.

Yeah, if like, for example, if everything we presented to you, if you felt like we're moving in the right direction, just general consensus tells me that. But if there's specific things like we don't want you doing this, we want you doing that, then I need more.

I'm going to throw it out there that for me personally, I don't have any of the council members, but for me, I have an issue with the $250,000 for the concert series. So if I need to make a motion to remove that, I'll make the motion. If there's a second, if there isn't. That'll be the process, but I will make that recommendation in the form of a motion.

So we have a motion. Is there a second? The motion dies for a lack of a second. I think for our members, I think as Mark had said, this is the first time we're seeing this summary print out. I think absolutely respect of everybody's views. There's going to be more questions and thoughts. And what I've understood is you have those, and we're going to go into the CIP. And as we come back, surely share, hey, I have more questions on this. Our council will get into a discussion, you know, pro and con the budget. I did like, Mark, you touched on this a bit of separating out the CIP. I felt that was productive for the group last year. And the conversation continues. So unless there's any other key components, Seagal, I appreciate you wanting to put it on the table, but this carries forward as we go into our next meeting.

Yep. And I'll just remind Council, last year when we gave you your first look at the budget, we had a deficit starting that discussion as well. So it's not uncommon, partly because I asked all the directors to load the budget up with all the things that they think they need, and part of the budget process is sorting through needs versus wants too, right? And so that's... That's a useful point. Yes. Yes. Whatever you're most comfortable saying, as long as people don't interpret it as that we have a structural deficit because we do not.

Well, and by us, I mean, I'm going to have additional Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Just saying, I know why we'll have additional questions. So by not asking them tonight doesn't mean it's a done deal. Just the conversation continues. Great. Okay. Anything else? All right. Thank you, staff. Okay, moving on, on our agenda is 9.3. And TCAC Board of Governors representative selection. Melissa, do you want to open this item?

I'll cover it really quick, Melissa. Yeah. So council, we just need to decide what we're going to do with this position. I think the last four meetings were not attended by our primary representative. And so we either need to know if that individual continues to want to serve in that capacity. And if not, then council makes a new appointment.

So I think the history of this is TCAC had reached out to staff as well. My understanding, Councilman Segale, you have not submitted a formal resignation from this position. They're saying from the absences. We have it on the agenda. And I think I look towards you of comments. or arms that you have with this position? Attendance, what's your report on this?

Well, Mr. Mayor, as I mentioned to you, I do intend to resign. My position, my current job doesn't allow me to have the flexibility like the old job that I had where I can get away for a few hours of meetings. I don't have the luxury of being retired or not having to work. So it's difficult during those times. There are things that, yeah, I think the city can weigh in, but a lot of those things are performa over there, but it's good to have a city spot there.

Sure. With that, and I pose to council with this as well, and our alternate, Terry, you're our alternate for this, coming up from TCAG. I would be willing to take that position. I have reviewed that with my with my work as well. Self-help enterprises at times has relationships with tcag, which I would have an exempt. However, I do agree with you of having the ability to do that. that core position at the table with TCAG, experienced with TCAG. I've sat and engaged in different positions with TCAG in the past. And if what you're saying is a relay with your time commitment, we have it here tonight and I share it to council. If you want to relinquish that, I would be happy, I'm in a position, I'd be happy to take that spot. I don't have any other commitments.

I'd be happy to make that motion for the mayor to serve as a primary representative to the TCAG.

Any other discussion? I kind of put that out there. We have a motion and a second that the appointment to TCAC will switch to Councilmember Patrick Isherwood from District 5, and the alternate will remain Councilmember Teri Sayre.

Yeah, I served as a primary representative from 2018 till 2025, so I'm happy to be the alternate again.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Carried 5-0. Okay. Continuing on our agenda, we have future agenda items 10.1. Establishing a city-wide yard sale weekend. Council Member Segala.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, Council, as written in the form, I'm asking that the Council direct city manager and appropriate staff to research and report back to Council on the possibility of establishing a citywide designated weekend in May that would allow residents to have yard sales by waiving the current requirement for a permit or fee. So my understanding from experience is that anyone who has to have a yard sale technically needs to solicit a permit, and I think it's a $7.50 or $8 or something around their fee for the permit. And so I had thought about this, and then I saw a posting on social media about folks who were talking about it, and it kind of merged where I was able to bring this forward. And for a lot of people out there that are Burley making it by a yard sale may give them that extra little bit of money to buy eggs and tortillas or bread or whatever to get their families by. And also, there seems to be a number of folks who are interested in those yard sales to buy goods. So I thought that we could proclaim, and I'm looking at mid-May, maybe the weekend of the 16th, 17th, to be able to do that. So I'm asking is just for us to put it on the next agenda and then have a conversation about that.

Mr. Segal, I endorse your request as well, just being quick.

My only concern is whether this is staff time. I would normally think it should be something that should be coordinated with the chamber. and they can decide as far as permits are concerned, whether to work with the City to waive the permit or not waive the permit. That's like we've got car shows, the Chamber handles, we have all the various things they have. I don't know if we want staff time involved in something of this nature.

Well, to answer the question... Can I finish?

Yeah. When we're talking about technicalities, technically, every time a sale occurs at a yard sale, they're supposed to pay a sales tax. And nobody, the city's never enforced that. I'm not against a joint item or yard sale all around the city. I just don't see staff time involved in it. That's my only, I think it's something the Chamber should, would gladly be involved. So I'm not in support of this.

If the Chamber wants to, well, just to answer the question, if the Chamber wants to come, On the twenty first and be part of it. That's that's up to them, but I don't see any staff time in regards to like. You know, all I see is that a, on this particular weekend and again, you know, I don't know how code enforcement works. I have seen plenty of yourselves in my eleven and a half years here. I've never, I've never seen anybody get cited.

Yeah, gentlemen, I'm going to look for a consensus from council. This is putting the item to the at putting it on the agenda. Is there a consensus or majority of council members? I have at least, I have four that say yes. So this, there is a majority of putting this item on the agenda. Moving to item 10.2. Establish policy for council members to appeal planning commission decisions. Council member Segala.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Council, this is an item that kind of been thinking about. I know it's been brought up in the past. I think the city manager staff put out an agenda item for three years ago, three and a half years ago on this topic. I think for one of the things that I'm concerned is just there may be things that are approved by the Planning Commission that may have concerns with and Right now, there is a process for the public to appeal. And what I can see is Tulare has the highest fee in the entire county to appeal a decision from the planning commission. So I think that if there is a council member who is interested in appealing a decision, Do we have to pay the fee or could it not be? So that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out, what policy there would be if there's an item that was approved by the Planning Commission and a council member felt that it should come to the council for further discussion what that process would look like. So I'm asking for a conversation and discussion on that topic.

So this i'm going to keep this to just putting it on the agenda now like to Council members, is there a consensus or majority of putting this on the agenda now. Council members.

that's okay.

So I will say with that as well, while you have three nose so. With that there's not a majority we'll move on to item.

nine point uh 10.3 study session on proposed tax measure uh so mr mayor council uh with this item i'd like to request that uh this be put on the agenda the 21st for the council to consider directing city manager appropriate staff to conduct the study session on the uh at the may 5th council meeting or sooner on the proposed city tax the staff share the timelines and deadlines for placing the measure on the ballot be prepared for council to help draft and finalize the language that will be presented to the voters for consideration and have a discussion on the priorities each council may have for some of the funding generated from the sales tax. And the reason I'm asking is we just got the outline, the schedule for the budget. I just don't want the council to kind of be pressed And there's not much time for discussion and we've been talking about the sales tax. We've been talking about drafting the language. So, I like to see if we can have a study session on that topic.

Staff, do we already have a study session scheduled? Yes.

Yes. When you approved item 8.20 tonight that included the study session. I made that.

This is from my standpoint, this is a duplication of what we've already approved under 8.20. by motion of Mr. Segal. As a result, I'm not in favor of the deprecation.

There's not a majority.

Just to confirm, it's not 8.20, right?

Yes.

Well, that's a- Not the agenda item 8.20.

The agenda item on this evening's meeting, 8.20, the first amendment to the TREPA agreement. If you look at the last page of it, they have a calendar of all the different things we're doing. May 5th is listed for the special work session.

Okay. All right. Well, good. I'm glad this helped generate that. Thank you.

Okay. So moving forward to item 11, which is staff updates. You awake over there, Mr. Orr? All right.

Just real quick, I want to brief everyone. We just had our spring carnival last Thursday. It was a big success. We had over 500 children participate in the economic, which is an increase of more than 2 last year. We had 5 food vendors and 23 informational boost. I would like to thank and the explorers. They were a big help controlling the as well as the fire department for bringing out their ladder truck. I'd also like to invite everyone out to the senior center tomorrow. We're doing a workshop on the Bayou master plan from 530 to 7. And then again, weather permitting May 17th at zoom wall park from 12 PM to 3 PM. Thank you.

Nothing to report nothing to report.

Nothing to report nothing to report nothing to report.

nothing to report i'll be providing my updates at the next meeting jennifer real quick i just want to share with you being on the community i heard compliments of your position people that had reached out to you about pbid and other economic development and i just want to share with you that they reported hey really appreciate jennifer's information she does a great job so thank you for that thank you very much nothing to report tonight

We finalized the cleanup in the railroad from Carmel all the way to 200. Total trash removed 55,000 pounds.

Nothing to report.

Nothing to report.

Just a couple quick. You got anything? Nothing. Okay. A couple quick things.

Before you do that, just real quick. Two birthdays. Today, my oldest granddaughter is nine years old. Oh, yeah. Emily, I'm reaching out to you. and our vice mayor's birthday is today. Congratulations.

And he's 90 years old. Really quick, a couple things. One of the things Chris forgot to mention to council and all the directors is tomorrow morning in Sunwell Park at 7 a.m., we have yoga in the park. So come out with your spandex.

City attorney is supposed to go to that. Yes, it is in the contract.

Yes. And then just a couple other quick things, and just some of the past two weekly reports. You remember last year Tulare was identified as the 10th fastest growing city in the state of California for cities of any size. This year, it'll be announced that we're number seven. So we're continuing to grow. Also, you'll remember in the weekly report, we announced that we are partnering with the Tulare County Office of Education on a Prop 64 grant. They're seeking $4.5 million over five years, largely for youth education related to cannabis sales. So just wanted to share that information with you. That's all. Thank you.

Okay. And here I put away my agenda and I got another item to read. Apologies. Yes. John Potter, Well don't like that sound so we'll move to 12.1 recess to close session, which is conference with legal counsel per government code 54956.9 subsection D four and with anything else we need to announce with that Council all right we're recess to close session. We are reconvening as the Tulare City Council. We have nothing to report from closed session. Is there anything to add to that, legal counsel? All right. With that, our Tulare City Council meeting is adjourned.