City Council - Special Meeting

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. Roll call and declaration of conflicts of interest, please.

Councilmember Abram.

Hearing none. Councilmember Bixle.

Hearing none.

Vice Mayor Moniz. Hearing none. Councilmember Phillips. Hearing none. Mayor Bublec.

Hearing none. All right. Approval of the agenda as posted or amended? So moved. Second. Motion and second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Monette. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bubleck.

Yes. Passes on 5-0. All right. Public participation. This is time listed for three minutes. It's a special meeting, which means the public can directly address the City Council concerning any item that is described in the notice for the special meeting. You'll have those three minutes, and if you would like to, please come to the lectern.

All right, I'm Mary Jackson, and I just wanted to reiterate what I said to you a couple weeks ago that Saturday morning, that this is probably, this is the most, well, I think the city attorney position is most important because that protects the financial integrity of the city, making sure that we follow all laws and procedures, not the ones we choose to, but I want to reiterate, honestly, that we've been through a whole rash of city managers. And it is imperative that you pick someone who is going to be strong, not micromanaged, and be able to tell you no. Because when I sat on the dais, I wanted to do something. And the city attorney, in all of his wisdom, said, you're acting like one of your compatriots that you really don't respect. You're civil, but you don't respect the way that person does things. And that really... He was brilliant because he did not want me to act the way the rest of the people were acting. Because it wasn't okay. It wasn't civil. I mean, we put in God we trust on the back wall, and then yet we gave $265,000 back to the state. So you need to pick someone who will stand there and tell you no, and you will listen to that person. Because we need to follow God. as Ms. Lucezzi, I don't know if I'm saying that correctly, knows, and she came from a very interesting community, one that I used to work in, which I had lots of people say good things about you, which is always positive, that we need to make sure that the city manager and the city attorney can tell the council when they're not doing things correctly. So I want to make sure that whenever, whoever you're looking at, I'm sad to hear that Former Police Chief Hampton has stepped down. I think he did a really good job of explaining to me very clearly how he went through and what he looked for in a city manager and how he did it and saved us probably $100,000 to $125,000, which is great. But now let's look at who he put forth, and I hope you do make the best decision. Thank you. And also, I'd like to know if you're going to give them an interim title. Usually someone gets the interim title, and if there is a contract, what is the opt-out? Like is it a one-year contract with an opt-out? And then what would be the opt-out? Like if they're going to leave, do they get a year severance? Do they get three-month severance, six months, et cetera? Thank you.

Anyone else in the public that wants to speak? All right. Come on in. Barely made that one.

Hi. Good evening. I'm Sean Sheridan, and I'm here to highlight specific rights and lack thereof in Chapter 1-4.

Mr. Sheridan, we're having a special meeting for closed session. That's okay.

That's okay. So we're going to start again at 6. Oh, I wondered where everybody was. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, no worries. All right. Anybody else? Okay, we're going to close public comment. We are going to adjourn to closed session for...

Public employee appointment, California Government Code 54957, title Interim City Manager. And then at this time, if there's any members of the public that want to have public comment on that closed session, please come forward. Seeing none, I will go ahead and recess to closed session. All right, thank you.

All right. We're back from closed session.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Council convened in closed session regarding item 6A. There's no reportable action at this time, but direction was given to staff for the open meeting item later tonight. Thank you. All right.

We're in adjournment. All right, call this regularly scheduled meeting to order, if you will join. Roll call and declaration of conflicts of interest.

Council Member Abram. Hearing none. Council Member Bixle.

Hearing none.

Vice Mayor Moniz. Hearing none.

Council Member Phillips. Hearing none. Mayor Buble. Hearing none. All right. Approval of agenda is posted or amended. So moved. Second. Motion to second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram.

Yes. Council Member Bixle.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips.

Yes.

Mayor Buble.

Yes. Passes 5-0. All right. Presentation for Turlock Partnership and Senate Program. Mr. Simms.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, staff, and members of the public. This evening, we are pleased to celebrate another Turlock business that has successfully completed the City of Turlock's Partnership Incentive Program. This is a new business to the City of Turlock. We're going to recognize Grace and Ember LLC and their owners, Kayleen Michelson and Madeline Varedis. located at 2330 colorado avenue grace and ember llc is a boutique beauty studio offering a variety of professional beauty and wellness services including nail care aesthetics spray tanning teeth whitening lash services and many other services so on behalf of the city of turlock we congratulate kayleen and madeline on this exciting milestone and thank them for choosing to invest in our community We wish them continued success and look forward to watching them grow and prosper in Turlock. So at this time, I'm proud to invite Mayor Bublak, members of the city council, and the business owners to come join us for a celebratory photo.

One, two, three, four.

all right you're staying up there mr sims for the next one yes i am uh so at this time i'd like to welcome miss brie gonzalez the senior manager for community partnerships with beam circular beam circular is a regional economic development organization focused on advancing the circular bio economy throughout north san joaquin valley by supporting innovation workforce development business growth and sustainable manufacturing opportunities Their work brings together industry, education, government, and community partners to help create higher-paying jobs, strengthen agricultural resilience, attract investment, and reduce environmental impacts throughout our region. So this evening, Bree will provide an overview of BEAM Circular's programs, initiatives, and opportunities that may benefit Turlock, Stanislaus County, and the broader Central Valley. So welcome, Bree.

Hi, good evening everyone. Council members, mayors, and local Turlockians. Thank you so much for that introduction, Anthony. That was really great. My name is Bree. As Anthony mentioned, Senior Manager of Community Partnerships for Beam Circular. I am a Turlock resident as well, so raising a 14-year-old here who's going into high school, which is really exciting. So I have a lot of interest in the work that's being done with Beam because I think it's going to be Really fantastic, not only for Turlock and Stan County, but also the region. So let's go ahead and get into it. So who is Being Circular? So we're a nonprofit, a startup nonprofit is what we like to call ourselves. We were founded in January of 2023. And we're really laying the groundwork and the foundation for the circular bioeconomy to grow and thrive in the North San Joaquin Valley. And so I'll get into what the circular bioeconomy is in a few slides. But the North San Joaquin Valley is who we serve, so that's Merced County, Stanislaus County, and San Joaquin Counties. So you can think of us as like the facilitators, the connectors, the tractors, growing and building this industry here in the valley. And so our mission is quite simple. We believe that every person should have access to a good job, clean air and water, and a thriving community. So just a little background as to why BEAM exists in the first place. Some of you on the council might be aware of Stanislaus 2030 or were around when Stanislaus 2030 was happening. And so this was an economic development initiative, investment initiative for the county. So the county received ARPA funding, so COVID dollars, right? And many other counties did as well. But our county was specifically and especially very forward thinking. So instead of just putting it into infrastructure and stuff like that, they They were like, what can we do to create economic prosperity in the region, and specifically in Stanislaus County? So they brought on the Brookings Institute that did an assessment of the entire county, looked for its strengths, looked for weaknesses, and to see where we can develop. And they found five different areas, like child care development. We don't have enough child care spots here for our local residents to work. And another one was workforce development, small business development. et cetera, and then there's the traded sector development. And so the largest traded sector that we have here in the Valley is agriculture, right? And so they were pretty much like, hey, have you heard of this thing called the circular bioeconomy? You guys are really primed for this industry here. And so that's where BEAM came up. So BEAM was created to push forth that initiative. So I like to talk about BEAM, the work that we do, two-pronged. So we do a lot of economic development Job creation. Bottom line is job creation. That's why we were created. And then also economic solutions. So one thing that the Brookings Institute found was that our people are working. A lot of our residents have one, two, even three jobs and are still struggling to make ends meet. What that tells us is that we don't have enough quality jobs here in the region that pay a family sustaining wage, right? And so a lot of our children are growing up in homes that are living paycheck to paycheck. Another way we like to talk about BEAM's work is the environmental aspect of this. So as you can see here, this is a screenshot from CalEnviro, and this shows the air quality. You can see that the valley has some of the poorest air quality in the entire state. And there's multiple reasons as to why that is. We live in a valley, right? We all know that. So a lot of that pollution that we create here stays stuck there. But our superpower, which is agriculture, also creates some pollution as well. And so all of the agriculture that we produce has some waste associated with it or some leftovers, right? We don't use every single part of ag. Can I ask the council, when you eat a peach, what do you do with the pit? Okay, that's what most people say when I ask them, but that's not the question, that's not the answer I'm hoping for. What do you actually do with it? Or anyone from the audience, what do you do with it? The pit, you throw it away, I heard that. Okay, what about with pistachios? When you eat pistachios, what do you do with the shells? Either on the way, right? And so because we produce all those things here, we have so much, an abundant amount of ag waste or biomass waste, what we like to call it. And so we have so much that by the year 2045, we'll have enough biomass waste to fill shipping containers from LA to Portland every single year, which is crazy to kind of think about it that way. So we don't see, at Beam, we don't see this as a problem, but more so an opportunity. And that's where the circular bioeconomy comes in. So the circular bioeconomy is just another means of production. So instead of continuously extracting from the earth, manufacturing things and then throwing it away, we take things that we already have, biomass waste or ag waste, the peach pits, the almond shells, the pistachio shells, use science to convert that into literally any everyday products things that you use every day from the clothes that you wear to the energy that powers your house to fuel to bioplastic that will degrade over time you can literally convert all of this ag into new things which is pretty awesome in my opinion and so one last thing here so the reason why the North San Joaquin Valley so those three counties are so primed for this industry to grow here It's for a few different reasons. As we've established, agriculture is our superpower. We are a major producer of ag. And unlike other areas in the country that produce ag, they mostly just produce like corn or soybeans. But we have over 250 different crops that we grow here, which makes us extremely special, which allows a lot of the startup companies and researchers who are working to create these types of products It gives them the agency to be able to test different biomass. So ag is a huge plus, obviously. The next thing that we have that other ag areas in the country don't have is the super tech hub right in our backyard, the SF Bay area. There's a lot of innovation. There's a lot of research and development going on over there. But they need our ag in order to help their research and products and their businesses grow. Right? So we are, one last thing, we also are very manufacturing hubs. We have a lot of food processors as well, which is a big part of the circular bioeconomy. Or another word you can call it is bioindustrial manufacturing. Okay? So that is why this area is so rich and very primed for the bioeconomy to boom here. All right, so now what is Beam Circular? How does Beam play into this? So in order to prop up a whole new industry, you're going to need to have a bunch of different things happening simultaneously, right? So we have a few different departments or portfolios that we focus on. So one, of course, is business and economic development, right? That makes sense. We're attracting those businesses here. in order for them to create jobs for our folks here. We're not only attracting businesses, but we're also investing in local businesses as well, and I'll get into that in a little bit. And so while we're creating businesses, we also need to make sure that our local students and our workforce is trained and ready to take those jobs. So we do a lot of grants when it comes to workforce development. We grant Stan State, Walnut Elementary, MJC, Delta College, UC Merced, these are all places that have received grant funding for us for either training or curriculum development or just lab equipment. Aside from that, research and innovation, we put a lot of funding towards R&D because this is a nascent and emerging industry, right? How many of you guys had heard about the circular bioeconomy before? Oh, yeah, that's more than it usually is. So that's fantastic. So this is a new thing. So we are still researching and developing. So we have to put grant funding towards that. Then we have public policy. We have folks on the team that are here for our state government and our local government to help them with like a permitting process or make sure that their sites are ready for these businesses to come and take or occupy. And then community prosperity, that's where I come into play. So aside from just outreach and engagement and general education to the community, we're also working alongside community to make sure they have a voice in the development in this industry. And then we have a few different anchor projects and I'll name two today, which is oh The innovation campus. So this is super exciting. This is our big big big project and we actually just announced our site for this innovation campus. It will be at Beard Industries in Modesto. And this campus is extremely important because when we, I don't know how many of you guys have heard of the term Valley of Death, but this is a business term. A lot of our businesses are working in a research lab on a small scale, right, pilot scale, or very small scale equipment, and they need to make sure that their research and their product works on a larger scale in order for them to commercialize and get to market. So a good way to think about it is like when you're cooking for yourself versus when you're cooking for 200 people. You need to alter the recipe, you need different equipment, and it's the same thing that happens with the bioeconomy businesses. So our innovation campus is going to host or hold different equipment and technologies that are at a demo scale, a pilot scale, or like a middle scale. so that those businesses can come, test the research, validate the research here in the Valley. So this is going to be in Modesto. But what makes the Innovation Campus so special is that it's not just going to be for research and development, it's also going to be a community space. So we have really high hopes and dreams of making this a space for community to gather. So there's going to be a visitor center, There's gonna be conservation projects. There's gonna be a ton of field trips and opportunities for our students and workforce to learn and grow and study some of this research. So our students will be able to come and see literal scientists doing research right in front of them. So we're very excited for this. And we will be doing a lot of community outreach and engagement starting very soon. We have our first webinar on June 22nd that you're all invited to from six to seven. And then we'll be doing some smaller focus groups around and get engagement on the design of the visitor center. So that's coming up. The next thing I want to talk about is our accelerator program. So this is my favorite part of the work that BEAM does, but I don't have any part of it, unfortunately. So the accelerator program is where we invest in five different startup companies. So we invest in them and then we put them together with business mentors to help develop their business plan, right? So these are researchers. These are scientists, these are not business people, so they don't necessarily know how to do those things. And so this is like a three month long cohort program, and then at the end of the program they do this pitch, this big pitch that we have at our event called Biocatalyst, which Anthony was at about a week or two ago. And then that way they are connected with investors, they're connected with community, people know what they're doing. And yeah, so that's our accelerator business. We just finished our second cohort, but our first cohort had two Turlock businesses. and what I want to highlight. So this is Plantabayo, and this is Edgar, he's a Turlockian, and he is an almond farmer and has discovered a way to take the almond shells and create an herbicide with them. So that's kind of like the full circle, taking almond shells and then putting herbicide from those almond shells on the almond trees that he grows. So that's Edgar from Turlock. And then we have Dion from Fit Candy. I think there was a piece about Dion in the Turlock Journal, so you might have heard of him before. He's another Turlockian, born and raised here. And he is taking watermelon rinds and turning them into really delicious, natural, and healthy candy called Fit Candy. It's absolutely delicious. I also want to highlight a couple other businesses. Another business that we have here in Turlock is called Divert, and Divert has been here for a little bit. And they take the rotting produce and the expired food and fruits from grocery stores, put them in this thing called an anaerobic digester, and create energy that is then sold back to PG&E. And that's right here in Turlock. Then we have Mango Materials. I should have brought props for you guys to check out, but Mango Materials extracts the methane from the wastewater in Vacaville and creates biodegradable plastic, and they are going to be the first business that is going to come and occupy the Innovation Campus. So we've already bought our first piece of equipment, which is a gas fermentation, and Mango Materials will be now coming and doing operations here in the Valley and creating jobs here. And then we have All Made. And so this is another company that's in Monterey, but we're working to bring here. And they create a bioplastic, again, out of almond shells. So they have flower pots, they have trash cans, those things that you see on the photo, almond shells, which is really cool, pallets and stuff. And then I want to highlight TastyTape, SuperCarb, and RubyBio, because these are three of our newest cohort for the accelerator. TastyTape is using biomass, so ag waste, to create cellophane, and cellophane that you can actually eat. It's edible. SuperCarb is using biomass to create high-intensity work. out clothes. So instead of having literal plastic in our clothes, we now will have maybe grape pomace, which is kind of cool. And then Ruby Bio is creating surfactants or emulsifiers, the thing that makes soap bubble. I'm doing that out of biomass rather than the forever chemicals. So lots of really cool business. And this is just a very small snapshot of the businesses that we work with. Okay, I also wanted to highlight Workforce and Education Development in Turlock, since we are here in Turlock. So I mentioned Walnut Elementary. So they received a grant from us to expand their sustainability-focused STEM program, and they sent us a video, a YouTube video that I'm gonna send to Anthony so he can send to you guys. It was like this really cute thank you beam video, and it has all these students doing different STEM projects, including growing growing plants from a hydroponic or aquaponic, a really big one. And then, as I mentioned before, we've given grants to Stan State for new lab equipment to update labs there, and then also for teacher development as well, and for a whole new biotech program. So very exciting things are coming to Stan State and Turlock. All right, I'm almost done. I know I've been talking for a while. I'm almost done. This is my favorite part of the job, which is our youth outreach. So we developed a youth ambassador program that we piloted in San Joaquin County. It did fantastic. And now we're currently doing one in Stanislaus County. And we have three students from Turlock. We have two from Turlock High and one from Pittman that are in that program. And this is like a three-month-long program where the students are taught about different facets of the circular bioeconomy. including the technologies, the businesses, and sustainability and climate. And they come and have guest speakers from industry, also researchers from Stanford or Davis, CEOs from some of the startup companies. And then site visits, I think I mentioned too, they go to UC Merced, they go to UOP. There's a picture of one of our students doing DNA extraction from yeast. And then they do a capstone, and they talk about an issue, an environmental issue in their community, and then how the circular bioeconomy is helping mitigate that. And they're paid, by the way. They're also paid for this time. We also do student field trips. We take students to Stanford, UC Davis, but this isn't like a college tour. This is behind the scenes lab visits that they cannot get elsewhere. They're only able to get it through BEAM, because we have those kind of partnerships at these universities. And then we do STEM fairs. So this year we did SCOE STEM fair, and we also judged the SCOE STEM fair. All right. Last but not least, I want to invite you all to BioCirca. This is our second really large event that we have that's very community-focused, and it's literally just all of our partners that are involved in the bioeconomy. also expands outside of the region. So folks from the Bay or folks from literally New York, other parts of the country come to BioZirka to kind of get together and learn about the work that BEAM has been doing. And we have different sessions including a community session of foundations of the bioeconomy, a workforce development session. We also have pitch. So businesses are giving live pitches. And then we have student presentations because we have granted students funding for research. So, yeah, it's a really great time. We hope that you guys can all join us in November for BioCirca.

All right. I'm all done.

Any questions? Questions? Thank you. Thank you all. Have a good one.

All right. Now we have public participation. This is time set aside for the public to speak. Ah, good. Too fast. Thank you very much. Okay. Appointment to the Measure A Local Transaction Sales Tax Oversight Committee. And I would like to have Cindy Carnes be our... Nominee? So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram? Yes. Council Member Bixle?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Moniz? Yes. Council Member Phillips?

Yes. Mayor Bublik? Yes. All right. Thank you for clarifying that. Okay. That passes on 5-0. Thank you, Cindy Carnes. All right. Now is the time to set aside, and I have only one card here, so I will start with Kim.

Good evening, Mayor Bublik and members of the City Council. My name is Kim Calabro and my husband and I live on Blue Throat Drive. My husband purchased our home in 1991. He's lived there ever since, raised his children here. And although I'm not born and raised here, born in Tracy, lived in Patterson, I moved here in 2020. And we live adjacent, our backyard is actually, borders the Monta Vista apartment project. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I really appreciate you hearing me on this matter. I'm here because I believe it's important that you hear directly from a resident who lives in the area and is impacted daily by this Monta Vista Apartments project. I'm not the only resident in the neighborhood who has had a lot of interaction and a lot of upheaval in life actually the last few years, especially this last few months to a year. I would like to acknowledge actually Captain Steve Rodriguez, from the Turlock PD department. He has been consistent, has been responsive to my concerns. He's followed up with issues within his division, and he's demonstrated outstanding professionalism throughout this process. I genuinely appreciate him. I also appreciate that city staff, including the city manager at the time, GARY HAMPTON HAS TAKEN TIME TO ACTUALLY COME TO OUR HOME. IT WAS 6.45 IN THE MORNING AND I WAS SITTING IN MY CHAIR, RIGHT? AND HE SAW ME AND HE SAID, HEY, WHY NOT? AND I WELCOMED THAT AND I THOUGHT IT WAS WONDERFUL. AND I REMEMBER MAYOR BOOTLAG CAME TO OUR HOME ONCE, TOO, WHEN YOU WERE A FEW YEARS AGO. IT WAS WONDERFUL. SO HE KNEW Our concerns, and he was concerned as well. However, individual staff members have been responsive. Results, I don't know if they've been sustainable. For months, my husband and I have documented repeated concerns involving construction gates opening before 7 a.m. I know 657 is 657, but it's 657. 655, we've had 530 in the past, 6 o'clock, 630. We've had now, I know I'm running out of time, a recent altercation actually with an employee of the site because they were blocking our street and a neighbor just had enough. A school bus has trouble oftentimes. Things have gotten a little bit better But we need more help with not allowing them to open before 7 a.m. Please. I'm just asking. There's a lot more here if you'd like to take this. But thank you for your time. And thanks for listening.

Can you give the rest of it over to Ms. Warner? Will you put your hand up for a second, please? Thank you so much.

She has it.

Okay. Just in case you need another copy. All right. I have no other cards. Who else wanted to speak? Mr. Sheridan, go ahead.

All right. Good evening. I'm Sean Sheridan, and I'm here to highlight specific rights and lack thereof in Chapter 1-4 of the Municipal Code regarding appeals. When an appeal reaches the City Council, the Code establishes the Council's right to immediate finality. Section 1-4-07 explicitly states, any decision or action of the City Council in regard to any appeal shall be final and effective on the date rendered. However, that right to decide or act with immediate finality is contingent upon the sentence that precedes it. Sentence one reads, any decision or action of the planning commission in regard to an appeal shall be final and effective as of the date rendered if no appeal is timely filed. This sentence establishes three facts. First, the commission has no right to immediate effectiveness. There is a mandatory waiting period. Second, the appellant has the right to appeal the non-effective act or decision. Third, the appellant is guaranteed a statutory time to file. As an appellant, I cannot overpower the counsel's right to finality in sentence two. but the city cannot overpower my rights in sentence one. Contrary to this, city staff bypassed statutory due process by treating the commission's April 2nd denial of my original appeal as immediately effective. The former city attorney and the current development services director circumvented the mandatory 10-day window. The city lacked legal effectiveness during this time, making every subsequent action legally void. Yet, they lifted the stop work order. They accepted a waiver regarding the type of wood used. They conducted a final inspection. Even my formal complaint case number was officially closed. All of these actions impacting 290 North Thor Street occurred during a period of non-finality and non-effectiveness. This chain of premature actions culminated in the county-level recording of the Commission's resolution. Leaving that resolution attached to the real estate as though legally effective is a verifiable, undeniable prejudice against my scheduled appeal. This must be rectified. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Good evening, Council, staff, community members, Milt Treeweiler. We'll talk about our city manager search. At a special meeting held on May 9th, 2026, one month ago today, the intern city manager, Gary Hampton, stated, that he had recommended that we not hire an outside search firm of the cost at which would be $90,000 to $120,000. He believed he could probably do a better job ourselves by contracting people who are ready to step up to a bigger city or a deputy city manager who's looking for a break as a city manager.

He said that this is exact... No, but these items are on for later.

No, this is not on. We're talking about interim. This is not interim. I'm talking about a full-time. Set up a bigger... Okay. I lost some of my time there, like three minutes back. City manager who was looking at the break in the... Okay. He said that exactly what we did, in fact, turned out 17 qualified candidates Following that, the city hosted panels for eight of the top eight candidates. Mr. Hampton said that we had a community panel, a business panel, and an executive city panel. He said that the panelists then reduced it from eight to two finalists that the council would interview themselves. Mr. Hampton said that on the community panel was formed the city manager, former city manager Stephen Kite, and a church leader, plus other long-term community members. On the professional panel was many business CEOs in the community's top businesses. And on the executive committee that was interviewed, there were four city directors so that they could have a say in who their next boss would be to some degree. Obviously, those recommendations are before you was before this council that morning And this was exactly a month ago. Mr. Hampton said, we have narrowed it down to two candidates. If you believe that one of the two candidates is a fit, an HR is ready to pursue the contract negotiations, like we recently did for our city attorney position. Mr. Hampton believed it had been a great process and had yielded two high-qualified, diverse candidates. In fact... If they don't meet the council's expectations, we're prepared to repeat it with the remaining six finalists. We have eight candidates to run for this full-time city manager. Okay, so after over three hours of time, the mayor came out and made this statement. We're back from our closed session, and there's nothing to report out, and we are in adjournment. What's going on here? They spent over three hours interviewing two people. Thank you. But let's think about this.

Anybody else? Come on, Ron. Well, I'm sorry. Hang on, Ron. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Hello, everybody. This is Mike Marco. I'm here to follow up from six other times I've been here. This is my seventh time here speaking on this same topic. From the last meeting, it was left off with who enforced the California Building Code. The attorney stated that the department had said that we've looked into this already and It's not within our purview, basically. It doesn't make sense to me because anything that's within the city of Turlock, from my understanding, is within the purview of the city of Turlock. The issue that's at hand is a wall that wraps around a property like it's in place. It's over 1,000 feet long, and there have been illegal repairs done, and it's been left the way it is. The last time I was here, I said that I'm going to be back and you'll be served. So I'm here to serve you the truth because what matters to me most is God. And that's what it says right there in God we trust. So I'm here every time speaking the truth, nothing but the truth. So those people that aren't doing their job, they're either being ignorant or they're being deceitful. The reason why I say this is because that retaining wall, it does require a permit in order to get rebuilt, especially if it's over 1,000 feet long. A retaining wall with a wall or fence above it requires a permit. The city says that, but the city doesn't enforce it. But if you don't want to do that, then we go to the next step. You want to call it a fence. The development said it's a fence. Okay, we'll call it a fence. According to the website, it says if a fence is over 7 feet tall, then it requires a permit. So five members, including Erica Phillips, including Development Head, came to the property, saw it. I showed them the wall. It's over seven feet tall. They all said, no, it's not over seven feet tall. I said, let me get my measuring tape real quick, and I'll show it to you. They said, no, we have to go. This was after 10, 15 minutes, and they all left. So I went and got my measuring tape, and I took a picture showing that it's over seven feet tall, and I sent it to you guys. And you guys have just ignored me since. You have me acknowledge that, yeah, you know what? You're right. It is over seven feet tall. That's the truth. The website says if a fence is over seven feet tall, it needs a permit. And I proved to you, and you all lied. Five of you lied, and none of you acknowledged that, yeah, Mr. Barco, you're right. It is over seven feet tall. We were wrong. You just ignore me. i'm speaking the truth and you have people that are being deceptive i don't appreciate that even if you don't want to go the perimeter you say you know what it's not a retaining wall and it's not a fence that's over seven feet tall the turlock is still required to enforce the california building code the way turlock is set up it's required to do that even if it doesn't require a permit whatever repairs are made need to be made according to california building code and that wall is not rebuilt according to california building code the water The fence is built in such a way that the water infiltrates it, and there's pest infestation in there. And we have cockroaches throughout the entire property. That's a health and safety matter. But the city of Turlock doesn't seem to care. This is my seventh time coming here, and this is my last time coming about this topic. It's a shame that this is how it is, but this is how it ends.

Evening's just started and I already have a headache. Let's see if I can remember. First thing I was going to ask. IF IT'S POSSIBLE FOR THE CITY ATTORNEY TO LOOK INTO OUR ORDINANCES, ADDING ORDINANCES, ADDING SOMETHING ABOUT DATA CENTERS. OKAY? I KNOW THIS HAS BEEN A CONCERN AROUND THE COUNTRY. OKAY? AND, YOU KNOW, THE AI DATA CENTERS, I THINK THAT THEY MIGHT LOOK AT OUR AREA BECAUSE OF OUR CONNECTION WITH WATER, THE TID, AND THE POWER GENERATION THERE. THAT MIGHT BE ATTRACTIVE TO THEM. AND I THINK WE, FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD, CITIES CAN TAKE PROACTIVE STEPS TO MAKE IT A LITTLE BIT MORE DIFFICULT FOR THAT TO HAPPEN. SO I WANTED TO PUT THAT OUT THERE. BECAUSE I REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WITH ALAMO HOUSE. We don't want to have something else like that happen again. And the thought just occurred to me, since I mentioned Alamo Health, we have what was it, Brandel Manor, that was closed. And how long has it been closed? Two years now, I think, something like that. Okay. Is there anything that the city can do to... HELP GET IT OPEN AGAIN. I JUST WANT TO PUT THAT OUT THERE. WELL, WE DO HAVE SOME FUNDING IN TERMS OF THE HOUSING FUNDING WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE HOME, THE MONEY AND HOME AND CDBG. THERE'S A GOOD AMOUNT OF FLEXIBILITY THERE. The last thing I also wanted to mention, I didn't have a chance when Gary Hampton was here, and it's not his fault. Five years ago in February, you guys rescinded the council member handbook. And at the time, in February of 2021, and at the time he had said that before he left in May or June of 2021, he was going to try to get, you know, a new handbook written. Okay. The only portion that has been rewritten is the portion about public comment. Okay. AND SO I JUST WANTED TO PUT THAT OUT THERE. IT WOULD BE NICE IF THE WHOLE ENTIRE AFTER FIVE YEARS, YOU KNOW, CAN WE MAYBE GET THE COUNCIL HANDBOOK REVISED AND REDONE. THANK YOU.

ANYONE ELSE WHO DIDN'T GET A CHANCE?

Good evening, everyone, for the second time. I'm Mary Jackson. I think everybody should go home and buy a lottery ticket because I completely agree with Ron. Maybe it's because the dispensaries are on the agenda. We worked really hard on that about five or six years ago. I'm here because I've tried to be really positive. There is one thing. I hope that the council is aware of how hard Travis Regalo has worked, who runs the Downtown Property Association or Business Association. He actually trained so he could actually have fireworks again, which is amazing. A major kudos to him and the downtown property owners and business owners who are paying for that. So I hope everyone can attend the July 3rd parade. I know that within the school district we're working to get both bands to participate. We're going to try to get more students to participate. We're hoping to get more kids to be involved. Sign up and ride a bicycle. It's very easy to do. Get your neighborhood kiddos together. So I'm just huge. We saw him this week out downtown, and I just said, I'm so appreciative. He won't even be there because he's going to be getting the fireworks ready because he's now certified, which is great news for our community. But I think the thing that's frustrating is I, too, had a conversation with Chief Hampton, and it – I just believe he's going to get better with everything that's going on with his personal health. But we need to have some stable city management. Not the council, but the city manager. I mean, good luck, Mr. Fisher. You're, what, number 15 in the lineup? And it's situations like Mr. Barco. It's situations like Blue Throat. It's situations like my neighborhood where we have... standing water for two years because the former city engineer, as I understand it, I am not an engineer. I don't understand how this works, but it's not draining, and I appreciate Mr. Fisher is going to come out and meet with my neighbors and I tomorrow. But it's those kind of things that it's just continuing over and over again. So, again, like I spoke at 530, the special meeting when you were going in to discuss the city manager, You need to make sure that whoever you hire is able to tell you no. You must follow building codes. You must follow, if it's a commercial license for a taco truck, which I never underplace, that could be a three or four or ten-story hotel. We now have a ladder truck. And if I lived behind it, I would much rather have a taco truck place with probably people coming in from 99 to go there. It's like putting a dog park right there on Countryside. That was brilliant economic development and business marketing. If you have a dog in your car, which we travel with our dogs, we want to stop somewhere that has a dog park. So thank you.

Anyone else? We'll close public comment, move on to city manager's report and updates.

Nothing to report out today.

Okay, consent calendar. Public can comment on the consent calendar if there's any opportunity to ask for a request an item be removed. Come on up. AM I ALSO SUPPOSED TO SAY WHY? THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL, YEAH. THIS IS A ONE MINUTE ONLY KIND OF THING. YEAH, I KNOW.

IT WAS ABOUT D, ITEM D. I WILL SAY, WELL, THE LAST TIME YOU HAD NEGOTIATIONS, THERE WERE, SHALL WE SAY, ISSUES WITH NEGOTIATING ABOUT THE POLICE CONTRACT. Shall we say that it went on way, way too long? They were told that the city didn't have any money, you know, so on and so forth. And D.J. Franson made a comment to one of the leaders, and that situation was corrected. It just seemed to me... THAT THE NEGOTIATIONS WENT ON FAR TOO LONG. THE CITY, THE PEOPLE HAD MADE IT VERY CLEAR WE WANTED THEM PAID, OKAY, SO THAT THEY COULD HIRE MORE ADDITIONAL OFFICERS. AND WE WERE WILLING TO PAY THE MONEY TO GET THAT DONE, BUT YET THE NEGOTIATORS WERE DRAGGING OUT THE NEGOTIATIONS. MAYBE IT'S TIME TO SEARCH FOR ANOTHER COMPANY, GIVE ANOTHER COMPANY A CHANCE.

ANYONE ELSE ON THE CONSENT CALENDAR SPECIFIC ITEM? Okay. We'll close public comment. What is the will?

Move to approve the consent calendar as written. Second.

With the D pulled off? No. You're good?

Can I clarify? Mr. Bredgren, did you want to hear a presentation about that or just your comments? Do you want it pulled?

Okay. Okay. No, as written. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bidwell.

Yes. Passes on a 5-0. All right. Final readings. The ordinance for Evergreen. I will open it to the public. Anyone wishing to speak on this? Close public comment.

Move to approve 9-8.

Second.

Motion and second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Budweiser.

Yes. Passes 5-0. Next one is NHC. I'll open it to the public. Closing public comment.

Move to approve 9B. Second. Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Maness. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Black.

Yes. Passed on 5-0. All right. And this is for Perfect Union. Open to public. Closed public comment.

Move to approve 9C.

Second. Motion to second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Maness. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Black.

Yes. Passed on 5-0. Next one is for Firehouse. I will open it to the public. Close public comment.

Move to approve 9D.

Second. Motion to second.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Monette. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bubak.

Yes. Passes on 5-0. And development agreement with Plan for Dream Investments. Open it to the public. Close public comment.

Move to approve 9E.

Second. Motion to second.

Council Member Abram? Yes. Council Member Bixle? Yes. Vice Mayor Monette? Yes. Council Member Phillips? Yes. Mayor Buva?

Yes. Passes on 5-0. All right. Public hearings. This is regarding the Turlock vacancies and recruitments. Director Domi? Yes.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City staff, members of the public. My name is Jessie Dommy, and I'm the HR Director presenting today an overview report in regards to Assembly Bill 2561 and workforce vacancy. On September 22nd, 2024, Assembly Bill 2561 was signed into law amending the Myers-Millis-Brown Act, and it became effective on January 1st, 2025. The recent law requires all public agencies to provide an annual status report and employee vacancies and a public hearing before adopting their final budget each fiscal year. What is Assembly Bill 2561? It requires public agencies to present an overview of the current status and job vacancies within the agency, provides a platform for discussion on ongoing recruitment and retention strategies, Supports identification of any policy or procedural changes to improve hiring processes. Gives opportunity to enhance transparency and accountability. Representatives from recognized employee organizations are able to present their perspectives on vacancies and staffing as well. The city follows the personnel systems rules and regulations. It was last revised September of last year. And that's where we focus on recruitment decisions, including anything related to recruitments, examinations, eligibility lists, and appointments. City of Turlock, a workforce snapshot. We have six bargaining groups. Four are represented. Two are unrepresented. Within this fiscal year, we have 455 full-time authorized positions. And last year, in fiscal year 24-25, we had 442 allocated positions. vacancy rate at a snapshot in 2025 was between 7% and 10% anything at 20% does require the city to open it up and allow labor groups the provide labor groups the opportunity to also speak on opportunities to improve compensation and working conditions, the total number of job vacancies within the bargaining unit, the total number of applicants for vacant positions within the bargaining unit. And so the city of Turlock's in a great place, averaging at 7%. Here's a snapshot. And the yellow bar is positions filled. The green are the vacancies. on the right-hand column. And so you've got your six bargaining groups down below on your left listed. And here is a screenshot of our first labor group. Turlock City Employees Association also known abbreviated for TCA and I'm not gonna bore you with reading every single title there month after month, but I can tell you that when we summarize these The number of hires we had held in Turlock City Employees Association was 25 hires we had 18 terms and one retirement, 26 promotions, two reclassifications, two reinstatements, and one demotion. Moving on to TAPO, Turlock Associated Police Officers, we had nine hires, five terms, two retirements, and 13 promotions. In local 2434 FIRE, We had five hires, seven terms, and two promotions. In the management group, we had two hires, one retirement, and one promotion. TMAP stayed the same. Confidentials group stayed the same. Recruitment and retention efforts. The city implemented several strategies to attract and retain qualified employees, which benefited us in our recruitment efforts. Council Resolution 2271 authorized city manager to extend recruitment incentives by offering pre-accruals up to 80 hours of vacation and up to 40 hours of sick time up front. Council Resolution 2023-55 offered Turlock Associated Police Officers a one-time 40-hour time bank to encourage referrals. Council Resolution 2023-93 authorized a signing bonus for police officers. Hires from the amount of $6,000 to $20,000 for lateral hires, trainees, and academy graduates. A $3,000 referral or 40 hours time banks for successful hires. And lastly, Resolution 2023-142 authorized assigning bonus for water treatment plant operator, senior maintenance technicians, instrument and control technicians, senior water treatment plant supervisor, and water treatment plant manager, ranging from $7,500 to $12,000, and a referral bonus of $3,000 were also made available for successful hires in these positions. key challenges identified like any other agency, competitive job market, and comparable and or neighboring agencies, as well as limited applicant pools and specialized roles such as water operations, law enforcement, and specialty skilled positions. Staff actions to address vacancies. No specific changes have been identified or implemented to address hiring obstacles at this time. The City of Turlock, Continues to take steps to support recruitment and retention and continue to monitor our vacancy rates and communicate annually Questions if anyone knows of anyone who's seeking a job there's a QR code there and our phone number and email address and

Happy to take any questions. Is that like a nice plug for we're hiring laterals?

Always. We're actually hiring for fire marshal today. We just opened, as well as police officer trainee, police officer 1-2, police records technician, and water treatment plant operator supervisor.

And I guess fire chief, too. You're bound on us, right? Look at the smile. No, today. Any questions?

Yeah. Director Domi, so you said that our vacancy rate is 7% to 10%. How does that compare to what you expect, like industry standard?

Industry standards, we're doing excellent. In the past, the city of Turlock's vacancy averaged about 18% to 20%. And in the last, I'd say, four to five years, we've been pretty – And we were excited. Last year was the first time we were under the double digits, and we've been pretty successful staying within 7 to 9, 7 to 10.

What was the percent when it was COVID? Like about 40?

It was high, and we had frozen positions. Yeah.

Any other questions? Okay, let's open it to any of the union or associations first if they wish to speak. There you go. I didn't think you were just sitting back there for security. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am Greg Roten, President of Turlock Associated Police Officers. I received the email from Jesse Domi at HR regarding the status of vacancy rates for labor groups. As you know, TAPO represents over 100 employees, the bulk of which are your police officers, sergeants, dispatchers, and several others. Regarding vacancy rates, I am happy to report that we are certainly trending in the right direction. With that, I'd like to personally thank the Mayor and Council for their relentless support for public safety. I would also like to thank Chief Hedden for enacting change over the past years, creating an environment where employees are happy to come to work and even retirement age employees choose to remain. Last but not least, I'd like to express gratitude to Captain Rodriguez for his extreme efforts in the area of recruitment. It is TAPO's position that without the support of everyone mentioned, our staffing and vacancy rates would be nowhere near where they are, and it is my hope that we continue in this direction. Thank you all.

Anyone else wishing to speak on this item? Chief, are you blushing?

JUST A QUICK QUESTION. DO YOU HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TURNOVER RATE JUST IN GENERAL OR ABOUT THE DIFFERENT GROUPS?

ANYBODY ELSE WISHING TO SPEAK?

So based on the slides you had up there, I'm going to assume this is information for the 2025 year. It's now June 9th. Is there a reason why it takes five months to prepare a report? It looks to me that could be updated as it is handled. It's one of the questions. I think this would be a lot... more helpful to everybody if it was there the first meeting in January. Or, in this case, the first meeting with the new council in December, if you could update to that point. The other one part I had a question was, you have all these incentives and that. Do we know the total that was paid out? And is there anywhere where I can get a schedule that shows where the monies were paid out and what that was for? Because in my mind, I sit there and I think some of these payments are just stuff that people were going to take to jobs anyway. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this item?

Okay. I'll close that public comment. Do you want to start with the turnover rate? Yes.

On the turnover rate, we essentially focus on each labor group under this assembly bill. So our concentration is to be transparent and provide the results. I do not have the turnover ratio available today, but I can provide it.

And then reporting it today versus December or January or whatever. Yes.

Under Assembly Bill 2561, we are to look back at the previous year, and that's why we are focusing on 2025.

And incentives cost, do we have any breakdown on that?

I do not have that available today, but I can provide it.

Okay, but it's available in the budget? Yes. Okay.

What is the will? I'm going to motion to approve 10A, and I just want to say that, you know, Captain Rodriguez is not here tonight. I don't know where he's hiding, but he has gotten a lot of kudos this evening from different people. President Roden, always nice to see you guys. Thank you.

Second. We have a first and a second. We'll go ahead and call it.

Councilman Abrams? Yes. Councilmember Bixle? Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz? Yes. Councilmember Phillips? Yes. Mayor Buble?

Yes. Pasadena 5-0. This is the first time in my career that we've had the staffing with public safety as well as we have it. So we're very proud of that. All right. Now action items. Engage the discussion and provide direction to staff regarding cannabis tax ballot measure. Mr. Moreno, is that you? Is that you? Cool. Smoke it if you got it.

Thank you, honorable mayor and council members. The item we have for you is a discussion for a cannabis ballot measure to whether to go forward and discuss a ballot organization as far as what the structure would look like or to be able to stay with the DAs as they are today. And so we'll walk through the conversation. So some of the topics we'll go through are histories of cannabis in Turlock, just a general overview, current rates within the area, operator discussions, discussion and direction. So history of cannabis. Again, not to give the great ordeal overall, just to give a general overview. Established in 2019, we started the overall five-year pilot program, which established different rates for different organizations as far as their structures. The most common one would be for the dispensaries, which the rate at that point in time, called the benefit rates, was 5.25%, or up to $45,000 a month, and it had a sliding scale overall. To review the program, council established a cannabis ad hoc committee, which consisted of two council members and two planning commissioners. On April 23rd of 2024, this ad hoc committee submitted its findings and a memorandum to the council themselves and recommendations. One of them was to pursue a cannabis business tax. On January 25th of 2024, the item was brought before council, but was recommended not to move forward at that time. So the current schedule that you have, given some data as far as the information of what's out there in the current market, you can see some of the surrounding communities. One of the things to look at, too, is not just the rates overall, but the very last column that says tax or CVA. What it's referring to is who actually has a tax measure or who's doing it versus a council action, a DA, or some jury of that nature. This is a good overall chart to kind of give you a range of what the overall entities are doing, the other cities or counties, and how the structures overall look like. So there's a lot of data in here. You do see our information, too, as well. Some of the information looks to be very comparable. Some looks to be a little bit on the higher end. Some of these are ranges, so it's not really giving you what their true nature of what they're currently doing today. But, again, it's kind of giving you some information as far as what the current market looks like. With the understanding of the election coming forward, we did start the discussion within the DA removal process, which was started in January 26. So we went with all the operators, because as you just approved, a majority of the DAs were coming forward for a renewal time frame. So within that discussion, we also brought this topic back up. There was a majority of the organizations that were good with the organization as part of moving forward with the tax and actually assisting with the funding at that point in time. Coming to current market dates, as far as March 26th, we really engaged the operators to see what their current feedback was as their DAs were starting to come and move forward. So we spoke to each entity, again, the ones that were renewing their DAs, received multiple comments. Perfect Union received a written communication saying they do not support both financially and physically at this time. They did also make a comment that the current range is too high within the ordinance. uh just another reminder too the orange structure really hasn't changed it's the same one that we had for two years ago we are look at the language to make sure it's up to date but the bulk and the meat of it is still the same firehouse received verbal communication actually written communication for our house state and they will both financially and physically support ff farms receive verbal communication to the same degree they're willing to support and financially at the other opportunity NHC received written communications saying they did not support both financially and physically, again, making the same comment as far as the range is a little high. Plan for Dreams verbally communicated that valid measure they would support, but again, making a statement to the max square footage, this cultivation was high. So kind of a mix overall. I mean, when we started this conversation in January, we got very positive feedback. Coming to today, we got a little bit of a mixed emotions. Some were pretty consistent with their original message. Some kind of shifted away from it a little bit as well. So that's kind of the feedback that we got in discussions we were having with the operators. So today's conversation is really do we want to move forward having a conversation about the ballot measure itself? Obviously, we do have a time frame in which we're going to get this to the ballot measure. It only takes one meeting. So if it was chosen to move forward and have further discussions on one, how are we going to fund it? Two, what does the ordinance actually look like? Again, a lot of the meets there, there are some updates that are proposed from HDL, which is our consultants. BUT REALLY TODAY IS REALLY JUST DIRECTION OF MOVING FORWARD. OBVIOUSLY WE CAN TALK ABOUT THE RATES AND WHAT WE BELIEVE THEY SHOULD LOOK LIKE. WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE FINANCIAL END OF IT, WHAT PROPOSES AND WHAT THAT COST MAY LOOK LIKE. BUT AGAIN, TODAY'S ACTION IS REALLY DO WE WANT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE VALUE MEASURE, BRING IT FORWARD WITH FURTHER DISCUSSION. If we would, I would definitely recommend that we get the operators all into one room and talk to them all at the same time to make sure we have a clear and consistent message across the board of all of them. In the past, it's been individual conversations, but obviously we'd want to make sure we have communication through the process as we move forward if that was to transpire. So at this point, we'll open it up for conversation. Is there any questions?

Questions for Mr. Marino? Okay. Let's open it to the public. Anyone wishing to speak on this item? Okay.

On the diagram you had up there for the various rates, I'm going to assume that none of these are for sales tax. It's all business taxes. That can be answered later. And my question would be, what other businesses in Turlock have special business taxes associated to them? Do we do this to our liquor stores? Do this to the bakeries? It seems to me that the cannabis businesses, as the mayor had said last week or last time, that now that it's a business, it should be treated a lot like other businesses. So I'm hoping that these are not being instituted just because you think you can get away with it and other businesses in Turlock aren't facing the same taxes. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay, we'll close public comment. Would you like to respond to that? Somebody got up? Ron, I'm sorry. You got to move faster. Sit up close.

I'm sorry. Me again, yeah. I kind of have to agree with what Bob said. I mean, I disagree, but I agree. I mean, you know, I don't really approve of the recreational use of this stuff. I do approve of the potential for the medical use of it. I ALSO REMEMBER THAT WHEN WE DID THE FIVE-YEAR PILOT PLAN THAT THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, WAS IT FIVE YEARS, NO, SIX, SEVEN YEARS AGO NOW, GEE, THAT ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT WAS THE ADDITIONAL COST THAT WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO HAVE TO INCUR BECAUSE OF CANNABIS USE. WE NEVER GOT ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THAT. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE PREVIOUS CITY ATTORNEY SAID SOME THINGS THAT I WITNESSED AND THAT WAS CAUGHT ON TAPE OF SAYING THINGS HE SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID. I HOPE YOU DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES THAT HE DID IN TERMS OF WE HAVE INCURRED NO ADDITIONAL COSTS AND THEREFORE THERE WAS NO VALID REASON TO HAVE THE PUBLIC BENEFIT. So I don't know. I have mixed feelings about all this. I think Bob has a valid point. So that's all I wanted to say.

Anybody else? Come on up.

Nine minutes.

Good.

I did have a question concerning the outside cities that have attacks have we looked into where we're at comparison to them what kind of traffic are we bringing into Turlock versus what's leaving outside are we driving in people from Merced from Modesto or now are they going to be going out to their cities to be shopping that's just something to look into As far as the medical side, people that come into the shop that are on a fixed income use this as an alternative to medicine. Those are the people that are going to get hit the hardest. That's just something that I'd like to put out on the table as well. Thank you, guys. Anyone else?

Okay, now I'm closing public comment. Bring it back for the responses, please.

Thank you. So one of the questions is regarding other businesses getting taxed. TOT is a great example. Hotels is another tax out there. Other businesses that are special taxes are similar to that. Is the TOTs, hotels, sales tax data? As far as what's coming in and what's going out, that would be the operators. I don't have that data. That would have to be a market study to be able to get the data from them. So I wouldn't be able to have that information. I believe I've answered all of them.

Poker Room also has the...

Poker Room? Oh, yes, exactly. There's Poker Room as well.

Right. Right. Send.

You also have franchise fees and things of that nature too as well, but yes.

So I see it as, I mean, I think marijuana sucks, right? That's just my personal belief. But I was at Snoop Dogg in Long Beach this weekend, and I couldn't even do the show because it was so freaking heavy in smoke, right? And I don't think there were that many sick people there. But at the same time, I think this taxation is, it seems not necessary, especially when you have a two-two, really. You have two different saying, yeah, we support it, and then we don't. When you rise up the taxation after we just did the DAs, all you're doing is saying go to the black market or go somewhere else, and that seems silly because you could get something really bad if you don't go to the right place, if there is a right place. Those are my values.

I should know this, I guess, but do customers pay a sales tax for every purchase they're also?

Yes, they do.

Move to approve 11A.

This is direction. Oh, sorry.

Sorry.

You know, Madam Clerk is so efficient.

You are too efficient at your agendas, lady. I'm sorry. You have to read them all. So I can just make a motion whether we want direction and don't want direction. Is that what we have here?

The motion is really just to bring ballot measure forward or not to bring ballot measure forward.

Sure. So motion to not bring a ballot measure forward. That's a double negative.

I don't like motions like that. Just prior to voting on that, I would like to make a comment that I still stand behind what the Cannabis Committee studied and brought forth that a tax, we could debate whether or not it's appropriate to do it. I tend to agree that why are we treating different businesses quite differently? However, we are still using the development agreement to levy these fees, and I do believe that going to a tax and going to the voters is the more appropriate way to Go about this long term so you know I I would be in support of putting this to the voters again to as as our former city attorney called it to regularize this process. One of the, you know, that's not exactly what we're talking about tonight, but one of the other recommendations from the Cannabis Committee was to move out of the DAs. And as we can see from this meeting and the one prior and all the others over the years, that development agreements have an incredible administrative lift for city staff. So I, you know, I do think that the long-term direction should be to make this a tax, put this forth to the voters. If that is the will of the council, I would recommend that we look to what Stanislaus County did two years ago. They had a tax that passed overwhelmingly, and so maybe those rates are worth looking at and discussing with the operators, but I will defer to what the will of my colleagues are, of all of us.

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

It's a motion to not bring forth a ballot measure. Okay, we have a motion to second.

Will you call the roll, please?

Council Member Abram. No. Council Member Bixall. No. Vice Mayor Maness. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Buble.

Yes. So it passes not to go on. That is a double negative. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Marino. All right. The next one we have here is the CDBG.

Good evening madam mayor council members and members of the community the item before you tonight is a recommendation to award the fiscal year 2026 2027 community development block grant or CDBG public service grants the city of Turlock receives a an annual allocation of CDBG funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. Under the CDBG program, the city may allocate up to 15% of its annual allocation plus 15% of the previous year's program income to public service activities that primarily benefit low- and moderate-income households. Based on the current year allocation of $636,784 and approximately $200,000 in program income, The estimated maximum for public services is $125,518. The recommended funding set aside for fiscal year 26-27 is $115,000. The Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, was issued to nonprofit agencies that provide services to low- and moderate-income households on November 7, 2025, with the application due on December 17, 2025. On January 22nd, 2026, applicants presented their proposals to the CDBG selection committee. A total of six applications were received representing a variety of public service activities. After reviewing and evaluating the applications, the selection committee recommended funding for all six.

Do you need a drum roll?

I do. Oh, there we go. So the... The recommended six applicants was United Samaritans Foundation Emergency Food Box for $20,000, the City of Turlock Recreation Department for the Recreation Scholarships of $20,000, Haven for Housing Assistance of $20,000, Project Sentinel for Fair Housing Services of $15,000, We Care for Emergency Shelter of $20,000, and Family Promise for Transitional Housing of $20,000 for a total of $115,000. Please note that as part of the City of Churlock's consolidated plan, the city is required to fund a minimum of one public service activity that addresses fair housing and a minimum of one public service activity that addresses homeless services. Of the applicants received, one applicant qualified under the fair housing category and two candidates qualified under the homeless services category. So that completes my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Questions for the speaker? OK, let's open it to the public. Anyone wishing to speak on this item?

On family promise, I'm doing this from memory. It was for basically a manager for the transitional housing SERVICES THAT THEY OFFER. ONE COMMENT THAT I THINK THAT'S A GOOD THING, OKAY. BUT ONE COMMENT THAT I'D LIKE TO MAKE THAT I EITHER DIDN'T SEE OR MISSED WAS TO GET REPORTS BACK FROM THEM IN TERMS OF WHAT SUCCESSES THAT THEY HAVE HAD. IN TERMS OF NOT JUST REPORTS TO CITY STAFF, BUT REPORTS TO THE CITY COUNCIL SO THE PUBLIC CAN HEAR THAT. I ALSO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE ONE FOR WECARE. If I understood right, in the data tables there that they showed, the $20,000 was going to be for the rent and lease. So it would be a payment to United Samaritans Foundation. Okay, so I'd like to know more about that, about why that is really needed or that amount is needed by United Samaritans Foundation. It might be legitimate, but, I mean, the taxpayers did pay for the – KITCHEN, OKAY? AND THEY DID PAY FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE EMERGENCY SHELTER, AND I THINK THAT ALSO WAS PURCHASED, YOU KNOW, THEY GOT TAX BREAKS ON THAT. SO, I MEAN, THE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY HELPING, TAXPAYERS ARE ALREADY HELPING AN AWFUL LOT IN TERMS OF THAT. So they also, United Samaritans Foundation being a nonprofit, they don't have to pay property taxes on those buildings. So I'm really wondering, you know, what is the $20,000 needed for? Is it needed for some type of... RESERVE FUND FOR REPAIRS THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT? OR IS THAT MONEY JUST GOING INTO UNITED SAMARITANS FOUNDATION TO BE USED FOR WHAT? OKAY? AND MAYBE I'M MISUNDERSTANDING THE INFORMATION THAT WAS IN THE STAFF REPORT. THOSE ARE MY QUESTIONS.

ANYONE ELSE?

No, come on up. Come on up.

Well, we asked a question so we all can hear, so we know. Okay, I can't help with that.

You don't understand. Ms. Fox, come on up here.

So you don't understand his question or what she presented?

I think I understand what you presented. And I don't understand what the gentleman prior to me is asking. That because 20,000, as I understand it, we care rents the facility. And that's for rent. Like you rent for a business, an organization, anything. It's rent. So why... They can't work outside, so I don't think I understand. That's what I don't get.

Sorry. I'm not going to translate someone else's communication. I struggle on me. Come on up.

I guess just to clarify, we wrote the grant that we're going to use those funds to pay our rent. We do pay rent monthly to United Samaritans. Like Julie said, we would pay rent for any other business. We have to pay our rent to United Samaritans in order to have our shelter in their buildings. ANYBODY ELSE?

OKAY. GOOD. THANK YOU. ANYBODY ELSE? ALL RIGHT. LET'S CLOSE THE PUBLIC. CAN YOU ANSWER ANY OF THAT? LET ME ASK THIS. OKAY. IS IT TYPICAL THAT WE GIVE MONEY FOR ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS AND NOT FOR THE SOURCE? IS THAT OKAY?

WELL, YEAH. IT'S PART OF THEIR IT'S A VERY SMALL PORTION. THEY GIVE US THEIR FULL BUDGET TO RUN THESE PROGRAMS. even though they're nonprofit, they are allowed to bring in some funds to help fund their other So these go through a committee. It's a very extensive application. They give us a very detailed budget, and we double-check every month or every quarter when the invoices come in. There's a packet, so they have to submit everything, all receipts, all their backup, all their financials. So it's what they're stating they need to run the program.

And so if it was inaccurate, the gift of funds, then it's inaccurate because the receipts don't correspond. Correct. Then they wouldn't get the money.

Right. We go back and forth sometimes. We don't have – sometimes, you know, their payroll, we can't understand their system or it doesn't match. We go to the penny. We contact them and say, you know, why is this? Is it a rounding error and that type of thing. And then we also monitor them. So not only do we get quarterly – outcomes and budgets, we also monitor them on an annual basis to make sure they've done everything that they need to do. They have all their licensures, all that through CDBG.

To piggyback a little bit on Mr. Bidrum's question, so you mentioned monitoring and the reporting of outcomes. Some of that exists in our CAPER, right? Right. Don't ask me what that stands for right now. I hope you can tell the public what that means. But if that is truly in that annual report that we send to HUD, I do think that it is a fair point to say that those HUD documents are very sterile and inaccessible. And so continuing to highlight that in the different ways, the different avenues that we have, I do think would be helpful. Okay. But can you clarify that we do get results In these various ways?

Yes, we do. I don't know off the top of my head. I apologize. The CAPER will look into that. I don't know how off the top of my head how deeply we go into those outcomes, but I understand what you're saying, that we could actually bring that forward and we bring the CAPER forward.

Well, and you can, you know, personalize it too, right? Because a number on a spreadsheet is a little bit different than the family and the person that was actually helped.

The story's behind it, yes.

What is the rule of counsel? Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Buble.

Yes. Pass on 5-0. Thank you, Mr. McGrew. All right. The next item is appointing an interim city manager and approving compensation. Ms. Nomi. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. The item before you is a resolution. At tonight's special closed session meeting, the City Council appointed Chris Fisher to serve as interim city manager while the city recruitment process for city manager continues. During this period, the appointment of interim city manager ensures continuity of leadership, maintains organizational stability, and supports the uninterrupted delivery of municipal services. In compliance with government code section 54953C3, the city council must publicly disclose the compensation associated with interim city manager appointment Before taking final action, the public announcement includes the salary or salary schedule, any compensation paid in form of fringe benefits, Chris Fisher to serve as interim city manager, effective June 9th, 2026, salary range 45.7, step three of the management salary schedule, $20,341 monthly.

Happy to answer any questions. Questions for the director? All right, we'll open it to the public. Anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Good evening. Seems like City of Turlock is the only city in Stanislaus County who has this perennial, continuous issue with city managers beginning when Mayor Blue Black took control of the council and had herself and two council members. It has never changed since that term. The minute she got in, we had a meeting that was in January. that a special meeting that fired the city manager that was in position at that time. We have had so many important people. Chris Fisher is a tremendous municipal services director and he is, you're not going to find anyone as good as him anywhere. And if you run off Chris because of this stupidity of not getting a permanent city manager, what are you smiling about? You actually have someone planned. We have Mr. You know, Hampton had eight excellent people who could run for this position, who could fill this position. And you just keep putting us off because you have to have your own person there. And you know that because it's happened over and over and over again.

Say what you need to say. Don't make this personal.

What you're doing is you're not getting a city manager because you're not leaving them stay here. You're running them off so quickly. You're just rolling them around. You don't allow them to do their work. You don't allow them. They're leaving. They're not staying as a city manager because it's impossible to work in the city of Turlock with the current elected officials in charge that are in charge or have control of the Turlock city. and they're not going to stay. We had people like Reagan Wilson. Yes, Reagan Wilson. was a very good friend of yours. He was your friend for 40 years, 30 or 40 years. And he did serve as city manager. But the point is, we don't have, we need a city manager who is a city manager that is here for the citizens and the residents of Turlock, not a city manager that's here for the elected officials of Turlock. This is not for the elected officials. This is for the residents of Turlock. That's the reason, and all other cities have city managers. They're not flipping them over like this. I go to a lot of council meetings and even, you know, I'm sure some of the people at those councils would have been a good city manager for us because they're good city managers for their own city and they would want to move up into a larger city and they would make excellent city managers for our city. So it's not, you know, having another interim city manager is not the solution unless you're going to make it his responsibility to get someone here immediately or as quickly as possible to really become our true city manager. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hi. I'd just like some clarification. Did I hear that the compensation is $23,000 a month in the interim, or did I hear that wrong?

We'll answer that question.

And is that, if it is, or whatever it is, the amount is, is that total compensation, or is that strictly just additional cash as check? And then I'd also like to know, is that $23,000 in addition to what he's getting for his other services? Thank you. Rob?

I think we have an acting person who took your role that you had before. Congratulations. My condolences also. Okay. When you first became mayor, you were outvoted two to three or one to four CONSISTENTLY. I FORGET THE NAME OF THE GENTLEMAN WHO WAS THE CITY MANAGER AT THE TIME. HE HAD BEEN BROUGHT IN BY THE PREVIOUS MAYOR. NOW, HE RESIGNED AVEREFULLY ABOUT I THINK IT WAS SIX OR SEVEN MONTHS INTO YOUR TERM. IT WAS ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR IN 2019. Now, what had happened, this is, I don't know if this is entirely true or what caused this, but one of the council members had written a letter to the Turlock Downtown Property Owners Association effectively trying to get someone fired, okay? And the city attorney at the time, don't make this mistake, please, ma'am, And the city manager helped her write that letter. And the reason why we know that was because that genius of a city council member, instead of making a separate PDF and sending that PDF, actually sent the link to the working document that showed all the edits done by the city attorney and AND CITY MANAGER. AND I KNOW CERTAIN PEOPLE WENT AND TALKED TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY ABOUT THAT, AND THE INFORMATION I HAD WAS THAT THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATOR IN TOWN POKING AROUND ABOUT IT, AND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT WEEK, THE CITY MANAGER ABRUPTLY RESIGNED. I don't know if he resigned because of that or he had budget problems. I know that he took like, was it 10% or 15% cut in his pay or something like that. So, yeah, okay. So, I forget what else I was going to say. Yeah, good man. Good choice. The only other choice was if you could bring Sue back, if you could have bribed her to come back. I would have liked that. Don't take that personally, sir. But, yeah, I'm sure he would do a good job. So thank you.

Anybody else? Okay, let's close public comment. Come back for the $23,000 comp and executive salary and comp two. And does he get both checks for being general manager, municipal director, and interim?

Thank you. So the item before you is, as part of the agenda item, there is a management salary schedule that accompanies this. And so we're following the management salary schedule. Salary range 45.7 step 3, which is $20,341 monthly. no interim city manager would not receive any other pay other than what's noted in the management salary schedule that's the base salary and all benefits are in place so there's no separate stipends aside from what's noted in the staff report okay

I will move to approve this item, and there was a lot of history that was shared just moments ago that I would like to say for clarity that when we have a resignation of a city manager, we are obligated to fill that position with an interim if we so choose, and I have full confidence that Mr. Fisher will continue to serve the public very well as he has done in the acting and as he has done for years in the municipal services department. So I move to approve.

Second.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Vice Mayor Bubleck.

Yes. That's on a 5-0. Thank you, Director. Good luck, Chris. All right. Now we have policies. Madam Clerk.

What do we have? all right good evening mayor council members of the public tonight i am bringing you the policy portion of the council will need to consider to be compliant with sb 707 effective july 1. sb sb 707 is a major update to the brown act which is california's open meeting law to reflect more modern meeting practices coming out of covet and all of the remote and hybrid type meetings that agencies were holding during that time the focus is on increasing access consistency and reliability for public meetings what that means for us. Effective July 1 SB 707 requires the translation of city council agendas, not the packets, into a language where 20% or more of the residents with limited English proficiency speak the same language according to the U.S. Census. For Turlock, this will be Spanish. Effective July 1 city council meetings will need to be remotely accessible. The biggest shifts for us are going to be around remote public participation and technology disruption procedures. Tonight's item is about putting those required policies into place. So effective July 1, the city will be considered what is now termed an eligible legislative body. All eligible legislative bodies are required to provide remote public attendance and real-time public comment during meetings for the primary legislative bodies. For us, that's city council. Under the Brown Act rules, remote speakers must be treated the same as in-person speakers with respect to the amount of time allotted for each speaker. As a result, this will require some operational adjustments to how meetings are conducted. Our office has been working closely with the IT department, thank you, Nick, on implementing these changes. We will share instructions on how the community can participate through our social media channels and agenda packets. We will talk a little bit about disruptions. There's two types of disruptions. The first is a public disruption. There have been reports from other agencies, which you might have heard of, Zoom bombings. or situations where meetings are disrupted and cannot proceed. Therefore, we're recommending a disruptive behavior policy. This policy defines what a disruption is, helps ensure all participants can be heard without interruption, meets in most, requires in most cases that a person be given a warning, explaining what their behavior is and how it's disruptive, what they need to do to correct it before they may be removed from a meeting. And then those same rules will apply to the remote participants as well. SEPARATE FROM THAT ARE TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTIONS. TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTIONS INVOLVE A LOSS OF ACCESS TO A MEETING SUCH AS A FAILURE FOR AN ON-CALL OR A CALL-IN OPTION THAT WOULD PREVENT THE PUBLIC FROM PARTICIPATING REMOTELY AND PROVIDING COMMENTS. THESE TYPES OF DISRUPTIONS ARE GOVERNED BY SB 707, WHICH REQUIRES THE CITY COUNCIL TO ADOPT A FORMAL POLICY BEFORE JULY 1 OF THIS YEAR. WE'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT DISRUPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY. If the public loses access to a meeting due to technology disruption, the council is now required under the Brown Act to pause the meeting. The council must recess for up to one hour or until service is restored, whichever comes first. So if a phone call or if the phone lines were to go down for 10 minutes and we're successfully able to get them back up, then we'll resume our meeting within 10 minutes. If the service cannot be restored, we will stay in recess for the one hour. Oh, sorry. During the recess, the Brown Act allows the council to meet in closed session if the closed session item is noticed on the agenda. If service is not restored after one hour, the council can either continue efforts to restore the service if it's going to resolve soon. If not, then the council can make certain findings to continue the meeting without remote public access. Findings include stating that good faith efforts were made to restore the service and that the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote access. Alternatively, council can adjourn the meeting either to the next regular meeting or to what is termed an adjourned regular meeting, meaning they can meet as soon as the following day and continue the agenda that had been interrupted due to technology. The takeaway is that it's not a fixed one hour delay. The goal is to restore access as quickly as possible with fallback options available if technology cannot be restored. IT and I have, there's a backup system that will be built in, so should the main fail, we'll have a portable option that we'll be able to bring out and continue meetings. SB 707 also clarifies when council members can participate remotely. There are now three pathways. that you'll be able to participate remotely you have your traditional teleconferencing where we put your agenda or put your location on the agenda and your location becomes a satellite location now you have just cause where you can participate up to seven times remotely for instances where you're ill caregiving official travel or certain military obligations and then ada accommodation you have no limit on how often you can attend both the last two options um REQUIRE THAT YOU DISCLOSE IF ANYONE 18 OR OLDER IS PRESENT IN THE ROOM AND THAT YOU HAVE TO JOIN AUDIO AND VIDEO UNLESS YOUR ACCOMMODATION STATES OTHERWISE. BECAUSE THE REMOTE PARTICIPATION METHODS ARE NOW GOVERNED BY STATE LAW, THE CITY COUNCIL MAY WISH TO CONSIDER RESCINDING OUR EXISTING TELECONFERENCE RESOLUTION. THEREFORE, THE ITEM BEFORE YOU TONIGHT HAS BEEN STRUCTURED TO ALLOW FOR THAT RESCINTION. SB 707 also requires for specific outreach efforts. As of July 1, the council must define what constitutes a reasonable outreach efforts. Council may provide me direction on additional outreach opportunities they may want. The resolution provided formalizes outreach efforts such as posting on social media, an email subscription list, and translating the agendas into Spanish. The policy provides flexibility to expand the outreach as the community needs evolve. This evening you have four resolutions before you. The technology disruption policy, the reasonable outreach efforts, rescinding your existence, teleconference resolution, and disruptive behavior policy. That concludes our presentation. Happy to take questions.

So specific to the 18 years or older, you have to be in a public place. Am I supposed to ask for identification? I mean, there's supposed to be around a bunch of people. So say, for example, I'm in D.C., and there's you know, hundreds of people sitting around in a cafe. What am I supposed to say? There's people that are 18 or older?

So the alternative two options there for just cause and the ADA accommodations do not require you to be in a public place. Okay. So that if you are at home ill and call in and stuff, you just would have to disclose if there's anyone under the age of 18 in the room. Under the age of 18. I'm sorry. Sorry, over. Okay, okay. if they were in the room, but you aren't required to be in a public place like you would for traditional teleconferencing rules, so you don't have to open that location to a remote meeting site. So those other two, but there are specific instances when you would have to, it has to be one of those qualifying, a work, city-related travel, caregiving, those things. Okay.

I think I missed it in the beginning of your presentation, but will these changes only apply to City Council or will it also apply to the other commissions that regularly hold meetings?

The remote teleconferencing applies to all of them. The rest of the policies just apply to you guys as a legislative body. They aren't defined as a legislative body according to SB 707, so they don't have to comply with these.

But the Senate, are they going to do this as well? That's a no. So they make the law and they don't have to pull. I love it. Any other questions? Let me open it to the public then. Anyone wishing to speak on this item? I wonder why they don't want to do it.

Me again. Yeah, I had looked in. I guess you're going to tell us later about what the changes are going to be, okay, for accommodating. Because I remember when you had to do this before, it was the in-person speak and then the people via telephone speak. And related to that also, is there going to be any requirements for the people who are either Zooming in or telephoning in to identify themselves or whatever? Because when we did this before, it got kind of nasty. And I was one of the recipients of that. So, you know, those both together, you know, allow, you know, people in here to speak and then the phone people to, you know, call from other cities, so on and so forth, and blast the speakers. And I'm hoping that we can do something to, you know, avoid that. And, you know, I asked the other question first. I think that was...

OH, YES.

THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING THE OTHER A LITTLE BIT OFF TOPIC. I'LL JUST MENTION IT AGAIN. I THINK WE SHOULD BE VIDEO TAPING AND BROADCASTING LIVE AT LEAST THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS. THAT'S SOMETHING I BELIEVE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE PEOPLE OF TURLOCK. AND IT WOULD BE GOOD IF WE DID THAT. OKAY. A LITTLE BIT OFF SUBJECT. THANK YOU.

ANYONE ELSE? Close public comment.

Logistically, we'll push out more information logistically on how we will involve remote and in-person. ITN, the city clerk's office, is working on running a four-week process to kind of smooth that out so it's not so jarring here. As far as the requirements for them to state their name and where they're from, we'll ask. That's going to be part of the prompt is for them to state name and where you're from the same thing is here they don't have to comply obviously but then as far as the disruptions that was one of the big portion the policy that's before the council is so if that if you are getting a public comment here in place and another person is speaking over them you will be able to warn them and ask them to stop that and you can ask me to mute them after a warning okay

So there'll be more policy coming then as far as how we handle in and out, whether they're in the outer world or the present.

You'll receive updates, yes.

I'll bring updates back to you. You don't need to make a policy then.

I think that will be part of the overall public comment procedures and things. There was a mention of handbook. We are wrapping all of that into those things, and so those are in process right now, and you will see those things forthcoming. Okay. So if we say no?

Mm-hmm. What happens?

We're violating SB 707.

That they don't have to do.

Yeah, and what's the penalty if we violate SB 707? Is there even one written?

You have to redo the meeting. Violation of the Brown Act. You have to redo the meeting. Oh, it would be, oh, okay, yes.

But they don't have to do it.

They don't have to do it. Right. As I said.

Lockdowns for thee, but not for me. Yes.

Okay. Okay.

motion yes it will be a motion at the end of this be that as it may that yes it's not fair that other levels of government don't have to do this and we have to figure this all out in a short time span and there likely will be bad actors that will misuse this as there is in every single thing in life I do think that this is a good move forward and you know I'm very appreciative of staff for coming with this and making you know good policy for us because are entering the 21st century right so you can you can see your doctor over the computer and now you can come uh talk to us about the issues um i would i do want to make one comment regarding the public outreach to different language you know people who speak different languages while that is great i think once someone comes here either physically or remotely and don't have maybe a translator or something that's not really meeting the spirit of what this is supposed to be. So I would like to, at the very least, have some sort of instruction if somebody's on YouTube to be like, how do you get the closed captioning to be in my language or something? And looking down the road, what tools could we have in the room too for people to be able to participate in their language. So I will move to approve all of these. Are there multiple resolutions? There's four. There's four. All of the resolutions at once. Can we do that? Yep. Thank you. Second.

Motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram? Yes. Council Member Bixle? Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz? Yes. Council Member Phillips?

Yes.

Mayor Bill Black? Yes, unfortunately. I just want them to do what they tell us. That's all. That's all I'm asking. But it passes 5-0. Okay. So now we've got to talk money. Money man? Show us the money.

Thank you, your honorable mayor and council members.

So the item you have before you today is the adoption and discussion of the 26-27 general and non-general fund budget proposed. So we'll go through a couple topics of discussion, giving a general overview for the general fund and non-general fund highlights, just kind of wrapping up what we discussed in the workshop. We'll go over the Turlock Development Incentive Program. We'll also go through and have a formal discussion again about the downtown association's requests for funding. We'll talk about ARPA and some of the projects that are qualified for the developer program and get council's direction on that. And we'll give a quick summary overall of what the SRWA looks like as far as requests potentially that are being worked on now. So general fund, non-general fund. Again, just a general overall overview. We do have a balanced budget, which means our revenues are exceeding our expenditures. Our expenditures did increase by 5.3%. Our reserves as of 6-30-2025 are $36.3 million, or 53.6%. Total FTEs approved within the general fund are 251.7%. Non-general fund, just overview of big highlights. The water fund is taking on the new AMI and water meter project, which is a big topic for us. The roads program budgeted for 46.6 million. We are discussing debt issuance for the sewer fund to complete capital projects, as well as the road program, which is on target for what we previously discussed. Total FTEs, which is full-time employees, is 203.3, which is a total of 455 employees that are full-time employees. I'm not talking about the overall part-timers that we actually hire to as well. So this is a general overview of the overall program. It's just kind of some summary of the workshop itself. Turlock's Development Incentive Program. This was developed and approved in March of 2026. As we discussed within the adoption of this program, we bring it forward through the budget process. We did include it in the budget at an amount of $477,842 for the fiscal year. We did have one permit that was actually issued in May of 2026 with a reduction rate of $22,158. That amount, as I discussed within the overall program itself, was in my department report. So please continue to look at the department report to give you updates, as I continue to give you updates when we do quarterly reports, measures, things of that nature, to make sure this topic stays on the forefront of overall council. So we will readopt and put that into the current budget for 26-27 to continue the program, but again, we'll continue to update you as the program moves forward. Turlock Downtown Property Owners Association, funding request. So to give some highlights before we go into a little bit of detail, there is a request from the Downtown Association. There is a joint venture with the Chamber as well for one of the programs. So it's for three permits, basically staff time and some permit issuance for road closures and things of that nature. So the Independence Day Parade, which is estimated at 19,170. The Independence Day Car Show, which is 6,973. and independent independent state festival and fireworks for thirty thousand four hundred thirty nine dollars totaling fifty six thousand five hundred eighty four dollars and eighteen cents um i did reach out to the downtown association and to the chamber uh just to request an overall budget of what these programs look like just to give some more information to council They do expect that the total overall budget is $51,400. This does not include the city's fees and staff time. Also, they project their revenues and donations coming in about $90,000. So almost cost neutral overall from what their donations are coming in. Again, this does not include the City of Turlock's expenditures that they're proposing to request or to be assisted with. In the Penn State parade, again, the breakdown overall, you can see that the majority of it really is staff time overall. Same thing with the car show, the bulk of it going to staff time, police support, traffic safety control, and removal. The bigger the one, the Independence Day Festival and the fireworks, obviously this includes a lot more staff time overall, so the number is a lot more bigger. When that comes to our same thing, public safety support and traffic control and cleanup, things of that nature. So that one is the bigger of the overall fees. SO AT THIS POINT IN TIME, STAFF WOULD LIKE DIRECTION ON HOW THEY WOULD LIKE TO PURSUE THIS TOPIC, IF THEY'D LIKE TO ADD IT INTO THE BUDGET AND ASSIST THIS ORGANIZATION WITH THIS REQUEST OR NOT THIS FISCAL YEAR. SO AT THIS POINT, AGAIN, I'D LIKE TO OPEN UP FOR DISCUSSION IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS ON THIS TOPIC.

YOU TWO WEREN'T HERE, VICE MAYOR AND COMMISSIONER, BUT THE THREE OF US HAD SOME DIALOGUE OVER IT. Do you need any further discussion about the topic?

I was in support of this one-time expenditure for the special nature of this year's celebration.

Me too.

ANYTHING ELSE?

OKAY. THE PROPOSED FUNDING SOURCE FOR THIS IS GOING TO BE TOT FUNDS. SO WE'LL MAKE SURE WE'LL ADD THAT TO THE BUDGET. AGAIN, THIS IS AN ESTIMATE, BUT WE'LL MAKE SURE WE KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THE ORGANIZATIONS. SO MOVING FORWARD.

Keep your dog at home. Yeah. That's why he had to get explosives. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

So next topic of discussion, which again is a continuation from the workshop, the proposal was to bring forward some projects to make sure that we go through the ARPA funding that is available and allocated to projects that have currently been discussed. One of the items that you see within the list is the fire station. Within the workshop, just to come back to what we discussed at that point, it was proposed to put it into the capital reserve program, which does have funding overall. But given the fact that the director actually did speak to engineering, the concern with that project was the timing to be able to deliver it. Remember, we have a deadline of December 31st. Engineering has really sharpened their pencil and make sure to concur that they will meet the deadline if the project is funded by ARPA. um so that's why this project is brought in forward for an arbor discussion today some of the other ones were augmentations uh they were not funded but we can continue to talk to those one by one uh the corporate light and security fencing for the corp yard 150 000 um the barricades that have previously been discussed we haven't had a full council conversation about it but it has been a talk of discussion for 350 000 And then, again, the smaller ones for Pedretti Park, which is for the netting and the senior center from water heater, LED lighting, and amenities. So at this point, we will, again, look for direction on overall on what projects you look to propose to be put into the ARPA funding for the coming fiscal year.

So, Director, this... any one of these is good to go, engineering, all of that, we can make it before the end of the year?

That is correct. So the primary conversation about all of these is, the barricades is a great example. Is it a sole source? Can we do it right away? We're going to have to go out to bid. So all those items were flushed out. Obviously, the city has a lot of projects, right? But given our timeframes, we had to narrow that request to what is shovel-ready. And that comes back to the fire station, a different conversation. The timeline I got was going to be pushed really close, so we chose not to add it to ARPA. But again, with the resharpen of their pencil, they believe they can get it done.

So your line cost item and then unobligated don't equal the same? That's correct. I noticed that.

Good math.

So specific to Station 33, we do have capital improvement monies that could cover the... Council could make direction to shove that expense to that point. Well, that which is not. I mean, if everything is right, we should be just a little portion of that or something that would still get done anyway.

SO I CAN GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF RECOGNITION AND POTENTIAL OTHER FUNDING SOURCES. SO THE IMPROVEMENT FOR THE SENIOR CENTER, I THINK YOU TOOK ACTION TODAY ON THAT'S GOING TO BE IN THE TOT. SO THAT POTENTIALLY COULD FIT INTO THE TOT PROJECT. I'M SORRY, THE FREEWAYS, THE NETTING WILL FIT INTO THE TOT. As was previously stated, our revenues over expenditures in the general fund is about $109,000, so we can potentially pick that $55,000 up in the general fund if council would like to. The overall other projects, the barricades, a little bit of a higher price point, but potentially we can look at some funding sources within our street funds because it really is a safety factor. We'd have to go back and re-look at our budgets because it is a larger price point. Just from a math perspective, if you look at the courtyard lighting project and the asphalt replacement, that's pretty close to what your target number is overall, which is where we want to be. I would recommend we be close to that number or even a little bit above it. So if we do exceed, we make sure that these numbers are estimates, right? Really what's coming down to is our discount for trash that's going forward. It's going to conclude. Those numbers are estimates going through the fiscal year at the end of December 31st. So this is our general estimate of what that number is going to be at that point in time. So, again, there's other funding sources. The council would like to direct me to add these into different places to pick them up. But, again, I'm open to discussion. I'm happy to answer questions.

What are your thoughts? Well, I think every one of them are worthy projects to proceed with.

Can we make more money?

You always need more money.

And I would defer to you to where you think the funding should come from and making sure we have it.

You know, I think that the courtyard is, we did it for public safety. We made sure that the fencing and lighting, so it's a health and safety issue for our workers that I think has to be one of the items on here for sure. Some of the other things can come from HUD or whatever. We're going to do, we've got to get the fire station 33s. That's got to be done. So those two make the most sense to me, knowing that we can probably come up with other funding sources for the other ones. I agree. That's my opinion.

I mean, I vote get them all done, and I think that as was proposed in the special workshop, having the Station 33 come from our capital reserve makes a lot of sense. That reserve has grown in large part because of Measure A revenue, so keeping that sort of with the public safety kind of factor. You're going to say something to me.

So the reserve that we're talking about is the 2.2 that was allocated at a prior meeting. So it's that funding source, not the totality of the other numbers.

So yes, but it's a piece of the same. That's correct. Right. It is. Okay. Um, you know, I, I, I, brought up the the barricades and in discussion with uh now interim city manager fisher um those as of noon it was acting but um you know those are going to the it's a way higher dollar amount than i wanted to see um but and clarify if i'm wrong but mr fisher that is enough to protect all of the different entry points for the different markets every single weekend and have utility in other city business, correct?

Yeah, correct. They'll cover all six intersections and also be used in the day-to-day operations where our employees could be put in a position where their safety is compromised and those will act. And we can also use those to assist other cities if they have similar things. How many are there? 32. 32. 32 in trailers. 32 in three trailers.

Wow, we could have every school do their own little logo on it. That is conversation.

There will be a user fee associated to this, and then we could rent them for community events at a little bit of cost to them.

So at the risk of sounding more long-winded, I would like to see all of these happen, whether it's through the capital reserve potentially for – the fire station, if it's going to be close to the wire, let's not put ARPA money on the line and whatever can be done most quickly, utilize ARPA is my preference.

So my preference is to get fire station 33 taken care of. Um, and that goes all the way back to retired chief Ernst, um, Hammering on us for that, and including Chief Delnick has advocated for that, and we need to get it done. The other thing I want to say is the $36,000 that we have in reserves, don't get trigger happy spending our money. Look around, ladies and gentlemen. Every other city in the neighborhood within a 50-mile radius is broke, but not Turlock. So don't get all giddy on our reserve money. We put it there for a reason, and it's going to be needed for real things very soon if the economy keeps going where it's at.

That is correct. I mean, just to add on to that, we haven't allocated to projects the reserves or anything. There was some actions prior to to set some funds aside for capital projects. Again, that was only 2.2, but those reserves stay intact.

Okay, so I've heard a consensus on Section 33. Fund it. Fund it all. And I'm hoping I'm getting a consensus on the courtyard. It is a big group of our people. They need to be safe.

And the project actually is a lot more expensive. This is the public safety side and facility side. Municipal services, water and sewer is picking up a piece. Transit is picking up a piece. So this is just a piece of a large project.

Do you need anything else from us?

I hear consensus to fund the funding and put them into the pockets in which they qualify to make sure we get these projects done. Does that seem like a consensus? That's good. I will get it done. Awesome. Thank you. So the last thing I'm going to talk about today is the SRWA augmentations. Augmentations for the SRWA when it comes to FTEs, bodies, is not very simplistic in nature. It requires for the board to approve an amendment to the operations agreement. It also requires approval from each city as well, as far as city councils. So city of Turlock, city of Ceres, and the board are required to do an approval of the amendment of the operations agreement to get this done. The item today in front of you is really to start having that conversation because we do know it does take additional actions, but we want to be in the forefront of having the conversation of what's being talked about and potentially proposed in a future SRWA board meeting. So the request for the augmentations is for a new position for instrument control senior. reclassification of an SSA, or staff services assistant, to a staff services technician, and a water operator, one, to be reclassified as a senior. So you can see the bottom comment which says no fiscal impact. What staff has developed overall is with this overall organizational change, it allows us to reduce our contract for temp services, which we call OTS. So the overall fiscal impact of this is just shy of 150K. So we can actually shift what we're budgeting right now is about 600. We know we're shifting in this senior position, which is really what we're using OTS for. We can reduce that contrary amount potential of impact that we can have. And so there really is a net impact of zero because all we really do is administrate a transfer within the adopted budget that would be proposed. So obviously you're not taking action on this today, but we'd like to keep you in mind that this is happening. These conversations are going on behind the scenes and will be going on with the board. But again, it takes further steps and further actions for this to occur. So if it does get approved at the board level for the SRWA, it will come back to the city of Turlock for an approval of the amendment as well as the city of Sirius. But again, trying to be on the forefront of the overall to make sure that you're aware of what's going on on these conversations. So again, no fiscal impact overall. THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION. IS THERE ANY QUESTIONS?

QUESTIONS?

SO LET ME EXPLAIN THE RESOLUTIONS. THE ONE IS ADOPTION OF THE BUDGET ITSELF. THE OTHER RESOLUTION IS BASICALLY BECAUSE OF THE DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION MAKING FINDINGS. SO YES, BOTH RESOLUTIONS, PLEASE.

OKAY. WE WILL OPEN THIS TO PUBLIC AT THIS POINT.

I guess I have comet-itis tonight, so my apologies. That is your quota. So thank you for your advocacy of the portable barriers. Um, because I know we've discussed this for a long time. I think that will be fantastic. Okay. I just remember back when we had COVID and they blocked off every weekend. I think it was, you know, here a portion of main street and we created a special environment. I THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT. AND WITH THOSE DEVICES, I THINK THAT CAN BE DONE MANY TIMES IN MANY PLACES. SO THAT WOULD BE GREAT. AND IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'VE THOUGHT IT THROUGH IN TERMS OF, I FORGET IF YOU SAID TRUCKS OR TRAILERS TO HAUL THEM AROUND. SO EVIDENTLY STAFF HAS THOUGHT THIS THROUGH OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT ALL THAT. So I want to say thank you for that. You see, once in a while I make a nice comment, you know, but I can't do that too often, you know, because one time I did that with Reagan Wilson, you know, and poor guy got shocked, you know, so you all got shocked, you know. Okay. What was the other thing I was going to say? Oh, on the roads, you had 46 million for the roads. Is that over what time frame? And I hope that we're still looking at additional tranches of debt insurance there for that. Because we certainly need to spend more than $46 million on roads. So, okay. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay. Closed public comment. Is there a line item for the Band-Aids that we're putting on our roads?

Yes, the $40 million. So that is one fiscal year budget for construction, construction management, obviously staff time too as well. So that's just one fiscal year overall. As far as the debt, yes, we will be issuing new debt and having further conversations in the coming months of what that dollar amount looks like to make sure that we stay on track with the overall roads program.

I will move to approve both resolutions with the addition of the following comments, which feels like my perennial comment of every time we talk about the budget, um, as vice mayor Moniz talked about, we have a considerable general fund reserve above and beyond that. What 2.2 or 2 million for the capital reserve that we decided some time ago. Um, well, yes, we need to, to save for a rainy day and an economic downturn. Our policies already prepare us for that with that 22.5% that we're supposed to have. What we're sitting at now, we're basically carrying around an extra $18 million of taxpayer funds that, yes, we're getting interest on it, but we need to do more to explain to the public what our intentions and what our long-term plans are for those money. So I would really like to see A DISCUSSION, A SEPARATE ITEM, NOT NECESSARILY JUST A LINE IN THE STAFF REPORT TO TALK ABOUT, AGAIN, WHAT WE CAN DO WITH THAT. AND IF IT'S GOING TO BE TO MAKE IT SIT THERE AGAIN, THEN SO BE IT. BUT WE NEED TO DISCUSS IT MORE. AND MY MOTION IS ON THE FLOOR.

SECOND. WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. CALL THE ROLL, PLEASE.

COUNCILMEMBER ABRAMS. YES. COUNCILMEMBER BIXEL. YES. VICE MAYOR MUNEZ. YES. COUNCILMEMBER PHILLIPS. YES. MAYOR BUZLAC.

YES. THANK YOU. 5-0. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. All right. Now we get to council member comments, announcements, and future items.

Sorry to put my notes away too quickly. Again, as I said earlier, welcome interim city manager to your. new and improved role. And I just wanted to say, you know, I wish Gary Hampton well. He's always been a pleasure to work with every time that he's come through, and I just wish him the best in this time for him and his family. I also had the opportunity of spending some time with our code enforcement officers and Sergeant Parmley to kind of talk about the neighborhood resource officers, and I just wanted to thank them for their time and the exemplary work that they do to really deal with the kind of quality of life sort of issues. They're at the forefront of a lot of that, and I'm appreciative of their work, along with all of our law enforcement officers. So thank you for hosting me.

I want to wish you well and good luck in your new position. I'd like to second Councilperson Abrams' well wishes to Gary and his family. Another kind of shout-out that I... Got to be the recipient of some very fine city service recently when I had sewers backed up and my local plumber couldn't fix it and found out it was more of a city problem. And our guys were just absolutely fabulous. And it was a pleasure to have them. They were very professional, responsive, and I'm the envy of the neighborhood.

Isn't that good, huh? All right, I'm going to have commentitis tonight like RB. So in regards to public comment, folks, I just want to remind the public and especially those at home that watch these meetings and run me down in the courthouse hallways the next day. People can get up and say just about anything they want and declare it as factual. And some people get up and declare it as gospel. And that's their right because freedom of speech is alive and well. However, in the next two weeks, the election cycle is going to open and people are going to be able to pull papers for positions. And so there was a call on social media today to come down and attack the council and the mayor. Well, folks, it's election season, so all I'm going to say is take the public comment between now and November with a huge grain of salt because people have their own agendas, and sometimes they're not necessarily here to talk about an agenda item. that's actually on the agenda. And one of the comments we had in here tonight was that it's impossible to work here with the current elected officials. If that's not an election comment, folks, I don't know what is. So, huge grain of salt between now and November. Welcome, Chris. Do good. We won't run you off. It's not impossible to work here, I promise. Prayers for Gary Hampton. Thank you for everything you did for the city. We're praying for you and your family. And That Captain Rodriguez, man, he is such a rock star. I mean, that guy just keeps on steamrolling. Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. Oh, and can you out Wonder Woman for what she did, please? Oh, yeah. Thank you.

Pretty much everything that Vice Mayor Moniz said, and I wanted to add, Chris Jelnik, this is probably the last time that I'm going to see you sitting there. You've always been a positive person every time I had a conversation with you, and regardless of what's thrown at you, you still come back with positivity, and I greatly appreciate that and I admire that. So I'm going to miss you from the short time that I was able to be here with you, and I appreciate everything that you've done. And welcome, Chris Fisher.

Chris, this is your last day today? Yes. Thursday. So this is the last meeting. There you go, the smile. Okay.

You will be missed.

All right. So I was in Long Beach for the U.S. Mayor's Conference, and one of the big topics, it will be no surprise to you, Chief Jelnik, is that it's become a monopoly. There are only three institutes or businesses that are creating and building engines and ladders. And then the cost has exponentially gone up. And so there's actually a lot of litigation going on throughout all the mayors and the cities. because it's just getting ridiculous. So know that there is, everybody sees it, and we're not happy with it. So FIRE will probably have some more input as it goes. I'm sure IFF was there. They were really angry. We've got to give congrats to Erica, first place. Good job. Professional bodybuilder extraordinaire. So I was on a call today with a group of people and Administrator Zeldin was talking about EPA and how they've made some changes which will be helpful for us. So that's beneficial for the community and I'm taking my time. ON THESE CALLS TO FIND OUT WHAT'S GOING ON AND HOW I CAN HAVE A CONNECTION AND GET HELP IF WE NEED IT. AND THERE IS A NEW THING COMING OUT NEXT MEETING, I BELIEVE, IS THAT RIGHT, MR. SIMS? VIRTUAL TURLOCK. IT'S AN AMAZING THING. PRESS RELEASE WENT OUT. IT WILL COME OUT AGAIN TOMORROW, BUT IT'S A COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND THE UNIVERSITY AND THE CITY OF TURLOCK, SO IT'S A REALLY COOL EXPERIENCE, AND THEY'LL COME HERE AND SHARE IT WITH US IN THE NEXT MEETING. LET ME SEE. And then I just want to go ahead and say that, you know, no, you didn't want us to hire Mr. Fisher as a GM either. You sat there saying that he's not ready for it and blah, blah, blah. So sometimes maybe we are right and that it would be best if you actually knew what you're talking about when you got up here and told us that. Nobody can work with us. Every city manager's leaving because we're killing them. You don't know what you're talking about. There are things that are personnel that you can't get the information for. So you need to stop spewing hate and actually wait to find out what happens. Why do you think we have a closed session tonight? We're trying to hire somebody. We're not trying to bouse the whole world. You need to be more with grace and stop having such accusatory actions. And with that, I would like you to go ahead and give us our closed session, please.

We have 13A, Conference of Labor Negotiator, California Government Code 549576A, agency designated representative, Mayor Amy Buback, unrepresented employee, city manager. B is public employee appointment, California Government Code 54957, title city manager.

And C is Conference of Legal Counsel anticipated litigation, California Government Code 5495692, three potential cases.

At this time, are there any members of the public who would wish to comment on the closed session items? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and recess to closed session.

Okay, we are back from closed session and we have nothing to report out. We are in adjournment.