City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm gonna go ahead and call the meeting to order. It's 6 p.m. City Clerk Abrahamson, could you please conduct roll call?

I will note for the record, Mayor Source is absent this evening. Vice Mayor Matulak?

Present.

Council Members Bergenzer?

Present.

Gordon?

Present.

I will note for the record, Council Member Letajue and Matias are currently absent, and Council Member Palmares?

Present. Thank you for that, City Clerk Abrahamson. Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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.

Trish.

Now that we're done with musical chairs, we'll move on with the agenda. I will ask Manny to start the two-minute clock. For anyone wishing to address the council on items not on this meeting agenda, both in person and virtually, at the conclusion of the two minutes, anyone wishing to address the council must... At the conclusion of the two minutes, anyone wishing to address the council must have either signed into the electronic speaker kiosks located in the back of the council chambers or raise their hand virtually. Anyone signing into the kiosk to the speak or raising their hand after the two minutes is up will be recognized at the last community forum towards the end of the meeting. The community forum is an opportunity for interested members of the public to address the council on items not on the meeting agenda. Any interested members of the public desiring to communicate with the city council as part of the first community forum, a maximum of 15 minutes with each speaker limited to three minutes pursuant to Vallejo municipal code section 2.20.300. Members of the public who address the council as part of the first community forum will not be allowed to address the council again during the last community forum held prior to the adjournment of the meeting. Still have 50 seconds. Do we have any speakers signed up on community forum? No, we do not. Thank you. Council Member Palmaris.

And through the mayor, currently we do not have any members of the public signed up for the community forum online at this time. Thank you for that Manny.

So last calls for anyone in Council Chambers, if you wanted to sign up for the first committee forum, please do so at this time. Seeing now that we're done with the two minutes, any last second speakers that signed in? Council Member Hall-Meyers?

Nope, still nothing.

Okay, Manny, anyone on? With that being said, I will go ahead and close the public session for the community forum and move on to public comment regarding consent calendar items. Let's see. I will ask Manny to please start the two minute clock. Are there any members of the public wishing to address the council on items on the consent calendar? Comments must be restricted to items on the consent calendar only. Please either sign up to speak using the electronic kiosk in the back of the council chambers or raise your hand if you are participating virtually. I will allow two minutes for in-person speakers to sign up in the kiosk or anyone participating virtually to raise their hand. Council Member Palmers, are there any persons signed up to speak in person on the consent calendar? No, we do not. Okay. Still have a minute left. I think, Manny, you can have our Jeopardy music ready for the next city council meeting for these times?

I don't know if licensing would allow for that. But in the meantime, just wanted to give you a heads up that we do not have any members of the public signed up to speak on the consent calendar at this time. I will give it a few more seconds.

And for the record, we'll note that Council Member Matias has joined us here on the Council Chambers, up at the dais. Once again, last call for any in-person speakers on the consent calendar. Council Member Palmyra, any last second speakers signed up? No, we do not. Thank you for that. Manny, any person signed up virtually? Seeing none, I will go ahead and close the public comment session for the consent calendar. And now I'm open to a motion for the consent calendar.

I move to approve all items on the consent calendar.

I second. And are there any council members wishing to pull any of the consent calendar items? Seeing none, could we have a vote please? Please vote.

Motion carries unanimously with the mayor and council member Letta Juapzin.

Thank you for that. Moving on to the action calendar. City Clerk Abrahamson, could you please announce item 7A?

reconsideration and adopt a resolution approving a Measure P grant agreement to Greater Vallejo Recreation District to support public safety and youth priorities and authorize the city manager to execute the same in an amount not to exceed 300,000.

Thank you Manny for starting that two minute clock and it looks like we do have a presentation. So feel free to proceed.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, Council, Natalie Peterson, Assistant to the City Manager. I am pitch hitting this evening for our youth coordinator, Victoria Grace Barksdale, who is out on leave. With me, I have Interim General Manager Pam Sloan from GVRD, as well as Recreation Services Director Anthony Ryan. Next slide, please. So just a quick background and overview of the item before you and how we got here tonight. So in July of 2025, Council allocated $300 as part of the crime prevention funding to subsidize program costs for children to participate in GVRD programs. In August of 2025, staff presented to the Measure P Committee and received approval to recommend using the Measure P funds for this. they then in december of 2025 the measure p group received a grant scope and provided direction the staff then presented the grant scope to the gvrd board in february of 2026 and then with gvrd's collaboration staff presented a collaborative feedback to council in may of 2026 at that point in time it was not approved in June of 2026 Council voted to reconsider the item with some additional requests and so that is what we're bringing back before you this evening next slide So the goal of these funds were to improve public safety and reduce violence by subsidizing costs to increase participation in recreational activities and access to safe spaces for our youth here. With four objectives, one to reduce the financial barriers to participation through scholarships for youth and families. Objective number two was to increase access to subsidized youth activities and programs with an emphasis on teen opportunities. Objective three was to provide an increased subsidized programming in districts identified by council. Programming opportunities shall be thoughtfully designed and equitably distributed to ensure access for all participants residing within the city of Vallejo. And objective four was to increase community access to safe spaces and events. The breakdown of the funding is on the left hand side of the screen with a total of $300,000 for those activities. Next slide. So GVRD was previously awarded a $125,000 grant, and council wanted to see back some data and impacts. There was, as part of your packet, a more detailed breakdown of that, but some highlights on the screen before you. 212 youth and three team scholarships were awarded for various activities. Additionally, five programs which supported about 100 participants for youth camps. There were three to six subsidized programs funded each quarter serving approximately 3,800 plus individuals. Ten youth events were sponsored with approximately 1,070 participants. It also supported marketing through outreach events, banners, flyers, postcards, activity guides, and social media campaigns to help strengthen the awareness and participation. um and the grant term ends july 30th of 2026 so these are just the first three quarters worth of data and there was just over 30 000 left to be spent which is anticipated to have been spent through today and we'll receive next month the final report out which we can share with council of all of the activities supported next slide please with that i'm going to hand it over to anthony ryan

Good evening, everyone. So this is the GBRD Measure P Youth Recreation Survey. Our community survey provided valuable insight into where residents believe Measure P funding can have the greatest impact. The top priorities identified were free recreation opportunities, scholarships, and youth programming. We also heard a strong desire to prioritize middle and high school youth throughout sports, leadership opportunities, and family-friendly community events still addressing barriers such as cost, awareness, and limited local recreation options. Next slide, please. When we asked residents where they would like to see additional recreation programs, they stated the Dan Foley Park, Blue Rock Springs, Cuttingham Aquatic Complex, Children's Wonderland, and the North Vallejo Community Center consistently ranked at the top. Respondents also emphasized that the expanded recreation strengthens community connections, improves public safety by providing safe spaces, and creates more opportunities for youth development and healthy lifestyles. Next slide, please. The survey also reinforced the need for affordable and accessible programming across all neighborhoods. Residents requested expanded teen programming focused on leadership, job readiness, mentorship, and sports, while also expressing interest in early childhood art and family programming. Consistent themes included maintaining safe parks, improving outreach and communication, and reducing barriers to participation through free or low-cost opportunities.

Next slide, please.

So this is a list of GVRD sites by district. I'm not going to go over all of the parks, but we do maintain over 30 parks throughout the entire city, and we broke that down by district. Next slide, please. So this slide here is the recreation services cost recovery matrix. This cost recovery framework helps balance financial sustainability with community impact. Programs that generate revenue are expected to recover a higher percentage of their cost, while programs providing significant public benefit I'm sorry, public benefits such as youth development, adaptive recreation, scholarships, outreach and community events are intentionally subsidized through these grant opportunities, sponsorships and partnerships like Measure P. This approach allows us to expand access while remaining fiscally responsible. Next slide, please. Here is the pilot summer fall program rollout. Our rollout strategy is intentionally phased to ensure we can reach and launch a high impact program quickly while evaluating participation and community needs throughout the grant period. The first $100,000 will be invested this summer and fall to support free youth access initiatives, including scholarships, free admission days at GVRD facilities, expanded youth and teen programming, community events, and targeted programming in priority neighborhoods. This phased approach allows us to begin delivering services immediately while collecting data to inform future funding allocations and maximize community impact.

Thank you. With that, we are happy to hand the conversation over to Council and answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for that presentation. Council Members, do we have any questions for staff? Council Member Patias.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Just to get us underway here, my first question is around the finances. So you guys had a slide in the presentation, and this is one of the reasons why I voted no the last time. So I want this to be explained in layman's terms. If you can go back on the presentation where you guys sort of outlined cost recovery for each of your programs. I'm just going to wait until that goes up on screen.

Can you pull up slide 10, please, Manny?

So to the general manager, part of the concern that the council had, you know, just having this conversation over the better part of the year was that we did not really understand at what level your district was already subsidizing programs for our youth. And then having that information, what would the Measure P investment that we're considering this evening, what that would do in terms of scaling the programs for more kiddos or further subsidizing the programs that you already have in place. So I would just want to get a better sense from you. Generally speaking, you don't have to go through these one by one. what is the level of subsidy that you're currently providing our youth? Because just reviewing the needs assessment that we received this afternoon, that is a barrier for our kids, right? The fact that even the level of subsidy that you're providing right now, it's not enough for them to be able to access these programs. So I just want to get a better sense from you and then also understand how would this investment either eliminate any cost barriers that currently exist or expand access to more youth over the next year? I know that's a lot, so if you need me to piecemeal it, I'm more than happy to.

Good evening. My name is Pam Sloan. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before we started out. I'm the interim general manager for the Greater Vallejo Recreation District. If I understand correctly, you're wanting to know what kind of subsidies does our district provide for youth to get into programming and other opportunities within the district, is that correct?

Yes.

Basically.

So, yeah.

Yeah. Well, we do have a scholarship program. Right now, we have allocated $50,000 and we're looking to grow that. What we have recently done, and I think it's an excellent move, is that we have created an account with the Solano Community Foundation. And our purpose is to try to solicit even more funding so that we can grow that scholarship fund larger, so that youth that are not able to afford it, or even some seniors, there are some of those in that case as well, that we can take those funds and make it easier for them to get into our programs. Some of our programs are subsidized as much as 50% for our youth, others maybe not as much. It just depends on what the program, if we were to break it down, we could probably give that to you at some point. But our goal is that we always subsidize our youth programs. Adult programs, not so much because we look at that as a whole different equation in the recreation world. Matter of fact, we had this conversation today in our staff meeting about what does that look like and what should we continue to do. So not only have we opened up that account with the Solano Community Foundation, but we're also looking at other ways, grants that are available for certain programming. For an example, there are some programming grants available for the Aquatic Center. What an awesome thought. If we could apply for those grants and we just became aware of them, we're going to reach out and try to get those grants so that young people can come in and learn to swim. Some people will never have a pool experience because they don't have the funding to come through the door. So our goal is to try to get as many people into that particular programming. It's an expensive operation. The pool is. The subsidy there is rather high. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars. We do not... if you know anything about pools for an example they cost a whole lot more than they do in terms of generating revenue but it's what the purpose is for the community how does it impact the community who gets to use it how do they get to use it and how often do they get to use it and who's being left out so the district is very committed to that pool operation as a matter of fact we just passed our preliminary budget and we have a balanced budget I'm very happy to say and part of that discussion brought back the fact that you know we closed the pool for two and a half months We have decided to bring the pool back for a full year and really do a cost analysis on every aspect of that pool to see how we can save money, how we can generate an opportunity for every child in this neighborhood or in this community has an opportunity to actually use the pool. But we felt that it was important. We heard from the community during our preliminary budget hearing The place was packed asking for us to take a reconsideration, and the board heard that. So we are definitely subsidizing that pool way over 50% in that particular option. In other classes, it will vary. Like I said, I can't tell you off the top of my head. I wished I could. I would love to be able to share that information because I think you would be surprised how much we do subsidize, especially in the youth space when it comes to programming and opportunities.

so let me uh i guess reframe the question in a different way so let's take the pool for example right uh if uh vallejo family right now has to pay 100 bucks to access it over the summer are you telling me this evening that this investment that the city council is making would make pool access over the summer free or are you just saying that the subsidy would remain at the same level But we would just be covering it for more kiddos across the city to be able to access it.

Um, I believe it'll be a combination of both. So we would be able to provide access to the swimming pool for free days, uh, throughout the entirety of the summer, which was part of our rollout plan. Um, as well as be able to take in more kiddos for, um, certain programs like camps or if it's swim lessons, uh, we've created capacity and, um, opportunities to be able to take on more kids, uh, for those programs.

And then the second question I have for now has to do with the, there was a slide towards the end where you had a breakdown of what the investment would be going towards, the $100,000. So I saw that There it is. Got 20,000 going to Blue Rock Springs and Dan Foley. I mean, that's great that you guys are expanding that to a park in my district. I think I have a little bit of a concern though because if you're thinking about um making the park accessible to kiddos in the zero to five range um what i'm gathering just from this slide is that you're not putting as much funding to the children's wonderland which is one of our top parks in the city that is attended by hundreds of folks so how how how how did you guys arrive at these numbers and like where you're making allocations towards Right.

So the way that we came up with the actual formula was based off of the average and people that attend these facilities. So for Blue Rock Springs and Dan Foley specifically, we did, you know, some of our busiest days, which is Saturday and Sunday, and we charge that's about 250 parking spaces. So we really tried to multiply that times the duration of the summer season. And so that's how we came up with the $20,000 in total for both of those parts. For Children's Wonderland, it's a little cheaper. So we did the same formula with Children's Wonderland, the aquatics complex. as well as the sports gym. So sometimes entry to the park is free. So Monday, Wednesday, it's free access to the park. We've implemented that after COVID and we kind of stuck with that. And then those additional days were, you know, days that people had to pay like Thursday and Friday. So that's how we came up with some of the figures. We're, you know, saying this is the plan, but again, we can always reallocate and switch funding up based off of recommendation from council or where you feel dollars need to be invested a little bit more.

Vice Mayor, that's all I have for now.

Thank you very much, Council Member Matias. Council Member Gordon.

Thank you. I only have a few questions because you answered my questions initially in the first round. I do want to know, first of all, this is an excellent presentation. Appreciate that. I just want to know, the same program that was offered in North Vallejo Community Center, could you please consider doing that also in South Vallejo for the Norman King Center? Because as you probably are aware, We are surrounded by multiple complex living environment, five just across the street from Norman King Center, and that's just not talking about single homes also, but it would be really nice, and I'll be willing to work with you and to work with our director, Izzy, to see how we can get that together. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. Council Member Valerio?

Thank you. I just want to build off of Council Member Matias' question. And you made the comment that you use past data to build the budget and the budget that you currently are showing your activities, right?

I'm sorry. I couldn't hear the question.

So for your programs, you're using past data to build the dollar value, the cost of those programs, right?

So for, you're talking about like for the free days?

For free days, all of the days. Children's Wonderland, whatever the case may be.

Yes.

Correct? Yes. So I don't know that the question was answered with clarity from my perspective. So you've built your data, your budget numbers on past data. But when I think about the dollars that we're allocating, then how do you upscale those numbers based on the dollars that we're going to give you? Because you're using past data. Here's how many people visit this park, visit that park, and we're allocating dollars based on those numbers. From my perspective, you already have those dollars for those programs based on past data, what you're going to do in current year. And we're at augmenting your budget. So when we augment your budget, how many more individuals can be served? I don't think that question has been answered.

Thank you for that feedback.

No. So can you answer that question or no?

Oh. Yeah, it would be making the access free for those individuals to participate. I'm trying to wrap around what you're...

Okay, so what I don't understand is the $100,000, just simply you're saying this $100,000... based on past data, this is how many individuals attend these different, well, I'll use Children's Wonderland. You've come up with that number based on past data, right? Correct. Okay, and so now you're saying, oh, it's gonna cost $5,000 for that number, X number of individuals who visited children's wonderland last year for whatever time period, right? And so I guess basically then what you're saying is, oh, we're just going to make it free for that number of individuals who visited past year versus adding additional budget dollars that from your own budget.

Oh, OK. Now I get what you're saying.

So what I'm saying is we're providing additional dollars. You should already have a baseline budget for whatever services. you're offering, right? Correct. And these dollars are also building upon what you already have. So I'm looking at not just saying last year 3,000 kids visited Children's Wonderland and it's costing us $5,000. So it cost us $5,000 for 3,000 kids to visit. So you're giving us additional dollars from the council. We're going to add another 5,000. That means 6,000 kids now can visit Children's Wonderland. Correct. That 3,000 at least don't have to pay, and the other 3,000 aren't paying because we included that in our budget. So that's what I'm looking to understand. Right.

Yeah, so we're definitely expanding opportunities for people to go to all of the parks. So the concept around that is we are going to provide like a punch pass where all of our participants can come pick up a pass at their leisure and be able to access these things for free. There's not going to be someone at the door that says, hey, you're the 6001 person. You can't access the park. No.

So what you're telling me then is Basically, this $100,000 that you were allocated $300,000, you're going to use $100,000 for the rest of this summer, whatever the case may be. And that $100,000 is going to fund those past numbers, those past participant numbers. That's what you're saying. And we're not adding additional budget on top of that.

No, that's going to build on the free access that's already being given to anybody that comes to the park. It's not saying that anybody that's going to access is, you know, only going to fund one, you know, the people that we've already funded for, and then yours is just going to zero out. That's not what that's saying.

So how many dollars are – I'm just going to use Children Wondersland – You have a $5,000 budget. Was that your last year budget?

No.

What was it?

I would have to go back and get that number. I don't have it off the top of my head.

So of the $5,000, how much of it is your budget, GVRD dollars? Not city dollars, GVRD dollars. I'm not sure how else to...

I think what you're asking, correct me if I'm wrong.

How's your budget matching the dollars that I provided you?

Yeah. First of all, we don't mix the money to start out with. We make sure that this is GVRD's money over here from general fund and programming that we already offer. Your money will help expand it to grow. I would say that we would like to have at least a 20%, if not more, increase of participation based on the money that's given, and I would like to have more. We will be out there recruiting young people to be a part of this program that may not have heard of it before. uh... i cannot right off the top of my head because i'm not sure what the budget number is of what that what we produce to provide that i would be glad to give that to you as soon as i can get it and i can bring it back to you but we're taking the money that you all offer to us and help expand on some other programs and add new programs so i don't understand

I understand that, and I understand we're not commingling dollars, but you're not showing me what you funded based on your prior year numbers. What did you fund last year that's part of whatever you want to fund? Whatever you're wanting to fund. And when you add the dollars from the city, how does that potentially increase the number of participants?

SHE'S REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE BUDGETS.

So some of the, if I'm hearing this correctly, some of the new programs that we were offering this year, the teen wellness program, which was listed here in the pilot rollout, we started the launch of the mobile recess program, which we did launch starting spring of 2026. We even continued it in summer of 2026, and that was,

So I want to stop you because that's not my question. So let me go back. What was your total budget last year? You just balanced your budget, right? These dollars are only augmenting whatever your budget was. And it's what are you funding with your budget? As you just told me, we're not commingling dollars. I fully understand that. When you add whatever you want to use, $100,000 of the 300K, when you add that 100K on there, what... what is the potential increase of participants removing the barrier of cost that you are expecting because now we are moving barriers. And you should already know with your data how many, individuals attended these varying programs if they're not completely brand new and you have no past data. That's what I'm asking you. Because you haven't answered the question, how do the city dollars increase the number of potential participants in your programs and move those barriers so that they can come? And that's what I'm looking for. Did anyone crunch that? If not, just you can tell me no.

So the benefit and expected benefit would be 500 plus youth.

So 500 for 100,000.

Correct.

For brand new money.

I'm sorry, for what?

For brand new money. And the brand new money is the city money.

For brand new money.

For funding that you did not have, right? The $100,000 that you're going to use.

Correct.

And is that only across these eight programs, nine programs, or is that across all of your programming?

That was just for this first build-out for the fall, the summer-fall.

Okay, so basically you're moving barriers for nine of, I don't know how many programs you have at GBRD. You're moving nine, you're moving the barriers for nine programs for affordability.

Correct.

Okay, and so then how did you pick these nine programs?

So I worked in partnership with the city coordinator, youth coordinator, Victoria, and we decided, based off of feedback and some of the needs assessment information that we received, that these were going to be the core areas that we focused on.

OK. And so I'd like to also know, if we have children, youth, who opt to work around these nine programs because there are some interesting programs in your portfolio and they were wanting to do those programs. How would you work with those families and how would you offer those to the families, those different programs? Because you've selected this based on a needs assessment that has been done probably almost two years ago. So how would you accommodate those families if they potentially said, these are not the nine core areas that I'm interested in. I want to do something else in your portfolio.

first and foremost send them to us let us know that they exist sometimes we don't know they're out there and that's a very important element if we are aware of the fact that they're interested in a different program maybe it's not one of these nine if we know that we can scholarship them in and work them in so that they can have that opportunity and there is no barrier to them because we don't want to create one i may not be sending them to you and i may not get that information

So what is your responsibility in making sure community knows that? Because you're running the programs. They're coming to you. They're looking in your booklet. So how is that going to be made known that, yes, we've picked these nine core areas. However, we are committed to moving barriers to allow you and your family to have access to our programs. So how will you put that out? You're doing the advertisement. It's your responsibility to make sure that there's equity because this is what this is creating is equity, and you've chosen nine, and I don't have a problem that you have chosen nine based on some data, but I don't also want community to believe that this is the only nine that they have opportunity that are low barrier programs.

Well, one new way we're looking at this and how we can approach it so that we can reach out to those families that are in need, for an example, I'm meeting with the superintendent of schools, and I am going to talk to them about how we can get our program information out to all of their children, especially those that might be on special need programs of some sort within the school district. They already have that information. And so my goal is, and the superintendent's goal is, is try to get that kind of information out to them. So that's something new that we are trying now. And so I will be meeting this month, well, next month actually, July, and we're gonna set that all up so that we can make sure they know of every opportunity possible. We're also promoting our scholarship program everywhere we go now. We want everyone to know. As a matter of fact, we're riding in the Fourth of July parade, and we have a banner that's huge with a QR code. And we're going to be handing out some information as well, just so people know. We have to take advantage of every opportunity possible to let people know that we exist and what we have available. If it's a special program in a park, let's get a booth there. Let's people know who we are, what we have to offer. Social media, we could go through all the marketing trades, but you can get a feel that we are expanding. It's important that we get this information out because a lot of people are left behind and we don't want them left behind. We want them to be able to have that opportunity. So that's why I'm meeting with the school district. That's an excellent mechanism to do that with our partners. We're now making them more and more aware of it so that, as a matter of fact, the Little League, Vallejo Little League, we sponsor kids to get in their program. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in it. So we're doing more and more of that sort of thing, if that helps.

And how do we reach out to our charter schools and our private schools? Not every school is... not every child is in Vallejo School District. True, true.

So we would need to reach out to more and more youth organizations and what have you to let them be aware of the opportunity there. Daycares, whatever, whatever it is, and make them aware of that.

And I think we can directly reach out to our charter schools and our private schools as well. So thank you for answering my questions. Yes.

Council Member Palmaris.

So, Council Member, a lot of you commented something I'll comment right now, but I'll just double down anyway. So, I really want to emphasize the need to over-communicate to our schools, you know, beyond just VCUSD. In particular, over-communicating to the counselors there that this is not just an opportunity for kids, but also if they have any high-risk youth, that this is a way to intervene and get them on a right path, right? That's the whole point of why we're doing this, is because we're interested in reducing violence in the community. So if you guys could do that, friendly ask, and also, Vice Mayor, I know you're on the two by two, so I would hope and appreciate if you could over-communicate that as well. All right.

That's an excellent suggestion, thank you.

You're welcome, thank you.

to, let's see here, for, just a couple of quick questions for this first round here. So from your, you said you had a survey go out. How many survey responses did you get back from the community?

So we sent the survey out as soon as we received feedback from council. That was at the beginning of June. We received, up to date, 146 respondents from that survey, and that was just within a two-week period. We do have the survey ongoing, so we're still collecting information and feedback as we navigate throughout the rest of the summer. So anytime, as General Manager Sloan mentioned, anytime we have an opportunity for outreach, we're surveying, we're asking questions, and we're pushing out that Measure P survey.

And I know you mentioned you're gonna coordinate with the Superintendent Aurelio. Was there thought about having the survey go directly to the schools directly for the student input on these?

Yes. So because we got the feedback towards the end of the school year, we weren't able to get that information. But I do know that when Victoria was here, she did have an opportunity to go to a couple of schools to actually survey the youth to get their input based off of what they wanted to see. So when school ramps back up, we want to be more intentional with getting that information to them as well. And again, throughout the summer when we have opportunities.

Thank you for that feedback. And just for a background understanding, when this issue came up in front of this council, the primary purpose was actually to give kids activities, not only throughout the school district or not only throughout the school year, but over the summer with thinking this was gonna be kicked off over the summer to have them over a summer school program. But we would like to have this year round. And this is where, Our input and support from the city was looking to help supplement that. And to Council Member Letijous point, you mentioned that this is the monies that we're putting in. This is gonna add additional 500 students or participants to the programs. Can you give us an understanding of how many participants there were throughout of all of last year to where you're adding just 500 more with $100,000?

Can you repeat that last part of your question? I'm sorry.

So I guess the question is when you mentioned our $100,000 is gonna increase the number of participants by the rough number was 500 students. So I guess what we wanna understand also is what was the total participation last year to where our $100,000 is only increasing it by 500?

So for participation last year for summer only, it was 2,446. Okay, so that's basically a 25% of, what is that? Yeah, that's, so.

So I think that's where we need to crunch our numbers to make sure that the number that's being supported is that we're basically getting the bang for the buck. And this is where once you crunch the numbers after this first round that you're gonna have the data to actually show the increase and how much the monies that we were able to provide supported the additional participation of what the purpose of what this whole concept was at the very beginning then. So, any other questions for this first round? Hold on. So, Manny, Council Member Palmares, are there any or public comments at this point.

We do have one public speaker.

Okay, so I'll go ahead and open up the public comment session and go ahead and call up that speaker.

Mr. Jose Carrizales.

Jose Carrizales. Very interesting questions, if I may say. At the Measure P Committee meeting, staff presented a wonderful, wonderful presentation. And I wish most of you had reviewed the videotape or been there. You would have heard a top-notch presentation on what these programs would provide. As all of you know, Measure P was created with seven directives given to that committee members. I'm sorry, not seven, nine.

I can't read my own writing.

Nine directives. One of those was youth services, youth priorities. This program falls directly in line in what the voters voted for. Now we all use the word trust. We all use the word transparency. What happens if this council did not approve? You would definitely lose the trust. You would definitely lose mine. Because that's what it was promoted for. Youth services besides the other eight. This is an a perfect example of what this Measure P money should be used for. I commend staff for doing that. Because of the address homelessness, which is never in three and a half years, no money has been provided for my unsheltered friends. And I attend these Measure P meetings. It was an honor to sit in the audience and listen to staff talk about how detailed presentation what this money was gonna be used for. She gave a template on what staff should do in this city, on how to prepare not only the citizens of Vallejo, but policy makers on making a proper decision that will fulfill the nine directives. I commend staff for that presentation I sincerely hope you would help maintain and build trust for the Measure P tax that is widely known that I did not support it. And I still won't support a tax increase for this city of Vallejo. But this would definitely work for the youth. You gotta try something. This is a start. You'll have your data to answer that questions the next year or the next time. And I hope that you'll heed those questions. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Any other speakers signed up? No, that's it. Okay. Manny, are there any other virtual speakers signed up for this?

Through the Vice Mayor, currently do not have any members of the public signed up to speak on this item at this time.

With that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and close the public comment session and then open it up to the last round for the council. Any second round of comments or questions from the council?

Council Member Gordon. Thank you, that's what happens when you stop drinking coffee. First of all, I 100% agree. The presentation that was presented to Measure P was amazing. And I give our city staff, Victoria, Grace, Barstow, kudos and plus GVRD and their team for presenting an excellent executed presentation to the Measure P. I just wanted to highlight a couple of points things first of all I want to say thank you for pointing out about senior citizens because there are a that's a great need of a community especially with prices going up food wise recreational is not something that they think about and I will tell you I drive around my neighborhood at least twice a week Um, and I've come across a lot of elderly people that are home and don't know what's available to them. And the ones who do know, um, was because of programs like this that got them out the door saying, oh yes, we can help you financially. So I do want to ask, will they receive a punch card or that's just only for children?

So the punch card is only available to the youth. but we do have scholarships available for our senior population.

Okay, because I was thinking like if they wanted to go to the pool or something, if you had a senior day or something like that, they won't have to worry about no cards or anything. Okay, that's great. I'm glad to hear that. The second thing I wanted to ask, have you partnered with SoTrans so that the community can see what bus can take them where? And trust me, Manny, she would love to come table wherever you are. She is... she's excited about, so please, if you could think about that. We at Late Night Basketball, we do tabling, so we would love for you to come and table there to let people know what's out there. We have a lot of parents there, a lot of guardians. the community that seems to be lost is our youth that are in group homes and foster care and so forth. So I think that is great. And also too, I wrote here, thank you for pointing out about special needs. ONE OF THE REASONS I STARTED COMING TO THE BOARD BECAUSE I HAVE A SON WHO LIVES WITH DOWNS WHEN I MOVED HERE HE WAS SIX YEARS OLD IT WAS NOTHING FOR HIM TO DO AND SO BECAUSE OF HIM THEY CREATED THE UM THE CERAMIC CLASS OVER AT THE NORMAN KEENE CENTER SO I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR THAT BECAUSE WE DO FORGET ABOUT THAT COMMUNITY AND I DO WANT TO HIGHLIGHT AS IT WAS MENTIONED PRIOR TO ABOUT THE PRIVATE SCHOOL and charter programs um and home schools we can't forget about them so i appreciate that and um i know for a fact that three youth in my apartment complex did do your survey and so i appreciate that because i did ask about that so i'm glad you have that my last thing i wanted to um well he already mentioned the two by two i think they have their already are you all closed no more no more two by two for it right now right

Right now, I think our next session is probably going to be in either late August or September.

Yeah, that's true, because we were looking for it. And so I think the last school board meeting is going to be, I think, today. Yeah, it was today. So I guess you couldn't come there and do it. That's what I was thinking about. But anyways, my last thing I have here is... If you could send an email to all of us of what you have, I can blast it to all the apartment complexes that's in my community because they do e-news. So that could help out too. And so whatever I could do to partner with you, please let me know. Thank you. That's all I want to say.

Any further questions or comments from the council? A couple of last closing ones that I have is I think I would highly recommend you collaborate with the city, or I'm sorry, with the school district and especially a lot of the private and charter school to make sure we do get, because when we hear the comment from the surveys, we only had 150, I mean, we're 120,000. and so to only have 150 surveys isn't giving the full picture in my mind. So I think we need to do, and this can be said with any surveys. We never get enough feedback in a lot of them, but until we get a full robust that gives a cross section of a lot of the people within that, I mean just 150 survey responses and just from 500, an additional 500 and 500 people that are, the 500 people that participated last year, that still doesn't seem like that's enough feedback for the services we're trying to get out there and stuff, especially the new services you're doing. So I think we need to get a little bit better community engagement somehow and so maybe put our heads together between the city, state, and a lot of the agencies to try to get more feedback and input, I think would go a long way with identifying where some of these monies need to go. Any other last second questions? Seeing none, the chair is open for a motion.

I move to adopt a resolution approving a Measure P grant agreement to Greater Vallejo Recreation District to support public safety and youth priorities and authorize the city manager to execute the same in an amount not to exceed $300,000.

I second it.

Please vote. Vice Mayor, I have a quick question. Sure, go ahead, Council Member Matias. Can we add a friendly amendment to the motion that there be a report shared out with the Vallejo Unified School District on a quarterly basis? So whenever the report is issued for Measure P, I would like them to also issue a report to the school district on the activities and the usage of the funds.

Yeah, I think we can get that collaborated. Is that something, looking to the city attorney, is that something we can add to this motion?

Sorry, non-verbal communication, yes, I think it is.

Okay, sounds good. So with that being added as a friendly amendment to this, please vote.

Motion carries unanimously with Mayor Source absent.

Thank you for that. And then moving on to item 7B. City Clerk Abrahamson, could you please read item 7B?

Adopt a resolution approving the consultant and professional service agreement with Felton Institute for the IHEART program for an amount not to exceed $1,794,790 through June 30th, 2027, and authorizing the city manager to execute the same.

Thank you for that. May I please start the two minute clock? Anyone wishing to address the council on the item both in person or virtually must either sign up using the electronic kiosk located in the back of the council chambers or raise their hand virtually by the end of the two minute clock. Anyone signing up to speak or raising their hand virtually After the two minutes, two minute clock will not be recognized. Police Chief Todd, do we, I have it down for, is there anyone here to present on this item? I saw Rayvon in, were you gonna present on this item, Rayvon? Okay, do we know where the chief may be at this point? Or his representative?

I'm I'm happy to text him to see, the city manager may now.

This is interesting. Well, if he's not here, we don't want to hold these people up like that. So if, Vice Mayor, if it's possible, just assume there's no presentation.

There is one here.

Oh. There is a presentation as a part of the agenda item, but there's no one here from PD to present. Correct. Which I apologize for.

Yes, and we as a staff, or we as the council, we've seen this material already, so we are, we're good with that. I just wanted, for the general public, if there was a presentation for them to see it, but seeing that that's not available at this moment, we can, I will just go ahead and open it up. We're just closing down the clock for any public comment. So I will open up the first round to the council if we had, if anyone had, oh, go ahead.

I just want to note that the PowerPoint presentation is on the website for the public near the agenda packet.

Correct. Thank you for pointing that out. So the public did have a chance to look at this prior to this meeting too. So anyone that was wishing to speak on this did have the opportunity to do that. So with that being said, I will go ahead and open it up. up to the council if there's any questions or comments, and to the manager.

Yes, we do have a representative from IHEART here who can respond to questions, so maybe, maybe not. Yeah, so why don't you come up to the podium, please. You won't have the benefit of a tag team scenario tonight, but anyway.

Just how I planned it, just how I planned it.

Yeah, so I will just go ahead and open it up to the council if anybody had any questions. Oh, yes, go ahead and toggle that up. So seeing no initial questions at this time, more than any, anyone signed up for a public comment at this point? Council Member Ramirez.

We have Mr. Joey Carrizales.

Okay, Joey, come on up.

Jose Carizales. There's a reason why, well, anyway. iHeart had a very rocky start, in my opinion. I think you've been here two years now. Third year? They had a very rocky start in my opinion. His staff doesn't know me as well as he does, so when I happen to walk by them, I'll hear things that I think more training to the staff would be appropriate in their conversation to my unsheltered friends. only because i know a little bit more about certain things because i attend the meetings i'm all this so heavily involved but i i don't hold that against iheart because they're new they're learning at least they're trying the most important part to me the biggest part to me is they have taken a certain responsibility away from the vallejo police department Now everybody knows, I don't need to tell about my interactions in the last six years with the Bill Hill Police Department. Everybody knows my feelings. We need to take away what they are not trained to do. They are not trained as much as they going to tell you. When they're at the public safety meetings, we have the domestic violence people tell me, hey, you didn't go to our training. You weren't there. So they may tell you they are, they may tell the city manager that they are, but they're not. They're not. So what has IHART done?

They're taking baby steps to take the pressure off the Vallejo Police Department.

Vallejo Police Department cannot handle, as publicly documented and everybody knows, a mental health issue, situation. They cannot. One happened this year. One gentleman was shot in the back with his hands raised in the air. I heart was never called. Unfortunate. They are needed. It takes money for this type of program. I'm slowly learning to support them. They had a rocky start, I admit. I was not a 30, 40% supporter of them. Now the percentages are getting higher. because of this gentleman. He's trying. He wants to help. Give him a chance. It's going to take money. Man, this issue is more than three minutes. But anyway, I hope you'll have the opportunity to help the young man to take away a certain responsibility from the Vallejo Police Department because they cannot handle it. and lives will be saved if you take that away from the Villa Hill Police Department. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Joey. Any other speakers signed up? No, we do not. Manny, do we have anyone signed up virtually?

Through the Vice Mayor, we currently do not have any members of the public with their hands raised on this item at this time.

Thank you for that. With that being said, I will go ahead and close the public comment session for this item and bringing it back to the Council. Any questions? I will go ahead and start with Council. Go ahead.

Vice Mayor, I've just made contact with the Chief and he had a schedule issue, confusion. He's en route right now. If you might want to take a five-minute break or so.

I THINK WE'LL GO AHEAD AND START WITH THE QUESTIONS RIGHT NOW, AND THEN WHEN HE GETS HERE, THEN WE CAN GO AHEAD AND PICK UP AT THAT POINT. THANK YOU. LET'S SEE WHO'S... START OFF WITH COUNCILMEMBER LETTIGEAU.

SO, CITY MANAGER, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BUDGET, OR CAN FINANCE TALK ABOUT THE BUDGET?

I THINK WE WOULD NEED THE CHIEF TO DO THAT.

OKAY. THAT'S FINE.

and we will return that question once the Chief gets here. I'm Councilmember Gordon.

Thank you. I just want to read for the record of what I wrote to some concerns that was around this area. As an elected official, it is our responsibility to provide options for mental health and also domestic abuse or any type of service that are need in our community that are nonviolent. Since I heart has been operating, I have personally seen FEWER INDIVIDUALS WANDERING OUR STREETS PUTTING THEMSELVES AND OTHERS AT RISK. WHEN I ENCOUNTER SOMEONE IN CRISIS, IT GIVES ME CONFIDENCE KNOWING I CAN CALL TRAINED PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE EQUIPPED TO HELP. IHEART ALLOWS TRAINED BEHAVIOR ISSUES OR ANY TYPE OF HEALTH CONCERNS THAT ARE NOT NON-VIOLENT. to have a professional respond in that nonviolent mental health or any other type of crisis which help ensure individuals receive appropriate care while allowing our Vallejo PD officers to focus their time and resources on violent crimes or other public safety emergencies. That benefits everyone in our community. I fully support the continuing expanding and expanding iHeart. Ideally, we would also like to have a long-term mental health facility where individuals could receive ongoing care after a crisis. Unfortunately, that's not our current situation, our current reality. Until those resources exist, we must utilize appropriate We must utilize and appreciate services we do have. I heart feels a critical gap and it pairs with appropriate long-term care facilities. That outcome could be even better if we had that available as I said earlier. I understand the perspective made different depends on where someone lives. Those of us who serve and spend time in less fortunate neighborhood witness these challenges regularly. and we know firsthand how vulnerable and how valuable iHeart has become for our community. Supporting iHeart is about ensuring people in crisis receive the right response while allowing again our officers to focus in keeping our neighborhood safe. However, I always want to thank everyone for speaking their thoughts because your voice matters. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Seeing Chief Todd just arrived, thank you for that, Chief, for fitting us into your busy schedule. Did you have a presentation for us? Okay. Just want to make sure with council if they're willing to hear the presentation now.

Okay.

Okay, Chief, do you know how long your presentation was scheduled to be?

I can make it pretty quick. We'll go through it real quick. I won't do the, I'll just give a brief background, kind of go over some of the statistics, look at some of the budgetary concerns, and then we'll wrap it.

With the understanding it'll be quick, I think, is Council okay with that, or?

Or we could just go straight to Q&A if you guys like.

Yeah, I think the council is, because we've read the material and we've seen the presence, we've got the material, so I think we're ready to do the questions. So with that being said, I'm going to go back to Council Member Ledijew and she had her first question.

Can you walk me through the budget?

All right. Councilwoman, let us know.

So what I'm really interested in not what I'm most interested in is the total budget and how it's being funded. That's really what I want to know. I don't you don't have to tell me the different categories and costs. I just really want to look at the full budget, which is one point seven plus million dollars. I want to know that you have the CSIP grant that's giving you $831,000. You have a carryover that you believe is $100,000 and then because there's a gap of 963 and I'm just trying to fill the numbers in. And you have for 2026, 27, 238 from Connect Protect. And you're assuming an additional 275 from Measure P up to. So that's five, almost six. And the 100 would be seven, right? So what am I missing?

So the total budget is $1,794,790. There are three funding sources. Three of those are known. There's a couple of carryovers that are unknown. So I'll just go through the known. So the SCIP grant is approximately $831,000. Connect to Protect is about $238,000. We were authorized Measure P to fund the gap, which is $275,000. So there was a carryover from Measure P from last year that's also carried over to $2627,000.

And that carryover is in the amount of?

I think it's in the realm of $440,000, $449,000-ish. $449,000? $449,000, correct. Okay. And then there is a carryover that we have not yet identified the full amount from Connect and Protect.

And that leaves us with a gap of a delta of what?

We have no gap. So this is fully funded for 26-27.

You're waiting for the carryover, right? Correct. That's going to fill it. Correct. So that's the gap right there because we don't know the total dollar value of the carryover, correct?

For Measure P or for...

No, you've just given me the carryover for Measure P is $449,000 plus $275,000 that you're going to get for Measure P. Correct. So it's the grant that's the carryover amount that you're waiting for to determine if there's going to be dollars.

Correct.

And that amount is how much?

Well, we have 238,000 for sure from the Connect to Protect.

That's for 2627.

2627. There is a net carryover from that, which we have not fully identified yet. Okay. And then so that will reduce to delta for Measure P. Is that going to hopefully fill your gap?

Is that what you're saying?

Well, it's not going to fill the whole gap. I'm sorry? It's not going to fill the whole gap, but it's going to fill some of it.

So the part that it's not gonna fill is about how much. I can do the numbers if I need to do them.

I'm sorry, I couldn't understand that last part.

What I'm asking is you're saying you're not gonna have, when we do the final carryover, right, from the grant, it's not going to fulfill the total need. There's going to still be a delta, right?

Not without the Measure P, correct.

additional measure p correct outside of the 449 that's carried over and the additional 275k correct correct so what is that delta that's what i'm asking that's the 449 plus 275. that's the measure p gap no so it's 1.7 whatever is million dollars you have 831 coming from your SCIP grant. You have coming from your Connect and Protect grant for 26, 27, 238, 557. Yes, Peter, help me add. And then you have 275 for this year from Measure P. You have a carryover from Measure P of 449K. AND YOU POTENTIALLY HAVE $100K COMING OVER AS A CARRY-OVER FROM CONNECT PROTECT GRANT FROM 2526. IS THAT CORRECT, ALL THE NUMBERS?

YES.

OKAY. SO WHAT'S THE THINKING? COUNCILMEMBER BERGENZER IS HELPING ME.

I MEAN, WITH JUST THAT NUMBER, IT'S $1.89 MILLION. SO THERE'S ACTUALLY MORE MONEY.

Okay, so you'll have enough then?

We should, yes.

So you won't have a gap, okay. Correct. I was just trying to follow the numbers. Absolutely. To see potentially what the delta was.

I understand.

Okay, that's all I wanted to know. Thank you, sir.

You're welcome.

Council Member Matias. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So I'm just going to make a general comment. I'm supportive of the approval this evening. But in the same token, I will say my hope is that this is the last time I have to vote on this contract. And I'm going to tell you why. Ever since I was sworn in, I've been advocating for the creation of a Office of Neighborhood Safety and Renewal that sits out of the city manager's office. Every community that's really addressing gun violence head on has a model set up in the city manager's office that is adequately staffed and is doing the work that your team is doing on the ground. And part of what I find problematic with this contract in particular is that the nonprofit that's holding the contract is charging us over $300,000 indirect rate of 22 or 23%. which is outrageous. You know, I work for a nonprofit and we have to keep our costs at about 15%. We can't bill anything above that. These guys are charging 22%. That's money that could be going towards raises for the personnel that we have on hand that's doing the work on the ground. It could fund additional FTEs if it was staying in house and so forth and so forth. So I say that to say the way you make meaningful investment in public safety is not just exclusively through policing. You have to, through prioritizing it, which we've done as a council and through meaningful investment, you signal to the public that it's not something that has to be brought before the council every single year. Can you sign off on this? Can you pencil the math together? But that it's already weaved into the budget, the city's budget. And that's what I hope that we, with the city management team, prioritize in the year ahead. I'm not asking you guys to create all those positions and fully form out a program in the year ahead, but what I would like to see is a roadmap that gets us off of this contract and into having this team directly reporting into the city manager and really carrying that work in community. Because those folks are, they're members of our community, they live here, they work here, they do all the things here, and so why don't we just do that why don't we prioritize it as a council and make sure that we have more integration between you know the city manager's office and the vallejo police department and so that's my general comment on that this evening again I support it but as part of the motion I would like to request that the city manager's office maybe by mid-year give us some outline of of a possible plan to start to integrate that into his team and into his office uh so that we can um we don't have to be voting on this every year this is this is not a good use of our our time and and it's and it's also not fair to the staff uh because every single year this team that's out in community doing this work they're kind of hanging by a thread waiting for us to approve this contract they're already doing the work There's benefit to community. We actually need more of them. And the fact that almost $400,000 is going out the door to manage the contract is, It's just not acceptable to me in terms of where I believe the money should really be going, which is either to them directly or to get more bodies on the ground to do the work. So there is my rant for the evening. I support it.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. So the question goes back to the city manager's office. Is that something that can be done at the mid-year to have that?

I mean, we can easily... provide background information in terms of how these programs are typically handled, set up, structured, managed, and including the way that it's currently being done. We can do that research and get something back to you within that timeframe. Just in terms of background information and insight.

and i think behind council member matisse's is there's the cost savings that can be done if we're bringing it in house to where i think that and i think that's where the ask is is if that's possible to do

That's basic analysis. We can do that.

Okay, so we don't need to really bake that into the motion here.

I think it would be helpful to us if you were to do that.

Okay, so we'll go ahead and bake that in there. Council Member Gordon, you have a follow-up?

Just a clarifying question to my colleague. So what I just want to understand, so are you saying that you would like FOR THE CITY MANAGER TO SEE, INSTEAD OF RAYVON AND HIS TEAM COMING THROUGH FELTON, THIS TEAM WILL COME THROUGH THE CITY OF VALLEJO, BECAUSE THEY ALL LIVE IN VALLEJO AS WELL. ARE YOU SAYING THAT'S WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE, JUST TO ELIMINATE FELTON AND JUST LET IT BE A CITY STAFF?

I mean, in an ideal world, I'm just going to keep it at 100, yes. I would like that team to just be directly reporting to the city manager's office. I don't know why we have to pay that kind of money to Felton. They're already doing the work. They've been in community for years. So I'm not suggesting through this action that we do that this evening. I'm just asking for his team to explore what that may look like by mid-year.

I was just clarifying. I just want to make sure I understood. Is the reason why, maybe I should ask this to Chief Ta, is the reason why we went this route instead of incorporating someone in your community, in your department, did you go this route because it was a liability reasons? Is it cost efficient to go this route to hire a consultant instead?

Councilwoman, that's a very good question. I think it made sense to go this route when we were able to use grant funding. So this is coming into year three. So in large part, this has been funded almost entirely by grants up until at least the partial of the end of year two. And then also as you see here in year three, the majority of it is grant funded. So it did make sense up until this point to do it this way but I do think that moving into year four there is no more grant funding available for this so having that conversation now is probably a good time under former city manager Murray we did consider what the cost would be to have staff underneath our umbrella instead. Some of the costs, though, you have to factor in civil service and all the pensions that come with it, which becomes fairly expensive. So we didn't do a full cost analysis at that point at that time, but we can certainly come back with something a little bit more concrete this time to kind of weigh the pros and the cons. In addition, you'll see that there's an enormous amount of training also that we will have to be responsible for as well to maintain that level of training and the services provided.

where right now currently Felton picks all that up. Correct. Thank you very much for clarifying. Thank you for clarifying.

Vice Mayor. Council Member, oh, go ahead, City Manager.

Yeah, yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to reemphasize what the Chief has just stated. Eventually all the grant monies will be gone, and so therefore this is definitely a timely analysis cost-benefit analysis as well as, I mean, to be comprehensive in terms of how we look at it because these programs don't generally go down in price tag. They tend to go up. And so as we look at the long-range financial planning process and exercise with the city you know we've got to look at all of these kinds of things uh not that we don't support or appreciate it's just that we have to make certain okay when we go to the supermarket how much meat are we going to be able to afford to buy how much bread how many eggs Etc it's that kind of a conversation thank you for that city manager Matt uh black um Councilmember letters you

Thank you. So perhaps when we're doing this analysis is while we can benchmark to see what other cities do, then think about what is a hybrid model that we can potentially start with would be a beginning point versus not doing anything at all so at least have a hybrid model suggestion of what can we do what's reasonable for the city to do at this moment in time and where is it WHERE IS THIS FUNCTION I FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT COUNCILMEMBER MATEAS IS SAYING WHERE IS THIS FUNCTION BEST HELD AND IT REALLY IF YOU LOOK ACROSS THE NATION IT IS IN THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE THIS WORK IS DONE SO WHAT IS THAT BEST HYBRID MODEL FOR OUR CITY AND HOW DO WE SEE OURSELF PROGRESSING AS TIME MOVES FORWARD IF WE'RE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT addressing gun violence, addressing mental health challenges within our community, and frankly, relieving a police department in doing something that it really is not equipped to do. It's there for enforcement. AND IT VIEWS THESE TYPES OF CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES, IF YOU WILL, VERY DIFFERENTLY. AND SO THIS IS WHY THE VALUE OF HAVING IHEART ON THE TEAM IS VERY IMPORTANT. BUT AT THE SAME TIME AS GRANT FUNDING WINDOWS, HOW DO WE DO ALL THIS NECESSARY WORK? YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THE REALITY IS ALSO THERE ARE there is a measure around health, mental health, that we also can look at and seek as we're moving forward and thinking about this in the long-term solutions.

Thank you for that. Any more, any other further questions? Just a quick follow-up one. Chief Tau kind of mentioned the term civil service. So to bring this in-house, it seems like there would be some civil service impact that would need to be identified and understood and potentially factored in on something like this, correct?

Yeah, yeah. Any employment activity of the city, creating a position, changing a position always will have a civil service impact. It will have an overhead impact for our overhead, i.e., health insurance as well as CalPERS. As city manager in Cincinnati as well as Stockton, I had an Office of Violence Prevention for both cities. So there are a lot of different ways. We'll look at, the analysis that we will do will focus on a cost benefit analysis, but it will provide you with, again, typically this function is in the city administrator's office if it's a council manager form of government, or it's in a city administrator's office if it's a strong mayor form of government. The very reason that the councilwoman mentioned is that police is, their role is enforcement. uh uh focus deterrence is non-police uh but the two have to work together uh from a complimentary standpoint you know the carrot and the stick is basically how it works uh but we'll we'll work with the department uh and uh we'll put together a briefing for you that hopefully answers your questions

Appreciate that. And thank you for that. And thank you to Council Member Matias for bringing this up and starting this conversation to where by the time we get to the mid-year budget, then we'll have those ideas and solutions figured out by that point. If not before then. If not before. Thank you for that. So with that being said, if there's no other further questions, the chair is open for a motion.

Apologies. I move to include customer Matias's amendment for integration analysis and potential roadmap by mid year of next fiscal year to adopt a resolution approving the consultant and professional services agreement with Felton Institute for the IHARP program for an amount not to exceed $1,794,790 through June 30th, 2027 and authorizing the city manager to execute the same.

I second it. Please vote and no seconds required.

Just be safe.

Motion carries unanimously with Mayor Soares-Sepson.

Thank you for that. Moving on with the agenda, we are up to our second community forum. I will now ask Manny to start the two minute clock for anyone wishing to address the council on items not on the meeting agenda, both in person and virtually. At the conclusion of the two minutes, anyone wishing to address the council must have either signed into the electronic kiosk in the back of the council chamber or raised their hand virtually. Anyone standing up raising their hand after the two minutes is up will not be recognized. The last community forum is an opportunity for interested members of the public to address the council on items not on this meeting agenda. Any interested members of the public desiring to communicate with the city council as part of the last community forum who have not already spoken. Is there anyone signed up currently for the second community forum?

Yes, Mr. Joey Carrizales.

And through the Vice Chair, as he's approaching the podium, just wanted to inform you, we currently do not have any members of the public with their hands raised online.

Thank you for that, Manny. Well, hopefully that'll be the same when this two minute clock expires in another minute.

Jose Carrizales, Jose Carrizales, to whom I was asked, I will not divulge the name or the location of where this, my own sheltered friend stays. To whom it may concern, I am writing this to formally document my encounter I had with some city officials on Tuesday. I was at my spot, a sheriff, Deputy Dale approached me and ordered me to move my tent and belongings by next week. I was warned in no specific terms to never come back to that area again or I will be arrested. Natalie was smiling and laughing in the background. I felt harassed by this interaction. Instead of offering me a clear solution, I was treated like garbage. Those are her words. Oh, darn it. Sorry. I was treated like garbage that needed to be removed or tossed or thrown away. The officers demand felt like intimidation. This kind of treatment, this kind of treatment makes it impossible for me to feel safe. This is one of many firsthand testimonies that my unsheltered friends tell me on a daily basis as I go and meet and talk to them. We are a small city, 122,000 people. This is an issue that is manageable. However, in my 14 years of doing this advocacy in the city of Vallejo, policymakers in this red brick building have decided that best practices do not work. Even though the wheel has been invented, those who use the elevator or use the stairs to be in this red brick building prefer to use their own culture, their own ideology, their own philosophy in handling this very manageable issue. Countries, Norway, Sweden have found, Canada, have found answers. Houston, San Diego, San Jose, Oregon, cities have found answers.

Why can't we?

I guess the powers that be, the policy makers, the loyal staff would rather hear testimonies like this instead of finding solutions.

Thank you for that. Checking in with Manny, were there any virtual speakers that raised their hand? Through the vice mayor, we do not have any speakers at this time. Thank you for that. With that being said, I'm going to go ahead and close the public comment session on the community forum. And so before we adjourn, I would like to inform the public that the regularly scheduled city council meeting on Tuesday, August 11th, 2026 has been canceled. Instead, the city council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Following that special meeting, the next regular city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. Thank you all for joining us this evening. This meeting is now adjourned.