City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

Oh, thank you. Sorry to say something smart, but I just did not. I did not. Anybody? I would have appreciated it. I got gone. Thank you.

No, thank you. I have coffee.

I would have laughed. I would have appreciated it. I know.

Can't you see this? you did miss it girl don't worry about it it's all good thank you

Good evening. Today is Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, and the time is 5 p.m. I will now call the meeting of the Victorville City Council and the same council sitting as the Victorville Library Board of Trustees, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, successor agency to the redevelopment agency, the city as a housing access assessor, joint powers finance authority, and the Victorville Water District. Madam Clerk, will you kindly call the roll?

Council Member Goddard. Here. Council Member Irving.

Here.

Council Member Mora. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Harriman.

Here.

Mayor Becerra. Here. We have quorum.

Thank you, ma'am. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak?

No, Madam Mayor.

Thank you very much. Then we will move on to declaration of closed session items by the city attorney. Mr. Dibranowski, you're up.

Thank you, Mayor Becerra and council members. We have one item this evening. It's anticipated litigation pursuant to government code 54956.9D4. And it's based on existing facts and circumstances. The city's decided to initiate litigation. To the extent there's reportable action, we will report it either at the conclusion of the 5 o'clock, sorry, the closed session or the commencement of the 6 o'clock regular session.

Thank you, sir. The time is 5.01 and we are now recessed to closed session.

Call me.

City Council Chambers, Good evening, today is Tuesday June 2 2026 and the time is 6pm the regular meeting of the following will come to order the victorville city council in the same Council sitting as the victor the library board of trustees. City Council Chambers, Southern California logistics airport authority successor agency to the redevelopment agency, the city as a housing asset successor. City Council Chambers, Joint powers finance authority in the victorville water district, Madam clerk, will you kindly call the roll.

Councilmember Godin here Councilmember Irving here Councilmember Mora here Mayor Pretem Harriman here Mayor Becerra here we have quorum closed session announcement by Mr. Dubernowski thank you Mayor Becerra and Councilmembers we had closed session this evening pursuant to government code 54956.9 d4 potential litigation at this point there is no reportable action with respect to that item

Thank you. If you would please stand for the invocation led by Elder Reyes with Destiny Christian Church Center. And our pledge will be led by Captain Jerry Davenport.

Father, we want to take time and thank you for Jesus. God, we thank you for this day in which you have made, for you declared that this is the day in which the Lord hath made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. And so Father, we thank you even now for this time, this set aside meeting time, and we pray that the peace of God would rest upon us. Father, as decisions are made, discussions are talked, And father, we pray that our heart would be that of Solomon, that we would seek the wisdom of you and the guidance and the direction in decision making in leading this city. And so father, you commanded us to pray for those in our authority. And so I pray for these father, the council members and those that represent Victor Ville and God, I pray that you would meet them, sustain them, lead them and direct them and protect them. as Father, they govern, Father, for the betterment of Victorville. And so, Father, I thank you for those that are here, seated in the chairs, Father, to hear, to bring forth, to speak. And I pray that hearts would be open, ears attentive, that that which is desired, that which is required, that which is necessary and that which makes peace in this place, let it come to fruition. And so, Father, we thank you now that all would be well, that at the end of the night, we would declare peace be unto this place and unto your people. And all that we do, God, we give you glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

Please join me in a pledge of allegiance. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Now move on to proclamations and special presentations. Mac industry overview provided by Rob Mark. Mr. Metzler, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the Council. We do have a presentation from the head of Mach Industries. I'll just go ahead and turn it over.

Thank you, Council members, Victorville community and leadership. Thank you for the time and we're glad to be here to introduce ourselves. I'd like to start with a quick video and then I'll continue. All right, we're a defense tech company. If that wasn't evident from the video, we're happy to be here to introduce ourselves tonight. I'm Rob Mark. I'm senior vice president of what we call Forge, which if those of you who are familiar with xQuadrons activities, this is different than xQuadrons Forge. But I am here on behalf of our CEO, Ethan Thornton, who's traveling right now and happy to be here on behalf of Mark. I'm from Texas. I started my life as a firefighter EMT. I joined the Army for eight years, three of which I spent at Fort Irwin. So I have lived in this particular valley. Everyone asks if it's great to come home to Victorville. I said, Victorville is a nice place where we went to go shopping and have a good dinner. Barstow is further north. But I was in the Army for eight years and then went to the White House for a few years, then Apple for a decade doing supply chain and joined Mock last summer. And I'm proud to continue what I consider to be community service to our country through the mission at Mock. Mock was founded by Ethan Thornton, our CEO, three years ago when he dropped out of MIT at 19 years old, inspired by the events of the war in Ukraine. He saw that the evolution of combat was going to take us away from our legacy infrastructure that the US had dominated for decades and wanted to be part of innovating that future. And so this company was born under these theses that we really needed to work through asymmetric technology development to maintain a US dominance and create deterrence. And that's our philosophy on product development. Pick the products that will create the best deterrence. Develop them fast with the mind towards full autonomy and sustainable, resilient supply chains focused on vertical integration of key components. So our leadership team for mock industries to date. Broad swath of people from deep industry experience across automotive and aerospace consumer electronics other drone and Defense primes and startups really great team, led by again Ethan Thornton top left or founder and CEO. Our products at a very high level are all low cost treatable systems, two of which on the left, Viper and Pike, are medium and long range jet powered autonomous drone platforms that do deep range effects. In the middle, Stratos is a high altitude stratospheric balloon platform, followed by Glide, Gravity, Munition, which we Have the ability to deploy deploy from a multiple platforms and then dart our counter us interceptor capability so at a high level, this is what we work on this is our engineering effort and product development. That we do through our rapid development taking these quickly to customer iteration and testing. in the toughest environments in the world. For instance, Glide was just in Ukraine last week doing successful testing in the toughest jammed combat environments for any of the defense platforms that are on the battlefield to date. We're very proud of what we do. And we're very proud of what comes next. Again, vertical integration is a key part of our focus. It's focusing on key areas like jet engine manufacturing, where we have a jet engine development site in San Luis Obispo to add to our headquarters site in Huntington Beach and our San Francisco office. We now add our Victorville footprint with our partnership with Xquadrant. So another quick video for you about the Xquadrant piece of all this. So many of you are probably familiar already, deeply familiar with the great work that Exquadrant's been doing. If you saw any of the coverage on the acquisition, it referenced that they've been working in Victorville area for longer than our CEO has been alive to do critical infrastructure for our country's defense. We're super proud of that. If any of you don't know how we met, it was at a hiring conference. Our head of supply chain was there. Ironically, the Exquadrant team was right behind them. We've been looking for solid rocket motor supply to feed our core platforms for a while. And it was just a very serendipitous meeting that resulted in a very wonderful organic process to land us here where we are today. We're super proud of the team and the work that has been done. Kevin McMahon and Eric Schmidt, as you all know, have been great stewards of this company, founding it and growing into what it is today. And we're happy to add Kevin Greco to that leadership team today. or with this acquisition to help triple down on the great work that's been done and really invest and do more. So the why squadron, again, we need solid rocket motors and we can't find them in the volumes that we need to do our products at scale. And so for us, this is very natural marriage of capabilities Working to partner with a great team to level up on the great work they've done to nest into our product partnerships. Let's us controller supply chain. Let's just invest to deepen the US supply base in these key components that extraordinary has been working on. And continue to expand the footprint and Victorville to support that expansion. As part of this merger and acquisition. There's no layoffs plans. This team is why we are Working with the squadron why we're interested in the squadron. In fact, we're doing the opposite. We've already in the last three weeks raised 12 new requisitions for new jobs and figuring out exactly what the plan is for the next two quarters on hiring expansion, so we look forward to to working with the key people that are on this team already and growing it to enable that mission. key priorities for the near term solid rocket motor production expansion. Facility and infrastructure investments to enable that an expansion of the test and evaluation capability and resources and then looking at a component roadmap. Leveraging this technical skill sets and capabilities in this team, which are substantial to bring additional products in this space. To the market for not just our use in our products, but for also our kind of pure defense companies working to to solve similar problems. And that work has already been done if anyone's been out to the Ford site lately you'll notice changes we're installing new test infrastructure already. The lab space expansions do larger mixers to increase production, and this is just the scratch of the surface of opportunities low hanging fruit that we could identify for near term investment out the gate we're working on long term planning now. You know, Brian and Kevin are full time on that effort trying to figure out exactly what comes next and what the requirements are and how we do it faster and better. Yeah, also leveraging the capability of this team to Yeah, expand this roadmap and our existing business segments. We're proud of the work that Mock, or sorry, that Exquadrant has done and proud of that to become part of Mock. We're continuing all of our community partnership efforts that Exquadrant has led for years. As part of this community, we're proud to help bolster and continue those efforts community engagement's a big piece of what mock does and so we found you know kindred spirits in kevin and eric and the efforts they've done over the years to really make themselves a valued part of this community and we really do value this community and the work that it's done to support them and hope to continue that in a very deep way Mayor Mrakas, And so, with that I just like to say thank you again to the Council for letting us introduce ourselves and to the. Mayor Mrakas, letting us continue to work here and be here and we're excited to continue this work, and with that are there any questions or comments.

Thank you and welcome. Mayor Mrakas, Thank you, we're gonna move on, Madam clerk, we present the agenda and any revisions are to.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We will be pulling item number 13 at the request of those that requested the item.

Thank you. We'll move on to public comment. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak?

Do we have conflict of interest declarations, Madam Mayor?

Yes, ma'am, you can. At this time, any conflict of interest with my fellow council members? Done. Now, are there any requests to speak?

Yes, Madam Mayor. Welcome to tonight's meeting of the Victorville City Council. Your city council is interested in your ideas and opinions and furthermore endeavors to incorporate them into its deliberations. At the same time, the council must be able to carry out its business in an organized and efficient manner, free from material disruption. Therefore, this meeting will be administered in accordance with the council's established policies and procedures and government code section 54957.9 and 54957.95. Individuals may speak on agenda items or on issues not posted on the agenda during the public comment section provided those issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council. Individual speakers may address the council once per public comment period and once per each public hearing item for up to three minutes. Additional time may be allotted for appeal hearings in accordance with the city's adopted policy and procedure manual. Those who desire to comment on public hearing item may wish to reserve their remarks until that particular public hearing has been opened. All testimony is to be directed solely to the Council, although open meeting laws do not permit Council members to engage in dialogue with any speaker during the public comment period. Please know your comments and questions may be taken into consideration by Council members when discussing the particular agenda item. The presiding officer may briefly respond or have staff respond to statements or questions, or may request that the staff report back to the Council at a subsequent meeting. Speakers are requested to comment as briefly as the subject permits. Once comments are invited, the speaker will be called on by name and recognized by the presiding officer. The speaker will state the item number that will be addressed or that the subject is a non-agendized matter. Audience members may not disrupt, disturb, or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of this meeting, and those who do are subject to removal from the meeting pursuant to Penal Code 403. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated. Our first speaker this evening is Monique Morgan on a non-agendized item.

Welcome, Miss Morgan.

Hello. How are you? So I've been out here my whole life. I lived here. I work here. I've been working for over 20 years in the same place. My concerns is my concerns are not being heard. I'm not being heard. 80% of my home was burned down in March of 2025 in an undetermined fire. I personally feel that the fire was set by homeless or transients, which is a big problem in Victorville. I'm dealing with the issue from the homeowners insurance that is, um, they just recently accepted coverage out of over a year. I'm dealing with the code enforcement with their fines and they're not so practical timeframes timelines, the planning department and their fees, their time timelines and the non conforming structure guidelines, which now I'm not sure if I can rebuild my house or I'll be forced to build commercial. I'm not getting any clarity. I'm told to also pay for architectural plans, even though the planning department is not giving me an okay to rebuild as a home or commercial. I'm stressed out, you guys. I'm stressed out. I'm having anxiety because I'm worried that code enforcement is going to demolish my home. I've got an attorney. I have reached out to the city clerk's office through email, the city manager's office. I have reached out to the mayor's office by email. I have been on a text thread or email thread with John Duran, Robert Carter, Jamie Lester, Elise Tomlin, Aaron Walker. I'm not getting anywhere. All I want to do is just rebuild. I don't see why it takes this long to just let us rebuild. The home is sitting. And what's going on is more homeless people are damaging it. I'm spending more money paying the mortgage, paying the fines, paying the fees, and then re-boarding up the property. Just need help. That's it.

Mr. Metzler.

Yes, a couple of people that we can have chat with you in the back, Mr. Durand and Mr. Slaggers, perhaps would be helpful to you at least talking through personally your case.

Thank you. They'll meet you in the back right now. They'll talk to you right now.

City Council Chambers, Thank you, Madam Mayor, there are no additional speakers this evening if if I might met a mayor and i'm sorry I should have done this as part of the presentation, but I would like at least like the opportunity to. City Council Chambers, recognize Mr mark. City Council Chambers, And the whole mock industries team so as the city manager i'm also the executive director of the airport authority and I think you've had the opportunity to meet. James murawski in the back and so he's he's he's our point person on the ground and we're certainly very excited to have you here, I think. For you to know that we've had a tremendous amount of history with George air force base all parts of flight are hugely important to. to our growth. I think you've probably seen some of the growth that's taken place over time out there. We have a very diverse environment, so we're very proud and excited about it. And with Exquadrum, we've had an amazing relationship over the years. We've been growing together and they're still growing to do. And so, at least from my perspective, I just wanted to share with you that we're looking forward to growing with you, exploring flight with you, and basically trying to be as successful together as possible. So I wanted to personally welcome you and thank you. I haven't had a chance to meet with you personally, but I certainly look forward to the opportunity where we can.

Thank you. We'll move on to public hearings. Our first business order is item one, block wall and gates for well sites 128, 131, and 201, approved notice of exemption and award construction contract. Mr. Minister, would you kindly introduce this item?

thank you madam mayor and members of the of the council on this particular item you're you're acting in the capacity of the board of directors for the water district and as you know uh being responsible for that district it requires a tremendous amount of planning and we do have a water master plan that that speaks to a whole number of improvements but as it relates to this specific Uh, item, um, you know, the, the water master plan that we do have does, uh, speak to, uh, security at your well sites by constructing improvements, including walls and security gates, uh, and things of that nature. And so, this is just an expansion to it it's something that's actually supported by your rate plan, and so this item particularly involves the construction of walls and gates. For three well sites within the district there's maps within the staff report that lays out where in the Community. these well sites are located. And then I think important to know is that these items have gone through the city's procurement process and have been budgeted for and rate planned. And so with that, the author on this item is your city engineer, Mr. Freddie Bonin. He's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, would you please read the recommendations?

that the Board of Directors open and conduct the public hearing close the public hearing approve the notice of exemption and award a construction contract to KNC construction Inc. And the amount of $709,008 for block walls and gates for well site 128 131 and 201. Project number Ms 26 dash 109.

Thank you amendment this time we'll do technical questions from council members Councilman go down. I have none. Thank you, Madam Mayor, Councilmember Morrow. I have none, thank you. Councilmember Irving?

No questions, thank you.

Member Tim Herriman? Just so I make sure I'm reading this right. The contract, there it is. Never mind, I found it. No local contractor again. Okay, all right, that's all I have.

I'll open up the public hearing. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak?

No, Madam Mayor.

I'll now close the public hearing and invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation as to points three and four as presented on the agenda. Second. I have a first by Councilman Godin, a second by Councilman Irving. Councilman Godin, comments on the pending motion? None. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilman Irving? No comments. Thank you. Councilwoman Mora? I have none. Thank you. Mayor Patel-Harriman?

I have none.

And I have none. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Council member Godin? Yes. Council member Irving? Yes. Council member Mora? Yes. Mayor Pretem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We now take an action to approve points three and four of staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item two, annual budget for fiscal year 2026-2027.

Mr Mr would you kindly introduce this item, thank you, Madam Mayor members of the Council this item is in direct follow up to the budget workshop we held with you back on may 21 where we as staff presented to you. the collective city budget, which is the city and its affiliated agencies, including the Water District, Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, the Library, Board of Trustees, and also your role serving as successor agencies. And so with that, what you have before you is substantively not different from what you saw on May 21st. There are some corrections that have been made since that meeting that are outlined in better detail in the staff report. But effectively what this item is doing is having you consider the approval of a revenue plan of $403,127,921, balanced against an expenditure plan of $396,330,012 with an aggregate surplus across all funds of approximately $6.8 million. That budget on the aggregate does include about $33.7, almost $34 million in capital improvements. And so with that, just very generally speaking for the record, Since the May 21st workshop, the only real changes you've seen between that version and what you have here is what's on page 50 of the staff report, which since that time we did get updated numbers from the registrar of voters for the County of San Bernardino, where those numbers have been inputted into this budget and did cause an increase of about $200,000 to cover this upcoming uh 2026 election cycle there was also some adjustments for our role as a successor agency and we identified some corrections that needed to be made specific to the cost allocation plan that we have and so with that as we've gone through a very long and exhaustive presentation we're certainly prepared to do that again for you tonight but believing that that's not what you want to do uh this abbreviated version is is what we have to share with you certainly we have the team available uh including the author on this item is carmen coon and she and we are available for any questions or comments you might have thank you sir madam clerk would you please read the recommendation at the honorable city council also sitting as the victorville library board of trustees southern california logistics airport authority successor agency to the victorville redevelopment agency victorville water district

and the city of victorville as housing asset successor open and conduct a public hearing close the public hearing accept the transmittal letter from the measure p oversight committee adopt the attached resolutions number 26-303-039 lbt 26-002 sclaa 26-004 RSA 26-001, BWD 26-007, and CHAS 26-002 for the establishment and adoption of the fiscal year 2026-2027 annual budget. Adopt resolution number 26-042 affirming the general fund reserve policy, city council policy number CP 23-01, and adopt resolution number 26-043 establishing adopting the fiscal year 2026-2027 annual appropriations limit and the amount of one billion six hundred and seventy three million seven hundred fifty thousand two hundred forty three dollars pursuant to the california state constitutional article 13b government spending limitation thank you ma'am at this time we'll move on to technical questions from council member member tim harriman

I have none. Councilman Godin. I've already had all my questions answered. Thank you. Councilwoman Mora. I have none. Thank you. Councilwoman Irving.

No questions. Thank you.

And I have none. I'll open up the public hearing. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak?

No, Madam Mayor.

Well, this time I'll now close the public hearing and invite a motion for this item. Motion to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Second. I have no comment on the pending motion. Councilman Irving, comment on the pending motion? no thank you we back it up to staff and everybody who had something to do with this budget thank you very much for all the hard work you put into it thank you very much for putting the best foot forward for our citizens of the city of victorville i thank you for that now councilman are you looking at my notes

I wasn't going to say anything. I'm still you guys know, I appreciate you. I think we had meaningful dialogue at the workshop. So thank you very much. Councilman Godin.

I also echo the statements of my fellow council members. Thank you very much.

Councilman Moore.

Same staff did an excellent job and especially with the revisions and catching all those things. So I do appreciate your, your efforts to making sure it's really well presented for us and easy to understand. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Harriman.

Yeah. Also, thank you to staff and making that easy for me to understand. Thank you. Madam clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Councilmember Godin? Yes. Councilmember Irving? Yes. Councilmember Mora? Yes. Mayor Pretem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve points three through six of staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Good job, everybody. We'll move on to the consent calendar items three through 11. I'll invite a motion for this item.

Move to adopt.

Go ahead.

Move to adopt the consent calendar. Second.

I have a first by Councilman Irving, a second by Councilman Godin. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Councilmember Godin? Yes. Councilmember Irving? Yes. Councilmember Mora?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action on items 3 through 11 in accordance with recommendations as set forth on the agenda. Move on to written communications, item 12, benefits resolution number 26-044 and the salary schedule. Mr. Messler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you madam mayor and members of the council. This item is, is, um, in, in essence, a companion, uh, to the budget. And so with the approval, uh, in the previous item of the budget, uh, you now have the, uh, actual fiscal appropriation in place, uh, to be able to, to act on this particular item, which is. Our benefits resolution, it's something we do annually. And the benefits resolution is effectively establishing all the benefits, the benefit plan and the compensation plan for the upcoming fiscal year. It also establishes your table of org, which serves as your citywide position control. And so that establishes all of the positions that we rely on to perform the essential duties for the city. In summary, this item does change your position control from total positions of 575 in the current fiscal year. The upcoming fiscal year proposes an increase of six total positions of 581. The other highlights include a cost of living increase for all nonrepresented and represented not including the newly formed Battalion Chiefs Association of 3%. There's also an enhancement to the benefit allowance, $200 a month, along with another $200 allowance increase to the matching fringe subsidy. And so with that, this item has been authored by your human resources officer, Miss Heather Barber. I believe she's on via Zoom, and we're available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, would you please read the recommendation?

That the Honorable City Council adopt benefits resolution number 26-044, amending the salary schedule and amending fringe benefits effective July 1, 2026.

Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Council member Irving.

I don't have any questions. Thank you.

Council member Mora. I have none. Thank you. Council member Godin.

I have none. Thank you.

Mayor Tim Herriman. I have none. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation as presented in the agenda. Second. I have a first by Councilman Godin and a second by Councilman Mora. Councilman Godin, comments on the pending motion? I have none. Councilman Mora? I have none. Councilman Irving?

No comments, thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Harriman? No comments. And I have none. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Councilmember Goddard?

Yes.

Councilmember Irving?

Yes.

Councilmember Mora?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 14, amendment number 2 to the Consultation Professional Services Provider Agreement with Water System Consulting, Inc., for the On-Call Water Engineering Services. Mr. Metzler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. This item involves an amendment to an existing contract that was first originally entered into with WSC back in 2019 for on-call design-related services. This firm is a firm that we have worked with and is most knowledgeable about our water system and all of the modeling that keeps it functioning properly. And so with that, this item is brought to your attention so that we can amend the contract, adding additional compensation to that contract so that we can continue on with the outlined scope that's been provided in the staff report. And so with that, this item has been authored by your city engineer, Mr. Freddie Bonilla, and he's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation?

That the honorable Victorville Water District Board of Directors approve amendment number two to the consultant professional services provider agreement with Water Systems Consulting Inc. Project ECS 23-026 and the amount not to exceed $654,610 for on-call water engineering services.

Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll do technical questions from Councilmember. Mayor Patem, Harriman?

I have none.

Councilman Irving?

No questions. Thank you. Councilman Goddard?

I have none. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilman Morrow?

I have none.

Thank you. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Motion to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Second. I HAVE NO COMMENTS ON THE PENDING MOTION. COUNCILMEMBER GODDAM. I HAVE NONE. COUNCILWOMAN IRVING.

NO COMMENTS.

COUNCILWOMAN MORA. I HAVE NONE. THANK YOU. MAYOR PERTEMPERAMENT. NO COMMENTS.

COUNCILMEMBER GODDAM. YES. COUNCILMEMBER IRVING. YES. COUNCILMEMBER MORA.

YES.

MAYOR PERTEMPERAMENT.

YES.

MAYOR Becerra.

YES.

MOTION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.

WE'VE NOW TAKEN ACTION TO APPROVE STATS RECOMMENDATION AS PRESENTED ON THE AGENDA. Item 15, project proposal to California Transportation Commission for local streets and road funding for fiscal year 2026, 2027. Mr. Metzler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. SB1 was approved at the state legislature back in 2017 and increased the per gallon fuel tax along with the vehicle registration fee and requiring that those monies generated from those increases go to support roadway systems throughout the state of California. And so this funding source is one of the two certainly that we identified in the infrastructure financing analysis recently presented to you. And it's one of the requirements of the measure is effectively on an annual basis. We've got to submit projects, eligible projects, Uh, to to be able to demonstrate projects, uh, meeting these funds. And so this is more or less, um, uh, an item that we do, uh, annual annually, and we have done this annually. And so in this particular, uh, year, we're actually. approving an item that adds two additional roadways to the project list one being the stretch of bear valley road from bellflower to monta vista along with the mojave drive the entire length from 395 to 7th street and so with that once this item presuming it's approved gets approved that gets submitted to the ctc making us eligible to receive directly those funds And so with that, this item also is authored by your city engineer, Mr. Freddie Bonilla. And he's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, would you please read the recommendation?

that the City Council adopt resolution number 26 dash 026 approving to road projects for submittal to the California Transportation Commission to be eligible to receive local streets and roads funds for fiscal year 2026 2027 and authorized staff to submit this project proposal to the CTC.

Thank you, ma'am. This time we'll do technical questions from council members comes home and more. I have none. Thank you. Councilman Godin? I have none. Thank you. Councilman Irving?

No questions. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Mayor Patem-Harriman? I have none. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Motion to adopt staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Second. The first by Mayor Becerra and the second by Councilman Mora?

Yes.

I have no comments on the pending motion. Councilman Mora, comments on the pending motion?

I just want to thank staff again. I know it's not easy to compile these reports, but this really gets us the funding we need to fix some of our roads. So thank you.

Councilman Godin? I echo those sentiments. Always good to see road projects getting tackled.

Councilman Irving? I agree with my colleagues. Thank you for putting together the report, and I look forward to you submitting the proposal. Thank you.

Mayor Patel-Herman? I have none. Madam Clerk, will you please take the vote?

Council Member Godin?

Yes.

Council Member Irving? Yes. Council Member Mora? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 16, consideration of one, resolution number VWD26-009, accepting the 2026 water cost of service slash rate study, authorizing preparation and mailing of notices of public hearing regarding the proposed changes to water service rate pursuant to prop 218 and setting the date, time and location of the public hearing on the proposed water service rates and item two resolution VWD 26-001. Adopting a written objection administrative exhaustion procedure pursuant to Assembly Bill AB 2257 applicable to water rates setting proceedings under Prop 218. Mr. Mentzer, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. This item is in direct follow up to a workshop we held with you back on April 27th, 2026 of this year. basically to discuss the proposed five-year rate plan. And so with that, this item really kicks off the next step in the collective Proposition 218 process. And so with that, we do have your author, Mr. Doug Matthews here to tee things up. We do have a brief presentation from him and Kim Baylor of Bartels and Wells, basically to to give a high-level view of what this is, the next steps, and I believe there's specific attention going to be given to questions this council had with respect to the capital improvements.

Thank you, Mr. Metzler, and good evening, honorable mayor and council members. We do have a brief presentation today. I know this is a follow-up to the workshop, as Mr. Metzler mentioned, that happened on April 27th. This is just to give some high level overview. You asked about capital improvement projects at that meeting that we didn't have teed up. So we have the opportunity to talk about that a little bit as well tonight. They're working on it. OK. You know, it's been about five months we've been working on this. It's a marathon, but at times it's been a sprint. It's taken a big team to do this. We certainly have our consultant on line tonight, Kim Baylor, our principal with Bartle Wells. We'll run through this presentation, and she's available to answer any technical questions you might have. So just some of the highlights from the water rate study. We're pretty proud to be able to keep this at a 4% rate increase, especially considering that, and that's a yearly increase that we're looking at. but especially considering that barely exceeds annual cost of living percentages, while funding $36.5 million of capital improvement projects and operating expenses that run between $40 to $45 million per year for the next five years. 4%, we believe, is reasonable, and we've really worked hard to look out after the rate payer. When it comes to that rate, I bought this bottle of smart water today at the gas station. $2.24, you get 23.5 ounces. I look at our rate study, and for $2.28, you get 748 gallons of water. If you want to add the fixed cost in there, maybe add another $2. So for $4, you're essentially getting 748 gallons of water. When I hear people say our rates are high, I just can't buy that when you look at that. Can anybody guess how many bottles 748 gallons will fill? 3,000. Over 4,000. So that's what you're getting for that price. If you looked at a residential 40 gallon water heater, you could fill about 20 of those for $4. know i don't see our water being expensive i think it's it's a very good product at a good price so these rates are projected to go into effect august 1st that's so they collect they're not collecting fees from the prior fiscal year of june so they will start collecting july fees to start the next fiscal year Thereafter, in years two through five, they will commence on July 1st of every year. One of the key aspects of this rate study is, as you might recall from the workshop, is that we're moving from a two tier rate to a single tier rate that has a little bit of impact on our rates. Part of that is or most of that is just because of the. Oh, the court cases out there right now that are challenging the tiered rates and they're going to the Supreme Court. We don't feel we want to be in a position to be challenged in this rate. So we're going back to a single tier for the time being. You could see a two tier rate maybe during the next rate study, depending on how the court cases come out. One of the other things we're doing is we're paying off the remaining bond debt from Baldy Mesa for our arsenic. facilities to treat arsenic. There's about $7.255 million left on that. We have the money to pay it off. With that, we'll be able to move annual fees of about $1 million into our fund 410 to cover costs and keep these rates at a 4% increase. So that's a big benefit. You'll also see the arsenic surcharge go away as well for repairs in the WID 2 or Baldy Mesa service area. We'll have to work through the LAFCO process to make all this happen, but essentially we'll be hopefully dissolving Water Improvement District 1 and Water Improvement District 2 for good at that point. The updates you'll see possibly from the workshop We did update the personnel cost for coal and fringe for fiscal year 27. That did result in a little shuffle of CIP. You'll see a few cents variance here and there on some of the rates just due to some rounding and those as well. So if you see a difference, that's why you're seeing it. And then lastly, the new objection process we've implemented. essentially what you're having now are two processes. So you have a Prop 218 protest process that's always been in place where we send out ballots to every single water account holder out there. Or not ballots, we send out notifications, actually. And they have the ability to send in a written protest. That protest does not really have to have any foundation. It just has to say, I protest these rights, you know, and And they have it submitted either before the public hearing or at the public hearing. We count the ballots. And if there is 50% plus one of protests of the of 39,000. I knew it was somewhere in there. Half of that, if we get that many protests, then you cannot approve the rate increase. In addition to that, AB 2257 has a new objection process. And this one's a little different. So it gives the rate payer the opportunity to file a written objection to the rates. But that objection has to have a foundation. So it has to state that the reason why they're having an objection. And they can't just say, I don't think you followed the Prop 218 cost of service process. It has to say the legal grounds why we didn't follow it. And so that is similar. They would have to file those. We will in turn need to reply to those, each and every one of them. Prior to the public hearing, the deadline to submit those will be the Monday before, so we have the chance to reply to the last ones. Those will be made available. They'll be made available to the board. And they can weigh into your decision making. What this essentially does, it creates a process that's very transparent where the public has a chance to really engage and talk about how these rates were put together and if they do see some abnormality to it or something they don't agree with, something they don't believe followed the Prop 218 legal requirements they want to object to. Again, we do have the opportunity to respond and tell them why not. But what it also does is then they are limited. If you don't file a protest, you cannot then in turn sue the district later. If you do file a protest, that would preserve that right to do that if you weren't satisfied with the results. Do I got that right, Andre?

Yes, that's correct. It's a distinction between the protest and the objection process.

And those are submitted in two separate mailers. So they have to come separately and separately stamp back to the city clerk. And again, the protest would be counted at the public hearing. You would see these objections and responses hopefully maybe the day before the day of the public hearing if we can get them to you in time, just depending on how many we get. There is the possibility you could continue the public hearing if there was something to correct to another meeting at that point as well. It's a pretty new process. Not many agencies, I don't believe, have gone through it, but there's been a handful for sure. And it's just kind of to protect the district a little bit from lawsuits down the road, get your rates established. and limit the amount of lawsuits you could face. And I did forget to mention, one of the reasons for taking away the tiered rates as well is the small benefit the customers were getting out of, we felt were going to be possibly outweighed by a legal challenge. It could cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend. So it just wasn't, it didn't seem prudent to keep on with that at this point. Any questions on this so far?

Any of my council members' questions?

No.

OK. Doug, perhaps you should also point out the notices will explain the two different processes.

Right. So mailings will go out to every single water customer on Thursday. We're required to mail notices to the legal owner. It describes both Both the protest process and the objection process in the same notice, so they will have the you know. They can contact us, they can get on our website, they can call us, we can we can walk them through it as well, so they're given the guidelines of you know how to file an objection or protest. The last meeting workshop yes about our capital improvement project, as you know. capital improvements really drive our rates more than anything. Like I said, $36.5 million over five years. We certainly kept that low. We balanced what we believe are our highest priorities and most necessary projects. While we would like to do everything, we understand that there are impacts to ratepayers, and we try and weigh that and balance that out over the five-year period. We do get another shot at this in another five years to take a fresh look. So every five years, You know we shovel the deck and look at it again, but with that this chart right here is just really showing the three buckets of in that capital improvement five year CIP funding for the master plan for the rate study. You have projects from this fiscal year that are being rolled over you'll see that's 5.5 million you have projects that you just approved tonight for fiscal year 27. For 2.9 million and then the balance is is projects in the master plan that will be coming to you the same night as the public hearing in July 21 and that's 28.2 million. This slide here shows the distribution of projects i'll point out a couple of them, as you can see. annual maintenance and rehab for reservoirs. That's something that we really want to tackle over the next 10 years. We're hoping to be able to get to two to three a year. We will be looking for a consultant that possibly can take on a whole 10 year contract to do this, taking risks for the warranty for the full 10 years. If not, we'd have to bid them out one by one and hire staff to help us do that because we honestly don't have tank expertise within the city. So just knowing all the codes and requirements takes some specialized individuals to be able to do that. But you can see that's a big bulk of what we're upcoming. As always, equipment of vehicles is a portion, but our annual well maintenance is a big chunk as well, 3.3 million. That would be rehabs for our production wells. We try to do two to three a year as well. Some years that's impacted, say, for instance, by well 109 that we're having to redrill to the tune of probably about $2.5 million. So that impacts some of what you can do on the well rehabs. And those you just push out then and take on as many as you can with the remaining years. Those are the unplanned things that you have to adjust for during the rate study and master planning period. We're continuing with our site security upgrades, our block walls, our service line replacement program. And then you'll see down there meter replacements for 2.8 million. What we're looking to do is our meters will be about 15 years old in 2030, year four of this rate study. So we want to spread out the cost of replacement because they only have a 20-year warranty. So we're looking to spread that cost out over a 10-year period. Beginning when the oldest meters are 15 years old and it would end when, as they were put in in a five year period, when the last ones were 20 years old, when they're just running out of warranty. That would give us the ability to spread those costs out over 10 years rather than biting it off in a five year period and help smooth out our rates. And then we could wait another 10 years and start the process again. And at that point, they would all be at the 20-year period of the warranty. We certainly don't want to wait for them all to fail and just be stuck with a big cost of having to replace a lot of meters at once. So we want to be proactive in that vein. We have emergency generators, SCADA improvements, booster station maintenance, and a few pipeline improvements. You'll see the pipeline improvements being a fairly low number comparatively. We've done a lot of pipeline replacements The past five to 10 years, a lot of old steel water mains, and our system's in pretty good shape. While we do have some left to do, we feel it's more important right now to tackle our reservoirs, our water tanks, and our wells at this point and some of the other projects. But again, after this five-year period, we can certainly take a look at that again. This chart right here is essentially showing what the first one did. It's just showing The costs over a 10 year period, we do look at these costs over a 10 year period. We want to be forward thinking so that we can keep the rates smooth through the 10 years. So during this, we do take a look through that period. Even though you can only approve the rates for a five year period, we want to take a look and see what's coming down the road and what we're projecting and predicting for the five years after that as well so what you're seeing there are master plan projects in the dark blue again you're seeing the fiscal year rollover 26 in the yellow the budgeted fiscal year 27 in the green a little bit of that will roll over just because of the duration of the project and you're also seeing what's left and budgeted for fiscal year 26 for CIP Current year plus next 10 years, $76 million, and that's all within that 4% rate increase over the five years. We're pretty proud of this as well. If you look, our current rates and our proposed rates are very far to the left on the low end of the scale. We feel we have a very robust system. We're proud of it, and we're glad to be able to keep our rates this low while still taking care of our system. So we believe this is a great slide to show. And this is showing customer bill impacts. These are both single family residential, just showing some low month average month and average month and peak month for three quarter inch and one inch meters. You'll see a slight increase. But if you go to the multifamily residential, you're going to see actually decreases for the three quarter inch and the one inch meter. And that's predominantly because of the tiered rates. And that's one of the impacts of it. So a benefit to those customers as well. But one thing I will let you know as well, if you were to calculate rate changes in the very first year of a rate study, and we're telling you what it really is, is a 4% rate revenue increase over that year. It's not really going to equate in the first year to every class of customer getting the same exact percentage of increase or decrease Because we are adjusting so many factors within the rate study to make the cost of service argument and make it fair and equitable So you won't really see it in the first year, but in the years after that then you'll see them increase You know in each class by roughly four percent after that Here's your commercial water bill comparison as well for a typical three quarter one inch meter and again they're seeing a reduction and that's again the tiered rate structure, you know, creating that. So our next steps, we will need to mail our proposition to 18 notices if we get that approval tonight we'll need to get those notices in the mail to our our vendor info send. On Thursday, we will collect and count protests. Again, tonight we'll schedule the public hearing for July 21. It'll get us within the 45-day notification period. We'll be collecting and responding to the objections as we get them. So we have time to work with our rate consultant and our city attorney's office to respond. And we would be holding a public hearing on the 21st for the board of directors to consider adopting the rates. If no majority protest exists, then you have the ability to implement these new rates. Lastly, I just want to say This takes a big team to make this happen. I want to thank our consultant, Barta Wells, and specifically Kim Baylor, one of the principals for that agency, who's one of the experts in performing rate analysis and cost of service analysis. She's assisted by Ashley Wong. We have our admin team, who's probably done the heavy lifting for the district. That's led by Mel Kretchen, with help from Alex Garcia and Annie DeRoe. Our city attorney's office has been instrumental with Andre and more specifically Tara working a lot of hours on this project. And our operations team that's informed the water master plan as well as the race study on projects needed. Daniel Best, our assistant director, Arnold Villarreal and Sam Arvizu, our managers, and we have our supervisors who've been instrumental in this as well. Martin Cadero, Tom Porter, Jeff Ricker, norma armenta mark betts and darrett hill and i would be remiss if i didn't mention all of our certified operators that know this system as well as anybody and they're the ones out there the eyes and the ears really taking care of the system and helping us make these informed decisions and bringing back the information we need to make these decisions we do also have our water master plan consultant water system consulting You know that process has to go hand in hand with this rate study, because the capital projects are such an instrumental part of the rates and that's led by lane carlson and with her. One of her colleagues Patricia parks our finance team has helped us instrumentally as well, the billing department working with meters to get us a lot of information our it department. And then our engineering department, led by Freddie Bonilla with Dennis Lee and Victor Fajardo helping out as well. So I just wanted to make sure those folks got some kudos. It takes a village. And it's been a long process, but we're glad to see it coming to an end for sure. So with that, certainly we have our RAE consultant online. We're open to any questions or comments.

Don't go nowhere. Let's let Madam Clerk please read the recommendation.

staff recommends that the honorable board of directors adopt resolution number vwd 26-009 accepting the 2026 water rate study, setting July 21st, 2026, as the date for the public hearing on the proposed changes to the district's rates and fees for water services, and authorized staff to prepare and mail notices of public hearing in accordance with Proposition 218, and adopt Resolution Number VWD 26-011, establishing a written objection administrative exhaustion procedure pursuant to Assembly Bill 22.

Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Mayor Tim Harriman.

Yeah, hey, can I ask Doug questions or?

Ask him.

Okay. Thanks for that, Doug. That was a good presentation. I have just a couple questions. I understand that was a lot of work. I can only imagine.

um the uh security site security is that where the wall money came from or do you consider the walls as security yeah absolutely so those are the block walls with the wrought iron on top or the the spikes that curve on top to just keep people out as well as reinforce gates at the sites as well we're hopefully attempting to get all of to all of the sites at some point but we have a lot so we tackle as many as we can each year.

The emergency generators, there's a well right by my house. I see that big old generator right there. What's the lifespan on those?

Obviously, they don't run that often. They do run for testing. We don't really run into that many emergencies. I don't have an exact amount of years, but 20 to 30 years, I'd imagine, at least. Usually what happens is they just become outdated and you can't get parts for them anymore. And they're just going to get aged, not from use, but just due to the age of the equipment. And also there's CARB requirements out there as well. And sometimes we run into those issues. So I would hope to get a good 20 years plus out of them.

The service line replacement, when I toured with you, When I got elected. There was a crew that is that the service line you're speaking of the copper from the street to the meter correct that's getting that's replacing the plastic service lines that were put in.

A couple decades ago that just have issues they split quite often those that's predominantly the leaks we get in the summer, more than anything, and we've been replacing those was copper is as we get the opportunity. One of the reasons there's money in there too, is when we do roads, we like to. to replace those service lines as well ahead of that. So we're not digging up a new road that's been rehabbed or paved. So we keep money in there to keep that program going as well.

The mailer goes to only the homeowners. It doesn't go to the tenants.

Correct. It goes to the owner of record. It goes to their mailing address on file with the county. so that virtually the owners are the only ones that can protest correct okay and those protests have to state their name their you know account their their address and whatnot okay hey that's all i have councilman godin

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yes, I have a couple of questions. First, Mr. Metzler, it's when at first glance, when you look at the specifically the residential price increase, it can seem like a lot. We're looking at for average water use four dollars and two cents up to six dollars and sixty nine cents affecting a monthly bill. um but in actuality when we when I dig into this as I understand it is we're trying to be proactive about uh the tiered structure possibly being ended and so we're trying to be ahead of the game and um so when we look at this this is not just the effects of the rate increase at the four percent but also changing it from a two-tiered structure to a single tiered structure is that correct that is correct So when we're looking at this and we realize that that is happening if you look at the other graphs we see actually that commercials getting a decrease, while residential is getting the increase is that correct correct. So we're pretty much assuming that that tiered structure is going to be changed and everybody's going to have to comply with a single tiered structure structure is that correct.

Yeah, and the reason for it is that there's a larger landscape involving legal challenges to water agencies throughout California that have these tiered rate structures. And I think typically we're used to seeing agencies having those where they're using their rate structures really to try to encourage Water conservation, um, and I think the challenge in in simple terms is that, uh, the way they structure those rates, it, it defies the traditional logic that that's supposed to go into, uh, modern rate planning, which is to really find as much equity amongst all the customer classes, uh, within within the system. And so. When you have a charge like that that's actually charging more based upon the consumption intending to get an outcome of conservation, you're not fairly or equitably actually charging the true cost of the delivery of that molecule, if you will. um that's what's out there and a lot of agencies are being forced to change away from that type of tiered structure and even though we currently do have a tiered structure it's not really for conservation it's actually providing a credit to the residential users for the free production allowance that we have so different and we certainly believe we are defensible and how we have our tiered structure but Just the simple optics of having a tier structure, you know, definitely presents the potential for a challenge. And then, of course, the potential to have to defend and spend a tremendous amount of money that, you know, in theory could cost a lot more than the actual cost it is to provide that free production allowance to the to the to the repairs.

So in subsequent years, then it's fair to say that we won't see such a big jump.

I believe that's correct.

And on page 14, it shows that our actual service charges are going to decrease. Is that correct?

Doug, you want to help me with that one? Yeah. Yeah. So that is correct. You'll see in the chart in table one, I don't know if you have that. Let me go back to the, I'm actually in the study here.

Page 888 of the agenda.

OK. Certainly, you're seeing the fixed service charges per month in that chart right there. And yes, they actually are decreasing for the first year, but then go up after that.

And is this also affected by the change in tier structure?

Correct. It's just you have to look at everything holistically when you do this. when you reshuffle the deck on this, you're just really pulling everything apart and putting it back together and calculating your true cost of service, discounting that free production allowance. So, um, you know, it's, it's, it can be misleading because that's, and that's why we show the monthly bill because the monthly bill is really where it's at to the customer. You know, they can look at these rates and see, you know, this is up, that's down, but what does it really come down? It would come down to that monthly bill.

Okay, great. Thank you, Mr. Matthews and Mr. Metzler. That's all I have. Councilwoman Irving.

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. My questions are centered on the discussion that you just had with my colleague. I remember at the workshop, I had a problem because when I first heard the presentation, it seemed that inequity was inherently in this single tiered system. Because if you think about a single residential payer, single person in a household, and then you think about perhaps a commercial entity or a multifamily entity, if there's a single rate, and then you look at the chart here, there's an increase for the residential rate payer, excuse me.

but i want you to dig deeper because if i was trying to regurgitate or restate this to someone as staters i wouldn't be able to do so so break that down for me and pretend i'm a kindergartner so and and what what this really boils down to is you have to look at the actual cost of serving that class of customer that water it's nothing more nothing less we can't look at hey, this is single family. Oh, I think we should charge commercial more just because they make money. I think this should happen. I think that should happen. We can't look at that. It's truly the cost of serving that water to that class of customer based on our system and the maintenance and operation of our system.

So the 4% increase is based on delivery and water used?

So the 4% increase is a rate revenue target. We need to meet a 4% rate revenue target to be able to afford everything that's shown in this study. That 4% gets divided amongst the classes of users in an equitable and fair manner that reflects the cost of serving them water. And I don't know, Kim, you're online if you want to touch on it.

Sure, yeah. As Doug stated, the goal is to collect 4% more revenue per year for the five years in the rate plan. In the first year, we're seeing adjustments to the rate structure. We're seeing the fixed and variable charges changing due to the cost of service analysis. So a number of pieces of data went into developing how we're allocating costs to each component of your rate structure. And then going forward in future years, it's a 4% increase to the charges in the next fiscal year. So for fiscal year 26-27, we're having more different changes to different rates because of the cost of service analysis and then starting in fiscal year 27-28 all the charges get increased by four percent per year so it's the first year when we're just redistributing the revenue requirements to each component of the rate based on the cost of service analysis and when you break down all the components that go into the into serving water it's

It's a very mathematical analysis that comes up with this. It really, truly looks at every aspect of running this water district and allocates cost classes and everything to these customers.

And so what would you say?

As far as?

Like I just explained, if you were in and someone asked you to explain this, what would you say?

To which part of the question? Help me out there.

No, I said explain it to me as if I'm a kindergartner. In other words, break it down. What would you say?

Well, I would say our rates are going up at a very modest rate increase that are covering the cost of providing water. They're extremely low compared to other districts, and we're barely above, you know, the cost of living increases that we all experience for goods and services and for buying things. So it's not much more than what you're experiencing year to year and in your daily lives as well.

OK, I'm going to let it rest there. That perhaps was an unfair question.

That's OK. If I might, because I think part of that question was really focused on the equity piece.

It is.

And so I can take a stab at that. And what I would say is that this structure that we have in place actually truly provides you the most equitable Form of rate structuring and so even though the residentials won't feel that way because they're seeing an increase When you look at the different customer classes residential say versus commercial Residential we're actually getting a benefit that the commercial customer classes warrant and so the going to this you know single tier is and basically eliminating that credit that the residentials were getting for the free production allowance truly makes it a uniformly equitable rate structure to where, you know, the resident versus the commercial, the different customer classes are basically paying the same cost of service.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Councilman Mora? OK, thank you very much for all of that information. A lot of my questions were answered, but it's kind of the same, right? So this is all the money that we are collecting on these bills are just for cost per service and then with our five year project plan. So by doing it this way and doing these projects year by year, tackling so many helps to keep the cost down is what you're saying. Instead of doing everything all at once or getting stuck in an emergency where we did not do some upgrades or infrastructure repairs, So these capital improvement projects are necessary, but gradually it's not as expensive as if we were to do it all at once right.

that's correct, I mean to have modest rate increases every year actually will keep double digit rate increases down the road from happening, because you are able to you know tend to your needs as far as the water system. And take care of it and and that's part of the goal of this and and we do try and look at all of our capital. projects and spread them out and prioritize them so that we can keep these rates as low as possible and minimize the impact of the customer i'm pretty proud to be able to just give a 4% increase. When I look around some of the districts, to be honest with you.

No, absolutely I don't think we realize how much work and staff effort it does take to provide water right and looking at the graph here, I mean we are considerably with a recent right study you know we're considerably on the lesser side of the spectrum for our neighboring cities and towns, so I appreciate that Thank you.

Mr I have a question on page 888 it's probably going to go to Doug but. drought surcharges 10% conservation 2030 40 and 50% conservation are those. drought surcharges but state of California says we have to pay or what the city of victorville says.

So what those actually cover is if we were to go in into drought measures. we wouldn't just automatically say, hey, we're going to implement these surcharges to the customers. Okay. These are meant to cover shortfalls in revenues. So if we quit pumping as much water and our revenues decrease because our sales decreased, if it got to a point where, you know, it hurt our revenues to a point where we weren't keeping our reserves or having to dip into reserves or not being able to do certain things, Then we would have the ability to enact these drought surcharges, but it would go through the same type of process, similar to what we're going through now. So we would have to go through an action of the board to make that happen. So it's not saying, hey, if California says we need to conserve 10% or we say we need to conserve 20, it's if our revenues drop to those levels, we have the ability to enact But we wouldn't react all that quickly. If you look, they're very small increases. We would look to cover the cost. We would look to defer capital. We would look to do whatever we can not to. It's just a measure in place that if we needed to, it's there.

OK. Thank you very much. I'll have a motion for this item. Motion to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Second. City Council Chambers, I have no comments on the penny motion, but thank you very much to you and staff that put this together, thank you very much to you and your team, Mr Rensselaer Councilman go down, I agree, thank you for the wonderful presentation and breaking it down for us even further that was very helpful.

City Council Chambers, come to a more same Thank you very much, and I too am proud that we are able to try and keep our rates down, but still providing water in the way that we do.

Councilman Irving. Yes, I have comments. I want to say thank you so much, Mr. Matthews. I kind of put you on the spot. I didn't mean to. But in the meantime, I heard you mentioned a lot of departments. I absolutely love the way the professionals come together and collaborate. So that was an effort that was all hands on deck. So I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Mayor Tim Harriman.

Yeah, I'd like to echo that also. I'm actually really That was great. Doug, you and all your guy. I'm actually very proud of our water department. I mean, if we have the lowest water rates, Sperry's gonna add to theirs here soon, but we've got the lowest water rates around and we should be awfully proud about that. And if somebody were to come to me to stated brothers, I think that's what I would tell them is check out what everybody else's water costs in Victorville were taking care of you. Thanks.

Madam clerk, will you take the vote?

Councilmember Godin? Yes. Councilmember Irving? Yes. Councilmember Mora? Yes. Mayor Partem Harriman?

Yes.

Mayor Becerra?

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. We now take an action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 17, annual confirmation of maintenance assessment district for fiscal year 2026-2027. Mr. Metzler, would you introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Throughout the city, we have a number of assessment districts serving different purposes, landscape maintenance assessment districts, drainage facility assessment districts, maintenance assessment districts, and street lighting assessment districts. And annually, we are required to go through this process, and we typically do that around this budget approval time where we have to evaluate um the uh the the actual districts similarly the cost of service and of course the revenue necessary to satisfy uh the cost of service and in some of the cases uh given uh within the limitations that are provided especially as it relates to caps on ability to increase revenues And so with that, we typically do that analysis through an engineer's report. And so with that, this item includes all of the LMADS, the DFADS, the MADS, and the SLADS. And among them all, there's no increases proposed for the LMADS, DFADS, MADS. There is a proposed increase on the street lighting assessment district, and that's an, I'm sorry. That is an increase of about $4.40 from 2428 to 2668 per improved lot. I'm sorry, per parcel on an annual basis. So it's important to note that that's charged on an annual basis and that's actually collected through the property taxes. Presuming this item gets approved, then it authorizes us to proceed in submitting all the necessary paperwork to the assessor's office so that the properties can be properly assessed the the district charges. And so with that, this item has been authored by your city engineer, Mr. Freddie Bonilla, and he's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation?

that the Honorable City Council approve resolution numbers 26-027, 26-030, 26-033, and 26-036, authorizing the initiation proceedings for the annual levy of assessments for the maintenance assessment districts, drainage facilities assessment districts, landscaping maintenance assessment districts, and the citywide street lighting assessment district for fiscal year 2026-2027. approve resolution numbers 26-028, 26-031, 26-039, and 26-037. Preliminarily approving consolidated engineers reports filed in support of the levy of assessments for fiscal year 2025 2026. and approve resolution number 26 dash 029 26 dash 032 26 dash 036 and 26 dash 038 declaring its intention to levy the maintenance assessment districts for fiscal year 2026 2027. and setting a public hearing date of June 16th, 2026.

Madam Clerk, you want to read the recommendation for number three over one more time? You said zero three six zero three five.

I'll read it again. Approve resolution numbers 26-029, 26-032, 26-035, and 26-038, declaring its intention to levy the maintenance assessment districts for fiscal year 2026-2027 and setting a public hearing date of June 16th, 2026.

Thank you, ma'am. Technical questions from council members. Council Member Mora.

I have none. Thank you.

councilman godin i have none thank you councilman irving no questions thank you mayor tim harriman yes um the uh so the i know that lmad one through four does not have an escalator uh the ones that do they still are not getting an increase uh that's correct okay that's that's a good thing isn't it

Yes, we've been able to make the money work given last year's rate. And yeah, I believe that's sufficient to cover this upcoming fiscal year. OK. All right. Thank you. That's all I have.

I'll invite a motion for this item. Motion to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Second. I have no comments on the pending motion. Mayor Bertram-Harriman?

I have none.

Councilwoman Irving?

No comments. Thank you.

Councilman go down.

None. Thank you.

Councilman Maura. None. Thank you. Madam clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Council member go down. Yes. Council member Irving. Yes. Council member Maura. Yes. Mayor Pretem Harriman. Yes. Mayor Becerra.

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 18, amendment number eight to the waste disposal agreement between the county of San Bernardino and the city of Victorville. Mr. Minister, would you introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. This item involves access not just by Victorville. It's ultimately an agreement that also gets entered into by the other cities in the County of San Bernardino that rely on the county's landfill system to support the disposal of local refuse. And so with that, Victorville did participate as a part of an ad hoc that worked with the county basically to negotiate an extension to the waste disposal waste disposal agreement commonly referred to as the WDA. And that as a process has been going on for about 9 months, if not a little bit longer. and ultimately with the goal of getting an agreement in place before the ending term of the current contract, which is June 30th, 2026. And so with that, this item before you reflects what has been worked out between the ad hoc committee for the represented cities, along with the county of San Bernardino. And so with that, what this item does do is it largely mirrors the contract already in place. It does have a slightly better rate, slightly reduced rate. The current contract that we have indexes off of a gate rate. 85% charge to WDA cities. This contract actually indexes off the gate rate to the order of 83%, so a slight reduction there in the total cost per ton for WDA cities to dispose to the landfill, which will create some savings to the respective cities' solid waste programs. And then with that also a part of this agreement is instead of a short term, this does extend for a term of nine years. And so it effectively end in 2035. And so with that, those are really kind of the highlights of this arrangement. It will provide continued access by Victorville to the Victorville landfill for the disposal of its waste materials.

the author on this item is your director of public works and water mr doug matthews and he's available for any questions or comments you might have thank you sir madam clerk would you please read the recommendation that the honorable city council authorized the mayor to execute amendment number eight to the waste disposal agreement between the county of san bernardino and the city of victorville thank you ma'am at this time we'll do technical questions from council members remember tim harriman

I have none.

Councilman Irving.

No questions. Thank you.

Councilman Godin. I have none. Councilwoman Mora.

I have none. Thank you.

And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation as presented in the agenda.

Second.

I have a first by Councilman Godin, a second by Mayor Patam-Hareman. Councilman Godin comments on the pending motion.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, I just want to thank staff for this. This is a start. We still have some ground that we need to take with the county and come to some agreements. But this is a start. This is good in our favor. And so thank you for all of your work and your proactiveness setting a precedent. There's 15 other cities in this. So I'm proud that Victorville is taking a stand on this. But this is a start.

Thank you.

I would just echo what Councilwoman Goddard stated. That's all.

Councilwoman Mora?

The same. It's the start, but I appreciate all the staff's effort to slowly reduce this, and then hopefully we'll have some more progress by the time this contract is up. Councilwoman Irvin?

to staff, I appreciate what you do. Thank you for working hard for us. I don't know why I'm losing my voice, but you'll get to it. Okay, thank you.

Mr. Metzler, to you and staff, thank you for working with both for tech and Athens to make this possible to you and your staff for Karen butts, the citizens of the city of Victoria. Thank you, sir. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please?

Council Member Godin? Yes. Council Member Irving? Yes. Council Member Mora?

Yes.

Mayor Partem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 19. calling for the general municipal election and consolidating with the statewide election with the San Bernardino County Register of Voters. Mr. Metzler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the council. As we do have an election coming up in November, state law does provide for us to allow for the consolidation of our election into a countywide effort. And as we've traditionally relied on the county registrar voters to undertake our election process this item effectively carries on that same tradition and so with that this item also does incorporate the estimates that have been shared with us by the rov for this upcoming election which would include an election for two district seats along with a general measure And so with that, the author on this item is your city clerk, Miss Jennifer Thompson. She's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Would you please read the recommendation that your honorable city council adopt Resolution number twenty six zero four zero for the holding of a general municipal election and adopt Resolution number twenty six zero four one for the consolidation of the general municipal election?

Thank you, ma'am. Technical questions. Council member Councilman Godin. I have none, thank you. Councilwoman Mora?

I have none, thank you.

Councilman Irving? No questions, thank you. Mayor Patem-Harriman?

I have none.

And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation.

Second.

I have a first by Councilman Goddard, a second by Councilman Irving. Councilman Goddard, comments on the pending motion?

None, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Councilman Irving?

No comments, thank you. Councilwoman Mora?

I have none, thank you. Mayor Patem-Harriman? I have none. And I have none. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote?

Council Member Godin? Yes. Council Member Irving? Yes. Council Member Mora? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Harriman? Yes. Mayor Becerra? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 20, cancellation of the July 7th, 2026 and August 4th, 2026 regular city council meetings. Mr. Minister, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and members of the council, just looking forward, especially considering the summer months coming upon us, typically for the July 4th or the meeting that's around the July 4th because of the holiday and or because of extended weeks, weekends where employees are taking vacations, which we certainly are encouraging to do around this time of year. typically we have difficulty with having staff available to actually prepare an agenda so that's typically why we would recommend canceling the July the meeting that's around the July 4th and then the meeting in August very traditionally conflicts with national night out and the council has traditionally wanted to participate in national night out in being that Uh, that event is hosted at a park in the community. Certainly been difficult for the council to be in 2 places at 1 time. And so traditionally, we've been canceling the 1st meeting in August as well for that for that for that conflict.

Thank you, sir. Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation?

Any action is at the discretion of your honorable city council.

Technical questions from council members, Councilman Irving.

No questions. Thank you.

Councilman Mora. I have none. Thank you. Councilman Godin.

I have none.

Mayor Tim Harriman.

I also have none.

And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item.

Move to cancel the July 7th and August 4th, 2026 regular city council meeting. Second.

I have a first by Councilman Godin, second by Councilman Irving. Councilman Godin, comments on the pending motion?

No comments.

Councilman Irving?

No comments, thank you.

Councilman Mora? I have none, thank you. Mayor Patem-Hareman? I have none. I have none. Madam Clerk, will you take the vote?

Councilmember Goddard? Yes. Councilmember Irving? Yes. Councilmember Mora?

Yes.

Mayor Patem-Hareman?

Yes.

Mayor Becerra?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve the cancellation of the City Council meeting. Item 21, city manager reports. Mr. Metzler, you're up.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the council. Just a couple of items to report on the environmental program side of the house. We do have Victorville's Right Stuff contest, which is open through September of this year. Residents have a chance to win $100 by properly sorting materials into the recycling organics and trash carts. And so to be eligible to win, residents must first sign up for the contest, which is on the city's website. On the community services side of the house, registrations now open for summer activities, including summer swim lessons, kids summer camp, and a number of other programs. Uh, information is also on our website, or you can call the community center and then as a part of the summer food service program, free lunches will be provided to children of all ages. Monday through Friday at the victoryville library and Mesa Linda hook and sunset Ridge parks meals will be served now through August 5th. For more information on that, please contact us at the Hook Community Center. Also, I've got a number of projects of interest that I'll share, the list of all the projects that are going through our development process. That's all I have at this time, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, sir. Item 22, discussion and possible action regarding upcoming agenda items. Councilwoman Goddard?

I have none.

Councilwoman Irving?

I have nothing.

Councilwoman Mora? I have none. Thank you. Mayor Tim Harriman. And I have none. Item 23 reports from council members. Councilwoman Mora.

I have none. I just want to say thank you to staff. I know that doing the budget must have not been easy. So we appreciate all of your hard work. And thank you.

Councilman Gordon. I have none. Thank you. Councilmember Irving.

Nothing. Thank you.

Remember Tim Herman? I have nothing. I'd just like to, Mr. Benzler, thank you and staff for feeding the kids on the summer break.

Let's see if I pass by.

Thank you very much. The time is 7.40, and this meeting is adjourned.