City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Okay, welcome back everybody. We're going to go ahead and call our meeting back to order with a roll call from our city clerk Kathy Valdez. The record should reflect that all members are present with the exception of deputy mayor O'Donnell. Our city attorney Walter Chung will bring us out of close session. In close session today, the city council voted 40 with deputy mayor O'Donnell absent to purchase 952-958 Postal Way from Escandido Ventures LLC for 13.125 million. and council member Melinda will lead us in the pledge of alleg allegiance this evening. Please rise.

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. Our city clerk has some procedural items to cover.

Thank you, mayor. In accordance with the Brown Act, I'd like to announce as a result of convening simultaneous meetings, the members of the Buena Sanitation District will receive compensation of $147.75 for the district meeting pursuant to Buena Sanitation District Ordinance 2006-1. I would like to remind everyone that the Vista Municipal Code requires members of the public to observe order and decorum at the meeting and to conduct themselves in a courteous manner. The ordinance was adopted to allow for public input and to facilitate city business without disruption of the meeting. Applause is appropriate for items listed under the presentation portion of the agenda only. Students wishing to receive credit for attending this evening's meeting must stay for a minimum of 1 hour. However, we ask that you stay for the dur duration of an item rather than leaving in the middle of a discussion. When you are ready to leave, you may ask one of the staff members at the back of the room to sign your paper. Thank you.

Thank you. To speak on an item on tonight's agenda, please fill out a speaker slip with the number of the item you'd like to speak on. Give it to the clerk secretary of staff here at the DIS. Speaker slips are available on the table just outside the council chamber doors. For members of the public participating via Zoom, you may use the raise your hand feature to indicate you like to speak or press star 9 on your phone. We will announce when to raise your hand to indicate you like to make a comment on the specific item being discussed. speakers will each have three minutes. Now, we'll go to our city manager for approval of tonight's agenda. Thank you, mayor. We will be removing discussion item one, which is a wayfinding signage program proposal for tasting rooms. We will likely revisit that at a later date. Okay. Very good.

Yes. I just wanted to ask a quick question. Um if we are able if you would be amendable to moving uh D4 to uh the first discussion item. We have students and wouldn't want them to stay too late. Sure, that's fine with me. Thank you.

Okay. Uh any member of the public may address the city council on agency related matters that are not on the agenda by requesting to speak during this section of the agenda. If you are participating via Zoom, you may use the raise your hand feature or press star 9 now if you'd like to speak. The number of speakers heard during this segment is limited to 10. Any remaining speakers will be heard heard under the second oral communications item. Do we have any requests to be heard under oral communications? Okay, looks like we have two speakers here in the chambers. We'll hear first from Debbie Yates and then from Michael Pleski. And if you heard your name called, uh, please come forward, sit in the front row, and be ready to speak when your name is called. Is Debbie Yates available? Yes. And uh Mr. Pollleski, if you'd please come forward and grab a seat in the front row. You come right here to the to the podium and just pull that microphone right towards you and speak right into it.

Thank you. I want to say as close to your mouth as possible on that microphone. Yeah, you bet. There you go. Now we can hear you nice and clear.

Okay. Thank you for hearing me out. I appreciate every one of you. Um, I came today I'd like to share my viewpoint and give voice to a common concern that shared among other vistas regarding the logo branding project. Um, the poll with the chose choice of three designs. Uh, I'm seeing very little resonance and a disconnect between our community's identity and the designs that are presented uh to represent our city. I believe that civic engagement should be encouraged and not sidelined or suppressed. At its core, the message that we uh want to bring is we'd like to have the uh 1980s look the curvy vista. This vision reflects our winding roads and our rolling hills. It symbolizes a community that's fully grown, organic, and alive. It ties into our rancho history, our mission, close mission history, and our Spanish and Mexican influences. Uh we don't want a design that treats Vista as a data point, a market segment, a generic consumer target. We are people. We are community, not numbers. Vista has long been a community defined by love, kindness, and mutual respect. We value our distinctiveness, and we don't want to resemble every other city or business. A logo is not just a graphic. It expresses the soul of a city. Vista's soul is rooted in a strong and accomplished past lived out today

through healthy daily life and creative pursuits and carried forward with hope and intention for the next hundred years. The logo options recently presented do not reflect those values. We are one vista. We as uh Vistans don't define oursel by districts or live as if um I'm sorry, hang on. We don't we don't feel that we are divided from our neighbors in any way. Districts exist solely as an administrative tool to better serve the whole. After more than 150 years of unity and cooperation and shared histories, we're deeply interconnected. We're connected through family, business, culture, and common purpose. We support one another and we stand together. Because of this shared understanding, we recognize when something is kind of being pushed through that does.

Thank you so much, Mr. Michael Pleski. Do any of you know that? I apologize, but our uh rules at a quorum request that you face us in speaking to the microphone.

Hello audience. M can you raise your hands if you know that there is a lo survey about the new logo for Vista if anyone knows about it prior to tonight. Thank you. Now the logo had started in 2024 I believe from Jamie Muhen posted on his Instagram. Then on his blog it says to the to the right person you know got the idea and then it proceeded it somehow very quickly within one month to the competition. I don't recall seeing on social media that it was there currently the love of survey I don't see it posted on our social media on Instagram or Facebook. I only made was aware of it from channel 10 and uh KSI news uh bringing some up and then the survey that had been done had only 104 people comment in it for the colors and 101 for the the uh ideas. I don't see the ideas fully represented in these designs. None of the ideas were for four bands representing four districts. This logo I don't really care for it. I feel it can look like Visa sometimes and Pepsi is what a lot of people said. I've tried to let people know about the survey on Instagram and Facebook. I've been trying to get the word out. I went and sat in front of the this village pub and try to let people know. Not many people like the newer design. This design I feel is an insult. It looks nothing like our mountains and we don't have the ocean. Even the the person who made the design said that people shouldn't really vote for that one cuz they didn't think it was like, you know, I don't want to see a mistake like Po Santa Fe again where a few people decided it then people when they finally saw it were upset. I like the old logo. The current one is fine. I never really had much of a problem with it. it wasn't such a drastic change, but I feel these are too much and I wish a city would encourage people through social media

that I have not seen to uh participate in a survey. I thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, now we're going to go to Zoom. We'll hear from Becky Rap followed by Madison.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. Uh my name is Becky Rap. I'm a local parent concerned for the health and safety of our young people today, especially as they're bombarded with misinformation regarding drug use, especially marijuana. Recently, the New York Times published an editorial titled, "It's time for America to admit that it has a marijuana problem." National publications like the New York Times are recognizing that marijuana is not what the industry has told us, but that there are serious public health concerns that have evolved since uh they've been permitted. Consumers were promised transparency and got and guard rails, but many consumers have no idea how potent these products are, and young adults are being exposed to levels of THC that research links to higher risks of psychosis, anxiety, and long-term psychiatric harm. Here in Vista, we cannot ignore the significant problem many residents are facing as they struggle with addiction, overdose, behavioral health crisis, impaired driving and homelessness tied to substance use. So, we have to ask ourselves, are we trying to mitigate our drug problem, or are we fueling it? If we're serious about prevention, then we must be serious about guardrails, potency caps, meaningful warning labels, youth prevention funding, and enforcement against marketing that normalizes use. The city should take a serious look at how to implement these guard rails to better our city. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, we'll hear from Madison.

Hi. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Just last week, the public health institute announced findings from a major longitudinal study published in GMA Health Forum. The study followed over 460,000 adolescents and young adults. It found that teens who reported past year cannabis use had double the risk of developing psychotic disorders and double the risk of developing bipolar disorder in young adulthood. They also face significantly higher risks of depression and anxiety. Importantly, in the study, the cannabis use came first. On average, use preceded psychiatric diagnosis by nearly 2 years. This strengthens the evidence that adolescent cannabis exposure is not just correlated with but may contribute to serious mental illness. Adolescent cannabis use remains common. The risks are rising while the perception of harm is falling. The study also found higher rates of cannabis use among youth enrolled in Medicaid and those living in more socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods. That means commercialization may be widening mental health disparities, something our city cannot ignore. I urge the city council to strengthen local restrictions on youth targeted cannabis marketing, require clear, prominent warnings about high potency THC products, and pay attention to the dangerous public messaging seen on billboards and storefronts. The mental health of our young people is worth fighting for. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. That'll close the opportunity for public comment at this meeting. Now, we'll next move on to our consent calendar. The recommendations on the following consent calendar will be enacted in one motion unless an item is removed from the calendar. Any member of the public may remove an item by submitting a request to speak card to the clerk secretary here at the das by using the raise their hand feature on Zoom or by pressing star 9. Items may be removed from the consent. Items removed from the consent calendar will be considered immediately following the adoption of the calendar. We have seven consent items this evening. Council member Fox, motion to approve the consent calendar.

I'll second your motion. We have a motion and a second. See no request to speak. Please cast your votes. That motion is approved unanimously with council member O'Donnell Abson. That will bring us to our public hearing this evening. We have one public hearing regarding the Central Vista Business Improvement District annual levy. The public hearing is now open. If any members of the public wish to speak on this item, they may indicate so by using the raise your hand feature by pressing star9 or submitting a request to speak card here at the dis. Speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Our assistant city manager Aldera will provide the staff report.

Thank you. Good evening mayor, members of the city council. My name is Aldera, assistant city manager and with me tonight is TJ Crossman, the CVB advisory board chair. As a background, on January 27, 2026, the city council approved the Central Vista Business Improvement District or CVBID annual report for fiscal year 2627 and adopted a resolution declaring the city's intent to levy assessments for the CVBID. By law, this public hearing has been properly noticed in addition to mailings to businesses within the district and scheduled for the consideration of the proposed assessments which represent no fee increases or boundary changes for the upcoming fiscal year. At this public hearing, the city council will consider all protests against the assessments. If protests from business owners within the district are 50% or more of the proposed assessments are received, then no further proceedings for the levy of assessments will be taken for a period of one year. If no majority protest exists, the levy of the proposed assessment may be approved through the adoption of the resolution of confirmation. The CVB is a funding mechanism which nets approximately 50,000 per year. The CVBID advisory board oversees these funds and city staff administers the funds. If the city of council approves a resolution, staff will move forward with using the CVB grant program to distribute the funds. And now it's my pleasure to introduce TJ Crossman who will provide a report on the upcoming fiscy year levy as well as events.

Good even Good evening, Mayor Franklin and members of the city council. Thanks for all that you all do. We really appreciate I really appreciate it. I'm TJ Crossman, chair of the CVB advisory board. The advisory board is recommending that the boundaries and assessments of the Central Vista Business Improvement District remain the same for the fiscal year 2627. Uh last fiscal year, CVB revenues were used to host four events in downtown Vista, the annual Rod Run, Fright Night, Cowboy Christmas, and Dark Christmas. All events were well attended and successful. The Vista Art Foundation has announced that Dark Christmas will be placed on a hiatus this year for research and development as well as to explore opportunities for an expanded v uh venue in 2027. Uh this event is going to return larger and enhanced in 2027. I know I just said that but uh this year we are planning to grow attendance at these events, bring additional events to Vista. We are particularly excited for the new K-pop anime fest on Saturday, March 7th, which is expected to attract a diverse demographic. And I want to give a huge shout out to FA Gray. Um, she helped make this uh helped us expand this event already and she's just an amazing person and uh thank you Fay if you're hearing this. Uh over the last 12 months, we have significantly improved our communication with business owners to keep them informed of how their assessments are being spent. We remain committed to developing emit initiatives to activate the AVO Playhouse, growing our community artisan market, and supporting events that bring more people to the downtown and encourage them to visit downtown businesses. Thank you for your continued support for the downtown Vista.

Again, we'd like to thank uh the city council for their support as well. And this concludes our report. We're happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. And I want to thank TJ Crossman for his service as chair of the advisory board and all of your volunteerism to the city and all the good things you do in our community. Good to see you. Uh we have one public speaker, Monica Sheloop.

Okay. Um All right. Very good. and Council Member Contrarus. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you to our CVBID uh board and all our downtown business um owners. Uh you know, it's it's been great to see the events downtown continue to grow. Uh so, uh with that, I would just like to uh make a motion to close this public hearing and um receive uh the testimony. Thank you. Council member Molenz,

thank you for those updates. Um, we love our downtown. Growing up in Vista, it's been so amazing to see how uh the community has come together with more and more diverse events. I think that that's such a special part of what we offer is a little bit of something for everyone uh that people can really enjoy and really appreciate your work on that. And um of course I'll want to second that motion and conclude that business and encourage you to keep doing that great work. Thank you,

Council Member Fox. I also just wanted to echo the gratitude to the CBB for all the hard work that they do. Um you know, the energy that they put behind a lot of these events. I mean, I can see from from even the events like the K-pop Anime Fest that, you know, I'm sure a lot of people on the the board didn't necessarily understand at first. and you know that them hopping behind it was a um really cool thing to see. So um I really appreciate again all your hard work and all the all that you do for our downtown and and bringing people there to support our local businesses. So thank you so much.

Okay, we have a motion to second. Please cast your votes. That item is approved unanimously with Council Member O'Donnell Abson. Thank you again. Okay, looks like we have three remaining discussion items. So, we'll go to item D2. D1 has been removed from the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. We're going to take D4 first. Thank you very much. Uh, this item is regarding a letter of support for student transportation options to Mission Vista High School. If any members of the public wish to speak on this item, they may indicate so by using the raise their hand feature, by pressing star 9, or submitting a request to speak card. speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Council member Contrarus asked for the item to be on the agenda, so we'll ask her to introduce it.

Thank you so much and thank you, mayor, for moving this up. Um, I want to pass it over. I think we have some students that are going to be leading the presentation and you all can introduce yourselves as well. Council members, my name is Press that red button on the desk in front of you. There you Thank you. Good evening, council members. My name is Eden Cohen. Hi, I'm Matt Stystra. I'm busy.

Uh we've been working on this uh little transportation project for a little while now. Uh it's kind of Eden's child. Um Eden is a student that goes to Mission Vista and she noticed something uh really serious at her school that uh people could not get to Mission Vista on time uh through public transportation. She came to Waqen and I at the youth commission and uh we have been working on this for um a couple months now and uh we are asking for your letter of support and it it would really mean a lot to us. Um so getting into it uh getting into it. Um uh first of off first off the the question um this is what really inspired Eden and and the rest of us to start working on this. Um and that is how does an accessible public transport affect student outcomes? um uh what is the impact really on attendance, academic performance, social and emotional health of students because of public transportation. Um so why the question? First of all, the scale. Um we noticed already as students that this was a problem. Um and so Eden quantified it for us. 43% of uh USD students come from economically challenged families. Um, that's that's a really big number. Uh, Oceanside's housing expenses are 82% higher than the national average. Uh, and transportation expenses are 42% higher. Um, our community is experiencing a huge cost of living crisis and boom. Um, and coupled with 20% of low-income families not being able to own vehicles and 60% of student low-income families primarily

riding the bus. The bus is a big deal. The the North County Transit District is a lifeline for a lot of us students. Um, and just in VUSD alone, 17% of students take the bus. Um the national average of students who takes the bus is 33%. Um meaning that of USD students are half as likely to take the bus. Even though 60% of student low-income families ride the bus, 20% have no vehicles. Um and our community is already suffering under this uh cost of living crisis. Number two, equity. Um, uh, O USD, uh, Oceanside Unified School District has five bus routes that, uh, make two to three stops at Ocean High School, uh, and VUSD has, uh, three onetrack bus routes, uh, to Mission Vista High School. Um, so even though that Mission Vista does, uh, have bus routes, uh, there's still an equity problem. Uh, and Mission Vista is, as you know, a a very good uh, school. Um so this lack of transvent this lack of transportation pre has prevented a lot of students from attending um furthering the wealth education gap. You really need a car to get to Mission Vista. Um and for all the families in our community who do not own a car, this is a huge barrier to overcome. So uh what are our goals with this? Uh first of all, we just want to raise awareness of this issue uh to you all and to the rest of the community. Um we want to quantify the effect that this inaccessible transportation has had on students. Um and to further this conversation of equity that we think is really important. Uh but also is a real pragmatic policy change. Um we are pres

we're working with VUSD and NCTD um to increase public transportation to schools. Um and we really need your guys' help with this. Um but I will uh let uh my partners take it along and walk will actually take my place.

Thank you so much. So for my methodology, we issued surveys and I received 97 responses. It is a 5 to 10 minute anonymous survey to gauge data on demographics, so wealth and race as well as academic performance measured by GPA, attendance and participation and social and emotional health. Um to measure social and emotional health, I specifically use the perceived stress scale, which is a well reputable and renowned psychological measuring tool of stress. Um, and for qualitative data, we wanted to contextualize the struggles pres represented from the survey. So, Sabrina Neil, who unfortunately couldn't make it tonight, but her and I worked to interview a lot of students who had these struggles. Um, but we also didn't just leave it at the students directly affected. We looked at students with positive experiences at Mission Vista. And what we found is, which um Wen will get into a lot later, but we found that a lot of these students who had a easier time at Mission Vist and increased GPA were actually living very close to the school, had a car, and were at um a higher position of wealth, which led to their positive experience. Um then for to incentivize responses, I included an opportunity to win a $20 gift card to Target upon completion of the survey. And to spread the word, I advertised flyers and encouraged members of justice to reach out. So my findings were that 89% of students who are lower income, 70% of students who are middle-income, and 69% of students who are upper middle income all reported that transportation made getting to school more difficult. On average, lower to lower middle- inome students reported a GPA of 0.25 below the average of the survey. On average, middle to upper income students reported a GPA of 0.27 above the average of the survey. And on average, non-white students were 10% more likely to report

transportation has made getting to school more difficult. Um for attendance and participation findings, we found that of the 74% of students who reported that transportation made getting to school more difficult saw um about 39% of them had reported transportation barriers often or sometimes cause them to miss out on extracurricular activities and sports. Um these activities are a huge part of Mission Vista. It's also one of the things that allows people to receive extra help with school work with packed tutoring and it when when these variables like compound on top of each other, it makes it very difficult to continue to strive to do your best in high school. 38% of students who answered yes also reported that transportation barriers have caused them to be late or miss school entirely. So, it's not just extracurriculars and getting extra help when you need to. that it's already been a challenge, but it's actually getting to school that students are still being directly affected by. Um, for social and emotional health findings, of the students who answered yes, that transportation made getting to school more difficult, they had on average a 7% higher cumulative stress score. The students who answered no, that they didn't report difficulties getting to school, like by transportation, saw a reduction of stress by 25%. For academic performance, students who answered that transportation made getting to school more difficult for them reported lower GPA on average by 0.051. And students who answered no were reported higher GPA on average by 0.51. And then I'm going to let take over for the student voice part. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh so these are the student voices that have shared their own experiences of dealing with transportation along with a either positive or negative effect depending on their uh current situation. So for instance like in Marilyn's situation who has who is li living 20 minutes away and is usually parent dependent which she says quote not knowing what time I am able to get home every day can be stressful because I want to know when I get home so I can manage my time properly and quote. Uh other people have even worse outcomes than just being 20 minutes away. For instance, we have Belle who lives 11 miles away and relied on friends and freshman like like friends who were freshman or sophomore years uh saying quote with consistent transportation I think it would have relieved some of my stress and given me more time to focus on my studies quote um andor uh Tanera who lives 42 60 minutes away who comes to MVHS for its academics uh we have quote Oh, we have a very limited time schedule that I have to work with, especially if I want tutoring like t Tuesdays or and Thursdays, uh, which they give tutoring on those days after school. Uh, I would wake up around 5 to 5:30 a.m. to get up and get ready, clean a little bit, and try to prepare food, some food for dinner, and then go to school." End quote. She later told us that she only gets 5 hours of sleep per night, half of the recommended, which is 10 hours for uh teenagers, which come from John Hopkins medical uh institutions. Um and then we have the student driver with stable transportation, Izzy, who says, quote, I I think driving my driving myself has affected my GPA in a positive way because I've never had to

worry about transportation barriers. I get home quicker. I have more time to study and I have less distractions." End quote. In conclusion, transportation challenges at Mission Vista are limiting access to education, athletics, and clubs, increasing stress and sleep deprivation, as well as disproportionately affecting lower income and working families, and impacting student well-being, equity, and academic opportunity. While transportation disproportionately affects certain demographics, it still affects everyone. By investing into inclusive better transportation, you would be investing in the time and in the acade academic success, reduce stress and increase attendance of all students, which will help the school tremendously. And now I'll pass on to you. So for our proposal, we overlaid residency data and income distribution maps and we came up with expanding the 303 and the 315 bus line. Um the purple is what they currently run as well as the blue for the 303 and the pink is what we suggest to add onto it. So the primary bus line we will be looking at is a 303. Um, while we already have school buses, like shuttle buses that go from Mission Vista to those three pinpointed locations I put towards Vista, um, it doesn't expand anywhere east, which is still a lot of students as we overlaid the residency map. Um, and you would still, it's since it's a shuttle bus, it would require being dropped off at those specific locations or living in a short walking distance. Um furthermore, if we expand east to these students and as well as um kind of southeast, that would give a lot more that would bring it um the opportunity to attend Mission Vista to a lot more students and keep public schools the way they are meant to be as

a place where education can be equalized in all classes and um regardless of where they live can attend a school. Um, so what yeah, we're trying to expand the 303 to go to Mission Vista down there and the 315. Um, we have met with NCTD and brought up our proposal to which they requested more demographic data. Um, so Dr. Doyle is currently setting up a meeting with Rep. Leven to learn more. Um, and I also where the student equity initiative also has a meeting with Dr. Doyle to discuss getting more demographic data to bring to them. So for funding for this project, we met with Representative Levven and we found out or sorry, Representative Leven's constituency manager and we found out that the surface transportation reauthorization fund expires September of 2026. Um it was a block grant with $18 billion approved. Um and VUSD can request funds through transportation alternative funds which is TAP. Um, and we presented to NCD and we are currently waiting to hear back on a Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't have the other slide, but we are currently waiting to hear back from them on um the price estimate, but we wanted to also come to you today with questions. So, we would be asking if you would be willing to support this initiative um either through a letter of recommendation or by being able to meet with NCTD and the USD board. um those Oh, we also wanted to ask if any of you guys have suggestions for a better way to fund this or a better way to go about this important issue. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for the great presentation. Uh we'll hear from Council Member Mendes first.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, students, for sharing such thoughtful findings with us. Um this is fantastic. um we might uh be able to, you know, ask our friends and neighbors what their thoughts are on transportation, but when you uh put it forward in this manner where you're doing a scientific study, um that really helps us to understand the scope of the problem. And what really stands out to me is how student academic success is impacted by a lack of transportation. So, you know, one of the things that we see kind of in our community is something called the curb cut effect. Have you guys ever heard of that? So, for those who don't know, you might be on a sidewalk um or at a crossing and you'll notice that the curb is is cut down and it'll slope, right? Like a ramp. So, those are originally designed for people in wheelchairs, right? Or people with disabilities. But we know that a curb cut doesn't just improve the, you know, travel for someone in a wheelchair. It's also great for strollers, delivery drivers, and anyone who might need to use that type of slope. So, the same can be said in a lot of areas, whether that's audiobooks or transportation. When we are able to design services and our infrastructure systems to accommodate folks that have disadvantages, it actually can benefit a lot more people in return. So, not only do I want to support the students that are having a difficult time getting uh access to their classes uh but I also think that it could benefit a lot more people in the long run. So, I think y'all have not just put forward a great argument for why we should support um greater access to um to buses in particular, but also you're exploring

how are we going to fund these services. So, I would absolutely be supportive of um joining in on a letter to advocate for funding um at all levels of government and um knowing that the school district is involved and North County Transit District is involved that uh creates a lot of strength to move a project like this forward. Um I think it would be great for us to connect with our city staff and understand right what the city's role in this type of um project could be. I know we have council member Karina Contrarus who's our representative on North County Transit District. So, I just want to say great job for this presentation. You're really highlighting a very important topic and um I'm available to you as a council member to advocate with you um attend any meetings where where you're going and looking for support from the council. Um and then of course um just thank you for being here and I want all the other students to see um you know continue to apply your studies in everything that you're passionate about because you can come before your government and appeal to them and ask them for support and I absolutely do support you. So thank you for being here.

Council member Contrus.

Yeah. I just want to say thank you so much Eden Matson Hen and Sabrina who is not able to join us today but uh it's the level of um of data collection of uh you know framing um this issue looking at the different aspects that are necessary uh to overcome right funding being a big one I I I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into it and where your passion and your north star is right which is ensuring that students have the most equitable experience possible uh which is just critical right and so thank you so much I've never seen a report like this before and I'm I'm glad that we were able to bring it forward to the council um I would say I'm hearing that you need uh a letter of of support from the council um and that letter support uh should go to Vista Unified School District and North County Transit District. Um I would say that it goes to those organizations as well as the board of those organizations, right? Um is that something that we're able to do? Fantastic. And and I I do want to highlight something that Council Member Melinda said, which is in addition the funding request, and I I do believe that we could also put a letter of support together. um to our different levels of government, the county, the state and federal government and those representatives um that are within uh the respective districts, right, of of the area that we're talking about um as a letter of support as well. Is that something that we're able to do too? Okay, fantastic. So, uh, I would move forward that, um, we submit a letter of support, um, to,

uh, Vist Unified School District, North County Transit District, um, to the organization and the board and that we submit a letter of support for funding um, at the county, the state, and the federal government level. And um you know there's also an additional uh regional body that we haven't discussed. Um I think that we add SandAG to that as well uh because they're they play a role as the metropolitan um organization uh planning organization for this region. It would be important uh to bring them into the mix as well. and you have my complete support um and uh advocacy um for you any meeting that you want to have with North County Transit District VI Unified School District. It sounds like you know the council members themselves um want to support you in that. So just let us know um and I can talk to you offline as to how you let you know the entire council know. Um I yeah I just this is incredible. Thank you again so much. And again to the other students and folks that if you do have other issues that you want to review, you can just ask your council member. That's what these folks did. They came and they um they asked me to review this with them and and I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring this to the council um for some more education information and to support you all. So, um, thank you again and yeah, that's it,

Council Member Fox. Thank you. Well, I just wanted to compliment the great presentation. You know, I think that was very professional and, you know, in line with anything else that we, you know, receive on a on a regular basis. So, very good job on that. I had questions, but then my council answered a lot of them for me. So, I'll just take this opportunity to second the motion. Thank you. Very good. And I would second all those comments. You did a great job with your presentation, your research, and thank you very much for identifying this important issue and bringing it forward for our attention. And we look forward to helping you in your quest as you move forward here. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time.

Okay. All right. We have a motion to second. Please cast your votes. Okay. Okay, that item is approved unanimously with Deputy Mayor O'Donnell absent. Thank you again. Okay, now we'll circle back to item D2, discussion item regarding accessible pedestrian signals. If any member of the public wishes to speak on this item, they may indicate so by using the raise their hand feature, pressing star 9, or submitting a request to speak card here at the dice. speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Looks like our traffic engineering division manager Sam Hassan will provide the report tonight.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, the background on this item, in September 2025, the senior citizens affair commission made a recommendation to the city council to consider the implementation of improvements to pedestrian traffic signals, which include accessible pedestrian signals. And those are uh the push buttons for pedestrians that are accessible to blind persons by providing audible messages with brailles with information on where and when to cross the street. also lead pedestrian intervals. Uh and what that does is to pro provides a green indication to pedestrians about 3 to 10 seconds before the vehicle movement which reduces potential conflict and also countdown pedestrian signal indications and those are indications that show the amount of time remaining for pedestrians to cross the street. So uh it happens that we have completed some improvements at seven intersections to upgrade the existing pedestrian push buttons to accessible pedestrian signals and those are Civic Center Drive and South Santa Fe Avenue, South Santa Fe Avenue and Postal Way, East Vistaway and Vista Village Drive/ Civic Center Drive, East Vistaway and Anza Avenue/Vter Drive, North Santa Fe Avenue and Bobier Drive Vista Village Drive and Palm Drive/Main Street and Vista Village Drive in Citrus Avenue. So some and um some details on um the LPI or lead pedestrian interval and the change that that requires is the signal timing changes uh which um introduces that 3 to 10 second lead pedestrian interval. This may uh impact traffic flow especially on the main street approaches of an intersection. as an example and kind of a rough calculation. If we take the intersection of East Fistaway and Anza Avenue and we assume a

5-second LPI in all four corners, that could result in about 300 vehicles per hour of residual queue in during the PMP on the fistaway. Countdown pedestrian indications exist at some intersections in the city. And to know exactly where we have all our countdown, pedestrian indications, and EPS, we would need a city-wide assessment to inventory the traffic signals and find where those are. We reached out to one of our as needed uh consultants and they gave us an estimated cost for the assessment of about $1,000 per intersection. And uh as recommendation from staff is to begin an assessment on high pedestrian volume intersections and that includes the southern portion of East Fa uh Civic Center Drive, North Santa Fe Avenue and the northern portions of South Melrose Drive and Sycamore Avenue. And that's approximately 30 traffic signals uh at about a cost of about $30,000 for the assessment. A general cost for uh APS and countdown indications from a recent experience is uh would vary from $15,000 to $40,000 per signalized intersection dependent on the conditions. So the staff recommendation tonight is to receive information on accessible pedestrian signals in the city and provide direction to staff. Thank you,

Council Member Contrarus.

Thank you so much. Um it's just a quick question. I remember from um a discussion that we had when we were looking at the giant report that we got for safe streets for all something like that. The LPI um LPI had a like 60% reduction in crashes. Um, and I understand, you know, that we currently don't really have a an LPI um, system, right, that we're employing. Uh, but it's it's such a significant reduction uh in serious in injuries and fatalities and pedestrian safety and motorist safety. um that I really would want to study that a little bit more, you know, potentially. And what does that look like? What would it look like for us to say, "Hey, staff, we really want to study this um and just kind of get walk through what an implementation plan would look like.

It could be just direction from council tonight. And I think we should probably focus in maybe in high pedestrian volume corridors. maybe start maybe with like five locations and just kind of look at the specifics and I believe I did some research on the kind of effectiveness on of LPIs the research is still you know scanned because they haven't been around too long so I think it's highly location dependent on the effectiveness and there are two ways to implement them too there's the simple just signal timing in introduce maybe 5 seconds of the leap pedestrian interval but there's also more elaborate installations where you combine that with the extinguishable message signs where you have um a no turn and red sign that comes up. Obviously that's involves you know um s more substantial cost versus just to have time to do the timing this would require the hardware and the wiring that is I believe more effective because that also gives a message to the um right turn in vehicles that during that 5-second or 10-second lead but interval that they cannot make a turn on right as well. So there's two, but I mean we can start obviously with just a time and maybe look at maybe five or 10 intersections at the direction of the council.

Okay. Yeah. You know, I think it's it's really important for us. I I understand that the um there isn't a significant presence of LPI leading pedestrian intervals um where we're getting a lot of data right to be able to to say for certain that this is you know the conclusion is that this is much safer but from the data that we are receiving it seems that eventually if we had more of these we would get that outcome of of showing um significant safety. So I think it is important. I I would you know want to take a look at the um most dense like high pedestrian used intersections. I think just in general for us to even for the council to even have that information I think is important because there's a myriad of different traffic calming treatments potentially in the future. Um but taking a look at you know the top five that would be great and then um I think just uh maybe like a a surface level high level uh investigation information finding on signal timing changes and then what you said um you know this higher level of um device uh which is the no turning on red um which we don't have on every single intersection, but I'd be curious just to see kind of like what the costs would be. Um now in this assessment, when do we get um data on like the the delay time and and that kind of stuff? Would that come kind of later on?

So there's two ways to do that. Obviously there's just our you know knowledge and observations of the existing conditions traffic flow and then observations after implementation or we can do modeling using software of the current conditions and um and the after we should probably do both if it's just five locations we you know it's something we can just model. Okay. And do we currently have that modeling software or is that a contractual thing that we have to

we yes we have it and staff is capable of doing that. Yes. Fantastic. Yeah. So, I would love to see that. Um and then when it comes to um let's see to the audio um that's the APS, right? Yes.

Okay. So, I really appreciate looking at the different locations. Um I I for certain would love to replace any of the APS that's you know outdated. Um so these are locations where there is APS but it's not modern or if you could just clarify for me.

Yes. So this is kind of going to be a two-stage process. Uh so we don't have exact information where all the current you know up-to-date APS installations exist. So we're proposing an assessment first by one of our consultants to go out to every intersections every intersection and and assess uh whether they are APS or not. Bring us back the data. So we're recommending at the beginning maybe just to start with kind of the high pedestrian volume corridors that I mentioned. Sorry. What's the process to assess whether they have APS or not? It's just going out and pushing every button making

I I mean how much is this going to cost us? cuz I would happily go to all 110 intersections. I'll I'll walk, bike, and take public transit and and drive um to do that. So So yeah, their estimate is about $1,000 per intersection, but it's also a little bit beyond that because we want to know that what the type of equipment is because it could be a simpler upgrade rather than a complete replacement. Plus, we wanted to look at the wiring. That's a big thing that we found from the seven locations we're working on. uh the existing wiring could make a difference too in the cost. So I'm not qualified to do that. If it's just to press a button, I'm definitely qualified to do that. That's part of it.

But beyond that, I think we probably would need some additional help. Um is there could could receive from the consultant is could that be tied to any anything else? Could we utilize that for anything beyond APS? Unfortunately, no. That's just it. Okay. It's just for that. And they'll also look for the countdown pedestrian indications to see if those exist or not. And that's just visual. Okay. Um Yeah. So I And we have how many intersections again? I I know we had 110. We we like grew them.

Yeah. We're at 113 now. We installed a couple of pedestrian signals and another one. So we're 113. You know, I I think that it would be good to assess all of them, but we don't have to do them all at once. I think this is like a multi-year plan. Maybe we do we start with um even understanding the high pedestrian usage intersections and then maybe um you know start with those intersections first um and then just kind of take it from there. But I I do think that we need to do it. I just don't think that the cost of doing it all right now is like super necessary. Um so that's kind of where I'm at. But I'm I wish that we could just do it all, but I mean that's a that's a lot of consultant money. Um so okay, I got to think about that one a little bit more. Um, but outside of that, uh, I think, you know, we do the assessments, um, both on LPI and APS and then this information would come back to the council and we would have just some more information so that we could have a additional robust discussion on it. But that would be my direction. Um, and I would love to hear from the rest of my council. Thank you so much,

Council Member Fox. Perfect. So, uh, thank you again for the presentation, all the work on this. Um, you mentioned phase one is an assessment of the current APS inventory and I'm assuming phase two then is to then prioritize which ones we would actually want to install. Yeah. So, we would come back with the assessment results and um receive direction maybe and um, you know, potentially the multi-year plan.

Okay. And so phase one would probably not be the time to look at LPI. That would be a phase two when we're doing the assessments of which when we're looking at each signals priority in that we could potentially include an LPI discussion in that in that phase. LPI is could be just a separate thing that we would do the assessment if that's the direction from council then maybe like council member suggested maybe five top high pedestrian volume intersections just to look at LPI just for timing changes.

Yeah. And the only reason I bring that up is because, you know, obviously if we can if we're looking at one thing, if it's cheaper to look at both at the same time, and if there's a consultant already looking, you know, at a in an intersection to try to combine that. Um, how and then the other piece of it is I know a lot of this came from, you know, our senior commission and specifically looking to make increase accessibility. Um, so on top of just the high traffic intersections, pedestrian traffic intersections, would we be able to assess for things like I think the example that was brought up is there's a school for the blind, you know, that we might want to have some leading or some some APS at signals near that or something like that. Would we be able to take that into consideration for prioritizing?

We can. Yes.

Okay. Uh, okay. Well, I think that's um I think that's really important. I think um you know when it gets comes time for the LPI, I think it'd be nice to kind of know the levels of service and traffic impacts and things like that along the same route. You know, if it's not somewhere where it's a highly dangerous intersection, but it's highly trafficked with cars, you know, all that, it would be good to have that information at the same time. Um but until we get to that conversation, I could see that, you know, no no rush on that one. So, um Okay. Well, no, that sounds that sounds like a plan to me. think um do you think f is five or 10 signals would we we would be picking those internally of which ones for them to assess and take inventory on is that the or how's that because that seems like

you know I would recommend you maybe starting with five and then staff can just look at basically the biggest conflict obviously we're going to be looking at well first is the number of pedestrian pedestrians crossing which we have those counts already we have existing counts as well as right turn in vehicles. That's the biggest, you know, conflict. We can just maybe at the staff, if council is okay with the staff level, just pick the top five. Okay. Yeah, I think that's I think that's reasonable. And um then I see no reason why we couldn't go from there. Cool. All right. Thank you. Okay. Uh Council Member Contras again.

Yeah. And and I just wanted to to also mention um you know I'm curious if there are any signals that we can include that are kind of fit the category of high pedestrian counts, right-hand turns, and also safe routes to school. Um because I'm thinking of, you know, just like Civic Center here with Vista Magnet Middle School. Um, so I think it would be good to kind of add that element of safe routes to school. And then I think the center for the blind, I I want to say that the closest intersection is the Vista Way and Bo Beer. Um, so it's it's kind of a distance away, but that I is a really important intersection, too, um, to ensure that people can can safely cross because it's it's a pretty wide uh intersection. Um, but I just wanted to lend uh an overlap um kind of like an overlay of safe routes to school on top of the high pedestrian counts and right-hand turn counts as well. Thank you so much. Is do you all have enough direction or are you looking for a motion?

Yeah, I think we do. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Awesome. Thank you. and uh the company that we're working with right now for most of our signals. Um so we we haven't got a firm cost estimate from them. So yeah, this is one of our as needed engineering consultants to do the assessment. That's where the $1,000 per intersection came from. But uh as far as the vendor that we're buying our signal equipment from,

so there's many of those, but the the current contract that we have is with Unix, which happens to be also our signal maintenance contractor, but that's a separate contract for that APS upgrade, and that's where the $15,000 to $40,000 estimate comes from. That's for actual equipment and labor. Gotcha. You don't think that we would uh save $30,000 by putting the work out for proposal? So that's what we did to include to include the the actual

because we could very easily assess whether we have APS system uh in at 30 intersections right whether it's present or not and then uh I wonder if these vendors would uh go out on their dime assess what we need if they're going to be competing to install it.

Potentially possible, but we just don't have the allocation for actual implementation since it's much higher cost, you know, the the 15 to um to the $40,000 range. So, we would need that money allocated first to go out with a contract at a specific number of intersections. So versus that $30,000 initial for assessment that we could probably find the money and do that then have a clearer picture. So $1,000 to stop the truck at the intersection. Press the button. Put the key in the box. Unlock. look at the brand name of the and the model number of the equipment.

Check the wiring too. Um that's one of the important thing that uh affects the labor cost for implementation. There's a certain type of wiring that is needed that if it's not there that needs to be pulled out and a new wire pulled in. So that affects the cost for the labor in the later phase of implementation. So they're just looking for the presence of the wire as well as you know the type of equipment. It could be even existing APS that may not be operational that we might be able to fix. So, we'll get all that information back because some systems are out there that might be a little agent but still maybe compliant, just not working. You don't need some maintenance.

I assume basically for all these intersections, we don't have this. I apologize. What was that? The vast majority of these 30 intersections, we don't have this. That would be my assumption because they're the older ones. We've been requiring these APS systems for some time now, but a lot of these signals have been around for a long time.

Mhm. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. So, you you got the uh direction that you needed there. Very good. Thank you so much. Oh, yeah. I would let our students know it's been the required length of time. If you want to take a minute to get your paper signed. Students, if you want to go ahead and head out of the lobby, that'd be great. Our next item is regarding the senior rental subsidy program parameters. If any member of the public wishes to speak on this item, they may indicate so by using the raise their hand feature by pressing star9 or submitting a request to speak card. Speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Our assistant city manager will introduce the item.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. Tonight we we will be reporting on senior rental subsidy program parameters and it is my pleasure to introduce Jonathan Lung, our housing and homeless services division manager who will be providing the report.

This item solicits the city council's feedback on a proposed senior rental subsidy program which is funded with a $500,000 appropriation from fiscal year 202425 year end fund balance. As the city council considers staff's proposed parameters of the program, it should be noted that the local funding source allows the city's absolute discretion over the program's parameters and does not include any other requirements often often considered with federal and state funding sources. At the conclusion of the city council's discussion finalizing the proposed programs parameters, staff recommend the city council direct staff to publish a request for proposals to solicit a program administrator. The program is proposed to provide assistance with rental and housing related costs for lowincome and rent burden seniors with a 250, 500, 750, or $1,000 per month shallow subsidy. Awards may include rent and utility payments, including a rears for up to 24 months directly to landlords and service providers. The objective of these awards of these awards is to help households achieve long-term stability after the subsidy ends with households paying no more than 60% of gross household income towards rent. This can be achieved through a combination of increasing household income, decreasing household expenses, and finding more affordable housing options. Eligibility is proposed to include lease holders living in a rental unit with a Vista mailing address. It should be noted that this would include residents of unincorporated VISTA who would engage with the city funded outreach programs if their housing is lost. Preventing homelessness of unincorporated Vista residents is a more cost-effective solution than providing emergency services after households fall into homelessness. Eligible applicants must also have a head of household who is a senior or a

senior dependent or has a senior dependent with seniors defined as 55 years or better. With the purposes of the program, eligible households must be spending no more than 60% of house household gross income on housing at the time of application and no more than 80% of household gross income on housing after the subsidy is applied. Eligible households will have income of 80% of area median income or less, total assets of less than $2,000, and not receiving rental assistance from any other programs. Strategies to help awarded households achieve long-term stability include the development of a housing stability plan, which will outline workable solutions to achieve stability and updated as household circumstances change. Increasing household income by ensuring all public benefits household members are eligible for are received or applied for if eligible but not received. Support with improved employment opportunities and considering additional household members. Decreasing household expenses by developing monthly budgets to track spending and rep prioritize expenses. Applying for utility discounts, ensuring appropriate insurance levels and reducing where appropriate and accessing lower cost services such as phone plans. Housing navigation by identifying and applying for more affordable units if any are identified. Considering shared housing by joining households together and coordinating with the city-f funed shared housing program provided by towns people and considering family reunification and assisting with moving in with family or friends. Eligible costs include a monthly rental subsidy of $250,500 750 or $1,000 for up to 24 months. Emergency housing costs including rent and utility arars. costs to support increasing household income, including employment supports and public benefits applications.

Costs to decrease household expenses and relocation costs to support transition to a more affordable housing unit, including family or friend reunification. To summarize tonight's recommendations, staff asked the city council to discuss the proposed programs parameters and direct staff to publish an RFP for a program administrator. Staff will also provide an overview of the program to the senior commission forformational and marketing purposes and a recommended award for an administrator is expected to be presented to city council during the fourth quarter for the program to begin accepting applications no later than July 1st. This concludes staff's presentation and we are ready to receive the city council's feedback and respond to any questions. Thank you council member Melendez.

Thank you Jonathan and Alda for your work on this. Um, I really appreciate how you outlined the um, not just the eligibility, but how the funds could be utilized. Um, and you also expanded beyond month-to-month rental costs to consider what relocation could look like. Um, so I have a couple of notes, but I I really think that we're off to a strong start with establishing this program. Um, and just for historical information, the $500,000 funds that are available were approved by our council at the end of last year at our year and fund balance discussion. Um, and I advocated that we put aside uh these funds to develop this type of program. So, this is the first ever type of program in the city of Vista where we're actually looking not as a rental assistance or um homelessness prevention per se, but we're recognizing that seniors in particular on a fixed income are just not able to afford their housing costs. and we want to provide them um support, financial support, but based on the program that you're pro providing to us, we're doing a lot more than that. Um, one of the questions I had was regarding the um the locations served by this program and you mentioned also including the unincorporated area. Does the county of San Diego have any similar type program that provides rental assistance to seniors?

They did, but it's exhausted its funding.

Okay. So, I would be concerned about including the unincorporated area in the city of Vista's piloting of this program because the county of San Diego does have a similar program and they have exhausted their funds. um they might not be motivated to return the program knowing that, you know, a city jurisdiction is going to uh cover the costs for their constituents. I grew up in the county. I know that there's a lot of seniors who live in the county and so I absolutely want to find some way for us to be responsive to their needs. Um, but when it comes to administering $500,000, I really do believe it needs to be within the city's jurisdiction only. So, that would be my first note. Um, also the um supportive services, if we could take a moment to look at those. I think that the best supportive services listed here are um the case management that allows someone to receive all of those public benefits, right? Are you really plugged in to supportive services? And if you're not, how can we make sure that you're getting uh food assistance, transportation assistance, um and all of these kind of auxiliary services along with your social security to make sure your costs are um a little bit more manageable. And then also, um, you know, we're talking about partnering with towns people and, uh, bringing in potentially more household members, maybe doing some shared housing, um, or family reunification, right? Um, and just different types of housing arrangements. I think that that's really important. Um, I do want to just acknowledge that um, as much as every household should have a budget, when you are poor, a lot of times you will just go without. So, you'll make sure that you have that

roof over your head, but you're not necessarily um you can't even like begin to plan to buy hygiene products and uh optimal food options and you know, let alone things like entertainment and um you know, recreation and uh these other items that improve our quality of life. So, you know, for folks that are poor and lowincome, um, as many of us have experienced, a budget, um, is a tool that is useful to a point, right? Um, and so I really do want to make sure that we start with um, enhancing people's public benefits, making sure that they have access to all of the funds that are available to them and potentially reducing their housing costs with relocation or adding new members to the household, a roommate or something like that. Um and then we can start to look at um if you know case by case if we're seeing that someone has um you know based on the um eligibility and the kind of intake process and we see what their budget actually looks like and they're maybe not sticking to it that we can do some uh case management in that way. But most of the time when someone is low income they're just simply going to go without. And I just think it's really important to note that because um a budget is a is not necessarily a resource for that person if they don't have the funds to begin with. Um if you could go to the next slide. Um, I'm really looking forward to hearing from the senior commission on this because as much as, you know, we're looking to approve this item by the council, um, I'm curious what their thoughts are on the levels of subsidy and how that actually fits the reality,

right? um at this time none of us on the council are senior citizens um or you know in the position like many of our neighbors are uh that are struggling with their housing and so um I would like to hear a little bit more about the senior from the seniors uh commission regarding this range um I do also think that the 80% AMI might be a little high um and that we should look to respond to those with um just with lower income to start. Uh these funds will go quickly because we know that there's generally a very high need. Um I think eligibility should be focused on um does the person um have low income to start with not you know in lower than 80% AMI that would be in my note um below 80% AMI for sure um and do they have um you know what is their income and how is that uh suitable for their housing option. So, up to 24 months. I definitely want to get feedback on that from the senior commission. Um, but I think all of the uh services that we're going to be providing and all of the uses of the funds are totally appropriate. I think it's just the amount of um subsidy and the length of subsidy that might um need adjustments or really be something that is taken on on a case- by case basis. Um, with that, I'll probably hear from our our colleagues here and um I just look forward to being able to approve this item and open it up to the public to actually be able to utilize these funds. Thank you,

Council Member Conturus. Uh, Council Member Malone, I have a question. So, are you looking to send this to the senior commission and then for it to come back and then for us to approve it? I'm ready to approve with the modifications that I shared regarding uh keeping it within the city of Vista and reducing the AMI eligibility. Um but if the senior commission flags something for us, I would ask staff that we take their recommendations seriously and we do return back because I imagine that we're going to have to have some sort of final approval on this.

Okay. Council member Fox. Oh, I'm not done. I apologize. I'm just thinking because I feel like it would just be maybe better if we provided the modification and then we just gave direction to staff to send it to the senior commission.

I'm totally okay. I'm totally okay with that. I'm not in a huge rush to open this up. we can we can take our time to develop the program. Um I don't want it moving anywhere further today without modifications I'm recommending. Um but y'all might have other modifications. So um if we want to not make a formal approval of anything today until it's heard by the senior commission, I'm okay with that.

Okay. Well, I I like your modifications. I one of the things that I would ask though is there's probably you know a reason that you were thinking about the county. Um could you kind of expand on that?

Yeah, absolutely. As as council member Melendez asked about county programs currently they don't have one operating to provide this kind of relief. If there are residents of unincorporated that do become homeless, it is still the city's resources that would engage with them for crisis management um which are much more expensive. So the thought is we could provide this assistance to make sure we don't see any households falling into homelessness and unincorporated until the county has a new program. Because you'll notice this program would not be eligible for any clients that are currently receiving other rental subsidies. We could also include that if a rental subsidy program does become available from the county and you're an unincorporated VISTA resident, you are required to apply for that at the at the earliest convenience that they could submit that application.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I I understand where that makes sense and I also understand the sensitivity to, you know, keep within our jurisdictions's boundaries. Um I I'm wondering, you know, I'm okay with the modification of just keeping it to the city of Vista for now. Um this is a newer program for us. But one one of the things that I think could be really important is as we are running into folks that are in unincorporated county if there's a way that we could let the county know and you know let the council know that we have x amount of folks that we you know are looking for our services because if if you're letting the council be aware and you're letting the county be aware I think that potentially if we see these numbers um going up. You have two places where potentially there could be accountability um and advocacy to the county. And I I think it's important, you know, our sphere of influence um is unincorporated um and you know, even in the point in time count, you go into, you know, unincorporated areas. Uh so I would like to keep a pulse on that. Um, but I understand that maybe even for this first time that we're doing it that we just keep it to the city of Vista. Um, outside of that, I thank you so much for bringing forward such a well-rounded um, senior rental subsidy program. Um, I think this is amazing. I really thank Council Member Melendas for your advocacy of this um, and the fact that we, you know, as a council have been very prudent. Um but also uh always ready to connect our residents to more resources and and at the end of the day that's how we had funding left over right uh at the year end fund balance

$9.5 million and and $500,000 going to this program um is incredible. So uh that those are all my comments, but I just again thank you so much,

Council Member Fox. Thank you, mayor. Um, again, I appreciate all your work on this. This looks like a very well thoughtout program. Um, I mean, it's been set up here a bunch of times already, but you know, in the past, but seniors are one of the main demographics facing homelessness these days, especially with the fixed incomes and things like that. That's um to prevent the homelessness in the first place is going to be a is a huge uh thing that we should be able to do up here. So, uh, I think my favorite thing about the program that you added in here that you that you included was the fact that it included the case management and ways to actually prevent the homelessness from happening past the 24 months because that's one of the problems with I think a 24-month program is that any kind of subsidies like this, they either end and then just post push the problem off two years, you know, or um you have to do something like this, which is, you know, use that that two years that we have with this program to fix the problem or at least as much as possible fix the program. So, so thank you very much for that that piece of this. I think that makes it um I think that's going to make it a lot more effective in the long run. So, so that's that's kind of uh my thoughts on that. the the incorporated piece. I think the idea of postponing that for now until we get a a feel on the the popularity of the program, the needs of it, I think is a reasonable idea. Um, if the funds aren't being util all of it's not being utilized, expanding it to uninorporated, I wouldn't have a problem with that. But I think it is a good point that we should probably make sure that we have enough to fund people in the incorporated part that people are paying into the fee the the taxes into this first before we you know go outside of our jurisdiction. So um I think that that's again I like the idea and I would

be supportive of it but it might not for a pilot program be a bad idea to start small. So um when it comes to senior commission I also I'm I'm open to either. So, if we want, I think that it's a great idea to have them look at it. Uh, if we want to wait for their opinions on it before it comes back, uh, and then, you know, go straight on to consent or something like that if they agree with it and if there's any changes, you know, we could do another discussion on that, I'm fine with that. Um, but if we want to work towards the program now and, um, change it when we're actually voting to do the proposal because if we're putting out an RFP, eventually there will be a proposal that we have to approve. So, um I I'm assuming though if we do make any radical changes to it that aren't just a that are maybe financial that that would actually maybe negatively affect the RFP. So, do you have any thoughts on that on if there's anything that you could see coming out of the senior commission that would potentially we would be able to wait on putting off the RFP until we hear back from the senior commission? What are your thoughts on the timeline? I would imagine that the feedback from the senior commission would likely advocate for for the widest breath of eligibility. So perhaps the city council would consider maximum limits for each of the eligibility and if the senior commission had any recommendations that exceeded those it would return to council and if not we would go ahead with the RFP.

Okay. Yeah. And I'd be okay with that. And when it comes to the 80% AMI, again, I think it's uh like council member Melinda says is, you know, focusing on the people with the greatest need first, whether that's lowering the limit for the program or just making sure that, you know, people with a lower AMI um get priority first, you know, or something, you know, I'm open to to that as well. So um you know if if this is is this something that would be done like through a scoring process if there's like a certain number of applications or is it pretty much just like if we wouldn't be able to really if as long as someone qualifies they get the the funds.

So with Vapc2 for example we had appropriated two separate funding pools one for up to 80% and one up to 65 I should say between 65 and 80 and then up to 65.

We could do something similar though with BAP2. All of our applications so far have been below 30%. So I I think that issue kind of resolved itself. Another example I might site was during COVID with COVID relief funds with just an absolute saturation of applications all at once they did do different application windows within each window they would prioritize based on AMI. I'm not sure what the level of application we received with this program. So perhaps we the city council might consider lowering the AMI eligibility and if we see a need for a higher eligibility we could return and propose an amendment or vice versa we propose a lower AMI which I suppose we wouldn't necessarily need to if the limit is higher right and if we did something like splitting it into two pools obviously we would well it's a certain amount that would be guaranteed required to go under that into that first category. But anyone in the first category would also qualify for the second category as well. So that would be would be kind of reserving some I mean I don't mind the idea of of mirroring that other program. You said a what was the the program that that um

it was during COVID basically emergency rental assistance. Yeah. What was the you said there was a name of the program the one that's being currently um C2 that one. Yeah. I love mir mirroring a lot of th that program if if we see that it's being successful mirroring a lot of that you know how how we're getting that done would be I think not a bad place to start too. So um that's that's my thoughts on it but um yeah I'll leave it up to council.

So here are my thoughts on this. I have a I have a lot of significant concerns about this program. Uh about 31% of our population is over the age of 55. At 100,000 residents, that's about 31,000 people. I wager the vast majority of them make less than $95,600, which is the 85% of AMI for a single member household. I don't think we should pro be providing subsidies for people making $95,600. I think that's insanity. Um, if we were to subsidize just the seniors in our community who are at or below the poverty level, which is about 4,800 individuals, if we were to give them all the minimum $250 subsidy, it would be an expense to the city of $28.5 million a year. If we were to subsidize all of the seniors who qualify uh at 80% of AMI, it'd be $186 million a year. If we were to exhaust just the $500,000 and not spend money on any administration or any other component of this plan, we would only help about 83 individuals. So, we've got an extremely small number of people that we could help with this amount of money. Or we could take this money and we could put it in our housing fund and we could identify a senior housing project like the national core project and we could use this money to attract a subsidized uh senior housing community to our city. So I want to very very seriously suggest that we consider doing that. Uh the problem is you you risk the creation of dependency on this program. I mean seniors when we say the word senior a lot of us and we think about seniors in need a lot

of us would tend to think about elderly individuals and uh particularly we would tend to think about those who are retired. If you're retired, you're probably on a fixed income. And so, if you do have a structural deficit in your spending, a two-year solution isn't going to be long enough. And we clearly just cannot afford as a city to provide subsidy to even nearly the number of people who you could by reasonable means define as being truly in need. The cost is just too great. We can't guarantee that in future years we're going to be able to continue this program and so we may create a need or a dependency on the program that we won't be able to satisfy in future years. I really think we could do a lot of long-term good for a large number of seniors throughout their lives if we were to, you know, this is the amount of money that we invested in the national core uh senior uh village at what do we call senior village? Yeah, the senior village uh on Santa Fe. And I think that we should be looking, you know, I've always talked about my grandmother who lived the last decade of her life in in subsidized housing and it was essential to her quality of life and her dignity in her final years. And uh so you know, I think by leveraging this money or you I should say using this money to leverage uh federal dollars and other funds that are available, I think we could really multiply the good that we could do for seniors. Uh I I support the uh stabilization strategies to include the stability plan uh helping seniors decrease their expenses by creating a budget. I think budgets are incredibly important, especially if you're on a fixed income. uh landlord advocacy, um identifying, you know, housing navigation services, shared housing,

I've been a huge advocate for family reunification, I think, is is essential. So, I'm in favor of of funding to some degree all of those stabilization strategies that I specifically mentioned, but I really think we need to to consider that even at just the $250 level, we only have enough money to help 83 people. And while it's a worthy goal to help 83 people, we don't even we can't even guarantee that we would be able to fund it into year two. So it it is it's it's a wonderful idea to be able to to help seniors in need. uh you know if if we were just going to move forward as designed tonight I would say first off the 55 years uh of age should be increased at minimum to 70 and uh the AMI requirement should be a maximum of 30% of AMI so that we're really helping the absolute most vulnerable uh seniors. But um I'm for all the reasons I've mentioned uh I I have such severe reservations about this and our inability to provide these benefits to anything more than a a you know a vast decimal point with many zeros uh to the to the right of the decimal before we get to the number. 83 out of 5,000, you know, in the living below the poverty line that, you know, just not enough people. Uh, and and so then you kind of create a lottery system where only a very small number of people would be able to benefit. And so I I have those concerns and for that reason um I'm not able to support the program going forward. Council member Melendez.

Uh thank you, Mayor. I appreciate those concerns um which is why I have advocated that we narrow eligibility uh to a reasonable extent. Um I didn't identify a specific number regarding AMI. Um I would say um 30% AMI is appropriate. Right? folks that are making uh that are basically only existing off of their very limited social security uh or disability should be prioritized. If you have the ability to work, that is uh an incredible gift um and a burden as you age. One of the things I just looked up now um on some census data is regarding disability status for uh people as they age and uh 24% of people aged 65 to 74 are disabled and for those who are over 75 years old it's 46%. So I absolutely support um responding to people who are in the greatest level of poverty. I absolutely support responding to those who have the highest burden of disability. Um, and that comes with age. Um, I'm not sure, city attorney, is there um, you know, what are our parameters for being responsive to, you know, disability doesn't just come with age, right? You can be 55 on a fixed income with disability and social security and not be able to afford your housing and you are the most vulnerable person on the street. So, how are we able to be use this program to be responsive to people with disabilities um in a way that is um you know has a legal framework to it?

So, as I think as Jonathan Lung has uh indicated in the beginning of the presentation, we are free to mod uh create whatever parameters we have on this as long as we're not discriminating against any protected class. I think uh the council would be fine setting up whatever parameters it wanted to. Okay. I mean, we could add in a criteria. It could be 30% AMI, uh, over 70, also has a disability, and absolutely lives in the city of Vista. And mayor, the reason why I wouldn't advocate to take these funds and give it to our housing fund uh is based on argument that you've used before, which is that when we develop affordable housing that is um that housing is filled through the system that is accessible throughout the entire county, we might not actually be serving longtime Vista residents by building affordable housing for seniors. although we need that service and we need that option just as much as we need this option. So I would like to have a variety of programs. Um and this gives us the opportunity to serve people who live in Vista immediately. Uh and that also means that we can allow people to stay in Vista and prevent homelessness in Vista. So, if anyone has any thoughts on really narrowing the criteria to be considerate to those who are most vulnerable, um I think a program that is marketed as rental subsidy for disabled seniors is completely appropriate and responsive to those with the highest need. Um because we know that when you have those conditions of age and disability, that's where it becomes even more difficult for you to work. Um, the other uh thing for us to consider is if the purpose is to get folks back up on their feet, we might not be thinking about the same

program. This program, I don't believe, is something that should be there to get folks back up on their feet. That's the type of program that should exist for younger people with the capacity to gain more income. when you're a senior with disabilities, we should not be, you know, implementing a program that's demanding for them to get back into the workforce. I think that that is actually cruel. Um I would like to see us um advocate for more long-term services for those folks. And ultimately, you know, I do agree with you with to some extent, mayor, that permanent supportive housing is is that solution for many people. But there are solutions offered in the case management and stabilization strategies that help people stabilize even without permanent supportive housing. So I think that there are um ways that we can implement this program that respond to the highest need. We're realistic about the client's ability to you know get back up on their feet and actually you know gain more income to respond to their housing needs. um and you know also is going to serve people really focused in Vista. So that that would be some of my feedback and I hope you would be able to support it and I I think we can come together and even ask our senior commission you know how do we narrow eligibility? What are the criteria that we can lock in and you know it might be a very narrow pool of folks but senior senior commission let us know you know your friends and neighbors in these positions. What are the criteria that put you in the most vulnerable position and how can we serve those people first?

Council member Conturus,

a question on the permanent supportive housing. That process takes about how long? to complete from start to finish construction or placement or all the whole thing. The whole thing okay so because this got to come to council we got to identify land then we got to have RFP

at minimum very very fasttrack development from the date of approval by city council to pursue a project. I'll also add the variable that it would depend on whether the city owns the property or not, but I would say a good average to expect a permanent support of housing development to be fully constructed and accepting applications for 10 is probably four to five years.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I understand where you're coming from, mayor. The need is now. Uh are unfortunately the fastest growing demographic experiencing homelessness is seniors. We have an aging population. I don't think we can get around the fact that the affordability crisis is hitting our seniors and it's devastating. Uh I think we we need to move forward with this and see how it goes as a pilot. Uh, but I want our seniors to know that with the funds that we had uh left over from our budget last year that we want to invest in their stability. Uh, and that's that's what we're doing here. Uh, I cannot wait, you know, five plus years. Uh, folks are are suffering now. There's more and more folks that I've seen uh that look like they fit the senior demographic that are living in their cars. You know, uh that's we don't want it to get to that point. We want to be able to help folks while they're housed. And I think that that's what our residents deserve. If we have the opportunity to do this now, I think we do it now. For any kind of services like this in the future, if we do not have funding, these are additional services that we will have to look at pulling back. But until that time happens and we have the ability to bring stability to our seniors during an incredible affordability crisis that's meeting

fixed incomes with highing higher costs. I I just know that this is the right thing to do. So, uh, I'm looking forward to to moving this along. And I do think that our senior commission should take a look at this program as well and provide any additional commentary, suggestions, recommendations. That's all for me at this time. By the way, just some as we're all up here kind of trying to understand and digest the numbers, the average benefit for social security rep uh recipient in America is $271 $271. Uh that's $24,852 a year. That's 20% of the AMI. So if you're making the average, you're only at 20% of AMI. So I think we have to go lower than 30%. We may I think we may even have to go lower than 20%. because we're trying to get I I think you know what I would ask the senior commission is to and the staff we need to do a little bit more uh looking at what what really defines the parameters of those who are in the greatest need uh because there there are a lot of seniors who are existing on a very small amount of money and uh it it might be way more than we think and so in order to really target this um and I and I think it it might have to be something more uh than just a subsidy for people who, you know, it's if if they've had a, you know, some sort of a qualifying event that's changed something. I mean, but I I just to me the the danger of creating a just a you know, cash payments for a very large portion of the public. It's really beyond the uh the the scope of city

government and the costs have the potential to grow uh exponentially beyond our control or for us to just run out of money and not be able to help very many people and then some people get it. some don't. So, we just need a lot more information here and need to get a lot closer to, you know, look, everybody wants to see every senior citizen, especially elderly people who are disabled, uh, have dignity in their retirement. That's something I talk about all the time. That's important to me. Uh but when you get down to the actual mathematics of this and you start to realize how few people that you could help with a half million just given out in, you know, in $6,000 a piece over, you know, 24 months of $250. And then you think about, you know, and I don't know if I agree with five years because I think the urban core thing, I mean, from the day that we found out about it couldn't have been more than three years from the time they opened it.

Now they were already maybe 12 or 18 months into uh,

you know, into exp. But the other problem is, you know, uh, senior poverty is not going anywhere. So, you know, as much as it is always an emergency to see anybody in need, we shouldn't treat problems that will continue to exist 50 years from now, uh, as a as a crisis in terms of the way we approach it with money. Because the way you approach a crisis with money, uh, tends to be with disregard for the most efficient and effective use of dollars. Whereas when we recognize that poverty and senior poverty have been with us for generations, uh going back to why, you know, Americans, uh, you know, created the Social Security program 100 years ago, nearly 100 years ago, uh, because senior poverty was a problem then, it's a it's a problem now. And, um, you know, I mean, my grandmother Inz got about $400 a month. And uh you know, I remember thinking that she had gotten a particularly raw deal to only get $400 a month until I I do the inflationary math on her $400 from 20 plus years ago uh was certainly the equivalent of $2,000 today. It's the 2,000 you get today is about the same. Um you know, I don't know how you afford anything on that really. Uh it's not much. We we really we really need to be looking at uh how do we change um the cycle of poverty for our lowest income residents. And you know we we just and Mads left our chairman of our um is he the chairman? I think he's the chairman of our of our youth commission. No, he's not this year. Well, he's he's one of the one of the good voices in our youth commission.

Um, you know, but we asked all of our youth commissioners, we had about 20 of them together, maybe it was 16 of them, and they're not being taught how to budget in school. They're they've not they're not being taught how to balance a checkbook or uh, you know, what it means to to buy something on a credit card. We're not giving tools to young people to interrupt uh the cycle of poverty and to give them the the knowledge tools to really change the trajectory of their life. uh you know what could we do to make a meaningful difference in the lives of you know a thousand young people to give them knowledge that would change their life and the trajectory of their life and their ability to retire with dignity and to know that owning a home is something that you know the only possible way I could ever afford to live on 2000 is if I already had my house paid for. Um, so I just there's the idea is something we could we can all get behind and we all would take our own money and help somebody that we saw in need until we ran out of it. Um, but I I just have deep concern about we're we're deep we're dipping into a very shallow well with an extremely large bucket of need. And there's just so little water in the bottom of that well to fill this enormous bucket that when we draw it back up and we go to disperse it to the many people that would qualify and that would truly be a need in the eyes of the community, it's just going to be so much less than than we would hope for. And if we then tried to find the dollars to fill that bucket, uh we certainly wouldn't be able to with the dollars that we have. So, I just have a lot of concerns and I think we need to carefully address those concerns as we move forward.

Uh, let's see. I think we're back to Council Member Contrarus. Is that right? I'm sorry. Council member Fox was next.

Yes. Thank you. I think I think I'm I'm leaning towards the idea of having our our senior commission take a look at it, you know, maybe before it comes back to us to go over a lot of that because I think there was a lot of good points being brought up about making sure that if we only have a very limited pool of funds that you know if we can if it is only you know between 20 and 80 people that were able to help with this, it needs to be the 20 or 80 people that without this would be on our streets using our services and you know potent and and going into homelessness and so figuring out how to select for that group and be as as efficient as we can does sound like a good idea to me. So I think that's rather than do it fast doing it right might be the the the right decision here as well. So um I think I'm going to lean towards that one as well now. Um that's all I want to say. Thanks.

Okay. Do we have enough direction on this? Actually, I'd like to clarify if I could, mayor. So, what I'm hearing is uh keeping it within the city boundary. That's pretty clear. Uh but we would be presenting to the senior commission. And what we're hearing, at least what I'm hearing, uh the last conversation that council member Melinda's mentioned was 30% AMI, above age 70, and with a disability. Was that the parameters that you'd like us to present to the senior commission, get their feedback, and come back? Or would you like us to present what the staff recommendation was, ask the senior commission to narrow it as much as they could and then come back with that recommendation? Council member Contrarus.

Yeah, I was going to ask for clarification as to what we were doing as well, just because I I was uncertain. There is a lot of um looking at the different points and movement in that. Uh you know, I'm I'm 100% in favor, I will tell you, of having our senior commission review this uh in its entirety. I'm okay with that.

I have one more thought if the city council finds it useful. HCD as of about 2 or 3 years ago adopted a new income level they call acutely low which is 15% AMI. It's specific to California. Perhaps city council would like to consider that to consider extreme need. I think that makes sense given the fact that the average social security benefit puts you at 20% of AMI. Council member Melinda.

Um yes. So I would support that Jonathan. Thank you for that comment. I think we share um these recommendations that the council has built tonight um of a very very narrow criteria and give them a little bit of background. Say that um you know staff brought forward a broader criteria and the council um has the intention of serving those with the highest need and so we have asked to narrow it significantly and then get their feedback on that. they might reality check us and let us know what the real impact is for folks making 60% AMI. And so, um, you know, as long as they're empowered in that conversation to share that feedback with us, I would welcome that, um, discussion. Uh, and you know, again, these are not hard and fast decisions. it will come back before us. But I say we just present the senior commission with narrow criteria and um we we hope to hear their support on that.

Okay, you have enough direction. Okay, seeing no other requests to speak on that, we'll move forward. Um I don't think I closed the opportunity for oil communications. Do we have anybody else that wants to be heard? No. Okay, we'll close the opportunity for all communications. That'll bring us to the conclusion of our meeting and comments from staff. Any comments from the city clerk's office this evening? Our city attorney, city manager.

Just one, I want to promote the 2026 Vista Leadership Academy. It's a free 8-week program that offers behindthe-scenes look at how the city of Vista operates with participants meeting on Wednesday evenings from 5 to 7:00 p.m. plus one daytime bus tour to learn how decisions are made, how services are delivered, and how we plan for the future. We'll meeting city leaders and touring key facilities. The session runs from March 11th through May 6th with graduation on May 12th and space is limited to 20 participants. If you're 18 or older and live or own a live in or own a business in Vista, I encourage you to apply by March 1st and take advantage of this unique opportunity. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member Fox. Thank you very much. Um, next week I have a joint dispatch meeting, so I'll be able to report back on on that. I think we're in labor negotiations still on that one for dispatchers. So, um, so that's, uh, moving on, I think, pretty well. Uh, other than that, uh, I love my wife very much. It's Taco Tuesday, and I hope everyone has a wonderful night. Council member Melendez.

Uh, thank you all. I just wanted to report, um, since my last Clean Energy Alliance meeting, um, we have officially approved, uh, some cost-saving measures. um we wanted to respond to the rising utility costs and so now we have a program that ensures that CA programs um will always have an option that is in parody with SDG& um not only does that make continue to make us competitive um against SDG& but it ensures that um you know CA customers aren't forced to pay a premium for renewable energy options. options. Um, and this is something that we're really uh proud of. We want to uh bring everybody in uh to renewable energy options. Um, but we know that utility costs just continue to go up. Um, so we do have a uh rate relief program now for CA customers which includes City of Vista and um pretty much all of our constituencies. So um thank you to my board for working on that with me. um we were able to do so in a way that ensured that we would still be able to meet our obligations um and some of our financial goals um to eventually have greater cost savings in the future while also trying to be responsive to um some of the uh current cost of living challenges people are dealing with. So um feel free to visit the CA website or contact customer service of clean energy alliance for more information about that program. Council member Contrarus,

as always, tomorrow is Wednesday, so it's a trash pickup. So, uh, Geras Vista Olympio will be doing their weekly trash pickup. You can contact Hovita Sarafin, the founder and captain. If for any reason you have a hard time reaching them, just let me know and I'll connect you. Uh, other than that, I hope everybody has a good uh, rest of your night. Thanks.

Okay. We want to invite our residents, business owners, and community stakeholders to join us for general plan workshop series number three, taking place March 2nd through the 5th, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in an openhouse format at locations across all four council districts, including Spanish language workshops on March 3rd. Our draft general plan update 2050 reflects years of outreach to the community and input and will serve as Vista's long-term blueprint for growth guiding land use decisions, policies, and priorities for decades to come. At these workshops, you'll be able to review key updates, see how your feedback has shaped the draft comment uh draft document and program environmental impact report, learn about the next steps in adoption process, and share additional comments. Your voice does matter to us and we encourage everyone to attend and help shape the uh future of our city. For more information, visit vista.gov/news. Thank you as always to my beautiful wife for allowing me to serve and take time away from being home with her. Have a good night, everyone.