[11:44] Okay, we are going to call this meeting

[11:47] to order.

[11:54] Could

[11:55] you lead us in

[13:05] Roll call, please.

[13:08] >> Council member Odbe

[13:09] >> here.

[13:10] >> Council member FSY

[13:11] >> here. Council member Call

[13:13] >> here. Vice Mayor Pimentel

[13:15] >> here.

[13:16] >> Mayor Hernandez

[13:16] >> here. There are no agenda changes at

[13:20] this time. Any council member, authority

[13:22] or staff who has a direct conflict of

[13:24] interest on any scheduled agenda item to

[13:26] be considered is to declare their

[13:27] conflict at this time.

[13:31] Seeing none, we are going to move ahead

[13:33] to public comment. At this time, members

[13:35] of the public may comment on any item

[13:37] not appearing on the agenda and within

[13:39] the subject matter jurisdiction of the

[13:40] city council L board. Individual

[13:43] comments will be limited to a maximum of

[13:44] three minutes and time cannot be yielded

[13:46] to another person. Under state law,

[13:48] matters presented during public comment

[13:50] cannot be discussed or acted upon.

[13:53] Mayor, we have Julia Hernandez.

[13:57] [clears throat]

[14:06] All right.

[14:08] I think so. Oh, there it is. Okay. I'm

[14:11] naturally a loud person, so I'll try not

[14:12] to hurt anybody's ears. All righty. Um,

[14:15] hello everyone. My name is Julia

[14:16] Hernandez. I recently stepped into the

[14:19] position of facilitator at Sierra House.

[14:21] So, I just wanted to take some time to

[14:23] come down here tonight when we're all in

[14:24] one place to introduce myself. So, you

[14:26] know, you know my face, I know yours.

[14:29] Um, I wanted to also speak about my

[14:31] goals to discuss making a positive

[14:33] impact on the unhoused population in our

[14:35] community um through our services at

[14:36] Sier House. So, I was born and raised

[14:39] here in the Central Valley. Growing up

[14:40] in Modesto and studying at Fresno State

[14:43] to earn my bachelor's in psychology and

[14:45] after graduation, I felt that natural

[14:47] pull to come on back to the Modesto and

[14:49] Riverbank area that, you know, so many

[14:51] of my friends and family felt as well.

[14:53] This is my home. And I wanted to give

[14:55] back to the community that raised me.

[14:57] Throughout my life, I volunteered with

[14:59] various organizations including the

[15:00] North Modesto Kuanas Club to provide

[15:02] support to those in need. And after

[15:04] conducting some community outreach in

[15:06] Turlock over at WCare, I felt a pull to

[15:09] make a difference in the lives of our

[15:10] unhoused population. I wanted to be able

[15:13] to make a difference and so I was so

[15:15] excited for the opportunity to

[15:16] contribute to Cambridgemies and their

[15:19] mission through Sierra House here in

[15:20] Riverbank.

[15:22] And so in that, you know, in my in my

[15:23] role as facilitator at re in the restart

[15:26] program, I am happy to share that over

[15:28] the month that I've been here, we've

[15:29] been able to secure employment for three

[15:31] of our four residents after focusing on

[15:33] resume and cover letter building as well

[15:35] as job interview preparation and

[15:36] essential skill building. We are now

[15:38] working on helping them develop

[15:40] financial literacy, preparing them for

[15:42] their life and success beyond the

[15:43] program. And one of our residents is

[15:45] even enrolled in a peer support group.

[15:48] um he is working to become trained in

[15:50] becoming a peer sport person to help

[15:52] people kind of get back on the right

[15:54] track as he was able to do for himself.

[15:55] So it's really really amazing he's set

[15:57] to graduate late next month. We are very

[15:59] proud of him. So I wanted to share that

[16:00] as well. It's been amazing to see the

[16:02] growth in these men in the first month

[16:04] that I've been on site and in the coming

[16:05] months I'll be getting out into our

[16:07] community myself connecting with other

[16:09] organizations and recruiting for our

[16:10] third cohort that we have set to begin

[16:12] April 1st. Um, we are looking for

[16:15] candidates that with the right support

[16:16] that have the potential to become the

[16:18] person that achieves their goals. I do

[16:20] have a strong desire to help the youth

[16:21] of our community and help them prevent

[16:23] living a life on the streets. Um,

[16:25] through our career and personal

[16:26] development, I will be beginning to

[16:28] teach in April. I would love to meet

[16:30] with anyone that wants to know more

[16:31] about our programs so we can continue

[16:33] working together to reach those in need.

[16:35] I'm excited to see what we can

[16:36] accomplish while I'm in this role. Um,

[16:39] and you know, we're so thankful to the

[16:40] city of Riverbank for your continued

[16:42] support of our efforts. of course.

[16:43] Please don't be a stranger. I'm there

[16:45] Monday through Friday. I'd love for you

[16:46] guys to stop by. Um, get to know each

[16:48] other. Connection is very important to

[16:49] me. So, yeah, see me anytime. Thank you,

[16:58] mayor. That is all we have for general

[17:00] public comment in the chamber. I'm not

[17:02] sure if there's anyone online, but I

[17:04] don't see anyone.

[17:06] >> Eight. Any other public comment?

[17:10] If not, we are going to move on to the

[17:12] consent calendar. Um, items 9.1 to 9.5.

[17:17] Is there any discussion or a uh motion?

[17:24] » I make a motion we approve items 9.1

[17:26] through 9.5.

[17:28] >> Second.

[17:28] >> Roll call, please.

[17:31] >> Council member Da.

[17:32] >> Yes.

[17:32] >> Council member FSY.

[17:33] >> Yes.

[17:34] >> Council member Call.

[17:35] >> Yes.

[17:35] >> Vice Mayor Pimementel?

[17:37] >> Yes.

[17:37] >> Mayor Hernandez?

[17:38] >> Yes.

[17:38] >> Motion passes. is 50

[17:41] public hearing. So we have item 10.1, a

[17:44] resolution to adopt new fee schedule of

[17:46] park amenities, rentals, recreation

[17:48] programs, and events for city of

[17:50] Riverbank.

[17:51] >> Mayor and council, Michael Patton, your

[17:54] director of parks and recreation will

[17:55] provide this report.

[17:58] >> Good evening, mayor and city council. So

[18:02] we'll wait for Norman to get the

[18:03] presentation up and we'll get get

[18:05] started.

[18:07] Awesome.

[18:14] So, we as a park recreation department

[18:16] are here to um seek approval from the

[18:19] city council to updating our fee

[18:21] schedule for the parks and recreation

[18:22] department.

[18:24] Um kind of give you a little bit

[18:25] background why we're doing this. Um as

[18:28] uh you guys know from our last city

[18:30] council meeting, the department

[18:31] completed a financial sustainability

[18:33] study that was presented to you two

[18:35] weeks ago. Um in this study the

[18:38] consultants reviewed with staff um the

[18:40] financials of the department um and some

[18:43] of the key findings is our department is

[18:46] doing about 16% cost recovery. Um the

[18:48] consultant shared in the last meeting

[18:50] that that is below the state average. Um

[18:53] I do know that the national average

[18:55] listed by the national recreation park

[18:56] association is 25%. So we are on the

[18:59] national side with different markets

[19:02] compared to again other organizations in

[19:04] the nation we are a little bit more

[19:05] behind. Um so we use this information in

[19:08] the study and we reviewed our current

[19:10] fees related to the offerings of parks

[19:12] and recreation

[19:14] in order to find a few things. One is

[19:16] how we can increase our revenues, how we

[19:18] can reduce our expenditures and how can

[19:20] we modernize our department fees.

[19:22] Meaning how can we simplify them to

[19:24] where it's easier to understand for our

[19:26] residents. it's not confusing,

[19:29] convoluted, and we'll point out some

[19:30] examples as we go through the fee

[19:32] schedule, what kind of things we're

[19:33] changing there. Um, the proposed fees

[19:37] have been reviewed by city sta or parks

[19:39] recreation staff. We've looked them over

[19:42] um looked at our participation numbers,

[19:44] looked at different ways on um how we

[19:48] can how to make the fees make sense.

[19:50] We've discussed them with our finance

[19:52] department, had gave them opportunity to

[19:54] ask questions. Uh we've also presented

[19:57] to to the parks and recreation advisory

[19:59] committee which is made up of five uh

[20:01] local residents that were appointed by

[20:03] US city council members to provide

[20:05] guidance. Um the fees were presented to

[20:08] him twice in two different meetings and

[20:11] it was a unanimous uh vote by them to

[20:14] recommend the fees to you guys for

[20:16] adoption. Uh so you have staff support,

[20:18] you have community representation

[20:20] support on these fees.

[20:23] Um so as we go

[20:26] One sec here. My clicker decided to not

[20:29] work anymore.

[20:32] It's delayed. Um, so for the proposed

[20:35] fee areas, we do have about four main

[20:37] categories. We have our parks, our

[20:40] recreation programs, our events, and our

[20:42] facilities.

[20:43] Um, one thing as we go through them, I

[20:45] want to note, um, I think will make it

[20:47] easier for us is there's a lot of

[20:49] changes we're proposing here. Um, so one

[20:52] thing I would ask from council and even

[20:54] residents that are in attendance of

[20:55] viewing this. Um, if you have questions

[20:57] or comments, we ask that you save them

[20:59] to the end. At the bottom right hand

[21:00] corner, we do have a p a slide number.

[21:02] So if you do see a question you have,

[21:05] just write down notes slide five

[21:07] question this so when we come back we

[21:08] can refer back.

[21:11] Um, so we're going to go over our parks.

[21:13] Um, so for our park facilities, we do

[21:16] have pavilions and gazeos out there that

[21:18] people can rent for birthday parties,

[21:19] gatherings. Um, we do have a resident

[21:22] rate that the currently is $110 per day,

[21:25] a non-resident rate that's $135. We're

[21:28] proposing that rate stay the same. The

[21:30] only change we're doing is we do require

[21:32] um our policies require deposits from

[21:34] those that rent the facilities. The

[21:36] deposit is is not in the current fee

[21:38] schedule. So, we're just implementing it

[21:40] in there. Uh the traditional fee that

[21:41] we've been charging is $100 for a

[21:43] deposit. um that is fully refundable

[21:45] dependent on the facility being left in

[21:48] good condition, no damages, not a hot

[21:50] mess for our staff to deal with after

[21:52] the weekend.

[21:54] We also char uh have uh pavilions and

[21:57] facilities available for rent at Jacob

[21:59] Myers Park. Those fees are a little bit

[22:01] different. Uh we look at our Oak Grove

[22:04] and our Rotary area. Again, 110 for

[22:07] residents. Uh for non-residents, it

[22:09] currently is at 150. We're proposing to

[22:11] remain that the same. And the deposit

[22:13] we're throwing in there as again $100.

[22:16] Um, we do have our Bernie pavilion,

[22:18] which is the big pavilion right there,

[22:19] right next to the playground. For

[22:21] residents, it's 150. We're proposing to

[22:23] keep it the same. Uh, for non-residents,

[22:25] here's our first change. We go, we're

[22:27] recommending from going from $250 to

[22:29] $300. And then we do charge for

[22:32] additional for electricity, which is

[22:34] $25, which we're going to keep the same.

[22:36] Then again adding the deposit. Um, as we

[22:38] get further into Jacob Myers space, I do

[22:40] want to note um, one thing we noticed in

[22:42] the past two summers about 87 to 88% of

[22:45] those that attend the park when we do

[22:46] charge are non-residents. They are those

[22:49] are attending from visiting from

[22:50] Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton. And so

[22:53] when we start talking about fees, um,

[22:55] it's one common question we get from

[22:56] residents on how can we charge a fee to

[22:58] go to Jacome's Park. Um, again, it's to

[23:00] help subsidize so that the general fund

[23:02] isn't covering it. Again, with about 88

[23:04] to 90% of those that attend the park

[23:05] that are not residents, you mean your

[23:08] tax dollars aren't covering for someone

[23:09] else to have fun that's not even from

[23:10] the area that's contributing. Um, so

[23:13] going to their Jacob Myers fees. So we

[23:16] charge months of April through

[23:17] September, Fridays, Saturdays, and

[23:19] Sundays and on holidays. So Monday,

[23:21] Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we do not

[23:23] charge. The current resident fee is $7.

[23:26] We are proposing to keep that the same.

[23:28] The non-resident fee is $10. We are

[23:30] proposing to jump that to $12. Uh we

[23:33] looked at last year's numbers. Um had we

[23:35] charged this $12 fee last year, we would

[23:39] have made additional about $19,000,

[23:41] which goes back into park maintenance

[23:43] and upkeep. Um give you example, we just

[23:45] did some tree cuts at Jacob Myers Park,

[23:47] cutting down the trees, making sure no

[23:49] slims fall on any cars or any people out

[23:50] there. That cost around $19,000. So that

[23:54] kind of stuff helps out a little bit

[23:55] there. uh from previous city council

[23:57] member uh city councils, they worked

[24:00] with the department to create um a fee

[24:02] for those that wanted to visit the dog

[24:04] park or use a trail for 1 hour parking.

[24:07] Um in our fee schedule, we don't have

[24:08] anything listed in there. The policy we

[24:11] have been doing, it's $0 for a free oneh

[24:13] hour parking pass for those that again

[24:16] residents that just want to use the

[24:17] trail and use the dog park. For those

[24:19] that are there that pass that one hour,

[24:21] we do charge for that. Uh we do also you

[24:24] charge for the wedding gazebo that's out

[24:25] there. Um we don't really get since I've

[24:28] been here we've had had any calls on it

[24:30] but we do have there that's available.

[24:32] So it's $500. We're going to keep the

[24:33] same as 500.

[24:35] A new thing that we were looking to add

[24:36] is with the veteran presence and active

[24:39] military presence here in Riverbank. Um

[24:42] we implemented just for a little bit

[24:43] last year and received great feedback.

[24:45] We want to do some sort of military

[24:47] first responder discount. Currently,

[24:49] there's no fee for that, but we're

[24:51] proposing is kind of a $2 discount. So,

[24:53] if you're a resident, that's a first

[24:54] responder, active military, veteran, it

[24:58] would be $5. And if you're a

[24:59] non-resident, um, coming from that would

[25:01] be $10.

[25:04] We do offer season passes at Jacob Myers

[25:06] Park. So, for residents, it's $35, which

[25:08] is equivalent to five visits. So, we're

[25:11] going to keep that fee the same. And for

[25:13] non-residents, we're moving from $50.

[25:14] We're proposing $60. again going from

[25:17] five visits times $12 be $60 there.

[25:22] Another thing we're proposing is we do

[25:23] have the McRichi campground which we do

[25:25] not um offer up to the community. It's

[25:28] only mainly for those like nonprofit

[25:29] organizations like the Boy Scouts and

[25:31] Girl Scouts to use. Uh we are interested

[25:34] in looking see if there is a want to

[25:37] reserve that space for big path g as

[25:39] there is fire pits picnic areas nice

[25:42] shaded area a little bit away from the

[25:44] river but we just want to see if there

[25:45] is some sort of want there and so we're

[25:48] proposing a new rate of $200 for the day

[25:50] use nonprofit organization like the Boy

[25:52] Scouts and Girl Scouts they've been

[25:53] charged $50 continue using that fee and

[25:56] then a deposit of $100 we'll keep that

[25:58] going

[26:00] miscellaneous across our parks So, we

[26:03] have a bounce house permit. So, if

[26:05] someone wants to rent our parks and they

[26:06] want to bring in a bounce house, there

[26:08] is a permit for that. We do charge $25

[26:10] for that. We're proposing to keep that

[26:12] the same. We also do a special event

[26:14] permits. So, we do have lots of

[26:16] organizations that come in that have

[26:18] great ideas for special events. There's

[26:19] an application they fill out. Um, it is

[26:22] a lot of admin work as we go gather

[26:24] signatures from all the department heads

[26:26] approving the permit, communicating with

[26:28] department heads on what the event is.

[26:30] Um, so on the application it does say we

[26:32] charge $35, but again it's not in our

[26:34] fee schedule. So we propose to have that

[26:36] in our fee schedule. So when we charge

[26:38] people this $35, we don't feel like

[26:41] we're going behind city council's back

[26:42] on this. Uh, so we're seeking for that

[26:44] approval there. One other thing that we

[26:47] are seeing very frequently is uh we are

[26:52] proposing a facility rental and special

[26:53] event permit application laty. So in our

[26:56] applications, our policies, if you

[26:59] submit your documentation or your

[27:00] application 30 days before the event,

[27:03] it's great. But if you do it within like

[27:05] a after the 30 days, um we our policy is

[27:10] that we decline your event, you decline

[27:12] or your reservation or whatever that may

[27:14] be. That causes a lot of heartache and

[27:17] heartburn on our end where if you tell

[27:18] someone, hey, you didn't give us your

[27:19] documentation in time, so we can't have

[27:21] your wedding that you've been playing at

[27:22] the at this facility. There's not a lot

[27:24] of happy people with that and so but it

[27:27] is more burden on our staff to now we

[27:29] are in a scramble to try and make sure

[27:30] we get all the documentation. So we're

[27:32] proposing a late fee for those that are

[27:33] late that we can accommodate. We are

[27:35] capable of doing it but I think there

[27:37] needs to be some some sort of monetary

[27:38] compensation for our time for your lack

[27:42] of preparation.

[27:44] The last thing we're proposing is at

[27:45] Jacob Myers Park, we do have uh on-site

[27:49] security guards that go around in the

[27:50] park, look for park violations, and they

[27:52] hand out citations. The typical citation

[27:55] that they've been accustomed to offer or

[27:57] sending out is $100. Again, it's not in

[27:59] our fee schedule. It's just been policy

[28:02] that previous administrations are like,

[28:03] "This sounds good." So, we want to make

[28:05] sure we have it in there to where again,

[28:07] if we do issue citation and someone's

[28:09] like, "Well, where is this in your fee

[28:10] schedule?" We have it set up there. Uh

[28:12] this goes for parking violations. For

[28:14] those that bring alcohol on site, that

[28:18] use drugs on site, anything that's a

[28:19] park violation, they can offer that

[28:20] citation.

[28:23] For recreation programs, we'll start

[28:25] with our camps. So, we um offer a

[28:27] variety of camps. One is an all day

[28:29] summer camp. Um in the past, we've

[28:33] offered a $125 for residents and offer a

[28:37] discount for a second child of 115. Um,

[28:40] and then for non-residents, it's $135

[28:42] and again a discount or for second child

[28:44] it's 125. We're proposing a new fee of

[28:47] $125 just for every child that's

[28:49] involved. Um, whether you have a second

[28:51] child, third child, fourth child, keep

[28:53] the same and then a new a non-resident

[28:56] fee of 13750.

[28:59] We are looking at a 10% increase

[29:01] difference between a resident and

[29:02] non-resident rate. Um, so that's why you

[29:05] get that weird 13750 in there. As far as

[29:08] our mini camps go, we've charged $45 for

[29:11] resident and non-resident. We're looking

[29:14] at keeping the the resident rate $45 and

[29:16] then the non-resident rate 4950. Again,

[29:18] that 10% of of 45. We also do offer a

[29:23] camp time extension. So, we do like for

[29:26] example start camps at 8 pm or 8 am. If

[29:28] a parent wants to drop off their kid at

[29:30] say 7:30 a.m. because they have to go to

[29:32] work or something, they cannot pay 20

[29:34] extra $25 and they can drop that kid off

[29:36] early 30 minutes before uh before the

[29:40] camp each day. Um looking at our

[29:42] staffing costs because we have to have

[29:44] staff there to take in the kid and

[29:45] monitor them. It we operate a loss

[29:47] offering that. So, we are proposing to

[29:49] increase it to $50 to where we at least

[29:51] break even on that on that offering to

[29:53] parents that participate.

[29:55] As far as classes go, we do have a Zumba

[29:57] Gold program um $3 drop in or propose to

[30:01] keep it the same. We do also have an

[30:03] archery program that um we are looking

[30:06] to get start up again in March. The

[30:08] current fee is $30 for a six week

[30:11] session. Um individual drop in is $25 a

[30:14] day. U we're looking at kind of flipping

[30:17] that a little bit. So, we want to do $25

[30:18] per registered class and a $30 drop in.

[30:21] Zumba, we'll keep the same with $5 drop

[30:23] in with a five keep that the same. Uh,

[30:26] one thing we're looking to add is u we

[30:28] do get lots of requests for new programs

[30:30] and new classes and we do start them up

[30:33] um try and start them up here. One thing

[30:35] we do not do not want to do is

[30:37] continually update this and go to city

[30:39] council, hey, we have this brand new

[30:40] program we want to do. We don't know if

[30:41] it's going to be good or not. Um, so

[30:44] what we want to do is get that in place

[30:45] where we have a range where we can

[30:47] charge between a minimum and a maximum

[30:50] and if we decide that the program is

[30:51] successful, we want to bring it back.

[30:53] The next time we come back with the fee

[30:55] schedule, we'll propose that specific

[30:56] program. The idea for parks and

[30:58] recreation is we want to keep this

[31:00] schedule up to date as much as possible

[31:03] with the hope of coming back annually.

[31:05] So, if we start a new program, let's say

[31:06] next month, um, come beginning of 2027,

[31:10] we'll come back with that new program

[31:12] with its own set fee schedule right

[31:14] there based on the feedback we get.

[31:19] Other recreation programs, so we do have

[31:20] our swim team. Um, we do charge $135 per

[31:25] participant. Second child is 125. The

[31:27] new proposed fee we're we're asking for

[31:29] is $150 per kid. Um, and then for

[31:33] non-resident, it was the same fee. Um,

[31:36] last year we're proposing to make that

[31:37] 165 per child. Uh, we do have staff that

[31:41] are certified lifeguard instructors. And

[31:44] so from time to time, depending on their

[31:46] schedules, we do have them teaching

[31:47] lifeguard first aid classes. Um, we did

[31:51] that last year. We didn't have a set in

[31:53] the fee schedule. If we were do that

[31:55] again, we want to set at $250, which is

[31:58] great deal.

[32:00] And then we do rent out our community

[32:02] pool. Um, and a lot of these fees are

[32:06] staying the same with how our pool does

[32:09] it. It's a two-hour minimum. And we

[32:11] charge based on the number of guests you

[32:12] have. And that's because that dep

[32:14] determines how many lifeguards we need

[32:15] to have on site. So the more people you

[32:16] have on site, the more lifeguards we

[32:18] required to have, which means more

[32:19] staffing costs we incur. And so for the

[32:23] residents that have one to 60 guests,

[32:25] it's $150 an hour. We're going to keep

[32:27] that the same. For non-residents, it's

[32:29] 170. We'll keep the same. For rentals

[32:32] that are 61 people to 90 people. For

[32:35] residents, it's 170. We'll keep it. For

[32:38] non-residents, it's 190. We'll keep the

[32:40] same. Uh for those that are 91 to 120

[32:43] people attending this this rental, for

[32:45] residents, it's $190 per hour. We'll

[32:47] keep the same. The only little minor

[32:49] difference is for the non-residents,

[32:50] it's $200 an hour. We're proposing $210

[32:52] an hour

[32:54] for our pool. So, we do have a pool pass

[32:58] u which is $30 which gets you access to

[33:01] pool as many times as you want as an

[33:03] individual. We'll keep that the same.

[33:05] And then it's also for a family of four.

[33:07] We uh had it set for $100 for a family

[33:11] of four with $20 for each added person.

[33:14] So, if you have a family of five, so we

[33:16] $120 and we're supposed to keep that the

[33:18] same. And similar to with the new

[33:20] programs, we have our special evented

[33:22] programs and classes in the pool. We

[33:24] want to set up a minimum and maximum to

[33:26] where our minimum is $0 to $100. And

[33:29] again, if we have a awesome event that

[33:32] happens at the pool that is very well

[33:33] attended and we want to bring back

[33:34] again, um we bring it to the new fee

[33:37] schedule in 2027 when we propose what we

[33:40] want to do. Then

[33:42] as far as our events go, um we'll go

[33:45] through our special events. We have our

[33:46] haunted hay. Um our current fee is $12.

[33:50] The new fee we're proposing is 15. Uh

[33:52] for those that saw our our uh event this

[33:55] past year, um we had to close the gates

[33:58] within 30 minutes of opening up just

[33:59] based on how packed it got. And so with

[34:02] the high demand, we figure that we can

[34:04] charge a little more to offset our cost

[34:05] because we do pay staff to overtime to

[34:08] be present to drive the vehicles and it

[34:10] does get costly in that sense. Uh for

[34:12] those that are ages 3 to 12, we have

[34:14] charge $6, supposed to increase it to

[34:16] 10. And then for those age ages zero to

[34:20] three, we don't charge for that one.

[34:22] For our Christmas parade, we do have a

[34:24] parade entry $25. We'll keep it the

[34:26] same. We do have booth fees for vendors

[34:29] that are out there. It's usually $50. We

[34:31] supposed to keep the same for our Dia de

[34:33] los Muertos event. Again, if you guys

[34:35] were there for that event, that was very

[34:37] well attended. Um because of the high

[34:39] demand, high attendance, we can now

[34:42] raise our fees and for the vendors, it

[34:44] becomes more worth it because we can

[34:45] prove that the put traffic's there. Uh

[34:47] so for a 10 by10 craft boot, we've

[34:49] charged $50. We propose 55 for a 10 x10

[34:52] food booth. Again, $50. We propose 65

[34:55] for food truck. $50 to 150. The reason

[34:58] for the food truck being so much

[35:00] different is the amount of square

[35:01] footage they take up. Also, the required

[35:04] lot of permitting that the county

[35:05] requires us to give as well to have the

[35:07] food truck there. And so that cost of

[35:09] having the food truck there offsets that

[35:10] cost. We also charge an alter fee for

[35:13] those that want to have an alter. It's

[35:14] $25. Plan on keeping that the same.

[35:17] As far as our cheese and wine festival,

[35:19] um again, for those that have attended,

[35:21] it's been rocking the last couple years.

[35:24] Uh we'll do a presentation next uh next

[35:27] city council, which I'll be gladly to

[35:29] report, give you guys a sneak peek. Uh

[35:32] we

[35:34] uh when we presented the budget, we were

[35:35] looking at trying to break even. We were

[35:38] profitable $8,500 this past year. So,

[35:41] uh, again, with the high demand that

[35:43] we're able to show, with the high

[35:44] attendance, we can now alter our fees to

[35:47] charge more since we're kind of getting

[35:48] that traction going in the right

[35:50] direction. So, for a 10x10 retail space,

[35:53] the fee is $75. Currently, we propose a

[35:55] move to $85.

[35:57] And for a 10 x 20, 150 to 170 and then

[36:00] 10 by30 retail, 225 to 255.

[36:04] For the food part of it, so 10 x10 food,

[36:07] it's currently 125. We're proposed to go

[36:09] to 130. 10 by 20 uh was 250 go to 260.

[36:14] And then 10 by 30 food 375. We proposed

[36:18] 390.

[36:19] Uh one big change we're looking at is

[36:21] last time we were here, we had to

[36:23] outline what each sponsorship tier level

[36:25] was. Um we have a lot of people wanting

[36:28] to sponsor help out with the event, but

[36:30] don't fit within those exact tiers. We

[36:32] have someone that say, "Hey, I

[36:35] um you have a tier for $1,000. I can

[36:38] give you uh something adds up to about

[36:41] $1,100. So, do I go into the next high

[36:44] tier or do I go into the lower tier

[36:46] right there at the thousand? And so, it

[36:48] kind of is a little bit convoluted there

[36:49] for us. And so, we proposed kind of a

[36:52] range to where it gives us the the

[36:53] flexibility to alter sponsorships in a

[36:56] way that um best the department sees

[36:58] best fit. Um similar to the cheese and

[37:01] wine programming, we do have new

[37:02] programs that we throw out, new ideas,

[37:04] new activities. Some are hits, some are

[37:07] duds. And so again, it gives us the

[37:09] flexibility to create new and if it's a

[37:11] hit, bring it back. And we can set

[37:13] established fee there. Um that's could

[37:16] be longterm as opposed to us kind of

[37:18] being this unknown area of what do we

[37:21] charge for this new thing we want to do

[37:23] without getting approval. And similar to

[37:25] merchandise as well, if we do decide to

[37:26] sell merchandise, we can figure out our profit margin, what we want to make

[37:31] on that. And again, we the goal is not

[37:33] to keep on coming back to the council

[37:34] with every single item we want to try to

[37:37] do.

[37:39] Um, other events we have our polar bear

[37:40] plunge that's been we've done this for

[37:42] the past two years. It's been a

[37:43] successful event. Um, so again, similar

[37:45] to what we've been saying, if it's a

[37:47] good event, we'll bring it back to the

[37:48] fee schedule. Uh, polar plunge doesn't

[37:50] have its own area, so we want to throw

[37:51] it in here for $5. That's what we've

[37:53] been charging. And then we have our my

[37:56] little one and me dance, which this next

[37:58] Saturday will be our third time doing

[37:59] it. Uh we charge 25 or $45 per ticket

[38:03] which includes a ticket for an adult and

[38:05] a child. And then for additional tickets

[38:07] it's $15.

[38:09] And then our food truck Fridays. Um

[38:12] again that's been a success. We want to

[38:14] make sure it has its own area in the fee

[38:16] schedule. So for a 10 by10 booth it's

[38:19] $45. For a food truck it's $65. And then

[38:22] we have a floating pumpkin patch event

[38:24] which is $10 at the pool.

[38:28] Uh for our facility rentals, this is

[38:30] where we get get spicy here, get some

[38:33] fun in here. Um this is going to be an

[38:36] example what I mentioned before of we

[38:38] have very

[38:39] um convoluted pricing for our facilities

[38:42] and we're trying to simplify as best we

[38:44] can. So I'll start with the current

[38:46] fees. So for the community center, um

[38:48] our current fee is based on depending on

[38:50] what you're doing. So if you're a

[38:51] resident, it's $1,700 for the entire

[38:53] day. For a non-resident it's $2,000, but

[38:56] if you're a nonprofit, it's $600. But if

[38:58] you're doing a memorial service, it's

[38:59] $400. We also have in there for like a

[39:02] meeting rate, too. If it's $50 an hour,

[39:03] if you want to do meetings and so we try

[39:06] to talk with people about what are you

[39:08] doing, it's

[39:10] a lot of questions to figure out, okay,

[39:12] what's the true price point for you? And

[39:14] when we're trying to get that

[39:14] information out to residents or people

[39:16] that want to use a facility, it's a lot

[39:18] of information to go through that makes

[39:19] sense. And so, we propose to kind of

[39:23] make that very simple. Uh so we propose

[39:25] a residential rate which is $150 per

[39:28] hour and for a non-resident rate it's

[39:30] $200 per hour. Um we solve two issues

[39:33] with that. One is um we're able to cut

[39:38] our expenditures a little bit. So for

[39:39] our all day rentals we do have staff on

[39:41] site all day which if someone's there

[39:43] for half day obviously we don't spend

[39:46] that much but if we have an all day

[39:47] rental we actually start losing money.

[39:49] Um so this per hour covers us to where

[39:52] we charge for when they're using the

[39:53] facility. No, we start making money on

[39:55] that side. The other thing, too, is we

[39:57] get a lot of questions on people want to

[39:59] use our facilities, but they don't want

[40:00] to pay $1,700 for a half day event. So,

[40:03] with this, it kind of makes it more

[40:04] accessible to where if someone wants to

[40:05] use a half day at the community center,

[40:07] we have that available now where they

[40:08] can pay by the hour. Uh, with that said,

[40:11] we'll be limiting the service group

[40:12] rate. So, we won't be offering a rate

[40:14] for nonprofits

[40:16] um and or memorial services. Um the idea

[40:19] behind that is with last year city

[40:21] council approving a fee waiver

[40:23] application for nonprofits. We've had

[40:26] multiple nonprofits apply. I think all

[40:28] but one have been approved. The one that

[40:30] did not get approved was a they want to

[40:31] do a private event. Nothing for public

[40:33] benefit. Um so that's available to

[40:36] nonprofits that want to use our

[40:38] facilities. Um since we have that

[40:40] mechanism there. We also do have

[40:42] amenities at the community center that

[40:44] people can rent. The stage is $200.

[40:45] We'll keep the same sound system $100.

[40:47] keep the same. We also have a microphone

[40:50] that people can rent. We th $50 for the

[40:52] microphone. We have a podium which is on

[40:55] the fee schedule. People charge $25 for

[40:57] the day use. And then for those that

[40:59] serve alcohol on site, our policies that

[41:01] we require security on site and we

[41:04] contract out with security usually for

[41:06] that. Uh we use the cost to pass along

[41:09] to the renter. So it's an additional

[41:12] cost on top of their fee. Uh right now

[41:15] onel is charging us $38 an hour for to

[41:17] have a guard on site. So to pass on the

[41:20] cost to the renter that will will get

[41:22] onel out there for their event.

[41:25] For Scout Hall, currently we charge $35

[41:29] per uh for the day for the residents,

[41:31] 400 for non-residents. We're looking to

[41:33] break that turn that to a per hour rate.

[41:35] So $75 per hour and then $100 per hour

[41:38] for non-residents. Keep the deposit the

[41:41] same. And then again, we'll have the

[41:42] security rate there.

[41:44] uh teen center in the current schedule.

[41:46] We have it available for rent uh for

[41:48] rentals. We don't do it that way because

[41:50] we do have some of valuables in there.

[41:53] Computers, games that we don't want

[41:55] damaged, misused, stolen. Um however, in

[41:58] case something does come up, we figure

[41:59] no issue of keeping it in there. In case

[42:01] something does come up, that's worth exploring. Uh the only addition

[42:05] that we have there is a deposit there.

[42:09] Uh we do have our gym rental. We do uh

[42:12] have a partnership with the car with the

[42:14] Riverbank Unified School District to use

[42:16] the Cardoo gym. Um we do have groups

[42:20] that use the facility every day of the

[42:22] week usually for volleyball programs,

[42:24] adult basketball,

[42:26] um mainly adult basketball. Uh we look

[42:30] at um they pay about $50 a day. Um and

[42:34] that's usually about four hours use. we

[42:36] start looking at that is a loss of city

[42:39] money as we do have a staff member on

[42:40] site that's costing us around $20 an

[42:42] hour. Um, one thing we started noticing

[42:46] is we do have groups that are open to

[42:47] the public so anyone can come

[42:48] participate. We also have groups that

[42:50] are closed off to the public, meaning

[42:52] they just have their friends come

[42:54] together and they play basketball

[42:55] without having that access. And so we're

[42:58] proposing a change in that dynamic to

[43:00] where if we're using taxpayer dollars to

[43:02] subsidize, it should be available to the

[43:03] public. And so we're going to try to

[43:05] change the use to public use and private

[43:06] use. If your program that you're

[43:08] offering is available to the public,

[43:10] you're not going to turn anyway unless

[43:11] you hit capacity or if there's violation

[43:14] of city rules, we propose a $15 per hour

[43:16] fee. And that's kind of in line with

[43:18] what the current measures are paying um

[43:21] for private use. for those that are

[43:22] using the facility for their own friends

[43:24] groups to go play at the facility and we

[43:27] proposing $100 per hour which is our

[43:30] cost recovery to operate the facility

[43:31] with the utilities with staffing um and

[43:34] also a little bit of profit there as

[43:35] again it's closed off to the public. We

[43:39] do require a deposit of $250 and then

[43:41] for those that want to use the

[43:42] scoreboard it's $50.

[43:44] Uh for the sports complex uh the current

[43:47] fee is $25 an hour. We plan on keeping

[43:49] that the same. We also we plan on

[43:52] increasing the deposit here from $250 to

[43:54] 300 for those that use the facility. Um

[43:57] oftent times there's trash left behind.

[43:59] It's just a big field to where it's hard

[44:00] to really clean everything up all at

[44:02] once. And so we have to propose a

[44:05] increase that to again if we have to

[44:06] withhold deposit money we're able to do

[44:08] that. Uh staffing we do charge for a

[44:10] staff member specifically to be on site

[44:12] for that. Pass fee schedule is $20 an

[44:15] hour with minimum wage increases our

[44:18] costs go up a little bit. So we're

[44:20] proposing $22 per hour. Lights per field

[44:23] is $30 per hour. $35 per hour.

[44:26] Scoreboard rental will keep the same.

[44:28] And then snack bar rental will keep the

[44:30] same.

[44:32] I believe this is our last slide here.

[44:34] So we have a Castleberg Park ball

[44:35] diamonds. Um we do charge for that. Uh

[44:38] we do field use uh $30 per hour. We

[44:42] wanted to clarify it a little bit, make

[44:44] it more clear. We are proposing $30 $30

[44:48] per hour per field as $30 does not

[44:51] encapsulate both the two fields are out

[44:53] there. Uh we currently do not charge a

[44:56] deposit or it's not in the fee schedule.

[44:58] So we want to put it in there. The

[45:00] lights are saying they're not in the fee

[45:02] schedule, but we want to include it in

[45:03] there. $35 per hour per per field. I

[45:06] think in the in the schedule it either

[45:08] has it for both fields. We want to kind

[45:10] of identify it's per field.

[45:13] site monitor. It's $20 an hour. Again,

[45:15] with the minimum wage increases, we want

[45:16] to bring up to $22 an hour. Uh, one

[45:19] request we've gotten from our local

[45:22] baseball group is to drag the field.

[45:25] Again, with our staffing time with

[45:26] full-timers and machinery and equipment,

[45:29] we've estimated it's about $75 per field

[45:31] to do. And then concession stand uh to

[45:34] kind with this to what we're doing at

[45:36] the sports complex. $200 a day. We

[45:38] figured it would be the same charge $20

[45:40] per day at the at the at Castleberg. And

[45:43] then lastly, we have the Zurel Park

[45:44] tennis courts. We do have a key to the

[45:47] tennis court. We do lock it up. Um and

[45:50] so we do charge $5 for that key. We will

[45:53] add that to the fee schedule. And then

[45:54] if we do want to go down the course of

[45:56] having our courts rentable for the

[45:58] public as we do have pickle ballers that

[46:01] like to be on the courts on the weekends

[46:03] and use all the courts if someone wants

[46:04] to rent, you know, reserve a spot so

[46:06] that way they don't they can play with

[46:08] their friends and family and not be

[46:10] overtaken by

[46:12] pickle ballers, they can do that as

[46:14] well. And we're proposing $10 per hour

[46:16] per court.

[46:19] Um so that that was a mouthful. a lot of

[46:21] changes that were that we're proposing

[46:23] and so I'm available for questions if

[46:25] council and the public have any.

[46:27] >> Thank you. I will bring it to council

[46:29] first. Are there any questions or

[46:31] comments?

[46:33] >> Okay. So, I'll go first. See if I got my

[46:35] notes correct. So, slide five. Michael,

[46:38] >> you're making me go back a long way

[46:39] here.

[46:40] >> You said you said write down the slides.

[46:41] >> All right. Let's hear it

[46:42] >> and we'll ask you questions. Uh just

[46:44] curious. So for the Jacob Myers park, do

[46:46] we have any signage as far as when we

[46:48] actually charge there at the dropboxes?

[46:50] >> Yes, we have a sign right at the very

[46:52] front and we also have an iron ranger

[46:53] which is located by the restroom where

[46:55] those that um when we do charge and

[46:59] they're not there to collect the money.

[47:01] They can go there and drop in uh money

[47:04] in the envelope. We do have a sign there

[47:06] that does state when fees are accepted.

[47:08] >> Okay. I would I would just suggest maybe

[47:10] adding it to the actual Dropbox because

[47:12] I It's on there.

[47:14] cuz cuz I looked for it the other day

[47:15] and I I couldn't find it. So maybe you

[47:17] have Ranger and then right behind is a

[47:18] big sign. That's

[47:20] >> okay.

[47:21] >> So I I have noticed some residents um we

[47:23] were there November and I was watching

[47:26] some residents they were dropping stuff

[47:28] in there. I'm assuming they were paying

[47:29] so maybe.

[47:31] >> Yeah. No, absolutely.

[47:32] >> Uh if we can go to slide 13.

[47:38] So, for the sponsorship, you said it was

[47:42] uh you guys are trying to be more

[47:43] flexible with the cheese and wine

[47:44] sponsorships there. Third line from the

[47:45] bottom there. [clears throat] Uh is it

[47:46] going to stay tiered or can you explain

[47:48] that a little bit?

[47:49] >> So, yeah, we still plan to keep it

[47:50] tiered.

[47:50] >> Okay.

[47:51] >> Um

[47:52] >> one of the things we've been seeing,

[47:54] like I said, people have different

[47:55] offerings. So, I'll give you a great

[47:56] example. Last year, um Raising Canes

[47:59] came in with a sponsorship of $1,000

[48:01] cash, which was a tier level. The next

[48:03] level up was 2500, but they were willing

[48:05] to offer us free meals to our city

[48:07] staff, all volunteers that day and gift

[48:10] gap baskets for raffles. And so trying

[48:12] to figure out, okay, does it does not

[48:15] quite meet the cost of the 2500 tier,

[48:17] but not the thousand tier. So where do

[48:19] we fit in all this?

[48:20] >> Yeah.

[48:20] >> And so we don't want to offset, hey,

[48:23] you're stuck to the thousand though.

[48:24] You're giving us so much great things.

[48:26] And so it gives us flexibility to kind

[48:27] of figure out what we want to do there.

[48:28] And so that's something staff. We're

[48:30] actually meeting tomorrow to kind of

[48:32] talk about this coming 2026 and how we

[48:34] plan on doing that. So I think as we

[48:36] come to to the next city council, we're

[48:38] going to talk to you guys about our plan

[48:40] for 2026. We'll kind of outline

[48:41] sponsorships there. Gota kind of get

[48:43] that flexibility there, what we're

[48:45] thinking, right? We do plan on keeping

[48:46] it tiered in a sense. So we might

[48:48] increase it a little bit, maybe move

[48:49] things around. Um, but again, we don't

[48:51] want to be tied down to something where

[48:54] say come August, we have to switch

[48:55] things up and it's like we're kind of

[48:57] hands behind our back here.

[48:58] >> Gotcha. Okay. Uh, jump to 14. So, the

[49:02] food truck fee. Uh, second one from the

[49:06] bottom. Just kind of curious why that

[49:08] one is a lot lower than the than the D

[49:10] loss muertos one.

[49:11] >> Yeah. So, this is per week. So, food

[49:13] truck fries goes for all the fries in

[49:15] May. So, you have four Fridays there. So

[49:17] the TIFF they use supply to the county

[49:19] is good for whatever the event is in

[49:21] general. So they don't have to keep on

[49:23] submitting TIFFs every single time.

[49:24] >> So the 150 is for the one day, this is

[49:26] for four weeks.

[49:27] >> Yeah. So 65 is for one day. So 65 times

[49:30] 4 if they tend to be there the whole

[49:31] time is 250 some odd dollars there.

[49:34] >> Got it. Uh two more. Uh slide 15. So the

[49:37] next one there. Um did did for the

[49:41] community center did you guys ever

[49:42] consider maybe like uh maybe minimum

[49:45] hours for that or is there no minimum

[49:47] hours for that?

[49:48] >> So we have it set to where if it's one

[49:51] hour we're going to make money off of

[49:52] it. Okay.

[49:53] >> And so if someone wants to use it for

[49:54] the one hour um again increase

[49:56] accessibility. So one of the biggest

[49:57] complaints we hear from the public is we

[50:00] have two main rental facilities. Scout

[50:01] Hall which the capacity is around 50

[50:03] people and then community center which

[50:04] is 300. So for those that want to do

[50:06] like a 150 people but aren't able to

[50:10] afford $1,700 for that much,

[50:12] >> right?

[50:12] >> This gives a little bit more

[50:13] flexibility. It's like, hey, you can do

[50:14] a, you know, middlesiz group, but you

[50:17] like half day instead of paying $1,700,

[50:19] you can pay $750 instead. And so as far

[50:24] as the minimum goes, we don't need it.

[50:26] We have the staffing capabilities for

[50:27] it. And again, if they do one hour, we

[50:29] have we're gonna make money off of it.

[50:31] >> Okay, cool.

[50:31] >> So you touched on cost recovery. My last

[50:33] question. So slide 17. So is there cost

[50:36] recovery at that 15 bucks per hour? So

[50:38] that

[50:39] >> so it's not it the city will still be

[50:42] subsidizing it.

[50:43] >> Okay.

[50:43] >> Um it's I think we looked at our current

[50:45] renters. It's maybe additional $10 a

[50:48] month.

[50:49] >> Um but again that our perspective is if

[50:51] it's available to the public again we're

[50:53] not charging we're not running the

[50:55] program ourselves. It becomes worth that

[50:58] subsidizing because it's for the public

[50:59] good. Um so that was kind of the thought

[51:02] process there. We do have again senior

[51:04] basketball. We do have women's

[51:06] volleyball,

[51:07] um basketball again on Sunday, Sundays.

[51:09] So there's just a lot of good things

[51:10] that are offering that if we try to do

[51:12] it inhouse, we'd be spending a lot of

[51:14] money on staffing and all that kind of

[51:16] stuff. And so um so we figured it's

[51:19] worth to have some sort of subsidizing

[51:20] there. Um again, if it's open to the

[51:22] public. Thank you.

[51:26] >> Eight. So this is a public hearing, so

[51:28] we're going to open it for public

[51:30] comment. any comments or online.

[51:36] » Mayor, we did not receive any comment

[51:37] cards or written public comment and I do

[51:40] not see anyone on Zoom wishing to speak

[51:42] on this item.

[51:45] » May I say one thing though? I see that

[51:49] we so the parks and recreation

[51:52] department I do want to make a note of

[51:54] this real quick. So what is what we have

[51:57] here is what the fee schedule will be.

[51:59] So, we did not include items that are

[52:02] being crossed out um that are not being

[52:04] taken in consideration or that have been

[52:06] going on that we are plan on

[52:08] eliminating. So, one of the comments

[52:09] that I've received today and kind of be

[52:11] transparent with the city council is at

[52:13] Jacob Myers Park um we do get um one of

[52:17] the fees that we do offer is if you have

[52:19] a handicap placard um there is no charge

[52:22] to enter the park. um we are proposing

[52:24] to eliminate that that they are taking a

[52:27] parking space at the park and they're

[52:29] using the amenities that we do charge

[52:30] them the the rate that we charge

[52:31] everyone else. So that is one other

[52:33] change that's not listed here as we are

[52:35] planning on taking that out.

[52:39] » No public comment

[52:42] I will close the public hearing and

[52:45] bring it back to council. Is there any

[52:46] more comments or questions? Any motion?

[52:51] I'll make a motion to approve item 10.1.

[52:55] >> I second.

[52:56] >> Roll call, please.

[52:58] >> Council member,

[52:59] >> yes.

[53:00] >> Council member FSY,

[53:01] >> yes.

[53:02] >> Council member Call,

[53:03] >> yes.

[53:03] >> Vice Mayor Pimementel,

[53:05] >> yes.

[53:05] >> Mayor Hernandez,

[53:06] >> yes.

[53:07] >> Motion passes 5-0.

[53:09] >> Thank you. Item 10 or 11.1. We have a

[53:13] presentation by Chief Reinower on

[53:15] current staffing allocations and a

[53:16] five-year plan for Riverbank Police

[53:18] Services and to consider a resolution

[53:21] authorizing the reallocation of one

[53:22] community resource deputy position to a

[53:25] patrol deputy position.

[53:28] >> As stated in the title of the present of

[53:30] the item, Chief Ridau will provide this

[53:33] presentation.

[53:37] » Good evening, Mayor and Council. So

[53:40] tonight we're going to talk about uh you

[53:42] know the staffing of Riverbank Police

[53:43] Services as it sits today and then the

[53:45] future moving forward.

[53:50] So in summary, the three items I'm going

[53:51] to cover tonight is going to be the

[53:53] proposed recommend um reallocation of

[53:56] our currently requested additional CRD

[53:58] uh to patrol operations and then I'm

[54:00] going to talk about um the future

[54:02] staffing recommendation coming forward

[54:04] at budget year and then also provide you

[54:07] with a five-year staffing plan.

[54:11] So this is a organizational chart for

[54:13] our sworn personnel at Riverbank Police

[54:16] Services. So on both sides of the the

[54:18] slide here, you have our patrol on our A

[54:20] squad and a B squad. And that represents

[54:23] the first half of the week, which is

[54:24] staffed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, every

[54:27] other Wednesday, and the second half of

[54:29] the week, which is Thursday, Friday,

[54:31] Saturday, and every other Wednesday.

[54:33] Those are all 12-hour shifts, and that's

[54:35] how we maintain coverage 247 for patrol.

[54:38] when you call 911 that we have someone

[54:40] to respond. So then when you look below

[54:41] those areas they mirror on both sides,

[54:44] our patrol deputies, we have two

[54:45] dayshift deputies, a swing shift deputy

[54:48] and two graveyard deputies. We do have

[54:50] in our contract that we always will have

[54:52] at least two deputies on to answer calls

[54:54] for service at all times. So there's

[54:56] backfill behind those if someone's out

[54:57] for vacation, training, sick, whatever

[54:59] it may be. The swing shift position,

[55:02] however, is not backfilled and that's

[55:04] why I have it in gray there. So, that is

[55:06] a spot that is filled occasionally, and

[55:08] we'll get into later slides how often

[55:09] that is and is not filled and why that

[55:12] is the way it is covered. So, again, I

[55:14] mentioned those are 12-hour shifts. Our

[55:16] dayshift operations are from 7:00 a.m.

[55:18] to 7:00 p.m. Uh, swing shift is 300 p.m.

[55:21] to 3:00 a.m. and graveyard is 7:00 p.m.

[55:24] to 7:00 a.m.

[55:26] Now, down the middle is our

[55:27] administrative division. Uh, you guys

[55:29] all know Sergeant Hickman who runs that

[55:31] portion of it. Uh this is typically our

[55:33] guys that are working those business

[55:35] hours that Monday through Friday um

[55:37] generally hours. So we have three

[55:39] detectives, we have three traffic

[55:41] deputies, of course we have one

[55:43] community deputy now and one more that

[55:45] has been requested and that shows you

[55:47] where that vacancy at is highlighted

[55:48] there in the blue color and then our

[55:50] school resource officer. So with all our

[55:53] positions, we're currently allocated 23

[55:54] swarm positions. And that provides us a

[55:57] ratio of 088 per 10,000 residents with a

[56:00] current population of roughly 26,000

[56:02] residents in Riverbank.

[56:07] So our first recommendation tonight is

[56:09] going to be reallocate the already

[56:10] requested CRT position to patrol. Uh

[56:13] this will ensure that we have three and

[56:15] sometimes four deputies uh available for

[56:18] calls or service during our peak hours

[56:20] during outside of our norm normal

[56:22] business hours.

[56:26] So right now I kind of remind everybody

[56:27] what the community resource deputy

[56:29] position is. Um is one of our very

[56:32] important positions because they focus

[56:33] on those quality of life issues, things

[56:34] that they have a little more time where

[56:36] they're not handling calls for service

[56:38] per se. They don't have a case load, per

[56:40] se, but they have time to focus on the

[56:42] issues around our community, whether

[56:43] it's a neighborhood watch program going

[56:45] on. Maybe it's blight, maybe it's

[56:47] graffiti, um working with our in-house

[56:49] folks. So, we made this request for an

[56:52] additional deputy because it was very

[56:53] successful back in beginning of 2024

[56:56] around March with a two to three year

[56:58] recruitment trying from the sheriff's

[57:00] office to hire, train, and get us a

[57:03] deputy down the road. So, right now,

[57:05] we're sitting almost two years in that

[57:07] position.

[57:09] So, I'll kind of get in the reason why

[57:10] that position was requested back in

[57:12] 2024. So, in 2024, beginning of that, we

[57:16] were under the Supreme Court ruling.

[57:18] They basically said, the Ninth Circuit

[57:20] said that when you have an unhoused

[57:22] person that was in public areas, whether

[57:24] it's a park that's enforced by community

[57:27] guidelines, rules, the park must be

[57:28] closed at night. You were not allowed to

[57:30] move trespass violations. You couldn't

[57:32] enforce a trespass violation unless you

[57:34] had a bed to move somebody who had low

[57:36] barriers. So obviously the county

[57:38] struggled AC across the state actually

[57:39] right you saw we had encampments going

[57:41] up and down um our highways throughout

[57:44] the communities. So our CD often find

[57:46] themselves spending almost all their

[57:48] time engaging our homeless folks or

[57:50] unhouse folks. I remember I was going

[57:52] out there daily when we had all our

[57:53] folks that were living in our parks and

[57:55] engaging those folks and getting the

[57:56] resources they need and it was very

[57:57] labor intensive. Um but it didn't allow

[58:00] our CRD to focus on other issues in our

[58:02] community. So that's why we requested

[58:03] that additional position back in March

[58:05] of 2024.

[58:09] So moving forward, um the US Supreme

[58:11] Court heard the case and they decided

[58:13] that this was

[58:16] you could go back to enforcing trespass

[58:18] again, right? They basically said it

[58:20] wasn't legal to not enforce for unhoused

[58:23] folks to take over public spaces, not be

[58:25] for trespass violations um simply

[58:27] because you didn't have a place to put

[58:29] them. Right? they made it a crime again

[58:31] to be trespassing in parks after hours

[58:34] uh making a campus on longer public

[58:36] access areas. So when that changed it

[58:39] immediately empowered all of our sworn

[58:41] staff um in Riverbank and across the

[58:44] street the state to enforce trespass

[58:45] violations. So that freed up our

[58:47] community resource deputy to now focus

[58:49] on other issues in our community besides

[58:51] just the unhoused folks. And now you see

[58:53] that they still do with a lot of their

[58:55] time with their own house folks. They

[58:56] know them all. they still connect them

[58:57] with resources the same they were before

[58:59] but now there's this understanding that

[59:01] hey you can't you can't just camp in

[59:02] this park all day long right it's open

[59:04] for all of our residents not just a

[59:06] particular group and I think we have a

[59:08] pretty good relationship with those

[59:09] folks now especially with the Sierra

[59:10] house we have a great working leadership

[59:12] with them and Julia and we have good

[59:15] plans in place for that

[59:20] so that kind of brings me back to why we

[59:22] want to reallocate this position so

[59:24] right now again to go back to patrol we

[59:25] have those two squads I spoke about

[59:27] earlier uh outlining their shifts again

[59:30] on this slide and I show how the swing

[59:32] ship position is often not filled

[59:37] and a reminder that we do have that

[59:39] required two deputies staffed at all

[59:40] times.

[59:43] This kind of shows you our calls for

[59:45] service going back to 2020 to 2025.

[59:48] Um, our river, our city has grown and

[59:50] continues to grow and our daily swell of

[59:53] population that comes into our

[59:54] communities to shop at our shopping

[59:55] centers also increases. Um, I don't have

[59:58] a good way to measure that, but we do

[1:00:00] see the increase of population coming

[1:00:01] from outside Riverbank to come use our

[1:00:03] shopping centers. And plus, you have the

[1:00:05] traffic as we're located in a major

[1:00:07] thoroughare from up in the mountains,

[1:00:08] people coming through. So, we see a lot

[1:00:10] of traffic through our community. So,

[1:00:11] our folks are staying very busy

[1:00:13] throughout the day with calls for

[1:00:14] service. So we averaged right around

[1:00:16] 11,10,500

[1:00:18] calls for service um for the first four

[1:00:21] years there and then in 2024 and 25 we

[1:00:24] see a spike and now we're closer to

[1:00:26] 12,500 creeping up to 13,000 calls for

[1:00:29] service in the air. So we're increasing

[1:00:32] in our in our workload um as we move

[1:00:34] forward with the with the growth and

[1:00:35] that kind of corresponds with how we've

[1:00:37] been growing and the new stuff that's

[1:00:38] occurring in our community.

[1:00:43] So this slide, there's a lot going on

[1:00:44] here, but this is regarding retail

[1:00:46] theft. So there's two columns. On on the

[1:00:48] far left is a chart that kind of shows

[1:00:50] you the number of incidents of theft

[1:00:52] that's reported to Riverink Police

[1:00:54] Services. On the right is the the

[1:00:56] reported loss of goods from those

[1:00:58] incidents. So the red correlates to how

[1:01:01] many incidents were reported to us in

[1:01:04] 2024 and and 25 respectively. And the

[1:01:08] blue line shows the value for each year.

[1:01:10] So, you see both that we're trending

[1:01:12] upwards from 2024 to 2025. Even with the

[1:01:16] new law changes, we're still seeing

[1:01:18] repeat offenders. Um, however, we are

[1:01:20] making large strides and and breaking

[1:01:22] down like the retail theft, not just the

[1:01:25] people that are stealing the stuff, but

[1:01:26] where it's going, right? The fencing

[1:01:27] operations they're supplying. We have

[1:01:29] another one we're working on right now.

[1:01:30] And last year, we were very successful.

[1:01:32] I think we got almost $25,000 just at

[1:01:36] one location of items out that we

[1:01:38] recovered. So, it kind of shows you

[1:01:39] idea, but this is that goes back to

[1:01:42] increased calls for service for our

[1:01:44] deputies, right? We we provide what I like to rec call is a high level

[1:01:48] of customer service. If you call 911 um

[1:01:51] for somebody who shoplifted, we're going

[1:01:52] to respond. Some of our neighboring

[1:01:53] agencies don't do that. Um they refer

[1:01:57] people to online reporting centers. We

[1:01:58] still respond. We still take those

[1:02:00] reports. And because of that, we're very

[1:02:01] successful in locating responsibles and making arrests in those cases.

[1:02:08] So swing shift like I was mentioned

[1:02:09] earlier about how it's vacant. So I went

[1:02:12] back and looked at our staffing schedule

[1:02:13] for 2024 and 25 and it's pretty much on

[1:02:16] point between each year. Um in 24 there

[1:02:20] was 156 times that shift was left

[1:02:22] vacant. In 25 158 so pretty much neck

[1:02:26] and neck the same time. But that's

[1:02:27] almost half the year that that spot is

[1:02:29] left unfilled. And the reason being is

[1:02:32] specifically for our graveyard folks.

[1:02:33] There's only there's only two of them.

[1:02:35] And the pool to backfill that with is is

[1:02:37] really those are the only folks working

[1:02:39] because everybody else has worked during

[1:02:40] the day already. So we can take our

[1:02:42] sling shift and when those graveyard

[1:02:44] vacancies are there, we can push them in

[1:02:46] to fill that vacancy. During the day is

[1:02:48] not an issue because as I mentioned

[1:02:49] earlier, we have all those detectives,

[1:02:51] traffic, community resource deputies

[1:02:53] that we can immediately fill those

[1:02:54] resources with on duty staff and also

[1:02:56] helps us not incur overtime. But some of

[1:02:59] these shifts are also backfilled not

[1:03:01] just with swing shift but also with

[1:03:02] overtime as well. Um some of the reasons

[1:03:05] is uh the trainings that deputies

[1:03:07] required. Every deputy is required u

[1:03:09] ongoing and mandatory trainings. They

[1:03:11] have vacations and there's also sick and

[1:03:13] family bombing time.

[1:03:18] So I want to talk about our response

[1:03:19] time. This kind of helps show a picture

[1:03:21] of the difference between what I'm going

[1:03:23] to talk about is our normal business

[1:03:24] hours where we have all that additional

[1:03:26] staff that's working. um that Monday

[1:03:28] through Friday when we have all of our

[1:03:29] detectives, our traffic folks are here,

[1:03:31] our community deputies here, um the

[1:03:33] school resource deputies here, we

[1:03:35] average about 3.6 minute average

[1:03:37] response time during those hours. And

[1:03:40] our calls for service and activity is

[1:03:41] generally busier during this time of the

[1:03:43] day, right? That's when people are

[1:03:44] shopping in our shopping centers

[1:03:46] heavily, right? That's when people are

[1:03:48] commuting through our communities.

[1:03:49] That's when businesses are open. We can

[1:03:51] do follow-up from our investigations.

[1:03:52] So, it it does correspond with the

[1:03:54] amount of staff working those hours.

[1:03:56] makes sense that they're working during

[1:03:57] those hours just because that's normal

[1:03:59] business hours people operate for

[1:04:00] followup and schools and then you also

[1:04:04] got to remember like I mentioned earlier

[1:04:05] we generally have 8 to 10 deputies

[1:04:07] working any given time Monday through

[1:04:08] Friday 8 to 5

[1:04:11] when you look at the non- business hours

[1:04:13] which is anything that's after 5:00 pm

[1:04:15] Monday through Friday and then all day

[1:04:16] Saturday and Sunday uh we have a 60%

[1:04:19] increase in response time and now we're

[1:04:21] averaging 5.7 minutes to respond to a

[1:04:24] call and typically there's there's only

[1:04:26] two deputies available because that

[1:04:27] swing shift's not there. That's further

[1:04:30] reduced when either we make an arrest or

[1:04:32] we transport somebody to the hospital or

[1:04:34] maybe it's behavioral health. Um that

[1:04:35] deputy is now out of the community or

[1:04:38] there's another incident that may be

[1:04:40] just outside of city limits that we're

[1:04:41] assisting with that could have no

[1:04:44] deputies in the city during those time

[1:04:45] periods.

[1:04:50] This chart shows the difference between

[1:04:52] business and non-b businessiness hours

[1:04:54] just showing that difference and and it

[1:04:56] kind of also shows you per month over

[1:04:58] the last year um how the calls for

[1:05:01] service and the response times do

[1:05:03] fluctuate based upon a variety of

[1:05:04] reasons, right? It could be weather

[1:05:06] related, people are staying more indoors

[1:05:08] or outdoors or people take advantage of

[1:05:09] the fog, more thefts are increasing. But

[1:05:11] it does show that consistently our

[1:05:13] response times are always longer in that

[1:05:16] non-b businessiness hours just because

[1:05:18] we have less staff working.

[1:05:23] So if we were to reallocate that

[1:05:25] community deputy position, this kind of

[1:05:27] shows you where that moves. It goes from

[1:05:29] that center column at the bottom where

[1:05:31] they would be and we put them on that B

[1:05:33] squad. Again, the B squad is the later

[1:05:35] half of the week, the Thursday, Friday,

[1:05:37] Saturday from that 3 pm to 3:00 a.m.

[1:05:40] shift. So that would in at times during

[1:05:42] those busy peak hours we would generally

[1:05:45] have four deputies on the handle calls

[1:05:46] for service. Granted the swing shift

[1:05:48] still may be used to cover a graveyard

[1:05:50] shift that would allow us to have three.

[1:05:52] We would never get rid we would never go

[1:05:53] down to zero swing shifts at this point.

[1:05:55] We would always have it mandatory filled

[1:05:57] at one. Um and that's simply done by

[1:05:59] staffing to make sure we allocate it

[1:06:01] that way.

[1:06:03] Uh our staffing ratio wouldn't change

[1:06:05] because it's still 23 to total sworn

[1:06:07] staff. We're not changing that. We're

[1:06:09] just moving it from the community deputy

[1:06:11] position over to a patrol uh swing

[1:06:13] shship position.

[1:06:22] All right. So then it goes into my uh

[1:06:24] second recommendation. This is going to

[1:06:25] be um talking about for a future future

[1:06:28] budget item but getting the presentation

[1:06:30] to your to you guys tonight. So my my

[1:06:34] other request is that we would request a

[1:06:36] second deputy for patrol now. And just

[1:06:39] remember that when we request that

[1:06:40] position from the sheriff's office,

[1:06:41] we're looking at that 2 to three year

[1:06:42] fulfillment time. But we also got to

[1:06:47] looking forward, right? So if we we

[1:06:48] ordered it now, we're talking 20 28 29

[1:06:52] before we actually see that that deputy

[1:06:54] actually come out to us. This would be

[1:06:56] an increase in funding, right? because

[1:06:57] this will be a new position to the city

[1:06:59] riverbank and that roughly is 160,000

[1:07:01] per year which in covers all the the

[1:07:03] benefits and rollups that come with that

[1:07:06] employee cost as well. If we were to

[1:07:09] approve this deputy it would bring us up

[1:07:11] to 24 sworn staff right for our 26,000

[1:07:14] residents which increased our ratio to

[1:07:16] 0.92 deputies per 1000 residents.

[1:07:22] And this kind of shows you where we put

[1:07:23] that second spot which we move it to the

[1:07:25] A squad. So now you would have those two

[1:07:27] swing shifts on both A squad and B

[1:07:30] squad. And this this staffing model that

[1:07:32] we're showing here is very similar to

[1:07:34] what we run uh in the city of Patterson,

[1:07:36] which is a city that's much like size to

[1:07:38] us and call volume. So it's very similar

[1:07:41] to how they run operations as well. So

[1:07:43] this is not something that's totally

[1:07:45] abnormal. It just makes sense to have

[1:07:46] somebody that's working. So when someone

[1:07:48] calls 911 or calls for help that we have

[1:07:50] somebody to respond to you um in those

[1:07:52] after hours.

[1:07:57] So quickly, we have a five-year staffing

[1:07:59] plan here, but just just be mindful kind

[1:08:01] of like when I spoke earlier about we

[1:08:03] requested a community resource deputy

[1:08:05] that that was what was needed at that

[1:08:06] time. So this is kind of like looking at

[1:08:08] today based upon current legislation,

[1:08:10] current trends, looking at future growth

[1:08:12] of our city is what the wish list would

[1:08:15] be to add deputies in there. So

[1:08:18] obviously the first requested was the

[1:08:19] one I just requested which is that uh

[1:08:21] had that additional deputy. Hopefully we

[1:08:23] can consider that at fisc or at budget

[1:08:25] year and then going forward would be

[1:08:27] bringing back that community deputy uh

[1:08:28] additional deputy because I still think

[1:08:30] that's an important item for our

[1:08:31] community and then after that would be

[1:08:34] increasing another traffic deputy. Uh as

[1:08:36] it is now we do have three traffic

[1:08:37] deputies for the city of riverbank which

[1:08:39] is which is fairly good for a city of

[1:08:41] our size. But it's one of those things

[1:08:43] where I talk about you can't always just

[1:08:45] go by just the size or a certain ratio,

[1:08:47] right? We see a lot of traffic in the

[1:08:49] city of Riverbank. Oakdale's a community

[1:08:51] that's roughly populated similar to us,

[1:08:53] but we have much more traffic, believe

[1:08:55] it or not, coming through our tooth than

[1:08:57] they do. And we see a lot more traffic

[1:08:59] incidents than they do.

[1:09:01] And then going beyond that, we're

[1:09:03] looking at detectives. And the reason I

[1:09:04] put detectives in there, again, I'm

[1:09:05] looking so far out. You're talking about

[1:09:07] filling these in 2031 32. I can only

[1:09:09] believe that technology continues to be

[1:09:11] the future and with technology yes it

[1:09:13] does help us but it takes a lot of

[1:09:14] people investigators to extract that

[1:09:16] information and make arrest. So

[1:09:18] hopefully that's the idea but any

[1:09:20] positions that we request down the road

[1:09:22] my recommendation we request a deputy

[1:09:23] from the sheriff's office and then as it

[1:09:25] gets closer we can decide that hey we

[1:09:27] want that to be a community deputy want

[1:09:29] to be the traffic deputy. we can choose

[1:09:31] as it's closer to that time period

[1:09:32] because we need to be working in the

[1:09:36] moment, right? Being fluid and reactive

[1:09:37] to what's going on in our community.

[1:09:42] And generally the benchmark for a city

[1:09:44] site is that one one sworn deputy per

[1:09:46] 10,00 residents, right? So today we're

[1:09:48] sitting at 26,000 people. So you're

[1:09:50] looking you would roughly want 26 sworn

[1:09:53] staff. Um again being mindful that's not

[1:09:55] like a hard set number but that's a

[1:09:57] general general idea to keep you a

[1:09:59] balance of ideas especially for our city

[1:10:00] or our size it makes sense the further

[1:10:02] you grow you start uh scaling that back

[1:10:04] and you also got to look at you know

[1:10:05] what is our training numbers doing are

[1:10:06] we going up in cost for service are we

[1:10:08] staying stagnant are we seeing an

[1:10:09] increase what is legislation change so

[1:10:11] there's a lot more to that but currently

[1:10:13] speaking I think that's a good way to

[1:10:15] staff our community

[1:10:21] and that was uh I went quickly clear

[1:10:23] everything. So, I'm sure there'll be

[1:10:24] questions and we can go back and revisit

[1:10:25] items.

[1:10:27] >> Thank you so much. Yes, that was that

[1:10:29] was great. Um, is there any comments or

[1:10:31] questions right now from council

[1:10:35] >> if we were to move the uh CRD position

[1:10:40] requisite to a patrol deputy? How

[1:10:43] quickly would that position get filled

[1:10:44] at that point?

[1:10:45] >> So, I did call the main sheriff's office

[1:10:47] today to kind of find out where we're at

[1:10:49] in that two to three weight period. We

[1:10:51] are sitting at number one of the list

[1:10:52] right now. Um, we do have a large

[1:10:54] meeting tomorrow. So hopefully after

[1:10:56] getting through tonight's decision and

[1:10:57] figure out how we're going to allocate

[1:10:58] that that I can get that position

[1:11:00] recruited and hopefully get it filled in

[1:11:02] the the near future. We do have 10

[1:11:03] people coming out of the police academy.

[1:11:05] Um, granted, even though they come out,

[1:11:07] they have about three months of training

[1:11:08] before they hit the streets, but

[1:11:10] hopefully they have it filled in the

[1:11:11] near future. Our shift change is at into

[1:11:13] April and typically is that's when we

[1:11:15] see a new position. It's just a good

[1:11:17] timing to transition someone in. So it

[1:11:18] could be as soon as April.

[1:11:20] >> And then I know there may be concerns

[1:11:23] with the community resource deputy

[1:11:26] requisite going away. Um and so I kind

[1:11:29] of wanted you to talk about the care

[1:11:30] team a little bit and the access that we

[1:11:33] have in Riverbank to the care team from

[1:11:34] the sheriff's department because they

[1:11:36] can kind of help with some of that

[1:11:37] outreach that previously in 2024 that

[1:11:40] the CRD was doing.

[1:11:41] >> Yeah. So we're not getting rid of a CRD,

[1:11:43] right? So we're keeping the same CRD

[1:11:45] that we have today, right? We're just

[1:11:47] not adding an additional one as their

[1:11:48] recommendation. But the county care team

[1:11:50] is the team that does we work very

[1:11:53] closely with them like handinand um the

[1:11:55] point in time count coming up pretty

[1:11:57] soon. We're already working with them to

[1:11:58] tell you know hey these are where our

[1:11:59] inhouse folks are at um different

[1:12:01] locations but they have all the tools

[1:12:04] and resources from the county to provide

[1:12:05] people with the the documents they need

[1:12:07] that housing um training all those

[1:12:11] things. So we work very closely with

[1:12:13] them and we do tell them where our

[1:12:15] unhoused people are located and they

[1:12:16] regularly come out. We have them set at

[1:12:18] least once or twice a month that they

[1:12:19] come out and engage those folks. So

[1:12:20] nothing would change there. So that same

[1:12:22] engagement would continue. It's just we

[1:12:24] wouldn't bring the recommendation is not

[1:12:26] to bring an additional CRD because we

[1:12:28] can we can basically use the resources

[1:12:30] we have available.

[1:12:33] >> Any other questions?

[1:12:38] I just want to comment. I'm really happy

[1:12:39] to see the presentation and the response

[1:12:41] times. And I also just want to note as

[1:12:44] I'm driving around in the community, I

[1:12:46] do see sheriffs and that's nice to be

[1:12:48] able to see them out there um in the

[1:12:50] community and I appreciate the service

[1:12:52] that you guys are providing. Um doing a

[1:12:55] great job. I love that you're taking

[1:12:57] down these people that want to just go

[1:12:59] in and grab. Um I'd like to see that

[1:13:01] more. I like to see videos. Yeah. Um but

[1:13:03] I appreciate your service.

[1:13:05] >> Thank you.

[1:13:06] And I'm going to just add to that. I

[1:13:08] speak from experience. So I work in

[1:13:10] Modesto and so when we do get calls for

[1:13:13] theft or anything like that. Uh we do

[1:13:15] get oh maybe in two hours or sometimes

[1:13:17] they don't show up at all. So the

[1:13:19] customer service that you guys are

[1:13:21] providing I I see a ton of value in

[1:13:22] that. So I appreciate you guys for

[1:13:24] everything you're doing. Uh you made a

[1:13:25] comment at the end there. Um I think you

[1:13:27] were talking about maybe like the

[1:13:28] population growth. You said the further

[1:13:29] you go you scale back. So are you saying

[1:13:33] like as your population grow the metrics

[1:13:35] evolves or

[1:13:36] >> what I'm saying is so as a as a

[1:13:38] community grows right let's say you get

[1:13:39] to you know a city of 300,000 people

[1:13:41] you're probably not going to have 300

[1:13:42] police officers right it starts getting

[1:13:44] you start having the resources you're

[1:13:46] more condensed and you have more focused

[1:13:48] eventually get to a point where you have

[1:13:49] enough people to respond to things 247

[1:13:51] >> you have other metrics right like

[1:13:53] technology and stuff like that when

[1:13:54] you're a smaller community you're trying

[1:13:55] to do a lot with little right so our

[1:13:57] guys our detectives they're not just

[1:13:59] specialized in one area like other

[1:14:00] cities Your detectives may specialize in

[1:14:02] just gangs or they may just be retail

[1:14:04] theft or they may just be homicide. Our

[1:14:06] detectives do all those things. Child

[1:14:08] crimes, homicide, they do all of it. So,

[1:14:12] you're doing more with less right now.

[1:14:14] And as you grow, you have more of those

[1:14:15] issues. So, then you reallocate those

[1:14:17] resources elsewhere to focus on whatever

[1:14:19] is going on in your community at that

[1:14:21] time.

[1:14:21] >> Yeah. No. And shout out to you guys uh

[1:14:23] responsiveness wise, like that's a huge

[1:14:25] thing. Um I had a a chance to meet with

[1:14:27] four residents uh yesterday. Um they

[1:14:30] kind of shared a bunch of security

[1:14:31] concerns in town. Um they wanted to

[1:14:33] restart a neighborhood watch in their

[1:14:35] area. So I want to give a shout out to

[1:14:37] Tina who's in the audience uh for for

[1:14:39] setting up that meeting. Um I I

[1:14:41] forwarded all those concerns to you guys

[1:14:42] and you passed that on to Deputy Tovar

[1:14:44] CRD and connected uh connected them

[1:14:47] immediately. And so thank you guys for doing that and just showing why it's

[1:14:51] important to have a CRD as well. So

[1:14:53] thank you.

[1:14:54] >> And I appreciate you um mentioning what

[1:14:57] the moment's calling for. And so this

[1:14:59] makes sense um especially with the

[1:15:01] increased traffic from all the

[1:15:03] construction that we're seeing. So that

[1:15:04] transition would make a lot of sense as

[1:15:07] we approach the budget talks um in a

[1:15:09] couple months. Could you bring data that

[1:15:12] uh disagregates what the calls for

[1:15:14] service are? Would you be able to do

[1:15:16] that

[1:15:17] >> as far as like what type of calls for

[1:15:19] service?

[1:15:20] >> Yeah, we can bring something that's very

[1:15:21] similar what's in the year report. Is

[1:15:23] that what you're referring to? Like show

[1:15:24] >> or if you could just forward it to us.

[1:15:26] Yeah,

[1:15:26] >> directly. Yeah, absolutely. check that

[1:15:28] out. Definitely.

[1:15:32] » So, as council is aware, we do prepare a

[1:15:34] year-end report and so all of those

[1:15:36] statistics will be included there as

[1:15:38] well.

[1:15:38] >> Thank you. Um, are there any comments

[1:15:42] from the public

[1:15:44] or online?

[1:15:46] >> Mayor, I do not receive any comment

[1:15:48] cards and I do not see anyone on Zoom

[1:15:50] wishing to speak on this item.

[1:15:52] >> All right. I will bring it back to

[1:15:54] council for any more comments or a

[1:15:56] motion.

[1:15:58] I'd like to go ahead and make a

[1:15:59] resolution authorizing the reallocation

[1:16:01] of one community resource deputy

[1:16:03] position to patrol deputy position.

[1:16:06] >> And I'll second it.

[1:16:07] >> Roll call, please.

[1:16:10] >> Council member Odiva.

[1:16:11] >> Yes.

[1:16:11] >> Council member FSY.

[1:16:12] >> Yes.

[1:16:13] >> Council member Call.

[1:16:14] >> Yes.

[1:16:14] >> Vice Mayor Pimementel.

[1:16:18] >> Yes.

[1:16:18] >> Mayor Hanned.

[1:16:19] >> Yes.

[1:16:20] >> Motion passes 5-0.

[1:16:21] >> Thank you.

[1:16:23] All right. 11.2. to the adoption of a

[1:16:26] groundwater use management program in

[1:16:28] the Modesto groundwater subbasin.

[1:16:31] >> Mayor and councel, public works director

[1:16:33] Cody Bridgewwater will provide this

[1:16:35] report.

[1:16:39] » Mayor, members of the council.

[1:16:41] This presentation and the following have

[1:16:44] to do with our groundwater um

[1:16:48] sustainability plan that was submitted

[1:16:50] in 2022 as part of a requirement of

[1:16:53] Sigma which is the sustainable

[1:16:55] groundwater management act. So 11.2 is

[1:16:59] the Modesto subbasin groundwater use

[1:17:02] management program.

[1:17:05] In September of 2014, Governor Brown

[1:17:08] signed legislation creating the

[1:17:10] Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

[1:17:12] or SIGMA to provide local groundwater

[1:17:15] sustainability agencies within with the

[1:17:19] authority and technical financial

[1:17:20] assistance necessary to sustainably

[1:17:23] manage groundwater.

[1:17:25] February of 2017, Sturgba or the Stannis

[1:17:29] Losi Regional Groundwater Basin Alliance

[1:17:31] GSA was formed with Riverbank Oakdale

[1:17:35] Waterford Modesto uh Modesto Irrigation

[1:17:38] District and Oakdale Irrigation

[1:17:39] District. The groundwater sustainability

[1:17:43] plan or GSP was submitted to the

[1:17:45] Department of Water Resources on January

[1:17:47] 31st of 2022.

[1:17:51] And January 18th, 2024, the DWR issued

[1:17:54] an incomplete determination letter to

[1:17:57] the Modesto subbasin.

[1:17:59] That letter included three items. The

[1:18:02] two there in bold refer to the

[1:18:05] groundwater use management plan and the

[1:18:07] third item, the well mitigation program

[1:18:09] that will be on the following uh

[1:18:11] presentation. So the first two items

[1:18:14] would be include reasonable means to

[1:18:16] arrest groundwater level declines and

[1:18:18] stop overdraft in the subbasin and

[1:18:21] provide pumping management framework or

[1:18:23] groundwater allocation and pumping

[1:18:25] management program.

[1:18:29] So the Modesto groundwater subbasin

[1:18:38] is a high priority basin of

[1:18:40] approximately 245,253

[1:18:43] acres in size bounded by Stannos River

[1:18:47] on the north, Talami River on the south,

[1:18:49] Sanwaqin River on the west and the

[1:18:51] crystalline basement rocks of the Sierra

[1:18:53] Nevada foothills on the east. The

[1:18:56] subbasin itself relies on two primary

[1:18:58] sources of water supply. Both surface

[1:19:00] water from the Santa Loss and Towi

[1:19:02] rivers and groundwater pumped from the

[1:19:04] principal aquifers described in the

[1:19:07] groundwater sustainability plan.

[1:19:10] It's about 64% agricultural land, 13%

[1:19:14] urban and then 23% non-ag non-errigated

[1:19:17] undeveloped and surface water area. In

[1:19:20] 1996

[1:19:22] we were approximately 40% agricultural.

[1:19:25] So over the last 20 years you've had a

[1:19:26] 40% increase in irrigated a land

[1:19:32] and this is just a review of the

[1:19:35] previous slide. So the Modesto subbasin

[1:19:37] was broken up into management areas.

[1:19:41] You have there in the blue that's the

[1:19:43] Oakdale irrigation uh management area.

[1:19:46] In the green Modesto irrigation

[1:19:48] management area, the kind of orang-ish

[1:19:50] color off to the east that's the

[1:19:51] non-district east management area. And

[1:19:54] then the management area which city of

[1:19:55] Riverbank is part of is non-district

[1:19:57] west which is the yellow that kind of

[1:19:59] borders the east or sorry the west side

[1:20:02] and the north and the south.

[1:20:07] So the purpose of the groundwater use

[1:20:09] management plan is to respond to the

[1:20:12] department of water resources incomplete

[1:20:13] determination letter

[1:20:16] by arresting groundwater level declines

[1:20:18] and stopping overdraft and providing

[1:20:20] pumping management and demand reduction

[1:20:22] framework.

[1:20:25] So why the demand management is needed

[1:20:27] long-term groundwater declines in the

[1:20:29] non-district east and Oakdale areas. So

[1:20:32] you have supply project timing and

[1:20:34] funding uncertainties and then the

[1:20:36] groundwater use management plan serves a

[1:20:38] backs stop to protect sustainability

[1:20:40] goals.

[1:20:44] The framework you have equitable

[1:20:45] distribution of sustainable yield and

[1:20:47] based on measurable groundwater pumping

[1:20:50] volumes and adaptive and updated over

[1:20:52] time. So the goal of the framework is to

[1:20:55] equitably distribute the sustainable

[1:20:57] yield to each management area throughout

[1:20:59] the subbasin and allow the management

[1:21:00] area stewards to decide how to implement

[1:21:03] components of the framework in their

[1:21:04] respective management areas as needed to

[1:21:07] operate within those allocations.

[1:21:13] So in your Modesto management area you

[1:21:15] have Modesto Irrigation District, city

[1:21:16] of Modesto, city of Waterford. Oakdale

[1:21:18] management area is Oakdale Irrigation

[1:21:21] District and city of Oakdale.

[1:21:23] Non-district west management area is

[1:21:25] Stannis Los County and city of riverbank

[1:21:28] and nond district east manage management

[1:21:30] area is Stannis County and Tommy County

[1:21:33] GSA.

[1:21:36] Sustainable yield is defined under sigma

[1:21:38] as the maximum quantity of water

[1:21:40] calculated over a base period

[1:21:43] representative of long-term conditions

[1:21:45] in the basin including any temporary

[1:21:47] surplus that can be withdrawn annually

[1:21:49] from the groundwater supply without

[1:21:51] causing an undesirable result. So the

[1:21:54] calculated sustainable yield for the

[1:21:56] Modesto subbasin is 267,000 acre feet

[1:21:59] per year and that was based on long-term

[1:22:01] modeling and this ensures the avoidance

[1:22:04] of undesirable results under sigma.

[1:22:09] There are special considerations

[1:22:11] integrated into the plan. Uh so these

[1:22:13] developed water supplies are credited to

[1:22:16] importing entities and dimminimous uh

[1:22:19] water users that use less than 2 acre

[1:22:21] feet per year are exempt from reductions

[1:22:24] and municipal users such as the city of

[1:22:25] Riverbank are capped at historical

[1:22:27] pumping levels. So just a 4-year average

[1:22:30] for the city of Riverbank we did

[1:22:31] approximately 4,250

[1:22:33] acre feet per year.

[1:22:39] The GSA designated municipal water users

[1:22:42] as a special case and limited their

[1:22:43] future groundwater use to their

[1:22:45] historical groundwater use. And this

[1:22:47] decision was supported by several local

[1:22:48] and state requirements for implementing

[1:22:51] water use efficiency programs. So we

[1:22:53] currently have the making conservation

[1:22:55] as a California way of life requirement

[1:22:57] that the state of California passed and

[1:23:00] that's a regulation that establishes

[1:23:01] efficiency goals and urban water use

[1:23:03] objectives for urban water suppliers to

[1:23:06] reduce municipal demands. The regulation

[1:23:08] requires urban suppliers to determine

[1:23:11] their water use objectives and

[1:23:12] demonstrate compliance annually

[1:23:15] growth obligations. So municipalities

[1:23:17] have statemandated housing and

[1:23:19] population growth targets that drive

[1:23:20] water demand. public service

[1:23:23] constraints. Cities or nonprofit

[1:23:24] entities that typically operate with

[1:23:27] limited flexibility and pricing for the

[1:23:28] purchase of water supplies and supply

[1:23:31] limitations. Groundwater supplies are

[1:23:32] limited in meeting future demand will

[1:23:35] require surface water development,

[1:23:36] recharge projects, additional

[1:23:38] conservation or purchased allocation

[1:23:40] credits.

[1:23:44] So the groundwater use management plan

[1:23:47] lays out the allocations as follows. Uh

[1:23:50] I'm just going to focus on the

[1:23:51] non-district west being that that's what

[1:23:53] the city is a part of. [clears throat]

[1:23:56] So our total allocation is 11,500 acre

[1:24:00] feet of water per year. Our total

[1:24:02] historical pumping in non-district west

[1:24:04] is 15,100.

[1:24:07] So we are expected to reduce by 3,600

[1:24:10] acre feet. Now that's both the city and

[1:24:12] the county as well. That's not just a

[1:24:15] responsibility of the city. That's of

[1:24:16] the management area in whole.

[1:24:22] We are looking for an average basinwide

[1:24:25] reduction of approximately 16% with the

[1:24:28] largest reductions coming from the

[1:24:29] non-dist area and the Oakdale management

[1:24:33] area benefits from developed surface

[1:24:35] water supplies providing an excess

[1:24:37] allocation of 22,700 acre feet per year.

[1:24:41] So oid has offered this excess spread

[1:24:43] among the management areas for the 2027

[1:24:47] through 2031 water years at no cost to

[1:24:50] the management areas.

[1:24:53] So then the adjusted groundwater

[1:24:55] allocations, Riverbank moves from the

[1:24:58] base allocation of 11,500

[1:25:01] and oid is providing us an additional

[1:25:03] 1,900 acre feet per year for the

[1:25:06] non-district west management area which

[1:25:09] equates to a total of 13,400 acre feet

[1:25:11] per year for our management area.

[1:25:14] So you would see overall we have an 11%

[1:25:17] reduction in lie of the 26%.

[1:25:23] So local implementation by management

[1:25:25] area stewards these allocations are will

[1:25:28] be distributed by January 31 of 2027

[1:25:32] and annual monitoring of sigma reporting

[1:25:34] will be required.

[1:25:36] Non-compliance with these criteria may

[1:25:38] trigger other additional management

[1:25:40] strategies. And should groundwater data

[1:25:42] and parameters such as groundwater

[1:25:44] levels indicate that a particular

[1:25:45] management area is not achieving their

[1:25:47] sustainable management objectives, then

[1:25:49] management area stewards will develop a

[1:25:51] management area action plan for Sturgway

[1:25:54] GSA approval.

[1:25:59] So with the response levels we are going

[1:26:01] to implement the ground implement the

[1:26:03] groundwater use management plan and then

[1:26:06] the stewards of the management areas

[1:26:07] develop and implement the management

[1:26:09] area action plan if those allocations

[1:26:10] are not met and that's presented to the

[1:26:14] GSA for approval. If they're unable to

[1:26:17] comply then the GSA develops implements

[1:26:20] an action plan of their own for the

[1:26:21] management area.

[1:26:24] Cody, since you don't have slide

[1:26:25] numbers, can we ask you questions now?

[1:26:27] >> Sure. Go ahead.

[1:26:27] >> Okay. Can you go back to slides

[1:26:31] uh right there? So, uh so you said there

[1:26:34] was going to be some uh fees from the

[1:26:36] state. So, so are we talking about that?

[1:26:38] Is it the 55 per pumped acre foot of

[1:26:41] water? So, does that apply to the the

[1:26:43] 1,900 difference that we have to make up

[1:26:46] for?

[1:26:46] >> Um I'm not familiar with the the fees

[1:26:49] that you're

[1:26:50] >> So, state fees. So, I don't know if this

[1:26:52] is part of the well mitigation or if

[1:26:54] this is part of the the state fees for

[1:26:56] this. So, I've been going back and forth

[1:26:58] with both of these. Uh, so, and I was

[1:27:00] watching the county. So, they passed

[1:27:01] their they implemented theirs today as

[1:27:03] well and they stated that the state fees

[1:27:04] were going to be 300 per well and up to

[1:27:06] $55 per pumped acre foot of water. So, I

[1:27:09] was just kind of curious if that's what

[1:27:10] you were referring to uh if we didn't

[1:27:12] meet those new base allocations if we're

[1:27:15] going to be fined for that difference.

[1:27:17] >> I I apologize. I'm not familiar with

[1:27:19] those numbers. so I can look that up and

[1:27:20] get back.

[1:27:21] >> Okay, appreciate it. And could you go

[1:27:22] back? I think it was Go back one more.

[1:27:25] No, one more.

[1:27:27] Okay. So, I I lost the slide. You can

[1:27:30] continue.

[1:27:31] >> Yeah.

[1:27:33] You can continue, Cody. Sorry about

[1:27:34] that.

[1:27:35] >> Okay.

[1:27:36] >> Yeah.

[1:27:40] So, the management action or management

[1:27:42] area action plan development process.

[1:27:44] Step one would be the GSA identifies the

[1:27:46] need and parameters for an action plan

[1:27:48] in one or multiple management areas

[1:27:51] based on monitoring data and or

[1:27:53] exceedence of the management area

[1:27:56] allocation according to the groundwater

[1:27:58] use management plan. And then the

[1:28:00] stewards of the uh [clears throat]

[1:28:02] applicable management area or areas

[1:28:05] develop the action plans in

[1:28:07] collaboration with the GSA. And then

[1:28:09] these plans are submitted to and

[1:28:11] approved by the GSA.

[1:28:14] And then the action plans included in

[1:28:15] the annual report and are implemented by

[1:28:18] the applicable management area stewards.

[1:28:22] So some content to the action plans. Uh

[1:28:26] we would need to determine a response

[1:28:28] level. So the GSA will identify

[1:28:30] conditions and determine appropriate

[1:28:32] allocations and restrictions and they

[1:28:34] will notify stewards of response level

[1:28:36] and the need for an action plan. In the

[1:28:39] preparation of the action plan, you'd

[1:28:40] set achievable goals for implementation,

[1:28:43] identify and document corrective

[1:28:44] actions, submit to the GSA for approval

[1:28:47] and coordinate with GSE means and

[1:28:48] objectives.

[1:28:51] And you would develop a plan to collect

[1:28:53] and evaluate groundwater level data and

[1:28:56] provide implementation approach and

[1:28:58] schedule of proposed actions and meet

[1:29:00] reporting requirements submitted to and

[1:29:03] approved by the GSA

[1:29:09] to aid the management area stewards with

[1:29:11] adaptively managing their areas. The

[1:29:13] following is a list of some potential

[1:29:15] strategies that may be employed to help

[1:29:16] reduce groundwater use and support

[1:29:19] achieving the subbasin interim

[1:29:20] milestones and ultimately groundwater

[1:29:22] basin sustainability.

[1:29:25] So you would have implementation of

[1:29:27] voluntary or mandatory conservation

[1:29:29] measures such as land repurposing to

[1:29:32] enhance groundwater recharge, habitat

[1:29:34] restoration or cleaner energy incentives

[1:29:36] such as solar fields, replacing high

[1:29:38] water use crops with low water use

[1:29:40] crops. Following groundwater extraction

[1:29:43] fees, increased groundwater use

[1:29:45] reporting requirements, prioritization

[1:29:48] of implementation of supplemental

[1:29:49] projects,

[1:29:51] incentivization

[1:29:52] of surface water deliveries, recycled

[1:29:55] water use or inlue recharge, pumping

[1:29:58] restrictions in areas where minimum

[1:30:00] thresholds have been exceeded, flow

[1:30:02] monitoring on extraction wells,

[1:30:06] and then implementation schedule for the

[1:30:08] plan itself. Uh 2027 we would arrest

[1:30:11] overdraft and groundwater de level

[1:30:13] decline. Hopefully by 2032 achieve

[1:30:16] minimum thresholds. 2037 raise

[1:30:20] groundwater levels to halfway between

[1:30:22] minimum thresholds and measurable

[1:30:24] objectives and by 2042 reach measurable

[1:30:27] objectives.

[1:30:30] So a little bit of information regarding

[1:30:32] non-district east management area. They

[1:30:34] will begin the groundwater use

[1:30:37] management plan phase one implementation

[1:30:39] period in the phase 2 response level.

[1:30:43] Therefore, we'll require preparation of

[1:30:44] a management area action plan by

[1:30:46] November 1 of this year for the Sturggo

[1:30:50] GSA to re approve and initiate

[1:30:52] reductions in groundwater use following

[1:30:55] implementation of the groundwater use

[1:30:57] management plan and the non-dist

[1:31:00] on January 31, 2027.

[1:31:03] Reductions in groundwater extractions

[1:31:05] will ramp up in five-year increments as

[1:31:07] necessary to arrest overdraft and raise

[1:31:10] groundwater levels to the measure

[1:31:11] objectives identified in the GSP.

[1:31:15] So for non-district east management area

[1:31:19] between 2027 and 20203 or 2030 they're

[1:31:23] expected to have a 34 34% reduction in

[1:31:26] overall groundwater pumping.

[1:31:28] uh between 2030 and 2035 60% or 67%

[1:31:33] reduction and by 2040 100% reduction. So

[1:31:37] a total of their 58,000 reduction that

[1:31:40] they're acre feet per year that they're

[1:31:42] required to reduce. They have a target

[1:31:45] goal of 2040 for that 58,000 acre feet

[1:31:47] reduction.

[1:31:49] That's not total pumping. That's just

[1:31:50] their their allocation that they have to

[1:31:54] reduce by.

[1:31:57] So some key takeaways, the groundwater

[1:31:59] use management plan is required for

[1:32:01] Sigma compliance and it provides

[1:32:03] structured equitable demand management

[1:32:06] and the program adapts as projects and

[1:32:08] conditions change within the subbasin

[1:32:10] itself.

[1:32:13] So staff recommends that city council

[1:32:16] adopt the resolution authorizing

[1:32:18] collaboration with the Stannis Lawson

[1:32:20] and Towalami Rivers Groundwater Basin

[1:32:22] Association

[1:32:24] Groundwater Sustainability Agency its member

[1:32:28] agencies consultants stakeholders and

[1:32:31] the county of Towalami GSA to take such actions as may reasonably necessary

[1:32:37] to one approve and implement the

[1:32:38] groundwater use management program

[1:32:42] for the Modesto subbasin to ensure

[1:32:43] longterm groundwater sustainability and

[1:32:46] two develop action plans which ensure

[1:32:49] the demand management actions identified

[1:32:51] in the groundwater use management plan

[1:32:53] are under implementation beginning

[1:32:54] January 31 2027

[1:32:58] and the adoption of the groundwater use

[1:32:59] management plan fulfills commitments

[1:33:01] made in prior council actions and

[1:33:03] advances compliance with the sustainable

[1:33:05] groundwater management act or sigma and

[1:33:08] I would be happy to answer any questions

[1:33:10] that you may have.

[1:33:12] >> Thank you. Um, does the council have any

[1:33:15] questions or comments right now?

[1:33:19] >> Um, so I think it's important that you

[1:33:22] kind of gave us the download a few

[1:33:24] months back on Sergba um because we we

[1:33:28] knew that this it was leading to today's

[1:33:30] um decision. Could you just to place

[1:33:33] that a little bit more? You mentioned at

[1:33:35] the maybe one of the first slides that

[1:33:37] the um subbasin is 64% agg and 20%

[1:33:41] urban. How many people does the urban

[1:33:46] and do you know about how many each

[1:33:47] represent each body?

[1:33:49] >> Unfortunately, no I do not.

[1:33:51] >> I I mean it's urban is city of riverbank

[1:33:54] essentially and then agriculture

[1:33:55] individual farmers.

[1:33:56] >> Yeah, it would be um urban would be city

[1:33:58] of riverbank, city of Modesto, city of

[1:34:00] Waterford, city of Oakdale.

[1:34:02] >> Okay. And then um when you were talking

[1:34:06] about groundwater allocations,

[1:34:08] you mentioned I mean the state uh

[1:34:11] district or the department of water

[1:34:13] services stepped in, resources steps in

[1:34:15] when there's an undesirable result and

[1:34:18] that's essentially where we're at at

[1:34:19] this point. Um so you mentioned that

[1:34:22] there are going back if you could go

[1:34:25] back to the chart with the different uh

[1:34:33] yes

[1:34:35] >> this is the adjusted and this would be

[1:34:38] after 23

[1:34:39] >> and and just um for council as well we

[1:34:43] are I mean we've been pretty good

[1:34:46] stewards of of those allocations and um

[1:34:49] I think It is important to take a look

[1:34:51] at the different sections of the

[1:34:53] subbasin because we're looking at

[1:34:56] um nond district east for the management

[1:35:00] plan here for example. So they or maybe

[1:35:03] oh it is this one. Uh I mean the

[1:35:05] allocation's at 30,000 the furthest

[1:35:07] column to the right the allocation's at

[1:35:09] 30,100

[1:35:11] but the historical pumping has been at

[1:35:13] 89,700.

[1:35:15] And so I just want council to take into

[1:35:18] consideration, you know, I think it's

[1:35:20] great and and uh Sturga is doing what we

[1:35:23] need to do and what's being asked of by

[1:35:25] the state to uh mitigate these uh

[1:35:29] allocations or this pumping. Um but I

[1:35:32] just want us to know right now the

[1:35:35] differences in what that looks like for

[1:35:37] each part of the sections of the

[1:35:39] subbasin. Um,

[1:35:42] I had another question in that

[1:35:45] and maybe not right now. Are there any

[1:35:46] questions from council at this point?

[1:35:49] We'll go over to public comment.

[1:35:53] >> Mr. Wrangler Wheeler.

[1:36:01] » Uh, hi. Good evening, uh, council

[1:36:02] members and staff. My name is Wrangler

[1:36:04] Wheeler. Uh, I'm a hay and almond farmer

[1:36:06] from West Vanesto. Although I do not

[1:36:08] have the privilege of living in

[1:36:09] Riverbank, I do conduct business in and

[1:36:11] around your city limits. I'm here to

[1:36:13] discuss the potential effects and

[1:36:14] possible steps of action regarding the

[1:36:16] Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

[1:36:18] I would like to thank a few members uh

[1:36:20] of your staff and your mayor, Rachel

[1:36:22] Hernand Hernandez, for taking the time

[1:36:24] to meet with myself and a few other

[1:36:25] farmers from the non-dist last week.

[1:36:29] Stannis Loss County, in my personal

[1:36:30] opinion, has done a poor job of

[1:36:32] representing not only myself but the

[1:36:33] taxpaying citizens of Riverbank.

[1:36:36] Throughout continued negotiations

[1:36:38] regarding shared cost and management

[1:36:39] actions, Stansel County has failed to

[1:36:42] give farmers like myself within the

[1:36:43] non-district west and the city of

[1:36:45] Riverbank a proper seat at the

[1:36:47] negotiation table.

[1:36:49] The problem they are effectively trying

[1:36:51] to solve exists within the non-district

[1:36:53] east from farmers who have planted

[1:36:54] permanent crops with no access to

[1:36:56] surface water, creating a deficit from

[1:36:58] excessive groundwater pumping. We can

[1:37:00] all agree we do not wish to share the

[1:37:02] potential costs associated with solving

[1:37:04] someone else's problems. Through

[1:37:07] continued communication with Riverbank

[1:37:08] staff, I would like to propose a working

[1:37:11] group that includes affected parties

[1:37:13] within the non-dist including the city

[1:37:15] of Riverbank. We share common goals and

[1:37:18] understanding of keeping our own water

[1:37:20] costs manageable and affordable.

[1:37:24] With that being said, I do want to

[1:37:26] support the adoption of both 11.2 and

[1:37:29] 11.3 moving forward. I think it's an

[1:37:31] mutual benefit for uh everyone within

[1:37:33] non-district west. With that being

[1:37:35] included, I do want to acknowledge that

[1:37:37] looking at these numbers, um the city of

[1:37:40] Riverbank and the community of Del Rio

[1:37:42] are both extractors, right? So you guys

[1:37:44] are pulling more out of the basin than

[1:37:46] you are putting back in where us as

[1:37:49] farmers within the non-district west,

[1:37:50] we're all grouped together. We have the

[1:37:52] opportunity and potential to be a net

[1:37:55] positive, right? So I have other sources

[1:37:57] of potential water, whether that's um

[1:37:59] repairarian rights or potential other

[1:38:01] sources that we have the opportunity of

[1:38:04] recharging the groundwater. So I think

[1:38:06] it's in a a net benefit for the entire

[1:38:08] basin that we come together as nondist

[1:38:10] west and work together to um become

[1:38:13] sustainable and meet um our GSP um

[1:38:16] regulations and become sustainable

[1:38:18] within Sigma. Uh with that being said, I

[1:38:20] thank you for your time this evening and

[1:38:22] I look forward to the continued and

[1:38:23] growing relationship among the Nongish

[1:38:25] West.

[1:38:28] >> Thank you Mr. Bill Lions.

[1:38:36] Uh, mayor, uh, Councilman,

[1:38:39] uh, city manager, uh, I was here, I

[1:38:42] think, three or four months ago and

[1:38:44] talked about some of the issues that we

[1:38:46] saw coming and they're now here. I want

[1:38:49] to let you know that I've been very

[1:38:52] engaged in this issue for the last two

[1:38:54] years. Um, we own, uh, my family owns

[1:38:58] the center called River Heights, mostly,

[1:39:02] uh, you know, mom and pop operators. And

[1:39:05] one of my concerns is to being involved

[1:39:08] in this uh, process for two years is the

[1:39:12] potential costs that are going to be

[1:39:14] leveled on your city residents. As I

[1:39:17] followed this and you looked at the

[1:39:19] charts, there's one area that is not

[1:39:23] sustainable and that's the non-district

[1:39:25] east. I think you have to realize that

[1:39:28] they've been offered solutions. Just

[1:39:31] today, MID

[1:39:34] uh passed a water sale program provides

[1:39:38] 60,000

[1:39:40] acre feet to the nondist

[1:39:43] east, but it's up to them to take

[1:39:46] advantage of it. Now if they don't take

[1:39:48] advantage of it as a subbasin the nond

[1:39:52] district west which is basically

[1:39:54] riverbank del Rio and farmers could

[1:39:58] definitely get hurt by our ability to

[1:40:01] use water and by fees. So, I would say

[1:40:05] pass this issue, but be very cautious

[1:40:09] that your residents, some of my tenants

[1:40:13] don't end up paying to solve the

[1:40:16] problems in the non-dist

[1:40:20] farmers, but they went up there for

[1:40:23] business reasons, put wells in, put

[1:40:26] permanent orchards in in areas that did

[1:40:30] not have sustainable water. Um I do also

[1:40:35] today in NI share some of the same

[1:40:38] concerns that Mr. Wheeler does about the

[1:40:42] relationship transparency

[1:40:45] of the county with riverbank the

[1:40:48] non-district west farmers in Del Rio.

[1:40:51] Just today, a bunch of farmers on the

[1:40:54] west side received a letter from the

[1:40:57] Department of uh Environmental Services

[1:41:01] Stewart. No mention of Riverbank as

[1:41:05] their partner as a steward. He passed it

[1:41:08] to Toby and he hadn't seen it yet. So, I

[1:41:15] want you to take a look at this letter,

[1:41:17] especially page two, where they're

[1:41:20] basically saying, "We have an abundance

[1:41:24] of water. We are sustainable, but we

[1:41:27] need to share water with individuals

[1:41:30] that cause the problem.

[1:41:34] I appreciate your time and effort, and

[1:41:37] please watch out for your rate boos.

[1:41:38] Thank you."

[1:41:42] Uh, mayor, that is offer 11.2.

[1:41:47] » Is there anything online by chance? I

[1:41:49] >> I don't see anyone on Zoom wishing to

[1:41:51] speak on this item.

[1:41:53] >> Great. I'll bring it back to council for

[1:41:54] any more comments or questions.

[1:41:58] And if there's none, I um the similar to

[1:42:03] the next item, so I want to say it now

[1:42:05] because I will forget.

[1:42:08] >> Um,

[1:42:08] >> sorry to interrupt. Uh, we just have a

[1:42:11] resident that rose their hand on Zoom.

[1:42:13] >> Okay.

[1:42:15] >> Phone number ending in 3108. Can you

[1:42:17] please unmute?

[1:42:23] >> Please go ahead. Can you hear us? Yes.

[1:42:29] >> Okay. Um,

[1:42:33] >> Miss Hellbert, can you turn down your um

[1:42:35] TV in the back or your computer? We can

[1:42:37] hear an echo. No, it's clear.

[1:42:41] I just have a a a question if if if you

[1:42:44] would address the cost of this and who

[1:42:47] is going to pay it on both of these

[1:42:49] items. They list funding areas as being

[1:42:52] either from the uh

[1:42:57] this the funding coming

[1:43:01] from the STR GB GSA funds or from member

[1:43:05] agencies which I'm guessing you would be

[1:43:06] a member agency and uh other sources

[1:43:10] which they don't name but it also

[1:43:12] mentions the fact of using Prop 218 fees

[1:43:16] if they're going to use assessments fees

[1:43:18] or whatever

[1:43:20] Is that going to be coming from you from

[1:43:22] you taking out of ours? Is there going

[1:43:24] to be another uh one of these TR 218

[1:43:27] fees on our water and sewer again or

[1:43:29] wherever it's coming from? Um

[1:43:34] one way or the other and how much are

[1:43:37] these costs going to be?

[1:43:42] I just like to know how much that

[1:43:44] they're it appears that this is all

[1:43:46] going to come out of our pockets rather

[1:43:48] than the cities.

[1:43:50] And I'd like you, Patricia, you could

[1:43:52] address that and just a little more

[1:43:55] exactly how much is this going to cost

[1:43:57] us? Thank you.

[1:44:01] >> Thank you, Miss Hbert. Um, mayor, that

[1:44:03] is all.

[1:44:04] >> Thank you.

[1:44:06] >> Um, I will just say that at this point

[1:44:08] we don't know

[1:44:09] >> uh what the impacts are going to be from

[1:44:11] the plan. um we're right now we're going

[1:44:14] to approve and then send this approval

[1:44:16] to the larger uh uh organ collaboration

[1:44:20] as a whole. So so we're not sure but the

[1:44:23] I guess the assumption is correct and

[1:44:25] it's going to end up being a taxpayer um

[1:44:28] through the city um impact.

[1:44:32] >> That's correct, mayor. So, um through

[1:44:34] the development of the action plans for

[1:44:37] each of the management areas, we would

[1:44:39] determine if there's any fees that would

[1:44:41] be associated with that. Um but

[1:44:43] unfortunately, this is a state unfunded

[1:44:46] mandate um that we're required to comply

[1:44:48] with. And so, our water system um is

[1:44:52] dependent upon fees from our residents

[1:44:55] to help offset the costs of providing

[1:44:58] water, including meeting those unfunded

[1:45:01] mandates. And so yes, ultimately it does

[1:45:03] come from the rateayers.

[1:45:04] >> Thank you. And and that being said, um

[1:45:09] we're all facing as the council these

[1:45:11] decisions around um increased water

[1:45:15] rates with the study coming forward with

[1:45:17] the wastewater discussions that we're

[1:45:19] having. So um we want to appreciate

[1:45:22] Strugg Buffer taking the lead and as you

[1:45:25] know we have trusted them to do so with

[1:45:27] their consultants and everyone involved.

[1:45:29] Um but as we I would like to make a

[1:45:33] motion to to recommend this resolution

[1:45:36] but being clear and adding uh the

[1:45:38] following as well um in in a memo maybe

[1:45:42] as an attachment. Um, so it would be to

[1:45:47] that way we're clear uh as as a city

[1:45:50] that we want to protect our rateayers

[1:45:52] that we want to move forward in this

[1:45:54] collaborative approach but have an

[1:45:56] equitable uh strategy to get there

[1:45:59] because as we've seen it's we've been

[1:46:02] good stewards of our allocations. Um and

[1:46:05] so this memo would say uh or not uh

[1:46:09] would include requesting inclusion of

[1:46:11] the establishment of a north uh

[1:46:14] non-district west wall mitigation

[1:46:16] program committee and technical review

[1:46:18] committee to oversee the claims process.

[1:46:20] Um we've asked about the outreach uh

[1:46:24] that's going to be handinhand with the

[1:46:26] well mitigation and so

[1:46:30] >> here that sounds like um perhaps for the

[1:46:32] next item. Yeah. Yes. Uh I I mentioned

[1:46:36] that this would be great in just one

[1:46:37] memo, so I think I'm saying it all now.

[1:46:40] Um but but yeah, I'll repeat it for the

[1:46:42] next one. Um uh so for this item

[1:46:45] specifically, the memo would include um

[1:46:49] sharing a formal invitation uh as part

[1:46:52] of the non-dist work group. Um, I think

[1:46:55] it would be great to move forward with

[1:46:57] that suggestion so that we're the city

[1:47:00] of Riverbank is included in those

[1:47:01] discussions moving forward. Um,

[1:47:06] and then skipping ahead.

[1:47:10] Um,

[1:47:11] yeah, this that would be it for for this

[1:47:14] resolution. So, um, if the council would

[1:47:17] like to approve a motion to move forward

[1:47:18] with this resolution attaching a memo

[1:47:20] that's going to include in part, uh, the

[1:47:23] formal work group, uh, that we would

[1:47:25] like to be a part of to be able to take

[1:47:27] part of these conversations.

[1:47:32] » I'll second it.

[1:47:33] >> Roll call, please.

[1:47:38] » Just to clarify, we're adding the memo

[1:47:39] to this resolution, correct?

[1:47:41] >> Yes. Yeah, it sounds like she has two.

[1:47:43] So, just

[1:47:45] >> what she Yes. Yeah.

[1:47:46] >> Okay.

[1:47:47] >> Council member,

[1:47:48] >> yes.

[1:47:48] >> Council member FSY.

[1:47:49] >> Yes.

[1:47:50] >> Council member Call.

[1:47:51] >> Yes.

[1:47:52] >> Vice Mayor Pimento.

[1:47:53] >> Yes.

[1:47:53] >> Mayor Hernandez. Yes. Motion passes.

[1:47:55] 5-0.

[1:48:08] Oh. Oh, sorry. I was waiting for you to

[1:48:10] just start it. 11.3

[1:48:13] um adoption of a well mitigation plan in

[1:48:15] the Modesto groundwater subbasin.

[1:48:19] » Okay. So this will be the third portion

[1:48:22] to the letter that was deemed or the

[1:48:26] incomplete determination letter for the

[1:48:28] medicine subbasin by DWR and it will

[1:48:32] required us to provide a dry well

[1:48:34] mitigation program.

[1:48:38] So the purpose of the well mitigation

[1:48:41] program, it provides mitigation for

[1:48:42] drinking water wells that have

[1:48:44] experienced adverse impacts due to

[1:48:46] declining regional groundwater levels

[1:48:48] associated with groundwater pumping

[1:48:51] during the the GSP implementation period

[1:48:55] since January 31, 2022.

[1:48:58] So, an analysis was conducted that

[1:49:01] included all 4563

[1:49:04] water supply wells with available

[1:49:06] construction information in the subbasin

[1:49:09] and it showed potential impacts to water

[1:49:11] supply wells due to groundwater levels

[1:49:13] declining below established minimum

[1:49:15] thresholds or MTS.

[1:49:18] Potential impacts are expected to be

[1:49:20] limited to an interim period before

[1:49:23] planned projects and management actions

[1:49:25] are fully implemented

[1:49:27] which would be January 31, 2022 through

[1:49:30] the hopefully sustainable

[1:49:33] uh measurable objective year of 2042.

[1:49:38] It provides framework for the following

[1:49:40] elements. An application process and

[1:49:42] well mitigation program measures for

[1:49:44] impacted well owners. establishes well

[1:49:47] mitigation program committee and

[1:49:49] technical review committee to oversee

[1:49:51] the claims for impacted wells which

[1:49:53] would be made up of the GSA members and

[1:49:56] Sturgba will contract with self-help

[1:49:58] enterprises for the coordination of

[1:50:01] emergency water supplies well

[1:50:02] assessments and replacements if

[1:50:04] necessary.

[1:50:07] So there are local non-governmental

[1:50:09] programs that offer support for those

[1:50:11] affected by impaired access to drinking

[1:50:13] water within the Modesto subbasin and

[1:50:15] across the Sanwaqin Valley. You have the

[1:50:18] Valley Water Collaborative which was

[1:50:20] formed to address nitrate groundwater

[1:50:22] contamination in private domestic wells

[1:50:24] used for drinking water in the Modesto

[1:50:26] and Turlock subbasins.

[1:50:29] And the VWC provides well testing and

[1:50:32] replacement water or water treatment

[1:50:34] systems for nitrate contamination to all

[1:50:36] qualifying applicants regardless of

[1:50:38] income level. Then you have Self-Help

[1:50:41] Enterprises or SHEI who offers emergency

[1:50:44] drinking water supplies, long-term

[1:50:46] mitigation support, and well stewardship

[1:50:48] educational resources for those who

[1:50:50] qualify under their program in Stannis

[1:50:52] Loss County. They're a nonprofit in the

[1:50:55] Sanwaqin Valley that can provide water

[1:50:57] quality testing and emergency water

[1:50:59] service for eligible land owners.

[1:51:04] She establishes elig eligibility under

[1:51:06] their program by an application

[1:51:08] submitted to SHIE with for with

[1:51:10] information about the well, property and

[1:51:12] household including income. provide

[1:51:15] emergency water within 24 hours and then

[1:51:17] conduct on-site well assessment. And if

[1:51:21] replacement is warranted, grant

[1:51:22] agreement is completed between she and

[1:51:24] the well owner. Uh the income

[1:51:27] requirement is 80% or less of the mean

[1:51:30] household income and you are required

[1:51:32] not to sell your property or transfer

[1:51:34] ownership within a 5-year period after

[1:51:36] the weld replacement. And the grant can

[1:51:39] be funded up to $60,000.

[1:51:44] So some funding and anticipated costs.

[1:51:46] The well mitigation fund has been

[1:51:48] established to finance well program

[1:51:50] implementation.

[1:51:51] So the initial funding of this program

[1:51:55] is being funded by the Sturba GSA as

[1:51:57] part of their respective annual budgets

[1:51:59] and a portion between Sturga GSA using

[1:52:02] the existing annual budget allocation

[1:52:04] meth methodology. So we do have a

[1:52:06] current cost sharing agreement in the

[1:52:08] GSA that reflects 12 and a half% uh

[1:52:12] requirement of the agency members.

[1:52:16] The baseline fund will be the for the

[1:52:20] implementation of the program and

[1:52:22] Sturggo GSA has established a baseline

[1:52:24] well mitigation fund amounting of

[1:52:26] $300,000.

[1:52:28] The annual funding the Sturgeba GSA has

[1:52:31] agreed to fund the program on an annual

[1:52:33] basis as may be required to address the

[1:52:35] needs of the program until groundwater

[1:52:37] sustainability is achieved. The Sturgma

[1:52:40] GSA member agencies will meet and confer

[1:52:42] in good faith to determine the

[1:52:44] appropriate funding mechanism,

[1:52:46] replenishment amount, and Sturgma GSA

[1:52:48] member allocation methodology prior to

[1:52:50] fund replenishment.

[1:52:55] According to DWR's dry well reporting

[1:52:57] system, there are 15 domestic wells that

[1:53:00] were reported dry or failed since the

[1:53:02] GSP was adopted on January 31st of 2022.

[1:53:06] You had 13 in 2022, two in 2023, and

[1:53:10] zero in 2024.

[1:53:13] It's unclear whether these dry or failed

[1:53:15] wells were due to GSA management or

[1:53:17] ground of groundwater levels. And as

[1:53:20] such, it is not possible to estimate the

[1:53:22] number of future eligible claims and

[1:53:23] annual costs.

[1:53:24] >> Cody, the 15 is that is that countywide

[1:53:26] or is that in our district only?

[1:53:28] >> That's within the entire Modesto

[1:53:29] subbasin.

[1:53:30] >> Okay.

[1:53:31] >> So, uh just for reference, Turlock is in

[1:53:34] their own subbasin, but they are in

[1:53:36] Stannis County. So, this is in the

[1:53:37] Modesto subbasin alone.

[1:53:40] >> So, it's anticipated that the program

[1:53:42] funding will come from one or a

[1:53:43] combination of the following sources

[1:53:46] established by the parties. You have

[1:53:47] Sturba GSA funds, one or more Sturba GSA

[1:53:51] member agencies, funds generated through

[1:53:53] implementation of projects and

[1:53:55] management actions such as fines and/or

[1:53:58] penalties, uh, county, state, and

[1:54:00] federal funding as available and any

[1:54:03] other sources that may be identified.

[1:54:08] She provides a well modification

[1:54:10] replacement grant that was uh spoken

[1:54:12] about earlier. So there is that option

[1:54:15] that is there are actually grants funded

[1:54:17] by the state water resource sources

[1:54:19] control board. So if an applicant does

[1:54:23] not qualify for mitigation through stob

[1:54:25] GSA program then the applicant may be

[1:54:27] eligible through mitigation by she and

[1:54:29] it doesn't have to be necessarily uh

[1:54:34] related to the GSA or the mismanagement

[1:54:37] of the GSA. So say the GSA reviews it

[1:54:39] and said it's not a groundwater issue

[1:54:41] that was caused by mismanagement of the

[1:54:43] GSA, they can still apply for a program

[1:54:45] through sheet.

[1:54:46] >> So for example be like water quality,

[1:54:48] right? So like

[1:54:49] >> water quality could um be a an issue

[1:54:53] that was caused by mismanagement of

[1:54:55] groundwater. If you have a depletion of

[1:54:57] groundwater levels, the the level of the

[1:54:59] well may still be good, but you may have

[1:55:01] water quality issues as a result. So

[1:55:05] if it's not associated with the

[1:55:09] mismanagement, yes, water quality could

[1:55:10] be one, but maybe it's a failed pump,

[1:55:13] maybe it's, you know, a failed casing,

[1:55:16] uh,

[1:55:17] >> infrastructure issues. Yeah, there's still other mechanisms that can

[1:55:20] be used.

[1:55:20] >> Okay.

[1:55:24] So staff's recommendation is city

[1:55:26] council adopt the resolution authorizing

[1:55:28] collaboration with Stannis loss and

[1:55:30] twomi rivers groundwater basin

[1:55:32] association

[1:55:34] and its members stakeholders in the

[1:55:35] county of Tommy GSA to take such actions

[1:55:39] as may be necessary to approve and

[1:55:40] implement the well mitigation plan

[1:55:42] developed for meto groundwater subbasin

[1:55:45] and again adoption of the well

[1:55:47] mitigation plan by the sta GSA fulfills

[1:55:49] the commitments made in prior council

[1:55:51] actions and advances compliance with

[1:55:53] Sigma and I would be happy to answer any

[1:55:56] questions that you may have.

[1:55:59] >> Uh council, are there any questions or

[1:56:01] comments?

[1:56:04] >> Any from the public?

[1:56:06] >> Mayor, we have a couple in the chamber.

[1:56:08] Mr. Wrangler Wheeler,

[1:56:11] >> you're okay. Mr. Gary Pearson.

[1:56:21] » Good evening, council. Um, I'm Gary

[1:56:23] Pearson. I'm a resident of uh the city

[1:56:26] of Riverbank. Um, my comments are

[1:56:30] equally um I I support what's been said

[1:56:33] from our previous presenters. I'd also

[1:56:35] ask, what does it actually mean to me as

[1:56:38] a resident? I am considerably concerned

[1:56:41] about our future water security. I

[1:56:44] believe our city must actively engage in

[1:56:46] meaningful com conservation and

[1:56:49] long-term planning including expanding

[1:56:52] the cons conservation through graywater

[1:56:54] use uh condensate recapture and

[1:56:57] rainwater catchment systems. For

[1:56:59] example, at my house I collect over

[1:57:01] 2,000 gallons each winter cycle and I

[1:57:05] repurpose that within my landscape. Uh

[1:57:09] this does not impede the overall water

[1:57:12] use but improves our water use

[1:57:14] efficiency. Next um I know our city

[1:57:18] promotes drought tolerant landscaping by

[1:57:20] replacing traditional lawns with drought

[1:57:22] tolerant plants and also has an

[1:57:24] artificial turf program but I also would

[1:57:27] advocate we need to increase our shade

[1:57:29] trees to reduce that evapo transpiration

[1:57:32] and trees that are suitable for this

[1:57:34] part of the valley. So don't plant

[1:57:36] redwoods. Uh next, uh prioritizing

[1:57:39] groundwater recharge.

[1:57:41] I strongly urge that the current

[1:57:43] wastewater treatment facility proposal

[1:57:45] seriously consider how treated discharge

[1:57:47] water can be redirected for local reuse

[1:57:50] and recharge. I know that there's part

[1:57:53] of that system is for local farmers to

[1:57:55] reuse. I advocate yes, but there's still

[1:57:58] volume we could use to recharge the

[1:58:00] aquifer.

[1:58:02] Um then uh encouraging the regional

[1:58:05] agricultural sector which you've heard

[1:58:08] here to rethink its long-term water use

[1:58:10] practices. I as a longtime farmer and

[1:58:13] constant looking at the inputs to the

[1:58:16] farm and how I I can be efficient with

[1:58:19] our natural resources and water is one

[1:58:21] of those. Um, next I I really greatly

[1:58:25] appreciate hearing that we want to

[1:58:27] partner together and partner with

[1:58:29] Oakdale and Modesto. I'd also advocate

[1:58:32] we need to uh really think about our

[1:58:34] housing and truly get to that green

[1:58:37] housing and what we call lead inspired

[1:58:40] design standards. All new housing should

[1:58:43] be water efficient by design. Finally, I

[1:58:47] hate to say this, but we're going to

[1:58:48] have to put a moratorium on all new

[1:58:50] wells unless required for public safety.

[1:58:53] Every time we punch a well, we punch

[1:58:55] into that aquifer. I understand that

[1:58:58] that's has some issues. And then um all

[1:59:02] of this requires time, planning,

[1:59:04] participation, and partnership. But we

[1:59:06] must start now. We're in a long year.

[1:59:10] Thank you for your time.

[1:59:15] Mr. Bill Lions.

[1:59:21] » Yeah, thank you again. I'm just going to

[1:59:22] kind of follow up on the comments. I

[1:59:24] enjoyed your comments. Thought they were

[1:59:27] right on. Um, this is another project

[1:59:31] that I would urge the council to

[1:59:33] support. Yes, I think it's important. I

[1:59:36] think she will do a good job. I think

[1:59:39] there's a lot of criteria there to

[1:59:41] protect citizens of Riverbank uh tenants

[1:59:45] that I have when it comes to the

[1:59:47] $300,000.

[1:59:49] I think it's important that you also

[1:59:50] know though that those wells that are

[1:59:54] having problems are not in Riverbank and

[1:59:57] they're not in the nondist west. They

[2:00:00] are in the nondist east primarily. So

[2:00:04] even though the report may say

[2:00:06] countywide,

[2:00:07] it's really in one area. You have one

[2:00:11] management area out of four. It's got a

[2:00:14] problem. I really urge city council to

[2:00:19] be very cautious and to collaborate. And

[2:00:23] when you hear the word equitable,

[2:00:27] sounds really good. But if you have

[2:00:30] water like merch does, you don't want to

[2:00:34] be equitable that you give half of it to

[2:00:36] somebody else who's caused their own

[2:00:39] problem. So equitable ought to be in my

[2:00:41] position should be what you've done to

[2:00:45] protect your water resource in the

[2:00:48] non-district west. I see this bond

[2:00:51] between the non-district farmers, Del

[2:00:54] Rio, and yourself. And I think it's

[2:00:57] really critical that you form this ad

[2:01:00] hoc because I am not

[2:01:04] satisfied with what I've seen and many

[2:01:08] others have seen the county level

[2:01:10] because they use the word equitable.

[2:01:13] What they're doing is they're pitting

[2:01:16] areas, management areas that have done a

[2:01:19] great job with an area that hasn't. And

[2:01:23] think of it as a bank account.

[2:01:26] You put in money, your neighbor puts in

[2:01:28] money, a neighbor puts in neighbor puts

[2:01:31] in money, the fourth neighbor doesn't

[2:01:33] put anything. The fourth neighbor says,

[2:01:36] "Let's divide the bank account by four."

[2:01:39] That's as simple as it gets. You've done

[2:01:42] a great job on your water resources.

[2:01:45] Your staff has done a great job. OID has

[2:01:47] done a great job. MID's done a great

[2:01:50] job. You've got one area that's a

[2:01:53] problem and they need to address it.

[2:01:56] They need help. I would encourage you to

[2:01:59] be very aggressive on management plans

[2:02:03] in the nondist east. They need to have

[2:02:06] carrots and sticks so they comply. When

[2:02:10] I see MID offers them 60,000 acre feet

[2:02:13] of water to purchase, they have two

[2:02:17] farmers today that have stepped up.

[2:02:20] That's it. Because they're going to ride

[2:02:22] this thing till they're forced to deal

[2:02:26] with it. Thank you.

[2:02:30] Um, mayor, that is all I have for

[2:02:33] comments in the chamber and then there's

[2:02:35] one on Zoom.

[2:02:39] Will the phone number ending in 3108

[2:02:42] please unmute?

[2:02:49] » Phone number 3108. Can you please

[2:02:52] unmute?

[2:02:57] » Hello.

[2:02:59] >> Yes, please go ahead.

[2:03:01] Yeah, I just want to the comments that I

[2:03:03] made for the other item also for this

[2:03:05] item because they seem to have exactly

[2:03:07] the same uh

[2:03:10] funding source for this one as the other

[2:03:13] one which is with the prop 218 and all

[2:03:16] of other sources will come out of our

[2:03:18] pocket. It appears that they have this

[2:03:20] set up so each item has its own funding

[2:03:22] source which means we're going to hit

[2:03:24] twice once for one, once for the other.

[2:03:28] So you need to know what's going on with

[2:03:29] it. you need to know the costs, which

[2:03:31] you don't, and all of that stuff that we

[2:03:34] have been told. So, I'm hoping you'll

[2:03:36] add what you added on the other one on

[2:03:38] this one also because that I just seems

[2:03:40] like an awful lot we have two separate

[2:03:43] funding sources for this. Thank you,

[2:03:52] » Mayor. That is all we have for public

[2:03:54] comment.

[2:03:55] >> Great. Um, I will bring it back to

[2:03:57] council for further questions or

[2:03:59] comments. Otherwise, um, if uh if

[2:04:04] everyone if it's at everyone's pleasure,

[2:04:05] I would like to add the rest of the memo

[2:04:07] to um the motion.

[2:04:10] >> Any other questions or comments?

[2:04:13] >> Want to verbalize the memo?

[2:04:16] >> Um, so, uh, let me try and put in some

[2:04:20] sort of order. So part of our resolution

[2:04:23] states um serve by GSA will contract

[2:04:25] with she for coordination

[2:04:28] etc. So the city requests a schedule of

[2:04:31] the types of outreach and dates of

[2:04:33] outreach to property owners. There was a

[2:04:36] concern that there's a short timeline

[2:04:38] for uh folks who would be able to

[2:04:40] qualify for the well mitigation program

[2:04:43] um here. So, I think it'd be great to

[2:04:46] get that timeline. Um, and also request

[2:04:49] action plans to address the overdraft

[2:04:51] needed to uh to address the overdraft.

[2:04:55] So, needing it to be strong enough to

[2:04:56] ensure compliance with the pumping

[2:04:57] reductions under the well mitigation

[2:05:00] program.

[2:05:02] Um, further requests inclusion of the

[2:05:05] establishment of the non-district was

[2:05:07] well mitigation program committee and

[2:05:08] technical review committee to oversee

[2:05:10] the claims process. Um I I think as

[2:05:13] mentioned already, I think it's

[2:05:14] important that we are involved in every

[2:05:16] conversation and I want to thank Cody um

[2:05:19] and the team for being present and

[2:05:20] representing us. Um and finally uh as

[2:05:24] details develop for the well mitigation

[2:05:26] program

[2:05:28] to ensure tactics and strategies to

[2:05:30] consider are are built to consider the

[2:05:33] impact to it members including us and uh

[2:05:37] as annual funding is going to be

[2:05:38] assessed providing a schedule of

[2:05:41] meetings. So member agencies including

[2:05:43] us can calendar uh and have those good

[2:05:45] faith meetings to address address and

[2:05:48] discuss appropriate funding mechanisms

[2:05:51] um and approving the resolution.

[2:05:56] » Same ad hoc committee. Right.

[2:05:58] >> Right.

[2:05:58] >> Okay. Just making sure

[2:06:02] >> that was a motion.

[2:06:03] >> Okay. I'll second it.

[2:06:04] >> Roll call, please.

[2:06:07] >> Council member.

[2:06:08] >> Yes.

[2:06:08] >> Council member FSY.

[2:06:10] >> Yes. Council member Call,

[2:06:12] >> yes.

[2:06:12] >> Vice Mayor Pimento,

[2:06:14] >> yes.

[2:06:14] >> Mayor Hernandez,

[2:06:15] >> yes.

[2:06:15] >> Motion passes 5-0.

[2:06:18] >> Thanks, Cody.

[2:06:19] >> Okay. 11.4. We have a resolution

[2:06:22] approving a consultant services

[2:06:23] agreement with JPW Communications, Inc.

[2:06:26] for the preparation of a community

[2:06:28] engagement strategy and communications

[2:06:30] plan.

[2:06:31] >> Mayor and Council, good evening. I'm

[2:06:33] really excited to be able to present

[2:06:35] this item to council today. It's an item

[2:06:38] that has been on our strategic plan um

[2:06:41] and is going to provide us with the

[2:06:44] opportunity to develop a community

[2:06:46] engagement strategy and communications

[2:06:48] plan to guide how we communicate best

[2:06:51] with our residents and our stakeholders

[2:06:53] as well as how we communicate

[2:06:54] internally.

[2:06:56] Uh so just a little bit of history as I

[2:06:58] mentioned um it was part of our May 2025

[2:07:03] um five-year goal to improve public

[2:07:06] communications. There was a specific

[2:07:08] objective that was established to

[2:07:10] develop a formal communication plan that

[2:07:13] will include social media policies,

[2:07:15] translation services, and public access

[2:07:17] to information. And so the community

[2:07:20] engagement strategy and communications

[2:07:23] plan um was determined to be the best

[2:07:25] option to be able to address all of

[2:07:28] these different objectives.

[2:07:31] And so what is the plan? The plan is

[2:07:33] envisioned as a comprehensive document

[2:07:35] to guide communications and engagement

[2:07:37] for the city. It'll focus on the

[2:07:39] successful, consistent, effective, and

[2:07:42] collaborative approach to engage city

[2:07:45] council, city employees, our residents,

[2:07:47] our visitors, and our stakeholders.

[2:07:52] The goals of the plan are to define the

[2:07:54] messaging priorities, strategies, and

[2:07:56] tools that the city will deploy to

[2:07:59] improve community and stakeholder

[2:08:02] engagement that with a set of tools and

[2:08:04] priorities to offer access to

[2:08:06] information and amplify meaningful

[2:08:09] participation in and a broad

[2:08:11] understanding of city services,

[2:08:13] initiatives, and resources. and to be

[2:08:16] able to create guidance and establish

[2:08:18] best practices for the city council and

[2:08:21] city staff on external communication

[2:08:23] with the community.

[2:08:26] So, a little bit of the RFP process. We

[2:08:28] did issue a request for proposals u back

[2:08:31] in October. Uh we did offer an

[2:08:34] opportunity for proposers to ask us

[2:08:36] questions and then had a submittal

[2:08:39] deadline um of December 11th, 2025. Uh

[2:08:42] we did receive four proposals and we did

[2:08:46] have a um ad hoc committee um of city

[2:08:49] staff, city council and our consultant

[2:08:52] um Jane media services um that reviewed

[2:08:56] the four proposals. Um we selected the

[2:08:59] top two to bring back for interviews and

[2:09:03] then today we are excited to be able to

[2:09:06] award the contract.

[2:09:08] Um, as I mentioned earlier, four

[2:09:10] proposals were received and the

[2:09:12] proposals were evaluated based on the

[2:09:14] submission of the proposal, the

[2:09:16] qualifications, the project um, and

[2:09:19] implementation plan and of course

[2:09:22] pricing.

[2:09:23] And so our recommendation is to award a

[2:09:26] contract to JPW Communications uh based

[2:09:29] on their extensive experience working

[2:09:31] with local government, the methods that

[2:09:33] they'll be using for collecting data

[2:09:35] from council staff and stakeholders

[2:09:37] which include residents, their approach

[2:09:40] to the plan development, um the timeline

[2:09:42] that they've established for this

[2:09:44] project which is approximately 18 weeks

[2:09:47] and their pricing was extremely

[2:09:48] competitive.

[2:09:51] Uh this is a bit of a breakdown with

[2:09:54] regards to the tasks and the cost

[2:09:56] proposal. Uh so task one which is to

[2:09:59] gather input at an estimated cost of

[2:10:01] 41765.

[2:10:03] Mind you some of these um do include

[2:10:05] travel costs so they'll be able to meet

[2:10:07] with staff with council and with

[2:10:10] stakeholders in person. Um the plan

[2:10:12] development 41195.

[2:10:17] Uh task three the training um 24680 and

[2:10:21] then part of the deliverables which of

[2:10:23] course are the uh plan itself um 8180

[2:10:27] with a total estimate of 115,820.

[2:10:31] I'm not going through the specific

[2:10:33] details of each tasks as I am going to

[2:10:36] invite Jenny Wendell from um JPW to

[2:10:40] communications to be able to to go

[2:10:43] through each of those and to introduce

[2:10:45] her firm um to council and to our

[2:10:47] residents. Um I did skip over really

[2:10:50] quickly two optional services that um we

[2:10:53] will discuss um whether it makes sense

[2:10:56] to to implement here at the city. Um so

[2:10:58] within the resolution um I've allowed

[2:11:01] for discretion for myself and the

[2:11:04] committee that reviewed that to have uh

[2:11:06] further discussions um with JPW as to

[2:11:09] whether we would implement um these

[2:11:11] additional services or not. They do fall

[2:11:14] under my threshold of approving

[2:11:16] additional funds for projects. Um so I

[2:11:19] would be able to do that um without

[2:11:21] having that conversation today.

[2:11:24] And so with that, I will go ahead and

[2:11:28] transition that over to Jenny with JPW

[2:11:31] Communications. You so much. Good

[2:11:35] evening, Mayor Hernandez, city council

[2:11:37] residents here this evening. Uh my name

[2:11:39] is Jenny Wendell. I'm the founder of JPW

[2:11:41] Communications, and it's a pleasure to

[2:11:43] be here with you tonight to go over a

[2:11:45] little bit about our company, get you

[2:11:47] familiar with who we are and the work

[2:11:49] that we've done. Um, our agenda for my

[2:11:52] presentation really just includes a bit

[2:11:55] about our company, our approach to this

[2:11:57] work. Uh, and then we'll walk through

[2:11:59] those four task areas to give you a

[2:12:01] little bit more detail about what that

[2:12:03] all entails.

[2:12:09] So, I wanted to start out with this

[2:12:10] quote, a favorite of mine, that plans

[2:12:12] are nothing and planning is everything.

[2:12:15] And we do this process quite a bit for

[2:12:19] cities, counties, special districts

[2:12:21] throughout the state. And we always sort

[2:12:23] of get a bonus plan from the planning

[2:12:26] process. And what I mean about this is

[2:12:29] we're obviously working towards

[2:12:30] developing a communications and

[2:12:32] community engagement strategy for you.

[2:12:34] But the process is really robust. It's

[2:12:36] really steeped in a lot of research that

[2:12:38] we do with stakeholders,

[2:12:41] residents, staff, council, and in that

[2:12:45] process, we also learn a lot about

[2:12:47] things that may not even be on your

[2:12:49] radar at the moment. So, um, we really

[2:12:51] enjoy the process. We lean into the

[2:12:53] process. It is a process. Make no

[2:12:56] mistake about it, it does take a little

[2:12:58] bit of time, but we really find at the

[2:12:59] end of it, we have a super robust

[2:13:02] program that you all can take and

[2:13:04] implement for years to come. and we

[2:13:06] learn quite a bit along the way and we

[2:13:09] share all of those findings with you.

[2:13:15] So, as city manager Garcia mentioned, we

[2:13:18] are um a team that's created from

[2:13:21] government for government. We have a

[2:13:23] considerable amount of background in

[2:13:24] this work. I started JPW Communications

[2:13:27] 10 years ago after working as a public

[2:13:29] communicator for 18 years uh for three

[2:13:32] different cities in California and then

[2:13:34] I finished my public service career with

[2:13:36] the Port of San Diego. And in all

[2:13:39] honesty during that time I hired a lot

[2:13:41] of consultants that would develop plans

[2:13:43] for me and I'd just stick it on a shelf

[2:13:45] and it was really kind of a waste of

[2:13:46] time and money and I really felt like

[2:13:49] government deserved better. They needed

[2:13:51] actionable plans, not just theory and

[2:13:55] concepts that um collect dust. So about

[2:13:58] 10 years ago, actually, I drove by the

[2:14:00] hotel in Sacramento. I'm on I'm a

[2:14:02] drive-in today where I hatched the plan.

[2:14:05] I thought, I really think I can do this.

[2:14:07] It was a at a statewide conference um

[2:14:10] there. And so 10 years ago, I did it. I

[2:14:13] struck out on my own. I left my my

[2:14:17] I left my calers behind.

[2:14:19] >> [laughter]

[2:14:20] >> and started um started JPW and have

[2:14:22] we've had a lot of fun over the last 10

[2:14:24] years working for several different

[2:14:26] agencies um as I mentioned throughout

[2:14:28] the state. We are government centric. We

[2:14:30] are California specific. So we don't

[2:14:32] work outside

[2:14:34] uh of of the state very often and it's

[2:14:37] because a we love where where we live

[2:14:40] and b California is very nuanced. It's

[2:14:43] like a country, right? there's so many

[2:14:44] laws and um nuances to the place we live

[2:14:49] and the place you govern. So, we really

[2:14:50] want to be attuned with that and dialed

[2:14:52] in um to all those specifics.

[2:14:58] Uh since those humble beginnings 10

[2:15:00] years ago, we've worked with um over a

[2:15:02] hundred different government agencies,

[2:15:04] as I mentioned, throughout California.

[2:15:06] Uh we've worked with cities of all

[2:15:08] shapes and sizes from very small cities

[2:15:11] like yourself uh to very large cities

[2:15:14] like the city of San Diego uh the city

[2:15:16] of Chula Vista um and some other large

[2:15:19] cities. Uh we specialize in strategic

[2:15:24] work. That's really where we do our best

[2:15:26] work. Um and like I mentioned, our goal

[2:15:29] is to give you something that you can

[2:15:31] actually implement.

[2:15:37] And just four quick things that I wanted

[2:15:40] to touch on. Um

[2:15:43] that you know I was really happy that

[2:15:45] you selected us because when we got off

[2:15:47] the line with you all we felt like it

[2:15:48] was a great match as well. Um we shared

[2:15:50] these on the call but just for the good

[2:15:52] of the order tonight uh as I mentioned

[2:15:55] we have that statewide experience. Uh we

[2:15:58] also really lean into data

[2:16:01] uh in the process which you'll hear

[2:16:02] about in just a moment. We have a

[2:16:05] fullervice

[2:16:07] design team inhouse so we can also

[2:16:09] augment uh those services if you ever

[2:16:11] need things outside of the strategy

[2:16:13] realm and we have a tremendous amount of

[2:16:16] outreach experience. Uh in fact we have

[2:16:19] on our team one of only three public

[2:16:21] participation professionals in the state

[2:16:23] of California. Uh she's certified by the

[2:16:26] International Association of Public

[2:16:27] Participation. Uh and that whole world

[2:16:31] is about engaging residents in

[2:16:32] meaningful ways, meeting residents where

[2:16:34] they're at, harder to reach residents,

[2:16:37] making sure everybody's voices are heard

[2:16:39] in a public engagement process. So,

[2:16:41] we're really proud of that expertise.

[2:16:43] Obviously, we understand what's at stake

[2:16:45] for you. This is really important. I

[2:16:47] think a good communications program is

[2:16:49] one of the best things you can do to

[2:16:51] build trust within your community. So, I

[2:16:52] applaud you for making this investment.

[2:16:55] And then last but not least, this is

[2:16:58] something we can't seem to shake at JPW,

[2:17:00] but I think it's for uh your benefit. We

[2:17:02] really like to co-own the outcome with

[2:17:04] you. So, your success is our success. We

[2:17:07] want to make sure that we finish strong,

[2:17:10] that you're getting what you need, and

[2:17:11] that it is truly making the impact that

[2:17:14] you're seeking.

[2:17:16] Okay. So, how are we going to do all

[2:17:18] this?

[2:17:19] So that task one is where we are going

[2:17:22] to do all of our factf finding as that

[2:17:25] little graphic there on the right

[2:17:26] indicates. Our goal during this process

[2:17:29] is really to get to know you and

[2:17:30] understand your current communication

[2:17:33] landscape, your workflows, what success

[2:17:35] looks like to you all, what your

[2:17:37] priorities are. We're going to audit

[2:17:39] your existing communications program. Um

[2:17:42] provide some thought towards that.

[2:17:44] listen to leadership, staff, and the

[2:17:47] community to hear from them as well. And

[2:17:50] really are um I want to underline this

[2:17:53] last part. We really want to ensure that

[2:17:55] there's inclusive multilingual

[2:17:56] engagement in that process so that we're

[2:17:59] not just hearing from uh the regular

[2:18:01] suspects as we like to call them.

[2:18:07] Not that we don't want to hear from

[2:18:08] them. We do. We just want to hear from

[2:18:10] everybody. Once we gather all that

[2:18:13] input, that tees us up for plan

[2:18:16] development. And your scope of work was

[2:18:18] really heavy on framework development,

[2:18:20] plan development, and getting sort of

[2:18:22] all those tools in place to help launch

[2:18:25] a long-term communications program. So

[2:18:29] once we're sort of grounded in that uh

[2:18:31] in the findings from task one, we'll

[2:18:33] move into task two, which is making

[2:18:36] meaning of all that and putting together

[2:18:38] messaging, segmenting your audiences,

[2:18:40] how you should reach those audiences,

[2:18:42] which tools and tactics are most

[2:18:44] appropriate for those audiences. We're

[2:18:47] certainly not going to recommend Tik Tok

[2:18:49] for your senior citizen community. Not

[2:18:51] yet, at least. uh and then defining the

[2:18:54] roles and responsibilities for how you

[2:18:56] make sure all of that moves forward. And

[2:18:59] then last but not least in this section,

[2:19:02] we are going to provide tools for real

[2:19:04] world implementation. So that can be

[2:19:06] everything from a key message platform

[2:19:08] to a media list and so forth. So really

[2:19:11] getting you geared up. And if I'm not

[2:19:13] mistaken, um your strategic plan calls

[2:19:16] for a public information officer at some

[2:19:19] point. I don't know if that's still in

[2:19:20] the works. if it is, they're gonna have

[2:19:22] a landmine when they get here with all

[2:19:24] of these great things to uh put in

[2:19:26] motion.

[2:19:27] >> So, Jenny, you guys are focused on kind

[2:19:29] of creating that blueprint for the

[2:19:30] PIO's. Correct.

[2:19:32] >> That's how the scope is set right now is

[2:19:34] really creating all the blueprint

[2:19:36] materials. Um, we obviously are

[2:19:38] implementers as well, but this

[2:19:39] particular scope of work is calling for

[2:19:41] more of the tea up of the program.

[2:19:46] Task three moves into sort of the

[2:19:48] handoff, I would call it that training

[2:19:50] component. The goal here being bringing

[2:19:53] those plans to life. This will be some

[2:19:55] practical hands-on training, making sure

[2:19:58] everybody knows who's on first, what the

[2:20:00] roles and shared responsibilities are.

[2:20:03] Uh, I believe there's some media

[2:20:04] training in there for media readiness

[2:20:06] and confidence. And again, as you've

[2:20:08] heard me say throughout this, really

[2:20:10] built for real world use, not to sit on

[2:20:13] a shelf.

[2:20:15] And last but not least,

[2:20:20] this last part is more about

[2:20:22] deliverables um and the plan evaluation.

[2:20:25] We want to provide you a system that you

[2:20:27] can measure all of this work eventually.

[2:20:30] Um doesn't do any good if you're putting

[2:20:33] all this communication out and it's not

[2:20:34] having the effect or impact that you

[2:20:36] want. So we have a lot of thoughts um

[2:20:39] and also tools that we can offer to um

[2:20:43] sort of set the stage to measure

[2:20:45] effectiveness as you get into the

[2:20:46] implementation program. So that could

[2:20:49] look like anything from a dashboard that

[2:20:51] measures resident sentiment um to just a

[2:20:54] way to track everything that you're

[2:20:56] doing in one place and how sentiment is

[2:20:59] tracking online and so forth. So we'll

[2:21:01] understand what that should look like

[2:21:03] when we get into the planning process a

[2:21:05] little bit more.

[2:21:08] And then last but not least, this was

[2:21:09] already touched on earlier, but we do

[2:21:11] have uh an estimated timeline of about

[2:21:14] 18 weeks from start to finish. We will

[2:21:16] be back in market uh right out of the

[2:21:19] gate to meet with you all and do some

[2:21:22] SWAT analysis. Uh then we have this

[2:21:24] those surveys, the one-on-one

[2:21:26] conversations and and the communications

[2:21:28] audit plan. I like to say that's sort of

[2:21:30] the getting under the hood position part

[2:21:32] of the program. um we don't like to

[2:21:35] diagnose things until we kind of know

[2:21:36] the lay of the land. So that's what

[2:21:38] we're planning on doing right away

[2:21:41] once we are ready to get started.

[2:21:45] And that concludes my presentation, but

[2:21:46] I'd love to entertain any questions that

[2:21:48] you all have.

[2:21:49] >> Thank you so much. Um council, are there

[2:21:51] any questions or comments at this time?

[2:21:54] I just want to make a few comments from

[2:21:56] the interview process when we have our

[2:21:58] phone conversation and some of the

[2:22:00] reasons that I really leaned into you

[2:22:02] all that are relevant to Riverbank and

[2:22:05] could be useful for council when making

[2:22:06] the decision. Um they worked with the

[2:22:09] city of Belmont who was experiencing

[2:22:11] growth. They had a similar population to

[2:22:13] us and um San Marcos was one of the

[2:22:17] fastest had the fastest growing CSU. So,

[2:22:20] they're adapting to growing populations,

[2:22:23] which Riverbank is tremendously growing.

[2:22:26] Um, and the variety of demographics

[2:22:28] within San Marcos, which Riverbank does

[2:22:30] have a variety of demographics. So, to

[2:22:32] me, that was a really good fit. And then

[2:22:34] the biggest, um, takeaway for me when we

[2:22:37] left our phone conversations was meeting

[2:22:40] residents where they're at. We don't

[2:22:42] have a big chamber, so we can't get

[2:22:45] 26,000 people in here whether we want to

[2:22:47] or not, but meeting people where they

[2:22:49] are, finding group homes where they're

[2:22:52] at or going to school. So, just really

[2:22:54] meeting people and targeting audiences

[2:22:57] that may not be willing to speak. So, I

[2:22:59] really appreciated that about them.

[2:23:03] >> And to add to that, um, because it was

[2:23:05] all of that, including, um, you being

[2:23:07] hands-on, we really appreciated that and

[2:23:09] your expertise. um and the the data the

[2:23:13] to back it up and the long-term

[2:23:15] sustainability measurements as well um

[2:23:18] stood out from others as uh we were

[2:23:21] reviewing all of the proposals

[2:23:23] um and and just to a little bit of of

[2:23:26] your comment council member because we

[2:23:28] have had discussions around the PO but

[2:23:30] also I think this so important uh for

[2:23:32] our staff who has served in a

[2:23:35] communications capacity our city clerk

[2:23:37] in the past and um some of our admin

[2:23:39] staff at the time or right Now, um Jane

[2:23:41] Media Services have jumped right in and

[2:23:43] increased our communications and us as a

[2:23:46] council to be on the same page right now

[2:23:48] and in the future uh with this plan. And

[2:23:50] so, um really looking forward to to

[2:23:54] this. Um I will bounce it over to public

[2:23:58] comment. Is there any public comment at

[2:23:59] this time?

[2:24:02] >> Mayor, we did not receive any comment

[2:24:04] cards or anything on Zoom for this item.

[2:24:10] I'll bring it back to council for any

[2:24:11] more comments or questions.

[2:24:16] And if uh I can get ahead of myself

[2:24:19] here, I will make a motion to approve

[2:24:21] this uh resolution improving the

[2:24:23] consultant services agreement.

[2:24:25] >> Second. Roll call, please.

[2:24:28] >> Council member,

[2:24:29] >> yes.

[2:24:29] >> Council member FSY,

[2:24:31] >> yes.

[2:24:31] >> Council member Call,

[2:24:32] >> yes.

[2:24:33] >> Vice Mayor Pimento,

[2:24:34] >> yes.

[2:24:35] >> Mayor Hernandez,

[2:24:36] >> yes.

[2:24:36] >> Motion passes 5-0.

[2:24:38] >> Thank you so much, Jenny. Thank you so

[2:24:39] much. We look forward to working with

[2:24:41] all of you.

[2:24:42] >> Thank you. All right, we are at our

[2:24:46] staff reports.

[2:24:50] So, just a couple of comments from staff

[2:24:52] um from our planning department. After

[2:24:54] submitting the third round of updates to

[2:24:57] our housing element um to HCD, we have

[2:25:01] received approval to move forward with

[2:25:03] consideration of adoption of the final

[2:25:06] document. So, we are tenatively

[2:25:08] scheduling that for approval at the

[2:25:10] planning commission at their March

[2:25:12] meeting and then at our first April

[2:25:15] meeting for city council.

[2:25:18] Uh, from our parks and recreation

[2:25:20] department, the third annual My Little

[2:25:22] One and Me Dance, as Michael shared

[2:25:25] earlier, will take place on Saturday,

[2:25:27] February 7th from 5 to 7 at the

[2:25:30] community center. They'll be offering a

[2:25:32] fun family focused evening for adults

[2:25:35] and their little ones to enjoy quality

[2:25:37] time together. The event will include

[2:25:39] dinner, dancing, games, and interactive

[2:25:42] activities that will create a memorable

[2:25:44] experience for all attendees. The

[2:25:47] tickets are $45 for one adult and one

[2:25:50] child. And then additional tickets can

[2:25:52] be purchased for $15 per person. They

[2:25:55] can be purchased online or here in

[2:25:58] person at our parks and recreation

[2:26:00] office.

[2:26:01] uh from our finance department. Um a

[2:26:04] reminder to our businesses that business

[2:26:06] license renewals are due and will be

[2:26:08] considered late as of January 31st,

[2:26:11] 2026. Late fees will be added and

[2:26:14] delinquent notices will be mailed out.

[2:26:17] And then a final um comment from our

[2:26:21] public works department. Uh, next week

[2:26:23] our street sweeper is going to be going

[2:26:26] in um for some upgrades and so we will

[2:26:29] not be having street sweeping services

[2:26:31] for the entire week. So that would be

[2:26:34] from February 2nd through the 6th and

[2:26:37] that is all from staff.

[2:26:39] >> You vice mayor.

[2:26:43] >> Thank you mayor. On the 13th I had a

[2:26:46] meeting with Mr. Steve Grand uh from

[2:26:48] Grand Asia for sister city. We are

[2:26:50] planning the Chinese Lunar New Year

[2:26:52] event. So stay tuned for that. It's in

[2:26:54] the beginning stages. Also on the 16th,

[2:26:58] uh we had the Chamber of Commerce Awards

[2:27:00] dinner. I want to give a shout out to

[2:27:02] Olivia and Monica for all their hard

[2:27:04] work and to all those that took the time

[2:27:07] to make it a great night. Even though

[2:27:08] there was a movie being shot here in

[2:27:10] Riverbank, there was a great turnout.

[2:27:13] And also seniors, if you need help with

[2:27:16] your uh utility bills, reach out to me.

[2:27:19] St. Francis of Rome has access and I can

[2:27:22] help you with that. Also, if you need

[2:27:24] help with groceries, there is a CVOC

[2:27:26] program that you can reach out to me

[2:27:29] about. I'll be having a meet and greet

[2:27:31] in February. Stay tuned. I'll give you

[2:27:33] the time and date. Thank you.

[2:27:36] >> You council Moody Ben.

[2:27:38] >> Thank you, mayor. Uh so, uh we've been

[2:27:41] discussing strategic plan ad hoc ad hoc

[2:27:43] committees is something I should have

[2:27:44] probably mentioned at the last one when

[2:27:45] we were um kind of assigning uh

[2:27:47] committees and subcommittees. I'd love

[2:27:49] to get a just an update from staff uh on

[2:27:51] our strategic plan. We wanted to do a ad

[2:27:53] hoc committee for tourism uh kind of

[2:27:55] create that guided city tour where the

[2:27:57] benefits would go to historical society.

[2:27:59] So um if I can get an update on that. Uh

[2:28:02] the chamber asked since I am an

[2:28:04] ambassador if I would mention some of

[2:28:06] the events for February. So uh February

[2:28:10] 4th uh and it is open uh meetings are

[2:28:12] open to the public so feel free to to

[2:28:15] stop by. Um they do meet uh on clause at

[2:28:17] the RIC. Febru February 4th uh their

[2:28:20] first ambassador ambassador meeting of

[2:28:22] the year. Uh and they are recruiting

[2:28:24] other ambassadors. So feel free to stop

[2:28:26] by. Uh February 5th will be a

[2:28:29] multi-chamber uh held in Patterson.

[2:28:32] February 7th, they'll be doing a food

[2:28:34] truck ribbon cutting uh just down the

[2:28:36] street behind us here. Uh and February

[2:28:39] 13th, the boot barn ribbon cutting um

[2:28:42] will be at 12:00 that day. And then

[2:28:45] February 25th, a lunch and learn from 12

[2:28:47] to 1 um at the Timeless Real Estate. Um

[2:28:51] and then a save the date for the Easter

[2:28:52] egg hunt for March 28th. That's all I

[2:28:54] got.

[2:28:56] >> Thank you, Council Member FY.

[2:28:59] >> On February

[2:29:01] 6, the Riverbank Historical Society will

[2:29:05] have their um annual installation dinner

[2:29:07] meeting. It'll be at Perkos at 6:00.

[2:29:11] We'd love to have anybody who would like

[2:29:13] to see what we're doing or become

[2:29:15] members um attend as well as all the

[2:29:17] council members and the mayor and staff.

[2:29:21] On February 17th, the women's group will

[2:29:24] be meeting at six o'clock at the Morris

[2:29:26] Nursery. So, if you have gardening

[2:29:28] questions and you want to come and see

[2:29:30] who's at the women's group, please uh

[2:29:32] show up at six o'clock. Thank you.

[2:29:35] >> You council call. On the 17th of

[2:29:39] January, our Riverbank branch for the

[2:29:41] Santa County Library reopened. I was

[2:29:44] able to be at the ribbon cutting and if

[2:29:46] you haven't been by, I highly encourage

[2:29:48] you to go. It is absolutely beautiful in

[2:29:50] there and all of the books look

[2:29:52] absolutely perfect. I couldn't stop

[2:29:54] taking pictures of them because none of

[2:29:56] them have tears or dents or anything. I

[2:29:57] loved it. They also have uh they're

[2:30:00] bringing back their book clubs and

[2:30:01] they're doing story time and there is a

[2:30:03] bilingual story time. And then last week

[2:30:06] the mayor and I were at Cal Cities. The

[2:30:09] one session that really resonated with

[2:30:11] me was land use planning and smart land

[2:30:14] use planning. And that kind of leads me

[2:30:16] into the next thing that I've been

[2:30:18] doing. I'm knee deep into meetings with

[2:30:20] constituents and other elected officials

[2:30:23] regarding the Riverwalk project. So, if

[2:30:26] I have not met with you about it or if

[2:30:28] you would like to have a refresher or

[2:30:30] just more conversation, I encourage you

[2:30:32] to email me so that we can set up a time

[2:30:34] to meet. And then lastly, there's a

[2:30:37] tremendous blood shortage in our nation

[2:30:40] and January is National Blood Drive

[2:30:42] Month. I'm personally donating tomorrow.

[2:30:44] So, I encourage everyone if you are able

[2:30:46] to donate blood to sign up to do so.

[2:30:50] you

[2:30:52] um yeah there was uh and especially with

[2:30:56] Jenny here to give you a flavor of what

[2:30:58] happens in our city of action. We had a

[2:31:00] film crew come out uh to uh film a uh

[2:31:04] romantic comedy. I believe it was a

[2:31:07] holiday romantic comedy and um it's been

[2:31:09] so sweet because the the main actress or

[2:31:12] the the yeah the main actress has been

[2:31:15] just uh posting about Riverbank every

[2:31:17] single day and uh we actually had an

[2:31:20] interview with ABC or someone um this

[2:31:24] week uh and that is now up on I have not

[2:31:26] seen it yet so uh have some grace with

[2:31:29] me. It's up on uh online right now. Um

[2:31:33] uh council me ura and I had a meeting

[2:31:35] with staff about at the tiny tots

[2:31:38] program with our uh partners over at

[2:31:40] Skoey and um there they have uh a lot of

[2:31:45] data that they're going to provide to us

[2:31:46] to be able to make some assessments

[2:31:48] moving forward on what um the child care

[2:31:52] situation looks like in our city

[2:31:54] specifically. So they have it broken

[2:31:55] down by zip code and um would love to

[2:31:58] pass that along as soon as we get it. Um

[2:32:02] the the session that stood out to me was

[2:32:04] of course communications. So there was a

[2:32:06] lot of conversations on the uh legality

[2:32:09] and the changing laws around

[2:32:10] communications for cities and so I am

[2:32:13] very excited to get moving on some of

[2:32:15] the strategies there. Um

[2:32:18] Stanco is uh taking up a lot of time per

[2:32:22] usual but there's a lot of positive

[2:32:24] progress in that. So, there's final

[2:32:27] interviews at the end of February for

[2:32:28] the executive director. Um, slowly the policy council, policy board members

[2:32:35] are getting back into advocacy as a

[2:32:37] whole. And so, I sit on as a

[2:32:39] representative for the California

[2:32:41] Council of Governments. Um, and there's

[2:32:43] going to be some meetings happening

[2:32:45] around there. Um and uh as also chair of

[2:32:49] the VVS uh the Valley Vision steering

[2:32:52] committee which is going to have some uh

[2:32:54] more meetings and movement. So there's a

[2:32:56] meeting coming up in March. Um let me

[2:32:59] see. Youth council had their Applebee's

[2:33:02] fundraiser and um I probably lean on you

[2:33:04] for how much they raised. Do you did we

[2:33:06] get a final number?

[2:33:07] >> Um it was final after they paid

[2:33:09] Applebee's. Um I got 1300.

[2:33:12] >> So they raised about $1,300 which is

[2:33:15] exciting. which was their goal over

[2:33:16] their goal.

[2:33:17] >> Okay. Yes. Yeah. And so that is going to

[2:33:20] go towards their social night uh at the

[2:33:22] end of this year around uh early May. Um

[2:33:27] let me see. I I do appreciate the budget

[2:33:30] uh presentation from RPS to be able to

[2:33:34] uh start like planting some seeds and

[2:33:35] getting some data before we have the

[2:33:37] full budget considerations. And so it

[2:33:40] would be great if we could get some uh

[2:33:42] presentation similar from other staff

[2:33:45] member departments um to be able to uh

[2:33:48] process that as it leads up to the

[2:33:50] budget discussions.

[2:33:52] Um and finally I am headed off to DC. I

[2:33:57] have a flight at 5:00 a.m. um tomorrow

[2:34:00] and so it is going to be for the US

[2:34:02] conference for mayors. Um I think the

[2:34:04] all the snow has passed, the storm has

[2:34:06] passed, so um it should be a smooth

[2:34:09] flight there. But I'm I'm looking

[2:34:10] forward to it to connect with um mayors

[2:34:13] from across the country. I mentioned

[2:34:14] before I was able to get into some

[2:34:17] groups, group conversation, the group

[2:34:18] chats. um the last time I went and it

[2:34:21] served uh really well to be able to

[2:34:24] bring some ideas and some uh just best

[2:34:27] practices here to the city is they're

[2:34:30] made up of mostly east um east coast

[2:34:33] mayors and so I'm looking forward to

[2:34:35] that and I'll discuss it more is when I

[2:34:37] return. Um and that is it from me I

[2:34:40] believe. So uh we do not have a close

[2:34:43] session. We're going to our next regular

[2:34:46] city council meeting is going to be on

[2:34:47] Tuesday, February 10th. And this meeting

[2:34:49] is adjourned.

January 27, 2026, Riverbank City Council Meetings

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