[0:00] When you say you're looking for what's you across the worker, as part of your common routine, like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Do I want to scare a lot of time down, um, essentially, if you can, and you are looking for more information, or you can just open it for the wake up.

[0:50] There is a lot of anxiety about that with one of these that you are under.

[0:55] There is a lot of anxiety about that.

[0:57] And then I like all of it.

[1:00] But I like to thank you so much.

[1:05] I have a lot of questions.

[1:08] I have a lot of questions.

[1:27] So I can, so we just see if I do not subtract it.

[1:31] I can't do anything.

[1:33] I think I'm gonna do anything.

[1:38] So I can, so we just see if I do not subtract it.

[1:38] So I can do anything.

[1:57] All

[2:19] right, we're returning from close session to the attorney anything to report out.

[2:24] Yes, Mr. Mayor, on the first item, Council took action to approve the terms of a development

[2:31] agreement, release of a scale development agreement, and acceptance of dedication of

[2:37] Parkland, the motion was made by Mr. Grass, seconded by Council Member Manita, and

[2:43] the vote was five to zero.

[2:45] Other items, it was just the information was provided.

[2:48] No action was taken.

[2:50] All right.

[2:52] I could have you please stand for the invocation of the Pledge of Allegiance of Constantine

[2:57] I would like to lead the invocation of the Mayor of Portem,

[3:00] much of the pledge of allegiance.

[3:02] Yes, please, please, Mayor Hitz.

[3:03] Heavenly Father, we do thank you as we come before you again

[3:06] to be about your business and we just want to be careful

[3:10] to give thanks and honor to you, Lord God,

[3:12] for providing such a wonderful place to live.

[3:15] And we pray God for the wisdom and the guidance to exercise

[3:20] good judgment and decisions in taking care of the gift

[3:23] that you provided to city.

[3:25] We pray for our city staff.

[3:27] to pray for our first responders that you watch over them and their families and keep them safe.

[3:32] And what if this thing is up in your name, amen.

[3:35] Please face the flag. Ready?

[3:37] Begin.

[3:39] I have a flag.

[3:41] I have a flag.

[3:42] I have a flag.

[3:43] I have a flag.

[3:45] I have a flag.

[3:48] All right.

[3:57] Public appearance and comments not to exceed four minutes.

[4:00] This is a time for the public to address the council on any item.

[4:02] I'm not appearing on the agenda.

[4:05] That is within the subject matter jurisdiction of a city council.

[4:09] I will recognize you and you come to the microphone.

[4:11] Please state your name for the record.

[4:13] You are not allowed to make personal attacks on individuals or make comments which are slanderous

[4:17] or which may invade an individual's personal privacy.

[4:21] Please direct your questions and comments to the city council.

[4:24] Do you have any public comments on any items not on the agenda tonight?

[4:29] All right.

[4:30] That being said, we want to consent agenda, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented?

[4:37] So moved.

[4:38] Motion by Councilor McKalley,

[4:39] House second, second by Mayor, councilman Mo Nita,

[4:44] all those in favor say aye.

[4:46] Any opposition, abstentions, motion passes?

[4:50] All right, we're on regular basis.

[4:51] Potential action to approve the Catholic community of Brawley

[4:54] to facilitate a procession and approve the road closure

[4:57] for an event presented by a Twitter-tating and Trump-Person-Rect manager.

[5:04] Good evening, Mayor.

[5:05] Council members, members of the public.

[5:07] Item 5A is proposed action to review road closure for the Catholic community

[5:12] of Broly to facilitate a procession.

[5:15] This procession is normally held around December and around April.

[5:20] Since this procession, our parks and wrecks and PD staff has performed in the past.

[5:26] we are recommending that Council review and approve the procession to approve the road closure and

[5:34] fee waivers. The Catholic community of Broly, the State Market Mary and Sacred Heart seeks

[5:40] permission to have a procession on December 12th. It will start at 5.30 and conclude at 7 p.m.

[5:49] And the procession will start at Sacred Heart at 402 South Imperial and proceed south to

[5:55] K Street and from K East to Caesar's Chavez.

[6:00] Approximately six streets will be affected during this hour and a half.

[6:06] Parks and Recs will provide the road closures to using barricades and PV will provide two

[6:12] mark units, one leading to the procession and one at the end of the procession for safety

[6:16] reasons.

[6:17] Again, we are requesting that Council review and approve this.

[6:23] We also have a thickness Martinez and Mrs. Moia here to from the church to answer any questions

[6:30] if Council has any.

[6:33] I have a quick comment just because my staff port basically says it's going to include it five

[6:45] It's an hour and a half long.

[6:48] Do you have any comment?

[6:49] Anything you'd like to share with us about the event?

[7:02] Good evening.

[7:02] My name is Esther Martinez.

[7:03] I'm the Secretary of the Wadalupe Anos Association.

[7:06] This is something that our Catholic community has been doing for over 50 years.

[7:12] And we hope in which that you do approve it.

[7:15] It's an event that actually lasts a couple of weeks.

[7:20] We start with the Novina.

[7:21] We have the mass on the 11th, midnight mass with mariachi, the procession on the 12th

[7:29] and then we conclude with the Fiesta on Sunday from 1-2-6, we have all kinds of food,

[7:36] pupusas, posone, tacos, enchiladas, all imaginable, all the Christmas food, so we really

[7:46] I hope that you take us into consideration and approve for us to come together again, our community, our Catholic community to come together.

[7:56] Thank you so much.

[7:57] Thank you.

[7:59] The comments are a question from the council.

[8:02] I just have a quick comment.

[8:03] I know it's going to be dark, so I don't know.

[8:06] Maybe carry a flashlight.

[8:08] She's going to be dark out there, right?

[8:09] 530.

[8:10] Yes.

[8:11] We'll also have a Peter unit leading the way.

[8:13] Yeah, I have some lights there as well.

[8:19] All right.

[8:20] With that, I'll make a motion to approve.

[8:23] Motion.

[8:25] Second.

[8:25] Motion right, a pair of pro-temka-von,

[8:27] seconded by the Councilman Grass,

[8:29] all those favor say aye.

[8:30] Aye.

[8:31] Any opposition, an abstention?

[8:33] Motion passes.

[8:34] Would that be nice?

[8:37] All right.

[8:39] Over now,

[8:42] a potential action to approve contract

[8:44] for construction management services presented

[8:47] by city attorney.

[8:50] I'll actually be presenting.

[8:51] This item on October's from history on October 7th, the city council approved a change

[8:56] order to the original California pools contract for the pool repair project.

[9:01] This is at the Lyon Center.

[9:03] Do the project scope and complexity staff recommends hiring a consultant for construction management

[9:10] services.

[9:10] There is intended construction to happen Monday through Friday, 7am to 430 p.m. construction

[9:17] manager is intended to be on site during all that time as well.

[9:22] Propulsals were requested from three qualified firms, the whole group, submitted the lowest

[9:27] price proposal, which is not to exceed $178,500, given their proven experience with projects

[9:35] of this type for the city, staff recommends awarding the contract to the whole group.

[9:40] That's the request before you.

[9:44] There are comments or questions from Council.

[9:51] And tomorrow, I guess there's going to be some movement tomorrow, correct?

[9:55] Can you share a little about that?

[9:56] Yes, so with the execution, with the execution of this anticipated change order,

[10:05] with execution of the change order that just happened,

[10:07] and then also the approval of the anticipated agreement,

[10:10] The construction team will be mobilizing first thing tomorrow morning when they intend to begin

[10:17] demolition of the pool. So we will start seeing ground moving and activity over there tomorrow morning.

[10:27] Motion to approve. So move.

[10:30] Add a motion to approve by Councilman Cali to have a second.

[10:34] Seconded by Councilman Monita all those are favor say aye.

[10:38] Aye. Any other position?

[10:39] Abstention. Option passes unanimously. All right, then interaction to reclassify previously budgeted planning position from a associate planner to senior planner amend the management confidential and unrepresented list presented by Christian Berraha's development services director.

[11:02] Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Council members and members of the public.

[11:06] The item before use concerning the reclassification of a previously budgeted position for fiscal year 2526 within the planning department's budget.

[11:16] This is a follow-up from our previous discussion during close session during our last meeting earlier this month.

[11:23] As you're aware that the Development Services Department's contract with the whole group for entering city planning services ended back in August of this year.

[11:32] anticipating that the newly hired positions will be able to absorb the workload to transition

[11:39] those responsibilities in-house. When the fiscal year 2526 budget was prepared earlier this year,

[11:47] an associate planner position was originally intended to support development services department tasks.

[11:54] It is worth mentioning that at the time that position was budgeted back in June of this year

[11:59] with the understanding that he will require further adjustments upon a better understanding

[12:04] of what staffing needs the department will have when it fully transition those interim

[12:09] city planning responsibilities back in house.

[12:13] A couple of things have changed since then, with the transition of those responsibilities

[12:17] and in line with the development services department staffing plan, we are recommending replacing

[12:24] the budgeted associate planner position with a senior planner position, thereby providing the planning

[12:30] division with additional leadership responsibilities. One of the key needs right now is for the

[12:36] forthcoming planner to assume more of the much-needed project management and supervision tasks,

[12:42] thereby relieving the director and other division heads such as the building official,

[12:47] from continuously stepping in to provide guidance to other departments staff.

[12:54] A more experienced planner will also support coordination with customers, project applicants,

[12:59] and other permitting agencies in a more direct and independent manner.

[13:04] This way, this senior level position could be more easily positioned to eventually lead the

[13:09] planning division, which is something entry to a journey level position, such as an assistant

[13:15] or associate planner could not do at this point in time.

[13:19] The current salary budget for the associate planner position corresponds to range 34

[13:26] on the city's management, confidential, and unrepresentate salary schedule, and whereas the

[13:33] senior planner position we are now recommending will correspond to range 36.

[13:38] One thing to note is that the current management confidential and unrepresented salary schedule does not currently list the senior planner position, so that will have to be amended as well.

[13:51] We've also included in the staff report comparison of the equivalent senior planner level positions in nearby jurisdictions such as the city of Imperial, the county, the city of India, showing more or less comparable salaries.

[14:05] Inplementing this reclassification will not have a fiscal impact for the city in this fiscal year as the savings accumulated due to the vacancy are sufficient to cover the cost difference, which would have been between 9,000 and 16,000.

[14:21] This request has been coordinated with the city manager and with the human resources and finance departments.

[14:26] Because of the reasons outlined here, we respectfully ask that the City Council would consider

[14:32] this reclassification request to allow the placement of a senior planner position within

[14:38] the planning division instead of an associate planner, with recruitment to begin shortly.

[14:43] This competitive position will play an important role in enhancing customer service and

[14:48] project delivery efforts across our department.

[14:50] This request also includes amending the city's management, confidential and unrepresented salaries scheduled to roof.

[15:00] Flect, then you really created position. I remain available for any questions or comments. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments from Council?

[15:14] None here.

[15:20] Mr. Bellas, what's the average currently you have?

[15:24] The average amount of time it takes to issue a building permit at this point.

[15:27] A building permit because it entails meeting with other cross coordination of departments.

[15:34] it approximately takes if we're like fast tracking a project approximately two weeks and

[15:41] there's a more standard approach will be three or four weeks.

[15:46] Thank you.

[15:49] What's the experience been like with getting trying to just planners and engineers today's

[15:55] environment?

[15:57] Recruitment-wise?

[15:59] I think recruitment-wise we have been very successful in recruiting the

[16:06] like, for example, engineering technician positions, assistant civil engineer positions,

[16:12] our planning technician was also competitive with did receive many requests. I believe

[16:20] that it has been a combination of techniques that that involve perhaps extending their recruitment

[16:28] timelines because the original ones that were considered did not capture enough candidates,

[16:34] So we had to implement certain, I remember that at one point we were also recruiting for a senior

[16:40] civil engineer but in that case we did not receive qualified candidates and we had to sort

[16:48] of scale back on that effort and it has been a combination of implementing different strategies like

[16:55] extending recruitment deadlines or scaling back on the scope of the responsibilities.

[17:00] So for proof tonight, when would this go out?

[17:04] Within the next 48 hours, we already have everything ready for posting and so forth, so we've

[17:12] been working with HR just in preparation.

[17:17] All right.

[17:18] Yeah, the comments are, do a motion, make a motion, we approve.

[17:23] We have a motion by council, we have to approve, that was second, second by councilman

[17:27] the grass, all of those are favor say aye.

[17:29] Aye.

[17:30] Aye.

[17:30] Any opposition?

[17:31] Stentions?

[17:32] Motion passes.

[17:34] Thank you.

[17:35] All right.

[17:36] Now, a citywide user and regulatory fee study presentation of findings and direction to schedule

[17:41] public hearing for proposed via adjustments by the finance director.

[17:46] Thank you, Mayor.

[17:48] Good evening, Mayor.

[17:50] Members of the Council, public and city staff.

[17:52] Sylvia Luna, finance director.

[17:54] Well, this evening, we are presenting the comprehensive citywide user and regulatory

[17:59] fee report prepared by Clear Source Financial Consulting, the city engage Clear Source to conduct

[18:07] a through review of a user and regulatory fee structure, which had not undergone a full update

[18:14] in more than 15 to 20 years.

[18:17] Over that time, various departments have updated their schedules as needed, resulting in

[18:23] consistencies and a lack of alignment across our fee structure.

[18:29] So to address this and to improve transparency, the city retain clear source

[18:34] to complete a citywide fee study that would help the council clearly

[18:38] understand which fees may need to be updated, consolidate it, or newly established,

[18:45] based on the actual cost of providing services to days. So in addition,

[18:49] just to provide a little bit of more background. Back in 2022, the city held the community workshop

[18:56] focused on potential revenue enhancements, opportunities, and doing that workshop, residents

[19:02] and community members identified fees for service as the second most important area for

[19:09] evaluation to support the city's long-term financial sustainability. So that report before you this evening,

[19:17] includes clear source findings, recommendations, and updated analyses of the city's current

[19:24] cost for providing fee-related services.

[19:28] The Agenda's information is intended to guide the council as to consider potential updates

[19:34] for the city's schedule and as a reminder, any new or revised user and regulatory fees

[19:40] would ultimately be established by the city council following up with the hearing.

[19:45] So tonight it's more about the findings, the report, what fees are being included and if the

[19:54] Council decides to move forward and agrees with the proposed schedules, approve direct

[20:00] staff to conduct public hearing for December 2 meeting.

[20:06] Again, at the time, going to invite Terry Madsen from Clear Source Financial Consulting to

[20:12] walk us through the presentation.

[20:22] Thank you Mayor and members of the City Council for allowing me to speak with you this evening.

[20:27] As mentioned, my name is Terry Mads and I'm here from Clear Source in our firm.

[20:30] Helps communities throughout the state with similar studies identifying the cost we're fighting certain services.

[20:37] And then thinking through ideas revolving around that idea of cost recovery.

[20:43] So, the city's in the final stages of what we commonly referred to as a user and regulatory

[20:48] fee study.

[20:49] I have about a 35 slide presentation.

[20:52] I will do my best to avoid being long-winded.

[20:55] I'll make my way quickly through it and then the council can direct us in terms of questions

[21:00] or feedback you have.

[21:01] But just by way of structure of this presentation, the first half of the presentation takes

[21:06] about background and fundamentals and terminology.

[21:09] And this is stuff that is common to city throughout California.

[21:13] So it applies to Calapetri, it applies to Imperial, it applies in Le Quinta

[21:18] and San Diego, everywhere in California.

[21:21] The second half of the presentation is specific to Broly,

[21:25] and then we'll talk about next steps for Council consideration.

[21:29] So just by way of background, fundamentally with the way we think about

[21:33] the topic of cost recovery and user and regulatory fees,

[21:37] is if we think of ourselves as a city and we say we have sort of broad community

[21:43] wide needs and limited resource, a lot of times cities make a strategic decision to

[21:51] say, my primary usable resource is tax revenues and I want to use that limited resource

[21:59] generally to fund services that provide broad community wide benefit.

[22:03] we would most commonly think about this is like public work services, public safety services,

[22:09] park maintenance type services. So everyone in Brawley has been a fitting from this.

[22:15] When we see a specific receiver of service, I need some, I need a permit for a specific

[22:22] activity or action. We frequently look to a direct form of recovery. So specific receiver of service,

[22:29] specific cost recovery so that we can use our limited tax dollars towards areas of broad community benefit.

[22:37] What we're thinking of tonight is service-based user and regulatory fees, so some human and

[22:43] broadly is performing a service. Either your own internal staff or contractors that you use,

[22:49] but we're thinking about like permit processing, plan reviews, inspections that you're required to

[22:55] form to comply with building code or your own municipal code and so forth, so most commonly

[23:02] we think of like building fees, planning fees, engineering fees, so forth. I think what's

[23:09] equally important is to talk about what is not being examined as part of this study and

[23:14] it is not proposed to be considered by the council as part of this action. We are not examining

[23:20] In any taxes, we're not examining assessments, we're not examining utility rates, we're not

[23:26] examining development impact fees.

[23:28] So we're not examining the things that, as Brawley residents and businesses, we might

[23:33] sort of encounter on a day-to-day basis.

[23:36] Those are not considered as part of this study.

[23:39] What we're examining is discreet, periodic request that may affect some of us from time

[23:45] to time, but not on sort of a daily basis,

[23:49] and in terms of the development fees,

[23:51] we're looking at the smaller service base fees

[23:54] rather than the large infrastructure mitigation fees.

[24:00] So why do cities like Brawley and other cities

[24:04] perform these types of studies from time to time?

[24:06] The number one reason is to comply with legal requirements

[24:09] because these are fees and not taxes.

[24:12] We want to make sure that we don't exceed

[24:14] our cost of service.

[24:15] we can't be in the profit-making business.

[24:18] The idea here is cost recovery, but not beyond cost recovery.

[24:23] So we want to ensure that the fees

[24:25] completely go requirements and mention this idea

[24:29] that when you do recover all or portions of the cost

[24:33] or providing these services, you are by definition

[24:36] freeing up your general fund to be used to provide

[24:41] some other services.

[24:42] And then I think this fourth bullet point really matters to communities when I recover my

[24:49] costs of service through fees.

[24:51] I position myself to be better able to meet the service level expectations of my community.

[24:58] So if my community says, I want to be able to call in and get permit inspection schedule

[25:05] at the time of the manner.

[25:06] I want to pick up the phone.

[25:07] I want to plan review time to be timely and so forth.

[25:10] when we recover a cost of service we position ourselves to be staff to accommodate that and so forth.

[25:18] I mentioned that these are fees and not taxes because their fees they are adopted by the city council at the conclusion of a public hearing.

[25:26] This is not a public hearing if you decide to move forward with this item you would schedule a public hearing and then you would consider it.

[25:34] I think an important note here is that fees really are intended to be dynamic.

[25:38] So, the council adopts them, you say, I understand these criteria being that I understand

[25:45] we're in compliance with the California Constitution and the California government code,

[25:48] and you decide to adopt fees, you can modify fees as needed, you don't need to wait long

[25:55] periods of time in between fee updates, you can refine and adjust as you receive stakeholder

[26:01] feedback as organization changes, as legislation changes, so we think of a fees as dynamic

[26:09] a dynamic process that should be evaluated

[26:12] for an ongoing basis.

[26:17] In our agenda report that you received,

[26:19] we reference these concepts,

[26:21] cost of service, cost recovery,

[26:23] and subsidy.

[26:23] I'm just going to walk through these very briefly.

[26:26] When we reference this idea of what does

[26:29] cost us to provide service,

[26:31] we're thinking primarily about who is providing a service.

[26:35] Is this a building activity?

[26:36] is this planning activity, is this an engineering activity, a police activity, and so forth,

[26:42] we can identify the hourly cost of those service providers, and if we know generally how long

[26:47] something typically takes, we can say, this is the hourly cost of that service, this is typically

[26:54] a two-hour service, and we can understand what our cost of service is. Our cost of service represents

[27:01] are sealing. That's our maximum fee amount. And a lot of times, what city councils do is

[27:07] they say, okay, I have received cost of service information. I understand what it costs me to

[27:14] provide these services and I understand what I could set fees at. And then they use this type of

[27:20] framework to actually make cost recovery decisions, philosophically they say to themselves,

[27:26] Do I see a very clear receiver of benefit?

[27:31] Do I see a high individual benefit to this activity being provided?

[27:36] And if so, they frequently target high-cost recovery levels.

[27:40] And if they say, I see some individual benefit,

[27:43] but I also see a community benefit here.

[27:46] They may say, I target some cost recovery,

[27:49] but I choose to deliberately subsidize a portion of this activity.

[27:54] And two common illustrations of this concept that we talk through are this idea of if I wanted to add square footage to my home or remodel my kitchen or put in a pool or something like that there is a very clear benefit to me as the person who gets to enjoy the new square footage or the new kitchen or the new pool.

[28:18] I enjoyed property value enhancements, I enjoy the new space and so forth, and so communities

[28:24] say frequently, I look to target high-cost recovery there because there is a very clear

[28:30] individual benefit and if I don't recover the cost from the person that's adding their square

[28:36] footage or putting them in the pool, I still incur the cost in Brawley. It just means the other

[28:42] residents and businesses and Brawley are paying for a portion of my square footage edition

[28:48] or my pool install, and so forth. Conversely, sometimes a community offers swimming lessons,

[28:56] and aquatic programs are expensive to maintain because pools are expensive to maintain

[29:00] your chemical cost utility costs and so forth. And we might see it ourselves.

[29:06] There is

[29:06] a very clear beneficiary. If I learn how to swim, I have developed a new skill set.

[29:16] I've

[29:17] able to participate in something good within the community, all these kinds of broad benefits.

[29:23] So there's a very clear individual beneficiary, but as communities frequently think

[29:28] we also benefit as a community when we offer somebody that life-changing skill and so communities

[29:36] frequently subsidize parks and recreation type programming activities because they say we benefit

[29:44] and you benefit. So that would be a lower cost recovery target.

[29:50] What you want to remember is your cost is the cost of service. So if something cost

[29:56] Brawley $400 to perform.

[29:59] But braw...

[30:00] Alley collects $200 from the receiver of service, broadly still incurred a $400 cost. It just got $200 from the receiver of service, and it has to find the other $200 from some broadly revenue source.

[30:17] And that's typically your general fund dollars, and so you, as accounts, will get to set fees and your prerogative not to exceed the cost of service, but you want to remember that when you choose to subsidize something,

[30:29] you are still incurring that cost. You're just saying, I'm recovering part of it from the receiver and I have to find the difference.

[30:37] And that is competing for priority with other city council goals and objectives potentially.

[30:45] So everything you've just heard to this point is common to California.

[30:49] What's going to happen from these slides forward is now specific to Broly.

[30:54] So, in broadly, what we're saying is, what are our guiding principles and considerations when we think about what to present to Council this evening?

[31:04] The number one thing we're concerned with is complying with state law.

[31:08] So, we say the California Constitution and the California Government Code give us a clear direction about what you are allowed to recover in fees and how to think through costs and so forth.

[31:19] So we believe the analysis supports that, but secondarily we think broadly specifically has community goals and values that may influence these recommendations.

[31:32] And so the recommendations before the city council are intended to align with major J support initiatives like maintaining essential services such as public safety services and tempting to promote economic development in that downtown area.

[31:47] So, the recommended fees, in many of the fees, you'll see what is considered a preferred use rate,

[31:56] like a discounted rate for development projects permitting in the downtown corridor.

[32:05] And so that is how we're thinking through the idea of looking to enhance cost recovery while maintaining

[32:12] a broad vision of, there's more than just cost recovery to be considered.

[32:18] There's also just broad community goals and values that are influencing these outcomes.

[32:25] Brawley's fee schedule similar to other fee schedules in California has hundreds and

[32:30] hundreds of items.

[32:32] Because you're trying to contemplate the various scenarios that can come through your door,

[32:37] some things happen relatively frequently, some things may happen once a year or even less

[32:42] frequently than that, but you still have a fee in place in case they do come through the door.

[32:47] And so because you have hundreds of fees, we have outlined each of them in your agenda

[32:52] report and in the proposed fee schedule, but for purposes of this evening, we're giving

[32:57] you a broad 30,000 foot view and what we're saying is, you can think of your world as

[33:03] development-related fees and non-development-related fees.

[33:07] For development-related fees, here's what we're thinking about.

[33:10] we're thinking about recalibrating the fees

[33:12] to improve your cost recovery levels.

[33:16] Because it's been sometimes since fees were updated,

[33:19] we're just restructuring the fees to align.

[33:23] What is the service being provided

[33:25] to the fee being collected?

[33:27] So it's just a cost recovery alignment,

[33:31] but also thinking through that idea

[33:33] of preferred use areas and potential reduced fees for those.

[33:37] And then, secondarily, this idea that

[33:40] In some cases you may say to yourself, I do want full cost recovery, but I realize that

[33:46] getting there overnight may be impractical, so using a phased in a approach over a multi-year

[33:52] period to enhance cost recovery and so in some of your fees, there's this idea of a three-year

[33:58] phased in for like land development, engineering type fees. Because these fees are regulatory

[34:06] in nature, and because there's that idea of a very high direct benefit from the activity

[34:13] to the receiver of service, like the idea of enhanced property values, enjoyment of the construction

[34:18] so forth, and the desire to have other Brawley residents pay for someone else's construction activity,

[34:25] other businesses subsidize competing businesses and so forth. We do think about the idea that most

[34:32] fees would target full cost recovery unless you have specific reasons not to go there like

[34:38] the preferred use area.

[34:41] There are discounted fees recommended for that downtown preferred use area.

[34:46] Also a lot of agencies discount a peel, not discount, but they subsidize the idea of a peel

[34:53] processing fees.

[34:54] If somebody says, I've worked with your staff, but I feel like I'm uncomfortable with

[35:02] decision that was made. I'd like to have a commission review this or potentially a city council review this.

[35:09] Agency's have appeal filing fees, but the appeal process of very expensive process.

[35:15] So frequently you see that as a subsidized fee. Broly is proposing in terms of the documents before the

[35:21] city council this evening. That would be a less than full cost recovery. Additionally, certain minor

[35:27] permits like residential HVC, change out residential water heater, change out, we're targeting less

[35:33] than full cost recovery in the schedule that's proposed for city council. Because of this idea

[35:39] that we really do want to encourage people to come in and pull these water heater type permits

[35:44] and then for an HVAC change that we want them to feel like there's nothing here to prohibit you

[35:50] from being able to go permit and understand how to move forward. There's also discounted fees recommended

[35:57] if you have, if you're proposing to do construction to accommodate a disability,

[36:04] we want to be able to participate with us to be reduced fees in place for that.

[36:08] If you're constructing affordable living units, and we value that as a community,

[36:14] we might ever reduce fees for that.

[36:16] But what's important to remember is any fee discounts that are being promoted here,

[36:22] any less than full cost recovery is not being placed on the backs of other permitties.

[36:28] It is a general funded service, so it is the general fund of Broly would say we value

[36:35] this and so we want to participate in it.

[36:39] So we think of the world in development related fees and non-development related fees.

[36:43] Now we'll work into the non-development fee world and you have things like business license

[36:49] application fees, library fees, airport fees, and rates,

[36:54] film permitting, recreation fees, police fees.

[36:57] So a whole broad gamut in several cases

[37:01] we're looking to move towards cost recovery.

[37:04] We're always thinking about aligning with state limits.

[37:07] And then what matters to a lot of communities

[37:10] is the idea of recreation fees.

[37:12] I mentioned that in most communities,

[37:14] we see less than full cost recovery target

[37:16] for recreation, because we do see

[37:19] community benefit from having people have access to to these services. And so in the case of

[37:26] Broly, we target less than full cost recovery for recreation, senior services, Lions Club,

[37:34] and so are a Lions Center. But we are proposing very minor adjustments in certain areas,

[37:40] like a $5 type adjustment in certain areas. If you leave fees on change in inflationary environment,

[37:47] you don't actually say the same, you go backwards.

[37:49] So we're just trying to avoid going backwards.

[37:53] That's the idea there.

[37:56] A lot of times what we see is this idea that I mentioned

[37:59] that fees aren't tend to be dynamic, but occasionally,

[38:03] you may go long windows in between fee updates.

[38:06] And so most agencies we work with say,

[38:08] we acknowledge that this type of study

[38:11] should be done only periodically.

[38:13] There's a cost to it.

[38:15] There's a staff burden to participate in it, and so what they say is I will do this type of study every three to five years, and in the in between years, I'll just adjust my fees by some reasonable level of cost inflation and say look at regional cost inflation and they just adjust and then every three to five years they check in and say how close am I do I need to recalibrate.

[38:38] And so that's proposed in the as part of this study as well.

[38:42] And that's consistent with what we see in other agencies.

[38:45] Finally, and I'll conclude with these slides.

[38:48] I'll make my way quickly through them.

[38:49] But a lot of times, the council says,

[38:51] I understand fundamentally what's being asked of me.

[38:54] I understand conceptually what's happening here.

[38:58] If I were to say yes to these proposed fees,

[39:01] would I be positioning broadly as some sort of regional outlier,

[39:05] or what I'd be encouraging somebody to choose a neighbor over Brawley, if I said yes

[39:12] to these fees and so that's something we think about even though your costs are your

[39:17] costs and we prepare this analysis totally independently and link to your cost at the conclusion

[39:24] we look around and say if the council was to say yes to these proposals, would we be giving

[39:31] them cause for concern. And so we looked at City of Imperial, Imperial County, and El Centro

[39:38] and said for common permits or permits that are readily comparable from permit to permit.

[39:45] What are we seeing? Brawly is in the light blue. Your neighbors are in the dark blue. And what

[39:52] you see is Brawly today is at the low end of the spectrum. But there's some other agencies that are

[39:58] they're with you. It seems like you're all using a similar fee schedule. And so I think

[40:05] Imperial County did a study in 2022, but it looks like the remaining agencies. It's been

[40:10] sometimes since they adjusted their fees. So your costs are higher than your current fees.

[40:17] And so we are proposing to adjust your fees. But what we're proposing to do is say for the preferred

[40:23] use areas, we would leave the fees unchanged so that you could tell somebody, hey, there's

[40:30] no reason to choose somebody else over this downtown probably court or that's what you're

[40:34] seeing in this chart. Outside of that preferred use area, you would adjust your cost recovery

[40:40] upward, but you'd still target less than full cost recovery for something like a water heater

[40:44] change out, or an HVDC change out. Another common permit request is electric service panel

[40:51] upgrades. Again, you're seeing if it's happening, the preferred use area, you would remain

[40:55] at the loan of the spectrum. If you were outside of that area, we would adjust your fees to your

[41:03] real costs, which are more in line with the Imperial County, and we can confidently tell you,

[41:10] El Centro and Imperial's costs are not $34 for this type of service. They just have an updated

[41:17] their fees, but based on what we know of cost of service and so forth, just fundamentally

[41:24] you can't do an inspection for $34, so it's just the fees have been in place for some

[41:29] time.

[41:30] Residential re-roughs here is an adjustment, but what we're trying to show you is in any

[41:35] of these cases, you would not be positioning yourself as a regional outlier.

[41:40] There's nothing here that would indicate that we would be asking you to do something that

[41:45] encourages somebody to choose another city over Brawley for their projects.

[41:52] So you're at the low end of the region today, you remain either in the mid range of the

[41:56] region or at the low end of the region for preferred use type projects.

[42:03] In terms of fiscal impact, I know what council frequently thinks about what would be the

[42:07] fiscal impact of these changes.

[42:08] It's very difficult for us to answer that question because of the idea of that preferred

[42:14] the use option, we don't know where development would occur.

[42:17] If it occurred in the downtown corridor,

[42:20] they would pay relatively similar fees to what they're paying today.

[42:22] So you wouldn't see a lot of fiscal impact.

[42:25] The fiscal impact will come if development occurs outside of that pre-ferred use area.

[42:30] And that happens occasionally, and it happens, and cyclically, and so forth.

[42:34] So what we would recommend is that it was decided to move forward this year

[42:40] adopt the fees and you would monitor actual revenue histories for a period of time and then you could

[42:46] pro-rate that out for to think about what would a year typically look like when you get a few months

[42:53] or a quarter of history.

[42:57] So next steps for the City Council are to provide any initial feedback or

[43:02] our questions that you have and then ultimately the City staff is looking for direction to schedule

[43:08] public hearing and move forward for you to formally consider this item.

[43:12] Thank you so much for your time and attention.

[43:14] Thank you.

[43:20] Just what kind of educational material would we make available to the public for any public hearing?

[43:27] So, we are working on scheduling the public hearing if staff, if we receive direction

[43:32] for December 2nd, we would do public notices and posting and so forth to inform people

[43:37] of this. In terms of implementation, we are working with various departments to develop what

[43:45] that implementation will look like. In addition to that, we talked about outreach and education

[43:49] and engagement to inform people of those potential changes depending on the results of the

[43:56] public hearing on the second.

[44:01] The appeal to the planning committee, why I was kind of wondering,

[44:05] why they're so high to be honest with you because I mean, is it just putting, is it just

[44:12] we getting the agenda and item and just putting on the agenda, what goes into, uh, and actually,

[44:17] just because I've gone, I've gone concerns from small business owners as well who, you know,

[44:22] they want to do something, they want to make me feel like why take that risk of a couple of grander

[44:27] or what it's not even certain. Happy to speak to that Christian Barra Hospital and services director

[44:34] here. Appeals before planning commission or city council typically entailed putting together a

[44:40] well-informed staff report, well-informed studies of why some it really entails justifying

[44:48] decisions both from like staff recommendations but also like trying to be fair with what

[44:56] the request from applicants or property owners.

[45:00] And that typically takes some time. We calculate it about that equal take up to like 40 hours.

[45:09] Sometimes we put together these documentation as well. So that results in staff time that needs to be recovered.

[45:17] And it is basically done in service of the applicant or property owners.

[45:22] to really potentially pay off or offset some of their requests that could result in greater expenses.

[45:32] So, so say, so get a swapping to the process and say, go to Planck Mission, it's denied,

[45:38] and then they'd want to appeal it.

[45:41] And they'd have to pay that cost of front or, like, I think they mentioned that the possibility of a waiver or getting those fees, again.

[45:47] A waiver will be another process in which that's also need to be requested before City Council.

[45:53] So it really just adds to the processes, right?

[46:00] But not considering the waiver, they will pay upfront for that cost and if let's say we're talking about a conditional use permit.

[46:11] Sometimes that cost really of sets itself, like what you would pay for a conditional use permit,

[46:18] you are paying it for planning commission appeal, or an appeal before city council.

[46:24] So a lot of those is just up to the applicant to decide which route they want to go,

[46:31] but typically it is paid up front if there is no request for waivers or the furls.

[46:35] And one of those fees right now, I guess we're gonna need a bar up.

[46:39] But 12.

[46:40] I believe it was $2,000.

[46:42] $2,000.

[46:44] And it's not like theater anything, so if it's even...

[46:46] I'm just gonna propose less than $4,000.

[46:47] I'm just gonna propose less than $4,000.

[46:48] So I think they're...

[46:51] I can go back on this slide.

[46:52] Yeah, turn it to you.

[46:53] Bye there.

[46:55] So, at it right now, what is being proposed is a subsidized appeal.

[47:01] That $1,000 number is subsidized.

[47:04] And I can tell you from agency to agency to agency.

[47:08] What we hear is this idea that if something is

[47:14] moved to the level of an appeal, what's happened first is staff has used

[47:19] your own code to try and make an informed decision that aligns to that code

[47:25] to say the code directs this based on this application and our own

[47:30] code, we have to not approve this application or something like that.

[47:38] And so before something ever gets to the appeal stage, staff attempts to work over and

[47:45] over and over with that applicant to help them understand if you could modify this

[47:50] or this, you would have a likelihood of making it through, but if the applicant says,

[47:55] I just fundamentally disagree with this and I'm not willing to modify that.

[48:00] I would like to go make an appeal to the Planning Commission.

[48:04] Now staff has to go get ready to inform the Planning Commission again about all the reasons

[48:12] that they felt like this was not aligned to that municipal code, to your own municipal code.

[48:18] They typically have to inform the city manager.

[48:20] They have to work with specialized attorneys in many cases.

[48:23] So, you're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars of city costs to facilitate something where you've already tried to help them understand why your decision was originally made, and they're saying, I still don't like this answer, and I'd like to elevate it to another body, and so what city say is, I understand and I want you to be able to elevate it, but I also want you to acknowledge there is a value in communicating.

[48:53] there it is not without effort to get to our next level and we have worked hard to communicate

[49:00] with you at the staff level about why we made our decision and you're still not agreeing

[49:05] with it so now we're expanding 24 more hours and if you choose not to recover from the applicant

[49:13] then you are making the rest of Brawley pay for those 24 hours and so city say I at least want

[49:21] to have some skin in the game. I want you to be able to think through this idea of, do you

[49:27] you feel like your complaint has enough merit to make it to the appeal level? And if so,

[49:32] they say, please provide this. And in some cases, you may say, if your appeal is successful,

[49:39] I'll give you back the appeal filing fee, but you have the appeal filing fee up front to

[49:46] make sure they realize that they're asking you to do, they're asking your staff to do a ton

[49:52] of additional work when they've already done a ton of work to help you understand why

[49:57] they made their decision to begin with.

[50:03] If I may just add one more thing, and in the short time that I've been here, I have not processed

[50:08] an appeal for planning commission or city council.

[50:13] We try to seek other alternative paths, whether that's a condition for approval, in a

[50:20] sideline review, a temporary building permit, temporary certificate, or occupancy, so there

[50:28] are other vehicles in which we can help applicants meet certain requirements that we request from them.

[50:36] And then that way, we try to be flexible with their project application.

[50:40] So we really tried to resort to help applicants with and being flexible with their needs.

[50:51] Can you walk us through the water heater change?

[50:56] What is that until?

[50:58] I wish I had my building inspector here with me, but the water they typically sent request.

[51:05] there are typically request and inspection for a water heater change out to see if that will be an option and I believe they pay a minimal fee that's categorized as a minor inspection as well within our sketch or project schedule and then the fee for

[51:28] Twenty-seven dollars. I think we had it here. It was like, so in this case, it does intend to thank you for that.

[51:36] It entails an inspector going and having that uniting spectator. And sometimes when you see cost like this,

[51:44] it's not even enough to recover that inspection time. Even if that inspection takes 30 minutes or sometimes one hour.

[51:53] It is not enough to recover the cost for it.

[51:58] And the processing of the permit as well, the documentation, the administrative fees and making sure that's recorded in our system as well.

[52:12] So, Friday at my water heater goes out and I call a plumber. The plumber comes out. I've got to get a permit and the permit's going to cost me $146. The feed for change of that.

[52:28] if approved that was that was that was I have that that was my question how how did you come up with that number

[52:37] 146

[52:37] and I will say that it will cost you 146 our understanding is the water heater is going to cost you 5,000 and the plumbers

[52:47] going to cost you 500 so this is a fraction of your total cost you're proposing 73 dollars right no we're

[52:57] posing 146 for the water heater change out. It might be 73 for like the preferred use area.

[53:05] But the permit processing fee is 73 dollars, but then you have an inspection on top. So there's

[53:11] a permit that's issued and then an inspection that's conducted and I can just walk you through like the idea

[53:18] behind to that fee. So give me just a second.

[53:34] $1,000. It's a $1,000.

[53:38] I think you need to be a system.

[53:40] Yeah.

[53:41] But I think people used to say the water heater is a hundred dollars.

[53:44] And it's not a hundred dollars, right?

[53:49] And so I'm going here,

[53:57] so

[54:03] in terms of the water heater change out, we've assumed roughly one hour of inspection time.

[54:12] So a field inspection that could be one to one and a half inspections, but we're not assuming anything radical in terms of inspections.

[54:19] The cost of that would be like $145 in staff time, but the proposed fee, I mentioned this idea of less than full cost recovery targeted here.

[54:28] So we're saying like a $73 inspection fee and then you have the permit processing fee that applies to all permits and that permit processing fee is assumed to be a half an hour of staff time to document.

[54:44] So to take intake, document, record, and have it ready in your land management system, and so forth for future reference, so 73 plus 73 equals 146, but we had said that the true cost is 2018 because that inspection time we're choosing to not recover the full cost of that inspection.

[55:05] kind of piggyback you know in the council in Cali. So say why he does go out? They change it.

[55:13] Aiming triggers like inspection, because what if I see the feeling like I'm not going to even call this things.

[55:18] I'm not going to pay on your 5040 bucks. I'm not even going to call the city to check it.

[55:23] Is that like, is that a possibility of happening like the deetering?

[55:28] Like the question will be like, yeah, say I have to change my water. He like councilman Cali said.

[55:33] And I change it I buy I go to home Depot buy it and

[55:37] They all you got again expected and I see the cost like oh, I'm not gonna spend a hundred farms. They keep is that as it is like is that

[55:45] Probability of happening or how do we not even go and expect it?

[55:51] I mean, but basically I think there's a lot of people out there knowing in the city that when it's there

[55:55] We're gonna put the water in there

[55:57] Yes, yeah, we need to get a problem there. That's so ideally with the that one of the things we're working parallel to this is

[56:04] implementing a permitting system for inspection requests. So ideally when that inspection is requested,

[56:11] it will show that inspection cost for that water heater change out or for any other like solar panel inspection as well.

[56:21] So that will be available in the future. But in the meantime, so a schedule like this will be published and it will be available to public.

[56:29] I don't think so. Now, I guess the bigger thing is,

[56:32] where fees would deeter, not just inspection or devalent.

[56:35] Where's that balance of where fees would deeter any sort of someone

[56:39] wanted to pull a permit to build or devalent or to reinvest?

[56:46] So, so, what you're concerned about is if we set a permit fee at a level

[56:51] that disincentivizes people to come pull a permit, right?

[56:55] And I would say what we've seen in other agencies is, you know, a contractor is required to pull permits for certain projects.

[57:05] Whether they choose to do that or not, we don't believe that this fee would be the driver of that decision.

[57:13] And the reason we can say that is we have seen other cities where they've gone to actual zero permit fees, to see what happens, and the permit volume doesn't actually change.

[57:23] So you offer zero rooftop solar fees, zero HVAC change out fees or something like that, and you look at your permit volume this year, and then you look at the permit volume the following year, and it is a very similar permit volume.

[57:38] So if somebody is not going to choose to pull a permit, they are just not going to choose to pull a permit, and you may never find out about it.

[57:46] may have like reactive code enforcement, but what we do, what we don't want to do is say I need

[57:52] to set it at a level that would say everyone will pull a permit. You will set it at zero and

[57:57] they still won't pull permits in some cases, right? So I think that is what we have seen

[58:05] is we don't want to be, we don't want to be prohibited, but we don't think that the numbers

[58:11] proposed in the study are prohibitive.

[58:14] Normally, if you're utilizing a licensed contractor for the type of service that you're

[58:19] doing, whether if it's a change out of a water heater or any type of construction, they

[58:24] normally are aware of what those permits are required to pull and they're usually a part of

[58:29] that process in pulling those permits or in working with the property owner to apply for those

[58:36] permits. I can speak from personal experience. I had a change out of water heater last year.

[58:41] It was not fun. I wasn't happy with the additional $100 in some dollars that I had to pay for a permit, but I mean I I did it

[58:49] And it was something I learned as well in that process, but we can include that in our educational

[58:55] Outreach information that we're working on in terms of the actual implementation of any fees. Yeah, and so yeah

[59:02] What would happen if you replace it yourself and you don't get a permit, and I'm just asking for a friend

[59:07] Yeah

[59:11] people are really handy. I just don't know, they just don't know. I'm a young, not young.

[59:16] Technically, you require a permit to do that. So it will be just permitted improvements to your home.

[59:24] So just wanted to, like, for context, share that specifically this building permit schedule for fees hasn't been updated since 2013.

[59:33] So we're talking about like more than 10 years of rates that have not been adjusted for inflation,

[59:39] for construction material costs for equipment like that.

[59:44] I got two more questions. So let's say I was doing this myself. I should go in and get

[59:50] a permit for replacing my motor here. That inspector is also going to inspect that you have the

[59:57] Correct.

[59:59] Where's the call?

[1:00:00] All the, you know, seismic, seismic, right, the gallons of water heater. Correct, that it's up to safety standards.

[1:00:08] And then what if I don't? What's what happened to me? So maybe, maybe, quote, enforcement can help.

[1:00:16] The reason I'm asking this is because we have this app.

[1:00:21] I could drive by and see my neighbor working in his garage to take a picture of him, but the thing is, it's got to be fair to everybody.

[1:00:30] And that's why I do agree with this preferred side, but we need to outline that.

[1:00:36] And the reason why is because when you've got a commercial area is generating creating jobs and generating taxes for the communities.

[1:00:44] But they have a water heater go out and they're saying, you know, I'm just not going to replace it because it's going to be too expensive then it's going to hurt the city.

[1:00:50] So we need to identify that preferred area.

[1:00:54] I'm very familiar with the counties,

[1:00:55] and I remember that this was a big issue

[1:00:57] because how expensive it was.

[1:00:59] And I thought I was like $600.

[1:01:02] For the counties.

[1:01:03] Yeah, counties in 600.

[1:01:05] Yeah, I don't quite.

[1:01:06] When this came up with the county,

[1:01:08] then they asked the question, why is it $600?

[1:01:11] They said, because inspectors,

[1:01:12] they may have to go 50 miles.

[1:01:15] Yes.

[1:01:15] This is going to impact.

[1:01:16] But what if they only have to go a mile to inspect?

[1:01:18] It's still the same chart, doesn't matter if it's my old 50 miles.

[1:01:22] And so I think that that's one of the other issues.

[1:01:27] It doesn't cost the inspector.

[1:01:29] The inspector only has to walk across the street rather than to the other side of town.

[1:01:33] It's taking us time.

[1:01:34] But we've got to cut it off somewhere.

[1:01:39] You know, 100% recovery.

[1:01:41] What if it's more than 100%.

[1:01:43] What if we determine that we're actually making money off the gate?

[1:01:46] Then what happens?

[1:01:46] You

[1:01:49] know, to comply with state law, we are forced to, the maximum we can do is 100% cost recovery,

[1:01:59] but we cannot exceed that cost recovery.

[1:02:01] We cannot make a profit out of that service that the city is providing.

[1:02:08] So, again, part of this study and what clear source it for us, they did,

[1:02:12] evaluated or cost. So if you look at the report, you're going to see all the actual cost

[1:02:18] structure, per department, plus the overhead, and that the time study that was performed

[1:02:24] to determine how much is costing the city to provide that appeal or to issue business license

[1:02:31] or to return a fee. Process our return check. So all those times, we're evaluated as part

[1:02:39] of the current proposed fees.

[1:02:42] I can see what, but it can see happening in the future.

[1:02:45] Let's say, as a product of implementing new technology, as Christian mentioned, maybe we are going

[1:02:51] to implement a new permit in software that's going to reduce the time, the processing times,

[1:02:56] then the goal is that every year we consistently evaluate that cost structure for the

[1:03:03] and say, you know what, our cost, it's not no longer $6,000 into $145 for an appeal.

[1:03:09] Our cost, it's now only $3,000, so then we can target a $550% recovery for that.

[1:03:18] So I think it's, the job doesn't end here with the proposed schedule.

[1:03:22] I mean, this is an exercise and the departments are going to get in the avid at looking at at least every year.

[1:03:32] And of course, as part of our standard initiatives is trying to be more efficient, right?

[1:03:37] Reduce that those time processes, so it's not that costly on an opportunity to our residents and our business owners.

[1:03:46] Are the other cities charging a fee for filming?

[1:03:50] I believe so not all of them, this is a brand new fee that was added, but I don't think it's very popular among the Imperial Valley.

[1:03:59] I think I believe probably the county or maybe all centers should have should have one, but I know there's one

[1:04:05] It's a new one that a new fee that was added to ours

[1:04:08] And the reason I'm bringing that up because one of the reasons we're trying to attract

[1:04:12] Filming here is because of the film companies come down. They stay in our hotels and

[1:04:17] Now, they are charged at TOT attacks and that TOT attacks then goes back into the

[1:04:23] General fund which we use to market to bring them more film

[1:04:25] We want to encourage more filming here, just like we want to encourage more building here.

[1:04:30] But I totally agree that the 100% I think that that's why we're going to have a public

[1:04:33] hearing is here from the community and say, you know, this fees out of whack or this, you

[1:04:37] know, this one's fine.

[1:04:39] We don't know that yet.

[1:04:40] I think you've done your research and we hope that we're on track.

[1:04:45] But you know, the other thing is that when I jot around town and I see somebody's, you

[1:04:50] know, selling something on the side of the road, and I'm thinking, you know, that business

[1:04:54] over there. That restaurant over there had to pay a fee for his for everything that he does.

[1:05:01] And then I look at this guy over here. He's not paying anything. And so that's one of the reasons

[1:05:06] that you can use this app that we have on our phone. You can take a picture and you can say,

[1:05:10] you know, this person doesn't have a health permit and he doesn't have a sales permit. Therefore,

[1:05:15] we're collecting those taxes and that's a leakage from our city because we should be capturing those

[1:05:22] access in these others. And I'm in favor of anybody making money, but doing it the right way,

[1:05:27] and also making it as efficient and quick as you can. And so I've had some experiences

[1:05:32] in other areas where I went to, you know, the World Aguets pose, an example. I was going

[1:05:38] to have food that I was going to be actually just handing out, but I need to have a health

[1:05:41] permit. I didn't have to go to the county health department. They came to me. They walked

[1:05:45] up and said, if you're serving food, it's $35 and you need a health permit, and we're

[1:05:49] to you right now, it's going to take us five minutes. And we did it. So figure out a way that's

[1:05:54] called efficiency. And so what's discouraging people from coming in, it's the time and it's

[1:05:58] the money. So if we can make it quick, we can make it affordable. We're not going to have people

[1:06:02] on the side of the road, selling whatever they're selling. They're going to say, we're going to do this

[1:06:06] right, and we're going to get a permit, we're going to get a health permit, and we're also going to be

[1:06:12] parked in the place where we should be, that's not going to affect traffic or be a danger to the community.

[1:06:17] And I think that's what we're trying to get because it's just, you know, I have friends that have restaurants and they're doing everything they can to retain their employees and give them more hours.

[1:06:25] And all the way can do that. It's getting more people through those doors. Keep their cost down.

[1:06:30] So I think that, you know, I hope that we can have a public hearing and pass this soon and get it moving forward because the city needs to be able to get 100%.

[1:06:42] But this question is, are we charging too much or are we charging too little?

[1:06:46] I don't know.

[1:06:47] All right, now we're trying to say charging too little.

[1:06:50] Of crazy as it sounds, even though they are we're charging too little, that's undoubted,

[1:06:54] bleak correct.

[1:06:55] Let me consider what's the same price today that it was in 2013?

[1:07:01] Not even dollar many.

[1:07:03] So one of the comments that was made is, what we're looking at is pretty close to

[1:07:07] what we're going to have, or we said we're going to try to ramp it up over three-year

[1:07:12] Yes. For some fish schedules, for example, for them. I believe for the planning and

[1:07:16] engineering once. We are proposing a phase, a multi year approach. Of course,

[1:07:25] something we haven't mentioned is, yes, we are proposing all these fees, but we're going to

[1:07:30] go through an implementation phase. We're going to need to require forms. We're going to

[1:07:34] update systems. Part of this, a new implementation. Right now, how the engineering and the planning

[1:07:41] department collect those fees. It's very different right now. It's sometimes

[1:07:46] the deposit, a percentage of the project right now is a structure of fees. So it's

[1:07:52] going to be staff learning how we're running to properly design and structure forms and

[1:07:58] assistance so make sure we are collecting those fees. But right now the approach for engineering

[1:08:03] and building it's a multi year approach and then for the other departments like the police

[1:08:08] Department of Fire Department, we have a more standard fixed approach, like, okay, this is

[1:08:13] what we're targeting.

[1:08:14] It's 100% cost recovery, it's 80% recovery.

[1:08:18] The other thing we did look at that, because as Terry mentioned, we don't want to look

[1:08:24] like here and the other cities are here, we want to be reasonable, so we went even further

[1:08:31] on our analysis and staff went ahead and checked how much or we have other fire departments

[1:08:38] in the city are charging for various specific fees like, for example, paramedic services,

[1:08:44] even our business license application fee that which we currently don't have.

[1:08:47] Other cities do have it.

[1:08:49] So we, we went ahead and that the extra step to make sure we were not over here.

[1:08:54] We even with this proposed schedule, I think we are being reasonable based on our cost

[1:08:59] structure that I think that's something we need to consider, right?

[1:09:03] Every city's cost structure, it's different, it's very unique.

[1:09:06] So we're trying to justify the cause recovery percentage but at the same time we're trying to be mindful of our residents and of the quality in that time and that it takes our staff to complete the work, right?

[1:09:23] need to be done. Just to find a preferred area. Right now I believe that this initiative,

[1:09:31] the preferred area, only focuses on mainstream, but I don't know if Christian, do you have any other

[1:09:36] areas of geography? Yeah, I can speak a little bit about this. So the preferred use, what we're calling

[1:09:42] preferred use areas, is specific to come to upcoming amendments to the downtown specific plan.

[1:09:49] So this is not in place right now. There are no preferred uses right now. It's an innovative framework to try to capture

[1:09:57] past community visions of what downtown is supposed to look like in the coming years.

[1:10:05] While balancing more flexibility for more allow by right uses because that's one of the things we have been encountering that there's not enough allow by right uses.

[1:10:15] So we're looking specifically at the downtown polygon within the specific planet.

[1:10:22] And I do want to add.

[1:10:23] It helps me tell him it's a good point about experience at the World Ag Expo.

[1:10:30] It guards that efficiency.

[1:10:32] Like when we come to inspections, do they have to be in person?

[1:10:35] And I mean that because I just had like my homeowner's insurance came.

[1:10:38] And I was able to send pictures on that, it's an honor system.

[1:10:41] I get it.

[1:10:41] but that saves them time to have the money and be able to e-mails and pictures and verify through that way.

[1:10:48] That saves them as we modernize.

[1:10:50] One of the areas where we can explore more process efficiency is there's a way to do some of these virtually.

[1:10:59] I believe that just in order to really ensure comprehensive and that systems are safe.

[1:11:04] They need to be in person, but there might be some different minor inspections that could be done

[1:11:12] very slowly. So we're gonna we're gonna take that into consideration and explore opportunities

[1:11:16] And then also you took the one out of it. I was gonna propose your dollar fees. That was gonna be my little experiment tonight

[1:11:23] No

[1:11:23] But I think I like as business, you know businesses

[1:11:27] You know people say government is running like a business. Why any business is gonna have to increase go up on price?

[1:11:33] I mean, my parents have restaurants going back.

[1:11:35] Their price are not the same that it was 10 years ago,

[1:11:38] three years ago, a year ago.

[1:11:41] And so just being a good business,

[1:11:42] even if we want to run the city like a business,

[1:11:44] does require us to look at our prices

[1:11:47] and see what we're generating and getting in return.

[1:11:51] So I think when you do this public hearing,

[1:11:53] I think it even for our end to provide us

[1:11:56] how these increases, whether it's to the full success,

[1:11:59] or how we adjust, moving forward,

[1:12:01] How we're going to increase efficiency but also reinvest into broad improve the quality of like I don't think people with mine

[1:12:08] I don't mind paint extra, but I need to know how is this going back into broadly?

[1:12:14] It's just going in the salaries and maybe that's the case

[1:12:17] But that also means better, you know more staff faster times

[1:12:22] I think incorporating that in these public hearings and even our messaging is how is these this change

[1:12:29] going to improve broadly services. I think if you can do that incorporate that as you go

[1:12:35] out and inform people of these numbers it may take some of that sting away from people

[1:12:40] you know may not just who are struggling. It's just tough right now. You've got to be

[1:12:43] be honest as well. So any increase does make a big difference. So noted that it's very

[1:12:48] helpful. We'll make sure to include that in our presentation during the public

[1:12:52] just some notes to add. The staff each department did look very closely on the proposed fees that will be presented to you during the public hearing and that is in the backup.

[1:13:05] As you'll see there's various percentages in terms of cost recovery proposed cost recovery percentages because there really was a balance in.

[1:13:14] The impact it's going to have to those residents directly or anyone doing service with the city and also recovering and recuperating the cost to the city so it doesn't impact has greatly another funding source that we have.

[1:13:33] Um, that was very much weighed and looked at very closely by each of our departments.

[1:13:39] Um, you'll see them there as I said that the percentage is very, it can, there are even

[1:13:44] some that do recommend 0% very few, but there are some that recommend 0% and then there's

[1:13:51] others up to 75, 80, there's not too many that are actually recommending 100% cost recovery

[1:13:58] because we're balancing that approach.

[1:14:01] And there, it is a process just to let you know.

[1:14:04] So after the public hearing, whatever the results are,

[1:14:08] let's say the recommendation or something different.

[1:14:12] And the recommendation is adopted.

[1:14:15] Implementation will not be immediate.

[1:14:16] As Sylvia mentioned, it's a process in terms of implementation

[1:14:19] on our end internally on how that's going to be done.

[1:14:24] Processes need to change as well.

[1:14:25] forms need to change all of that.

[1:14:28] So I think they anticipated implementation at this point

[1:14:31] is some time February, and that will be shared with you

[1:14:35] all during the public hearing as well.

[1:14:37] And it also gives us some time for our additional education

[1:14:41] as well in the community.

[1:14:44] All the fees going in general fund, or are they going to other sources?

[1:14:48] That always is general fund.

[1:14:50] So the vast majority, yes, for the performance

[1:14:53] at the long-to-the-general fund, yes,

[1:14:55] they support the journal, but I think the only one that it's included on this.

[1:15:00] This one, it's for the airport. Those go to the airport. But the airport fees are not, on this schedule, are the same as the current ones. We're not doing any changes to the airport fees. So the rest of the departments like building, engineering, finance, parks, recreation, all those are general fund departments. Therefore, this will be fee for, we will be general fund revenue on their fees for churches.

[1:15:24] The reason I bring it up is because when we did one of the fees for basically vehicle impounds,

[1:15:31] we didn't have a vehicle impound fee, but we started a department started a

[1:15:36] motors, to that motors motorcycle, please not some motorcycles.

[1:15:40] So what the department did is to support that, they took a percentage of all impound

[1:15:46] vehicle impound releases and that went straight, strictly to pay for motors,

[1:15:51] basically they're training, the motor was everything, basically they went to pay for that.

[1:15:57] So, of course, we're not motors right now.

[1:15:59] But I was so, if they, if they, if the department wants to do something new, if they want to try them,

[1:16:05] like, okay, we can raise, we're going to get this, we're going to get these fees,

[1:16:08] can we direct some of those fees to pay for this new, whatever they're going to do,

[1:16:13] and how would they go about doing that?

[1:16:15] Or would that be something that wouldn't happen anymore?

[1:16:17] Like I said at the time, we didn't collect the impound fees for vehicle release fees, for impounding vehicles, and we started doing that when we got motors.

[1:16:31] We just heard that some agencies had started the process, too.

[1:16:34] And it's like, well, this will work for us.

[1:16:37] So I just wanted to download it.

[1:16:39] If that's something that can happen or that's something that is a different process.

[1:16:44] Well, right now I guess that the common goal of this fees is to support the general fund, right

[1:16:53] for all those services. Of course, this fees are going to bring revenue that we currently

[1:16:58] don't, they're not supporting the general fund. And the benefit of this fees is that now

[1:17:04] we're going to able to support training, implementation of new technology, improving and overall

[1:17:12] just their processes, right? Like, and get some cause recovery to, again, be able to funding

[1:17:19] general fund that it's now being used to subsidize private projects to go back and benefit

[1:17:25] the community like our recreational programs around the pool, all of our summer camp, all of our

[1:17:32] summer programs, and put it back on where the city believes they will benefit, will benefit the most

[1:17:41] for residents, right?

[1:17:44] So that's the general idea that's the goal, right?

[1:17:47] Put it back to the community.

[1:17:50] Yeah, of course.

[1:17:52] So, if somebody, you know, fourth of July, somebody

[1:17:55] lights off fireworks, you've gone to, I guess, change the policy.

[1:18:01] So, it's no longer you write a ticket and they go to court.

[1:18:03] You write a ticket and they pay the ticket, is that correct?

[1:18:06] What does that ticket cost?

[1:18:07] $1,000.

[1:18:09] $1,000.

[1:18:10] Okay, but for a polytechnic permit, pyrotechnic permit is $924.

[1:18:21] So if I want to have fireworks, I can get a permit for $924.

[1:18:24] I just don't get the permit, hopefully I haven't got caught.

[1:18:27] It's not that much more.

[1:18:28] The penalty needs to be more for setting off pyrotechnics,

[1:18:32] because it doesn't make sense to get a permit.

[1:18:35] Yes, and again, the penalties maybe we can update those later, a solution to not reinforce, right, what we are trying to prevent to increase that penalty and say,

[1:18:49] I rather pay the fee than pay the fine.

[1:18:52] Yes, something we definitely need to look at.

[1:18:54] I'm not going to buy so many cars, no, but even like kind of going like EV chargers, like for a car, like you're going to afford an EV charger right now, I mean,

[1:19:05] I think before I'm assuming, I'm saying like rooftop solar I guess and I guess you could kind of have a fuse at, I mean EV cars,

[1:19:14] through a new EV card, $300,

[1:19:19] or probably,

[1:19:20] I'm assuming you can afford that.

[1:19:22] So it may be going up on that even as well.

[1:19:24] Things like, I guess, that's more specific,

[1:19:27] but I get where you get in that, I get where you get enough.

[1:19:28] So, I'm going to the question.

[1:19:30] So let's say there's a hotel here,

[1:19:32] and they're going to replace all their water here.

[1:19:35] They pay fee for every water heater for the inspection.

[1:19:42] That will depend on the building,

[1:19:43] configuration, the amount of water here, but there's typically, I believe there's a distinction

[1:19:50] between the commercial and residential costs as well, so there will be applicable for the

[1:19:56] commercial schedule.

[1:19:57] How do you have a house?

[1:19:58] You have two water heaters, you have a house with ADA when you're replacing both water units.

[1:20:03] I believe the inspection can be efficient enough to inspect for both unless there was specific

[1:20:12] condition where like the two needed to be treated separately or there will have to be like

[1:20:19] like what we call a secondary inspection where they need to return a second time for their

[1:20:24] part was missing or something like that. Then at that point we will be talking about separate

[1:20:28] fees but we try to be efficient with our inspections even in the way we plan our routes to

[1:20:34] conduct our inspection we try to not be from one point in town to all the way across other

[1:20:40] how we try to have a loop system where we can be more efficient even in the way we do that.

[1:20:45] So let's say you have a contractor and I'm working on the house and I'm doing a placing

[1:20:51] a water heater. There's electrician right next door that's replacing a electrical panel.

[1:20:58] Same inspector goes out in the specs both. Yes.

[1:21:02] And if they were at the same time, they're taking it.

[1:21:04] That will be ideal. Yes. So. So the savings for the city, but it's no savings for the residents.

[1:21:10] Well, they're still two separate items.

[1:21:14] They're two administrative processes that

[1:21:16] for different applicants.

[1:21:18] So do you want us to?

[1:21:19] I'd like to try to trap us here.

[1:21:21] It's on an average in California, and in particular

[1:21:25] in the building fees, and you will see this

[1:21:27] from agency to agency to agency.

[1:21:30] There is this idea of estimated and reasonable.

[1:21:33] So the reality is, Brawley will win on some,

[1:21:36] and Brawley will lose on some.

[1:21:37] You're trying to come up with something that's 6 out of 10 times aligns to what you're expecting to do.

[1:21:44] So there are some projects that need two or three inspections, but if the vast majority of your projects need one inspection,

[1:21:51] you're going to set your fee to be linked to one inspection, and you lose on the one that needs three.

[1:21:57] If one needed, if sometimes you need two, but this one was just perfect and you'll need it one,

[1:22:02] you're still going to collect based on the estimated reasonable, so that it's not

[1:22:06] in federal guidance, they say, think through the idea of the additional effort to provide greater

[1:22:17] refinement.

[1:22:18] And so that's the sweet spot.

[1:22:20] As we're trying to say, what captures the simplest and tries to be fair to all acknowledging

[1:22:27] that there are certain differences.

[1:22:30] So let's say my water heater is not installed correctly.

[1:22:32] You've got to come back.

[1:22:33] Is there an extra charge for that?

[1:22:35] No.

[1:22:35] that would be like a just a normal, included, typical re-inspection, our V-Schedule does

[1:22:41] contemplate like abusive behavior, so there is an acknowledgement that we would go out.

[1:22:47] We would give you feedback and say, we're coming back in seven days, have this ready.

[1:22:51] If you totally ignore the city's feedback and you are not ready, you missed the inspection.

[1:22:56] You don't even show up or we're coming back and saying, over and over, we've told you what

[1:23:00] to do and you're just ignoring it, you now in the V-Schedule.

[1:23:03] So the idea is behavior, like helping behavior, so you're hoping you'll never use it,

[1:23:10] but you do have this idea of like an excess inspection fee.

[1:23:14] Like we have assumed that you would honor this feedback if you continually ignore it,

[1:23:21] and you continually bring us out, you're now wasting the resource of probably.

[1:23:24] And so you'd have an excess inspection that could be applicable.

[1:23:27] Mr. Mayor, is our goal to have the public hearing at the next meeting and approve at the next meeting?

[1:23:33] That's for me to say. Yeah, one more question. What if my water here's a 1998 model with the brass? No, but I think I think you kind of

[1:23:43] You kind of work in generalities and forges was just scope of the population we serve and then people and I think

[1:23:49] You see that would cover men sometimes you do but they pass along and then they sometimes the specifics you want to get more specifically

[1:23:55] They thought a lot on top of the lawn, so I think like you said, just take some

[1:23:59] wind, take some losses, but just kind of overall, the doing are best.

[1:24:03] And like you said, these fees can be adjusted at any point after this hearing.

[1:24:09] So say one in particular, we get a lot of concerns.

[1:24:13] We can agendas this at any moment to go through the process.

[1:24:17] I don't know if we have to pull the feet to permit to, but then we can just adjust it accordingly,

[1:24:24] going by concerns by even other cities. So this is a living. These are going to be living fees,

[1:24:31] essentially. Yes, that's correct. Which I haven't been. Yeah, they haven't been. They haven't been.

[1:24:37] And at least minimum every year, we're going to be looking at those. We understand that there's going to

[1:24:42] be some occasions. We're probably going to need to come back and revisit some fees. We are adopting

[1:24:47] those fees if approved. Be a resolution. It's not on our ordinance. So through a resolution,

[1:24:52] will be able to update, I don't know, just a set of specific fees, or if we want to look

[1:24:57] further into the preferred use rate, what does it entail? Is it's only for Main Street,

[1:25:04] are we including other areas? So there's, there's a, many other considerations that we can include

[1:25:10] to adjust this. So right now it's just a starting point, and again, we are going to,

[1:25:15] always to continue to fine tune these fees as we have more experience implementing them.

[1:25:23] I guess what you put these fees are these are these the max like they can only go

[1:25:27] defer to just they can only go down. So if we go through the report every department and on its schedule

[1:25:34] has a column that determines the percentage of the cost recovery what you're going to see is many

[1:25:40] and I think a lot of them are not targeted 100%.

[1:25:45] Almost every fee, it's targeted below the 100%.

[1:25:49] And by law we can go, but I don't know.

[1:25:51] So if it's 100% or law we're not actually...

[1:25:53] Right now, you're going to see, on their engineering.

[1:25:55] You're going to see 80% recovery.

[1:25:58] I think police, it's between 50% to 70%, finance has 80% on some fees.

[1:26:06] Some others, it's 5% for parks and recreation.

[1:26:08] And I think some fees went on change or not doing anything for example for paramedic services,

[1:26:15] EMS services, there's no change where living the fee as is because we don't want to impact negatively

[1:26:21] our residents that need that service.

[1:26:24] So there we didn't took an approach like a flat approach, okay, we're just going to increase our fees by 50%

[1:26:31] or 100% each fee was analyzed one by one to ensure that it was reasonable.

[1:26:36] And just for the public's knowledge, how many fees are there?

[1:26:40] Oh my god.

[1:26:41] But I'm trying to count.

[1:26:42] It's hundreds.

[1:26:43] Like, yeah, it's hundreds.

[1:26:45] 400, 300, and something.

[1:26:49] And again, some fees had to be redesigned.

[1:26:53] Right?

[1:26:53] Right now, maybe it was just a lump sum right now.

[1:26:55] We're breaking down that fee into three to make it more transparent.

[1:26:58] And more clear, we understand sometimes that we have customers,

[1:27:02] reaching out to us.

[1:27:03] And they don't understand what the fee entails.

[1:27:06] right now we're able to tell okay this is what the application cost and this is what the

[1:27:10] inspection cost and they can make informed decisions about their project right yeah so for

[1:27:18] the for that public hearing need to let the public know that we've hired a consultant there's over

[1:27:23] 400 fees that we looked at individually and we came up with the best guess of why the cost is

[1:27:30] for providing that service and that's why we're charging those fees for that being said I'd like

[1:27:35] make a motion that we put this on the agenda for approval of public hearing for the next meeting

[1:27:41] and hopefully approval.

[1:27:43] All right.

[1:27:43] Motion.

[1:27:44] Second.

[1:27:45] I'll second.

[1:27:46] Any other discussion?

[1:27:49] When we open our public hearing, is it potential for us to carry the public hearing onto additional

[1:27:55] council meetings, should the public have greater interest than anticipated that we get

[1:28:01] extend the public hearing?

[1:28:03] Yeah.

[1:28:03] the discussion on the results of the discussion yesterday.

[1:28:07] That's an alternative that will be provided in the staff report.

[1:28:11] Actually, yes, so this will work me through.

[1:28:13] We're now the public hearing and action would be taken to accept or deny or modify.

[1:28:19] That's the request that this is under during the public hearing.

[1:28:22] All right.

[1:28:24] Is that so far?

[1:28:25] I mean, or trust me, grass guy did make a good point on.

[1:28:29] Can we have like a workshop on this?

[1:28:32] I'm sorry.

[1:28:35] I'm sorry.

[1:28:36] Good.

[1:28:36] Yes, just declare five.

[1:28:38] You can, in the C Attorney, my Chairman, but let's say you schedule public hearing

[1:28:43] for December 2nd, and at the conclusion of the public hearing, you for some reason felt like

[1:28:50] we're actually not ready to make a decision, yes or no.

[1:28:53] You could direct the continuation of the public hearing to a later date, so you don't

[1:28:59] you're not forced to make a decision, yes or no?

[1:29:02] Were the purpose of this, you mean, though,

[1:29:05] was essentially to be a workshop format,

[1:29:08] so that you could have information, you could digest,

[1:29:13] and we hopefully position you to make a decision, yes or no?

[1:29:16] Sorry, goal is not to continue it,

[1:29:19] but if you're intros to do that, you have the option to do that.

[1:29:22] As I can anticipate though, individuals say,

[1:29:25] hey, we didn't have enough time to go over the 400 fees,

[1:29:29] whether it impacts them or not, it's still a concern.

[1:29:33] And so I guess the motion of seconds on the floor, but I would anticipate a for future

[1:29:41] for more and for, I guess, outreach just as a heads up.

[1:29:47] Well, and I don't know if you had an opportunity to review the executive summary, but I think

[1:29:51] it does kind of go over a lot of the questions that we did ask.

[1:29:54] And so I think our hope is that we have a public.

[1:30:00] And then we approve it, but if there's need to move it forward, then we can.

[1:30:05] And will you be here at that next meeting?

[1:30:08] I think it's okay.

[1:30:11] You know, was there a familiar with it?

[1:30:18] Is there a way that you evaluated?

[1:30:24] What was the scenario you went through to evaluate the fees?

[1:30:29] So, what we say to ourselves is we are numbers experts.

[1:30:34] We understand city budgets, we understand city organizations, we understand this idea of how

[1:30:40] is cost of service calculated, and we say staff are planning experts and building experts

[1:30:47] and engineering experts and water utility experts.

[1:30:50] And so we ask them in Brawley, based on what you encounter in this community, how long would

[1:30:56] typically take you to deal with a appeal processing or conditional use permitting or design

[1:31:03] review or a minor water heater change out and we had them walk through that with us we showed

[1:31:09] them some of them said I've never been through a few study before and so I don't know what the

[1:31:15] world looks like we showed them options of what different schedules could look like so we said

[1:31:19] forget about the dollar figures just look at structurally do you feel like this schedule would

[1:31:26] to accommodate the things that comes through the door and probably, and do you feel like it can make it easier to administer?

[1:31:32] So we ask questions like that, we help try and present the world available to them, and then let them know that if something takes you an hour of time,

[1:31:43] this is the value of that hour, because they are experts at doing building inspections in plan for you, but not necessarily costing out a service.

[1:31:51] I guess the word I'm going for is a methodology.

[1:31:53] Yeah.

[1:31:53] There you are, to do that.

[1:31:55] Did you find any inefficiencies in the city

[1:31:57] the way that we are conducting business here

[1:31:59] that we could make improvements on?

[1:32:02] So I just, I need to be clear.

[1:32:04] We didn't not conduct any efficiency study.

[1:32:07] We're not organizational evaluers.

[1:32:09] We don't say, you should combine this shop with this shop

[1:32:12] but I would say the analysis indicates

[1:32:14] that there was nothing that showed

[1:32:17] that your costs are disproportionately high

[1:32:20] what we would expect when we calculated the cost of service, it was in line with what we would

[1:32:24] expect and probably. Thank you.

[1:32:27] It's got a motion, got a second, any other comments? Not, all right, all those in favor say aye,

[1:32:35] any opposition, upcension, motion passes. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[1:32:47] I didn't say

[1:32:51] provide you with a brief update on the Broly Connect app. As we've tried to continue this practice,

[1:32:56] we try to update you guys on the subscriptions and information that's being provided on a frequent

[1:33:02] basis. Go ahead and make it. Good evening Mayor, council members. Just a quick update on our progress

[1:33:09] with Broly Connect since going live on July 1. We have received a total of 268 service requests

[1:33:16] through the app.

[1:33:18] Of those requests, 230 have already been successfully completed and closed.

[1:33:22] 136 of those requests were closed within 10 days.

[1:33:26] Which I think reflects the efficient handling of those requests by our staff.

[1:33:29] We currently have 38 requests that are open.

[1:33:32] Those have already been assigned to the appropriate teams and are actively being addressed.

[1:33:38] In addition to the request activity, we now have 321 registered users on

[1:33:43] connect, I believe the last time I gave an update on October 7th. We were at 1.99.

[1:33:51] So that shows the growing user base. When was that last trip? I checked it today.

[1:33:58] Okay. Checked it today. Checked it this morning. So it's 122 additional users from October 7th.

[1:34:05] When I last gave an update, I think it shows that the residents are engaging with the platform.

[1:34:13] They're

[1:34:13] Why we have that up and I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone they have on probably connect

[1:34:23] I would just like to say how useful it is and how much

[1:34:27] You know as council member I'm out there in the public and people make a complaint

[1:34:31] I said if you downloaded the app and we sit there we download together and I show them what I've done and and I'm

[1:34:37] Getting phone calls for people

[1:34:39] saying how

[1:34:40] responses of the police department is and code enforcement has been and so I think I think

[1:34:46] I think it's really helping and I really do appreciate I'm glad that we approved this and

[1:34:51] I remember there was a time we wanted we wanted to say let's put it on the next agenda and the next

[1:34:55] did you guys see let's just do it now and so it's been very helpful thank

[1:35:01] you thank you thank you

[1:35:02] thank you and then in addition to that city staff just wanted to provide some brief updates

[1:35:07] city staff participate in the cattle car parade was a float.

[1:35:11] It was designed to build decorated and paid for by city staff.

[1:35:15] It was a fun family friendly event.

[1:35:18] We had a lot of participants from different departments

[1:35:21] that participated not only to help build it,

[1:35:24] but in the parade itself.

[1:35:26] So I want to thank all those that contributed

[1:35:28] to making the flow and participating in the parade.

[1:35:31] Thank you very much, planning a specifically building department.

[1:35:35] they literally built our frame and everything so it was really nice. Last week the city hosted

[1:35:41] its Veterans Day celebration out here at the memorial wall many of you attended. We want to

[1:35:47] thank the Parks and Recreation staff for helping to coordinate that event. It was very well organized

[1:35:54] event and we did have assistance from both the fire department and city managers office to put that

[1:36:02] event together, so you want to acknowledge those different participants, organizers,

[1:36:09] and

[1:36:09] so forth.

[1:36:09] And then upcoming events, City Council reorganization special meeting is on Wednesday, December

[1:36:15] 3rd at Heath Doggo Society Hall at 6pm, when I invite everybody to attend, and then also

[1:36:25] our tree lighting ceremony along with the Santa's local workshop.

[1:36:29] this is in coordination with the Broly Chamber. We'll be on Friday, December 5th at Plaza Park.

[1:36:37] The event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., but the tree lighting ceremony will take place at 6 p.m.

[1:36:44] So if you can save the date on your calendars. That's it on my end. All right.

[1:36:52] Guess what it reports? I'm talking to the start of my right. Councillor Monita. All right. Yes, I attended the

[1:36:59] board meeting for the library, brought to my attention that the library is on December 11th

[1:37:06] at 3 o'clock at the library they're going to have Santa Claus for the kids. Also, I guess

[1:37:12] at the mall on December 6th and the food court in the center from 2 to 5 is going to be local

[1:37:18] authors. They're going to be there. Some of these people are interested in some of the people

[1:37:23] from the valley that are ever in books here in the valley.

[1:37:30] At this point I just like to

[1:37:31] Chief Daran for inviting me to take his place in the Border Patrol horseback ride through

[1:37:37] the city. That was a lot of fun. Enjoyed it a lot. Seeing the kids interact with the horses

[1:37:43] and they just got so excited and had a lot of fun. Enjoyed the ride a lot. Been a long time since

[1:37:51] I've ridden, but the saddle sorn is brought it back real quick. But that was like so any event

[1:37:58] I had a great time thinking to you.

[1:38:02] Yes, so myself and Mr. Mayor did the 8.3 mile walk from West Moreland to Raleigh, and it's

[1:38:12] followed by a luncheon at the Idoggahal, put on by the

[1:38:20] Arab pro-Tem, and the Raleigh

[1:38:22] looks a lot, so it's a very good meal, and a lot of people attend, so it's very happy

[1:38:26] about that.

[1:38:27] They staffed it a really good job on that, so I want to commend them, but the community was saying they want to make the bigger and better next year, so we're going to work on that and start preparing for it.

[1:38:37] I was, I missed the call of call festivities for the most part, I was in Argentina and I had a really interesting trip and as in an area that was very much like the Imperial Valley, beautiful farm area.

[1:38:49] It's been a lot of time out out of the city and we're having some of the people that I met there come out to the Imperial Valley.

[1:38:58] But I just wanted to bring your attention that in, you know, December 10th will be hosting an event and I'll send you out about 50 laptop computers at the library.

[1:39:11] And we want to have the next event here in Brawley.

[1:39:13] So last year I think we passed out probably about 300 laptops.

[1:39:17] The next event we'll have in Brawley would like to do it at the library, and basically

[1:39:22] we put the message out there, the people that are in need, and we market the ACP, the

[1:39:28] affordable connectivity program, as well as try to provide as many laptops as we can to

[1:39:33] the community.

[1:39:34] So I think it's really helpful.

[1:39:36] I was in Calapetary yesterday, they requested two laptops.

[1:39:39] When we got there, we said, well, we could use three more.

[1:39:41] they should have asked for five so we'll be delivering three more to them. So there's a real

[1:39:46] need out there and I hope that together we can all address that need. That's it. There

[1:39:53] are pro-10.

[1:39:58] Let's see. So I can start off the week at Mariachi night. Very packed. There's a

[1:40:04] great event. Then moved on to Thursday the 6th. You can attend at the Noche de Fiesta

[1:40:10] at the Hidalgo Hall, as well attended, also did not do the Elx veteran walk this year, had

[1:40:19] a bum knee, so I just came to the ceremony here, outside the building, it was very nice.

[1:40:27] Elx did a great job putting the Elx in the city, actually putting everything together.

[1:40:31] So that was great.

[1:40:35] I did attend the I.D. Public Green Space Grant Tree Planings.

[1:40:42] Sir, Moni, I guess, what they had.

[1:40:46] So I was very surprised those trees are huge already.

[1:40:50] So it would be no time to focus a lot of shade there at that retaining basin.

[1:40:55] So I look forward to seeing that whole park when it's complete.

[1:41:00] and kids actually playing on it so and that is all I had, so thank you.

[1:41:09] Thank you. I thank you to staff for Catacom. That was a crazy week.

[1:41:14] Like Mayor Pro Temkavon said, my reaction night seems to just keep growing and growing

[1:41:19] and so I think they've been working with the Chamber on how you can build upon it.

[1:41:24] If it's something, if it's something there, then, you know,

[1:41:28] bill that we got from it.

[1:41:29] And so I think, because it's like a river of like a night, right?

[1:41:34] Just a lot of people just going in.

[1:41:37] So I think we can open it up.

[1:41:39] It seems like everyone from the valley comes

[1:41:41] and Mexico is world to the mariachi night.

[1:41:43] And so I think that's opportunity to keep it, just grow it.

[1:41:48] So I think that you have stuff, I know that in PD and fire,

[1:41:51] I saw a Delo and York and all the police officers out there, you know, keeping handling that

[1:41:58] crowd.

[1:41:59] And so, thank you all.

[1:42:02] And then also, I know today, Alice Rupert was repainted.

[1:42:08] I know there are some social media between Colleque and Brawley kids, causing trouble and tag

[1:42:16] and send and thought right.

[1:42:17] And so I know collects those interesting

[1:42:19] some sort of joint meeting, even bringing in probation

[1:42:21] and law enforcement just because you guys,

[1:42:26] it's just, oh, escalate, yeah, right now it's tagging

[1:42:29] and then it's a peri, you know,

[1:42:31] if you don't catch it early, then you just,

[1:42:34] it won't end well.

[1:42:35] And so when you see these things being flaunted

[1:42:37] on social media, gang signs, and then it goes into,

[1:42:42] spilling into our parks.

[1:42:43] Like there's no reason for a parks to be tagged.

[1:42:44] And so, yeah, just put that on your radar.

[1:42:49] I don't collect the go their mayor wants to take action

[1:42:54] understandably.

[1:42:55] And so, we see it, and thank you to staff for, you know,

[1:42:59] going out there and covering it up because

[1:43:01] the broken window theory and all, you know, just blight.

[1:43:05] Hmm, it's good to send a message that we're not going to stand for it.

[1:43:08] But we see it, we see these things on social media.

[1:43:10] They don't, you know, they're not, they're not, they're not not being seen.

[1:43:17] So I have to close my report, city attorney.

[1:43:21] So we did file that code enforcement, nuisance, nuisance, abatement case on the against the owners of cooks market.

[1:43:29] I haven't gotten it back from the court yet, which is surprising.

[1:43:33] It doesn't usually take that long.

[1:43:35] But as soon as I get it back, we'll get it served.

[1:43:36] And from a business owner's perspective on the plaza, it's remarkable that you have that many people with very little mess at all afterwards.

[1:43:50] I mean, I know the city staff took care of that.

[1:43:53] It's like it never happened the next day, unbelievable.

[1:43:56] Oh yeah.

[1:43:58] Thank you.

[1:43:59] An informational report.

[1:44:02] Alright, we do not have to go in the close, so that being said this meeting is adjourned.

City Council Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript