Welcome to everybody. Welcome here to
the city council meeting today, Monday,
July 13, 2026. I now call this meeting
to order. Roll call, please.
>> District 1, council member Casey,
>> here.
>> District two, council member Vieiraa
>> here.
>> District three, council member Oro
>> here.
>> District 4, Vice Mayor Martinez,
>> present.
>> Mayor Lopez
>> here. Everyone, please stand for the
invocation by Connor Lar Roza from
Valley Grace Community Church, followed
by the pledge of allegiance from the
American Legion Post Commander, Pete
Cement.
Welcome.
>> Good evening everybody. Please join me
in a word of prayer.
Almighty God, creator of the heavens and
the earth. We thank you for another day
on earth. Another day that you have
raised the sun on us, given breath for
our lungs and strength for our bodies.
We thank you for your goodness in all
these moments every day, the seen and
the unseen moments of goodness. Lord, I
pray for your blessing on the city. I
pray for the families to be united and
to love one another. For the safety of
series and her citizens, as well as
those who serve her and our police and
our fire departments. Thank you for this
council, this collection of individuals
that you, God, have sovereignly placed
here. I pray that they govern well. I
pray that you would give them courage
and strength. I pray that they would
serve you and that they would serve the
people of this city well. Thank you for
their lives. Thank you for their
families. Thank you for what they have
dedicated themselves to. Thank you,
Lord, for your faithfulness. Thank you
for your mercies that are new every
morning. I pray for the well-being and
the redemption of all who live in series
and call her home. It is in the name of
Jesus Christ that I pray these things.
Amen.
Good evening everyone. Please remain
standing.
Place your right hand over your heart.
Remove your covers and join me in the
pledge of allegiance. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. You may recover and be
seated, please. Thank you.
Pete. We'll now begin with a
presentation from Stan RTA.
Welcome.
Hello. Good evening. Uh Siri City
Council. I'm
Adam Bar. I'm the chief executive
officer for the Stannos Regional Transit Authority or ST standard. I have
Angela Swanson here. Angel.
>> Good evening. I'm Angela Swanson. from a
senior transit analyst at Stan RTA and
the project manager for this short range
transit plan update.
>> Um so tonight we're um providing an
update to um our um transit routes and
have a have a presentation up on the
screen and sure
my
» All right, here we go. Awesome. Um so
the Sanier was formed about five years
ago and start started operations and we
made a few uh service changes at the
beginning of our service um at beginning
of the San RTA. Um we're at a point now
where we're re-evaluating our routes uh
due to a due to a couple things. One, we
just need to take a fresh look at our
routes, see where they're see they're
see where they're working and see where
they're not working and make some make
some refinements. Um although we're also
in a in a time right now where we are
having to make some service cuts due to
a funding reduction in our revenue. Um
so because of that we're looking at our
routes trying to find ways to make to to
make them better but also trying to deal
with this funding funding shortfall and
how we can better craft our route. So
tonight we're going to talk through um
what the routes look like today and h
and what we propose them to to look like
in the future. Uh we do have next steps
here. We're in this um public
participation phase today where we're
looking to the looking to you and
looking to the public to provide us some
comments on the proposed routes, what
they what they look like, would they
work for would they work for you or not?
And that uh public feedback will help us
refine our service changes, which we'll
start to do in the late in the here in the late summer and come to a
final resolution in the fall on what
routes that we're going to change and
how we're going to change it. And then
we'll implement th those changes that we
come to next [clears throat] year.
So just a recap of the existing
conditions. Uh again like I said our
service formed in 2021 um and it was um
[clears throat] uh formed uh between
where JPA that that was formed in 2022
and 2023. We did a big a big big
planning effort where we looked at all
the routes looked at all the former
routes and how we could better align
them. Um so in that in that process we
ended up with 27 routes with four types
of routes. So we have the frequent
routes, local routes, the inner city
routes which run obviously be between
the city. Then we have express routes
and inner county routes where we run
over to the park station in Pleasanton,
the A station in Leup and then um down
here down to down to Turlock as well.
So you can see this is a wrership trend
since um tw since July of 2022. So we we start off low and there's ups and
downs through throughout this time. But
you can see there's an upward tra upward
trajectory of of of these of our of our
ridership, which is awesome to see. You
know, more and more people are are are
riding the bus or using the bus to get
around to to medical to jobs to
education and whatever they need to do.
But it's been great great to see how the
routes have really the route changes
that we did back in 2022 and 20 2023 re
really took hold and provided a better
service for the communities that we
serve. So we really get more people
around to more places which is really
the goal of what of what we wanted to
do.
So this uh this screen um shows uh the ridership distribution amongst all
the all the bus stops that we have in
the Modesto series area. So the so each
dot is a bus stop and the larger the dot
the more people use that bus stop. And
so we this is one of the tools that the
planners use to figure out where the
wrership is at and how we could better
you better run the routes to get more
people on the bus. Obviously that does
doesn't make a whole lot of sense to run
routes on on roads that um have bus
stops but no one's on the bus. So we
want to focus the efforts and focus the
resources on on on areas where more
people
ride the bus. Although we do need to
balance that with our rural areas as
well because there are some rural areas
in our county that we serve that we
don't want to cut off service to
completely but we do want to provide
some service but we need to need to
balance that. So this is just one one of
the tools that the planners use to um to that they use as they develop the
proposed routes for what they want to
do. Um if you if you look at some of the
Billy big big big dots, those are really
those those key um destination points
and all the that are listed there on the
screen from from MJC to the mall in
Modesto to the Walmart here in series.
Um route performance. This is a graph to
show the different routes that we have
and how many people ride the bus versus
how many people um how many people are
on are on the bus each hour. And so you
can see that that we have some high high
ridership routes are on the right hand
side of the graph. Um middle routes are
in the middle obviously and the ones
that are down below in the lower left
hand quadrant are the are the routes
that don't do the best. There are rural
routes or they have other other other
limitations to to them. But it shows
gives you some perspective on which
routes do well and which routes don't.
The ones that are circled in red are
routes that serve that serve here here
in series and go to different parts of
town depending on the route. And so it's
another tool that the planners used as
they looked at the different routes.
Which routes are doing well and which
routes aren't.
So as the planners continued with their
process, they um did a lot of had a lot of other inputs that they
used to develop their the the proposed
route. So we'll start on the left hand
side the existing conditions report
which was showed the existing condition
of the routes themselves. The routes as
ex exist today. They did an analysis of each route and an analysis
of the market as well. Moving on to the
community input phase. We were out in
the community back in December to get
input from the writers on what's working
well for them today, what's not and use
that input to help craft the proposed
routes that we'll talk about here just a
moment. We had a survey back then as
well which helps help help which help
infor inform that. Uh we have some some
financial um some financial realities
that I talked a little bit about the
beginning of the presentation. And we
are seeing a decrease amount of revenue
in our in our system which is making um
us look at some route reductions due to
that decrease in revenue. And then they
also also talked to staff. Obviously we have a good a good um a good
perception of the system and want to get
our input as well on the best way that
we saw that we could improve the routes.
Our priorities were to preserve coverage in the area. That
means that we want to stay in our
service area, stay in it, stay stay in
the county, and even if there's routes
that don't serve, don't uh don't perform
the best, but they still serve a a
population that that needs to be served.
So, we still want to maintain that coverage, but we still
want to optimize the network, make sure
that we're serving the best way we can,
needing to balance the service versus
coverage areas. Um so we're looking at
connections as well connections on how
we can better place connections or
transit hubs throughout the system to
better connect people to the different
um looking at simplifying the routes
making them easier to understand which
is a key principle to make it easier to
use as well and then improving the
schedule reliability. Um also looking at
service efficiency as well to prioritize
the productive prioritize the productive
services but still balance um the less
effective services.
With that with that I'm going to hand it
over to Angela. She's going to talk
through the proposed changes.
>> And I can start off by saying we can all
take a deep breath here in series. Your
service is essentially going to remain
unchanged under the plan and the
proposals being brought forward. So we
know that that that's very meaningful to
you all especially because I remember
being part of the team that came here
when seriesir um terminated running
operating CAT and entrusted it to Max
and then allowed it to move forward to
us as standard RTA. So we're happy that
we are continuing in good faith to serve
the community of series. So is it down?
Oh, there we go. Okay. So we're looking
at so one of the things that we're
trying to do that's transformative in
the long run and I'll focus on series is
originally as max we ran everything
coming out of hub and spoke coming in
and out of Modesto downtown and the
Modesto transit center. What we're
finding though is that people don't
always need to come from the outer areas
of the the cities and the rural areas
into downtown Modesto and then pulse
back out again. We need hubs to move
around more the way airlines are are
designed we're distributing. So you're
moving people around without having to
go into the center. So a key place that
we see still needing to have a satellite
hub is to develop the series Walmart
property more to be able to do more than
what we have for our street level where
we have the five routes that come in and
out. Right now we're looking longterm to
be able to do some sort of an off-site
facility and to really develop that. But
that we really with the new service
plan, one way to cut hours and but not
cut service is to do shorter routes that
come to these other um satellite hubs
and then moving people out from there.
So that's one of the key changes we're
making and continuing to keep it. And
then here we're looking at the routes
that affect you. West Modesto and series
are kind of clustered together. The key
routes you're looking at though are the
29, the 42, the 47, and then the 10 that
comes down that's are expressed between
Modesto and um Turlock that now is
coming into SE we propose to bring into
series. We've also redesigned a little
bit of how people are moving around in
West Modesto. The one piece right here I
can call your attention to where we the
only service you are losing is the
connectivity coming from West Modesto on
the 47. It was on Hatch that connected
over to the um into where the 20 and 21
are. That was something that was
requested that never um writership never
materialized. So we had to let that
segment go even though people like the
idea of it. Otherwise, you remain it um
as you are and keeping you intact.
Again, everyone being able to get to the
churches, to get to business down here,
to get to series, Walmart, and the CSA
and those services operated by the
county. Then the 2019 is being
reorganized a little bit. This is the
primary connection between Modesto,
Series, Keys, and Turlock. Keeping that
connection going through the county
going minor realignment, but keeping the
service essentially unchanged.
And then the east county the 61 comes
directly from Houston to seriesir
Walmart and then goes up to to the
transit center midestto we are looking
at some options um to because this is an
underutilized service but Houston is
loud and clear they still need to come
to seriesiries they need to get to
downtown so do we run maybe fewer hours
do we run more express hours we're
looking at some options but again that
remains a service and then to a real
quick summary We looked, as I talked
about, simplifying it where sometimes
it's being able to make the route
shorter so it's more efficient so we
aren't tying up as many buses, really
making the system flow better. Um,
really prioritizing frequency where we
need it. We are asking people, the
common theme underlying all this is
we're asking people to walk a little bit
further. Right now, our standard in the
urbanized areas is about a quarter mile
or about a five to seven minute walk.
We're looking now at asking people to
walk up to a third of the mile, but
we're keeping their frequency up so that
it's worth it to walk that little bit
further to the bus, but that allows us
to make the routes a little more
streamlined. And then I will tell you
the place to send everybody in your
community to if they want to learn more
or be more involved is connectthes.org.
And this is a sample of what goes on. So
right now you'll see on the website
should start going
I got impatient with it. What we have is
the bar will start swiping from the
right to the left.
It's done it every other place but
series.
Oh okay.
won't keep you on this, but anyway,
where it will show the existing is
overlaid over the proposed, so you can
compare how the routes look in
relationship to each other, going back
and forth with this toolbar moving back
and forth across. I apologize that that
didn't work tonight. And then this is
one more way of showing you how we're
making those 15% cuts without
compromising service. The navy blue
lines show you the pro the proposed
routes that we're doing. The red lines
are where we've given up service. And
what you can see is generally there's
service happening within a third to a
half mile of where that red line was.
That there is still service available.
You just have to walk a little further
or do it a little differently to be able
to make your connections. But no service
is completely gone.
And then another thing again where I
referenced cout one of the key concerns
your community had at that time was
preserving paratransit service for the
elderly and individuals with
disabilities so they would still have
the rides. This route shows in the pink
is where the couple of areas where our
transit network is a little smaller so
they won't receive service. And if you
look at it as you see the Modesto series
area, we're really only talking about
very rural areas and anyone who's
currently served what we proposed to
grandfather in to keep them in the
service. So essentially all of the
paratransit service and that within the
city of series limits will remain
unchanged.
There is one change that we are
proposing though that's a a no-brainer
costsaver. We think is currently
parransit operates 365 days a year but
fixed rout is closed for six holidays.
We're proposing to close for four out of
six holidays, but to still operate
paratransit on Christmas and
Thanksgiving, so those individuals with
limitations and mo for their mobility
will still be able to be with friends
and loved ones.
And then next steps, I won't need to say
anything except at the bottom
connects.org. If any of the folks in
this community of series have any
questions or comments, they're more than
welcome to please go to the website,
learn more. There's ways you can leave
questions asked for us to respond to.
Come to our next board meeting in
August. We'll be talking about it and
then it'll go be going to our board in
September. Again, connectbs.org.
And then this is the note we love being
able to close on. In other news, coming
to series fall 2029, the new standard TA
headquarters facility at the corner of
Pro Landing and Service Roads across the
street from the county service areas. We
want to um give a huge shout out to your
planning and community and um staff here
at the city. You have been the most
amazing partners to us. We are so
looking forward to moving forward. This
is the latest rendition of the um
facility that will include our
administrative operations headquarters
and our fleet maintenance facility to
house up to 200 buses. So, we thank you
and look forward to joining you and I'll
hand it back to Mr. Bur.
And so with that, um, definitely thank
you for the time. Thank you for for the
time tonight and, um, happy to answer
any questions you might have.
>> Thank you very much. Council have any
comments or questions?
>> Thank you very much for the
presentation. Appreciate that.
Moving on to citizens communications.
While the city council welcomes and
encourages participation in the city
council meetings, adopt the rules allow
no more than five minutes. Resolution
2007106 for expression of non-aggenda
items. Matters under the jurisdiction of
the city council and not on the posted
agenda may be addressed by the general
public. However, California law
prohibits city council from taking any
action on any matter which is not posted
on the agenda unless it is determined to
be an emergency by the city council.
Citizens are entitled to address city
council on any agenda item subject to
the five-minute provision. Anyone
wishing to address city council must
adhere to the rules of decorum and the
rules of decorum are posted outside the
chambers doors. Are any of our
representatives here today?
Seeing none and we'll go ahead and start
off with some in-person comments. And
the first person I have here is I
believe it's Gary Condit.
Okay, sir. My apologies.
Please state your name, please. That's
probably why I thought it was Gary
Condid. I just saw the last name.
Welcome, sir. Please state your name.
>> Good evening. My name is Burl Condid. I
live at 3613
Dormia Court and Series. Been here for
60 years.
The other a week ago, yesterday, I was
having lunch at Amaritas
and I came out and I noticed a flock
camera in the parking lot.
I hadn't seen it when I went in. Had I
seen it, I wouldn't have went in. I
would have left.
I talked to the manager and I asked her,
"Where did that thing come from?" And
she said the city of Siri put it there.
And so I got home, I called Mr. Casey
and I asked him about it and he said he
had find out. He called me back Monday,
last Monday today, and um told me that
the city didn't have anything to do with
it.
So, I'm kind of puzzled who put it
there. Manager said they didn't do it.
Mr. Casey says the city didn't do it.
Now, I know what these flock cameras are
all about and they're not good. And I
don't I won't I told the manager I won't
come back and I've been going to Lamaras
for a lot of years. I won't go back as
long as that camera is parked in front
of their business. And I won't go to any
business that has those cameras parked
in front of me. I went up toies last
week and has one. I told the lady there,
I said, "I'm not coming back again until
that camera's moved." City of Medesso
put that one in. City of Medessa is in
bed with flock. They got them all over
the town. You can't go nowhere in
Modesto without being recorded. These
things take your license plate, your cell phone, any medical device that
transmits anything to your doctor, your
kids cell phones. They take track and
they keep track of everything. This is
all going to these data centers. It's a
highly sophisticated surveillance system
going in to control the people of this
country. If you don't believe that, then
feel sorry for you. But I hope the city
of Series doesn't have anything to do
with this flock people or these cameras.
I understand the license plate readers
are a cop for 31 years. That's all good.
Cameras inside these businesses,
security cameras, we have them at our
church. They're not connected to They're
connected to the internet because I can
watch them at home, but they don't go
anywhere. They don't go to the
government or there some place, some it
or AI place or whatever. I just want to
I don't think the people of Siri want
them here watching them 24 hours a day.
It's our constitutional rights under the
Fourth Amendment to live without this
stuff. And I urge you not to have
anything to do with it. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Condit. The next person
that I have is Linda Rhino,
» former council woman Linda Rhino.
Well, this is a different side for me to
be speaking for from, but before the
2627 budget was adopted by the city
council, our parks were already showing
signs of neglect. In fact, it was so bad
that residents were posting on social
media about the condition of the parks.
Yet with 14 parks, five of which have
restrooms totaling approximately
148 acres, the city council still
eliminated one full-time parks worker,
now leaving four
employees to maintain all those parks.
Since the council eliminated the
contract for the company that had been
cleaning those five park restrooms, who
will do that? One of those four
remaining park workers. The city council
also eliminated two part-time code
enforcement officers who gathered up
homeless leftovers in parks. Who will do
that? The city council also cancelled
the contract for security at the park
which included locking park restrooms at
night. Is that even being done by city
staff? Because that's what I heard
during the discussion on the budget cuts
that other city staff would step up and
take care of that. The city council also
cancelled the contract for right-of-way
landscaping.
Were you thinking those four park
workers could add that to their duties
or did you want our right-of-way
landscaping to look as bad as our city
parks?
Hopefully, the council will find a way
to make cuts somewhere else and do a
budget amendment to get the help our
city parks desperately need and not let
them continue to look like parks in
third world countries unless that's the
plan to get that 1 cent tax passed in
November.
>> Thank you very much, Councilwoman. I
think it is appropriate for me to ask
the city manager, I believe, that you
could possibly answer some of her
questions if that's okay.
Yes. Good evening. Thank you, mayor and
council members. [snorts]
>> [clears throat]
>> Uh it is true that one park full one
full-time park maintenance worker was
eliminated from this year's budget as
well as the funding for the Bright View
landscaping contract which included
service at
Smyrna Park and Riverluff along with
several right-of-way landscaping duties
throughout the city. And that work
currently falls on city staff to do. The
public works superintendent intends to
put out a request for proposal very soon
specifically for landscape and lighting
district areas as well as uh CFD areas.
But unless there is a budget amendment
or some other additional funding
recognized that those duties will
continue to fall on city staff.
And in fact, we have a meeting tomorrow
at 8:00 in the morning uh to discuss the
current condition of Smyrna Park along
with OOA Park Independence Park so that
we can develop a realistic staffing
deployment plan with our limited staff
that is available. Since we no longer
have the maintenance agreements,
we will be able to create and make
available a schedule of activities so we
can know when each park is planned to be
served, how often it's going to be
served, by how many staff members it
will be served. So that way that will be
a document that can be shared and
everyone can be aware of what the
expectation will be moving forward. That
meeting is at 8:00 tomorrow morning.
Thank you very much, city manager. Is
there anybody else that would like to
ask a question? Please step up to the
podium, please.
» Good evening, city council, city staff,
community. I don't have a question, but
I do have my report for the chamber.
So, my name is Brandy Meyer, president
and CEO of the series Chamber of
Commerce. I just wanted to give some
updates. Um, this past weekend, we had
at the Modesto Roadsters baseball game a
19 time
boxing champion Damian Flores throughout
the first pitch. He did an awesome job.
So, if you guys see him, make sure you
tell him congratulations. He did he got
it right over the plate. So, he did
great. And there's videos online if you
want to see them.
Um, second, I'd like to thank everybody
who came to our grand opening for Little
Papa. Uh, it was from when I heard
standing room only, it was packed and I
really felt the love and I really
appreciate it. Um, we had a great time.
I wasn't expecting that many people, but
um, we got through it and we've been
busy ever since. So, if I look exhausted
and dirty and tired, I am exhausted,
dirty, and tired, but it's a good thing.
It's a good problem to have, so I'll
take it. Um, I just want to remind
everybody that on September 19th, we are
trying to plan our one table one
community. So, stay tuned for that. And
on September 25th, we're doing our golf
tournament. This is our third annual
golf tournament starting at 8:00 at the
uh River Oaks Golf and Event Center. And
uh we'll bring some more details for
that as well. We are looking for teams
of four plus sponsor whole sponsors. And
um once again, we're going to be
providing all the funds raised will be
going back into the community to
nonprofits around the area. So, we want
to make sure that we continue that
tradition. Any questions? You know where
to find me. Come see me. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much, Brandy. Is there
anybody else that like to make a
comment?
» [clears throat]
>> Greetings, mayor, vice mayor, council,
city staff. My name is Nason Sanchez and
series is a city that I call home.
Excuse me as I read this really quick. A
definition of philanthropy.
It is a derived word, Greek word of
philos and anthropist.
Philanthropy is an active effort to
promote positive human welfare
and improve the quality quality of life.
The key concepts philanthropy
acts are driven
by the desire to help others without
expecting immediate immediate personal
or financial gain.
It is of giving of time,
talent,
and treasure.
The reason I bring up this word
philanthropy
here in the next couple of weeks, we all
know what's going to be taking place not
only here in our beautiful city of
Series, but also in the neighboring
towns and the towns nationwide.
It is a day set aside. we all know as
national night out.
This day is driven, this day is
specifically focused to bring the
community together and to recognize and
to give proper recognition and
appreciation
to all of our 911 emergency services.
But this day on National Night Out,
there is going to be many neighborhoods.
There's going to be many families, not
only myself and my beautiful wife Sonia
and my fellow neighbors on Saturn Court,
but also citywide. We are going to be
doing this what we call philanthropy.
Nobody is asking us to do it. Nobody's
saying here is a paycheck for you for
your own personal gain to do it to spend
on yourself.
Surely there are individuals and
businesses and directors and and other
elected officials that are helping out
to cover costs for it.
But I sent an email the other day to
reserve a time slot to have our our
police department join us. And as I was
reading this email, I came across a
section where it said that there could
be possible
um fees
to to pay.
Now, to do this would damper it.
What I'm asking for the council and the
city staff or whoever is going to be the
one to make the final decision on if
there's going to be permit fees that are
going to have to required to be paid
on this day. If there is a day to wave a
fee, let it be this day.
Why to keep it alive? Keep what the
community is doing, taking time out of
their time, out of their own time to do
this.
It would be a good thing. It would be a
positive thing to have the support and
to know the backing for this. I've
called various cities, our neighboring
towns, and I've asked them. I didn't
give them the details on what the
question was or why I was even asking
them to begin with, but I questioned
them, are you guys going to require
permits and pay permits? And they uh
were a little bewildered when I asked
them that question, confused in a way,
like
uh no, it it was almost uh one of them
almost started laughing at that
question. not necessarily to me but just
a thought of that.
So I ask again, keep in mind on this day
whenever you do decide, please let it be
so to wave the fees regardless of the
size of the event that they are having.
Nurture it, protect it what we are doing
as a community. And I'm going to leave
some flyers here to invite our elected
officials and of course our chief and
our fire department representative. We
thank you time and time again for being
involved in all aspects. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Nason. City manager, I think
that it's warrant that we answered that
question about fees, but I don't think
that we've ever given direction about
fees. That correct?
>> That's correct. The council has not
given direction about fees, but I
believe the chief has a plan. Chief, do
you have anything to share?
>> Yes. Thank you for that. Uh we do have a
staff report coming to city council that
we're going to ask that any fees
associated with the uh uh conditional
use permit are waved for that one night.
If you have a registered National Night
event with the police department, it
goes against the whole uh premise of
National Night Out, if we're charging
the communities to hold these events,
but I also think it's important that
they don't hold events without the
proper work where they're shutting down
roadways uh where we could have issues
um getting emergency vehicles in for
emergencies and stuff. So, that that
will be coming at the next council
meeting.
>> Thank you very much.
Nason, I hope that helps answer your
question, sir. I know that we talked
about it at the concert in the park and this is your answer, but thank you
very much for bringing that to our
attention. Is there anybody else that
would like to make a comment?
Closing the public period. Is there any
emails?
>> We're no emails and there's no hands
raised on Zoom.
>> Okay, thank you very much. Now move on
to
there's actually can I ask the council
if there is any conflicts of interest?
Seeing none, moving on to appointments
to boards and commissions. Measure H,
Citizens Oversight Committee interviews
and appointment. City clerk. Thank you,
mayor and councel. Uh, our Measure H
oversight or Measure H Citizens
Oversight Committee currently has one
vacancy. The term is July 1st, 2026
through June 30th, 2029. So, it's a
three-year term. The final filing date
to submit an application for this
vacancy was June 15th. We did receive
two applications, Angela Huerta and John
Fiad. Both applicants were notified via
email and phone call of tonight's
interviews and appointment. Um, a list
of questions have been provided to the
council to ask the applicants. I do see
one of the applicants is on Zoom and I
do believe another the other applicant
is here in person. So, with that said,
I'll turn it over to the council.
>> Thank you very much. And we'll go ahead
and open this up for public comment. Is
there anyone in the chambers that would
like to make a comment on this item?
Seeing none, anybody on Zoom?
>> There are no hands raised.
>> And we'll bring this item back to begin
the interviews. And the first person
that we will interview will be Angela.
Please step up to the podium.
>> Angela is actually um attending via Oh,
>> no. She's right there.
Thank you, Angela, very much for being
here. And city council, everyone has
questions right in front of them from 1
to 5. And it is labeled with your name
on it. And we'll begin with question
number one.
» What is the purpose and the goal of
measure H? What do you think it is?
» I believe the purpose is to collect a
tax from the city uh taxpayers. Uh it's
about a half cent tax. It's a
transaction and use tax. Uh it's voter
approved. Um, and this the goal is to
help provide funding to improve critical
um, public safety services to the police
and fire departments to utilize, you
know, equipment and tools
to help keep us safe.
» Go ahead.
>> Thank you. Um, question two. Should you
be chosen, what do you see your role
being on the committee?
>> Uh, as a committee member, my role would
be um
uh help uh
oversight of the cost containment and
public reporting um based on the um
budgets that are being presented to us
from the departments.
Thank you. Please tell us please tell us
about yourself and what you feel best
qualifies you to serve on the measure H
citizens oversight committee.
» I just completed three years terms as a
measure H committee member in the city
of series. I have lived here since 2010.
Um, I've also served on the Centennial
Committee hearing series. Um, I
currently as a case manager for homeless
individuals, uh, sometimes work
alongside fire and police in the county.
Um, and I was interested in being able
to be on such a good committee to help
oversee the budget in the city for fire
and safety.
Thank you, Angela, for being present
this evening. Uh, question number four
is, as an advisory committee responsible
to make recommendations to the council,
the final decision-making process is
held by the council. Please describe any
experience you have in an advisory
committee and how you will carry out
your duties.
>> Um, uh, I have served on various home
homeless oversight committees, uh, in
the county. Um I have served through
measure H here in the city of seriesir.
Um I am a executive director of a
nonprofit here in Santa Los County where
we do annual budget and reviews.
Um
uh have experience in safeguarding uh
intent for tax money's use.
um
and help identify any financial
discrepancies
um and address any community concerns or
expenditures regarding the funds.
» Thank you. Do you have any questions for
us relating to the application to be a
member of the Measure H oversight
committee?
>> You said related.
>> Yes. Do you have any questions for us?
>> I do have a question. Um, how can we
incentivize the community to learn and
participate in Measure H meetings?
>> That's a great question. I think that
would really fall on the city manager.
>> Sir,
>> yes. Thank you, good, mayor. Um, as a
city, we are just now in the process of
transitioning to a more formalized
communication plan with the public to
include social media, updating our
website, and really engaging with the
community in an effort to get them
engaged with us. So this effort through
social media, website update, word of
mouth, and just community engagement is
something that we will be focusing
strongly on over the next month.
>> Thank you. Thank you everyone for your
time.
>> Thank you very much.
City clerk, you said John is in person
or is he on Zoom? John, you're here.
Please step up to the podium, sir.
Evening council members. Thank you very
much for coming. Council member Casey,
go ahead, sir.
>> Sure. What is the purpose and goal of
measure H?
>> Measure H was voted on and approved back
in 2007
uh with the taxes the sale the
additional half percent sales tax to aid
police, fire, and emergency services.
» Thank you. Should you be chosen, what do
you see your role see your role being on
the committee?
>> I would like to think that with my 35
years of service at Mission Linen, I
managed my own successful route that I
understand profit and loss. I understand
about return on investment. Being a
member of that council, I would be in a
collective with other people where we be
passing ideas that would benefit the
citizens of Sir.
Thank you.
Please tell us about yourself and what
you feel best qualifies you to serve on
the Measure H Citizens Oversight
Committee.
>> I'm uh I'm retired now. Uh I like to
volunteer. I volunteer with the What
Would Jesus Do Ministries. I serve at
the shower shuttle there on Hatch Road
at the New Vision um church uh every
Thursday. I also serve and help out with
the 9 to99 project. Um I just uh I have
time that uh I would like to donate back
to my community.
» Thank you, John, for being here this
evening. I appreciate that, sir. As an
advisory committee responsible to make
recommendations to the council, the
final decision-making process is held by
the council. Please describe any
experience you have in an advisory
committee and how you would carry out
your duties.
>> Well, as the member of the of the
council, what we would do is we would
have ideas and pass them around and
propose those to you. Also, we would
have to discuss what the advantage or
disadvantage would be of certain money
spent that the money was spent u
appropriately and not squandered.
Do you have any questions for us
relating the application to be a member
of the Measure H, Citizens Oversight
Committee?
>> No sir, I don't.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate
your time.
» Okay. I bring this item back to the
council. Council members, any comments
and or questions and or a motion?
No comments.
Okay. Councilwoman,
>> thank you, Mayor. Well, first off, uh I
just want to thank um Angela and John
for being present here tonight. I know
that, you know, sometimes it can be a
little intimidating coming up in front
of the public to hold these interviews.
Um but I think it's important for the
public to hear. Um, based on the
interview tonight and reviewing the
application,
I would like to make a motion to um
appoint John Fad, I'm sorry if I said
the last name wrong, to the Measure H,
Citizens Oversight Committee.
>> I'll second that.
Get a roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> yes. Council member Vieira,
» no.
>> Council member Otto,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez,
>> hi.
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> no.
>> Motion carries 32.
>> Congratulations, John. You are now
appointed to the men's race committee.
We will now move into consent calendars.
All matters listed on the consent
calendar are considered routine in
nature and will be enacted by a single
motion unless otherwise requested by an
individual council member and public for
special consideration. Other otherwise
the recommendation of staff will be
acted and excuse me accepted. Did I skip
something? Did I skip something?
I'm sorry. Let me go ahead and drink my
energy drink. I think I'm a little
tired.
That [clears throat] was a windful.
Okay. Council design designating of the
voting delegates and alternate delegates
to represent the city of series at the
League of California Cities for 2026
annual conference. City clerk.
>> Thank you again, Council and Mayor. The
League of California Cities has their
annual conference this year, September
23rd through the 25th. We have two
council members that will be attending
the conference. The general assembly
meeting is a component to the annual
conference. Uh this is where members
consider to take action to establish
policies with the league. The general
assembly meeting is scheduled for Friday
the 25th of September. It's the last day
of the conference. In order to vote at
the general assembly meeting, the city
council must designate a primary voting
delegate delegate. Uh council may
appoint up to two alternate voting
delegates. And in order to be a voting
delegate, uh the they must be registered
to for the conference and they must be
present at the general assembly meeting
in order to cast their vote. Uh so with
that said, I will turn that over to the
council for discussion.
>> City council, any comments? Could you
please tell the public who exactly is
the two council members who are going?
>> Yeah, so uh Mayor Lopez and Vice Mayor
Martinez will be attending the
conference at this time. Okay. Are any
other council members going to be
attending the conference at the moment?
I'm not sure yet um if I'm going to be
able to attend, but if I do, it's going
to be for my committee that I have
scheduled.
>> Any other council members have any
comments?
>> Um no, I am available if you do need
another alternative though. Alternate.
Sorry.
>> Okay, sounds good, Mr. Casey. Okay, now
you need consensus, correct? So,
>> yes,
>> me and Vice Mayor will be attending the
conference. I I can be the main
delegate.
>> Okay, you'll want to open up to public
comment, too.
>> Okay, sounds good. We'll go ahead and
open this up to the public or any
members of the public would like to make
a comment on this item.
Seeing none, bring this item back or
just consensus. You don't need a motion.
Correct.
>> Correct. Consensus is fine.
>> Okay, sounds good. Um, then it will be
me and Vice Mayor and then I know that
Councilwoman Serino will probably not
likely be there, but we can also have
you as a third just in case you change
your mind as a second alternate just in
case. That's fine. So, we'll need one
primary and up to two uh alternates. So,
Mayor Lopez will be primary and Vice
Mayor and Council Member Oro as
alternates.
>> Correct. Consensus.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Now, we can move on to consent calendar.
All matters listed on the consent
calendar considered routine in nature
and will be enacted by a single motion
unless otherwise requested by an
individual council member or public for
special consideration. Otherwise, the
recommendation of staff will be acted
upon by a roll call vote. Is there
anybody in the council that would like
to pull a consent item? I am pulling
item number nine.
And I see councilwoman.
Um, mayor, I'd like to pull item number
four and
» number. Yeah, you pulled number nine.
Thank you,
>> Councilwoman Beer.
Nine. Okay. Anybody else?
I take this out to the audience. And the
members of the audience would like to
pull an item on the consent calendar.
Hello. This is Galan Guzman, City of
Series. I'd like to pull number four. Uh
number six, seven and nine.
>> Six and seven, sir.
Okay, we already pulled nine, sir, but
thank you. Bring this item back to the
council for a motion.
>> Make a motion to approve items 1 through
3, 5, and 8 of the consent calendar.
>> Second that.
>> A roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> yes.
>> Council member Vieira,
>> yes.
>> Council member Otto,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez,
>> hi. Mayor Lopez.
>> Yes.
>> Motion carries 50.
>> Okay. We'll go ahead and go to item
number four, which was council member.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, my first question
was, and I did email city staff earlier,
so I apologize that it was probably a
late question, but what is the valley
water contribution payment for?
>> Thank you, Council Member Terror. And we
did receive your email this afternoon. I
believe the public works superintendent
is prepared to answer that question.
>> Thank you for your question, council
member. Um, Valley Water Collaborative
is um an agency, a multi-jurisdictional
agency that the city of Sir is part of.
um the city of Siri along with uh
agriculture, poultry, wastewater uh all
these different agencies have
contributed to the nitrate that's in the
ground based on all the years of of
running the way that you know they run.
So all these agencies have contributed
to this. The state required um every
agency to either create their own path
for mitigating these nitrate issues um
or the the wells that have been affected
by them um on their own and submit a
whole process and a whole um get that
approved by them. Or you could join in
with a larger agency. Um us along with a
lot of other um local cities including
uh Modesto and Salida um went with path
B which was joining an agency. We joined
Valley Water Collaborative. Um it's our
annual cont contribution. We're in the
Turlock subbasin. So sometime there was
a little bit of confusion when that came
out because it said Turlock on it. Um
there's two water basins. There's the
Modesa subbasin and the Turlock
subbasin. Um and we are part of the
Turlock subbasin. So that's what some of
the confusion comes from there. Um but
any other questions you have with that?
That's just our annual contribution to
keeping the for our portion of the
funding requirement.
>> Thank you Josh for that explanation. Uh
my second question is regarding the
bright view um payment that was made.
It's it's always interesting in
government because you know payments are
made sometimes to co contracts that
maybe work hasn't actually been done. So
uh my question is for a bright view
payment for the month of May is was
there somebody from the city that
actually verified the work? Um the
reason why I say that is because in my
district the city rightaways haven't
been maintained. Uh city manager is
aware of this. I've been bringing it up
for over well actually about a year now.
Um I noticed that right now the city
rightaways at least let's say for June
they did not complete the work at all. I
know SRNA hasn't been maintained like it
was supposed to. Um so my question is uh
who's verifying the work before these
payments are made?
>> Thank you council member.
I understand the concern and staff um
shares the disappointment with the
services that um were provided as a part
of that contract.
[clears throat and cough]
As you pointed out, this invoice was for
the month of May. And I appreciate you
asking the question by email because it
caused me to go back and look at the
agreement that was in place. The
agreement is now terminated and it was
not performance-based. It was strictly
budget- based. So, as a result of budget
reductions, we are no longer in uh a
maintenance agreement with Bright View.
But when we were in that maintenance
agreement in May, there are provisions
within that agreement that would allow
us to withhold payments. But there are
specific things that would have needed
to have been done in May which were not
done. things like documenting the actual
service that was not performed,
conducting routine and consistent spot
checks and documenting those spot
checks. So by you bringing up this
question, it pointed out a weakness or a
deficiency in the process. So moving
forward, we are going to implement with
all of our agreements that have this
type of language that allows for
withholding payments for non-service or
unsatisfactory service the inspections
that will be necessary, the
documentations that will be necessary.
It talks about photographs, it talks
about um formalized written
communication with the other party from
the city. So those things will be put
into place in the future. So, while I
would very much agree that it would um
it would be nice not to pay May and not
to pay June, I can tell you that the
steps were not taken that would allow me
to be comfortable with withholding those
payments at this time, even though I
agree all of the services were not
performed. I will be working with the
city attorney specifically for the month
of June to see if there's anything that
we have done as a staff during that
month that would allow us to withhold
payment for June. But for May, I don't
believe that's possible.
>> I think um you know, the the work speaks
for itself. The the lack of maintenance
and the weeds are you know growing tall.
You can tell those weren't you know they
didn't grow in one month or a couple
weeks. So I think that's something that
we should evaluate as well. Thank you.
>> We'll go ahead and open this up to the
public. Any members of the public would
like to comment on item number four?
Please step up to the podium.
Hello, City of Series Galang Guzman.
Well, Galang Guzman and I live in City
of Series. All right. So, the first
question is I see that a lot there's a
lot of like uh telephone service
providers. Uh could you provide some
clarification on why there is AT&T and
then also like Verizon and then
T-Mobile?
That's one. Secondly, uh there's how
much is how much does the grant writer
get paid? Because there's a fee here for
$7,000 specifically for Prop 64, which I
think um it's for law enforcement. And
then secondly, there's like another fee
uh I mean another payment
that was given to her. I'm like I don't
know. This one was pretty long, so bear
with me.
Um I don't know. you could go back in
and and look for it, but there's like uh
she's paid like three times. So, I just
have a question on like how she gets
paid and then if it's per like contract
or if it's per like grant that she
writes kind of thing. Uh thirdly,
uh the janitorial supplies. So, I've
been keeping track mentally of like uh
the uh how much is paid to for
janitorial supplies. Um, so usually it's
like 1,000 and if I'm not mistaken, this
uh community the the series community
center there's a contract in place uh
for like 75,000 uh which uh I think in
the contract it said that the um the
company was supposed to supply uh their
own like stuff. So I just have a
question about that and what what does
the jamtorial supplies actually uh
entail and if from like what I think
that there's a lack of transparency in
like the voucher list uh because it's
kind of hard to tell what uh department
like cost center is coming from you know
it's not really transparent to to say
like oh like Travis Hudson's uh uniform
allowance of like 7 or whatever it's
allowed it's coming from like the police
department budget you know what I mean?
So, uh I would just like a little bit
more of transparency in that regards
too. I know other uh other cities they actually have it a
little bit more organized. So, I mean
this is a lot and it could it's hard to
process. Um I know usually the agenda
packet itself is like hundreds of pages
and to the average person that takes a
lot of mental tax. Um, so also look into
that about condensing or providing like
a table of contents where there's a
hyperlink for each each thing cuz if you
spend a few quite some time then it kind
of like zones out and it brings you to
the beginning and then you lose your
place. So uh oh yeah also the PG&E uh it
says like there's multiple addresses.
There's one for Fort Street service and
then Fowler, but then at the very bottom
on page five of the voucher list,
there's like a services for various
locations and it's uh total amount is
1,962.
What are those various locations? Like
what other what specific addresses are
these? Um
uh let's see.
So Verizon it was like 2,2500
and then you have AT&T for like 438.
Then there's another T-Mobile one. Um
also how many oh yeah this one's
important. So the the settlement it's
listed here as 341 and I read the
minutes um which was like 325,000. So I
just would like some clarification on
that. And then uh I did ask for like
some public worker public I did submit a
public records request and the request
was a little bit incomplete or not to my
satisfaction.
Um it was very Yeah. So if if a
department is sued I I understand that
the insurance will you know give the
money or whatever. Um so but in the
future like does that money come from
like uh that budget from that
department? Because uh yeah it's Yeah.
And then for like the uniform allowance
of 646 for Travis Hudson. Uh this is the
first time that I see this um actually
listed but not listed for every specific
police officer. So why why was this
different? Um
next. Oh yeah, Alpine Protective
Solutions. I thought we had not I
thought that we were no longer being
provided services by this company but
here it's listed uh as um 4774
whereas like I think it was like
sometime last year uh I think it was
like removed from the agenda so yeah
what happened um the AT&T you know it's a lot it's like
>> 2069
your time is up I appreciate your time
we'll try to get that information over
to you sir thank
Anybody else have a comment on item
number four?
Anybody with their hands raised?
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> Bring this item back for a motion.
>> Make a motion to approve item four, the
consent calendar.
>> Second.
>> Roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> no.
>> Council member Vieiraa,
>> yes.
>> Vice Council member Otto,
>> yes. Vice Mayor Martinez.
>> I,
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> yes.
>> Motion carries 41.
>> Item number six.
>> Believe that was you, Guzman.
So interesting. Will I get a like
response to my questions?
Because it does mean no service to come
up here and talk to and preach to the
choir if you I'm not going to get any
answers. Okay, for number six, um, so
yeah, there was just a typo. It was just
more more so like a typo. And then why
are we selling land? Um, and not
maintaining it. I mean, what's the
purpose of uh of number six? And then uh
I hear it's exempt. And let's see. Let's
go back to number six.
So the typo is on
Let's see.
Uh oh. It would great if it would be
great if these had page numbers, you
know. Um,
don't lost it. Oh,
actually, no. The title was number nine.
Um,
yeah. So, I I guess I could just ask for
like a public records request of like
all the uh city property and then how
much has been sold over the years and
what for what price. So, never mind if I
digress. Thanks.
>> No problem. Anyone else would like to
make a comment on item number six?
Bring this item back for a motion.
>> Make a motion to approve item number six
of the consent calendar.
>> I'll second.
>> Roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> yes.
>> Council member Vieiraa,
>> yes.
>> Council member Otero,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez, I.
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> yes.
>> Motion carries 5-0. Item
>> number seven, Mr. Guzman, this was yours
as well, I believe.
Uh the typos is on the notice of public
uh public hearing, excuse me. Um it's
mid page right where the second uh pole
punch is. It says u the engineers report
blah blah blah. Um landscape and
lightning act of 1972. I think it should
read 87 if I'm not mistaken. And then
secondly, um, the company that was
contracted to do this assessment and
>> excuse me, I'm sorry for my
interruption. You're on item number
seven, correct, sir? Cuz that's the one
that you had pulled.
>> Oh. Uh, yeah, my bad. Okay, I'll sit
down for the next one.
>> Okay, no worries. Anyone else would like
to make a comment on item number seven?
He was referring to item number nine.
Yeah, he pulled seven.
Anybody else? Any back for council for a
motion for number seven?
>> Make a motion to approve item number
seven of the consent calendar.
>> Second.
>> And a roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> no.
>> Council member Vieiraa,
>> yes.
>> Council member Otto,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez,
>> I.
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> yes.
>> Motion carries 41.
>> So item number nine, [clears throat]
Mr. Bill Trans, could you please um do
the report on this item and then I'll
ask my questions if that's okay.
[clears throat]
>> Thank you, mayor, members of the
council. Uh so this is uh the uh
resolution to declare
um our intention to levy assessments uh
per the 1987 uh landscape and lighting
district act. Um so this uh
we this will also set the public hearing
for August 10th uh which will actually
levy the tax. Um and so really this goes
through it presents the report um on you
know for instance we the the total
budget is $659,397
and change. Um there are $527,597
in revenue that is projected for this uh
is about a 31
uh% increase in the assessment that will
go um and those those are all listed in
the report which parcels and how much
they um that they are getting. Um and so
there is a general fund supplement of
$131,799.
However, that supplement was not
approved in the budget. So that will be
something that will um will not be
fulfilled whether that's you know we
don't provide as many services for it um
for the landscape and lighting district
or you know however we kind of maneuver
around trying to uh make all the
services happen that that we can with
the funding that we are going to
receive. In general, there's about
$140,000
in lighting um that is that is paid for
lights in all the landscape and lighting
districts. Um there's about $250,000
in total staff. And then there's about
$90,000 in contracts. Um and now, mind
you, this is just for the LLDS. Um this
does not include the CFDs uh that that
will come to you at a separate council
meeting. Um, and so
if if we have questions regarding where
services are provided or we want to dig
a little deeper in the uh fiscal aspect
of it, uh, both Vanessa, the the finance
director, and the public works
superintendent, we've all talked about
this. Um, so we're happy to answer any
questions that you guys might have uh,
with regards to the LLDS.
>> Thank you very much, Mr. Beltran. I had
a concerned citizen reach out to me and
asked several questions and I've emailed
those questions to you and the city
manager. You already answered the first
question. The first question was how
much revenue was collected for this
fiscal year and you've already answered
that question. And the second question,
what specific services and areas are
funded by those assessment dollars? I
know you you kind of uh responded to
that, but if you can clarify, please.
>> So, uh there is a map. The map is not
100% clear. It's a color-coded map in
the actual report just with the PDFing
of it and those types of things. We do
have a more clear map um that that we
can send out. That's not a problem. Um I
can I can let Josh uh Casus go over any
specific geographic areas, but generally
speaking um there are it's taking care
of landscape in certain districts um
which are all listed in the report. Um
and it is taking care of the lighting
also within those districts uh that are listed in the report. Um and
Josh if you can give any details on the
geographic areas would be great.
>> Thank you Mike. Um [clears throat] so I
do have uh as part of our uh as part of
our work for creating a new request for
bid um from the from a new a new
landscaping contract.
Um, I have our current rideways, uh,
streets, all the medians, everything
that we have listed. Um, and then going
over the areas with, uh, Michael, uh,
from the C, the CFDs and the LD, but
specifically right now, speaking about
the LDS, uh, we're seeing which areas
from the current contract are already
covered in, um, in the previous contract
and then which areas we may have to
include in the new contract. So although
there may be some time, you know, in the
time that we're getting this contract
out that it's not being serviced by a
contractor, uh the result that we have
like like this uh city manager said,
it's fallen on staff. So at the moment,
we're trying to resolve these issues
when they come up and when they're
reported to us, uh we're having staff go
out just because we have not had the the
time to plan out the the exact um
staffing allocation for for these areas.
But that is something that we're we're
looking at right now.
>> Thank you very much Josh. So
[clears throat] one of the questions
that was asked of me was and I believe
that you sort of answered the question.
So Bright View were they responsible for
any of these areas?
Uh, I believe some from the from the report some of those areas are
on our are listed because I know um some
of the I think Eastgate was on there,
some of the Eastgate streets and some of
the the medians were on there, they are
on the the current um list, even if they
were not being serviced to the
satisfaction of, you know, us. Um,
Briiew was providing us with a weekly
report of the areas that they hit and we
would send somebody behind them and
respond, hey, this is not done, this is
not done. Um, so we've we've categorized
all that, but um, some of those areas
are in the previous contract and some
will have to be added to a new contract.
So our goal is to make sure that you
know with with in conjunction with
finance with um engineering to make sure
that all the money that is um allotted
for landscaping is being used for
landscaping. All the money that's
allotted for lighting is being used for
lighting. Um we want to make sure that
um and even if there's specific money,
which there is specific money uh
allotted to staffing versus allotted to
contractors. So, we're trying to get all
that separated right now and make sure
that we um the new contract that we put
forward is clear in those in those uh
sense.
>> Thank you, Josh. I know that the the
question was also answered about the
funding sources. You explained that.
Now, this is one particular question
that I think is is very warranted. How
does the city ensure the homeowners who
pay this assessment receive the direct
benefit of those funds?
So the the the citizens so we have a
separate fund for for one and we've had
it for a few years um that this money
goes into and that's where this money
comes out of. Um so we we do want to
make sure that we are um acting on the
behalf of citizens per the report. Um
you know and that that we are servicing
those areas with those specific funds.
Um they shouldn't be intertwined. Um, if
there's a general fund supplement that can be put in there also, but we do
keep this money in a separate fund so
that we know that we are spending money
per the landscape and lighting district
act within those district areas.
>> Thank you very much. Although most of
these questions, the answers were in the
agenda, I believe that it's very
important for the public to hear it from
your staff and your team of what you
guys are trying to do to make sure that
these citizens are getting exactly what
they're paying for. These are taxpayers
and I believe that you're going to
figure out a way and I do appreciate
that. Those are all my questions for
now. I believe I have Councilwoman Otto
has pressed her button.
» Go ahead.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, for engineer, I
just want to get clarification. You
mentioned there will be an increase from
last year.
>> Yes, that is correct. So when we do the
uh LLD assessments, uh they are
increased by the inflation rate um every
year. Um
council can forego that increase uh if
that is if that is the council's desire.
Um it's definitely not recommended
simply because it we need to keep pace
with contracts um you know increases on
those contracts, increases in staff
wages, increases in electricity. Um so
but it is something that is within the
act and we can increase by up to 5%. So
if inflation was actually at 6 or 7% we
still can only increase by 5%. Um, and
in this case, I believe it was about
3.121%
this year.
>> Thank you. Um, so I do understand the
need to, you know, levy and collect the
assessments. Um, it's something that's
been happening for years, but with the collection of the levies, we have to
ensure that our city is maintained
effectively and uh or efficiently. And
currently, I don't feel that that has
taken place. Um, I've had a lot of
concerns about, you know, the landscape
in general. Um, with current budget
concerns, I know, you know, the city's
looking to make sure that we keep up,
like you said, with the costs and all of
that, but for me, I think we need to
evaluate um the workload within the
department right now and uh figure out,
you know, accountability, oversight of
the tasks that are being done um before
we put it back on the residents to um to
increase, you know, the the fees on this
or the levies. Um I know last year the
contract for the landscape there was a
missing page. Things like that can't
happen especially when we're using
taxpayer dollars. So um with this I
can't support um an increase in this.
>> Thank you very much Councilwoman Vieier.
» Thank you. And I know I emailed you a
couple questions. I appreciate you
getting back to me on those questions.
Um, I guess one of the main concerns I
had, which you kind of addressed, was it
sounds like they're separate accounts,
so money from one district isn't being
used in a different district. And I
think that's one of the concerns we had.
And then the other concern was
during the budget discussions, it was
discussed that the medians people may
not just get them cut while or the
medians wouldn't be done. Well, our
district has there's three separate
funds specifically that I'm I contribute
to. And so my neighbors are asking me,
well, why am I contributing to something
that I'm not receiving? And so that was
my concern. Um, and then also, what are
our long-term plan when it comes to
addressing this since we don't have it
in the general fund? we don't have money
to make up the differences and the
market is softening as you know that
we're looking at a decline in sales tax
I guess is the best way of putting that.
Um and then have we considered going to
solar or something that could reduce our
long-term electrical uses especially in
our parks and our median areas. Um and I
will leave it at that for now. Um I know
I emailed you a few more questions I
think that you guys were going to get
back to me on.
>> So thank you for your questions. Um to
address the the solar uh issue, um we
have looked at uh citywide solar. Um it
is a rather large investment uh to go
with any type of citywide solar that
would help reduce our costs at this
point. Um and so right now that is we we
have not brought that forward. Um I I
believe council did hear presentations
on it uh last year. Uh but at this point
in time I don't know I that's probably
not a feasible option for us to to do
that. One clarification I do want to
make is that the landscape and lighting
districts in the report it breaks out
how the money is is broken down into the
different districts. All the money is in
I believe fund 292 if I'm not mistaken.
Um, and I can let Vanessa, you know,
jump in there on on how it's allocated
throughout uh, and goes to each
district. Um, but that is something that
has to be tracked because
the the money that is given by a
district has to be used within that
district. And so that is something that,
um, that I can let Vanessa and Josh on
their allocation for contracts and stuff
uh, elaborate a little bit on that.
Okay. And then um
what is our long-term
strategy? I guess because right now it
sounds like it's I I right now I guess
the confusion is up until the RFP is
done, received, and the contract
presented to council. What is our goal
or what is our plan in place until that
process is completed, which I'm
estimating is probably going to be four
to 6 months. What are we doing in the
term? because again we're asking the
taxpayers to pay but it sounds like
there's nothing in place as of today. So
I want to make sure we have something
that we can tell especially the ones
here on the crowd and on Zoom or the
ones that have emailed and text and
called me I can say this is what our
plan is. Um especially long term
especially if we're asking for to try to
I know right now we're paying out more
than we're receiving. So I do understand
that we still we don't have the general
fund to absorb the differences and so I
just want to see what our plan is in
place.
>> Uh so thank you for your question. Um
and Mr. City Manager if if you could
correct me are is the meeting tomorrow
also about how we're going to provide
services in the landscape and lighting
districts.
It is it is the streets department, the
facilities department, and the parks
department all coming together to talk
about parks, ride ofways, landscape and
lighting districts, community facilities
districts, all of that tomorrow at 8 in
the morning. Yes. So, the long-term
plan, uh, Council Member Vieiraa, is to
engage with a third-party contractor for
landscaping services. That's the
long-term plan. The short-term plan
until we get that contract with the
third party is that staff will have be
responsible for maintaining these areas
until that uh third party contract is um
executed
» and is that even with the delay is that
going to affect the amount I just want
to make sure we're not overt taxing
especially if they're not getting the
services they're paying for and I guess
that's the biggest thing or concern that
I have right now. So, I mean, we we
obviously haven't sent out the the
request for proposals yet. Um, my guess
is the amount that is allocated for
contracts. Um, will not serve for the
entire contract. So, we will have to
look at how much is allocated to the
contracts uh within the LLDS and make
adjustments from there. But until we get
that final number, we won't have that
exact answer until until we have those
numbers so that we can figure out how
we're going to allocate. Is there
supplement needed by the city? Not
general fund supplement, just supplement
in staff that there is things that staff
may have to continue keeping up as
opposed to actually putting in a
contract because we don't have the
funding for that contract in full. Um,
so that's that's going to be something
as we receive those bids, we are going
to need to uh figure out how that works
in the end. Um, and that's something as
soon as we get those numbers, we will we
will look at.
>> Thank you.
>> Any other questions?
» Go ahead.
>> I just want clarification for this item.
We're not approving the levy right now.
We're just um declaring the intention.
You're going your your report we're
approving and then you'll bring it back
for a public hearing and that's when
we'll um either approve or deny the the
levy.
>> That is correct. This is declaring our
intention to levy the tax and this is
also approving the engineers report for
the landscape and lighting districts.
>> Thank you.
>> There are no questions. I'll go out to
the public. Any members of the public
would like to make a comment on this
item?
Step up to the podium.
>> Uh, Galan Guzman. All right. The first
one was the typo. Uh,
the city of series notice of public
hearing. Uh, midpage. It should read
1987. It reads 1972 currently. Um, then
I was looking at the contract or like
the publication that MBS put out and it
seems like they they gathered the
information from they use numbers from
March 2026, the CPI which is the
inflation um factor or rate whatever and
I checked online and then it seems like
back in March of 2026 that's the highest
it's been since 2005. So we're looking
at we're using data that's a little bit
outdated which doesn't reflect our
current like economy. Um if you take a
look here it says
um yeah so one I guess first question is
when was this uh MBS with this company
uh this contract approved and then when
did they start working on this and then
why did they select March 2026 numbers
instead of like let's say April or June
numbers um before putting it out in
August for uh the public hearing.
notice. Uh so that's one of the things.
And then secondly, um yeah, again, like
the services aren't there. You know, you
can't be just like increasing taxes when
we're the residents aren't receiving the
services. You know, there it passed last
year and then again, you know, the city
council is being asked to do this again,
but the services weren't there last year
nor the the year prior. So, it's just
it's kind of mindboggling that we keep
doing this and contracting out when I
think we should be investing in public
workers, you know, not removing them,
you know, we should be allocated more we
should be allocating more money to parks
and wreck, you know, uh to take care of
our city streets, our city parks, you
know, but instead we're contracting out
with like multiple landscaping companies
that are not providing the services that
we need and to our satisfaction. So, at
what point will this council decide to
invest in our workers instead? Because,
you know, before like I had, you know,
I'm just going to say that before, you
know, if you were like a city employee,
you got great benefits, you know, but
that also trickled down, you know, to
your family. It provided a safe um, you
know, income, you know, benefits for
your family. But now we're contracting
out, you know, and we're asking our park
crew to do more with less, you know, and
I the point is like if you contract out,
you lose that accountability aspect.
Like if you were to have city workers,
you have that immediate oversight. You
know, if someone's not doing their job,
okay, like we got to replace you. Like,
you know, go figure. But yeah, we're cancelling contracts and then
we're still losing the service and we're
asking taxpayers to to you know, you
know, increase $40, you know, um for the
next year or 122, you know, but yet like
the services aren't being given. So,
it's just it's just mindboggling to me
that this keeps happening and yeah, when
the services aren't there like obviously
public works like needs work and it
needs it now like not not tomorrow or I
mean it needs it now not like in a year
or two you know so uh that's one thing
um also I I submitted an application for
adopt a park and I was looking to
service the three parks where of where I
live which is district two you know and
I selected these parks because they're
in 5 minutes from my house, you know. I
have the resources and I have the time
and I'm willing to volunteer and give
back, you know, and I'm not seeking any
compensation or any recognition.
The application states that it'll go to
city council and then I'll be like like
uh recognized. I don't want that, you
know. I'm just here to donate my time
and give back to the community, you
know. And I had uh I talked to I talked
to Joey and they uh he said that I can't
uh use the riding lawnmower to service
the parks because it's a liability. You
know, right now, like I said, I have the
resources. I have the riding lawnmower.
I know how to use it. You know, I'm
willing to go out there at 6:00 a.m. 7
a.m. and take care of these parks, but
instead I'm being offered to pick up
garbage with uh you know, the garbage
holder and bags will be provided. I'm
looking to do a little bit more of that
more. I'm looking to do a little more
than that, you know. So, that was a
little bit upsetting to me. Um, yeah.
Again, like the we have contracts with
well, Elite Maintenance, West Coast
Arborist, Grover, Bride View, we had,
you know, it's just, uh, you know, why
not consolidate, you know, or like I
said, invest in people. So, yeah. Um,
yeah. Let's see.
Is that Jurassic Park? What is that?
>> Your time.
>> Yeah, that's it. Thanks.
>> Time is up. Thank you, sir. Very valid
points and thank you very much. I
appreciate that. Is there anybody else
in the public that would like to make a
comment?
» Hey, good evening. My name is Andres
Ree. I've been a member of this
community now for over 20 years and I
want to echo some some of the sentiments
that he he made. Um I live in the
Eastgate community. I've been there
since day one since it started and I've
seen it just go downhill. Uh, I agree
that we should take some of these funds
and if you guys have them allocated for
a certain pot, create a department that
can hire some people to work with that
pot. Because over the years, over the
last 20 years that I've been there,
we've probably got about half of the
foliage
that was there initially. I've seen
these workers with my own eyes uh doing
their job. Instead of nurturing the
plants and the foliage, they'd rather
weed whack them down to nothing so they
don't have to worry about it the next
time. So, there's lots of areas there
that are just barren.
There is water that runs to those areas,
but they're not watering anything. So, I
would just like you guys to take that
into consideration.
I do agree that there needs to be some
oversight
that when these guys go out there and do
their jobs, whoever it is, I really
implore you to not think about a third
party. Reinvest that money into somebody
that's willing to take pride in their
work because a lot of these workers may
not even live in our community. So, they
go in there, do their eight eight hours,
and they're out. They really don't care
what the job looks like. I want somebody
there that's actually going to care
about the community that we live in.
It's really gone downhill. I'm almost
embarrassed to say I live here and it's
really hard for me to say that. Like
I've had people that live in other areas
that are like, "Wow, it's really gone
downhill." It has. And I really think we
can make a change. I really think this
city could be great.
But at the same time, I have thought
about leaving. And like I said, I've
been here since 2002.
So I have invested in this a lot of
investment in this community. I'm an
educator. I worked for the for series
for a few years. I work in Modesto now,
Modesto City Schools. My children have
gone through elementary, junior high, school. They've graduated from
series schools and I really feel a part
of this community and I just really want
to see it make a change for the better.
Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Anyone else would
like to make a comment?
Seeing none, anybody on Zoom.
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> Bring this item back for a motion.
>> Make a motion to approve item number
nine.
I'll second
a roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> yes.
>> Council member Vieiraa,
>> yes.
>> Council member Otto,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez. Hi.
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> yes. Motion carries 5-0.
» We'll now take a fiveminut recess. Thank
you everyone.
If everyone can please have a seat.
We're getting ready to start again.
Welcome back everyone. We're going to go
ahead and start off with new business.
Item number 10, ratifying the measure H
expenditure plan for fiscal year 2027
beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June
30th, 2026.
» Thank you. Good evening, mayor, council
members. Tonight, tonight's step is
requesting approval of the resolution
ratifying the fiscal year 27 measure H
expenditure plan. Measure H is the
city's voter approved 1/2 cent public
sales tax that was approved back in
2007. By ordinance, this revenues may
only be used for allegible police, fire,
and emergency response services
identified in the measure H expenditure
plan.
Um, just a little bit of background. The
initial measure H expenditure plan was
adopted by the city council back in
April of 2008 as a 10-year expenditure
plan. And the expenditure plan was then
amended in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2016 to
address evolving public safety needs,
including additional fire personnel,
narcotics, K9 [snorts] program, crime
analysis capabilities, and public safety
technology. In 2017, the council
approved the most recent expenditure
plan, which reorganized and updated the
plan's presentation and formatting.
The expenditure plan before you does not
authorize any new spending. It was
already reviewed and incorporated into
the fiscal year 27 budget adopted by the
city council on June 8. And as
presented, the expenditure expenditure
for plan continues to fund eligible
publica safety services consistent with
the measure H ordinance for fiscal year
27. Measure H is funding u measure H
funding supports 10 police officer
positions. Um roughly 21% of the fire
services contract and about 35% of the
agreement for Axon for the uh the body
cameras.
There is no additional funding or fiscal
impact beyond what has already been
approved in the fiscal year 27 budget.
Moving forward, this the measure H
expenditure plan will be incorporated
into the annual budget process to ensure
that the city um has ongoing compliance
with the measure H ordinance. And
tonight's action formally ratifies the
fiscal year 27 expenditure plan in
accordance with the city's ordinance for
the measure. Um staff is recommending
tonight that the city council adopt the
resolution ratifying the fiscal year
2027 measure H expenditure plan. And
with this action, it will bring us into
compliance with the measure H ordinance
um with the last item, the last
expenditure plan having been approved by
the council in 2017.
>> Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and
open this up to the public and then any
members of the public that would like to
make a comment on this item.
» Seeing none, any hands raised.
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom. And I
bring this item back to the council for
any comments, questions.
Councilwoman Otto.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um,
so Measure H has been one of my
concerns. Um, and for me, you know, we
have a responsibility to be good
stewards of the taxpayer dollars. Uh,
Measure H belongs to every rep, every
resident that we represent, and it
affects our public safety.
I'm not sure why there hasn't been a
public safety expenditure plan um in the
past several years or why the city
hadn't been following what was stated in
the ordinance, but I do want to thank
our finance director and city manager um
who quickly took the time to address the
issue um our once I brought it to our
city manager, he uh he worked right away
with our finance director. So, I apprec
I appreciate that. Um, but we shouldn't
be out of compliance with our own city
ordinance and we certainly don't want to
be out of compliance with uh these
requirements that governor how that
govern how tax dollars are supposed to
be and spent. Um, the intent of these
public safety tax dollars was to
supplement existing public safety
funding. Um, it was supposed to provide
additional resource but never uh replace
the general fund um funding that was
given to public safety. So, for example,
through my research, um my understanding
is that's probably how the street crimes
unit at one point was uh maintained. So,
it makes me wonder, um if we would have
completed a forensic audit at the time
that a measure H committee member had
requested it, um would the issue have
been found months ago? But again, I'm
glad that we did find this and we're
correcting it. Uh we must continue to
evaluate our policies when it comes to
our finances. We need to closely review
how the funding is allocated
uh and ensure our taxpayer dollars are
spent as they're intended to um with the
accountability and transparency in
place. So with that, I know uh
finance director you did mention the
breakdown of positions and then the body
worn camera and then some fire. Is there
a way to I know it might have been too
late to put in the staff report um but
either in the minutes or maybe an
amendment to the staff report to add the
specific uh positions that are going to
be
uh used in this safety plan.
» I'll defer to the city clerk, but I
believe uh the comments from the finance
director as part of the report can be
included in the minutes.
>> I'm sorry. Can you repeat what you're
wanting uh amended or included?
>> So, what I would like is I know there is
a plan for the funding itself and she
went over the specific positions um the
body warn camera being covered by this
and some of the fire cost. I would like
that to be in place either in the
minutes or amended on the staff report.
So that way, you know, a year from now,
two years from now, we're able to go
back and say this is what we previously
allocated the funding to. I think in
that case it would be most appropriate
to um have that included in the minutes
as opposed to amending the staff report.
Um
I don't know if it's something that we
would need to have included as the
motion.
I think I think that would be a good
idea is to include as part of the motion
in adopting the resolution specific
language mentioned by the finance
director to be included as part of the
action.
>> Thank you. And then just to clarify, we
would um uh correct me if I'm wrong,
Nubia, we would amend the resolution to
include that language as well.
>> Yes,
>> that would be great. Thank you.
>> Anything else, Councilwoman?
>> No, thank you.
>> City manager, could you do me a favor
and please give a little bit of a
background on how this happened based on
this research and the conversation that
we had dating back to the previous
council?
>> Yes. Thank you, mayor.
So when I was researching this item, I
recognized that the ordinance calls for
an annual approved expenditure plan.
An expenditure plan, as uh the finance
director mentioned, was initially
adopted. It was a 10-year plan beginning
in 2008 and concluding in 2018. And over
the course of those 10 years, that plan
was amended, I believe, three times. But
even though it was amended three times,
the report concluded in 2018. In
subsequent years,
expenditure plans were not brought
before the council were not approved. So
when we recognized that this was a
deficiency, credit to the finance
director, she worked very hard to create
an expenditure plan.
While the measure H funds, even in those
years where a plan was not formally
adopted by the city council, while those
measure 8 funds were technically
approved as a as a part of the budget
adoption process because the measure H
money is included in the annual budget
that the city of council approves every
year, there is not a page in the budget
that you can flip to to see this is how
all of the measure H money is um
allocated.
It's spread throughout the fiscal year
budget throughout the general fund uh
budget.
Sorry, not throughout the general fund
budget because it's specific to measure
H. It's just spread throughout the
formalized
budget that's adopted. So what this
action is doing is in addition to it
being within the entire budget that is
approved by the city council, there is
actually a document that you can turn to say this is how we're spending
measure H money without having to know
where it is within the adopted budget
throughout all the different funds and
departments.
So I I do want to say thank you very
much Councilwoman Otto for bringing this
to the city manager's attention. He
explained to me how it all unfolded. And
my question is if we want to amend the
minutes, could we not just amend the
budget to place this item in that budget
as a separate page which your hope is
that in future budgets we'll provide
this expenditure plan in the budget as
it's supposed to be placed. Correct.
If I understand you correctly that is
correct. So in future years as part of
the budget adoption process and again
you have technically approved measure H
money as part of the budget adoption
process from 2018 through now. There
wasn't just called out in the budget a
specific this is the plan for how we use
that money. It was sprinkled throughout
all the different departments that are
affected by measure h moving forward as
part of the regular fiscy year budget
adoption process. what the finance
director is doing this meeting that will
be a part of the regular budget
adoption. So we won't have to have after
the budget is adopted this item come
forward. So it will be a part of the
formal budget adoption process moving
forward. Okay. Cuz I just want to get
clarification councilomano in regards to
the amendment of the minutes. You want
it to be specific. Now my question is
and I just want to make sure I'm I'm
supportive of it. is the amendment that
she's requesting. Are those specific
items already included in the budget
so that we don't have to necessarily do
it again? I just I'm just clarifying for
you.
>> Those items are included in the budget,
but they're not specified as an
expenditure plan. So, one way to I mean,
they're like city manager said, they're
sprinkle or stretch throughout the
different departments. That's how we
section the budget book in the city. So
there is partial monies um in the police
sworn and partial monies in in the fire
department. So there isn't one document
that it compiles all of the measure age
uh funding in in one one place. So this
would be that this would be the page or
the expenditure plan that will be
incorporated in our budget. Um, one
thing I know that we can amend the
minutes but but my expenditure plan here
it's a separate attachment so we can
also incorporate the language of what is
being funded on the attachment. I can
update the attachment if that is pos a
possibility.
>> Okay. I'm in support of what
councilwoman is saying, but I would also
if you can maybe come back to us at a
later city council meeting to clarify
that that has been done and that way in
the future folks can refer back to the
agenda and also refer back to the budget
that you have the expenditure plan
placed in it. Does that make sense? City
manager,
>> I just want to make sure I understand. I
believe what council member is asking in
addition to the document that's in front
of you today, the resolution approving
the expenditure plan, I believe she
wants
included in the motion to approve this
resolution
an additional item that clarifies that
the current year's expenditure plan is
paying for 10 police officers, 21% of
the fire agreement, and X% of the bodywn
cameras. Is that what you're requesting?
>> That's correct.
>> Thank you. And those funds are already
allocated. We don't need to amend any
previous meeting minutes. This will just
be included in that motion if that's the
will of the council. If that's the
easiest way to go about it, and I'm okay
with that.
>> Okay. Any other comments or questions
from the council?
>> Then we are looking for a motion.
>> Um
I'll make a motion uh to approve item
number 10, ratifying the measure H
expenditure plan for fiscal year 2027
beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June
30th, 2027
with the addition of a breakdown for the
10 police officer positions, 21% of fire
costs, and then a portion of the bodywn
camera axon program.
>> I'll second.
>> Get a roll call, please.
>> Council member Casey,
>> yes.
>> Council member Vieiraa,
>> yes.
>> Council member Otero,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Martinez,
>> I.
>> Mayor Lopez,
>> yes.
>> Motion carries 5-0.
>> Thank you very much. Moving on to
discussion items. discussion regarding
the planning commission's request for
city council to adopt an interim urgency
ordinance establishing a temporary
excuse me morandum on a new gas station
and car wash facility within the city of
series.
Good evening, mayor and council. This
evening, um before you today, we are
asking for direction uh regarding
additional staff time and resources
should be uh committed toward evaluating
and pursuing a potential mortorium on
new gas stations and car washes within
the city. Um discussion has been
presented both in planning commission
and in hearing council and so therefore
staff is bringing the matter forward to
avoid any duplication efforts and asking
for direction for any future work if um
so desired by the council. Um the work
would include
under government code section 65858
for the findings of immediate threat to
public health and safety for a momentum
which would include significant research
findings evaluating existing land use
pertaining to the mtorium. Um so we are
asking for some direction depending on
the scope of analysis required will
require outside planning and legal
consultant services. So this evening
we're just asking for some guidance
either direct staff to continue
discussion with the planning commission
direct staff to prepare a future agenda
item evaluating the feasibility
um and looking at the um impact or take
no further action and allow existing
zoning regulations and development
review process to continue as is.
>> Thank you very much. I'll go ahead and
open this up to the public. Any members
of the public would like to make a
comment on this item?
» Uh Dave Pratt of Series, I want to know
at what point do you consider you have
too many car washes and too many gas
stations?
Well, in the middle of town, you allow
these super gas stations build next to a
mom and pop stations and many stores
been there for years
have to compete with these super
centers.
And you allow a gas station, bigger gas,
I mean car washes, uh when you got one
car wash in one corner, you got now you
got a another car wash on another
corner. Then all the a lot of these gas
stations have these drive-thru car
washes. At what point
you say you have enough? It's that same
thing with the with the food trucks.
Well, in the beginning you had had a
limit on that. Now all of a sudden there
was an explosion on food trucks.
You're going to have to decide, you
know, that
are we going to have gas stations and and car washes on every corner?
Is that the way it's going to be for
this small town?
I still call it town. You can call it
whatever you want to. I've lived here 74
years. I
grew up here
all of a sudden all of a sudden
can't
even the a lot of the restaurants and
stuff's got to compete with the food
trucks now.
Are you know I'm getting I'm getting uh ice
cream trucks and and and the they're
coming from other cities coming through.
Are you even getting taxes from those
stuff? I think on I think on the food
trucks I think every six months we ought
to have an audit on that and find out
are you actually collecting taxes on on
the food trucks.
I know that's getting off of hand
because we're talking about the gas
stations and the car washes and it's
just like just like they want and want
in the middle of town want to put a a a
super super electric chargers in in when
actually they need to be closer to the
freeways because every house
why do they want to go to a gas station
get their vehicle charged when
everybody's got chargers in their
houses.
That's another thing you got to realize
where you're actually putting these
things.
Really, you need to do a lot more than
just a temporary more for moratorum on
this on on these. I think we're already
overextended on some of these.
» Thank you very much. Next person,
please.
Uh Gullen Guzman again. I'm in support
of this discussion item. Uh I did attend
the planning commission meeting when the
uh six cycle housing element um
took meeting took place and one of the
questions that was asked to the economic
development
um Mr. Dragular Aar agira um was how
many gas stations are pending and he
stated four if I'm not mistaken and I
was like you've got to be kidding me
like that's too much like we already
have an excessive amount of gas stations
we do not need four more like so I'm
into support of this um moratorum of
limiting uh gas stations and car wash
facilities so like I went to the Mr. car
wash the new one and it scratched my
car. So, I'm going to hand wash it at
home. So, yeah. Um I'm in support of
this cuz it's ridiculous that the amount
of gas stations that we have. Thanks.
>> Thank you very much. Next person,
please.
Good evening, council members and
previous council members. John Warren,
city of Sirius.
Um,
I don't believe the planning commission
has voted
yes or no on this particular item to
bring it to the council for their
guidance and suggestions.
So, I think the cart's kind of in front
of the horse. There's a process that the
city has and that's not being used.
That's part of the problem with our way
of doing business. There's a proper
order of things and it never seems to be
followed.
Uh, [clears throat] in talking about the
planning commission, I don't think the
city really needs one.
they only have six or seven, possibly
eight meetings out of 24 during the
year. And so things should just come
directly to the council and be cited
upon uh at a regular council meeting. it
wouldn't take that much extra time to do
that and you eliminate a whole process
which includes funding and people making
applications and if they don't like the
decision of the planning commission they
bring it back to the council anyway and
it cost a lot of money for them to do
that. So consider when you're doing this
just eliminating the planning commission
altogether and having the city council
take care of business. Thank you very
much.
Thank you, Mr. Horn. Anyone else
» for a temporary moratorum on gas
stations, but leave it open for them to
add the electrical charges that the gas
stations that are here might need
because there's going to be more
electric cars with time. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Anyone else?
Seeing none, any hands raised.
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> I'll bring this item back for council
for discussion.
I had Vice Mayor Martinez press his
button. Go ahead, sir.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh Julian, could
you answer that? Has this gone to
planning and and have they voted on it
to bring it to us? Can you answer Mr.
Warren's statement? So this evening that
is the discussion to have is if you're
going to approve staff time for the
research that needs to be done to bring
this back to planning commission in
order for us to bring it back as a staff
report. There is significant research
that needs to be done. And so we're here
to to ask the council if that if you
will your decision tonight will
determine if that gets moved forward for
a staff.
>> Thank you.
Councilwoman Otter,
>> thank you. Um, I did have the same
question was, you know, planning
commission, did they make the official
recommendation? Because when I watched
the planning commission meeting, uh, my
understanding is that a report would be
presented to the planning commission to
then further review um, what was stated,
you know, in the report and then they
would discuss if, um, that would move
forward to the city council. Um so I'm
just concerned why we would discuss this
today if planning commission hasn't I
guess made the official recommendation.
Um my understanding is based on this
series municipal code the 2.05.040
planning uh commission does have the
authority to make recommendations as
this. So I just want to make sure that
we're giving them the opportunity to do
that. Um but I do have a few questions.
Is there a state guidance for the number
of car washes and gas stations that are
sufficient for a city based on like a
population?
» So like a state matrix
there is not so for every I believe it's
10 4,000 10,000
um
So the state estimates that
approximately three to four gas stations
per 10,000
is a rough estimate is what I did a
brief research on. Um but without
getting too much time into it because it
does take a lot of time in order for us
to bring it because if we're looking at
a mtorium we have to find the findings
for the mtorium and to bring that in. So
tonight we're just discussing that if
council wants
for us to continue to do the research
and continue to bring it back then we
just need approval for staff time to do
it. Um and so the recommendation for to
go back to to the planning commission is
going to take staff time to bring back
the research to bring back all the
evaluations and stuff. And so tonight's
discussion is basically on a mon is on a
financial side of it to move forward
then we would need the blessing from the
council in order for us to do that.
>> Thank you. How many um car washes do we
currently have and how many gas stations
do we have?
Currently, we have eight car washes and
17 gas stations. The 17 gas stations,
majority of them are in locations that
are right off the freeway, both
northbound and southbound. Easy access
on, easy access off. That's where you
want your clusters of gas stations to
be.
>> Okay. So, I understand that it's going
to take staff time. I know there's
research involved. Um, I've done a
little bit of my own research. There are
cities throughout the state who have
done these moratoriums whether temporary
or permanent. Um and I feel like we
should reach out to those cities, look
at their staff reports. Um they might
have, you know, government code cited or
zoning code, whatever it is. Um that
might save staff some time. But for me,
I I don't know that I can discuss this
further without it having come from the
planning commission officially. So, I
would like to see go back to planning
commission, let them have some
discussions because ultimately right now
we don't know exactly what um what their
thoughts and ideas are either.
>> Thank you, council members.
Mr. Casey, go ahead.
» Follow up on Serena's, you know, uh I
think Loi I mean I'm saving money here.
Loi uh and and Mantika both have
proposed
the
no more gas stations. I'm not sure about
the car washes
and I'm not sure where that went, but
certainly as far as staff time. Uh
not that we should
do things that other cities do, but you
know, part of the city league meeting
that our council members are going to go
to, you know, you get you share ideas.
So, uh, it wouldn't, you know, I'm not
sure. I'm getting the impression from
you that it's going to cost a lot of
money and when we do this, it's going
to, you know, affect our budget. I'm
just suggesting that make a few phone
calls, find out what, you know, we don't
have to follow up on it. And I also
agree with Serena because I'm confused.
I thought the planning commission
already had voted 50 to bring this to
us.
Then we Thanks,
>> Councilwoman Vier.
>> Thank you. Um I do agree to should go to
planning first. Um and if we do, I would
think that we would want to limit staff
time because I know they are busy and
there's a lot of other things going on
right now and several businesses and and
even new developments that they're
currently working on. I know there's two
on Mitchell Road and I know we have the
G3. I don't know if they have a name yet
for that shopping center in my district
um as well as one um on Morgan and
Whitmore that's also looking at
expanding. So I guess my concern is just
looking at my district alone, not the
rest of the city. I only have one car
wash. There's always a line there. Um
we're looking at developing. We're
looking at addition adding additional
homes, apartments, and other stuff in my
district that's already in the process
or in development in a discussion. Um,
we also have, um, there is no gas
stations for the most part on the Crows
Landing aspect where these new
developments are going. And so those are
my concerns because then we're not
servicing my district, which is a
concern for me by putting these
limitations in while these developments
are in the process. And while Gallow is
working on adding this new shopping
center with two major anchor stores, I
want to make sure we're not limiting the
anchor stores in their ideas and their
visions of what they have for the
development there, especially on Crows
Landing and Whitmore, which is key, as
well as what Stan RTA had mentioned that
they want to do there as well. I want to
make sure they'll work cuz they're going
to need to do something with their buses
and I want to make sure that they have
the resources that they need so that way
they can be sustainable and successful
here in series. And I guess those are
going to be my concerns right now when
it comes to this. And then um gas tax
does play a significant amount which is
why I think we rely on gas stations when
it comes to our budget and um looking at
what this would affect our budget long
term especially with growth and our
dependence on the gas tax here in
series.
Thank you, Vice Mayor. Before I go to
you, I do have a couple comments. You
know, series cannot claim to be open for
business while you're telling a lawful
business we're open, but just not for
you. If a project complies with our
general plan, zoning code, safety
standards, and required findings, it
deserves a fair opportunity to compete.
These projects create jobs, construction
activity, property tax, growth, site
improvements, ongoing revenue for the
city of Siri. The Quick Quack project
alone represents more than 15 potential
jobs along with construction investments
and additional property tax revenue. The
Maverick is another example where
projecting annual sales could be up to
$600,000.
That revenue can help relieve pressure
on our city budget. This would not
create an economic diversity. It would
limit competition and give existing
businesses a government created
advantage. I am pro business and I will
not participate in creating a protected
market or a monopoly that benefits one
business or a select group. My direction
is not to take any further action.
Vice Mayor,
thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have one
more question for Julian. Julian, how
many uh gas stations in the city
currently offer electrical charging
stations?
And then of the eight car washes you had
mentioned, how many are standalone, not
attached to gas stations?
So on electric
is
two
in the city. Um and then I'm sorry, what
was the next question? I apologize.
>> You had mentioned that there's eight car
washes currently in the city. How many
of those are standalone only car washes
like Quack and the quick car wash on
service.
» There's five.
Thank you,
>> council. We're looking for consensus.
Today is an opportunity for us to either
give direction for staff to work on this
or to pass on the idea. So, I will go
ahead and start from my left from
consensus. No, Vice Mayor, Councilwoman,
>> I would like to pass it back to the
planning commission and they're provided
with the report.
>> Okay, that's not what I'm asking, but I
understand what you're asking. Is it a
consensus? No or yes?
>> Yes.
That's no for me. Councilwoman Vera
>> mean no for me
>> and council member Casey. Yes, you got
the consensus.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
Moving on to council member referrals.
We have one, two, three
roughly 13 referrals. So, please be
patient with us. And we're going to
start off with number 12.
And this one is creation of a citizens
financial oversight and audit committee.
And this was requested by council member
Otero on March 24th, 2026. And she will
now present the item.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um, so as you know, we
heard tonight with measure H committee,
um, we've had, uh, myself and council
member Casey ask for forensic audits.
Um, our city I think lacks in some of
the financial over oversight. There's a
lot of improvements that need to be made
and I think it's best that we allow the
citizens to get involved and I would
request that we create a financial
oversight and audit committee. We're
currently lacking in committees so it
doesn't give the citizens opportunities
to um participate in some of these
things. There may be ideas that they
have that the council may not have. So,
I would like to create this committee.
>> Thank you, council member. We'll open
this up to the public. Any members of
the public would like to make a comment
on this item.
>> Seeing none, hands raised.
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> And bring this item back for comments,
questions, or consensus?
No comments, consensus. You're okay with
it, Vice Mayor? I'm a no.
Rosinda. Okay, you got your consensus.
Item number 13,
installing K rails at the series
cemetery. This was requested by council
member Casey at the April 6, 2026
regular city council meeting. Council
member Casey.
» Yes, this U K rails is
the term that I use, but actually the the situation is simple. uh because
of the highways design that was approved
by CALR or the city occasionally and I
don't know how often but often enough uh
we have cars that come over the overpass
uh and then run into the fence and into
the cemetery. As the cemetery grows,
they're going to have
our loved ones right there. And so, uh,
I think that we we the city's obligated
to protect the
safety of the cemetery. [clears throat]
>> Pretty simple.
>> Thank you, Mr. Casey. Go out to the
public. Any members of the public would
like to make a comment or question on
this item?
» Who would pay for the the K rails?
Who would pay for the crib rails?
>> We'll get that answered for you in a
second.
>> In other words, are you asking the city
owns the cemetery, but the cemetery has
money? Would the cemetery be paying for
the K rails and you only given
permission or are you going to pay for
them being put in? the the situation is
that the the property that we're talking
about belongs to the city, not to the
>> the city cannot afford to keep doing all
these little things. If the cemetery has
the money and the cemetery is a
business, then the cemetery should take
care of it. That's my opinion. Thank
you.
>> Thank you. And and actually the the uh
recommendation was for the city and the
cemetery staff to get together to see if
they could resolve it. Thank you. Any
additional comments or questions from
the audience?
» John Warren, city of Siri.
Um,
the city of Modesto has a similar
problem along Scenic Drive where the
cemeteries are there, the brick wall,
and they quite often have to make
repairs because of some errant driver
going down the street.
The city of series can't control the
motoring public out there as they come
over the overpass and come down the
highway. Accidents are going to happen.
They're called accidents. Um, very
seldom I don't think someone will
intentionally run into the fence at the
Siri cemetery.
Um, if the cemetery association feels
they need some sort of protection along
the ride ofway between the sidewalk and
the fence line, they need to install
that themselves.
That's my feeling. I don't think it's
the city's obligation to try to
determine whether someone's going to
have an accident there or not and try to
prevent it with a K rail so they won't
run into that property. Hay rails are
going to need to be maintained. Pretty
soon you're going to have homeless
people sleeping behind them, people
riding all over the front of them with
spray paint. So, there's things to
consider when when that happens. If you
put a wall down through there, a sound
wall of sorts to protect the cemetery,
which the cemetery should do themselves,
they're going to have to maintain the
writing on it because people are going
to come along with spray paint and and
do their graffiti thing. So, those are
things to consider. I don't think the
city has an obligation to provide um
traffic safety for the cemetery. Thank
you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Warren. Anybody else has
a comment or question?
>> Mr. Mayor?
>> Yes.
>> Just uh for council's awareness, I know
that this referral item was requested by
council member Casey back on April 6th
of this year.
About a month ago,
uh the police chief, economic
development director, the city engineer,
and myself went out and met with board
members of the uh cemetery district
along with, I believe it was the general
manager, and we discussed a recent event
that had occurred out there where I
believe a a vehicle went through the
fence that sparked uh this conversation.
Uh the police chief was very good about
giving some suggestions about what they
can do on their own property. Um the
engineer talked about right-of-way
access and some different things that
they can do. Um so while there is an
opportunity for the city to do something
on the city property, my impression is
that the cemetery uh board of directors
that were represented there along with
the general manager were satisfied with
the recommendations made by staff on
what they can do on their own property.
And this is not to sway the decision one
way or the other. It's just to make the
council aware that four of your top
staff members did meet with the cemetery
uh staff about a month ago regarding
this issue.
Thank you very much. If there's no
additional comments, I'll bring this
item back for the council. Additional
comments or questions? I do see every
button was pressed. I believe
Councilwoman Vieira, your button was
pressed first. Go ahead. Thank you um
mayor and thank you city manager because
I was going to ask because I remember
having this discussion with you when
that occurred. Um again I would like to
concur with several of the other
residents that have already spoke
regarding the budget. I don't think we
have a budget to be paying for it and I
think with the recommendations you made
um from what I had heard the feedback I
heard back from the board members is
that they were satisfied with the
discussion and the steps that were
taken. I guess my only concern are are
the steps being taken so we can recoup
the costs or are they recouping the cost
from the drivers that are damaging the
fence because ultimately it's the
drivers that are damaging the fence and
I think at this point in time I'm
satisfied with the meeting that occurred
and the board members seem to be happy
that had talked to me. Again, not all of
them. I only talked to a few. Um and so
I'm happy with what the discussion that
occurred and [snorts] the steps that you
laid out moving forward.
Thank you, uh, Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, my issue with this is it just goes back to what
I've kind of been harping on is is how
quickly things are are expedited.
There's 11 is it 11 council member
referrals on here tonight. Uh, Mr.
Casey's referral was 98 days ago, almost
100 days ago. A month ago, you're
telling me that you already went ahead
and did Mr. Casey's referral. And now,
why are we discussing this if you guys
already went ahead and did it? That's my
problem. We we make a referral and then
we sit around and we wait months for
them to come to us. So we've got 11
here, two before Mr. Casey's or one
before Mr. Casey's was further along. So
uh beforehand I would have said yes, I
would like to sit down and see what the
discussion would look like since that
was Mr. Casey's initial request, but
seeing as how you guys have already done
it, uh I would be a no for this as it
doesn't seem like it would be necessary
now.
>> Councilwoman,
>> thank you, Mayor. Um,
I know this is, you know, part of the
cemetery's responsibility, but I'm just
curious if there is any potential
liability on the city side. Um, that
overpass, I I don't know how many years
that, you know, it's been a long time
since it was redone, right, and it was
widened. Um, is there a possibility that
something with the design at one point
is, you know, part of this issue? And I
know people are going to speed, there's
going to be accidents, but um that's
what I think about when it comes to
liability for the city. I would be
interested in still getting a staff
report um to cover like some of the
things that the city manager just
discussed and what was um what occurred
in the meeting that they had at the
cemetery. I think it's great to, you
know, they did that beforehand so we
have an idea. Um, but I do support uh
council member Casey's referral because
we should look at all options even if we
don't move forward with it. Thank you.
>> Okay. So, city manager, I do appreciate
you going out and communicating with
this the the board. Uh but I would say
that I think that it's still warrant
that we at least get some information
back even if uh the council may not move
forward with funding from our side but
at least understand what you guys spoke
about what the plan is and if there is
liability uh city attorney what that
would look like. I think that's that's
fair to ask and then we can take action.
I mean today is is more about consensus
but at least that's I'm supportive of
that. Mr. Casey, would that satisfy your
request, sir?
>> Sure. And you know, this is this is no
fault of the staff or the council that's
sitting here, but uh my understanding
is that the the board and the the
cemeteries come before the city uh and
ask if there's [clears throat] anything
we can do. And like other issues,
uh they never got an answer. they no one
took the time to talk to them. So, uh
I'm pleased that the uh city manager and
staff was able to get together and kind
of agree with council vice mayor rather
vice mayor Daniel Martinez that maybe we
should have pulled this because it's
already in the work and that was the
point of it. Uh but again, the reason it
was even brought up is because
they they I I secondhand information I
was told that uh they came before the
city tried to get a hold of somebody to
see if they could we could work together
and they never neighbor got an answer
back and so they asked me to do this and
um I did it. [clears throat] Thank you.
>> Sounds good, Mr. Casey,
>> one more clarification, Mr. Mayor. Um,
so this was a pending referral item
specifically for K rails and until we
got to this referral item at the council
meeting, there was a request by the
cemetery staff to meet with city staff.
So the discussion between city staff and
the cemetery staff was not part of this
referral. It wasn't specifically for
krolls. It was the city staff responding
to the cemetery staff's request for what
can they do? Can they do can they put
krails on their property? Can they grow
specific type of trees that if it does
crash into the fence, it hits the tree
instead of the the railing. So while the
meeting was at the request of the the
cemetery staff separate from is the city
going to put kilos here. So just to
clarify that that's why that meeting
happened.
>> Thank you. I'll go ahead and do a
consensus from left to right. Vice
Mayor. No. Councilwoman. Yes. Yes. For
me. No for Ros Linda and Mr. Casey. Yes.
Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to
item number 14. This is a joint city
council and planning commission meeting.
This is requested by Vice Mayor Martinez
on April 13, 2026. Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know we've had
them in the past. Uh before they weren't
referrals, they were just held. Uh but I
was told this time around by the city
manager need to be a referral from a
council member. So that's what this is
just requesting us to sit down and have
our joint meeting.
>> Thank you very much. Can the me any
comments from the audience?
Seeing none, nobody online. I bring this
item back for comments, questions, or
consensus.
I'll go ahead and do consensus left
right. Vice Mayor. Yes. Yes. for me.
Okay, you got your consensus, city
clerk.
Moving on to item number 15. This is
amending the s excuse me, amending the
series municipal code to eliminate city
council healthcare benefits and reduce
the city's council stipen by 50%. And
this was requested by council member
Otter on the May 11, 2026 regular city
council meeting.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um, I've mentioned
this a few times and the council is
aware of my suggestion. Um, but I do
want to put this on the record uh that
we that I'm requesting to amend the
municipal code to eliminate the city
council's healthcare benefits um
currently because of the budget crisis
that we are in. Uh that's not to say,
you know, later on in the future a
council could come back and re-evaluate
it. I also would recommend that we do
our part as well in in this budget in
these budget cuts and cut the stipen in
half for the council members.
>> Thank you very much, council member. Any
members of the public would like to make
a comment on this item?
» Welcome to Reynolds from series
I strongly agree with this and I think
it should have been done prior to right
now. It should have been discussed and
handled when we were doing the budget
cuts, but I think this is an excellent
recommendation.
>> Thank you very much. Is there anyone
else?
Seeing none, anybody on Zoom?
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom. bring
this item back for comments, questions,
or consensus.
from left to right, Vice
Mayor. No. Councilwoman. Yes. No for me.
Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies. I did not
see your your button. Let's hold that
thought for a second. Council member
Vieira,
>> sorry, a little fast. Um
although just looking at past history,
this has been we haven't adjusted the
pay or the benefits in years. I saw
prior council members and mayors have
used this. I think um cutting the pay
actually hurts not the current council
members but future generations and
future leaders those that are looking at
coming to council working mothers I know
there was one that was considering
running but she's like what about
daycare? What about you how do I take
care of single mothers um young
professionals and even um different
people that are considering running
because again there's a lot of cost. My
um my contribution is not just coming to
the council meetings. I work with our
city staff. I know all of them have met
with a lot of us here on the dis almost
daily. I think they some of us see me
daily or multiple times including I know
the mayor and Martinez I know we're in
almost daily. Um the cost of doing
business because again we're going to
these dinners and handing out
certificates. We're not getting in there
free. We're not eating the meals. We're
usually handing out certificates while
everyone else is eating and having
dinner. Um we're also I sending welcome
letters to new residents that bought the
homes in my district. those stamps came
out of my pocket. That was part of my
contribution back to the community. I'm
engaging with businesses. Um I'm
engaging working a lot with Julian,
what's open, what's available, what can
I promote so I can bring businesses in
because that's key. We need diversity.
We need to engage in businesses so they
want to come to series. But that takes
time. That takes money. That takes
strategy. And that's not money that I
get reimbursed from the city. That comes
directly out of my pocket. Um I also
look at state law. um heavily lean on
California's SP 329. It's a state
legislator bill that actually changed
the caps and then that because our pay
cap hasn't been adjusted since I believe
it was 1984. We're still making the same
stipen that they were making in 1984 and
$500 there in 1984 significantly
different than what $500 is today and
how far that goes when it comes to a lot
of what we contribute not counting um
inflation and representation. A lot of
my district live in multi-generational
households. So there's three or four
generations living in one household
because they can't afford to live in a
large home or have multiple large
bedrooms individually to themselves. So
when I look at what the state was doing
when they passed this law, I think it's
important that uh we make sure that it's
set up so that way those single moms
that do have to pay for daycare, those
that need um other reasons and the re
still want to contribute to Siri still
have that opportunity. and that is why
I'm not supportive of it at this time.
>> Okay. So, we got your consensus. Council
member Casey, did you have a couple
comments, sir?
» Thank you.
know, um
those of us who are responsible for the
situation that we're in, um
we we should be the first ones to take
the hit. So, I uh think that you think
about this in the budget cut. We did
away with uh the Christmas tree thing,
the Easter thing, the Halloween thing,
the swimming thing.
So, we're we didn't do such a good job.
Uh, and if you ran for this office
because of the the benefits,
um, maybe you should rethink it. We
should be running and serving the people
for their benefit, not for our benefit.
So that's the way I feel. Thank you very
much.
>> Thank you, council member. Did you get
the consensus from all? Thank you very
much.
Item number 16.
This one is evaluating strategies of
amending the zoning code to diversify
business types. This was requested by
council member Otero at the May 11, 2026
regular city council meeting.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um,
when it comes to the speed limits on the streets that are listed on this
agenda here, Eastgate Booth, um, I did
mention Moffett Road to the
>> I think Oh, you know, number 16.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm ahead here. Um,
backing up to evaluate strategies of
amending the zoning code. Um, so tonight
we talked about, you know, potential
temporary moratorum on uh the gas
stations and car washes. Um, there's got
to be a better way to
diversify. Like it says the business
types that we have here. There's got to
be a way to bring in some different
types of businesses. Um, I feel other
cities do it and uh that's why I brought
this referral forward because I'd like
to see us amend the zoning code. Um,
we're going to be growing with more
housing and all of that, but I don't
want I want people to come here and stay
here. I don't want them to leave. I
don't want businesses to leave. So, um I
would like us to, you know, have an
option to amend the current zoning code.
>> Thank you very much. Open this up to the
public. Any members of the public would
like to make a comment on this item.
I just want to say that was quite a
speech that the mayor give about the gas
stations, about the diversity, and not
telling anybody we couldn't have another
gas station. Where were you when you
budded into the Guatemala chicken deal?
» Thank you very much for your comment.
Anybody else have any additional
comments?
Seeing none, bring this item back to
council. Anything on Zoom?
>> There. No hands raised on Zoom.
>> All right. Thank you very much. Looking
for cons. Ros Linda, you're quick.
Councilwoman Vieira.
>> All right. I I don't exactly know what
you want to change. Um, now when it
comes to diversifi, I guess it comes
down to Julian. Are you still attending
the ICSC conferences which is where you
connect with the businesses to try to
convince them that series is where they
want to build and live and reside and be
okay and that's still part of the budget
cuz I think that's going to be the
biggest key is having you connect with
those businesses and trying to get them
in here and sitting down and having
those continued meetings is I know I've
been on a few of them not all of them.
Um but I think that's key and making
sure that you still have those
opportunities. um and if that's going to
be part of the strategy.
>> That is correct. And we do have several
items in the pipeline. I just can't
share at this meeting, but we do have a
lot coming through. Um and so if there
is a point where the zoning is does not
match, then that is the discussion that
we have with those businesses for an
amendment um that they're if they're
willing to do that, then that is an
option for them to do. Now, do we have a
lot of businesses that are requesting
amendments or for the most part they're
going directly kind of where it's
already zoned for commercial?
>> For the most part, they're going to
where they are permitted by right for
the zoning. That's what they look for
first and foremost in those areas. And
so, um, a lot of them have reached out
because they do their due diligence. And
so, when they usually knock on our door,
it's because they've done their homework
and we've engaged with them over a
period of time.
And you're not specifically telling
anyone no don't come to seriesiries.
Correct.
>> I would never tell anyone no not to come
to series.
>> Okay. And you are scheduled. I just want
to make sure with the budget exped ICSC
in Monterey. Yes, that is correct.
>> Okay. That answers my question. Thank
you,
>> Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Julian, it sounds
like you already answered. I just wanted
to have you reiterate. We already do uh
the process of going and networking,
finding businesses, and when you have
somebody that applies for a location
that doesn't fit where they should be,
you work with them to move or find
different site maps that they could
possibly apply to. Correct.
>> Yes, that is correct. So, we do pre
pre-development meetings with them. So,
they'll give us a site plan, a
description of what they want, the
zoning area, the location. We verify
everything and then if it is not a
permitted by right, we'll look to see if
there's a conditional use permit that
can be done. If not, then we ask then
we'll go into possible general plan
amendment or zoning amendment for them.
Yeah.
>> Awesome. Thank you. So, it sounds like
essentially you're already doing what
referral is requesting.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> And Julian, could you name an instance
recently where you brought a business
owner to the planning commission and
gave them a conditional use permit and
they were allowed to continue to run
their business.
So, we have the um in our industrial
park area, we have a
jiu-jitsu, I believe, um organization
that it is not permitted by right. Um
they needed a conditional use permit to
establish the business there. So, we
made sure that they provided all the
information, documentation, site plan
that they needed so that we can present
that to planning commission to get it
approved. Um parking was one of the
things that we had discussed back and
forth. So they adjusted their times and made it so that So yes, so we will
work with them and we'll do our due
diligence to try to bring the business
to the location that they're at. We are
also working on another one that's
coming that is not permitted by right um
but that needs a conditional use permit
and so those are the options. So when
they come through um we will have those
discussions with them and give them the
options that are available.
>> Thank you very much Julian. Do
appreciate that. Any additional comments
or questions?
We get consensus, please, vice mayor,
councilwoman. No for me.
>> No.
>> Vice Mayor, can I get what your
consensus was?
>> No. So, no. Uh, for Vice Mayor, mayor,
and Rosalinda, Council Member Vieiraa.
>> Thank you.
Item number 17, form a budget committee
with a member from each council district
requested by council member Casey on the
May 11, 2026 regular city council
meeting.
» Yes. You know, I since I've been on the
council, we have uh
this year was probably one of the better
years, but typically we we as council
people, at least this council person, uh
get information about the budget,
the last meeting in May, if we have one,
and then we have,
you know, a meet first meeting in June.
soon
we're going to decide on an 800page
thing. I think that um we should form
this committee. It should be partially
from the community.
uh how how we select those members
I don't I'm not certain but uh we need
to get started on our 200
26
27
uh 2728 I guess uh budget sooner than
not and I I think it's important to have
input on that. Thank you.
>> Thank you Mr. Casey. We'll open this up
to the public. Any members of the public
would like to make a comment on this
item.
Yes.
Galan Guzman for the record. Uh so yeah,
I'm in support of this. Uh this
uh I'm in support of this. Uh yeah, the
city of series does a poor job of
engaging uh its citizens in like
day-to-day uh daily activities. Um but
the budget it's like one of the main
vital documents to a city in including
the strategic plan. Um so how do you
like I think it does also a poor um
assessment of community needs you know
from one district to another the the
needs of the community are slightly
different. So including a member of each
district um I think is vital. Uh there's
other cities that
um actually engage more um more of their
residents in the budget uh you know
process. The city is series. Yeah, it's
bad. Like if I'd give you guys a grade,
I'd do like D. Like it's not passing. Um
so yeah uh like I do agree with council
member Casey and saying that you know
for fiscal year 20 um you know 26 27
budget it was a little bit better but
only holding like one or two meetings a
year um as far as like community and
public engagement is not sufficient like
and then only holding like these budget
like workshops at a certain time you
know It doesn't work with everyone, you
know, everyone works a different
schedule. Uh, you know, and creating
this budget committee, it would allow
more public feedback and then actually
going door todoor perhaps like to get
like, hey, like what do you think this
district needs, you know? Um, so just
stuff like that. Like obviously I live
in district 2 and like the landscaping
is really bad. You got plots of along
like St. Clara Morgan, you know, you got
a tree a a dead tree, you know, like if
perhaps like allocating more money to
actually beautify series would be
beneficial and like it's an eyesore
right now and it's been an eyesore for a
long time, you know, this didn't happen
overnight, you know, and the whole like
financial audit that wasn't done for
fiscal year 24 to uh 25, you know, it's
like a year later or two years later,
you know what I mean? like this if this
was implemented it would be it would
have been caught on time you know uh
budget like turnaround time is average 6
years I mean 6 months after the end of
the fiscal year here we are in July we
don't have it completed yet you know
it's already it should have already been
back you know and like for fiscal year
uh 25 to 26 it we should already have
submitted it so we're like behind the
ball you know and it's your guys's um
you guys are the checks and balances and
you guys are I feel like it's you guys
are doing like a great job. So honestly
I think this is very needed.
Thank you very much. Anyone else would
like to make a comment?
John Warren, City of Series.
Um,
forming a budget committee with a member
from each district.
um would be an ideal thing
um for our members of the uh community
to become involved in and looking at
what the budget process actually takes
place um starting in January or December
u coming up for the next budget year. So
each department's budget could be
analyzed and discussed and gone over
with your with your budget committee and
then a report back to the to the city
council or in addition to the
uh five members of the community. Um,
there should be someone from the city
council sitting on that committee as
well who's familiar with the budget
process and maybe somebody from staff
that could sit in occasionally as the
meetings progress
through the process. one or two meetings
probably not enough um because it will
take a while to go through line by line
each department's budget and ask
questions about what this expenditure is
for and why this expenditure is there.
And by doing that um all the things that
you talked about during the regular
budget process
>> [snorts]
>> um will be brought forward and the uh
public will understand how that goes.
Um, I know some of this the city manager
does these things um privately or in
meetings with each group as a budget
year goes along and are preparing for
the next budget, but citizens don't have
any opportunity to see what's going on
here. So maybe it's something they could
do together or be involved with
simultaneously.
And so I think this is a good thing to
consider and I hope you do so. Thank
you.
very much. Anyone else?
Bring this item back to council for
comments, questions. Councilwomano,
um I just want to get clarification from
council member Casey.
Is your request for a budget committee
only during the budget season during
those couple months or could we
incorporate this into the forensic I'm
sorry, the financial oversight audit
committee? Maybe we can call it a budget
oversight and audit committee. I do. Um,
and additionally, I do like the idea of
having one representative from each
district.
>> Yeah,
it's a good question. And for
clarification, it would be an ongoing
thing. We're scheduled to have a review
this September of where we are with the
budget. So, that committee would be part
of that review prior to
coming out to the public.
Somehow we need to work on that. Yeah,
thank you for the clarification.
>> You're welcome. And um so
just for uh confirmation, could city
staff combine your referral and my
referral to bring back a staff report on
what this committee would look like?
>> Yes. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
Mr. Mayor, can I just make one
clarification real quick? The um
the quarterly audit that we have
committed to do the first one will be
for the month of July, August and
September. But that report will not be
made in September. We have to get
through the month, reconcile the books.
So that first report will be in October,
but it will be for the months of July,
August, and September. Councilwoman
Vier,
>> thank you. Um I think my question was
pretty well answered by um Council
Member Otto because it sound like it was
similar. Um and it just sounds like the
only difference was since it's a
financial one, it was incorporating the
budget and one from each district which
I think are if you were okay with those
reasonable adjustments to your
recommendation, I would be supportive of
that. But I don't think we necessarily
need two groups overseeing the same
thing unless it leads to that and then
maybe we make that change at that point
once we get the foundations of whatever
we're doing here together. But if you're
supportive of that, I'm supportive of
that as well.
» [clears throat and cough]
>> City Manager, you know, in in regards to
the quarterly review, you know, if this
committee were to if you guys were to
bring a staff report back, you would
give us in detail exactly what this
committee is out to do. They're going to
be an advisory committee. They would be
provided with the quarterly reviews.
They they would provide that oversight
throughout the entire year. And then
what I was wanted to clarify is that
before that advisory committee received
the final budget which would be the
budget that that we would present next f
fiscal year that budget in particular
would would have to go through the
process of the city manager and all the
departments before it was given to the
advisory committee. Correct. Not the
other way around.
>> That is correct. My recommendation is
staff have the discussion first,
decide amongst ourselves what
recommendations we want to make. We
would then present that to this budget
oversight committee, make sure that
they're fully on board, see if they have
any additional recommendations that
perhaps we have not considered, but
ultimately anything would still come
back to the city council for final
approval.
>> Okay. First to the staff, then to the
committee, then to the council. So that
so this would be established. You would
bring this item back if we got consensus
and outline what those jobs and tasks
will be for this committee. Correct.
>> Correct. And the appointment process
much like your other committees. There
would be established expectations for
committee members. There would be a
selection process. There would be a term
and all of that would be brought back in
a staff report before the committee is
established.
>> Okay. I like that idea. I'm on board
with this. Any additional comments or
questions,
Vice Mayor?
Apologize, Mr. Mayor. I thought I pushed
my button. No, I'm just going to agree
with uh pretty much everything everyone
else has stated that uh item what is
this 17 sounds a lot like item 12. So,
combining them ultimately makes sense.
Having each individual uh council person
make a recommendation as to who they'd
like to have their representative be,
but still have that go through the
process of council approval. uh making
guidelines for expectations, meeting
attendance, and how to replace those
people should they uh no longer attend
or move out of the district or longer
live in the area. Uh so I definitely
support combining those like uh council
members and Vieira discussed and I
support it.
>> Could we possibly bring those both those
staff reports back even if they're
separate or the same and then we decide
and we would have to motion at that time
when this report is brought back so that
way to avoid any confusion. And just to
clarify, you're asking each council
member to pick a individual from their
district and the mayor would be in the
city at large.
>> What I would recommend is we take item
12 and item 17 if it's approved by you.
We will bring one staff report back to
the city council that incorporates both
referral item 12 and referral item 17
into one action that the council would
take to establish the committee. the
fact that one member from each district
will serve on the committee as well as a
fifth member that's chosen by the mayor.
>> Yeah, sounds good. And then obviously
when you bring that item back, you'll
also ask us how we want to do the
interview process, whether we want to do
it in person or have we done it in the
past. It looks like we're starting to do
that, which is fine with me. That is
correct. Okay, thank you. You're okay.
>> Okay, sounds good. I'll go ahead and ask
for consensus from left to right.
Yes.
Okay, Mr. Casey, I didn't see you, but
you probably said yes, right? Okay,
thank you. Moving on to item number 18.
This is the reduce the speed limits by 5
miles per hour, and this is requested by
council member on May 13, 2026.
» Thank you, Mayor. Um, I was so eager to
get to this one earlier. So, the speed
limits survey came back. Um there's
speed limits that have been set or
actually will remain the same, but there
are streets that I want to lower the
speed by 5 mph. My main uh goal is to
lower the speed on Eastgate and Booth.
Um and then I did incorporate Moffett
Road. Um I've talked to staff a little
bit about Moffett Road and we're going
to look at the options. Um but
specifically Eastgate and Booth do need
to be done. Um, I've also done some
research myself and I feel that there
are ways for the city to allow these
speed adjustments um, especially maybe
at by our parks citywide. And I did send
that information over to um, the city
manager
to I think yesterday or today um, in an
email, but I I'd like to see this move
forward and um, get those speeds uh,
reduced. I don't know what the uh I know
this probably not the time, but
hopefully the police department um is
also supportive of this. They're the
ones that along with fire have to
respond to some of these calls or some
of these um give these speeding
citations.
So that is my referral for number 18.
>> Thank you. Going now to the public. Any
members of the public would like to make
a comment on this item?
they predecessors.
Yeah,
it's tough getting old. Uh I'm glad at
least you're not raising the speed
limits. All All these are main thorough
affairs through those neighborhoods.
And no matter what what speed you set
them at, you're still going to get the
speeders going through these.
Uh when I'm going going through, I see
most of them drive at a it it may be
above a speed limit, but they're not
actually
speeding speeding.
And I know when I got a lot of cars
parked along the park or the schools, I
probably even drive even slower because
I worry about something jumping out
between the cars.
Uh
yeah. Yeah. So
I'm okay with uh what the speed limit is
now or lowering it five speed five 5
miles an hour. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Anybody else would
like to make a comment?
» John Warren, city of Series. I want to
say that this is a good idea. I would
support [snorts] this. I think the city
engineer has some leeway in lowering the
speed limits by 5 miles an hour or
raising them in in some instances um
based upon the 85th percentile and the
traffic surveys and so forth and so on.
But I think all these um especially
Moffer Road which I am on more than I am
on the Eastgate side where um council
person is. But um yes, I would be in
favor that the traffic uh
speed limits be reduced by 5 miles an
hour and that should take care of the
problem. Mike,
>> thank you. Thank you. Next person,
please.
Okay, think about what it's going to
cost to change all those signs. Again,
money. You just keep nickel and dime us
to death. If you have to change all the
signs on all those streets, in all those
areas by five miles,
it's just going to cost more money.
Please stop and consider how you're
spending our money.
» Thank you very much. Next person.
Anybody on Zoom?
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> Bring this item back for comments and
questions. Councilwoman Vieira.
» Okay. Um, again, I don't know if speed
limits necessarily change behavior. At
least that's what I'm kind of hearing
from the police department is even
changing it doesn't necessarily mean
someone's going to drive slower. My
concerns, one is I thought this
something was going to be allowed for
all of us because I had specifically I
had already emailed and asked about the
streets in my district and I see I was
told that that was going to be
incorporated cuz I was but then I was
also told if I was to bring dis the
streets in front of the schools in my
district that there was going to be a
cost. So, I'm just kind of curious on
what the costs are, why other council
members were not given the same
opportunity because I did email I did
ask um immediately why I wasn't part of
this because I had asked as well cuz I
want to know what the cost. I believe
Martinez had also brought it forward. If
we all had asked for three streets, what
are the costs? And I'm hearing now if
anyone else asks, there are costs
involved. And so I think that is key for
me before I consider making this cuz
unless we can find a way the police can
enforce the changing speed limits. Um I
don't know if it's going to change
behavior and I think each district
should be given the same opportunity as
well as discover how we're going to pay
for this cuz that's also key. And I
believe at the council meeting when this
was discussed I was told it was about
$1,700 a sign. And when you look at four
what three signs each street right here
we're already at four signs. And if each
one of us each have three
recommendations, we're talking about a
significant amount of money. And so
that's my biggest concern right now. And
I think that needs to be I'm not in
favor at this point in time based on how
it's being presented.
>> Vice Mayor,
>> thank you, Mr. Mayor. I kind of agree
with what council member VR is saying.
We can lower speed limits, but that
doesn't necessarily stop bad drivers
from driving dangerously. Uh I am
concerned that this only seems to you
know impact u one area of the city when
there are other areas that have you know
like my item coming up around Smeirna
Park has streets that have speed limits
that could be reduced to potentially
reduce accidents. Um so just that alone
with the fact that yes there would be
signs that would need to be ordered. Uh
there would be crews that need to
replace them uh would be a no for this.
>> Thank you. You know, I I would like to
see if Bill TR could give us a little
backstory. I know that you you actually
brought us a report and gave us
statistics on whether or not we decided
to move forward with lowering um speed
limits in certain areas. Could you
please rephrase or just explain to us
again with that process and what it took
to get to the the findings that you
found?
>> So, we uh Thank you, mayor. We we we did
come with an engineering and traffic
survey um that that set the speed
limits. It did not raise any speed
limits at the time. Um I think it's
important to note that if we if we want
to look at different roads, we can do
that. Um the the big thing is is that I
will look at a cost. I'm not going to
move forward without as a matter of fact
if there is a cost that has to come back
to council because that contract is
already over the $25,000 which means I
need to come back for an amendment in
order to have that contract amended for
an additional amount. Uh as far as the
signs, uh yes, I've I've said it's about
$1,500 to $2,000 per sign that we need
to change. Um there could be some
savings as we move signs around if you
know if there's one road that's coming
down to 35 and we're taking signs off of
a 35 because it's lowering to 30 and we
can use those signs. We haven't we
haven't done a deep dive on all of that.
I think it's important to know which
roads everybody would want. Uh secondly,
I think there's another portion to this.
Um you know, we look at AB43. The AB43
is actually what they consider a safety
corridor bill um that was passed by the
state legislature. It includes parks, uh
schools where children are present,
those types of things um that allow for
us to lower speed limits by 5 m an hour
due to it being considered a safety
corridor. The second item is actually AB
382. AB382 will become a mandate in 2031
and that will mandate the state has
mandated that by 2031 all school zones
will need to be down to 20 m an hour. Um
there is a provision in there to bring
them down to 15 m an hour. Um but we
would need to look more into that
provision if we wanted to bring those
speed limits down to 15 m an hour. So
there there there's actually a multitude
of things that we could look at um as as
we move through this process if that is
the council's desire. Um but there are
provisions uh to lower speed limits by 5
miles an hour. Um and then it will be
mandated in 2031 that all school speed
limits come down to at least 20 m an
hour. So that that's really what it is
in a whole. Um, and if it's the
council's desire for me to bring that
back, I can uh bring a staff report
back. Um, I would like to be in contact
with each one of you to know which roads
you guys would like me to look at in in
your districts or within the city. Um,
and and go from there if that is the
desire of the council.
>> Thank you, Milair and Vice Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just had a
question, sir. So you you had an
engineering report brought back where
you know they went through the process
of reviewing our roads and they said
everything was fine but now you're
telling us if we have specific streets
that we're concerned about then to give
you that list why have the initial
engineering report in the first place
then?
>> So the initial engineering report uh
from an engineering traffic study
standpoint actually only looks at the
85th percentile in general. So they go
um there was a lot of uh public comments
for instance on social media about the
cameras that were up around town. Um and
they're they're recording speeds of
vehicles that are going by um for the
purpose of the study. And so in general
when they do an an engineering traffic
survey like this they look at the 85th
percentile. Then there are certain uh
parameters. The engineers also know that
changing speed limits takes money. Um it
takes crew money, it takes sign money.
There's there's just money that is
involved when they start to do that. So
generally speaking, uh if that there is
an ability to uh keep speed limits the
same, that's what they that's what they
try to do because they know the cost
burden that that it puts on a city. Some
of those may already be under uh maybe
the the percentile on um one of the
roads was showed the 85th percentile was
at 40 m an hour but the speed limit was
35 m an hour. They will use engineering
judgment at that point in time to
determine hey can [clears throat] I
apply AB43 to this as a safety corridor
to keep that speed limit at 35 m an
hour. So all of those judgments are made
while we go through this. Um and and the
engineers, they don't want to one create
a cost burden for the city because it
does get expensive. Uh and two, if they
can keep speed limits the same, then
that's what they will try to do under most circumstances. Sometimes
that's not possible and speed limits do
go up. And that's why I I kind of
praised the public when when we
presented this report that for the most
part, everybody was good in driving. Um,
and we were able to keep all of the
speed limits within the city the the
same as they were.
>> Thank you. And with that engineer's
report, it would make us or it would
take away the liability. Nubia, if
there's an accident, we had an
engineering report done that showed that that street had a safe speed limit
that there was nothing we could have
done because ultimately it comes back to
the driver and their negligence. I
wouldn't say that it completely
bulletproofs. Obviously, you want to be
able to document everything that the
city can do and steps to take to make it
safe, but there's a lot of factors that
would go into ultimate liability, but
from uh documenting the the the steps
and the procedures that would got to
start there.
>> Thank you. And Mike, you said that the
school zones are going to be eventually
reduced down to 15 m hour. Would that be
a a safe school? I know a few years ago,
Lieutenant Godfrey uh with worked with
the school district to do safe paths to
school. Would that be something that
goes through the school district in the
city or would that be something that
only we would handle?
>> So, uh the assembly bill actually
mandates that cities lower the speed
limit at in a school zone to 20 m an
hour um starting in 2031. uh that cost
will be burdened by the city to to
reduce those or really to change those
uh signs uh in school zones uh for for that provision within the law.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> Councilwoman Otero.
Okay, Councilwoman Vieira.
>> Um I think for me it sounds like we are
going to be red removing most of these
signs anyways under this new assembly
bill. I don't remember which one you
said it was. Um 382. So I think it's
just a matter of working through those
and working on financially because I
don't think I'm okay at 1,500 to 2,000
per sign for three streets that could
potentially be $6 to $10,000 per street.
And I don't think I'm have it in the
budget currently. And if it's legally
required under the current requirements
under your engineering report, it's
required by the traffic engineer. Um I
think that's where we're at. and then we
should save the money or start figuring
out how we're going to allocate the new
requirements because ultimately it's
going to be reduced down by 2031 to 20
anyways in most of these areas.
>> Just just for a point of clarification,
council member, um we we are not
mandated to do it at this point in time.
That mandate does not happen until 2031.
It would be a council decision if they
would uh prefer to implement that at an
earlier date. whether that be this year,
next year, or any year up to 2031. Um,
that can be done, but it will be
mandated in 2031. So,
any additional comments? Okay. If
there's no additional comments or
questions, I'm looking for consensus.
Vice Mayor, no. Councilwoman,
no for me.
Mr. Casey says yes.
Thank you. Item number 19. This is a
report on watering days and increases to three watering days per week. This
was requested by Vice Mayor Martinez on
June 22nd, 2026.
>> Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I'd like
the uh request as just reviewing what it
would look like to change it from two to
three watering days.
>> Okay. Going now to the public. Any
members of the public would like to make
a comment on this item?
uh day predator series. Uh I already
noticed there's a lot lot of people are
already doing more than two days a week
if not more than three. Uh but there's
also I see a quite a few I that's
surprising they don't complain about
their water bills. I see when they're
their front and most of the water is
going down the gutter.
And so
basically I think at least once in a
while I check my sprinklers to see if
they're working halfway decent.
Sometimes they're not. And people ought
to get out there and look at what theirs
are doing too that see where most their
water's going.
» Thank you. Anyone else would like to
make a comment?
» John Warren, city of series. Um, each
month each residents allowed a certain
number of gallons of water. Uh, in the
spring, the summer, the fall, it
changes. Sometimes it's 27,000 gallons a
month as a maximum per residence and
then u it changes down to 12,000 gallons
per month. So if a person watches that,
it doesn't make a darn bit of difference
whether they're wearing five days a week
or three days a week or two days a week
as long as they don't go over their
usage allowed. And that's what I think
our water reports and things are based
on is that allowed usage. Now, if a
person doesn't monitor their usage,
there's a problem there. I know at one
time I talked to Jeremy and there was
people in this community using 75,000
gallons of water a month in the
wintertime. It just ran out the door and
down the street and they had a constant
battle with those particular property
owners,
issuing them notices and fines and
things like that. But I think for the
normal person and I use my own usage. My
usage last month was 17,000 gallons and
we're getting into the warmer months and
I haven't changed my sprinkler times at
all. So anyway, I I' I've never used
over the amount that's allowed and so
whether I wither water two days a week
or four days a week, I'm going to still
use the same amount of water. I think
that needs to be considered. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Anybody else?
Seeing none, anybody on Zoom?
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> Bring this item back for comments,
questions, or consensus.
Vice Mayor.
Yes, for me.
» Question. How long ago, Joshua, did you
present this to council? Because I
thought we just discussed this and we
were going to exceed the water usage if
we went to 3 days. Um it was in
November. Um I believe November because
um Sam was still on board. Um
we w we would exceed the the water use
efficiency
objective if uh every resident were to
um use all three days. Um just based on
the quick calculations that we did. Um
but just uh objectively speaking um I
think there is some wiggle room. I I
know I believe uh at the last when this
was brought up I there was also talk
about having it 3 days for the summer
versus you know or having it change
during the season having 3 days for the
summer versus the the winter. So I think
um we could provide some more
information if that's what the council
wants. Um, I know
we have difficulty sometimes, uh, the water department has difficulty
sometimes, um, using some water and
water is being stored that, you know,
we're not able to take our our full
aotment from SRWA at some times. There's
we have wells that are not running at
sometimes. So, there is some um,
[clears throat] use for for having the
water being used um, without going over
the water use efficiency that's set by
the state.
So with this again that we're just
moving a consensus to research. If we
approve this, we're looking at
difficulties accessing water because we
have limited water accessibility
currently is what it sounds like you're
telling me. Um as well as we have the
possibility of exceeding our state
required limitations, which those two
alone make me concerned in moving
forward. Although I like the idea, I
don't necessarily feel jeopardizing our
standing with the state water board and
the inability to
access water as well as drain our wells
further down and getting more
contaminants into it and sand which I'm
hearing a lot about. Um I don't think
I'm comfortable with that. So it I I
guess without more information it's
really hard to make a full
>> okay
>> form decision. Just point of
clarification,
the we've had difficulty getting all of
the water that we have allotted to us
from SRWA
from our our surface water. Sometimes
we're having difficulty getting it out
into the system because it's not being
used. So, we're having to ask SRWA to uh
decrease our water intake then uh
compared to what we've ordered. Um so
there's you know some
the case could be made that in some
cases we are not getting the full
benefit of
that water that's allotted to us. Um
that's just at different times. You know
in the winter we've had difficulty you
know turning over our reservoirs and
making sure that the water is being used
at some times. Um but it is a balance
because we have to compare that with
making sure that we stay under our water
use objective. Um we changed on our
monthly report. We changed uh the way
that we were reporting. Um so this
public works uh monthly report that goes
to the council every every council um
meeting.
U it does show our current usage in
comparison with our water use objective
from the previous year. So we can kind
of see where we're at um as we go. And
it it is a live document so we can you
know make changes as we see fit. But uh
the the initial recommendation was not
to go to 3 days because um we were near
the the water use objective. We still
had a couple million gallons of of
leeway. Um but I I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head
from when we gave that report in
November.
>> Okay. I'm okay with moving forward with
the idea during the summer as long as
we're not moving o or exceeding our
state requirements. I think that's my
biggest concern is I don't want to get
fined or disciplined or any kind of
penalties coming from the state. So if
it comes to that point, I'm not
wanting to move forward with this idea
if it does put us or jeopardize us with
the state. So that's kind of where I'm
at. I don't know how you want to judge
that because I don't understand
>> staff can move forward with with you
know looking at um th those changes just
based off percentages increase by
percentages during month the the
summertime or do a comparison for the
whole year. Uh I believe when the
initial report came out it was kind of
just like hey if if everybody did this
you know let's multiply
uh this you know two days by making it 3
days and that projection put us above
the the water use objective but um yeah
we can we can come with a more detailed
report.
>> I'm interested in seeing that report.
Thank you.
>> Yeah that would be very beneficial for
us to move forward. Council member
Casey. Go ahead sir.
To go back to Mr. Warren's point, does
it really matter if we do two days, 3
days, 4 days, 5 days? Because we're only
allotted so many gallons anyway. We're
not we're not it's not asking
we're not asking for more gallons. We're
just asking for the opportunity to water
our grass and flowers without being
fine, whether it's three days or four
days. Yes,
>> it doesn't matter really. We only are
allotted so many gallons and then of
course this is here this is no part of
that but what the heck are we going to
do when we build all these other houses
where we're going to get the water you
know?
>> Yeah. Oh, thank you for your for your
question.
>> But isn't I mean isn't I mean the the
simple qu I mean this is a simple
question. So if we approve
to go forward to study the three days a
week, we're only allowed it so many
gallons anyway and we're not asking to
increase that a lotment.
>> We're just saying now now don't worry
about it if you want to work water your
grass on Sunday.
>> Yeah, I I understand. Uh thank you for
your question. So the reason that it
matters is because when drought
conditions come there are steps that are
mandated by the state. So you know the
reason that we initially the city you
know years back went to two days was
because a mandate was put out by the
state. There was a um an order by the
governor to uh follow certain uh drought
restrictions and part of those
restrictions was decreasing your
watering days by one day. So if if
something like that were to come out
again and we're at 2 days, we may have
to go down to one day or we may be
considered for that. So it's just there
are things I understand that we all do
have allotted amounts and as long you
know there's people that go over the
allotted amount with two days, right? So
it we we uh address those cases with our fines and our fee structure. But um
having the watering days uh increase
back to three is or or whatever we
increase it to it it does matter because
when drought restrictions happen we have
to take certain steps. Um yeah and then
what was there was a second question.
Oh, when we when we build new homes, uh,
a lot of those developments come with
installing or drilling new wells or um
building new reservoirs. So,
» all right. So, I think we already we've
gone through the consensus, right?
>> I think I have four yeses.
>> Mr. Casey, Mr.
>> He said yes.
>> So, we have five yeses.
>> Mr. Mr. Casey, are you Yes. Yeah, we're
good. Thank you for the questions, Mr.
Casey. Moving on to item number 20,
which is safety around Suburban Park.
This was requested by Vice Mayor
Martinez.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We had some
citizens in here uh what meeting was
this? June 22nd, so just just last
month. Uh describing how unsafe it is to
walk across the street, uh especially
when there's heavy baseball tournaments.
Um and we do have two schools there at
Samra Park, right? It's sandwiched in
between two. So, I would like to see
about maybe um updating the crosswalks,
adding lights, maybe putting a safety
signal that when someone is crossing, it
alerts drivers that are coming uh just
to improve the safety around the park,
especially since it's such a heavily
used park. It hasn't been very well
maintained of recent, but it is still a
used park. I'd like to see about getting
those paths a little safer.
>> Thank [clears throat] you very much. Is
there any members of the public would
like to make a comment on this item?
Thank you. Um, there's also a criminal
element that needs to be addressed with
some of our park systems. Most recently,
a family member of mine
was uh relieved of her cell phone and
driver's license and wallet and stuff at
the at the park during broad daylight. I
don't know if it was
all that person's fault, but the young
man that came over and talked to her
that did know who she was was very
interested in u in her belongings and uh
when she got home she didn't have them.
So there there's an element there of
safety too in broad daylight uh on a
Sunday afternoon at some park. And also
I think on Facebook today um the party
at that pavilion that
she was sitting by left about 1,000
pounds of trash. I mean the pictures
that u the ladies that were working in
the rose garden and weeding and stuff
because city staff wasn't able to do
that um took some pictures and posted
them and it was just terrible. I
remember Mike Klein did the same thing
years ago after a Sunday event at the at
Samra Park and it was just terrible. I
mean, there's trash everywhere and and
people would even put it in the trash
cans and then the trash cans were
overfilled in some cases and they just
throw it on the ground rather than take
it away with them. And that should be a
requirement I think when these people
rent or sign up to use a facility there.
If they leave it in shabby case, they
should be build for the cleanup. I mean,
we should be, you know, collecting uh
from them or have a deposit big enough
that they will take it away or we just
won't return the posit. We keep the the
pictures and show them say, "Hey, this
is how you left it and so uh we're going
to have to pay someone to clean it up."
That's what we should do. Thank you very
much.
>> Thank you very much. Is there anybody
else?
The trash at Suburba Park is it it's a
difficult thing. A woman posted a whole
bunch of pictures of the trash
everywhere. People were having parties
and leaving the trash in bags and they
were attaching the bags to the garbage
disposal things. But the garbage
disposal things you have there are real
pretty and they have these cute little
tops on them and it's hard to put the
trash in. If you just go back to plain
oldfashioned garbage cans, I think you'd
have a lot better luck. And then keep
the homeless out of the garbage. That's
the two things, the wrong garbage cans
and the homeless. That's your problems.
» Thank you. Is there anybody else?
Seeing none. Anyone on Zoom?
>> There are no hands raised on Zoom.
>> Bringing this item back for consensus.
Vice Mayor.
Councilwoman.
Yes. For me,
I if I may, uh, Mayor, I to address uh,
Councilman Martinez's uh, issue with
safety around around Smeirna Park um, on
the roadways. We actually do have two
projects. One is an ATP, an active
transportation project. Um the other one
is uh a CMAC or HSIP project. Both
grant-f funded projects that are
actually going to be um repainting
crosswalks, those types of things.
Putting in uh a couple of speed tables.
So those things are in progress. Uh they
are they are currently being designed uh
right now. Um, and so I I just wanted to
at least let the council know that there
is a project, a couple of projects that
are going on on Moffett. One that both
that will include some safety aspect of
at least the Moffett portion of uh,
Smeirna Park, but obviously there there
are other portions to that that are not
included in those projects. Um, and we'd
be happy to address those also. But I
did want to let the council know that
there are uh two projects currently on
Moffett that'll address some safety
aspects uh with regard to the roadway at
that point.
>> Council member Vier, do you did you have
a additional comment?
>> Did you want to go first?
>> That was part of my question was I
thought there was something in the works
already and I didn't know if police were
also looking at the safe routes. I don't
know if that was you were police that
did the one um on Morgan Road and then
you also have the one that's on Hackett
and Central that you're currently
working on as well and bringing
sidewalks into my district. Um but
that's all grant funded because that was
going to be my concern is the cost um in
doing these upgrades. What are we
looking? And then I thought we also had
cameras at that location that the police
or dispatch monitor because um I don't
know if that is maybe another aspect
that could reduce some of the criminal
aspects that were being discussed and
maybe that might be another alternative
um because ultimately safety is going to
come down to police and the really
regardless of what we do I I think
ultimately it's going to come down to
the police department.
>> So there are cameras uh at Smyrna Park.
However, in the area that uh this
occurred, there was no uh camera
coverage.
Thank you, Max.
>> No, thank you. Uh Council Member Vier
asked about the grants.
>> Okay. Thank you. Let's go ahead. I know
that we were in the middle of consensus,
right? It's okay. I believe I had made
my consensus correct. So, are we going
to council?
>> I want to wait until I see what Belran
has coming forward. I'm not interested
in using general fund money and stuff
that we could possibly use with grant
money.
>> I take that as a no. Um, council member
Casey.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you. Appreciate that. Moving on to
item number 21. This is a review of the
2021 CARES Act audit and RAD funding
requested by council member Otero on the
22nd of June 2026.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um so during the
budget process I had mentioned some
concerns that I had with the car's act
funding and through my research um there
was also some rad funding that the city
had received. Um there was like a
partnership with businesses during co.
So for me I want to ensure that the
funding during that time was reflected
uh correctly in our budget and our staff
reports. Um I know that the single year
audit for 2021 was not completed timely.
was completed in um 2023 and at that
time there wasn't a audit done. It was
stated in a letter that um basically the
city would be exempt from it. Um but
it's important to note that the city was
a recip a subreient of the CARES
funding. It came from the county and I
believe it there's some that came from
um the state or federal government. So
there is some reporting that I believe
should have been done because during
that year um the car's act funding had
to be spent by a certain time frame and
the funding was over our expenditures
were over 250,000 or 750,000.
So I would like to go back um and
evaluate that. I don't want us to run
into an issue where we get called out by
the state, you know, after they do their
own audit and we were supposed to do
one. Um, when it comes to the RAD
funding, same thing. Um, that funding
source was through the car's act. There
was also some RAD funding that came from
ARPA. Um, so I'd like to just, you know,
track that funding and ensure that all
of it has been documented correctly
because I would hate for us to be
audited um by the state or federal
government.
>> Thank you. Is there any members of the
public that would like to make a comment
on this item?
Please step up to the podium.
uh city of series wellman city of series
for the record. So, I just want to take
uh take the time to thank uh
Councilwoman Otto for uh listening first
of all uh when I spoke at I don't know
was it the last city council meeting or
one of the meetings um where I noticed
that discrepancy
uh yeah so according to like the
financial documents online uh the city
received in revenue from grants and
contributions 16,51,734,000
And of that like it's listed under the
capital as um right up below it it's
capital money is 2,485,927.
So that definitely serve s surpasses the
750,000
uh exemption um you know limit that the
like if a city spends 750,000 in federal
government by law or like they're
supposed to do a uh single-year audit
which wasn't done you know and it's just
it doesn't make sense because three out
of the five oh wait one wait one two
most of the city council sitting on the
dis right now
had the obligation to do this and and
catch this and this was not caught on
time. So you guys are the like I said
you guys are the check and balances and
when stuff like this falls through the
crack it's not acceptable.
Okay.
Um, so yeah, that this yeah, I do
support this because you guys should
have been doing this a long time ago and
this was missed and so I did do a public
records request and one of it was
several, you know, and um some of it
still has to get back to me by July
20th, you know, and I don't like
waiting. Um so but number I the request
number 11 as out of the 12 was a list of
ARPA funds and CB uh CBDG
uh funds received by the city of series
um from fiscal year ending 2018 to
present day 2026. Please include list of
contract bid awardies as well as
contracts made with the city of series
for such funds and if city departments
receive such funds an item itemized list
of expedentials for each monies uh used
by departments for each fiscal year from
2018 to 2026. Now, we've discussed the
uh forensic financial audit, which I
don't understand why you wouldn't you
would vote no to do it because obviously
uh something's off, you know, and if you
guys are not going to listen, this will
go to the civil grand jury for them to
investigate because this government is
inefficient, okay? And there's stuff is
falling through the cracks, you know,
there's a high turnover rate, you know,
and that's not accidental.
And I think we're we're we're the public
is left in the dark and that's not
acceptable. You know, you guys work for
us and if if citizens present concerns,
serious concerns, you guys should
listen.
And I'm talking to you, Rosalinda
Vera. Okay? Because I've sat with you
and you've dismissed these concerns and
have failed to address them. I spoke
with you and I had questions about
measure L the quarterly reports
and you were dismissive did miss
dismissed my concerns. So I had I now
approached council member Otero who
actually takes the time to listen to my
concerns and actually address them.
Okay. for measure measure L quart
quarterly audits. There's actually a
civil grand jury report from Stanco that
says the these need to be done and
county government, you know, it slipped
through the cracks and the reports where
they needed to be done and here I am in
2026 and it's still missing. So yeah,
this government is inefficient and it's
not okay.
So yeah, do your job please.
>> Suzman, real quick, sir. Uh, do you
receive the document that I provided to
you on measure L?
>> Yes, sir. But yeah, it's not still, you
know, there's a lot missing.
>> I'm sorry. Your time is up, but I just
wanted to make sure if there's anything
else that you need, just please reach
out to me.
>> I'm willing to help as as other council
members can help you. I'm willing
>> Yeah, I already had requested Measure L,
like public records request before you
gave me that packet. So, I appreciate
you.
>> No problem. Thank you very much.
>> Is there anybody else that would like to
make a comment?
bringing this item back.
» Consensus. Yes.
>> Okay. I'm It's a no for me.
>> It's a yes for me.
>> Get your direction.
>> Clarification. Council member Otto. Was
that a yes or a no for you? Yes. And
just and and also just for the record, I
believe the city manager, you're kind of
hidden there for a second, but you you
there is a RAD funding document that was
provided to the city council, correct?
>> I believe the city recently received a
report of RAD funding for the most
recent year. Yes.
>> Okay. I was just wondering just make
sure the public knew that. Okay. Thank
you. Moving on to item number 22, which
is the last item.
locate the resolution on general fund
reserves percentage. And this was
requested by myself. The reason why I
made this request is I am requesting
that the city council consider adopting
a formal resolution establishing a
general fund reserve policy. The reason
for this referral is simple. If the city
of Sirius is going to reference a
reserve percentage, whether it's 18%,
20%, or another number, it should be
clearly adopted by the council through a
formal resolution. This gives the city a
clear policy, removes confusion, and
makes sure future budget decisions are
based on adopted council direction, not
just past discussions or
recommendations.
as a formal reserve policy would also
straighten the city's financial
stability. It would help protect
essential services, public safety,
staffing, and emergency response during
economic downturns, disasters, or
unexpected revenue losses. As a part of
this referral, I would like the staff to
bring back options for a target reserve
level, including whether the city should
remain at 18%.
Or towards 20%. Now, I would also like
to see a 5-year roadmap to excuse me, a
road map to gradually rebuild reserves
and a clear rules for when the city may
temporarily fall below the adopted
percentage along with the plan to
restore those funds. The goal is
accountability, transparency, and a
long-term financial discipline for the
city of Series.
Is there any members of the public that
would like to make a comment on this
item?
a pride of series at one time series was
in black and actually the council raised
the percentage and basically you're not
supposed to just keep robbing that that
the problem is brown and co came along
and all the cities are are hurting
and everybody all everybody's been
trying trying to get back at back
towards the black and it has been
difficult.
Everything's getting more expensive.
People just don't have the funds to go
to the restaurants and stuff stuff
to, you know,
basically that's where a lot of the
money comes from. The Siri uh for your funds
you rely
you keep putting in stuff
that doesn't really get a high turnover.
I don't believe that. All these these
food trucks and stuff that you want to
bring in here,
I don't I doubt if you can even prove
that you're even getting getting a tax
off of those things.
I remember Alonszo's.
There was a time that restaurant was
full of people all the time.
Then all the all these drive-thrus came
in and took the business away and and
now
people getting away from the
prices are getting so expensive.
business are coming up with ways to do
without without employees.
Just because an employee can get now $20
an hour uh flip hamburgers hamburgers
doesn't mean he's going to be able to
they're coming up with machines to do
that.
AI they're getting computers to do do
take your order stuff. Most of the time
they got little iPads at the tables and
stuff to take it from the when people
aren't working.
The cities aren't going to get money.
Thank you. Is there anybody else that
would like to make comment?
» Okay, I bring this item back for council
for comments questions. Council member
Otoro.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um I'm obviously not
the finance director and I'm sure she'll
um she'll do a great job of finding some
resolution for us. But it looks like
historically um the reserve percentage was at 25%
possibly that was prior to 2010 and then
in 2014 it dropped to 20%. In June of
2015 um during a council study it had
dropped to 18%. So, it's obviously
reduced. Um, and I know I've I think
I've heard um our finance director
mention the government finance officer
association. They give a recommendation
as well when it comes to these um
reserve percentages. So, I think it's
important to evaluate what their
recommendation is. Um and it looks like
in 2014 2015 15 is when the city might
have possibly set the policy in the
budget discussion and study sessions
during that time. So [clears throat]
I would recommend that we look at um
what that association recommends. Um
it's important that we kind of have that
guidance of um you know along with other
cities in the state. I would be careful
with creating a set percentage because
obviously budgets fluctuate. So we don't
want to say you know it's going to
remain at 25% and we run into an issue
where now it has to be lowered. Um those
are my thoughts behind this uh referral.
Thank you.
>> I think you have a a point on we have to
use a reference. I know I spoke to the
city manager and you had also did some
research and you had found that the
during the budget discussions they had
referenced 18% but there was never a
formal resolution. Correct.
>> Yes. Thank you mayor. Uh in the limited
search that we've done so far, we've
been unable to find an actual formal uh
council adopted resolution or other
document establishing a set percentage
or number of reserve. We did find in a
staff report, I believe it was in 2018,
a reference to an 18%, but nothing
formally adopted by council that we can
find because as long as I've been here,
the number has always been 18%, but
nobody could ever figure out whether
that was a resolution or if that was
just the recommendation. I think that if
we establish that recommendation but
also provide a plan to bring our
reserves back to 18% whatever number we
choose I think that it would be
beneficial. I think that Serena you're
absolutely right. We do we do need to
use a reference and if there's guidance
and that that would really be great to
use during this process. Councilwoman
Vera
>> thank you. Um I do think we need to have
an established percentage at least a
bare minimum and in the event there is a
town and we also need a plan to get to
if whether it's 18 or 20 or whatever is
recommended I do like the recommendation
based on what a lot of cities our size
are doing um with our similar
demographics and income levels and stuff
cuz I definitely don't want to use you
know a city down in the you know
beachfront property down in LA cuz
they're not very similar to where our
demographics are, but I would like to
have a a set number or percentage and
then when the budget is discussed in the
event that there is a a reason that they
have to go into it, maybe they add that
resolution to the budget and saying,
"Hey, you know what? We have to have,
you know, x amount, but because of this
situation, this one year, we're going to
do a motion or resolution to change it
down to, you know, a number a little bit
less." Um, but I do think we need to
have a set number. So there's no
questions whatsoever going forward on
what the minimum is that we need to have
and I would like to see what the numbers
are for similar cities of sim similar
demographics. So yes, it is yes for me.
>> Any additional comments before I get
consensus?
Vice Mayor? Yes, Councilwoman. Yes for
me.
Okay, sounds good. Moving on to reports.
I don't have a report, but Vice Mayor,
can you take over for a quick second?
I'm going to go use the restroom. Moving
on to city council reports. Vice Mayor,
>> Absolutely. Yes. I'll start and then
I'll move along.
>> Was that
Oh, you Okay, just take it back. Um,
Vice Mayor, can you please take over for
additional referrals? I'm sorry that I
skipped over that, Serena, but I'll be
right back.
>> Sorry. Thank you. I just um Vice Mayor,
if you don't mind, I just want to make a
comment. Um,
>> the referral list has seemed to stack up
and it sounds like city manager, you
kind of brought all the referrals
tonight. Are we now caught up with uh
our referral list?
>> So, if you recall, thank you for the
question. If you recall at the last city
council meeting, we brought about an
equal number of referrals uh to that
council meeting with these 11 referrals
today. Um and those approximately 11
last uh meeting, we are caught up.
However, I received five additional
referrals in person today. So, as of
right now, there are five pending
referrals that I just received today.
>> Okay. I think as a council, we need to
evaluate this referral process. I mean,
I'll admit this uh going through all
these referrals was pretty painful
tonight. In my opinion, it's taken a
long time. Um I don't know if there's a
way where if we make a referral up here,
maybe we just get consensus at that
point. And then now your staff can
decide if uh you know, or we can decide
if a staff report is going to be
presented. Um again I haven't researched
much from other local cities but it's
something uh worth exploring. So
unfortunately yes I would like to make a
referral to evaluate our referral
process. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Now we'll be moving forward
to council member reports.
>> Just just a quick point on on that item.
Um we'll be bringing that referral back
um at a later meeting. Just a quick
note, we can't have the council make
referrals from the dis and not have it
agendaized and ask for consensus at that
meeting because it's brown act issue. So
that's that's why we have this
multi-step process and we have generally
advised uh council members that if you
have a referral item, get it to staff or
the city manager ahead of the agenda
posting so that it can actually make its
way on the agenda. So that way if it is
on the agenda we can take consensus and
save a step um as opposed to just taking
it from the dis. But that's just maybe
one thing to consider as part of the
referral evaluation process.
>> Thank you. Uh with that being said then
I think we'll just scratch that for now
and um I'll just do some more research.
Thank you.
>> So the mayor had no reports. I have two.
Um, I'll let Council Member Vieier speak
more on the last concert in the park
tomorrow, but I did want to mention uh
for that event that the firefighters
will be out there tomorrow night.
They'll be barbecuing uh and they wanted
to let you guys know and let the public
know that they'll be selling uh chips,
sodas, and hamburgers for $5 a person.
And uh if you want to stop by and
support them, my second is is about uh
the Facebook group that recently had to
go about and clean the rose garden
themselves. um like council member Rhyno
and others that were here this evening
had mentioned uh they took it upon
themselves uh to come out and to clean the rose garden and to get it back
to a more suitable uh than what it had
been. Um I know that we had just
recently cut our contracts for our park
maintenance, but like we've heard all
evening, I think council member would
mention it, the the weeds and the
growth, it's not just a few weeks old. A
lot of parks have months worth of
neglect. Um, and so, you know, we need
to do better as as council, as leaders,
as department heads, especially with us
being under staff now and not having
contracts to to find a way to get these
parks cleaned, uh, and to take that
responsibility away from the citizens
since those parks are our job to
maintain.
» Councilwoman,
» thank you. Um, thank you, Martinez, for
bringing that up. Um, I have spoke with
Joey a few times now about the adopt a
park. Um, he's promised that he's going
to make it much easier so we can go out
there and just get it done so it's not
just a group that's going out there. We
can do it just as ourselves. You and I
can go out there tomorrow and do what we
need to do. Um, as well as local
businesses and not have to submit the
paperwork and permission slips and all
these other things that are required in
the current process. So, we've had these
discussions. Um, you're putting him on
the spot right now. So, I'm sorry, Joey.
Um, there's also a few other things. Um,
this, um, last week we started
discussing the point in time count. It
was reviewed. It is public now. Um,
series didn't have significant changes.
There were 15 that were identified,
although I'm positive, and I can check
with the code enforcement. I think
there's more than 15 homeless in the
town. But at least on the night of the
day that we did the point in time count,
that was what was found by the
volunteers. Um, again, we still provide
services that's done through the care
program. They're handling the resources
calls. Are are they still going through
code enforcement chief or can they call
care directly?
>> Uh, as far as I know, it's still going
through code enforcement.
>> Perfect. So, you can call code
enforcement to make those referrals um
regarding those that are unhouse that
need resources. Um, majority of the
barriers from the point in town time
count appeared to be transportation,
unsure where to go or not qualifying for
services. Um, Chief, were you going to
touch on the national night out?
Awesome. So, I won't touch that one
then. Um, I am trying to coordinate
something in my district and I'll let
him go into details on that. And then,
um, concerts in the park. The final
concert is tomorrow. Leavonne will be
presenting. She is always a blast. Um,
so I look forward to having her here.
She's another series local. So I love
seeing these wonderful, strong, amazing
women here closing out our series.
Please come. Come early. I know we had a
group this time. We had up to 500 people
at the concerts. So come early. It's
great to see the community involvement
in this. Um, and that is all I have.
I'll let Chief go into the National
Night Out aspect of what we're doing.
Councilwoman, I know this might be a
little bit different than what we
normally do as far as the council um
reports, but you mentioned the bid count
and um my question and I was with you
that day when we're out there doing the
count. The the 15 that you the number
that you got 15 that was from the day
that we counted. That's what was was
given to Joey.
>> No, the 15 from the point in time. Yes,
that was what was handed to Joey and
that went into the annual report that
was submitted to Hut. The only the
reason why I bring that up is because
the pit count came out and the county
put out documents but didn't reference
any of the nine cities and didn't give
us an example of what the counts were
for the nine cities. And I know this is
a concern. If if you have that, that
would be great. The reason why I asked
that is because I I think that this is a great um information for the cities to
have. There's some cities that go out
for grants and if we don't have that
data then they won't be able to go out
for those specific grants. So if you do
have that specific number, I was going
to email the county. I was going to
email email our supervisor, but if you
have that information offline, we'll get
it. But I just wanted to bring that up.
Mr. Casey, is there anything else?
Councilwoman, do you think you have it?
If not offline.
Oh, you're right. Sister series had 15.
I think in last year we had 20
something. Okay. Thank you. I'll please
forward that to me to my email. Uh with
that being said, city manager, any
reports?
>> I have no report. Thank you.
>> Okay. City attorney.
Okay. And now we'll start off with our
departments and we'll start off with the
chief of police. I'm going to apologize
up front. I know this is a late meeting
and I have more reports than I have all
year. So, I'll get started. Um, I'm
going to touch on the tobacco
enforcement update. I'd like to thank
the mayor and the council for your guys'
support on this. Since April of 2025,
the series Police Department has worked
closely with the California Department
of Tax and Fee Administration uh to
regulate the possession and sale of
illegal tobacco products within the city
of Series. In October of 2025, the city
council approved a local ordinance
restricting the sale of certain tobacco
products within the city. Since the
start of enforcement operations, the
police department has conducted 84
retail inspections, issued 29 citations,
completed eight undercover purchase
attempts, resulting in four violation of
flavored tobacos, and during one
inspection, some illegal weapons, brass
knuckles were found. In addition to two
smoke shops uh also received 30-day
suspensions for repeated violations and
of just late we have revoke the business
license of one of the businesses because
they continue to um uh get violations
which result in the permanent closure of
the business. When uh enforcement
efforts began there were 12 smoke shops
operating within the city of series.
Today there is only six remaining. Five
voluntary um voluntarily shut down and
one was closed uh due to the repeated
violations. Uh there has been a
significant push from the marijuana in
industry to regulate smoke shops. To
date, however, we have not located any
marijuana in those smoke shops uh during
any of our inspections. Um overall uh
the success is measured by what the
school district told us is that is
they're seeing in the schools a lower
number of vapes meaning that the
children are not getting access uh to
this these tobacco products and I truly
believe the ordinance has a lot to do
with that. Any comments or questions
before I move on?
You said the school district had let us
know that vaping has gone down in the
schools and and that's been their
thinking that ordinance. You know, I I
think that this has been a long time
coming. I know that with the tobacco
grant and with the enforcement and all
the great work that code enforcement law
enforcement has done in our community,
at the end of the day, we want to be
supportive of businesses. But if
businesses are not doing what they're
supposed to be doing, such as selling
illegal products, I think that, you
know, they need to be held accountable.
And I I'm glad that you guys did. On top
of that, I know that there's been some
reference to you said that you did not
find any marijuana in any of the
lookings during your inspection, but it
was brought to our attention by other um
I would say undercover uh operations,
but the problem is that it needs to be
found during the time of your
inspection. Correct.
>> Correct. Okay. So, I just want to make
that clear. I I do want to praise you,
Chief. At the end of the day, this city
council and our policy is supportive of
this ordinance, but is you as a chief
and the leader by you implementing this
and your officers on the ground finding
these things and protecting our children
is what the utmost importance and I take
that personally. I do want to say thank
you and please let everybody else know
that I thank them as well.
>> Thank you. And uh we do have the tobacco
grant and we are going to uh renew that
and I have to pass all that credit down
to Lieutenant Greel and Sergeant Blount.
actually wrote the
grant. Didn't go through the grant
writers. Uh they're doing an amazing
job.
Um 4th of July report. So this is from
July 2nd to the 5th. Uh these are the
statistics. We had uh 12 uniform
officers working on the 4th. uh three
911 dispatchers, a drone operator, extra
records clerk, and a community service
officer. Um our stats for uh those days,
we had 16 DUI arrests, 20 fireworks
citations, 74 fireworks related calls,
28 uh submissions on the nail map, and
40 um calls came in on the 538 loud.
Overall, the oper operation was very
successful. The combination of uh the
proactive enforcement, increased uh
staffing, drone operations, uh community
reporting tools allowed officers to
quickly identify and respond to
violations while maintaining um proper
staffing on the streets. The 3rd, which
is Friday, was not as active as I
thought it was going to be. and the 4th
of July. Although the fireworks were the
same uh in the amount uh no critical
incidents on the police end in series
which um was really good. Any questions
on that?
>> Council member Otero.
>> Thanks, Mayor. Um Chief, did you have
any repeat offenders this year?
>> I don't know yet. We're still kind of
sorting through some of that.
>> Thank you. Um, just thank you to your
team again for all the enforcement for
the 4th of July and then the continued
enforcement on these smoke shops. I
appreciate it.
>> Thank you, Councilwoman Leo.
>> I think that's pretty much what I wanted
to say. I know I was able to talk to
Sergeant when he was in here and thank
him and his staff, but I do want to I
appreciate especially I know we hear a
lot of DUIs right now in 16. Um, I I saw
the report when it came through and that
takes a lot of time and a lot of work on
top of all the other fireworks and
everything you did and you're able to do
this with 12 uniformed officers and I
appreciate their work cuz it sound like
they were going one call after another and um I appreciate their
hard work and coming in and getting all
of that done and keeping with Siri safe
without any critical. I know last year
we had a few responses and a few fire I
think there was one major fire or kind
of had a fire of a bush in my district.
Um but we were sound like it was out
pretty quickly and so I appreciate them
responding and all the work that
everyone put in that night. Thank you.
Or the whole weekend rather.
>> Thank you. Uh next one's quick. It's uh
we had some questions about golf carts
being used. I have some clarification
for that. Uh you can't use golf carts uh
within the city of series unless you're
a mile within a golf course and it has
to be approved by an ordinance. Uh now
low-speed vehicles on the other hand,
which look like golf carts, they have to
have all the proper equipment uh that uh
makes them a motor vehicle. They have to
be registered. They have to be insured.
You have to be a licensed driver. They
can only operate on streets that are 35
mph. That does not take a ordinance or a
resolution. it's within their rights if
they want to register them as a
low-speed vehicle. And that's I I talked
to our cso today. That is what they do
in Houston. Um there's really no more
debate on that. If somebody wants to get
a low-speed vehicle, then um they're
more than welcome to do that. Any
questions on that one?
Lazy Wheels update. It looks like Lazy
Wheels was hit with a hurricane. I
understand that it's going to get worse
before it gets better. And that's
exactly what happened. I am happy to
report though that um they have almost
completely gone through every trailer.
They were dismantling it. Um although it
was slow, they had to take all the
recyclable materials out. They should
have heavy equipment on site by
Wednesday.
Don't hold your breath, but that's what
we were told. They did have a delay for
a couple weeks. Um I am happy that they
are moving on it. They are doing work on
it. Um but hopefully uh Wednesday we'll
have some heavy equipment to start
cleaning up some of that mess.
Uh last one is National Night Out. So
National Night Out is coming up August
4th. Um we are changing it up this year
after last year. I told the staff I
wanted to go back to the original plan
of getting out in the neighborhoods.
That's what National Night is all about
is connecting with the communities. I
think it's very important. We haven't
done it in a long time. there's going to
be some hiccups and I'm all for any any
uh input that the council or the public
has before definitely afterwards if
anybody has input on how we could do it
better. I do feel like we were a little
bit late getting this information out
especially that we're changing things
but anyone that wants to hold an event u
please contact either Sergeant Blount or
Lieutenant Godfrey and we will get you
signed up. Uh
my goal is to get us back out in the
communities and getting the communities
together in their areas of town uh which
it was intended for. Um but I I think
there might be a a few hiccups, but
we'll get through it and definitely next
year's is going to be uh even better.
Last thing I'll leave you with um for um
maybe some interaction with the
community. I've dedicated an hour of my
time uh every week on Tuesday from 8:00
to 9:00 to have coffee with the chief.
It is limited space, but anyone that has
any questions whatsoever about anything
that we do at the police department,
whether it be budget or enforcement or
you want to just complain for an hour,
um please feel free to contact my
executive assistant, uh Marcy Peterson.
Email her, let her know. It'd be helpful
if you tell me what you want to talk
about so I can be prepared. If you just
want to come have coffee and talk about
the weather, that's fine, too. Um, but
any citizen in series is welcome to do
that. Um, and I will provide the coffee
and sorry for the long report.
>> That's great. Thank you. Anyone else?
» That don't worry. Um, thank you, Mayor
Council. Um, so I I want to give a a
quick shout out to our water department.
Um last night we were all out there, a
couple of us from the engineering
department and a few from the water
department trying to figure out the
shutdown on uh Richland Avenue. Uh it
did take us essentially we started
turning valves about 9:30. Um and I
think most of us left somewhere around
3:45 4:00 uh this morning. Uh it was a
fun night if you want to put it that
way, but we did manage to um figure out
what we needed to do for the shutdown,
which we've been trying to figure out.
Um we actually found two valves that
were uh bad. And so we will be replacing
those with the with the Hatch Road main
project, so that way we can do uh
shutdowns on the main as as needed. Um
so that it all went well. uh water was
back on by about 4:00 4:30 um you know
to to everybody. So that was that was a
good thing also. Um another thing uh
back in September of last year you guys
authorized the engineering department to
file grants uh and and apply for grants.
Uh we applied for uh 23
million I believe in grants. Um, we
ended up getting 18.5 million. Um, we
the only the only city that got more
grant funding than us was the city of
Modesto. Um, and that was only by three
points. Had we gotten three more points
on our Hatch Road project, we would have
been the uh we would have gotten the
most grant money out of any jurisdiction
in the county. So, just a quick recap on
that. We got $5 million for the design
on service and Mitchell interchange. We
got $5 million for the construction of
Crows Landing from Whitmore to uh
service. We got $2 million for the
Hearnden and Eastgate bike lane project.
We got $2 million for the Walnut Avenue
sidewalks project. Got $2 million for
Mororrow Village phase 4 and $2 million
for Mororrow Village phase 5. And we did
end up getting 420,000
uh for the Hatch Road design uh to widen
Hatch Road from essentially Mitchell all
the way out to Faith Home. So um all of
those grants were written by staff
within the engineering department. It is
a huge undertaking for us to do that.
Um, and you could tell by, you know,
getting most of our projects funded that
the staff did an absolute amazing job,
uh, getting these grants in, um, and
eventually being awarded all of this
money. Um, so, lots of construction to
come. Uh, and we will, uh, keep plugging
away, but thank you.
>> I have a quick question for you, sir.
You say we received $5 million for the
design of the service road interchange.
>> Yes, sir. So, how how far along are we
with the design? I know that you had
mentioned in a staff report that went to
the city manager that went to us in
reference to that we are 80% complete,
but you also mentioned something about
CALR reviewing some of our documents.
Can you please expand on that?
>> So, we're we're about 80% complete on
the crow's landing design um for the
roadway and lift station on service in
Mitchell. Um we are still we've we've
gotten a lot of approvals from from
CALR. Um the biggest one that taking the
longest time is the revised traffic
study that we have to do uh for the
on-ramps, off-ramps, bridges, all of
that area right there. Um so we we're
not as far along on service in Mitchell.
However, this will greatly help us in
reducing the amount of funding that we
have to use because obviously we get to
use an additional $5 million of grant
funding instead of using our own Measure
L money for uh for that design. So, it
is progressing well. We're happy with
what that with the decisions that
Calrans has made thus far on uh some
revalidation of reports, but uh the
overall project is is progressing and
progressing well. Now I think I know the
answer to this next question. What would
it take to make that project move
faster?
Um I I think that our consultant is
pushing as hard as possible. Um you know
once we get into CALR, you know, they
have their review periods, those types
of things. Um and we we work very well
with CALR. Our project manager at the
state level has been great to work with.
um anytime they've we've requested
meetings, they are on top of it. Um so I can't say I mean it is the state. It
does move slower than than I would like.
Um but I they they've been pretty
efficient for for us here in the city.
>> Okay. I'm going to refrain from giving
any type of direction city manager, but
as you can tell, that's something I'm
interested in seeing. Um, next report.
» Um, good evening, mayor and council
members. Um, on Tuesday of last week,
the city manager sent an email to you
guys regarding a letter that went out to
the public. Um, I just wanted to touch
base on that letter, give a little bit
of information, and uh, provide an
opportunity for any questions if you
have them. Um he uh our city manager
outlined very well the the main topics
of the letter, but I just wanted to
clarify for any of the residents because
I'm still getting calls right now about
um the letter. Uh basically
uh the 2024
um guideline from the EPA was to uh get
a service line inventory. So they want
us to verify the the material of the of
the pipe that is not only going from the
city main to the meter but from the
meter to the home of every resident in
the city. Um the reason it's a 2024
regulation but we did it in 2026 is
because we were not previously required
to do it because we were under the
50,000 um mark. And then in 2025,
the the uh the DWR decided that since we
were so close to 50,000 population, they
were going to start considering us
50,000 population and we had to meet all
those requirements. So we had to do it
in a relatively short amount of time. We did an initial inventory with um 120
water um who used uh county data to use
the the building date of a lot of the
homes um and any other information that
they can pull from from various sources
to use uh to eliminate some homes from
being uh part of the the survey that has
to be verified. But it did leave us with
about I believe uh roughly about 5,000
homes that are unverified. So um our
staff did in 2025
and 2026 go through um a few hundred
homes and verify the the service lines
manually. They went out, they opened up
the the boxes, they checked both sides.
Um so staff did that but until we get
all the other 5,000 or systematically um
eliminate some of those homes which you
know uh starting the process of doing
now if we can look at developments that
were put in after a certain year we can
eliminate all those developments. So
there's a lot of ways that we can um uh
continue to update that inventory until
we get that inventory complete for the
entire city. Um this letter will go out
annually. Um, as the city manager stated
in his uh letter, we haven't violated
any lead or copper sampling. We we don't
have we're in compliance with the EPA
for all of our sampling, all of our
water constituents. Um, we're in
compliance with uh all the state
regulated um sampling. It has nothing to
do with whether there's uh lead or
copper in your in the residents um
water. Uh we do sampling for that and
we've stayed up to date with that um in
the past years. So, this is really just
about physically verifying the type of
um pipe that is going from their meter
to their home. Um, and that's going to
be an ongoing work that goes on for, you
know, probably the the next few years.
Um, and we're going to continue to to
eliminate, you know, whatever sections
we can using different data that we can
pull in. Um, yeah. Again, so I just
wanted to touch on uh letting people
know that the water's safe to drink.
There's no there's no kind of um notice
or anything. I mean, there's no kind of
a a regulation on that. And um I was
getting a lot of calls with people just
concerned about the the letter and that
it was hard to for them to read and
understand. Um we can't change this.
is an EPA template. All we're able
to change is our city name and our
specific um data. So what our specific
results are on our sampling um you know
and and any specific information to the
city of series other than that it has to
say stay the same as what they um they
provide us with. So I just wanted to
give you guys that information and any
of the public that are wondering which
I'm I'm still returning calls right now
and just you know uh letting everybody
know that uh what the what the exact
issue is. The the next steps for us is
going to be um sending out a survey
after getting that approved by um city
manager, sending out a survey that
people can if they do know their own,
they can just let us know what the what
the service line material is. Um or if
they know that, you know, it's been
replaced that they can let us know in
that in that area. And then uh we have
different options as far as using staff.
Um, we have uh, yeah, we have different
options for for finishing out the the
rest of the inventory. So, I just wanted
to make that clear to you guys. Thank
you very much. Mr. Chavez.
Okay. Thank you very much. And with that
being said, we will now go into close
session for conference regarding public
employee appointment, California
government code 549571.
Title is city manager a conference with
legal counsel for existing litigation
California government code 54956.9
name of case is Ashley
uh Renuo
city of seriesir versus city of
seriesiral superior court case number
CV25
009856
and lastly a conference with legal
council for anticipated litigation
California government code 54956.9D2
two for a one potential case. Is there
anyone in the public like to make a
comment on the close session items? And
seeing none, and we'll come back after
close session and I will report out.
Thank you very much everyone and have a
good evening and God bless.
Welcome back everyone. By a 401
abstension vote, the city council has
approved a settlement agreement with the
petitioners in the matter and has
authorized the city manager to execute
the agreement. Pursuant to the terms of
the agreement, the petitioners will
dismiss the case against the city of
city city of seriesir and will refund
petitioner their cup application. Each
party shall incur its own attorney fees.
The agreement shall be final upon
execution of the parties. On the other
two items, direction has been provided
to staff. Thank you.