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Section 632, our invocation will be done by Pastor Diego Ferrerro and Council Member Ochoa can you loot us in the flag? Salute.

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Can you hear me? Okay.

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Loving God and our creator. We can be for you with grateful hearts. We begin this session at the Hesperia City Council. We thank you for the blessing of leaving in this beautiful community for its hardworking people and for their

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opportunity to give us to serve one another.

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Today, we especially ask for you, you put out your wisdom and grace upon this meeting.

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We pray for our mayor and for each of the city council members,

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grand in understanding clarity and thought, and

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discernment to make just and equitable decisions.

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May their discussion be filled with mutual respect and leadership always be motivated by the

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working of the families in Casperia.

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Bless also all the other officials, directors and city employees, we recognize that their

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Tyler's work is the engine driving his spirit throughout given patience, strength and spirit of

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excellent in their daily task. Lord, may this meeting be conducted in an spirit of unity,

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collaboration and peace. May everything excuse and decide today be for the progress of our city

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for the common good of all its residents.

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We ask all these with faith and hope in the Jesus name. Amen.

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I'd please your right hand over your heart.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

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and to the Republic for which it stands.

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Thank you.

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Can we have a roll call please?

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Mayor Bennington?

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here Mayor Bill Templin. Here. Council Member Greg. Here. Council Member Lee. Here. Council Member Choa. Here.

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Thank you. Do we have any corrections or revisions to the agenda?

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None this evening, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Do we have any closed session reports?

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Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the City Council. We did meet in closed session to discuss

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four matters of existing litigation as listed on the closed session report, as well as

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performance evaluation of the city manager and city attorney, and no reportable

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action was taken on any of the items in the closed session.

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Thank you.

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Moving on to announcements and presentations, and as my honor that we are presenting the city

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the Halt City, Halt Employee of the Quarter, to Ruby Ariano, and it's going to be done by Orlando Acivo.

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You both may come up.

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Good evening mayor and council and community.

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I'm Orlando Acevedo, the director of development services.

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I'm joined by Beth Hudson Community Development Manager, and this evening we're honored to be standing up here to present the employee of the quarter for the second quarter of the year.

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to Ruby Ariano, Ariano, and Ruby is our community development supervisor.

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She's been with the city for eight years, four years in her present role.

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And Ruby is an invaluable asset not only to our organization, but to the community and

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to our customers as she strives to move projects through the permitting process as painlessly and

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and quickly and cost efficiently as possible.

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Now, Ruby was recognized for this award,

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nominated for this award by her own staff, who wrote, and I quote,

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Ruby is one of the best supervisors I have ever had.

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Despite having countless tasks and projects to manage each day,

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she always makes time for every permanent technician,

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whether it's to answer a simple question,

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helps solve a larger issue, provide guidance,

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or even for personal support when needed.

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Ruby makes it a priority to ensure her staff is happy, confident, and well taken care of.

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Ruby embodies all the qualities that needed to run a successful department and

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maintain a cohesive, motivated team.

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Everyone in our department holds her in high regard.

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She's respected, mired, and viewed as a true role model.

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I am grateful to work under her leadership.

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Now these words remind me of a quote I just recently came across while watching the classic The Wizard of Oz,

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where the wizard turns to the Tin Man and says,

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heart is not judged by how much you love,

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but by how much you are loved by others.

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What sets Ruby apart is not just her tireless,

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dedicated service to our community and her hard work,

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but that she is a leader who is loved by her staff.

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And I think that's something for us all to recognize this evening.

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So thank you to the council.

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On behalf of the city, Ruby, this is a well-deserved recognition.

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Congratulations.

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Thank you

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so

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much and we appreciate your service and obviously you're very well loved so congratulations great job then moving on to presentation of our 2025 annual water

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Your quality report by Jeremy MacDonald.

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Tonight I'll be presenting to you the Hisperia Water District's 2025 Annual Water Quality Report.

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During this presentation I'm going to go over a couple of statistics regarding 2025,

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the results of the report, and our plan for 2026.

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So the Hisperia Water District receives all of its potable water from 15 active wells, same as last year.

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We currently have 14 reservoirs totaling 64.5 million gallons worth of storage.

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What's not included in there is an additional reservoir that's used for recycled water,

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and that has a capacity of 2.5 million gallons.

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In 2025, we saw our demand go up.

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We produced approximately 4.6 billion gallons of water.

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When you deal with such a large number like that in the water industry, we typically refer

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of that as an acre foot of water and to put that in perspective if you can picture one acre of land

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filled with water one foot high that would be equivalent to one acre foot which is approximately

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325,000 gallons. Typically an acre foot will supply two to two and a half homes per year.

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During the year our busiest day we had produced 16.6 million gallons worth of water. This number is

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It's actually down a little bit from the previous year where we had produced 17.6.

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Our average demand, though, did go up.

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We went up to 12.6 million gallons per day on average, whereas in the previous calendar

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year, we were at 12 million gallons.

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Again, as I mentioned, we do supply recycled water to three customers.

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In 2025, we had pervade 69 million gallons worth of recycled water to our three customers,

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which includes the Hispanic community park, the Hispanic golf course, and also irrigation just

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across the street from city hall on spruce and smoke tree. Our form of disinfection remains the

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same. We currently utilize calcium hypochlorite, which is a solid granular form of chlorine.

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We add water to the solution. We make a solution with the granular and then inject that into the

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potable water supply. The three most common units of measurement found in the water industry

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is a part per million, a part per billion, and a part per trillion. To kind of put that

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in a time perspective, one second in 11 and a half days is equal to one part per million,

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where one part per billion is equal to one second in 32 years, and one part per trillion

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is equal to one second in approximately 32,000 years.

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This page here lists the inorganics that were sampled for.

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I shouldn't say sampled for, but that were detected in 2025.

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There are several other constituents that we do test for.

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However, they're not listed because they were not detected in our system.

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The one item I do want to point out on this slide is fluoride.

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Just want to point out that that is naturally occurring fluoride.

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We do not add that to our water system.

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This slide here goes over the results from our microbiological samples.

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So throughout the city, we have 25 locations that are tested on a weekly basis.

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Those are tested weekly and tested for coliform bacteria, which is an indicator organism.

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Our sources, the 15 wells that I spoke of, those are also tested on a monthly basis.

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We took approximately 1200 samples in 2025, and I'm happy to report that none were detected

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for coliform bacteria. We do, again, inject chlorine into our water as a form of disinfectant.

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We have to maintain at least 0.2 parts per million. We averaged 0.5 during 2025.

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In 2025, we did conduct our tri-enial lead-and-copper sampling. What changed this sampling period compared

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compared to the previous sampling period is our population has increased.

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So therefore since we exceeded 100,000 citizens, we did have to increase the amount of samples.

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So in the previous period, we had 30 samples taken.

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This compliance period, we upped that to 50 and I'm happy to report that we were non-detect

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for lead in all of our samples.

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This next slide here is regarding contaminants that currently do not have a maximum contaminant

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level, but that doesn't mean that the state could enforce a maximum contaminant level in

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the future, so we are required to report these findings to the citizens.

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And finally, concluding the results from 2025 are our secondary substances.

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These constituents do not pose any health effects, however, they just pertain to the aesthetics

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of the water, such as taste, odor, and color, and we did meet all federal and state standards.

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In

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2026, this is our plan for water quality analysis.

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We've already conducted radiological testing for radium 226 and 228.

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We'll continue to test for disinfection byproducts on a quarterly basis.

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This month we are testing for synthetic organic compounds.

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The reason why you didn't see any synthetic organic compounds listed before is because

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the previous compliance period, we did not detect any and I anticipate that the whole true.

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And then we will also be testing for PFAS constituents on a quarterly basis to comply with federal standards.

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This concludes my presentation.

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I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

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Do we have any council comments?

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I would just like to say thank you to you and your staff for your due diligence and providing our community with great drinking water, safe drinking water.

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Great job, it's not an easy task and I appreciate.

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It's by privilege.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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We are privileged to have you turn me.

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Thank you.

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Moving on to general public comments.

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Jessica, would you mind?

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Individuals wishing to speak during general public comments are on a particular numbered item.

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Are requested as the Minus speakers left to the city clerk with the agenda item noted.

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Super speakers left should be turned in prior to the public comment portion of the joint agenda,

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or before an agenda item is discussed.

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Yes, comments will be limited to three minutes for general public comments, consent counter items and new business items.

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Comments are limited to five minutes for public hearing items.

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In compliance with the Brown Act, the City Council may not discuss or take action on none agenda items are engaged in question and answer sessions with the public.

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The City Council may ask brief questions for clarification, provided reference to staff for other resources for factual information, and direct staff to an item to a subsequent meeting.

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thank you. Do we have any remote speakers for public comment? No remote speakers at this time.

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Thank you. Moving on to Robert Davie, please.

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I have three items I wanted to try and get to. First off, it wouldn't be meeting with me without Maple Avenue, right?

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So Maple, between the ski.

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I just want to caution that it's, it's, it's got problems, it's got issues that were getting ready to stripe, but you've got pictures of it right now. Draw about several times the last two days, not on purpose, just because it's on my way home. And it's bumpy. It's got problems. It reminds me of Oakwood before Oakwood got finished. Oakwood turned out to be a pretty nice street, but it took them a little while to get there. This seems to be the same way.

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Okay, what this concerns me is, you know, we're doing from Ranchero to Main Street.

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I'm just hoping that we're going to get a better result as it moves up.

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Because that section, I understand that where it first comes up, it's not completely done yet,

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right at Mesquite, but a little bit past like the park to the Ranchero.

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It's not a good furnace product.

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So we've got to stop wasting the money, we have limited resources.

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We can't just keep the chip still, and now this.

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Yes, we just can't keep throwing good money away on poor streets.

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So that animal shelter, we've got to find a way.

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We've got to just be proactive, we've got to have TNR.

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We've got to have spade neuter for our citizens.

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You know, we can't afford to take a pet to a place like a vet on Main Street and pay $500 to get a spade neuter.

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It's just not practical.

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I've done it a couple of times,

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but it's just not sustainable to do that.

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For the average citizen, they're just can't.

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So we've got to look outside the box.

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First off, we need a full time bet.

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We've just got to somehow some way

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whether it goes to veterinarian school.

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There's got to be ways, but we've got to get spanned neuter.

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Palm missions comes up here what we get one day a week,

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but that's for the shelter animal

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so it's been adopted as not for the public.

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We're being penalized as has various citizens

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for living in Hisperia, because you can get spanned new to cheaper if you live in the unincorporated county.

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This doesn't seem right.

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San Bernardino County has a discount program if you live in an unincorporated.

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So, and TNR, near and dear to my heart, because you have barrels that come to my house every day.

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When we trap, get them in a trap, you can't leave them in a trap for more than, I won't leave them for more than the night to the morning.

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Then you've got to try and find a vet that's going to take him in and then you've got to go pay $500 to get him sparing newtard.

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It's just not practical. We've got to come up with some way. I understand there was two litters of cats that came in the shelter today.

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Just a bunch. The cats are prolific. They, you know, a four month old cat can have, can have babies.

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Cats can have, can have pregnant twice at the same time. So I don't know, a lot of people don't realize that.

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So we've got to do something about it, amount of time, so we'll leave the third one for next time.

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Thanks.

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Donna, please.

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Hi, I live in his area and here because I've been treated differently than my neighbor regarding enforcement of the city's fence ordinance, 16.20.

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0.072B and I'm asking for a written response, explaining the basis for these decisions.

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Several years ago, I had built a six foot wooden fence in my front setback.

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Code enforcement ordered me to remove it or reduce it to city code of 36 inches, I complied.

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In August of 2025, my neighbor adjacent to me built the same type of six foot wooden fence on his property in the same location that I had previously had my fence.

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Code enforcement initially agreed several times it violated the municipal code.

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A few days later, however, an email stated the case should be closed because of a clear site triangle.

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This property is not on a corner, a lot, or a side yard.

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And the city's home photographs show that.

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The records then changed again.

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Engineering approved the fence to remain at five feet.

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I requested records to the Public Records Act, the engineering approval, any minor exception, or variance application, proof of payment.

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The response I received stated there are no records.

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No file, no paperwork supporting the approval.

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I am asking tonight for an explanation of how the approval was made if those records do not exist according to the city clerk.

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I walked into the city building on June 17th, spoke with Bethany and Ryan.

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I asked if I can build a six foot wooden fence on my front setback.

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I was told I'd have to fill an out an application and pay for a $411.40 then it would have to be approved for a minor exemption.

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I asked Ryan if he could check to see if there was a record of the neighbor's application if he paid for minor exception.

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He said there was nothing on file, no paperwork.

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I also sent the letter to City Manager on June 1st.

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00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:05,490
I have not received a response.

218
00:20:06,550 --> 00:20:08,370
I'm renewing that request tonight.

219
00:20:09,070 --> 00:20:13,550
If my neighbor's fence was legally allowed to remain at 5 feet, where's the application?

220
00:20:14,110 --> 00:20:15,990
Approval documents and fee records.

221
00:20:15,990 --> 00:20:23,130
The city's staff themselves said should exist, if these records do not exist on what authority was the fence approved.

222
00:20:23,990 --> 00:20:34,270
I have requested records from multiple departments and have repeatedly been told there are no records based on the pattern of events of the different treatment of my property compared with my neighbors.

223
00:20:34,730 --> 00:20:37,650
I believe I have been subjected to selective enforcement.

224
00:20:38,150 --> 00:20:44,130
I reduced my fence, my neighbor's fence was allowed to remain, there are no files, no paperwork, no payment.

225
00:20:44,130 --> 00:20:46,890
that would allow minor exception.

226
00:20:47,250 --> 00:20:49,890
Selective enforcement, quite late to equal protection clause

227
00:20:50,370 --> 00:20:55,490
of the United States Constitution on the 42 U.S.C. 1983.

228
00:20:56,790 --> 00:20:59,030
I am not asking for special treatment.

229
00:20:59,430 --> 00:21:00,950
I'm asking for equal treatment.

230
00:21:02,010 --> 00:21:04,310
I'm asking the city to explain the basis

231
00:21:04,310 --> 00:21:06,230
for its own records that were sent to me.

232
00:21:06,930 --> 00:21:07,450
Thank you.

233
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:15,720
Kim Jones.

234
00:21:24,710 --> 00:21:28,270
I think it's really great you got sign language interpreters

235
00:21:28,270 --> 00:21:33,990
in here is somebody that used to drive a school bus for the special needs people. I really appreciate

236
00:21:33,990 --> 00:21:41,530
that. Also, I know they've been talking about possibly changing the time of the city council meetings

237
00:21:41,530 --> 00:21:47,790
to like five o'clock. Firstly, and I'm not in favor of that, it's really wouldn't bother me.

238
00:21:48,190 --> 00:21:54,070
I live fairly close and I just have to cross that demolition Derby called Main Street to get over

239
00:21:54,070 --> 00:21:59,990
here but there are people that work and you know they go in the freeway or they drive

240
00:21:59,990 --> 00:22:05,570
a distance and stuff and with the traffic it would probably affect them. I know people

241
00:22:05,570 --> 00:22:10,510
that work the swing shift and Greg Beard would always have trouble coming here but the day

242
00:22:10,510 --> 00:22:18,630
workers I think it's more convenient for them to be at 6.30 and also on my street 6th and

243
00:22:18,630 --> 00:22:24,550
all live on the corner. I know it's least it's been three weeks that there's a big puddle and I

244
00:22:24,550 --> 00:22:30,110
thought the city was aware of it because I've seen one of the city cones there and the cone is

245
00:22:30,110 --> 00:22:36,590
gone so I don't know if it's one of the houses that's causing that big puddle and it's continual but

246
00:22:36,590 --> 00:22:39,090
anyways that's always have to say and thank you for your time.

247
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:42,760
Al Vogler, please.

248
00:23:08,020 --> 00:23:09,080
Good evening,

249
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:15,800
information about the sales tax survey paid for by Hesperia with $217,000.

250
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:20,820
The original amount was quoted as $50,000 to $100,000.

251
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:26,160
The inflated contract price was to hire Team Civics to conduct a survey.

252
00:23:26,620 --> 00:23:27,320
They did not.

253
00:23:27,980 --> 00:23:31,040
Team Civics hired true north research for the survey.

254
00:23:31,940 --> 00:23:34,680
Surveys of this type are often not random.

255
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:43,220
They are conducted by selecting populations of taxpayers who fit the intended survey profile and then a survey is conducted.

256
00:23:43,620 --> 00:23:49,900
The results along with the presentation by True North was not done in person by Mr. McClarney.

257
00:23:50,660 --> 00:23:59,100
Instead a small circle on the TV screen showed his likeness and we could hear a voice at times not understandable.

258
00:23:59,100 --> 00:24:04,820
The Hesperia City Council knew ahead of time of this arrangement and approved of it.

259
00:24:05,380 --> 00:24:10,060
Mr. McClarney's absence did not allow for direct questions to be answered.

260
00:24:10,460 --> 00:24:14,360
Nor could we ascertain his actual ID by physical characteristics.

261
00:24:15,260 --> 00:24:16,420
How unethical.

262
00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:19,140
We ask Hesperia for the answers.

263
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:27,460
Hesperia responded that the information was proprietary, meaning secret, and advised communicating with Team Civics.

264
00:24:27,460 --> 00:24:34,540
We did so and got no response, except the proprietary advisory to contact True North Research.

265
00:24:35,020 --> 00:24:40,920
True North was contacted, including text, telephone, and email, no responses.

266
00:24:41,620 --> 00:24:44,300
Three different certified mailings went to True North.

267
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,260
They did not claim the first two.

268
00:24:46,700 --> 00:24:48,840
The third was picked up, but not signed.

269
00:24:49,420 --> 00:24:52,200
We did not receive the green signature card back.

270
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:57,760
Later, at the post office, the clerk showed and gave me a copy of the signature card, which

271
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,040
had nothing more than a large crude X for a signature.

272
00:25:02,940 --> 00:25:08,700
It is important for the public to know that at least 217,000 was spent and questions

273
00:25:08,700 --> 00:25:09,780
were not answered.

274
00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:13,980
Under free speech there should have been a method to acquire information.

275
00:25:14,780 --> 00:25:17,740
A public records request was not successful.

276
00:25:17,740 --> 00:25:26,000
True North claims 606 survey responses, but would not reveal how many taxpayer contacts were made.

277
00:25:26,540 --> 00:25:35,720
That equates to less than 1% of our 100,000 plus population, hardly an unbiased scientific sample.

278
00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:46,040
The large expenditures representative of the city council's tax and spend attitude, the city should never knowingly have entered a proprietary contract.

279
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,220
Please do not approve the major and the resolution.

280
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:51,860
Thank you.

281
00:25:53,860 --> 00:25:55,240
Brenda doll, please.

282
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:12,900
Thank you, council members.

283
00:26:13,860 --> 00:26:16,540
I have two things that I would like to discuss.

284
00:26:16,860 --> 00:26:19,020
Number one, Greg Cameron.

285
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:24,340
I appreciate you and the support that you have with all of us that have to travel down the hill.

286
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,140
And changing the meeting time and silencing our voices.

287
00:26:29,140 --> 00:26:38,500
by making it 5.35 o'clock. It's not cool. I almost didn't make it tonight because, yes, I did have to travel down the hill today.

288
00:26:40,420 --> 00:26:49,340
And we deserve a voice. We absolutely deserve a voice in these meetings and I hope everyone recognizes that.

289
00:26:49,820 --> 00:26:58,640
And you as City Council members need to understand that. And by changing the meeting time, it silences us. And that's not cool.

290
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:08,460
Also, I would like to ask why are the stop signs over by Del Taco and Raising Canes?

291
00:27:08,940 --> 00:27:09,800
Why are they faded?

292
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,700
My daughter door dashes at night.

293
00:27:13,220 --> 00:27:21,560
I often times go out with her and can't tell you how many times we almost get hit by people who run the stop sign.

294
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:26,540
Even though you can tell it's a stop sign, but it's faded, it doesn't say stop.

295
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:34,800
But yet, what do we need to do to get them fixed?

296
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:38,380
Thank you, that's all I have.

297
00:27:42,790 --> 00:27:44,730
Brandon Lane, Athens, please.

298
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,220
Good evening, Madam Mayor, City Council.

299
00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:03,260
My name is Brandon Lane and I serve as Vice President of Government Affairs for Athens Services.

300
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:11,780
But before I continue on that vein, I will say on a side note, I had the privilege of serving as an appointed elected official in the City of Merida for roughly 17 years.

301
00:28:11,780 --> 00:28:16,300
So, I always like to say thank you for your service, which is essentially your volunteer service to your community.

302
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:26,800
But back to Athens, as you know, Athens Services under contract manages the five landfills and nine transfer stations here in San Bernardino County.

303
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:37,740
I have no ask this evening, other than I would love to meet with you to be able to answer questions about the work that we do, the landfills that we manage and the transfer stations that we manage.

304
00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:42,560
at the services, manages those landfills.

305
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:56,040
We also provide valuable import into the county, which allows you to maintain your low rates for your WDA, which you recently approved, your WDA rate with a dollar decrease, which is quite frankly unheard of in the industry.

306
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,900
But would love to have the opportunity to meet with you to answer any questions that you have.

307
00:28:59,900 --> 00:29:04,020
I will be sending each of you an email with my contact information.

308
00:29:04,620 --> 00:29:08,120
My cell number is 951-830-3485.

309
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:13,480
If any of you or your community has questions that me and my team can be of help with, we'd

310
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:19,320
be more than happy to meet with anyone, answer questions, and that's all I have.

311
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:20,440
So thank you very much for your time.

312
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,000
Chuck Wolfe, please do

313
00:29:31,300 --> 00:29:31,500
that.

314
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:32,340
He's already spoken.

315
00:29:37,540 --> 00:29:38,080
Thank you.

316
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:39,080
So are

317
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,480
you not wishing to speak, Mr. Wolf?

318
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,720
I wish to speak, yeah, that's something great to say, but-

319
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:53,820
Then you're welcome to come up to the podium and you have your three minutes.

320
00:29:59,380 --> 00:29:59,840
Start.

321
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:15,320
There we go. Ah, thank you very much for allowing me to go ahead and speak. I didn't intend to do this because I wanted to firm my time to an issue or several issues that Mr. Al Volger had. One of them is raising the sales tax in this town.

322
00:30:35,450 --> 00:30:37,070
No additional comment cards.

323
00:30:37,290 --> 00:30:38,170
Thank you.

324
00:30:39,090 --> 00:30:42,250
Moving on to our joint consent calendar.

325
00:30:42,630 --> 00:30:45,350
Do I have a motion to move the consent calendar?

326
00:30:46,610 --> 00:30:53,730
Madam Mayor, we have public comments on items number 457.

327
00:30:56,500 --> 00:30:58,580
I don't see those, I'm sorry.

328
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:02,080
Yeah, those three.

329
00:31:02,540 --> 00:31:03,640
So withdraw the motion.

330
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:04,620
Okay.

331
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,420
I keep my motion to withdraw those three,

332
00:31:11,150 --> 00:31:17,010
right, amend my motion to include those, remove those three's what I want to do.

333
00:31:17,990 --> 00:31:25,570
So the motion on the floor is to approve items on the consent calendar with the exception of item number four, five and seven.

334
00:31:25,770 --> 00:31:26,770
That is correct. That is correct.

335
00:31:31,770 --> 00:31:35,590
I have a first by Council Member Choa, second by Council Member Greg.

336
00:31:35,590 --> 00:31:36,670
the

337
00:31:47,420 --> 00:31:48,920
item passes 5-0.

338
00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:57,720
Moving on to consent item 4, public speakers, Robert Davie.

339
00:32:22,900 --> 00:32:25,750
You guys don't describe what the item is first or no.

340
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:31,120
All right, look at that.

341
00:32:33,100 --> 00:32:37,100
Item 4 is for the adverse weather emergency repairs to accept that.

342
00:32:37,660 --> 00:32:39,100
Maple and Muscatel Basin.

343
00:32:40,670 --> 00:32:42,660
I would just caution you before you vote on that.

344
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,480
If you have all the information, I know you do.

345
00:32:45,480 --> 00:33:10,700
You guys do, council members, you do have a lot of information that we as residents are not privy to, I understand that, but for those of us who live by that basin, we can tell you for 100% is not even close to as deep as it was originally when it was when it was constructed, so if we get another generational storm, it is not going to hold it.

346
00:33:10,700 --> 00:33:13,260
And we're going to end up with the same problem we had before.

347
00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:16,340
It's not even close to deep, and what are the rocks all about?

348
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,200
The comrade off the wash, I don't see the point.

349
00:33:21,740 --> 00:33:26,080
And the same company that dug that out, I understand, is doing maple avenue now, which

350
00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:26,660
is concerning.

351
00:33:26,860 --> 00:33:32,300
But it's not deep, it's not, they didn't, it's probably half, if you have the statistics,

352
00:33:32,340 --> 00:33:37,180
the engineering diagrams, I'd like to see them before you vote on them, just don't vote

353
00:33:37,180 --> 00:33:38,780
and say, hey, it's done.

354
00:33:38,780 --> 00:33:45,900
we accepted. Those of us who live by it, we know for 100% it is not dug out. It's not even close.

355
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,120
So we're setting ourselves up for failure there. We know what happened on December 24th when it

356
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,720
breached. There's a lot of residents here that probably still have problems in their house. I know

357
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:03,760
my good friend Gina Weyland had much damage at her house because of it. So just be cautious when

358
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:09,300
And you vote on that one, that I would not, if I was in your shoes, I would not accept it.

359
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:10,900
I would not vote to accept that.

360
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:11,780
Thank you.

361
00:34:16,450 --> 00:34:17,030
Other comments?

362
00:34:17,290 --> 00:34:18,910
No, on this item.

363
00:34:19,870 --> 00:34:26,730
Tina Cassandra, would you provide some clarification regarding how this project was rehabbed?

364
00:34:28,510 --> 00:34:34,270
Yes, the Maple Basin was taken back to its original grade per the engineered plans.

365
00:34:34,270 --> 00:34:40,910
The rocks that are in the basin, that is an engineering item, it's called riprap.

366
00:34:41,350 --> 00:34:44,850
Those large rocks are meant to help slow down the flows and capture sediment.

367
00:34:45,610 --> 00:34:51,910
This helps reduce erosion overall in the basin and it was something that was added.

368
00:34:52,610 --> 00:34:59,650
The first time that the basin had originally failed, they went back, re-engineered it, re-looked

369
00:34:59,650 --> 00:35:04,290
did everything, added that rip wrap, and so it is an important component to the basin.

370
00:35:04,290 --> 00:35:10,650
It does play a large role in helping to reduce the velocity of the flows, which helps to reduce the erosion.

371
00:35:11,510 --> 00:35:16,770
The storm that we did have, as Mr. Davies had mentioned, was a large storm.

372
00:35:16,770 --> 00:35:18,370
It was a thousand-year storm event.

373
00:35:18,950 --> 00:35:23,370
We had received six inches and 12 hours, so it did overwhelm that basin.

374
00:35:24,210 --> 00:35:27,530
But that basin is meant for a hundred-year storm event.

375
00:35:27,530 --> 00:35:30,650
and it has been taken back to the original engineered grade.

376
00:35:33,350 --> 00:35:34,150
Thank you.

377
00:35:34,290 --> 00:35:35,730
Do we have any council comments?

378
00:35:39,790 --> 00:35:44,230
I can see that I don't want to assume that you probably already know what my question

379
00:35:44,230 --> 00:35:44,510
is.

380
00:35:44,750 --> 00:35:48,270
Do you accept this as complete and we're pushing forward?

381
00:35:49,030 --> 00:35:49,330
Yes.

382
00:35:49,710 --> 00:35:49,950
Okay.

383
00:35:50,170 --> 00:35:50,570
Thank you.

384
00:35:54,900 --> 00:36:00,740
For item five, public comment, and the Rogers.

385
00:36:23,710 --> 00:36:24,770
Good evening, Cabinet.

386
00:36:26,190 --> 00:36:26,750
Hello.

387
00:36:26,750 --> 00:36:35,880
My name is Ella Lee Rogers, I lived here on the High Desert since 1943 and I have a major

388
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:41,540
problem on a little street called Jacka Ronda Avenue, which is two blocks long.

389
00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:51,500
The other day I left my house going up to my daughter's house and we have it like this

390
00:36:51,500 --> 00:37:00,460
And I was not driving fast at all, and a duly was coming down toward me, and all of a sudden I hit.

391
00:37:02,020 --> 00:37:08,400
And there was a hole in the middle of the road. There still is. It's this deep.

392
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:15,460
Okay, I have a picture on my phone if any of you would like to see it, and it's this wide.

393
00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:21,360
I request that that be taken care of tomorrow, please.

394
00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:29,460
Also, by the way, right after Mother's Day, I had a complete checkup on my car.

395
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:36,080
I drive a maximum and I had a front-end alignment done.

396
00:37:36,460 --> 00:37:41,480
Well, on my car, you have to have everything taken out from under to do the alignment.

397
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:51,360
and it cost $900. I now have to have it done again. If it hadn't been for the man in the

398
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:55,800
duly that stopped to help me and two of the neighbors, I guess we would have had to

399
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:05,800
tow truck to get it out. So I intend to send you a bill for the realignment of my car.

400
00:38:10,940 --> 00:38:11,460
I

401
00:38:11,460 --> 00:38:20,000
that we should, this slurry stuff, my little two block was done a year and a half ago

402
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,340
and now it's got wreaths all through it.

403
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,060
And there's not a lot of big traffic goes on my street.

404
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:33,820
So I don't know who's engineering these things and why you're spending money on just on slurry

405
00:38:33,820 --> 00:38:38,820
instead of putting together good roads here in Hesperia.

406
00:38:38,820 --> 00:38:43,600
I have lived here for a long, long time.

407
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:49,100
I will soon be 85 years old, and I hope that you guys will listen to me a little bit

408
00:38:49,100 --> 00:38:51,860
because I'm not the only one that has this problem here.

409
00:38:52,660 --> 00:38:54,520
So thank you very much for your time.

410
00:38:54,820 --> 00:38:55,700
You have a blessed day.

411
00:38:59,940 --> 00:39:02,200
Item 7, Robert Davie, please.

412
00:39:16,410 --> 00:39:21,790
Kind of along the same lines I've been talking about, that would be, I know on 7 without more

413
00:39:21,790 --> 00:39:22,370
information.

414
00:39:22,970 --> 00:39:24,310
Hopefully you have that information.

415
00:39:24,310 --> 00:39:27,910
what we're left with on Maple Avenue is a mess.

416
00:39:28,670 --> 00:39:33,750
I don't even drive it from Saltana to Main Street because of that still for what she's just talking about.

417
00:39:34,290 --> 00:39:40,310
I traded in my truck last year with the suspension destroyed from driving on Maple Avenue.

418
00:39:41,250 --> 00:39:49,150
So if the job underneath the road surface looks on the sewer, looks like what they left us on top, that's concerning.

419
00:39:49,150 --> 00:39:57,610
Now, you may have information, pictures, diagrams, your engineering diagrams that show that

420
00:39:57,610 --> 00:39:58,870
a good job is done.

421
00:40:00,010 --> 00:40:04,230
Maybe they're just not good at repairing roads after they dig the hole in the road.

422
00:40:04,670 --> 00:40:06,710
But what we were left with is just another mess.

423
00:40:07,070 --> 00:40:08,150
It still is to this day.

424
00:40:08,910 --> 00:40:10,290
So I'd be careful.

425
00:40:12,050 --> 00:40:16,050
I'd want to have more information before I voted on them personally if I was in your shoes.

426
00:40:16,050 --> 00:40:23,690
Hopefully, you have that information to prove that what's underneath what they left on top is better than what's on top because it's a mess.

427
00:40:24,990 --> 00:40:25,590
Thanks.

428
00:40:32,220 --> 00:40:34,120
Do we have council Cassie?

429
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:38,020
Can you explain to Mr. Davie about just

430
00:40:38,660 --> 00:40:40,460
approving the sewer replacement?

431
00:40:41,220 --> 00:40:49,860
Yes, so the sewer replacement was done and completed and we actually went back in video just recently now that it has been

432
00:40:49,860 --> 00:40:54,940
employing full to make sure that we haven't seen any issues or problems, the pipe looks beautiful.

433
00:40:55,100 --> 00:40:56,840
We are very happy with the way the pipe is.

434
00:40:57,300 --> 00:41:03,280
The intent of the street repairs was a temporary hot mix because we knew we were going to be coming back with this

435
00:41:03,860 --> 00:41:06,260
paving project that we're currently working on in Maple.

436
00:41:07,140 --> 00:41:16,600
So it was just to repair the trench that was there with the temporary hot mix until we could do the street repair and do a final complete street.

437
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,420
So it was never intended to be anything long-term.

438
00:41:20,500 --> 00:41:22,560
It was a temporary repair before the project

439
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:23,580
we're currently working on.

440
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:29,620
Thank you, so the intent to approve this consent item

441
00:41:29,620 --> 00:41:32,240
is just for the sewer line, not the roadway.

442
00:41:32,540 --> 00:41:35,000
Yes, this was the removal of the sewer sag

443
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,440
that had been a maintenance issue

444
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:37,680
and the replacement of the pipe.

445
00:41:38,020 --> 00:41:40,400
And with recent video, it all looks beautiful.

446
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:41,760
Thank you very much.

447
00:41:41,900 --> 00:41:43,240
Do I have any further counsel comment?

448
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:54,680
with this being a critical infrastructure need. Is there any kind of warranty provided

449
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,620
from the contractor on this for any kind of period of time?

450
00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:05,140
Yes, the contractor provides a warranty on this. That's why we went back and we re-videoed

451
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:10,780
it once it had been flowing full for a while just to make sure everything looks good. Sometimes

452
00:42:10,780 --> 00:42:15,880
Sometimes when you have underground pipes, if there starts to be a failure, you don't see it until it rises to the surface.

453
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,040
And that's why we wanted to make sure everything looked really good before we brought it to council.

454
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:27,160
Awesome, so on that topic, please correct me if I'm wrong, that warranty aspect of things is relatively new.

455
00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:30,860
There's so many projects that I've asked that same question to, to where there wasn't a warranty.

456
00:42:31,140 --> 00:42:37,780
So have you been diligently telling these contractors like, hey, what kind of warranty are you offering for your services?

457
00:42:38,020 --> 00:42:39,880
Or has this always been in play?

458
00:42:40,340 --> 00:42:44,100
it's been in place for quite a few of our projects but yes we have a great

459
00:42:44,100 --> 00:42:47,100
project management staff that stays on top of that and works very closely with

460
00:42:47,100 --> 00:42:51,380
the contractor awesome so that's great news and I appreciate it and just like

461
00:42:51,380 --> 00:42:55,500
the last project you would say this is good to go and yes thank you

462
00:43:03,020 --> 00:43:04,440
no we're not

463
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,140
going to take any more public comment cards we need to move on because we have a

464
00:43:08,140 --> 00:43:15,920
very important item before us so do I have a motion is it on item seven

465
00:43:26,010 --> 00:43:30,530
Okay, we're talking up here. Thank you very much.

466
00:43:30,870 --> 00:43:35,010
I would say in the interest of work on it right now, we haven't voted on it. We're allowed to speak.

467
00:43:35,390 --> 00:43:36,250
Okay, thank you.

468
00:43:52,460 --> 00:43:58,640
Christine Gidry. I'm not sure if the sewer line is part of the bubbler, but the bubbler on

469
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:03,940
in Sultana and Maple has water bubbling out of it, constantly daily.

470
00:44:05,700 --> 00:44:09,820
On Father's Day, we happened to drive by it and there was so much water pouring out

471
00:44:09,820 --> 00:44:14,640
of it that I actually contacted Robert and I'm like, dude, there's water coming out of

472
00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:15,060
the bubbler.

473
00:44:15,740 --> 00:44:19,700
So if you guys are saying that the sewer is good, why is there water coming out of the

474
00:44:19,700 --> 00:44:19,920
bubbler?

475
00:44:20,380 --> 00:44:27,760
There's constantly water running down Maple in front of basically in front of the, what

476
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:34,740
We call it the drainage that they just fixed and in front of Poplar, but the bubbler literally

477
00:44:34,740 --> 00:44:36,940
has water pouring out of it daily.

478
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,240
So is that part of the sewer or not?

479
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:41,800
That's what I want to know.

480
00:44:42,060 --> 00:44:42,280
Thank you.

481
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:45,300
Can you please address that?

482
00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:49,460
Yes, the bubbler is not part of the sewer system.

483
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:53,740
The bubbler is a storm drain system and it will collect flows.

484
00:44:53,740 --> 00:44:59,260
that can collect flows for a variety of reasons, including sprinklers, people draining pools.

485
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:29,980
Usually it's meant for storm flows, but that does not have sewage, it's not meant to have sewage, and it's not tied to the sewer line. And I live on Saltana, and there's water running there frequently, and I do call in and it's people's landscaping, draining their pools, nothing sewer-related. Thank you. Now, do we have any further public comments? Moving on, do I have a first? I have a first by Council member Greg, a second by Council member Greg.

486
00:45:29,980 --> 00:45:31,380
Rochoa, can we have a vote please?

487
00:45:38,710 --> 00:45:40,490
The item passes 5-0.

488
00:45:40,790 --> 00:45:41,190
Thank you.

489
00:45:55,300 --> 00:45:57,760
Moving on to our public hearing item.

490
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:00,080
Casey, welcome.

491
00:46:10,130 --> 00:46:11,950
Good evening, Mayor and Council of tonight.

492
00:46:12,450 --> 00:46:14,050
The item that I'm going to be speaking on

493
00:46:14,450 --> 00:46:17,830
is the ballot measure for the transactions and use tax

494
00:46:17,830 --> 00:46:19,130
or the sales tax.

495
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:28,160
Here's tonight's agenda.

496
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,100
We have nine items to work through.

497
00:46:30,300 --> 00:46:32,320
And the way this presentation is structured

498
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:33,900
is each item is self-contained.

499
00:46:33,900 --> 00:46:40,780
So, I'm telling you that, so if questions come up, please interrupt me, let's have a conversation as we move through this workshop.

500
00:46:41,540 --> 00:46:49,640
And then once at the end of the presentation, I'm going to pass it over to Pam who is going to discuss the legal aspects of the resolution as well as the ordinance.

501
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:56,220
So, starting with item number one, council action requested.

502
00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:02,380
This is the staff recommendation on the staff report, and basically it boils down to this question.

503
00:47:02,380 --> 00:47:07,040
should the one cent or one percent sales tax be placed on the general election ballot?

504
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:13,860
And so it's important to know this vote will, if Council decides to approve it,

505
00:47:13,980 --> 00:47:20,780
require a fourth of its vote, and it allows the Hisperia voters in November to make the ultimate decision.

506
00:47:21,660 --> 00:47:27,900
Should Council approve the ballot language, it does not increase the taxes tonight,

507
00:47:28,940 --> 00:47:35,220
And nor is it in personal endorsement of a sales tax simply is continuing the conversation.

508
00:47:39,070 --> 00:47:39,690
So why now?

509
00:47:40,230 --> 00:47:45,390
And there's two main thought processes on why a sales tax is being discussed now.

510
00:47:46,270 --> 00:47:49,770
The first is the continual general fund slippage.

511
00:47:49,890 --> 00:47:53,450
We had a lot of discussion during the budget workshops in May.

512
00:47:53,830 --> 00:47:59,950
On the fact that the general fund expenditures exceeded revenue due to unanticipated police

513
00:47:59,950 --> 00:48:03,330
increased contract services increases and insurance increases.

514
00:48:03,950 --> 00:48:09,250
And as general fund had to use its reserves or savings of 500,000.

515
00:48:09,670 --> 00:48:16,570
Now that use of reserves, while it impacted our savings, our savings currently is $28.5 million.

516
00:48:17,330 --> 00:48:20,030
And then so I'm going to go into a five year projection next.

517
00:48:20,690 --> 00:48:23,750
But the second item is to invest in his area.

518
00:48:24,430 --> 00:48:29,010
Invest in items such as infrastructure, public safety, storm drainage.

519
00:48:29,010 --> 00:48:30,490
and beautification.

520
00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:35,160
So what I'll do is I'm going to talk about the general

521
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:39,540
fund projection starting with this chart here and then I'll go into the

522
00:48:39,540 --> 00:48:45,640
investment. So here is a five-year projection of the general fund both the

523
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:50,120
revenues expenditures and then the ending fund balance. We have our fiscal year

524
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:54,840
2627. You can see at the bottom that a $500,000 amount that I just spoke

525
00:48:54,840 --> 00:49:00,460
about as well as the topic of discussion during our budget workshops. And again

526
00:49:00,460 --> 00:49:07,480
And that was due to police cost increasing faster than anticipated, especially in the insurance arena.

527
00:49:08,100 --> 00:49:10,720
And the city's own general liability insurance increase.

528
00:49:12,340 --> 00:49:19,500
And fiscal year 2728, or actually for the projection going forward, we use trend analysis.

529
00:49:19,860 --> 00:49:26,220
So we look at what our revenue increases or expenditure increases in the past.

530
00:49:26,340 --> 00:49:28,020
And we apply that trend analysis going forward.

531
00:49:28,020 --> 00:49:29,480
because, again, this is just a projection.

532
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,380
When we actually prepare the 27-28 budget,

533
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,380
we'll go through every single revenue account, and every single expenditure account.

534
00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:43,000
As the city employs a zero-based budget, meaning we wipe the budget out, and then we look at what is needed this year.

535
00:49:43,380 --> 00:49:46,800
This year is just a projection, they kind of set us up for the next fiscal year.

536
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:53,640
So using the trend analysis, as well as any items that we may know at this time.

537
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:59,900
And the sales tax, we have built-in an increase for commercial activity that's occurring.

538
00:50:01,020 --> 00:50:04,840
And the property tax, a year over year is a 10% increase.

539
00:50:04,940 --> 00:50:11,220
This is to capture any large development on the I-15 corridor going in to 2728.

540
00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,400
And then every year thereafter, it's just a statutory 2% increase.

541
00:50:16,610 --> 00:50:20,870
Police contractual expenditure around, we have a 6% increase,

542
00:50:20,870 --> 00:50:25,470
based on the Schedule A and an anticipated increase to insurance, should it happen again.

543
00:50:25,610 --> 00:50:27,950
You can see the year-a-year, that's a million dollar change.

544
00:50:28,710 --> 00:50:32,470
And then our normal trend analysis on other expenditures.

545
00:50:32,770 --> 00:50:37,390
You can see in fiscal year 2028, again, this is just a projection, it's $2 million.

546
00:50:38,030 --> 00:50:43,410
And then as you go out to $32, $33, it reduces the $600,000.

547
00:50:43,610 --> 00:50:46,290
This does not include any sales tax enhancement.

548
00:50:46,730 --> 00:50:49,330
This is just looking at our revenue today based on trend analysis.

549
00:50:49,330 --> 00:51:01,400
So one thing I want to make sure that we're all clear on is that the police contract aspect we see the increase but that doesn't add additional services from them.

550
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:05,340
So they're already tapped in correct me if I'm wrong, they're already tapped out.

551
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:09,220
This is just to maintain the service that we have now.

552
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:19,160
And additional people we would assume additional people would move into the city would become even more burdensome for the police contract in that aspect, right?

553
00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:28,300
That is correct, and in fact, in a couple slides, you will actually see where we maintain our ratio and it speaks to that point.

554
00:51:29,100 --> 00:51:35,520
Casey, does this property tax account for the increased valuations that the county assessor just did?

555
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:40,520
Yes, so it actually is higher, the projection is 10% for the next fiscal year.

556
00:51:41,100 --> 00:51:41,660
All right, thank you.

557
00:51:44,370 --> 00:51:52,530
On that, on that note, Casey, just for those hearing in, I don't know if you know this figure, but I know that we have

558
00:51:52,530 --> 00:52:01,270
a captain in here with us tonight, but on any given time, how many deputies are on duty on the beat, patrolling the city of Hisperia?

559
00:52:01,870 --> 00:52:12,250
That question, I would have to defer to the captain, I don't have, I have the total, which is 62-1 officers, I don't have the allocation on any given time in the city given time, thank you.

560
00:52:13,150 --> 00:52:16,010
Captain, would you mind addressing that?

561
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,880
Oh, from the back, you have a loud voice, I can hear you loud and clear.

562
00:52:25,630 --> 00:52:30,830
I'm sorry, my request would be to come speak because we do have Zoom recorded.

563
00:52:31,350 --> 00:52:31,910
Record it.

564
00:52:31,990 --> 00:52:33,350
Oh, I apologize, Captain.

565
00:52:43,140 --> 00:52:43,440
Good evening.

566
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:48,240
So at any given time, we are minimum staffing levels, this five deputies per shift.

567
00:52:49,460 --> 00:52:54,680
We run some shifts a little heavier depending on call volume and anticipation of call volume.

568
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,820
So we have anywhere from five to seven deputies per shift generally.

569
00:52:58,260 --> 00:53:01,640
All right, thank you Captain Allen, we appreciate your service to our city.

570
00:53:08,570 --> 00:53:12,610
So now we're moving in, we talked about the general fund slippage, now we're moving into the investment.

571
00:53:13,530 --> 00:53:14,550
Again, why now?

572
00:53:14,770 --> 00:53:16,030
Well, let's focus on the infrastructure.

573
00:53:16,670 --> 00:53:21,430
There's 1.5 billion billion with the B needs in his area and

574
00:53:21,430 --> 00:53:23,810
ask to support enhancement of storm drainage.

575
00:53:23,850 --> 00:53:29,330
You can see at the bottom, and it needed 185 miles is built into that 1.5 billion.

576
00:53:29,330 --> 00:53:37,350
the city does maintain 498 miles of roadway as well as 66 miles of storm drain and

577
00:53:40,940 --> 00:53:41,560
council member Greg

578
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:48,080
this was speaking to you the law enforcement. So the city historically going back to 2010 has

579
00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:56,640
maintained a deputy ratio of 0.6 per thousand residents. The city has added deputies just to maintain

580
00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:05,040
that ratio. The goal is one deputy or one sworn officer per 1000 and in fact in 2024 the national

581
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:12,260
average was roughly 1.2 sworn officers per 1000 nationally. But here in his area it has been

582
00:54:12,260 --> 00:54:19,800
historically 0.6 and that's what it is this year. So in 2010 just a snapshot of the last 16 years

583
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:26,400
There was 57 sworn officers to 91,000 residents that gave us a ratio of 0.63.

584
00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:33,360
In order to get to that 1,000, you would need to have added 34 deputies for

585
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,000
cost of 9.3, 9.4 million.

586
00:54:37,140 --> 00:54:40,760
Fast forward to today, residents of 102,000.

587
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:46,600
We have grown the deputies by 5 to 62 to maintain that 0.6 threshold.

588
00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:52,760
in order to get to that $1,000 would be 41 deputies, $11.3 million.

589
00:54:53,380 --> 00:54:56,520
And that's personnel cost that doesn't include vehicles or

590
00:54:56,520 --> 00:54:58,360
any other items that are needed for the deputies.

591
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:09,560
Continuing with enhancements or investments for the city during the statistical polling.

592
00:55:10,300 --> 00:55:16,060
The participants were asked open into questions on what they would see the sales tax.

593
00:55:16,060 --> 00:55:19,340
It's the investment used as investments into the city.

594
00:55:20,080 --> 00:55:23,560
And as you can see, number one was fixed potholes at 90%.

595
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:28,860
Number two, pave and maintain streets, beautification with the 89%.

596
00:55:29,460 --> 00:55:35,500
Repairing infrastructure at 84% all the way down to law enforcement services at roughly 80%.

597
00:55:35,500 --> 00:55:41,200
So these were questions asked of the participants of the polling and this was the results back.

598
00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:42,060
So

599
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:53,120
now transition, we talked about what the sales backs would be used for, what is actually being discussed tonight or what is being proposed.

600
00:55:53,700 --> 00:55:56,560
Our current sales tax is 7.75%.

601
00:55:56,560 --> 00:56:09,280
6% as we know goes to the state, 0.75% goes to the county, and that leaves 1% here in his area as local control, and that's where we get the 7.75%.

602
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:17,660
The proposal in the ballot language, the way it spells out for percentage wise, is not doubling the tax to 15 or 16 percent.

603
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,200
It's increasing at the 8.75 percent.

604
00:56:20,680 --> 00:56:34,020
And the real change is focusing on that extra voter-approved enhancement, doubling the 1 percent that stays in his area, so it goes from 1 percent to 2 percent, giving you a total tax rate of 8.75 percent.

605
00:56:34,020 --> 00:56:34,960
So

606
00:56:37,010 --> 00:56:37,710
what does that mean?

607
00:56:38,330 --> 00:56:44,730
First, for general tax, it requires a voter approval of 50% plus 1.

608
00:56:45,970 --> 00:56:52,250
The effective tax rate would move if the voters approved for it, from 7.75% to 8.75%.

609
00:56:52,250 --> 00:56:59,950
And the local control monies, and this is based on current year budget, the 1% share is 14.4 million dollars.

610
00:56:59,950 --> 00:57:06,230
And if the 2% were enacted, it would be 28.4 million based on this year's budget.

611
00:57:06,670 --> 00:57:11,250
And each year would change depending on the allocation since sales taxes is variable.

612
00:57:14,950 --> 00:57:16,570
So what is the impact to residents?

613
00:57:17,650 --> 00:57:25,070
For every $10 of taxable goods purchase, it will increase the cost by 10 cents.

614
00:57:25,290 --> 00:57:28,130
However, that 10 cents stays in his area for his very investment.

615
00:57:28,130 --> 00:57:33,030
For every $1,000 of taxable goods purchase, that increase of $10.

616
00:57:33,590 --> 00:57:37,030
Again, that $10 is local controls staying in his area.

617
00:57:38,250 --> 00:57:43,510
Essential items are exempt, such as groceries, prescriptions, diapers, and hygiene products.

618
00:57:43,830 --> 00:57:49,290
So those are exempt and those will continue to stay exempt with this enhancement should council approve.

619
00:57:49,510 --> 00:57:52,410
They'll put it on the ballot and the voters approve the measure.

620
00:57:52,410 --> 00:57:53,430
Not

621
00:57:55,960 --> 00:58:01,840
transitioning, we talked a little bit, but focusing on local control is the current

622
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:06,120
tax rate, as I mentioned, is 7.75% yielding 14.4 million.

623
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:12,000
And that's money that is here in his area, invested in his area.

624
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:18,900
The risk, and there is a risk, is currently the ceiling for a tax of 10% without legislative

625
00:58:18,900 --> 00:58:19,360
approval.

626
00:58:19,860 --> 00:58:23,900
I know there's talk about increasing that, but right now the focus is 10%.

627
00:58:23,900 --> 00:58:43,700
If any other taxing agencies such as the county were to enact a county wide tax sales tax measure and it gets approved that would reduce the amount, the hispary could tax that would reduce the amount that the hispary could tax and thereby reduce the local control.

628
00:58:43,700 --> 00:58:54,980
So, if another taxing agency, such as the county, were to approve a sales tax, that money goes to the county and would not stay in his area, yet his area pays that tax.

629
00:58:59,340 --> 00:59:05,980
And again, briefly, the impact that local control is growing the local monies from 14 million to 28 million.

630
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:14,400
So, we talked about sales tax, what I want to transition to is the his area all above approach.

631
00:59:14,600 --> 00:59:18,160
What have we looked at elsewhere before we started talking about sales tax?

632
00:59:18,160 --> 00:59:31,140
And as most people are aware, 1988, the city was incorporated with its property tax rate of 1.59%, meaning for every $100 that a property owner paid, the city general fund received $1.60.

633
00:59:32,580 --> 00:59:41,200
And the early 2000s, the city of Asperia negotiated with the county for an enhanced 7% rate along the freeway corridor.

634
00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:49,960
So now that $100 will yield $7 and 2018 with the annexation of the fire district is very

635
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:56,580
successful in negotiating an additional 1.5% for the citywide property tax share bringing

636
00:59:56,580 --> 00:59:58,440
that 1.59 to 3%.

637
00:59:58,440 --> 00:59:59,840
So the city has

638
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:13,500
We negotiated over the years to enhance property tax. This has, this is a redistribution of property tax with no impact to the property tax payer. This was a county negotiating gave up some share, increasing,

639
01:00:16,690 --> 01:00:20,130
increasing the whole city. That's a lie.

640
01:00:24,850 --> 01:00:31,870
So continuing on, it reduced the county share and increased the, the spare share.

641
01:00:35,030 --> 01:00:39,310
In 2020, the city did a study, commenced a study on looking at new

642
01:00:39,310 --> 01:00:45,030
development coming into the city, residential development in particular and in that study

643
01:00:45,030 --> 01:00:50,810
it determined that annually each new residential development had a general fund negative impact

644
01:00:50,810 --> 01:00:58,130
of $130. And this was based on the amount of revenue and property tax, sales tax and property

645
01:00:58,130 --> 01:01:02,230
tax that each household would pay compared to the services that they use, police services,

646
01:01:02,450 --> 01:01:03,790
road maintenance, so on and so forth.

647
01:01:03,790 --> 01:01:12,950
In order to remedy this, the city enacted community facility districts for road improvement

648
01:01:12,950 --> 01:01:16,410
or street maintenance, as well as police service.

649
01:01:17,170 --> 01:01:27,830
Starting in 21-1 or CFD 21-1 is a residential CFD and any project with four or more units

650
01:01:27,830 --> 01:01:34,890
So doors, each house is charged $840 for police services and roads.

651
01:01:36,790 --> 01:01:47,290
22-1, that's an industrial CFD, so each of the large industrial buildings is assessed a .15 or 15 cent square footage CFD.

652
01:01:48,090 --> 01:01:51,010
And then lastly, the civil would CFD is $400.

653
01:01:51,010 --> 01:02:04,410
So each new resident coming in or new development coming in is assisting in paying their fair share, whereas prior to that, it was cost in a general fund $130 each year for those developments.

654
01:02:10,350 --> 01:02:16,310
The next step in this various all above approach is looking at fee recovery.

655
01:02:16,310 --> 01:02:29,670
and 2024 the Council adopted the strategic plan which identified 11 top strategies and that one of the top 11 strategies was conduct a regular assessment of approved fees to ensure costs are recovered.

656
01:02:30,350 --> 01:02:37,510
And that has been ongoing each year since the approval of the strategic plan starting in December of 2023.

657
01:02:38,450 --> 01:02:44,690
And then annually we'll look at the fees and we bring it back to ensure that any service provided were recaptureing those costs.

658
01:02:44,690 --> 01:02:45,730
So

659
01:02:48,480 --> 01:02:56,660
the last thing in this section, I wanted to read this paragraph, the recommended ballot measure represents one component of the city's long-term fiscal strategy.

660
01:02:57,320 --> 01:03:04,920
Building upon previous efforts to strengthen revenues, recover the cost of services, and reasonably manage expenditures.

661
01:03:06,020 --> 01:03:16,000
So looking at expenditures, looking at the revenue, whether it's fees or the property tax, it shows that the sales tax is one of the last strategies being presented to council.

662
01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:16,080
So

663
01:03:18,930 --> 01:03:25,010
now that back to sales tax, the conversation with sales tax really started in 2023.

664
01:03:25,190 --> 01:03:26,670
We had a sales tax workshop.

665
01:03:27,510 --> 01:03:32,610
We looked at taxes of all types, whether it was TOT, utility tax and sales tax.

666
01:03:33,470 --> 01:03:43,290
The work in 2025, almost a year ago, we revisited the topic of sales tax to which council agreed

667
01:03:43,290 --> 01:03:45,350
to continue the conversation.

668
01:03:46,030 --> 01:03:48,890
Since that time, two polls were conducted.

669
01:03:49,410 --> 01:03:52,750
One of the polls was presented to council during the April May timeframe.

670
01:03:53,650 --> 01:03:57,330
And then I have the results of the poll, which I'll share on the next slide.

671
01:03:58,290 --> 01:04:01,450
Two mailers went out to all registered voters in his area.

672
01:04:01,990 --> 01:04:07,350
And finally, the city staff has conducted three, had three booths at the farmers market,

673
01:04:07,750 --> 01:04:11,930
where we're able to have the conversation with his various residents on this very topic.

674
01:04:16,420 --> 01:04:40,600
So the second public opinion poll was conducted in June during the second week of June and as you can see here, let me back up, the June polling included elevated gas taxes that are gas prices that everybody is paying as well as the current state of the economy, so this is relatively fresh data, but again, a polling is a snapshot in time so in June, these are the numbers for June.

675
01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:45,980
The initial ballot test, and this is, would you support a sales tax?

676
01:04:46,580 --> 01:04:49,780
With really no contacts, came out at 61% approval.

677
01:04:50,800 --> 01:04:58,380
And then the second test where you give all the positive arguments, grew that approval to 60 to 7.5%.

678
01:04:58,380 --> 01:05:06,760
Then finally, the third test, you give all the negative arguments to see how far the approval rating will drop.

679
01:05:06,760 --> 01:05:16,260
And it dropped to 61.2% and what's interesting here is there's a 2.2% gain on the negative

680
01:05:16,260 --> 01:05:17,780
test over the positive test.

681
01:05:18,180 --> 01:05:22,600
So the negative test after hearing all the negative arguments had more support than

682
01:05:22,600 --> 01:05:23,700
the positive test.

683
01:05:24,180 --> 01:05:31,340
Of that to sample size with 488 completed and it gives you a 4.4% error margin on a 95%

684
01:05:31,340 --> 01:05:32,060
confidence rate.

685
01:05:32,060 --> 01:05:45,970
You will have an opportunity to excuse me sir, I'm asking you to let us finish the presentation if you'd like to do public speaking please fill out a public comment card.

686
01:05:46,530 --> 01:05:49,970
And I'm asking you to be quiet so we can continue on.

687
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:53,660
Thank you.

688
01:05:58,740 --> 01:06:01,320
So now moving into fiscal oversight and accountability.

689
01:06:02,860 --> 01:06:10,080
In here, this is how expenditures are reviewed or revenues are reviewed and it really focuses

690
01:06:10,080 --> 01:06:11,340
on the darker square.

691
01:06:12,420 --> 01:06:15,960
First, there's six public meetings in which the budget is discussed.

692
01:06:16,260 --> 01:06:22,600
It's November 1st, quarter, February for mid-year and in both of those we're looking at the

693
01:06:22,600 --> 01:06:26,860
status of the budget as well as planning for the next year's budget.

694
01:06:27,580 --> 01:06:32,100
Then in May there's two budget workshops, one for the operating budget, as well as one

695
01:06:32,100 --> 01:06:38,180
for the capital budget, and we lay out the plan for the upcoming year as well as finishing

696
01:06:38,180 --> 01:06:40,260
the last few months of the current fiscal year.

697
01:06:41,480 --> 01:06:47,520
In June there's two budget adoption meetings, one for the operating budget, and then a detailed

698
01:06:47,520 --> 01:06:49,940
CIP or capital improvement project budget.

699
01:06:51,160 --> 01:06:56,440
Also in April the city presents, staff presents to the city council, the audited financial

700
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:02,060
that we're following all internal

701
01:07:02,060 --> 01:07:03,460
controls and there's no material

702
01:07:03,460 --> 01:07:03,840
fraud.

703
01:07:04,780 --> 01:07:05,980
And not listed on here.

704
01:07:06,680 --> 01:07:08,060
A couple of aspects I do want to

705
01:07:08,060 --> 01:07:10,220
point out the city has a financial

706
01:07:10,220 --> 01:07:12,340
transparency portal meaning that

707
01:07:12,340 --> 01:07:14,540
any citizen can go in and look at the

708
01:07:14,540 --> 01:07:15,680
city's financial data.

709
01:07:16,360 --> 01:07:18,920
As recent as 24 hours old takes 24

710
01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:20,020
hours to come from my financial

711
01:07:20,020 --> 01:07:21,560
system into this portal.

712
01:07:22,020 --> 01:07:24,060
So if you're looking today, you

713
01:07:24,060 --> 01:07:25,220
would be looking at Friday's data

714
01:07:25,220 --> 01:07:29,440
and they can generate any report, look at any expenditure, any revenue coming through.

715
01:07:30,940 --> 01:07:37,920
Also the city has over 20 years of budgets available on its web page as well as 20 years of audits.

716
01:07:38,700 --> 01:07:41,640
And then the last area is contract control.

717
01:07:42,060 --> 01:07:47,820
Just as consent calendar showed, any expenditure project over $50,000 requires

718
01:07:47,820 --> 01:08:02,240
that staff bring a staff report to Council for approval and that staff report has to justify the project or contract as well as identify the appropriate budgeted funds that were adopted by Council in June.

719
01:08:06,570 --> 01:08:11,330
So now I'm getting close to the end. We have discussion basically next steps.

720
01:08:11,330 --> 01:08:16,710
So tonight July 21st is the discussion of the ballot language that requires a fourth

721
01:08:16,710 --> 01:08:17,210
this vote.

722
01:08:17,470 --> 01:08:22,630
If approved, that would, that language would be included in the October 2026 ballot.

723
01:08:23,250 --> 01:08:29,570
And then the election would occur on November 3rd, 2026, where all residents would be able

724
01:08:29,570 --> 01:08:31,370
to vote on the measure.

725
01:08:31,370 --> 01:08:32,330
So

726
01:08:36,170 --> 01:08:42,810
lastly, tonight's action three main items will occur.

727
01:08:44,370 --> 01:08:47,990
One vote on the ballot measure does not increase the tax.

728
01:08:48,290 --> 01:08:51,310
As I said in the beginning, it does not increase the tax tonight.

729
01:08:51,690 --> 01:08:54,590
That goes to the number two places that before the voters.

730
01:08:54,950 --> 01:08:56,290
The voters have the ultimate say.

731
01:08:57,050 --> 01:09:01,450
The number three is a little bit redundant, but the Hispari residents,

732
01:09:01,450 --> 01:09:07,850
such as myself will be able to participate in the conversation on whether the enhancement should go forward.

733
01:09:08,510 --> 01:09:15,750
So with that that concludes the presentation on the sales tax itself, I'm going to turn the presentation over to Pam who will speak to the legal aspects.

734
01:09:23,780 --> 01:09:30,060
Stop interrupting this meeting, we have business, we have business to conduct.

735
01:09:30,320 --> 01:09:34,120
If you interrupt again, I'm going to ask the deputies to remove you from this meeting.

736
01:09:40,900 --> 01:09:47,980
Thank you Madam Mayor and members of the City Council and thank you KC for the very thorough presentation.

737
01:09:48,960 --> 01:10:04,740
I would like to continue to discuss the legal issues about the sales tax measure and if you see in your staff report currently the sales tax rate in the city of his spirit is at 7.75.

738
01:10:05,660 --> 01:10:14,520
and it indicates that of the 25 cities in San Bernardino County, 12 of them have already adopted a transactions and use tax.

739
01:10:15,320 --> 01:10:19,760
That's being considered tonight, that leaves remaining 13 that have not.

740
01:10:20,600 --> 01:10:26,760
But if you look at your list for those that do currently have a 7.75% sales tax rate,

741
01:10:27,400 --> 01:10:33,640
there are several cities on that list that are putting on their ballot in the upcoming November election,

742
01:10:33,640 --> 01:10:37,200
and a 1% sales tax, and that would include Adelanto,

743
01:10:38,040 --> 01:10:41,080
Chino Hills, Grand Terrace, Highland,

744
01:10:41,640 --> 01:10:45,720
Loma Linda, at least, and the other ones are potentially

745
01:10:45,720 --> 01:10:48,380
maybe doing so as well if they have not already.

746
01:10:48,880 --> 01:10:50,960
So we would be in the very minority

747
01:10:50,960 --> 01:10:54,600
if this does not get put on the sales tax measure

748
01:10:54,600 --> 01:10:57,960
in the November of 2026 election.

749
01:10:58,500 --> 01:11:01,220
The reason a lot of cities are doing this at this time

750
01:11:01,220 --> 01:11:07,420
is because a lot of the infrastructure needs are coming at a head where a lot of existing

751
01:11:07,420 --> 01:11:14,500
infrastructure in several cities, not in just the county, but all over the state, have reached

752
01:11:14,500 --> 01:11:21,120
their end of life cycle. And do need to be replaced. A lot of the infrastructure here in the city

753
01:11:21,120 --> 01:11:26,040
is in the same position. And in fact, what Casey had presented and what a lot of the community

754
01:11:26,040 --> 01:11:30,160
members have already experienced is that the infrastructure is not there to begin with,

755
01:11:30,160 --> 01:11:34,580
And that is what a potential sales tax measure would be going towards.

756
01:11:35,480 --> 01:11:45,540
With a sales tax measure, again, it does require two thirds of the city council to place it on to the ballot for November of 2026.

757
01:11:45,760 --> 01:11:56,260
That means four of the five council members need to vote in favor of putting it on to the measure on the ballot in November.

758
01:11:56,260 --> 01:12:01,960
Again, what that does not mean is that does not mean that you are in favor of a tax.

759
01:12:02,300 --> 01:12:05,180
It does not mean you are not in favor of tax.

760
01:12:05,640 --> 01:12:12,140
What it means is simply that you are putting this measure to the voters for them to decide

761
01:12:12,140 --> 01:12:17,360
and for them to exercise their voice as part of the democratic process.

762
01:12:18,560 --> 01:12:22,980
That is what is up for consideration today.

763
01:12:23,620 --> 01:12:33,160
As a prior council member had stated in prior council meetings, this is not something that

764
01:12:33,160 --> 01:12:39,000
you are necessarily in favor of, but you are going to let the voters provide their opinion

765
01:12:39,340 --> 01:12:40,800
and exercise their vote.

766
01:12:41,600 --> 01:12:46,920
Whether the polling results are accurate or not, you may be able to see that if this goes

767
01:12:46,920 --> 01:12:49,540
up on the ballot in November.

768
01:12:51,600 --> 01:13:01,160
And if the measure does get put on the ballot, it is for a one cent sales tax that will

769
01:13:01,160 --> 01:13:07,820
bring in an estimated 15 million on an annual basis to do what the city currently needs

770
01:13:07,820 --> 01:13:13,260
and you heard the public speakers tonight about some infrastructure needs and desires out

771
01:13:13,260 --> 01:13:14,200
there for the community.

772
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:24,100
It is a general tax, which means it needs a majority to pass, that's 50% plus one, and

773
01:13:24,100 --> 01:13:29,940
it can be utilized for any general essential services of the city.

774
01:13:30,180 --> 01:13:33,460
That will be up to the city council to consider.

775
01:13:34,140 --> 01:13:42,480
If you want to specify where the tax is going to go, that would be a special tax and

776
01:13:42,480 --> 01:13:47,940
would require two-thirds voter approval, but this is a general tax which would only require

777
01:13:47,940 --> 01:13:56,320
50% plus one. The council can then earmark on an annual basis what to do with the money

778
01:13:56,320 --> 01:14:02,940
and the funds that come in and what expenditures it wants to prioritize. That can be done via

779
01:14:02,940 --> 01:14:11,900
resolution and you as a council can decide what priorities you want to really implement as

780
01:14:11,900 --> 01:14:17,680
part of your strategic plan and we can bring that resolution back if you decide to

781
01:14:17,680 --> 01:14:25,200
do that and of course you can make your priorities known via majority or you can indicate in the

782
01:14:25,200 --> 01:14:30,480
resolution that you want a super majority for adoption but I'd be happy to answer any additional

783
01:14:30,480 --> 01:14:35,840
questions you have on that but I did want to point that out that it is a general tax but it can

784
01:14:35,840 --> 01:14:42,580
certainly be earmarked on an annual basis by City Council consideration and approval.

785
01:14:43,840 --> 01:14:50,900
I think I don't know if it was included as part of the presentation, but generally speaking

786
01:14:50,900 --> 01:14:59,620
when you look at the amount of taxes that are being collected, roughly half of that, or 50 percent.

787
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:29,780
Typically comes from those that live outside of the city. So they are contributing to the wear and tear of the streets that they're using when they come shop here. That's their fair share of contributing to what services the city provides. And in that way, a sales tax does allocate funds for people to use that don't necessarily live in the city because we all know that people shop in different cities.

788
01:15:29,780 --> 01:15:36,520
in the cities that they don't live in, and that's a way of outsiders contributing to the

789
01:15:36,520 --> 01:15:39,180
wear and tear of the infrastructure needs that the city has.

790
01:15:39,960 --> 01:15:47,540
If you break this down, 50% of the $15 million being provided by residents outside of the city,

791
01:15:47,540 --> 01:15:53,800
that's roughly $7.5 million, which means roughly the other $7.5 is paid for by residents,

792
01:15:53,800 --> 01:16:00,540
and on a per resident basis that boils down to $73 a year, a little more than $6 a month.

793
01:16:00,840 --> 01:16:04,900
So if you think about that, it's $6 a month to pave your roads.

794
01:16:05,120 --> 01:16:06,480
Is that worth the investment or not?

795
01:16:06,880 --> 01:16:15,920
So in terms of what you're doing tonight, if you choose to put this on, there will be timeline

796
01:16:15,920 --> 01:16:21,820
with respect to an impartial analysis that needs to be written, as well as arguments in favor

797
01:16:21,820 --> 01:16:27,960
of a sales tax measure and arguments against the sales tax measure, those are included

798
01:16:27,960 --> 01:16:28,900
in the resolution.

799
01:16:29,780 --> 01:16:36,320
Arguments in favor and arguments supposed would be the deadline to, if you choose to put

800
01:16:36,320 --> 01:16:43,140
this on the ballot, it would be by August 17th, and then rebuttal arguments would be due

801
01:16:43,140 --> 01:17:06,220
August 21st. And after that, what the City Council can and cannot do is basically provide information to residents the city cannot advocate or take a position for against the measure if this does get adopted and put on the ballot.

802
01:17:06,220 --> 01:17:13,480
But we will take a neutral position to provide information to residents and community members.

803
01:17:16,460 --> 01:17:17,180
Yes, please.

804
01:17:17,940 --> 01:17:19,660
Pam, I have a couple questions on that.

805
01:17:20,080 --> 01:17:27,540
As far as not taking a position that would only be applicable after the vote so I can kind

806
01:17:28,180 --> 01:17:30,640
of say my disdain or support of.

807
01:17:30,880 --> 01:17:37,120
You can certainly provide your opinions to whether or not you are in favor, not in favor.

808
01:17:37,120 --> 01:17:42,300
and as well as, you know, whether you want to put this on the ballot for against.

809
01:17:43,240 --> 01:17:50,020
And even if this does get placed on the ballot for November, you as an individual and

810
01:17:50,020 --> 01:17:52,840
a citizen can certainly make your opinion known.

811
01:17:53,400 --> 01:18:00,060
But in your official capacity to take a position one way or the other, there's a limitation

812
01:18:00,060 --> 01:18:06,940
on what you as council members can do in your official capacity to advocate for or against

813
01:18:06,940 --> 01:18:11,020
to measure whether it's a sales tax measure or any other type of ballot measure.

814
01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:12,180
Makes sense.

815
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:22,260
And then the other question for you is the wording, if this does get put on a ballot, who decides the wording of that ultimately?

816
01:18:23,200 --> 01:18:29,540
Currently, the wording of the proposed ballot measure is included in the resolution and

817
01:18:29,540 --> 01:18:32,880
that ballot question is under section three of the resolution.

818
01:18:32,880 --> 01:18:42,720
it's in that box and that's what will be included on the ballot if you choose to prove this for November.

819
01:18:43,060 --> 01:18:44,520
So that wording has already been approved?

820
01:18:45,240 --> 01:18:56,260
Well, you can change it, but that is the suggested wording to take a neutral position that's been written by the consultants and approve.

821
01:18:56,260 --> 01:19:04,180
I would like to add that that wording has been tested with the statistical polling both times that exact that exact ballot language.

822
01:19:04,620 --> 01:19:12,300
And so the last polling was at 61% or 61.1% approval.

823
01:19:14,040 --> 01:19:15,420
Thank you.

824
01:19:16,000 --> 01:19:19,320
Do we have any additional council comments?

825
01:19:21,710 --> 01:19:22,390
Thank you.

826
01:19:22,390 --> 01:19:29,030
I will open up the public hearing at 752, and we have some public speakers.

827
01:19:29,390 --> 01:19:30,990
Anthony Arshuleta, please.

828
01:19:39,570 --> 01:19:44,550
Arshuleta, I have been a born resident of the spirit of California since 1983.

829
01:19:45,390 --> 01:19:54,370
I have spoken at multiple city council memberships here in the high desert, whether it includes NGO money,

830
01:19:54,690 --> 01:19:57,430
our money looking for your city while it's growing.

831
01:19:58,150 --> 01:20:08,810
It almost seems like the city is not looking into money from the government to help grow the city, which is very disturbing to me.

832
01:20:09,470 --> 01:20:21,230
I had to go out the same talk with the city of Victorville looking for the Yuckeloma money, had the same talk with the city of Victorville looking for their homeless money that the city helped build in the state of California.

833
01:20:21,590 --> 01:20:26,390
And why isn't the state of California promoting the homeless center in the city of Victorville?

834
01:20:26,390 --> 01:20:46,780
As a prodigy to the state of California for homelessness, it's not and you all know why and if everybody back here decides to go to their homework, they'll find out why I helped uncover what was going on from LA.

835
01:20:47,520 --> 01:20:52,200
And so the same conversation that I'm going to have with the city of Victorville is the same conversation that I'm going to have with you.

836
01:20:52,200 --> 01:20:56,800
What is the medium income to the people here in Aspiria?

837
01:20:57,580 --> 01:20:58,580
Because I didn't see that up there.

838
01:20:59,140 --> 01:20:59,920
Please tell me.

839
01:21:00,260 --> 01:21:01,300
You're the man that made the statistics?

840
01:21:01,940 --> 01:21:03,360
You don't got an answer, do you?

841
01:21:03,740 --> 01:21:05,200
But that answer should be up here.

842
01:21:05,620 --> 01:21:10,200
For every citizen that is in the city of Aspiria of the medium income.

843
01:21:11,000 --> 01:21:13,640
Because at the point you decide to make a sales tax

844
01:21:13,640 --> 01:21:17,700
onto these people's proposition of how much money they make,

845
01:21:18,100 --> 01:21:19,860
you don't realize how much money you make.

846
01:21:20,280 --> 01:21:23,580
I'm going to break this down like I did at the City of Victorville, all right?

847
01:21:24,040 --> 01:21:28,840
This was in 2009. Actually, we're in 2000, what, 2016 now?

848
01:21:29,240 --> 01:21:32,500
Man, you know what the medium income is here in the city of Asperia?

849
01:21:32,700 --> 01:21:36,000
Please, any of the city council, the man that made the statistics?

850
01:21:36,460 --> 01:21:37,020
Please tell me.

851
01:21:38,640 --> 01:21:41,900
None of you can give me a statistical proposition of what the city

852
01:21:43,120 --> 01:21:44,820
annual median income is.

853
01:21:45,880 --> 01:21:46,960
Do you know what that is?

854
01:21:47,520 --> 01:21:48,560
Anybody here in this room?

855
01:21:48,560 --> 01:21:50,980
No, we don't.

856
01:21:50,980 --> 01:21:54,100
It's $45,000 a year.

857
01:21:54,500 --> 01:21:58,440
Do you know how much that $45,000 a year,

858
01:21:58,620 --> 01:22:01,100
those people have to pay to go drive down the hill,

859
01:22:01,500 --> 01:22:03,000
or pay to go to Lancaster,

860
01:22:03,300 --> 01:22:06,620
or pay to go to Fort Irwin, Barstow, or Edwards?

861
01:22:07,140 --> 01:22:10,280
Because 80% of this workforce in this city

862
01:22:10,280 --> 01:22:12,640
has to drive to go to work.

863
01:22:14,520 --> 01:22:18,060
Not only is the state putting 11% sales tax

864
01:22:18,060 --> 01:22:22,140
tax on us, they're putting the gas tax on us, and you're going to add another percent

865
01:22:22,140 --> 01:22:30,620
on us? Wake up! At what point are you going to ask the state for money? At what point

866
01:22:30,620 --> 01:22:37,200
are you going to ask an NGO to wake up in the city of Asperia? The city council has that

867
01:22:37,200 --> 01:22:44,440
power to create an NGO. Please tell me where the community goes to work out. I'll tell you,

868
01:22:44,440 --> 01:22:48,460
the Novak Center. You know how far kids have to drive to the Novak Center?

869
01:22:49,100 --> 01:22:55,340
To have a YMCA Center to go work out? You know parents don't want to take their kids to the Novak

870
01:22:55,340 --> 01:23:00,400
Center? Do you know Mrs Novak and Mr Novak from Victorville, California would be ashamed of that?

871
01:23:01,000 --> 01:23:06,940
That was a little point of the Novak Center so that children could get to a center where we could grow

872
01:23:07,940 --> 01:23:17,040
And now you're taken away more and more as the state keeps taking more and more and here we are in

873
01:23:17,040 --> 01:23:23,700
a precipice of just keep taxing. It's all going to work out. No. Let's have financial, fiscal,

874
01:23:24,120 --> 01:23:30,740
responsibility. You know what that means? The median income of the city should be the median income

875
01:23:30,740 --> 01:23:38,240
of the city manager should be the medium income of everybody on this council because that's

876
01:23:38,240 --> 01:23:46,140
what you deserve. Our city is only made off the people that created. And if we don't have

877
01:23:46,140 --> 01:23:52,300
the money to create the city, how do you expect us to put money in the city? We can't. We can't

878
01:23:52,300 --> 01:23:59,260
go out need. We can't go out to do sports. We can't allow our children to do the things

879
01:23:59,260 --> 01:24:02,320
because they need to do if you guys keep taxing.

880
01:24:03,680 --> 01:24:07,380
What needs to happen is the city needs to come together.

881
01:24:08,000 --> 01:24:10,600
We need to make programs like cities used to.

882
01:24:11,400 --> 01:24:14,820
We need to ask the city to ask the state for

883
01:24:14,820 --> 01:24:17,600
these programs that we used to have.

884
01:24:18,660 --> 01:24:21,820
But you guys keep taking all these programs away from us.

885
01:24:22,060 --> 01:24:23,820
And then you have all these kids running a muck,

886
01:24:24,400 --> 01:24:26,500
creating crime, creating all these things.

887
01:24:26,500 --> 01:24:28,960
because they got nowhere to go.

888
01:24:30,120 --> 01:24:33,220
And you're talking about another 1% sales tax.

889
01:24:33,560 --> 01:24:35,400
Great, it's not much.

890
01:24:35,640 --> 01:24:36,480
It isn't much.

891
01:24:37,300 --> 01:24:39,440
But how much is it on the working class family?

892
01:24:41,180 --> 01:24:43,280
Thank you very much, Robert Davie.

893
01:24:43,700 --> 01:24:44,000
It's

894
01:25:02,720 --> 01:25:03,980
a tough act to follow, well done.

895
01:25:05,640 --> 01:25:09,200
A year ago, when this was proposed, I came up here,

896
01:25:09,380 --> 01:25:13,340
and I said, I'm in favor of this tax with the caveat

897
01:25:13,340 --> 01:25:16,600
that it goes to Rose and it goes to public safety.

898
01:25:17,060 --> 01:25:20,060
I realize in that I was going to take a 67% vote.

899
01:25:21,040 --> 01:25:27,700
So I want to go on public record today and clarify that I'm 100% opposed to it because

900
01:25:27,700 --> 01:25:33,660
you can't hear a market where at the mercy of the council, this council is now constituted

901
01:25:34,120 --> 01:25:40,380
or any council moving forward as it's reconstituted, do you even submit it as you wish?

902
01:25:40,380 --> 01:25:47,960
Okay, so first off, $217,000, you know what that would have done for the animal shelter,

903
01:25:48,640 --> 01:25:50,120
for the underserved in this community.

904
01:25:50,900 --> 01:25:53,820
Go out on a Saturday morning and look at the people lined up with our food banks.

905
01:25:54,600 --> 01:25:55,320
It's sad.

906
01:25:55,840 --> 01:25:57,780
I was in that position the last two years.

907
01:25:58,100 --> 01:26:02,760
My wife's medicine was $2,000 a month, not covered by Medicare, out of pocket.

908
01:26:03,500 --> 01:26:06,440
People are making decisions between food and medicine.

909
01:26:06,880 --> 01:26:12,440
There's a lot of people in this city that are going hungry, seniors, underserved, children,

910
01:26:13,440 --> 01:26:14,240
they're out there.

911
01:26:14,820 --> 01:26:18,160
You just look at our food banks, that money could have gone a long ways to do a lot of

912
01:26:18,160 --> 01:26:18,600
different things.

913
01:26:18,680 --> 01:26:23,440
We've got to stop wasting the money that we do have, like I talked before, throwing chip

914
01:26:23,440 --> 01:26:29,000
seal and just bad money, we've got to be better stewards of the money that we do have.

915
01:26:29,360 --> 01:26:30,300
It's bad timing.

916
01:26:30,300 --> 01:26:41,240
I mean, we just had a gas tax 2.5% on July 1st, that's going on the backs of all residents who happen to have gas cars.

917
01:26:41,940 --> 01:26:52,280
So, another thing on the wording, if you do vote it in and assume you're going to, this 1% is very deceiving, you're trying to trick the people.

918
01:26:52,280 --> 01:26:57,000
So, one cent tax is not equal 1%, one cent on what?

919
01:26:57,320 --> 01:26:58,120
One cent out of dollar?

920
01:26:58,400 --> 01:26:59,220
Yeah, that's 1%.

921
01:26:59,220 --> 01:27:01,520
One cent out of 100, one cent out of 1000.

922
01:27:02,400 --> 01:27:05,060
So, at the very least, take that one cent out.

923
01:27:05,420 --> 01:27:08,820
So, people are not going to be confused on what this tax really is.

924
01:27:11,200 --> 01:27:18,160
So, when you have 100% against it because you would have to have a special tax would be 67% affirmative.

925
01:27:18,160 --> 01:27:22,860
Even Apple Valley, when they approved theirs a year ago, got 62% approval.

926
01:27:25,440 --> 01:27:30,360
The sad reality is, if you put it on the ballot, people probably will approve it.

927
01:27:30,500 --> 01:27:33,160
So they think they're going to wake up the next day and the roads are going to be repaired.

928
01:27:33,500 --> 01:27:34,880
That's not necessarily going to be the case.

929
01:27:35,760 --> 01:27:38,460
So let's stop wasting money.

930
01:27:39,140 --> 01:27:45,560
Bad road repairs, $32,000 on traffic control wraps, you know?

931
01:27:45,560 --> 01:27:53,740
Now, and most of them are not even, if you want to have an art where you bring the people

932
01:27:53,740 --> 01:27:55,740
in, let's have their art and give them awards, great.

933
01:27:56,480 --> 01:28:00,580
But we have to spend all that money on trapping control wraps, a lot of them don't look well

934
01:28:00,580 --> 01:28:00,960
anyway.

935
01:28:01,340 --> 01:28:06,680
Look at, if you want to look at a trapping control wrap that's a job gone wrong, go to 11th and

936
01:28:06,680 --> 01:28:09,280
main by flag star, take a look at that one.

937
01:28:12,180 --> 01:28:17,060
Like I said, there's just a lot of people that this money could have been so much better

938
01:28:17,060 --> 01:28:18,180
or else spent on that survey.

939
01:28:18,700 --> 01:28:23,760
One percent may not seem like a lot, but it's a deterrent to businesses.

940
01:28:24,380 --> 01:28:27,280
It's going to be on the backs of the people that just can't afford it.

941
01:28:27,760 --> 01:28:30,300
Like he said, the median income is not that high in hysteria.

942
01:28:30,740 --> 01:28:32,080
What do you think we don't have a whole foods?

943
01:28:32,340 --> 01:28:33,900
What do you think we don't have a trader Joe's?

944
01:28:34,200 --> 01:28:36,180
Because our median income won't support it.

945
01:28:36,180 --> 01:28:39,920
Okay, we'd love to have those two stores up here, but they won't come.

946
01:28:41,640 --> 01:28:48,200
So anyhow, just so the clarification that I haven't flipped a lot in the last year was in for it on the caveat.

947
01:28:48,840 --> 01:28:53,860
Roads in public safety, what the realization that's not guaranteed, 100% against it.

948
01:28:54,320 --> 01:28:54,580
Thank you.

949
01:28:55,700 --> 01:28:56,920
Kim Jones, please.

950
01:29:06,080 --> 01:29:10,720
I know there's voters that what you're going to do is just to put it on the ballot.

951
01:29:10,960 --> 01:29:13,000
And that's what we're supposed to be talking about.

952
01:29:13,000 --> 01:29:19,640
I'm not for that, and I wasn't for the study and the money that was used for the study.

953
01:29:20,560 --> 01:29:26,960
I mean, I pay taxes, I'm on Social Security, so you want folks want to know what it's

954
01:29:26,960 --> 01:29:27,240
like?

955
01:29:28,020 --> 01:29:31,720
Try living on Social Security as your only income.

956
01:29:32,640 --> 01:29:40,660
I work minimum wage driving a bus until I got hurt, so my Social Security is not very big,

957
01:29:40,660 --> 01:29:45,120
and I know what it is to pay taxes. I know gasoline taxes. I'm driving the same

958
01:29:45,120 --> 01:29:51,540
dad-gum vehicle. I've had it for 49 years. So I know what the gas taxes is.

959
01:29:52,300 --> 01:29:56,120
It won't run on anything but premium. I don't know. It has nothing to do with

960
01:29:56,120 --> 01:29:59,940
this is. So I understand what these other folks are talking about all this.

961
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:29,740
All different taxes. This state and all this takes out several years ago. When the fire department was contacted out, I was involved in one of the candidates running and I got copies of all the candidate statements. Funny one in there. We have voted or we have paid 10,000 potholes in one year. That was from a former city council candidate. So I know all about all this stuff.

962
01:30:29,740 --> 01:30:33,840
I understand all that, you know, that you folks want to get a different income.

963
01:30:34,820 --> 01:30:38,480
But everything's being taxed, Ed Gummett, you go into the thrift store.

964
01:30:38,940 --> 01:30:40,660
That stuff's already been taxed.

965
01:30:40,740 --> 01:30:45,440
And it's still being taxed unless it's something like the Salvation Army, leisurely, you go over

966
01:30:45,440 --> 01:30:46,540
there, you've got to pay taxes.

967
01:30:47,320 --> 01:30:52,920
You go to the feed store, the tractor supply, or even the grocery store, Walmart to buy dog

968
01:30:52,920 --> 01:30:56,720
food, cat food, or any of this stuff, that's being taxed.

969
01:30:56,740 --> 01:30:58,900
You know, those of us that have animals.

970
01:30:58,900 --> 01:31:05,480
we have to pay taxes to feed them. Unless you're raising an animal to consume them, which I would never do.

971
01:31:06,580 --> 01:31:13,440
You know, so I'm just not for another tax. Please, I know what you're trying to do to get an income.

972
01:31:14,000 --> 01:31:18,940
And the state is wasting so much money, the big government, Washington, the worst and so much money.

973
01:31:19,440 --> 01:31:26,560
You're giving all these weird programs and all these weird things, given money to other countries and stuff like that.

974
01:31:26,560 --> 01:31:29,600
Why doesn't it stay here to help some of our people?

975
01:31:30,020 --> 01:31:32,060
We got a lot of people that are in needs.

976
01:31:32,340 --> 01:31:33,860
We got a lot of poor people.

977
01:31:34,240 --> 01:31:36,540
We got people over in the Appalachian Mountains.

978
01:31:36,540 --> 01:31:37,900
They're living in shafts.

979
01:31:38,080 --> 01:31:38,880
I mean, goodness.

980
01:31:39,580 --> 01:31:41,560
Why give it around to everybody else?

981
01:31:41,600 --> 01:31:42,280
Keep it here.

982
01:31:42,860 --> 01:31:44,460
But please don't put this on the ballot,

983
01:31:44,500 --> 01:31:45,920
though I think you're going to do it.

984
01:31:46,280 --> 01:31:48,580
And if you do put it on the ballot, I'm voting no.

985
01:31:49,000 --> 01:31:50,400
Thank you for your valuable time.

986
01:31:51,220 --> 01:31:51,540
Thank you.

987
01:31:51,900 --> 01:31:53,200
Al Vogler, please.

988
01:31:53,200 --> 01:31:54,420
Council

989
01:32:07,760 --> 01:32:11,040
I'm Al Vogler in any presentation like this.

990
01:32:11,140 --> 01:32:17,580
It concerns me more what hasn't been said as compared to what has been said and what

991
01:32:17,580 --> 01:32:18,520
I'm going to say.

992
01:32:19,140 --> 01:32:25,040
The importance of the City of Hesperia's desire to suppress double the sales tax income

993
01:32:25,040 --> 01:32:27,900
information is evident on the agenda.

994
01:32:28,560 --> 01:32:32,720
The very last item number 15 is to increase sales taxes.

995
01:32:32,720 --> 01:32:45,720
Placing it with such low importance has been done in the past, as it was in December 2025 when the sales tax was being discussed and during the holidays when taxpayers were occupied with other matters.

996
01:32:46,580 --> 01:32:55,240
Originally there was posted, I believe, an item for the sales tax on 77726, that meeting was cancelled with no explanation.

997
01:32:55,240 --> 01:33:04,300
Of course, that meant one less meeting during which the council and the city manager did not have to discuss and explain the tax.

998
01:33:05,120 --> 01:33:06,420
We are baffled.

999
01:33:07,480 --> 01:33:16,600
Which is it? Is it a sales tax or a transactions and use tax, TUT or a general tax and various documents you refer to all three?

1000
01:33:17,100 --> 01:33:21,880
You have also referred to the TUT as being the one cent TUT.

1001
01:33:21,880 --> 01:33:28,480
One cent based upon what dollar amount, you don't say what that relates to.

1002
01:33:28,800 --> 01:33:30,220
Yes, I have the documents.

1003
01:33:30,800 --> 01:33:32,000
You don't mention it.

1004
01:33:32,360 --> 01:33:36,140
You're one cent TUT amounts to $14 plus million.

1005
01:33:36,980 --> 01:33:41,000
Even referring to the one cent will confuse some voters.

1006
01:33:41,760 --> 01:33:46,820
The Hesperia Council and the manager could easily have asked for a one quarter or

1007
01:33:46,820 --> 01:33:49,860
one half percent increase, but they didn't.

1008
01:33:51,040 --> 01:34:04,380
Historically, the same team attempted to pass a tax on 200 parcels for approximately $600 each parcel each year, but they were advised that the issue would fail, so they dropped the attempt.

1009
01:34:05,200 --> 01:34:15,980
Now they are advising a much larger tax amounting to 14 plus million a year instead of the significantly smaller parcel tax of 120,000 a year.

1010
01:34:15,980 --> 01:34:24,680
Needless to say, my thoughts about the documents are that they are designed to confuse and discourage voters from participating in any election.

1011
01:34:25,400 --> 01:34:27,100
A touch tax has disadvantages.

1012
01:34:28,300 --> 01:34:41,280
It places a repressive, regressive burden on low-income households as they spend a significantly larger portion of their income on the taxes compared to high-income learners.

1013
01:34:41,280 --> 01:34:47,620
The TUT, used tax, applied on goods, applies to goods, not services.

1014
01:34:48,140 --> 01:34:52,700
As economies rely more on services, the TUT-based roads.

1015
01:34:53,280 --> 01:35:00,600
For those high-income city employees who suggest the TUT, the suggested tax will have very little impact.

1016
01:35:01,740 --> 01:35:03,820
TUT will have other consequences.

1017
01:35:04,520 --> 01:35:09,580
As consumers are seeking friendlier shopping venues, they will gravitate to other areas.

1018
01:35:09,580 --> 01:35:17,920
consider this. How many more liquor outlets, vape tobacco stores, and car washes do we need?

1019
01:35:18,800 --> 01:35:25,080
Families thinking of moving to Hesperia are discouraged. The confidence of the taxpayers has

1020
01:35:25,080 --> 01:35:31,520
been eroded in part by thoughtless presentations of city business taxes, and what the city council

1021
01:35:31,520 --> 01:35:37,680
and the manager have allowed to be placed in writing. The confidence further eroded when the mayor

1022
01:35:37,680 --> 01:35:44,420
were insisted on earlier city council meetings and unfriendly move to working commuters trying

1023
01:35:44,420 --> 01:35:49,880
to drive home on I-15. How will they ever attend his various city council meetings?

1024
01:35:51,300 --> 01:35:57,200
In question is the expense also to the city when real estate that is not needed or expenditures

1025
01:35:57,200 --> 01:36:03,780
decorating city streets are done. The first tax list had five or six towns and cities

1026
01:36:03,780 --> 01:36:12,320
who have the 8.75% sales tax rate to demonstrate why Hesperia needs 8.75 also.

1027
01:36:12,940 --> 01:36:20,140
The latest list has 11 and has 12 towns and cities with 7.75%.

1028
01:36:20,720 --> 01:36:32,720
Hesperia did not reveal, however, that the state of California has 137 counties, towns, and cities that have a 7.75% sales.

1029
01:36:32,720 --> 01:36:38,040
and use tax rate or less, less than 7.75.

1030
01:36:38,980 --> 01:36:44,740
We ask the Hesperia City Council to vote no to place the tax resolution measure on the ballot.

1031
01:36:45,140 --> 01:36:53,160
We suggest to any council member with liberal leanings that the tax will hurt low income families the most.

1032
01:36:53,160 --> 01:37:03,800
The state that could support streets, you state that the tax could support streets and fix potholes, that is the problem.

1033
01:37:04,100 --> 01:37:06,980
Could support is no assurance of anything.

1034
01:37:07,500 --> 01:37:09,500
You failed to mention the tax.

1035
01:37:09,500 --> 01:37:11,620
Thank you. Your time is up, Mr. Bogler.

1036
01:37:11,700 --> 01:37:11,940
Public safety.

1037
01:37:12,340 --> 01:37:13,040
Thank you.

1038
01:37:13,100 --> 01:37:14,320
Sophie, Steenel, please.

1039
01:37:14,320 --> 01:37:15,460
Those that you see under the

1040
01:37:15,460 --> 01:37:15,540
cover are

1041
01:37:29,340 --> 01:37:29,720
hosted.

1042
01:37:29,720 --> 01:37:32,860
Mayor humility there.

1043
01:37:32,920 --> 01:37:35,220
I wrote a letter.

1044
01:37:35,600 --> 01:37:36,800
I will highlight the brief

1045
01:37:36,800 --> 01:37:39,080
points and then dive into other

1046
01:37:39,080 --> 01:37:39,540
matters.

1047
01:37:40,380 --> 01:37:40,660
I am right.

1048
01:37:40,980 --> 01:37:42,680
housing and itemf

1049
01:37:45,760 --> 01:37:46,800
pięcton provolation.

1050
01:37:46,800 --> 01:37:54,580
And the highlights would be to find other alternatives by stop compounding the financial

1051
01:37:54,580 --> 01:38:01,720
burden of rising city fees, prevent disproportionate hardship on his spare of families, particularly

1052
01:38:01,720 --> 01:38:07,620
those low income or average income, and protect local businesses from competitive disadvantage.

1053
01:38:09,230 --> 01:38:14,480
And lastly, demand fiscal accountability and internal restructuring first.

1054
01:38:14,480 --> 01:38:24,320
So I did a little research with regards to ever increasing fees, it seems that municipalities

1055
01:38:24,320 --> 01:38:31,600
and governments find loopholes in ways to when they can't tax people, they just increase

1056
01:38:31,600 --> 01:38:32,200
fees.

1057
01:38:33,040 --> 01:38:41,960
From 2024 to 2025, our business license fees increased by over 40 percent, went from $117

1058
01:38:41,960 --> 01:38:48,800
annually to now to 157 and 255 and now $164.

1059
01:38:49,940 --> 01:38:56,040
What are the fees are increasing at such a dramatic rate that the city is gaining benefits from?

1060
01:38:57,060 --> 01:39:01,700
Other measures that have passed before and been brought to the people to vote like measure M,

1061
01:39:02,380 --> 01:39:09,340
have severely put a restraint on potential new development in the city of Asperia,

1062
01:39:09,340 --> 01:39:20,810
Yeah, particularly in the last years, the denial of extending track maps, deadlines and extending

1063
01:39:20,810 --> 01:39:25,230
their deadlines has put the city in many major lawsuits.

1064
01:39:26,030 --> 01:39:33,270
So our tax dollars are going to fund those lawsuit fights, where they could have been

1065
01:39:33,270 --> 01:39:39,770
bringing in revenue and more development, more housing, as critically needed to the city

1066
01:39:39,770 --> 01:39:47,290
of Australia. Although I value all of our public safety personnel, I did a little research

1067
01:39:48,170 --> 01:39:58,210
and with Casey's numbers, I am a little confused. So we have 62 sworn officers in the

1068
01:39:58,210 --> 01:40:07,850
city of Australia today, 57 unsworn members. We have a total of 57 millions of our general

1069
01:40:07,850 --> 01:40:18,950
fund of which 25% goes to support our police but yet the captain says it only seven officers

1070
01:40:19,640 --> 01:40:28,330
out of the sworn 62 are ever on at most policing our streets.

1071
01:40:29,090 --> 01:40:33,410
Well that would be if you had three shifts a day, that would be 24 officers.

1072
01:40:33,410 --> 01:40:36,230
what are the other officers doing?

1073
01:40:38,030 --> 01:40:42,910
If I take a little math and I need

1074
01:40:42,910 --> 01:40:44,350
some help from Casey,

1075
01:40:45,890 --> 01:40:48,950
if we spend 53% of our general fund

1076
01:40:48,950 --> 01:40:53,410
on police alone, that equates to

1077
01:40:54,830 --> 01:40:57,490
let's say we're spending 25 million

1078
01:40:57,490 --> 01:41:00,590
a year right now, that

1079
01:41:00,590 --> 01:41:12,150
That equals to $113,000 per police staff annually, but yet out of 62 sworn officers,

1080
01:41:12,850 --> 01:41:17,530
we only have 21 working in a day across three shifts.

1081
01:41:18,250 --> 01:41:19,950
What are the other officers doing?

1082
01:41:21,730 --> 01:41:26,010
I did a little comparison with Newport Beach's budget.

1083
01:41:26,010 --> 01:41:41,330
But they have a total of 149 sworn deputies and 84 sworn personnel supporting police activities.

1084
01:41:42,780 --> 01:41:48,690
They do pay their police officers more on average, a total of,

1085
01:41:51,340 --> 01:41:52,700
see I did my math here,

1086
01:41:53,480 --> 01:41:54,420
they do pay them more.

1087
01:41:54,420 --> 01:41:59,360
So I don't want to beat up on the police because I know they're very important.

1088
01:42:00,260 --> 01:42:08,680
But if you take a, our total resident numbers are 102,605 people.

1089
01:42:09,730 --> 01:42:17,040
If we have 62 sworn officers, that's only one officer per 1,655 people.

1090
01:42:17,040 --> 01:42:24,440
So, I'm not sure why we're seeing that we're providing one officer per thousand.

1091
01:42:25,800 --> 01:42:32,040
So, if there are little discrepancies in just this budget item, what other discrepancies are there?

1092
01:42:32,180 --> 01:42:32,740
Thank you.

1093
01:42:33,280 --> 01:42:34,320
Ella Rogers, please.

1094
01:42:49,160 --> 01:42:58,000
Yes, my name is Ella Rogers and I'm a resident of this city and I'm very concerned about the mathematics that's going on.

1095
01:42:58,000 --> 01:43:01,220
And now I'm an English teacher, I'm not a math person.

1096
01:43:02,080 --> 01:43:06,920
However, I do realize that I'm older than all of you up here.

1097
01:43:07,600 --> 01:43:11,140
And most of you aren't even born when I was still in school

1098
01:43:11,140 --> 01:43:12,180
and start in teaching.

1099
01:43:13,180 --> 01:43:18,000
The thing about this is that most of our population

1100
01:43:18,000 --> 01:43:23,580
do not realize what a zero budget is, zero-based budget is.

1101
01:43:23,760 --> 01:43:24,440
That's number one.

1102
01:43:25,580 --> 01:43:35,560
number two we have more consultants in this city than anybody else here what's up

1103
01:43:35,560 --> 01:43:43,540
with that we pay our we pay our employees really good money you guys work hard I

1104
01:43:44,080 --> 01:43:50,940
know what it is to be on I was on school board for 12 and a half years I know

1105
01:43:50,940 --> 01:43:57,060
you have to go through. I understand. However most of our population cannot

1106
01:43:57,060 --> 01:44:03,000
afford to even live any longer. The housing is doubled up. They have three and

1107
01:44:03,000 --> 01:44:08,820
four families per house. They don't get to eat the food that everybody else

1108
01:44:08,820 --> 01:44:14,520
eats. They have to eat the lowest and most and not name brand food because they

1109
01:44:14,520 --> 01:44:19,680
don't have the money to do so because the taxes are higher than anything.

1110
01:44:21,320 --> 01:44:37,200
everything that we have. Now that's, that's nationwide and we're responsible for that because we're the citizens of the United States, but we're supposed to be taking care of each other. I don't see that happening.

1111
01:44:37,960 --> 01:44:43,940
Period. I don't see the people out there working to take care of the population in our town.

1112
01:44:45,060 --> 01:44:50,080
My uncle was on the very first board up here, Percy Bocker.

1113
01:44:50,160 --> 01:44:56,040
You may have seen his name on a building or two around here, and you may have seen my name

1114
01:44:56,040 --> 01:44:59,340
on a building or two around here, but that's not why I'm here.

1115
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:29,980
I'm here because we can't afford what's going on. We can't afford another tax. We need to cut some of this extra spending, and I believe you can do it if you want to. I believe you can set down and make some cuts that are appropriate. And let everybody do their job instead of just, you know, well, we've got to consult it for this and we got to consult it and that. But we pay you $98,000 a year.

1116
01:45:29,980 --> 01:45:32,780
and we're going to pay a consult in 178,000.

1117
01:45:32,780 --> 01:45:33,740
I know how that goes.

1118
01:45:34,020 --> 01:45:35,700
I've said on these boards long enough,

1119
01:45:37,600 --> 01:45:39,820
but you all need to get your act together,

1120
01:45:40,320 --> 01:45:41,700
because we can afford it.

1121
01:45:41,760 --> 01:45:42,940
I'm not going to be here forever.

1122
01:45:45,060 --> 01:45:46,980
And we do need our police.

1123
01:45:48,280 --> 01:45:50,480
And we do need to take care of our children.

1124
01:45:50,780 --> 01:45:52,080
And we do need to make sure

1125
01:45:52,080 --> 01:45:53,800
that we have food for everybody.

1126
01:45:54,300 --> 01:45:55,200
That's edible.

1127
01:45:57,080 --> 01:45:58,980
Go and grocery store sometime.

1128
01:45:59,640 --> 01:46:04,580
and just stand around and look and see what some of the older population is

1129
01:46:05,100 --> 01:46:14,540
buying to eat. Take a look. Not like my refrigerator, my refrigerator has some

1130
01:46:14,540 --> 01:46:21,020
stakes in it and it has some good, has some good food in there, but not

1131
01:46:21,020 --> 01:46:22,240
everybody's has that.

1132
01:46:25,000 --> 01:46:29,540
And I am really appalled that you all would, would, and are

1133
01:46:29,540 --> 01:46:32,980
are doing such a poor job of taking care of our city.

1134
01:46:34,040 --> 01:46:36,080
I know every one of you all up here.

1135
01:46:36,820 --> 01:46:38,780
And you, I've known since she was a baby.

1136
01:46:39,340 --> 01:46:41,960
And Bridget, you too.

1137
01:46:42,340 --> 01:46:43,720
I've known you forever and ever.

1138
01:46:44,260 --> 01:46:44,520
Amen.

1139
01:46:44,980 --> 01:46:45,300
We're here.

1140
01:46:47,380 --> 01:46:50,120
And Rachel, I've known you for a long time, too.

1141
01:46:50,600 --> 01:46:53,180
I think you all are doing a poor job of what you're doing.

1142
01:46:53,980 --> 01:46:54,980
I really do.

1143
01:46:55,480 --> 01:46:57,780
And I think this city deserves better than that.

1144
01:46:58,700 --> 01:47:04,380
And I think we could do it if we really opened up and what is all this about?

1145
01:47:04,860 --> 01:47:09,800
You know, put it in there if you're going to have roads, put it, say roads.

1146
01:47:11,320 --> 01:47:12,960
That money's going to go for roads.

1147
01:47:13,160 --> 01:47:20,600
If it's going to, if it's going to go to help our poor population, put it in there for crying out loud.

1148
01:47:20,760 --> 01:47:22,080
What's wrong with you people?

1149
01:47:23,400 --> 01:47:36,920
I mean, I'm through. I think you for your time. I know that you guys have worked that you can do. I know that all of you sitting up there have pretty good brains, but you're not using them guys.

1150
01:47:38,020 --> 01:47:39,840
Thank you all. Have a best day.

1151
01:47:47,070 --> 01:47:47,630
All

1152
01:47:55,850 --> 01:47:58,850
right folks, that's about time we ripped the mask off this.

1153
01:47:59,990 --> 01:48:02,290
How do you say non-transparency?

1154
01:48:03,130 --> 01:48:10,830
Okay, first of all, that that survey that was taken, we need to examine a guy's background

1155
01:48:10,830 --> 01:48:11,730
and his credentials.

1156
01:48:12,050 --> 01:48:16,090
At the bottom of some of these things, you said there were three CPAs.

1157
01:48:16,510 --> 01:48:17,250
Who are they?

1158
01:48:17,690 --> 01:48:18,690
I want to know.

1159
01:48:19,370 --> 01:48:22,510
Who are the certified public accounts that approve these numbers?

1160
01:48:23,330 --> 01:48:31,330
Number two is that you're looking for a general, hmm, let's say a general vote of, that'll

1161
01:48:31,330 --> 01:48:34,770
only take what, 50, 50% plus one vote.

1162
01:48:34,890 --> 01:48:48,670
That's pretty easy, okay, I've been promised roads, I've been promised curbing, I've been

1163
01:48:48,670 --> 01:48:50,870
even an equestrian path.

1164
01:48:51,450 --> 01:48:52,890
I've been here since 1982.

1165
01:48:54,530 --> 01:48:57,210
Still don't have them folks, okay?

1166
01:48:57,650 --> 01:49:00,010
Plus, I also run another business in this area.

1167
01:49:00,010 --> 01:49:01,570
I've been here for 42 years.

1168
01:49:01,930 --> 01:49:04,350
So it comes to us being fiscally responsible.

1169
01:49:05,310 --> 01:49:07,330
I think I can call you the question on that.

1170
01:49:11,260 --> 01:49:12,380
You people are necessary.

1171
01:49:12,840 --> 01:49:13,420
You're our leaders.

1172
01:49:14,240 --> 01:49:15,400
But you're not leading.

1173
01:49:16,560 --> 01:49:18,080
You're getting us down the road,

1174
01:49:18,220 --> 01:49:19,300
erasing our sales tax.

1175
01:49:19,300 --> 01:49:27,720
And the fact is a gentleman just gave you the statistics on our on the mean income we're below the poverty level folks have you looked at that

1176
01:49:28,900 --> 01:49:35,860
We're done if you're gonna look and spend money in this town look at it with some

1177
01:49:36,440 --> 01:49:43,120
Well, first of all look at it with do we need it and that's one thing we should do is on this on this

1178
01:49:45,580 --> 01:49:50,880
On this proposal make it more specific and if you haven't got it done

1179
01:49:50,880 --> 01:49:53,200
and we can hold you to it.

1180
01:49:53,620 --> 01:49:58,180
The other thing too is I've never seen a sales tax or any tax in this state.

1181
01:49:58,500 --> 01:49:59,460
Maybe we can be the first.

1182
01:49:59,840 --> 01:50:01,280
They have a sunset to it.

1183
01:50:01,880 --> 01:50:04,360
If you need the money, how long do you need the money?

1184
01:50:04,560 --> 01:50:05,720
What are you going to spend it for?

1185
01:50:07,720 --> 01:50:08,880
That's what we need to do.

1186
01:50:10,560 --> 01:50:13,580
We deserve some accountability out here in the gallery.

1187
01:50:14,300 --> 01:50:15,380
We're asking you for it.

1188
01:50:15,580 --> 01:50:16,940
We're asking for some better leadership.

1189
01:50:17,440 --> 01:50:17,740
Thank you.

1190
01:50:17,740 --> 01:50:18,620
Do

1191
01:50:21,700 --> 01:50:24,580
we have any remote speakers regarding this item?

1192
01:50:24,940 --> 01:50:25,800
No remote speakers.

1193
01:50:26,240 --> 01:50:26,920
Thank you.

1194
01:50:27,140 --> 01:50:29,960
Do we have any council comment?

1195
01:50:32,960 --> 01:50:34,400
I guess I'm going to reserve for that.

1196
01:50:37,680 --> 01:50:38,720
Any council come out?

1197
01:50:39,020 --> 01:50:43,900
All right, I guess I will go ahead.

1198
01:50:46,080 --> 01:50:46,680
So,

1199
01:50:49,300 --> 01:50:53,500
if you all want someone to blame, I propose this agenda item.

1200
01:50:55,700 --> 01:50:57,480
I'm a working poor person.

1201
01:50:57,480 --> 01:51:03,440
I know I'm put on a suit and I get up here and I have a role that I play.

1202
01:51:04,040 --> 01:51:18,140
But my net income without my City Council stipend and my part time job as an Uber driver, I net $37,248.

1203
01:51:20,940 --> 01:51:29,440
Okay, I live paycheck to paycheck, I am not wealthy, I don't own a business, I don't have any special interests.

1204
01:51:29,440 --> 01:51:44,880
I just rent a room from my mom and my sister in our generational home that was left to us by our grandfather who came here from Mexico and bought 10 homes when he worked as a railroad engineer and invested in real estate.

1205
01:51:48,410 --> 01:51:51,510
I come from very humble backgrounds.

1206
01:51:53,270 --> 01:51:59,950
It is by a fluke of statistics that I am here in the seat,

1207
01:52:02,460 --> 01:52:05,000
but while I'm here, I want

1208
01:52:05,000 --> 01:52:05,960
to do a decent job.

1209
01:52:07,260 --> 01:52:13,900
In that decent job, I also now just obtain my master's in public administration.

1210
01:52:14,300 --> 01:52:18,560
I use the numbers of the city to work on my projects.

1211
01:52:20,390 --> 01:52:47,230
The reason why I agendize this item is because I believe that it's our only hope right now based on the decisions that have been made to this point, not to speak any ill about my colleagues on the council, they've done a good job up to this point, moving forward or essentially going to run out of money, if we were a family, every Christmas is getting smaller and smaller every year.

1212
01:52:48,330 --> 01:53:00,450
So, and if we were to cut back, those Christmases, those Thanksgiving's, those birthdays are all getting smaller, and the family gets less and less.

1213
01:53:01,950 --> 01:53:04,230
So, Council Member Cho is speaking.

1214
01:53:04,630 --> 01:53:06,450
What I like, can I rebuttal that speech?

1215
01:53:06,470 --> 01:53:07,330
Thank you, Mayor.

1216
01:53:07,610 --> 01:53:08,010
Thank you.

1217
01:53:08,350 --> 01:53:10,710
So, the Census Bureau has

1218
01:53:13,430 --> 01:53:19,410
a per capita income of about $30,000 per resident in the city of this area.

1219
01:53:20,850 --> 01:53:29,210
the average medium income in the city of his area, $72,160.

1220
01:53:32,130 --> 01:53:35,230
Okay. You have had your opportunity to speak.

1221
01:53:35,650 --> 01:53:38,130
It's Mr. Achoa right now that is speaking.

1222
01:53:38,290 --> 01:53:42,670
I'm asking you to be considerate and allow him to speak.

1223
01:53:42,910 --> 01:53:46,130
If not, I'm going to ask you to leave the council chambers.

1224
01:53:49,790 --> 01:53:58,750
I have the opportunity I'm going to close the public hearing at 8.26.

1225
01:54:05,970 --> 01:54:11,090
Can you please remove this gentleman so we can continue on with our business?

1226
01:54:21,480 --> 01:54:22,220
Okay.

1227
01:54:25,390 --> 01:54:28,470
Hey, we are conducting business.

1228
01:54:28,670 --> 01:54:30,150
I'm asking the public.

1229
01:54:32,650 --> 01:54:34,870
We're going to take a five minute recess.

1230
01:54:36,630 --> 01:54:38,090
We are taking-

1231
01:54:38,090 --> 01:54:42,750
I was saying I didn't come into this seat to get reelected.

1232
01:54:43,010 --> 01:54:44,430
I came here to do a job.

1233
01:54:45,310 --> 01:54:50,530
If this idea, which is my idea, which is what I agenda is,

1234
01:54:51,230 --> 01:54:55,930
gets me recalled or voted out of office, that's fine.

1235
01:54:57,070 --> 01:55:00,730
I'll know, I'll walk away knowing I did and brought the best idea

1236
01:55:00,730 --> 01:55:01,910
I could bring to the table.

1237
01:55:02,670 --> 01:55:04,770
It may not be the most popular idea,

1238
01:55:05,610 --> 01:55:08,470
but it's the one I think will do the best good

1239
01:55:08,470 --> 01:55:10,270
for our city over time.

1240
01:55:10,850 --> 01:55:13,470
What we leave to generations to come,

1241
01:55:13,850 --> 01:55:15,750
our children, our grandchildren,

1242
01:55:16,170 --> 01:55:17,890
I'm raising my family here.

1243
01:55:18,630 --> 01:55:21,730
My mom's retired here, and wherever my mom is,

1244
01:55:21,850 --> 01:55:22,670
that's where home is.

1245
01:55:23,110 --> 01:55:25,150
And I just want to make sure my mom has safe streets

1246
01:55:25,150 --> 01:55:25,890
to drive on.

1247
01:55:26,370 --> 01:55:29,050
Good police response time, if she needs to call the police

1248
01:55:29,050 --> 01:55:32,670
or the paramedics, and fun things for our kids to do.

1249
01:55:34,410 --> 01:55:35,570
That's what I'm trying to do.

1250
01:55:36,050 --> 01:55:37,510
I think that's what we're all trying to do.

1251
01:55:37,710 --> 01:55:39,830
I think that's what everyone in the community is trying to do.

1252
01:55:40,310 --> 01:55:43,170
I see the faces that go to all of the special events,

1253
01:55:43,630 --> 01:55:46,570
the fundraisers, the church events,

1254
01:55:46,710 --> 01:55:49,450
and we all are giving people here in the city of Hisperia.

1255
01:55:50,250 --> 01:55:51,190
I see it in us.

1256
01:55:51,390 --> 01:55:53,750
Yes, we can do it together.

1257
01:55:54,590 --> 01:55:56,290
It's been close to 40 years.

1258
01:55:56,290 --> 01:56:04,090
years, we, I think we've exhausted the ideas. That's all I'm saying. That we've gotten

1259
01:56:04,090 --> 01:56:09,910
as creative as we could get with the resources that we actually have. And they are diminishing

1260
01:56:10,650 --> 01:56:18,630
year over year. The only way I can see a path forward is through this. And maybe I'm wrong.

1261
01:56:19,470 --> 01:56:28,830
it may be a future council changes it maybe doesn't go past this point tonight. I don't know,

1262
01:56:30,010 --> 01:56:37,950
but this is the best I could do. This is just my idea. It is a simple idea. It is metrical. It is

1263
01:56:37,950 --> 01:56:44,110
business governmental business. Yes, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to the public. This is a

1264
01:56:44,110 --> 01:56:48,570
of Band-Aid on a much bigger problem that we have that's $150 billion.

1265
01:56:50,610 --> 01:56:56,010
It is not the fix, it is just a solution for today.

1266
01:57:02,110 --> 01:57:08,930
I also just want to point out that I understand that our city is impacted by the economy.

1267
01:57:09,910 --> 01:57:17,110
I know that, again, I net $37,000 less than what Mr.

1268
01:57:17,110 --> 01:57:20,770
or aren't you let her propose as the medium income for the city of Hisperia.

1269
01:57:21,510 --> 01:57:27,650
So I understand what it's like to pinch a penny, to make Christmas happen for two kids,

1270
01:57:27,950 --> 01:57:29,950
to birthdays, nieces.

1271
01:57:30,510 --> 01:57:31,290
I know what it's like.

1272
01:57:31,510 --> 01:57:31,810
It's hard.

1273
01:57:32,070 --> 01:57:33,030
Life is hard right now.

1274
01:57:36,060 --> 01:57:44,620
I can see how one side can say double this, double that, these numbers aren't correct.

1275
01:57:44,740 --> 01:57:45,120
I get it.

1276
01:57:45,280 --> 01:57:45,740
I see that.

1277
01:57:45,740 --> 01:57:50,860
Part of this involves a little bit of trust in the democratic process.

1278
01:57:51,100 --> 01:57:53,300
If you don't like the job we're doing, you can fire us.

1279
01:57:54,700 --> 01:58:00,800
If we mess up, do mishandle this opportunity, you can fire us.

1280
01:58:01,180 --> 01:58:03,820
If it doesn't work out, run.

1281
01:58:04,580 --> 01:58:06,320
I encourage people.

1282
01:58:06,860 --> 01:58:13,540
Every time I speak with young people, older people, people my age, get involved.

1283
01:58:13,540 --> 01:58:21,540
come to your council meetings, go to your special district meetings, go to your school board meetings and get involved and learn.

1284
01:58:22,640 --> 01:58:28,920
There was a discrepancy that was seen by citizen here tonight involving our personnel.

1285
01:58:31,100 --> 01:58:33,540
Take that deep dive, look at it, ask the questions.

1286
01:58:34,840 --> 01:58:41,420
And I know with confidence, because I've gotten to know a lot of the staff members here, I've gotten to know my council members here,

1287
01:58:41,420 --> 01:58:45,100
that we are doing the best we can with our due diligence.

1288
01:58:46,160 --> 01:58:48,640
Is it perfect? No. We're all human. We're all making mistakes.

1289
01:58:48,860 --> 01:58:52,480
Again, that's where the safety guards in our democracy and our Constitution,

1290
01:58:53,320 --> 01:58:57,940
that we the people can choose who does this periodically.

1291
01:58:59,240 --> 01:59:03,720
So, that being said, look, I'm just a guy that moved here

1292
01:59:03,720 --> 01:59:05,720
because I couldn't afford to live where I was born.

1293
01:59:07,060 --> 01:59:08,000
And here I am.

1294
01:59:09,790 --> 01:59:16,290
So you know I encourage you to get involved and I encourage you to participate and continue asking questions. Thank you.

1295
01:59:19,740 --> 01:59:25,420
Any additional council comments? Council member Greg please.

1296
01:59:25,720 --> 01:59:34,700
All right I think everybody up here knows I'm pretty into speaking and opinionated on almost every agenda item so I won't stop that here.

1297
01:59:36,060 --> 01:59:39,780
You know, what's difficult for me is that this is really a crossroads moment.

1298
01:59:42,350 --> 01:59:53,630
I am in no way in favor of a tax, Miss Jones pointed it out flawlessly whenever you buy

1299
01:59:53,630 --> 01:59:57,750
something that has already paid tax on your taxed again, where does it end?

1300
01:59:58,190 --> 01:59:58,510
Is this?

1301
01:59:58,510 --> 01:59:59,630
Thanks.

1302
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:09,720
I guess that's my question to this. Where does this end at a 1% or are we, you know, back on the table, like Victorville was trying to do, asking for another 1% from their residents.

1303
02:00:13,830 --> 02:00:23,550
Personally, I'm, I'm going to vote no on this, if it does get to the ballot. And this is where I'm talking about that crossroads.

1304
02:00:25,700 --> 02:00:34,780
I'm up here to represent, not just one side of this argument within, you know, the district or the city council.

1305
02:00:34,780 --> 02:00:41,470
as a whole that we all try to you know take care of but whenever we

1306
02:00:41,470 --> 02:00:48,190
continuously get taxed on and on again it never ends I mean Chris you just said

1307
02:00:48,190 --> 02:00:51,790
that you couldn't afford to live in a city that you were born in you want to

1308
02:00:51,790 --> 02:00:59,510
take a while guess why probably taxes is a big player into that you know so

1309
02:00:59,510 --> 02:01:04,810
that's one aspect of it the other aspect of it is is look I'm guilty I shop in

1310
02:01:04,810 --> 02:01:06,670
Apple Valley, you know, why?

1311
02:01:06,970 --> 02:01:09,090
Because the spirit doesn't have a home depot.

1312
02:01:09,630 --> 02:01:11,990
I can't get everything that I need for my home at ACE.

1313
02:01:12,730 --> 02:01:15,610
So I have to go shop in Apple Valley for those items.

1314
02:01:16,290 --> 02:01:17,390
So many of us do it.

1315
02:01:18,770 --> 02:01:20,810
They're at 8.75%.

1316
02:01:20,810 --> 02:01:22,170
So we're all guilty of it.

1317
02:01:23,170 --> 02:01:27,850
How many of us take that into a large account

1318
02:01:27,850 --> 02:01:29,270
of our spending habits?

1319
02:01:29,850 --> 02:01:32,290
I mean, I buy all my gas in the Sparia, usually,

1320
02:01:32,810 --> 02:01:34,450
unless I'm on a road trip.

1321
02:01:34,450 --> 02:01:46,390
But do I sit there and look at the tax of that at that moment or, you know, instead of putting $40 or $45 in there, do I say, well, I need to put 50 now?

1322
02:01:46,410 --> 02:01:49,690
No, I usually just put what I would in the city anyway.

1323
02:01:49,910 --> 02:01:51,150
So it's

1324
02:01:53,160 --> 02:01:57,240
a really difficult decision to sit up here and try to propose something to be put on the ballot.

1325
02:01:57,240 --> 02:02:09,520
And at the same time, knowing that it's not me voting one way or another to have it, you know, in the diplomatic process of everything.

1326
02:02:10,280 --> 02:02:23,110
Because again, I'll be a staunch proponent of no tax on this every day. I think I've said that from day one of my counsel stuff up here.

1327
02:02:25,140 --> 02:02:37,600
So what do we do? I guess that's the question to my colleagues, is do we send it out to the voters for them to make that decision and my hope would be that it would be voted down?

1328
02:02:40,240 --> 02:02:54,380
Does it come back up later on? I mean each of us are going to have our own individual individualized opinions on this, but maybe a question for Pam is that if the vote, if this does go out to the voters and they vote no on it,

1329
02:02:55,780 --> 02:03:02,160
Is that pretty much stopped at this from going out to them for any meaningful amount of time, again?

1330
02:03:03,120 --> 02:03:07,660
Or is this something that can continuously every election be brought back up depending on who the council is?

1331
02:03:09,140 --> 02:03:17,980
It certainly can be brought back again based on the needs of the city and changing circumstances.

1332
02:03:17,980 --> 02:03:26,760
But if it's consistently clear that it's going to be voted down, it's more likely than not that a future council would likely not put it on the ballot.

1333
02:03:27,260 --> 02:03:36,820
But I'll say that there are a lot of cities out there that are currently facing, you know, insurance issues and legal settlements.

1334
02:03:37,040 --> 02:03:40,160
Or, you know, they're just competing with the state and the county.

1335
02:03:40,700 --> 02:03:46,780
And before the state takes it and before the county takes it, they'd rather say I'm going to, let's keep it for the city.

1336
02:03:46,780 --> 02:03:50,020
because if we're going to pay taxes, we'd rather pay it to the city than to

1337
02:03:50,020 --> 02:03:52,600
the county and to the state because we know that if we pay it to them it's

1338
02:03:52,600 --> 02:03:58,040
going to disappear. So it really is dependent on the circumstance of each

1339
02:03:58,040 --> 02:04:02,600
individual city but to answer your question yes it can come back but if it's

1340
02:04:02,600 --> 02:04:07,400
consistently loaded down it is more likely than not that a council in the future

1341
02:04:07,400 --> 02:04:10,460
would not want to bring it back. Right because they'd be voted out. So there is

1342
02:04:10,460 --> 02:04:15,480
those checks and balances in place and folks I'm here to tell you that we are in

1343
02:04:16,180 --> 02:04:22,200
in the city. There's really no doubt about that. We allocate what's our budget for roads

1344
02:04:22,200 --> 02:04:27,140
every year. It's a minuscule and the amount of roads that we actually have to pave within

1345
02:04:27,140 --> 02:04:28,000
the city.

1346
02:04:30,380 --> 02:04:35,660
Is that an excuse? No, but you know, people mention that while you need to cut

1347
02:04:35,660 --> 02:04:41,660
more and live within your means more, they've done it folks. We've been doing this,

1348
02:04:44,720 --> 02:04:46,940
I've been

1349
02:04:46,940 --> 02:04:51,860
cuts, we see that our roads, they're not getting paid this

1350
02:04:51,860 --> 02:04:56,520
quickly as they were before, our folks in the back, they're

1351
02:04:56,520 --> 02:05:01,760
not getting additional support because the money's just not

1352
02:05:01,760 --> 02:05:07,880
there. Now, you know, Mr. Davis brought up the fact that if

1353
02:05:07,880 --> 02:05:11,700
we were able to earmark this for those specific things, he

1354
02:05:11,700 --> 02:05:16,000
would have been for it, or he was for it at the time, right? That

1355
02:05:16,000 --> 02:05:26,640
That's my major concern, is that if this money isn't earmarked, what happens if you get a bad council up here to just decides to spend money fruitlessly?

1356
02:05:28,500 --> 02:05:31,220
Well, we have a city manager as a stopgap.

1357
02:05:32,320 --> 02:05:36,060
Rachel has done a phenomenal job at being that stopgap.

1358
02:05:36,440 --> 02:05:44,320
She has no problem telling us, at least telling me, like, hey, that's not a great idea, Cameron.

1359
02:05:44,320 --> 02:05:48,380
So I have that confidence in the city manager now.

1360
02:05:50,980 --> 02:05:53,680
How do you secure that for the long term, though, right?

1361
02:05:54,400 --> 02:05:58,960
Well, the voters, potential resolutions to where it would take,

1362
02:05:59,600 --> 02:06:04,080
at least a super majority of the council to change how those

1363
02:06:04,080 --> 02:06:05,300
monies are being allocated.

1364
02:06:06,100 --> 02:06:07,680
This goes into our general fund.

1365
02:06:08,760 --> 02:06:12,020
Right off the top of that, I know that our folks in the

1366
02:06:12,020 --> 02:06:16,780
back are going to get a little bit more resources that they need because that's where their

1367
02:06:16,780 --> 02:06:24,960
funding comes out of directly. 53% of our budget is what council has allocated to that originally.

1368
02:06:25,300 --> 02:06:31,340
Well, if we're adding an additional $14 million to our general fund, not to say that the

1369
02:06:31,340 --> 02:06:35,840
money will stay there, but a big portion of it will and then allocated over to the street

1370
02:06:35,840 --> 02:06:40,180
funds and everything else. Everything is very transparent through our financial team.

1371
02:06:40,180 --> 02:06:41,060
It's all online,

1372
02:06:43,250 --> 02:06:50,310
but it's really going to take the community coming together, speaking up if they start seeing things are going astray.

1373
02:06:52,430 --> 02:07:01,530
So I'm curious to hear what my colleagues have to say on this because right now I'm a little torn of which direction this proceeds down.

1374
02:07:04,440 --> 02:07:05,880
Yeah, I'll comment on it.

1375
02:07:05,880 --> 02:07:09,600
I think we were all voted in to make the hard decisions.

1376
02:07:10,120 --> 02:07:11,720
And I think both Cameron and

1377
02:07:11,720 --> 02:07:15,560
Crius pointed out some really impactful things.

1378
02:07:16,280 --> 02:07:20,920
I am in alignment with Cameron, but I don't support personally a new tax.

1379
02:07:21,720 --> 02:07:27,620
But I also look at what the city, city staff does and how well hell lean they run this city.

1380
02:07:28,000 --> 02:07:29,960
There's really nothing left to cut.

1381
02:07:30,680 --> 02:07:34,800
You saw it, there's a $2 million deficit coming, you know.

1382
02:07:34,800 --> 02:07:44,460
And that worries me, and I think, you know, maybe I don't make it another two years, maybe Cameron and Bridget and Allison don't make it past this year, right?

1383
02:07:44,860 --> 02:07:45,340
I don't know.

1384
02:07:46,760 --> 02:07:58,120
So it's difficult to sit up here and tell you guys, like listen, I don't support this tax, but at the same time I have to look at public safety in this city.

1385
02:07:58,120 --> 02:07:59,520
I have to look at roads.

1386
02:07:59,660 --> 02:08:02,480
I think our road budget annually for potholes

1387
02:08:02,480 --> 02:08:03,980
and everything is $2 million correct.

1388
02:08:07,530 --> 02:08:09,450
Not including the CIP projects.

1389
02:08:09,770 --> 02:08:12,650
The annual street improvement project are $2 million

1390
02:08:12,650 --> 02:08:15,850
and there's other maintenance monies budgeted on top of that.

1391
02:08:16,590 --> 02:08:19,610
Right, and how many roads do we have to repair?

1392
02:08:20,310 --> 02:08:23,510
We have about 500 miles of paved roads

1393
02:08:23,510 --> 02:08:25,990
and about 40 miles of dirt roads.

1394
02:08:26,970 --> 02:08:28,570
Okay, so my next question would be

1395
02:08:28,570 --> 02:08:31,950
and how much does it cost to pay one mile of road?

1396
02:08:33,350 --> 02:08:45,110
The cost to pay of an arterial in the city is about one and a quarter million dollars for an arterial road per mile.

1397
02:08:46,250 --> 02:08:54,030
So the cost to pay of an interior road or residential street, we would get more than a mile for that cost.

1398
02:08:54,810 --> 02:09:24,010
So that in itself worries me, it's just we're just following further and further behind, you know, but do we put that on the backs of our residents that I struggle with that I'm really, I'll be honest, I've flipped flopped back in my head, back and forth in my head based on who I've talked to city staff, my colleagues, whoever in the community, I've kind of flipped flopped back in my head and I'm still struggling with it right now, but ultimately, I think that, you know, we,

1399
02:09:24,010 --> 02:09:31,350
each were given a mandate to make the difficult decisions, you know, whether they're liked by all,

1400
02:09:31,530 --> 02:09:40,470
liked by none, liked by everyone. And I think we have to look at how do we make the city safer

1401
02:09:40,910 --> 02:09:47,190
in potholes? How do we make the city safer with public safety? And how do we manage the resources

1402
02:09:47,190 --> 02:09:53,090
that we have going forward, you know, looking down the line, a city council 20 years ago wasn't going

1403
02:09:53,090 --> 02:09:56,830
to know what we were going to do and we're not going to know what a city council is going

1404
02:09:56,830 --> 02:10:03,050
to do in 20 years and I don't know that it's my responsibility to worry about that city

1405
02:10:03,050 --> 02:10:08,630
council in 20 years. As much as I would say, it is my responsibility as a resident here

1406
02:10:08,630 --> 02:10:13,690
in 20 years, but if I'm not on the city council, you know, it's my responsibility to vote

1407
02:10:13,690 --> 02:10:17,950
the city council and that's going to manage the city correctly. And it's your guys' responsibility

1408
02:10:17,950 --> 02:10:27,370
If you guys are, if this sales tax does make it to the ballot and it goes through, it's your guys' responsibility to tell us if we're doing a good job with it or not.

1409
02:10:27,730 --> 02:10:33,570
Also, it's difficult. So with that, I'll leave it at that.

1410
02:10:36,250 --> 02:10:44,250
It's my turn. I'm going to agree with my council members up here. This is a hard decision.

1411
02:10:44,250 --> 02:10:52,350
and I personally don't think it's the right time to do this, but then on the other side,

1412
02:10:52,450 --> 02:10:57,210
I think it is the only time that we can do this because our governor is trying to

1413
02:11:03,700 --> 02:11:06,280
put

1414
02:11:06,280 --> 02:11:11,860
in another 2% sales tax on other areas in California.

1415
02:11:13,340 --> 02:11:14,340
It's hard.

1416
02:11:15,180 --> 02:11:20,940
We had just had a 2.2 cent gasoline tax that was

1417
02:11:24,270 --> 02:11:27,510
implemented on July 1st.

1418
02:11:29,750 --> 02:11:31,610
You know, we're a commuter town.

1419
02:11:32,090 --> 02:11:32,670
It's hard

1420
02:11:34,910 --> 02:11:42,370
making these decisions to put this on the ballot, to go out to the citizens

1421
02:11:43,070 --> 02:11:43,890
to vote.

1422
02:11:45,010 --> 02:11:46,690
I myself have flip-flopped.

1423
02:11:46,690 --> 02:11:49,670
I don't think it's the right time.

1424
02:11:49,910 --> 02:11:51,990
It needs to be done, all of it.

1425
02:11:52,670 --> 02:12:00,390
But in the end, if we put this on the ballot, it's up to you guys to vote.

1426
02:12:01,370 --> 02:12:02,310
How you want to vote.

1427
02:12:03,810 --> 02:12:05,050
Yes or no,

1428
02:12:08,130 --> 02:12:09,790
and I yield.

1429
02:12:14,450 --> 02:12:16,570
Thank you, and everything has been said.

1430
02:12:16,570 --> 02:12:20,070
I agree with everyone sitting at this

1431
02:12:20,070 --> 02:12:23,550
dius. Unfortunately we are. We've

1432
02:12:23,550 --> 02:12:25,710
been put up here and we are put in

1433
02:12:25,710 --> 02:12:27,090
the position that we have to make

1434
02:12:27,090 --> 02:12:30,910
these decisions and it sucks. I

1435
02:12:30,910 --> 02:12:35,010
struggle with this. I know many that

1436
02:12:35,010 --> 02:12:36,810
are on a limited income including

1437
02:12:36,810 --> 02:12:40,850
myself and it's hard. It's very hard.

1438
02:12:41,050 --> 02:12:44,170
Groceries to be $50 a bag. Now I cannot

1439
02:12:44,170 --> 02:12:50,810
not walk out the store, less than $150, $200, and that's buying fresh fruits and vegetables.

1440
02:12:51,070 --> 02:12:56,850
That's not buying ice cream cookies, those are treats at our house anymore.

1441
02:12:57,870 --> 02:13:07,430
But this storm that we had in December, we had to pull out of our reserves in order to make the road repairs correct.

1442
02:13:09,030 --> 02:13:10,170
Yes, that's correct.

1443
02:13:10,170 --> 02:13:18,890
And interestingly enough, we applied for FEMA funding and we're denied because we did not have enough significant damage, correct?

1444
02:13:20,330 --> 02:13:24,950
They said we had enough in savings to be able to cover that cost.

1445
02:13:25,790 --> 02:13:27,810
So there you have it.

1446
02:13:28,070 --> 02:13:31,730
So I've heard go after the state, we have gone after the state.

1447
02:13:32,210 --> 02:13:39,130
The state ties our hands almost every decision we make at this day is the state comes in and ties our hands.

1448
02:13:39,130 --> 02:13:42,810
there's mandates that we have to implement.

1449
02:13:43,010 --> 02:13:44,150
We don't get funding for that.

1450
02:13:44,730 --> 02:13:45,950
We don't get funding for that.

1451
02:13:46,090 --> 02:13:49,390
Our staff is, we're lean, lean, lean.

1452
02:13:49,810 --> 02:13:52,810
Our staff has always been lean since the time I've been on council.

1453
02:13:53,170 --> 02:13:58,510
And Cameron says, councilmember Greg, I'm sorry, I've known him forever.

1454
02:13:58,970 --> 02:14:04,650
It's hard to change over, but our staff does a good job.

1455
02:14:05,070 --> 02:14:07,290
Everybody's saying, fix your budget, fix your budget.

1456
02:14:07,290 --> 02:14:11,890
But our budget cannot be fixed anymore than what it already is.

1457
02:14:12,050 --> 02:14:16,510
We have the tightest budget, it's hard to work within our limits.

1458
02:14:16,730 --> 02:14:21,930
And I'm very proud of Rachel and her staff that do work within the budgeted limits.

1459
02:14:22,550 --> 02:14:26,150
We don't go over budget, we stick to our budget.

1460
02:14:26,490 --> 02:14:30,710
So I don't have anything further to say, I appreciate the public comments.

1461
02:14:30,710 --> 02:14:36,830
some of them got a little out of hand and I apologize to the audience for

1462
02:14:36,830 --> 02:14:42,270
that but if nothing further I don't have anything further any further comments

1463
02:14:43,210 --> 02:14:47,390
Thank you, then we will take a vote.

1464
02:15:05,300 --> 02:15:21,840
I don't we don't have our voting buttons. Is there a motion? I'm sorry. I think a motion by Council Member Greg, a second by, I mean, Ochoa and a second by myself. Can we have a vote please?

1465
02:15:45,060 --> 02:15:52,600
Okay, moving on to moving on, I got to get my two council member comments.

1466
02:15:56,600 --> 02:16:00,920
Can we start with council member Lee please? All right.

1467
02:16:00,920 --> 02:16:01,700
All right, on

1468
02:16:04,960 --> 02:16:08,400
720, I attended my VBTA board meeting,

1469
02:16:08,740 --> 02:16:11,280
the first one with our new CEO, Rod Goldman,

1470
02:16:12,300 --> 02:16:16,440
went very well and smoothed on the 14th of July.

1471
02:16:16,700 --> 02:16:18,660
I attended the 10 year anniversary ribbon cutting

1472
02:16:19,340 --> 02:16:21,320
for the second chance food bank,

1473
02:16:21,660 --> 02:16:24,500
food donations from the Church of Latter-Tree,

1474
02:16:24,660 --> 02:16:27,820
just Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1475
02:16:28,460 --> 02:16:29,780
It was an amazing event.

1476
02:16:30,140 --> 02:16:32,180
Chris was there with me

1477
02:16:32,180 --> 02:16:42,460
and that's an amazing, amazing facility for the second chance

1478
02:16:42,460 --> 02:16:47,740
food bank. They're just a wonderful organization. Don't forget, we have

1479
02:16:47,740 --> 02:16:53,960
National Night Out at Civic Plaza Park on the 4th, which means our meeting will

1480
02:16:53,960 --> 02:16:58,780
start at 3 in the afternoon as it always does on National Night Out.

1481
02:17:02,180 --> 02:17:10,900
I also want to say that for as long as I have been on the council the meeting the first meeting

1482
02:17:10,900 --> 02:17:16,720
of January and the first meeting in July have always been dark so the meeting has not been

1483
02:17:18,820 --> 02:17:23,700
cancelled but it's always been that way since I've been on the council and this is my fourth year.

1484
02:17:28,050 --> 02:17:32,810
I've been to the movies in the park on the 11th and the 18th.

1485
02:17:32,890 --> 02:17:39,710
Here at Civic Plaza, Civic Plaza Park, this Saturday evening is the last one of those.

1486
02:17:43,810 --> 02:17:53,230
And to Miss Rogers, our city has an app that you can report potholes to.

1487
02:17:54,110 --> 02:17:55,630
I have used the app myself.

1488
02:17:56,430 --> 02:18:02,830
I took a picture and sent it in on a Saturday afternoon and by Sunday evening that same

1489
02:18:02,830 --> 02:18:05,830
pothole was filled.

1490
02:18:28,950 --> 02:18:31,450
I guess I don't need to mention that because he's not here any longer.

1491
02:18:31,570 --> 02:18:32,250
He was kicked out.

1492
02:18:32,870 --> 02:18:49,350
I will end with, if you want a happy life, tie it to a goal, not people or things, I want

1493
02:18:49,350 --> 02:18:54,530
this agenda and everything that has gone into especially this ballot measure.

1494
02:18:55,410 --> 02:19:04,520
Tough decisions, it's tough decisions, so and the people in the back, thank you very

1495
02:19:04,520 --> 02:19:06,380
much to that yield.

1496
02:19:07,900 --> 02:19:10,120
Council Member Greg, please.

1497
02:19:13,340 --> 02:19:20,800
All right, first I just want to congratulate Ruby again, amazing staffer within the city.

1498
02:19:20,800 --> 02:19:24,200
thank you for your hard work and dedication to our city.

1499
02:19:29,290 --> 02:19:30,390
I do want to,

1500
02:19:33,200 --> 02:19:35,220
the water leaks within the city,

1501
02:19:35,500 --> 02:19:40,200
they do keep coming up, I understand that those funds

1502
02:19:40,200 --> 02:19:41,920
aren't coming from the general fund,

1503
02:19:42,060 --> 02:19:43,020
that should be the water fund.

1504
02:19:43,520 --> 02:19:45,600
Is there any way that we can get a report

1505
02:19:47,160 --> 02:19:50,580
at our next council meeting on how many line breaks

1506
02:19:50,580 --> 02:19:53,700
there were and how many have been repaired

1507
02:19:54,440 --> 02:19:56,320
between the months of May and July?

1508
02:19:57,400 --> 02:20:06,620
I just want to make sure that I know that staff is over inundated with them throughout the city folks and they do get to them as fast as possible.

1509
02:20:06,980 --> 02:20:14,540
This will give us a metric to work off of there and see what we can do and try to shuffle some stuff around if we can try to.

1510
02:20:17,520 --> 02:20:19,920
Regarding the ballot initiative,

1511
02:20:22,770 --> 02:20:30,830
I truly believe that there's more to be done in order to get funding from the state the feds and things like that.

1512
02:20:30,830 --> 02:20:41,600
our staff really are working within a very tight margin with this stuff but

1513
02:20:41,600 --> 02:20:46,320
for me enough is enough and I know that our residents at least majority of

1514
02:20:46,320 --> 02:20:50,440
them share that same that same position I

1515
02:20:52,590 --> 02:20:54,630
can't I couldn't consciously live

1516
02:20:54,630 --> 02:20:58,830
with myself knowing that it would be perpetuating the same thing over and over

1517
02:20:58,830 --> 02:21:03,270
and over again we know what would happen if it goes out to the ballot it probably

1518
02:21:03,270 --> 02:21:09,330
would get approved by the genius voters of California that love to tax

1519
02:21:09,330 --> 02:21:15,350
themselves year over year election over election. This was an opportunity to

1520
02:21:15,350 --> 02:21:20,330
maybe stop some of that chaos. Things are going to be tight. I know that there's a lot

1521
02:21:20,330 --> 02:21:27,450
of tax measures on the ballot coming before us that we're going to see. One more

1522
02:21:28,550 --> 02:21:32,310
was not the solution to this.

1523
02:21:35,240 --> 02:21:38,060
I do want to thank Bridget for filling in for me on

1524
02:21:38,060 --> 02:21:42,360
VVWRA. I hope you had a great experience over there. It's a really good group of folks.

1525
02:21:42,900 --> 02:21:48,200
Should have been too controversial or anything like that. So I look forward to my next meeting

1526
02:21:48,200 --> 02:21:50,760
over there. Other than that, I don't have anything to report.

1527
02:21:53,080 --> 02:21:55,400
We weren't here any other meeting

1528
02:21:55,400 --> 02:22:02,820
in July. Fireworks really yeah they're bad but they really didn't seem as bad as as I have

1529
02:22:02,820 --> 02:22:09,720
experience in the past here so definite kudos to the folks in the back who's already strained

1530
02:22:11,080 --> 02:22:17,560
and police in those folks up. Other than that folks slow down get to where you're going safely.

1531
02:22:18,840 --> 02:22:23,780
Avoid the potholes if you do see them. I mean our city is not the only one facing it.

1532
02:22:23,780 --> 02:22:33,300
I got a rent driving down in Riverside, so it's not just our city that's dealing with shortcomings on pop-holes and things like that, so stay safe, folks.

1533
02:22:34,560 --> 02:22:35,120
Thank you.

1534
02:22:36,440 --> 02:22:38,220
Thank you, Council Member Achoa.

1535
02:22:40,160 --> 02:22:40,940
Thank you, Mayor.

1536
02:22:41,280 --> 02:22:50,800
I had the privilege of attending the ribbon cutting for the High Desert Second Chance.

1537
02:22:50,800 --> 02:22:51,920
It's a great program.

1538
02:22:52,220 --> 02:23:00,660
I utilize it all the time with people that I serve in the region and my day job as a community

1539
02:23:00,660 --> 02:23:01,280
health worker.

1540
02:23:01,500 --> 02:23:02,920
So I'm always directing people there.

1541
02:23:02,980 --> 02:23:12,060
It was a pleasure to be there and watch them celebrate their tenure in service to the

1542
02:23:12,060 --> 02:23:15,000
high-deser community and it was just a joyous celebration.

1543
02:23:15,000 --> 02:23:16,920
I got out on a dance floor per usual.

1544
02:23:17,160 --> 02:23:18,540
I mean, you can't keep me off that thing.

1545
02:23:18,540 --> 02:23:23,900
So, they were playing some oldies, so I don't say no to that.

1546
02:23:25,220 --> 02:23:34,900
On last Friday, I had the privilege of being invited by the Inland Empire Caucus, who was

1547
02:23:34,900 --> 02:23:36,720
here visiting us from Sacramento.

1548
02:23:37,840 --> 02:23:44,920
It is a nonpartisan caucus that is comprised under the leadership of Assemblymember Juan

1549
02:23:44,920 --> 02:24:13,580
from Korea, who is the chair of that caucus and members such as Susette Vierdars, who was also present and so were other elected from the region we were discussing a lot of the critical infrastructure needs and demands that are facing our region and some of the accomplishments that we had thus far, especially with securing our water and water use for generations to come here.

1550
02:24:16,660 --> 02:24:31,200
Overall, disappointed by the outcome tonight for the potential measure, there's always next year, but we'll figure it out.

1551
02:24:32,680 --> 02:24:39,760
I think that's what the history has been doing for the last 38 years plus is figuring it out.

1552
02:24:39,760 --> 02:24:47,020
So I would like to see a discussion at some point, I don't know, I wouldn't at this point

1553
02:24:47,020 --> 02:24:50,960
try to, oh, maybe we can, now we have a little bit of free time, staff time.

1554
02:24:52,600 --> 02:24:56,720
But maybe a workshop or discussion with the community of what programs they would like

1555
02:24:56,720 --> 02:25:01,640
to see cut, because it's that time we've got to come up with about another two and a half

1556
02:25:01,640 --> 02:25:03,360
million dollars to get back in the black.

1557
02:25:03,860 --> 02:25:10,100
So I think we need to start looking at that and asking hard questions about what we're

1558
02:25:10,100 --> 02:25:12,580
willing to live with and what we're not willing to live with.

1559
02:25:15,120 --> 02:25:21,860
And where we find that extra cash from, hopefully there are federal resources and state

1560
02:25:21,860 --> 02:25:22,240
resources.

1561
02:25:22,260 --> 02:25:23,640
I think they've been exhausted.

1562
02:25:24,100 --> 02:25:28,540
They come up annual and know that we have grant writers and a team of people that seek

1563
02:25:28,540 --> 02:25:29,480
those things out.

1564
02:25:29,900 --> 02:25:31,440
That's what we pay them to do.

1565
02:25:31,440 --> 02:25:36,340
our staff is amazing at doing that and thank you for the many many years of

1566
02:25:36,340 --> 02:25:41,760
hard work to keeping us afloat. I know that I've only been here about six and a

1567
02:25:41,760 --> 02:25:47,380
half years living in the city. I'm a newcomer and it's it's been a you know a

1568
02:25:47,380 --> 02:25:50,420
pleasure living in this community. That's why I serve this community in my day

1569
02:25:50,420 --> 02:25:56,260
job and why I do it in my capacity as a council member. I love this community and

1570
02:25:56,260 --> 02:25:57,400
continue to serve it.

1571
02:26:00,040 --> 02:26:03,000
But we need to start exploring those options as a team

1572
02:26:04,360 --> 02:26:11,200
because we're about to hit a wall. So let's see where we go from there. Overall I

1573
02:26:11,200 --> 02:26:16,380
look forward to the next month and all the exciting summer time activities I

1574
02:26:16,380 --> 02:26:24,940
know next month. We have some early council meeting and national night out and

1575
02:26:24,940 --> 02:26:27,400
I'm looking forward to that and with that I yield.

1576
02:26:27,660 --> 02:26:28,040
Thank you, Mayor.

1577
02:26:28,520 --> 02:26:28,940
Thank you.

1578
02:26:29,220 --> 02:26:30,380
Mayor Pro Tempullin.

1579
02:26:31,300 --> 02:26:31,660
Thank you, Mayor.

1580
02:26:32,880 --> 02:26:34,100
Yeah, difficult night.

1581
02:26:34,360 --> 02:26:35,860
I do want to thank the residents.

1582
02:26:36,380 --> 02:26:38,120
All that we're here tonight commented.

1583
02:26:38,380 --> 02:26:40,120
All that we saw in the community commented.

1584
02:26:40,500 --> 02:26:43,020
All that reached out to us via email, text, phone,

1585
02:26:43,180 --> 02:26:43,840
whatever it was.

1586
02:26:45,640 --> 02:26:46,660
We'll get through this.

1587
02:26:47,020 --> 02:26:49,780
I think we have a pretty sharp city staff city manager,

1588
02:26:50,160 --> 02:26:51,500
city attorney, the whole everybody.

1589
02:26:51,820 --> 02:26:52,980
I think we'll get through this.

1590
02:26:52,980 --> 02:26:57,420
You know, we're obviously going to have to tighten up in certain areas, but that's fine.

1591
02:26:57,860 --> 02:27:06,060
I personally am not interested in seeing this come back next year, Chris, or the year after and spend more money on it, you know.

1592
02:27:07,800 --> 02:27:13,640
So that's where I kind of stand on that, but thank you to everyone for all your hard work on both sides.

1593
02:27:13,840 --> 02:27:21,420
The residents, the staff, everybody, you know, it's at least we have participation, so I'll take that from this.

1594
02:27:21,420 --> 02:27:27,380
And I think that's the positive in it, as long as our community's participating in it, that's what we're looking for.

1595
02:27:27,820 --> 02:27:29,760
So, are you all right?

1596
02:27:30,320 --> 02:27:31,040
Thank you.

1597
02:27:31,880 --> 02:27:36,040
I believe Mr. Davies has left, but I just wanted to say I live off of Maple.

1598
02:27:36,360 --> 02:27:37,080
I drive Maple.

1599
02:27:37,440 --> 02:27:40,440
It is a beautiful road right now.

1600
02:27:40,480 --> 02:27:50,320
I'm not too sure what he's talking about about the inadequate layers that's been done on Maple.

1601
02:27:50,320 --> 02:28:00,760
So I just don't know what he's talking about, but I think staff, I think you staff are going after the grant and also to city staff to able to match the grant.

1602
02:28:00,960 --> 02:28:10,480
So we could get a maple repaired also the stop signs that are not working.

1603
02:28:10,700 --> 02:28:11,520
You say they're faded.

1604
02:28:11,980 --> 02:28:14,280
I encourage you to use the city app.

1605
02:28:14,760 --> 02:28:29,400
I use it all the time for illegal dumping and call into the public works and let them know that the stop signs do need to be replaced and they will be out there and do it. You have my number reach out to me. I don't mind doing that on your behalf.

1606
02:28:32,720 --> 02:28:42,960
Also, Maple and Muscatel Basin, when I have full confidence in Cassie, that that has been repaired and then

1607
02:28:45,480 --> 02:28:47,560
we haven't accepted Maple yet.

1608
02:28:48,100 --> 02:28:49,820
It's still under construction, correct?

1609
02:28:50,400 --> 02:28:56,480
So, again, Mr. Davies' comments about accepting it as it is, that's not going to be the case.

1610
02:28:57,140 --> 02:29:03,760
We are going to make sure that they don't have to come out again and repair it so we will not accept that street.

1611
02:29:04,420 --> 02:29:12,100
It's been in bad, bad shape for many, many years and we're not going to accept it until it is completed.

1612
02:29:13,020 --> 02:29:17,720
I have, I've had a couple meetings. It's been kind of a slow couple months.

1613
02:29:17,720 --> 02:29:25,700
I did do MD-AQM-D on June 22nd, and then I attended the VBWA board meeting.

1614
02:29:25,900 --> 02:29:31,540
I think it was the shortest board meeting in their history, but there are a great group.

1615
02:29:32,140 --> 02:29:35,100
The whole, the board, and everybody works very well together.

1616
02:29:35,820 --> 02:29:40,240
So I do thank you for the opportunity. Council Member Greg, I did enjoy that.

1617
02:29:40,240 --> 02:29:53,800
I also our next meeting is August 4th and it will be at 3 o'clock to accommodate

1618
02:29:53,800 --> 02:29:59,900
National Night Out which is always a fun event and also I would like

1619
02:30:00,000 --> 02:30:27,440
I want to thank staff for all your hard work. I too am very disappointed in how the vote went on the tax, but we will get through it. And we will, I don't know how much creative financing we can do, but I have every competence in the staff that we will get that done. And I just would like to thank everyone that sits on this council with me. I'm very proud to serve with you. We all work very, very well together.

1620
02:30:27,440 --> 02:30:35,420
And I just would like to close the meeting in memory of a very dear friend of my Gary Whited.

1621
02:30:35,840 --> 02:30:37,740
He passed away on Sunday.

1622
02:30:38,440 --> 02:30:42,020
He was a two tour Vietnam vet.

1623
02:30:43,180 --> 02:30:48,080
And he was a wonderful man who served our country and served our community.

1624
02:30:48,680 --> 02:30:52,900
His heart was just, he was a wonderful man.

1625
02:30:52,900 --> 02:30:56,660
and also happy birthday to Jeff and my friend Melinda

1626
02:30:56,660 --> 02:30:57,880
that's sitting in the audience.

1627
02:30:57,880 --> 02:30:59,660
She's going to give me a stink eye right now.

1628
02:31:00,200 --> 02:31:02,080
So I have nothing further.

1629
02:31:02,260 --> 02:31:05,360
Do we have any city manager or city attorney comments?

1630
02:31:07,480 --> 02:31:10,540
Yes, I wanted to say thank you to my staff.

1631
02:31:11,520 --> 02:31:13,200
You do a good job here.

1632
02:31:13,960 --> 02:31:15,540
You do a good job for the agency,

1633
02:31:15,840 --> 02:31:17,800
for the city council, for myself, our residents.

1634
02:31:18,480 --> 02:31:22,540
It's easy to tell someone else they don't do a good job.

1635
02:31:22,540 --> 02:31:28,580
It's harder to hear it when every single day you show up for the residents.

1636
02:31:29,640 --> 02:31:35,980
And a lot of us are longtime employees, a lot of us are also longtime residents who grew up in Asperia.

1637
02:31:36,480 --> 02:31:38,320
We genuinely love the city.

1638
02:31:39,420 --> 02:31:43,020
I think the City Council for their leadership and their support for

1639
02:31:43,020 --> 02:31:49,980
the recognition of the contributions of our staff, for the recognition of the contributions of our deputies and our sworn officers.

1640
02:31:49,980 --> 02:31:54,620
There's, they do miraculous work for residents every single day.

1641
02:31:55,760 --> 02:31:57,980
We are blessed to work here.

1642
02:31:59,500 --> 02:32:01,600
It is a privilege every single day.

1643
02:32:02,600 --> 02:32:03,680
Thank you so much.

1644
02:32:06,930 --> 02:32:12,370
With nothing further, we will join the meeting at my watch went to sleep 909.

1645
02:32:12,610 --> 02:32:12,970
Thank you.

1646
02:32:13,130 --> 02:32:14,110
See you August 4th.