Welcome to the August.
Got it. All right. Welcome to the August
5th um
» City council meeting uh for our close
session. If we can have a roll call.
» I don't have a microphone.
» I'm present.
» Is present. Mr. Blades doesn't have a
microphone.
» Present.
» Mr. Roger.
» President. Mr.
» President,
» Mr. Gord
» Present. We have
» No microphones. Oh, there it goes.
» All right. Uh, do we have a motion for
approval of the agenda?
» So moved.
» Motion second.
» Motion and second.
» Vote, please.
» Thank you, sir.
» Five eyes. Motion carries.
» All right. Uh, public comment on close
session. Any of you lovely people, would
you like to comment?
Do
» You see you see lovely people out there?
I don't I'm wondering. I don't see
anybody here.
» I I was about
» Seeing none. No lovely people had no
comment.
» Not on the phone, right?
» Yeah.
» All right. Uh we will adjourn to close
session conference with legal counsel
existing litigation people of the state
of California XL Rob Bont at all v. the
city of Ridgerest Superior Court of
California County of Kern case number
and then some numbers and letters. We
will adjourn.
» Um
now to the attorney report out of close
session.
» Thank you honorable mayor council
members. One item was discussed in close
session. That's existing litigation as
depicted on the agenda. No reportable
actions were taken by the council. Thank
you.
» Thank you. Uh we will adjourn to the 550
special open session agenda.
If we can have a roll call.
» Mayor Endicott.
» I am present.
» Mr. Blades
» Here.
» Mr. Roger
» Present.
» Mr. Haymon
» Present.
» Mr. Gorman
» Present.
» Five present. We have a quorum.
» All right. Uh, next we have an approval
of the agenda. So moved.
» Second.
Motion.
» I think we're gonna have to do a roll
call on that. May Mr. Andut
» I.
» Mr. Blades.
» I.
» Mr. Rogerham.
» Hi.
» Mr. Hayman.
» I.
» Mr. Gorman.
» I.
» Five eyes. Motion carries.
» All right. Uh, for all those in
attendance, if we're going to do the
pledge of allegiance and invocation. Um
if you can stand up for that if you're
able and remain standing for the
invocation after.
» Ready begin.
» I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» Please join me in prayer if you would.
Lord, thank you for giving us this day.
Lord, thank you for the city of
Ridgerest where we live and cherish.
Lord, thank you for the wonderful people
we have serving this community. Lord, I
pray for our country. Give your
directions to the leaders of our country
so that they take right decisions for
this country. Lord, I pray for the
troops who are in harm's way. Protect
them from all evil. I pray for our
police department. Lord protect them as
they put their lives online to protect
this community. Lord, pray for all the
people who gathered here today. Lord,
pray for the city council and the city
staff. Lord, thank you for the
opportunity you have given to us to
discuss the matters. Lord, give your
wisdom and your direction. Lord,
whatever we do, let it be beneficial to
this community. I ask this in Jesus
precious name. Amen.
» Amen.
All right, we'll move on to item number
one. Uh discussion and action item.
Resolution of the city council of the
city of Ridgerest adopting the 2023
through 2031 draft general plan housing
element in the fair housing analysis and
authorizing staff to submit the same to
the California Department of Housing and
Community Development for certification.
» Go ahead, Heather.
» Good evening, mayor, members of council.
Um so tonight I have before you the
housing element. This is the fifth
draft. Um we have received notification
from HCD
that the draft meets the statutory
requirements. Um we also
put this for a 7-day public review
period prior to submitting to HCD. So it
is before you tonight ready to be
adopted. Um,
some of the main changes since you first
saw the document in September of 2023,
um, include changes to the site
inventory. Um, all of the sites under
one acre are no longer included in their
site inventory.
Um, and there are various other
programs, including updates to our
zoning ordinance, um, in regards to
housing, um, that are all in this new
document, including things for emergency
shelters, farm workers housing, um,
large sites,
inclusionary housing, um, and several
other various programs that we will be
implementing. um with the adoption of
this. So tonight, all we're asking is
that you um adopt this and then we will
send it back to HCD for final
certification.
» All right. Any members of the council
have any comment or questions?
» And I'll just quick comment. Heather,
thank you for working so hard on this. I
know that you have worked for a very
long time working trying to get this
through and all the hoops you've had to
jump through with the state. Thank you.
» Thank you.
Same here. Thank you, Heather, and and
council and everyone that's been
involved in getting this uh to the point
where it is today. And hopefully we get
it in their hand in the past and we'll
be pass this. So, thank you very much.
» Well, now it just sounds empty if I also
add on, but thank you.
» It's all good. I just add tone and
delivery.
» That is true. Okay.
» Uh I actually want to thank you more
than the rest of them because I care
more. Um, but sincerely thank you. Um, I
I know I've only been here for two years
and this started well before me, but it
seems to be a headache and I'm sure
dealing with the state of California
cannot be easy.
Any other council members?
No.
No one else wants to thank Heather.
» Thank you, Heather.
» There we go. All right.
» Thank you, Heather.
» There we go. All right. Uh, any members
of the public uh, wish to comment or
question?
» Thank you, Heather.
» There we go. There we go.
» All right. Uh, seeing no other comments
or questions. Um,
do we have a motion?
» Motion, please.
» Motion to approve.
» Do we have a second?
» Second. There we go. Motion and second.
Please vote.
» Sorry, I stole your I stole your
thunder.
» Second, sir. No problem at all. Five
eyes. Motion carries. Thank you all.
» Thank you.
» All right.
So, next we have four minutes till we
adjourn or do we just go ahead and
adjourn?
» We can wait.
» We should probably wait.
» Okay, we wait.
» Four minutes.
» Anyone have any jokes
that are appropriate?
I have a joke so appropriate you could
tell it in church.
» There we go.
» Which church?
» One of 17 that currently exists. This um
Zen master leave if you've heard it. Um
found himself on the busy streets of New
York City and and found himself wanting
one of those famous New York hot dogs
starting at Coney Island. And he
happened to be nearby a hot dog vendor,
a Neanderthal looking fellow who dragged
his knuckles, was wearing a dirty
t-shirt and a cigar in his mouth, a New
York attitude, and a hot dog machine. Oh
my goodness, this is great. The Zen
master, saffron robe, shaven head, great
serenity, floated up to the hot dog
vendor and asked, "Make me one with
everything.
I know you're out there. He can hear
crickets. Good thing it's a two-stage
joke. The Zen master gave the hot dog
vendor a $20 bill and stood nearby the
machine, eating it, however nervously.
And finally, the Zen master's equinimity
snapped. And he reapproached the hot dog
vendor, pointing at his halfeaten hot
dog and asked, "Excuse me, but don't I
get any change with this?"
The hot dog vendor smiled as some of you
are smiling now and said, "Change comes
only from within."
I missed the crickets.
Same joke.
» I used to watch the
So, we actually have my group on
this moment right here.
actually it's a good good
way
to just keep going.
So now
will eventually ask the question
» Or it'll just be silence
and that's okay.
It wasn't just crickets.
» All right.
Welcome to the Wednesday, August 5th,
2026 Ridgerest City Council meeting.
Another roll call. No, let's just skip
right by that.
» All right.
» Can we have an approval of the agenda?
» So moved.
» Second.
» Motion and second.
» I must not have made a slide. Mayor
Indicott
» I.
» Mr. Blades.
» I.
» Mr. Roger.
» I.
» Mr. Haymon.
» I.
» Mr. Gorman.
» I.
» Five eyes. Motion carries.
» All right. Uh, next we will do council
presentations.
Y.
Thank you.
I guess I'm taking Rick's job on
» Solomon. you do the next joke. Okay.
» All right.
» Nope. Nope. Nope. So I So as as everyone
can see the first presentation is city
clerk week proclamation. I have to note
were you asked to write up this for
yourself?
» No. Actually there's a funny story to
that.
» Do you want to tell it?
» Sure.
So all of these proclamations that are
done, I write them, I prepare them, I
give them to the council. So when city
clerk week came along, I did not
recognize myself because I thought it
was silly to ask them to recognize me.
So Travis so graciously made up our own
little city clerk week, wrote the
proclamation himself, prepared it
himself so that they could recognize me.
So that's how this came about.
So, I did not write this.
» She proof that
» Knowing knowing that
» I did not even do that. I didn't look at
it. I put the agenda and just kind of
» Knowing that Travis did this, I'm
honestly surprised it's not in comic
sands. So,
» All right. So, uh, proclamation of the
city of Ridgerest, California, the
57th77th annual professional municipal
clerk's week, August 3rd through the
9th, 2026.
Could he have made it smaller?
» Whereas the office of the professional
mun municipal clerk, a timehonored and
vital part of local government, exists
throughout the world. And whereas the
office of the professional municipal
clerk is the oldest among public
servants. And whereas the office of the
professional municipal clerk provides
the professional link between the
citizens, the local governing bodies and
agencies of government at other levels.
And whereas professional municipal
clerks have pledged to be ever mindful
of their neutrality and impartiality,
render rendering equal service to all.
Whereas the professional municipal clerk
serves as the information center on
functions of local government and
community.
Whereas the professional municipal
clerk, if we could have just done PMC,
that would have been fantastic,
continually strives to improve the
administration of the affairs of the
office of the professional municipal
clerk through participation in education
programs, seminars, workshops, and the
annual meetings of their state,
provincial, county, and international
professional organizations. Whereas it
is most appropriate that we recognize
the accomplish of the office
accomplishments of the office of the
professional municipal clerk. Now
therefore, we the city council of the
city of Ridgerest do recognize the week
of August 3rd through August 9th, 2026
as Ridgerest Professional Municipal
Clerk's Week and further extend
appreciation to our professional
municipal clerk, Rea.
And to all the professional mun
municipal clerks for their vital
services they perform and their
exemplary dedication to the communities
they represent. extended this fifth day
of August 2026 myself and council I want
to go above and beyond and it's not just
what you do here it's all the other
organizations that you are a part of
that you tie yourself to that you make
sure that they continue to strive and
thrive and that we I don't think that we
should just have a week to recognize
that uh all the hard work that you do
all of the everything that you do behind
the scenes to make it that our jobs
easier here. I have a a nice little um
agenda up there that everything is
written what I need to say so that I
don't make errors. Uh so that's nice. Um
but thank you for all you do. This is
yours
» And and people want a speech.
» I did not prepare a speech.
Um I I just want to say thank you for
for doing this. This means a lot. when
you said you were gonna do it, I kind of
just thought, well, yeah, sure he is.
But and he did. I really did. I thought
that. Um, so thank you. And this means a
lot to me and and as Travis said, I do a
lot of other organizations in town
because I love Ridgerest. Um, I I have a
passion for Ridgerest and I just want to
make it better. So I appreciate you guys
recognizing me for that and it means a
lot. Thank you very much.
Yes, that's it.
I'm trying to make sure that I don't
have the chair.
» Thank you.
I have to admit, after being a professor
for a while, uh I'm very attuned to uh
font and so at one point I made the
mistake of saying that I hate comic
sands and so they made my entire agenda
comic sands. That was the statement.
That's the reason for the joke about
Travis doing that. But
» Next we have our penny pool update.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
Grab the controller voice. There you go.
Thank you.
All right. Good evening, mayor and
members of the city council. Tonight, I
would like to provide an update on the
Sergeant John Penny Memorial Pool
Complex Replacement Project. The project
officially began in construction in
January 2026.
Continues to make significant progress.
This partation will highlight completed
work, current construction activities,
project schedule, budget status, and the
next major milestones.
This project it's a collaborative effort
involving several
involving several teams working together
toward the successful completion of the
city's new aquatic facility. The city of
Richest provides overall project
management and oversight through the
parks and wreck public works engineering
and city administration.
AMG and associate serves as a general
contractor and is responsible for daily
construction operations,
scheduling, quality control and safety.
Fluty and Moody together with Welden
provide design support, construction
management, resident engineering,
inspection and construction
administration.
Weekly owner, architect, contractor
meetings continue to keep the project
moving efficiently and allow us to
address issues before they affect the
schedule.
This slide illustrates the project
layout and compares it with the aquatic
center vision
versus the site development that was
initially started in January and
February. As work progresses, the
council will continue to see the project
take shape and resemble the original
conceptual rendering.
During the first two months of
construction, the contractor completed
mobilization activities. This included
installation of construction, fencing,
signage, establishing survey control,
setting up trailers, testing facilities,
beginning rough grading, and
coordinating early utility re
relocations. This activity established
the foundation for all subsequent
construction.
In March, the project transition into
major earthwork. Building pads were s
verified for both the community building
and the restroom building. Excavation
also began for the competition pool,
activity pool, the perch and the pump
pit while site grading continue
throughout the complex.
April focused primarily on underground
infrastructure. Sewer improvements,
electrical conduit installation, under
slab utilities, concrete work for the
search and pumps were completed. This
work is critical because much of the
infrastructure becomes inaccessible
after the pools and buildings are
constructed.
During May, construction activities
advanced vertically. The restroom and
storage building slabs were completed.
Community building footings were formed
and placed. Excavation continue for both
the competition and structural pools
while the search pit reached its
substantial completion.
June marked another milestone. The
community building, foundation, and slab
were completed. Masonary construction
began on the restroom and storage
building while plumbing continued
beneath the instructional pool. These
activities allowed multiple construction
crews to work at the same time across
the site.
Throughout July, construction
accelerated significantly. Masonary
walls for the community building
progressed. The roof construction began
on the restroom building and both
activity and instructional pools
received shot creek. Underground
plumbing also continue with the
competition pool. By the end of the
July, nearly every major area of the
project has active construction
happening at the same time.
Now today, active across
there's active construction across every
major project.
The community building has completed its
foundation and majoring work and has
moved into roof framing. The restroom
building has completed majoring and roof
framing is now advancing rough
mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC
and fire sprinkler installation.
Both the activity and structural pool
have completed shock creek and are
advancing toward waterproofing and tile
finishes. Construction crews continue
supporting construction while work
transitions into structural and
architectural phases.
As expected on a project of this size,
several unforeseen utilities conflicts
were encountered during the
construction. Although the project team
successfully coordinated relocations
with the siros valley minerals water man
while uh coordinating with all the other
utilities such as the city wastewater
operations waste wastewater Indian wells
valley water district southern
California Edison and we're continue to
work with PG as well although these
issues required redesign coordination
they were addressed without
significantly impacting overall project
progress. Utility coordination remains
one of our highest priorities as a
project moves forward.
This project remains on schedule.
Construction beginning January 2026 and
the contract includes 393
working days. As of today, 138 working
days have been used representing
approximately 35% of the contract
duration. There have been no approved
time extensions, only one non-working
day due to weather, and the current
contract completion remains August 2027.
Staff continues monitoring schedule
performance throughout weekly
construction meetings and continues to
provide such updates.
This project also remains financially
healthy. The original construction
contract is approximately 19.48 48
million with a contingency of 292,000
for a total authorized project budget of
approximately 19.78 million. Now, six
progress payments have been processed
totaling a total of 4.35 million
representing roughly 22% of the total
authorized budget. All payments are
reviewed by the city staff, construction
management, inspectional personnel
before approval to verify completed
work. And at this time, expenditures are
consistent with construction progress
and within the approved project budget.
In summary, the Sergeant John Penny
Memorial Pool Complex continues to makes
excellent progress. Major earthquake is
complete. Utilities are substantially
installed. Buildings are rising above
grade. And pool construction is
advancing rapidly. City staff, our
consultants, and the contractor continue
to work closely to maintain schedule,
manage costs, and promptly resolve
construction challenges. Over the coming
months, the project will focus on
building completion,
pool finishes, utility commission, and
the preparation for architectural and
site improvements. So, we appreciate the
council's continued support of this
important community investment.
Next, I would like to show a
construction progress video. Sorry.
This is the most up-to-date construction
video that was provided by the
contractor.
So, as he spans over, he's going to go
throughout the job site.
We're currently coming in on the north
east or north east part of the project
overseeing the north driveway.
And then here we're beginning to see
the pool complex.
We have the structural
activity pool.
You can see has the shot creek already
working some utilities.
Competition pool is in progress.
It has advanced now. So, it's just
waiting for Shot Creek. If you see it
out now, since this video was taken at
the end of July,
it shows the rough plumbing in place.
Now, we're expanding into the community
building.
We have there the search pit at the
bottom.
The pump pip is no longer visible,
but we have the vertical work
progressing.
Just to note, the masonary vertical work
is already completed. So if you go out
there today, you'll see that the
committee building is already working on
the roof framing.
And now he's going to begin to
transition into the restroom and storage
building and the overall site view of
the project.
So here the restroom building major is
already completed.
The roof framing for the most part has
been completed
and you can see a little bit of um the
overall job site conditions that are
currently on the job.
So, this concludes the project's update
and thank you for your time and
continued support for the Sergeant John
Penny Memorial Complex replacement
project. I'll be happy to answer any
questions the mayor or the council
members may have.
So, uh, fantastic. Um,
do say think that maybe like a Beach
Boys medley, uh, show in the pool would
be Sorry, I the intrusive thoughts are
winning today. Um, no, that's that's
fantastic. The only question that I have
um is uh you continue to use shot creek
and I assume that is concrete that shot
» Correct.
» Okay.
» Yes.
» All right. Well, it's just that simple.
All right.
» Um is there um any
» I don't know. I I assume that's standard
of using that. Is there any um hardness
or problems with that long term? Like
are there any other concrete? I I assume
if we got a harder concrete it would be
more expensive or nitrogen filled or
something like that that it would be
more expensive but this is the common
thing used
» That is correct creek is the common
thing for penny pools and they do all
the testing as well so this is all being
tested and verified okay with third
parties as well. Okay, any other
comments, questions?
» Louise, I thought that was a brilliant
presentation. I enjoyed the video a lot
and I was a little surprised, stunned
actually to notice that none of the
workmen seemed to have been aware of
that drone.
Nobody looked up and pointed. Yeah, that
silencer must work.
Thank you. Okay,
» I'll concur. Um that's a great great
presentation. Um it's kind of humbling
and exciting to see this project going
on in the community. I think it's the
biggest quality of life and one of the
greatest things that uh we've seeing
come to the city um in my lifetime of
living here. But uh I was there
yesterday and uh my wife and I went got
a cup of coffee and parked across the
street in the shade next to the park,
you know, and was watching them. And
you're exactly right. we were commenting
on the work that was going on was in
every aspect or facet of the of the
construction process and it was and the
other thing was it was about 106 degrees
out
» And to see these guys out there working
um they weren't missing a beat I was I
was impressed it's it's an impressive
project and I think it's going to be
wonderful for the city and u thanks to
everybody that's uh playing a part on
making this happen so
thank you
» Great presentation very
Thank you very much. So, do you oversee
the project or
how what is your involvement in the
project?
» Yeah, I'm currently overseeing as part
of the engineering division.
» Right. Thank you. Good job.
» Thank you.
» Yeah, Luis, thank you so much. I mean,
this this project is going to is a once
in a-lifetime thing and I appreciate the
care and and the work that you're
putting into making sure that it's
everything that the community wants it
to be. So, I appreciate it.
» Thank you. Appreciate it.
» Thank you, Luis.
» All right. Next, we will move on to
public comment of items not on the
agenda. Persons wishing to address the
council on matters that are within the
council's jurisdiction and do not
already appear on the agenda may do so
at this time. Council will not respond
to any public comments, but may provide
direction to staff to collect
information. Pursuant to the Brown Act,
the city council may not act on an item
that does not appear on this agenda.
Speakers are limited to 5 minutes. The
public comment section of the agenda is
limited to a total of one hour. Each
speaker is asked to provide his or her
name.
Hello.
» Hi, I'm Lorraine Horny. I have I had two
questions. Now I have three. I didn't
see on the plans about where's any
shade. Number one, is there a first aid
area? And the other I guess I have
three. Um,
if it's a competitive pool, is that just
for our town or people going to come
from out of out of the area and compete
against Ridgerest folks? Where are the
bleachers or you know, whatever? Anybody
that would be watching, where are they
going to be?
So, I know you can't answer, but those
are questions.
And that was one section. Then I
wondered, I never hear any updates on
LFCO annexation
stuff. It just kind of went away. We
don't know what's going on as people
here.
» Uh are you talking about the um
» The healthcare district?
» Yeah, but I mean why are we still
meeting as what's going on?
» Uh so I'll answer that one. Uh we
haven't that has not been on the agenda.
Um, but at our next meeting next win or
two week two Wednesdays from today, I
will I'll bring it up and
» And see and I'll come back with a an
answer for you.
» Okay. And my only other last question is
what's the possibility of getting the
food services for the senior center
brought back here to Ridgerest
because they they suck. Yeah,
» They really do. and it's getting to be
winter, so somebody driving over
Walker's Pass to bring us peanut butter
and jelly is pretty crappy.
» So, we'll have our quality of life uh
meeting uh the next or the first Tuesday
of next month. Um
» Okay.
» And we'll try and I don't know if we'll
have that answer, but um feel free to
come. We have a lot of members of the
senior center that show up and and we it
really becomes a more informal
conversation.
» Good. So,
» So for seniors and senioritas, right?
» Yes. Yeah, absolutely, ma'am.
» Okay.
» Actually, for your first three, can we
» Yes. So, the the bleachers are um an
ancillary item. Once the full pool deck
is constructed, the bleachers will be
put in.
» Good.
» Uh bleachers are part of it there. The
shade that's going to be provided is
going to be with the trees. There's
multiple trees and there's also a gazebo
down the center in between the
» The activity pool and the competition
pool I believe. I can't I always get the
two switched. So there will be plenty of
places where there's shade. There's
awnings that come off the buildings as
well. So
» Okay, good. And the first there is a
first aid place somewhere for each.
» Yes. So there's a designated area for
not only the lifeguards, but there will
be designated there will be an AED
there. There will be first aid kits.
There will be all that stuff will be
provided and hung once all the buildings
are constructed.
» Cool. Thanks.
» Thank you, Lorraine.
My name is Tom Wiknik and I come to you
tonight to hopefully maybe try and
inspire some uh activity or some uh
effort on the part of the city council
in in total because there's u a couple
months ago I brought up something about
the 395 project and current cog has now
got that out at 2045
And I mentioned that when I was on Kern
Cog back in the early 2000s, that was a
five-year out project waiting for
funding. Well, obviously now if it's out
to 2045, it's more than five years.
Anyway, uh I want to talk about how we
use Kernogg and how I used Kernogg when
I was there because as council people,
you can do more for the not just Richest
but the whole valley and Kernog is a
means to do that. if you start thinking
out of the box and start thinking about
things that you might be able to do to
help make the valley a better place.
One, uh, as one example, and this is a
real minor example, but when I was on
the, um, Kernog,
I I've traveled all over this country.
I've been in all 50 states, and one
thing I've noticed a lot of times along
freeways, they would have the sign for a
city and then they'd have a business
loop. So people could see traveling that
they could take this business loop and
go through the town which is good for
business when they when they know they
can go in one side and come out the
other. And I thought why don't we have
that in Rididgerest. I'm going to run
out of time so quick. Anyway, so I said
why don't we have a business loop cuz we
didn't have one. So I got the idea why
not establish a 395 business loop
through Ridgerest.
And how did I do that? through Kernog.
I brought it up. I I brought it to the
attention of the staff over there at
Kernog. And I'll tell you one thing, I
remember this real clearly that when I
tried to get things done in Kernog, I
didn't do it by myself. I had to make
sure I had a county supervisor that was
helping me. Actually, two supervisors,
the southern part of Eastern Kern, the
uh the rep from California City, the rep
from Tahachi. We had kind of a little
group that we tried to support each
other in all our projects because we
made sure that every budget that Kernog
had had a project going on in East Kern.
Every budget had something going on out
here and not just fix a sidewalk or a
bike path. Anyway, back to the 395.
Brought it up to staff. Calrans rep
attended the meeting. They said, "We'll
take it to CALR. No problem." So now we
have business 395 through uh Ridgerest.
No big deal, right? Okay. But it's
something to maybe try and bring some
traffic in. Um then there was the time
where I said, you know, Bowman Road was
supposed to be a freeway at one time
from St. Louis Abyispo to Las Vegas
right through Rididgerest. And you know
what would have been good for that is
for keeping all the big trucks going to
Kermag from right going through the city
of Rididgerest with all the chemicals. I
got to hurry up. Anyway, at the at when
I was on the Kernok, they found out that
the state was abandoning the 178 freeway
project. And with that, they were going
to abandon the rightway all the way
through. And I said, "Oh, no, wait a
minute. Once you lose a rightaway, it's
gone forever." So, I talked to the
county and I talked with the richest
people and I said, "Let's keep the
rightaway through the Indian Wells
Valley at least." And guess what? Kernog
agreed with that and got the state of
California to give us the rightway so we
if we ever wanted to we could add that.
Okay. And that was possibly a way to get
something through. And by the way,
Bowman Road didn't go from Downs out to
Jack's Ranch Road. So what did I do? I
went over to meet with John McQuiston. I
said, "Hey, is there a way we can get
the city's portion of uh Bowman done and
you take it the county ticket back out
to Dra Jack Road?" He said, "Yeah, let's
work on that. A year and a half later,
we the city and the county by the use of
Kernog was doing uh Bowman Road from
Downs out to there to Jack's Ranch Road.
Now, back to 395.
There was a question about why I was
concerned about it and I brought it up
about the safety issue. Well, guess
what? the last time since the last time
we talked. We now have a family in
Ridgerest that lost a gr a granddaughter
on 395.
We have a family that lost a
granddaughter on 395. And I know that
because the grandfather came into my
store the other day and he could hardly
talk to me.
He was so upset about it. Now, I'm try
only saying this and I'm almost out of
time, but I'm saying, why don't you guys
get a little bit more energetic and
trying to do things that help the whole
valley, okay? And you know, and get
Peter's wherever he's hiding, get him to
come out and start doing something for
the valley. How about adding some more
stuff, road payment and stuff like this
for the county? You know, the best thing
we got out of Peters is raise the price
we pay for the fire service. And of
course, of all for bringing in that $400
million pipeline. I'm sorry I'm running
over and I have more that I could go on
and on, but I want I was wanted to try
encourage you as a council come up with
some ideas.
Ra was saying that just before that she
like loves the richest and she wanted to
do things to help. The microphone's off.
Okay. But anyway, I'm trying to inspire
you. Maybe try and do something more.
Thank you.
» Thank you, Tom.
» Hello. My name is Frankie Duna and I am
here today because um and I don't even
know if this is
» Oh, I don't know if this is even the
right place to be, but um last week a
83year-old friend of mine, longtime
family friend came over and he he has
Alzheimer's and so he loses his words a
lot and anyway he brought me um his
water bill and he's on fixed income and
he does live uh on the corner of
uh Downs and Vicki. I think it used to
be Dr. Green's house back in the day.
Anyway, it's a two-story house. So, I
was looking at his water bill and I see
that um his bill was for 69,000 gallons
of water.
Uh mind you, it's him.
His bill was $692.74,
but IWVGA fees were $45.
And he said to me, "Where's that money
going?" I said, "I I don't know. Where
is that money going? How is that money
determined?
How is it possible this man used 69,000
gallons of water? I know he takes a bath
every Saturday whether he needs to or
not. He's from Georgia and he is a bath
dude. So, um, but in this was his bill
for July. His bill for June,
he only used 20,000 gallons of water.
And then his bill for May, he used
18,000 gallons of water, which it seems
outrageous to me anyway, that that
amount. But um
so
first, how do you go and and use 40 more
thousand gallons in a month as one
human? And the water company did come
out and inspect a couple of times. They
said there's no leak anywhere. Um and he
went and spoke with someone at the water
company and they kind of told him in a
nutshell, move to a red state. This is
what you get.
So, um, they said the money goes to the
government and it's the government
that's charging him this money. And I
told him it's not the government, it's
IWVGA.
Is that our government? I don't know.
I'm I'm This is all new to me. But
how is it determined? How are the fees
determined each month? It seems to be a
different amount. Is it based on our
property value? Is it? Does anybody know
the answer to my question or am I
barking up the wrong tree here? I don't
know.
» Um
because a friend of mine who lives Shir
lives about three blocks away from him
and she has a swimming pool and a
two-story home and her bill was under
$200.
So, I don't
I don't know how we can address this. I
luckily he has savings. He has to dip
into his savings to pay his water bill
so that he can eat for the rest of the
month. It's It's I don't know. My water
bill is $61.
And on my water bill, there's no prior
months, no prior information. It's every
month it's the same amount. I'm like,
that is so odd. I was gone for a month
in February and my bill was $61.
Like, how does that happen? I know I
wasn't there to use the water. Nobody
else was. So,
does anybody have any advice? I I would
like to tell him. I was going to bring
him, but he's has they call it
sundowner, so he's worse in the evening.
» My friend, those numbers you read to me
seem remarkable. My first thought was he
has a terrible leak somewhere. Uh or
perhaps does do you happen to know if he
cools his house with refrigeration unit
or what we call evaporative or swamp
cooler?
» It's it's refrigerated air and he
doesn't even use it until he goes to bed
at night because
» It's a twotory so he wants to cool down
the top floor just
» And yet the water district had some
technicians out there to seek uh to find
any leak and they weren't successful.
» No. And if you I mean presenting like I
said like we can go from um May, June
and July and each month progressively. I
mean his bill in May was
1702.
His bill in I'm sorry that that was
June. May was 15418 and then it went up
to 1702
and then the following month it jumped
to $692.
Am I out of time?
So I don't know if anybody has any
advice for me or um
» Do I need to meet with the ground
authority or how do I figure out how
» Absolutely. So, I think if you have a
moment um and you could grab some of
Travis Reed's time, our city manager, he
he could help you and point you in the
right direction. Okay. Uh the water
district is a wealth of information. Um
I mean, the tech, you know, I'm not
going to speak for them. Uh but I know
that they have very good technicians,
they have very good staff, so if they um
they didn't see something, a lot of
times they can only check in certain
areas. Of course, that's you know, they
can't look at everything. It does sound
like there's a water leak and it's
pretty bad.
» It does. it it I mean that would be
sensible but the water leak
he
it happened in within the 3month period
is that you know I mean it just it
jumped up 40,000 gallons of water
» Yeah yeah I don't I don't want to like
over analyze it's not for me to say so I
will say that and any questions that the
water district
» Can't answer when it comes to breaking
out the bill especially those GA fees
the GA can definitely answer those
questions for you
» All right thank you so Yep. Thank you.
» Good evening. My name is Brenda Litetra
and I'm running for city council. My
husband and I are not only passionately
against government overreach. We are
arguably the most qualified people in
the room to be talking about the risks
of flock. I need to come clean about
something.
10 years ago, my husband and I worked at
Google. We left Silicon Valley because
we were sick of the industry and wanted
to build a better quality of life. One
of the projects I worked on was
especially relevant to the topic of
violation of privacy for profit. As I
understand it, my project at Google was
funded by you, the consumer, who
searched for products using the feature
near me in Google Shopping. You may have
seen 3D representations
and 3D swivels, 360 swivels
of that product when you searched. Your
search results were tied to Google Maps.
And when you walked into that store to
buy that thing you searched for, Google
would then allegedly turn around into
the store and say, "Hey, you owe us
money for advertising. Here's a list of
items or list of times people walked
into your store using our search
feature. If you haven't already done so,
turn off tracking in Google Maps.
We weren't trying to sell you anything.
It was a front to try and create the
largest library available so a rob a
robot could understand that object in 3D
and better be able to pick it up.
Data mining has become a standard
practice across the industry. But you
can choose to opt out. You can choose
not to use certain apps. And just
because it's become boilerplate,
that doesn't mean it's less wrong.
We're going to push back um for changes
to get the contract to Flock um changed
to prevent this.
Flock has argued that in order to
improve their algorithm, they need live
data from across the country. No, they
don't. I worked for project Hadamari at
Google. At the time, the projects of the
project's conception, machine learning
was unable to read a stop sign at
different angles. We helped machines
developed a better picture of our world
in 3D.
Algorithms developed for imaging depends
on the test team's ability to create a
set of challenge objects to repeatedly
test against to track progress.
People make tweaks on the software side,
hardware folks make improvements on the
machine side and we rerun the objects to
see how things changed so progress can
be tracked. In my career, I've been part
of training three different models for
different projects.
That is how it's really done. If Flock
isn't doing it this way, it may explain
why their algorithm is so bad at reading
license plates.
A report from Roseville revealed that
70% of the alerts from Flock were false
positives.
The Richest PD confirmed this when we
sat down with them last week.
We need leaders with a backbone at all
levels of government. My name is Brenda
Litetra. I'm running for city council
and you can learn more about me by going
to brendaitra.com.
Thank you.
» Thank you, Brenda.
We have a caller on the line.
» I can't see if he's waving.
» He's trying to get him on the phone now.
Go ahead.
» Okay. Go ahead, caller.
» Yes, this is Renee West. Uh, my public
comment is um I want to know is the city
council going to update us on the
application they put in to be an
intervenor status?
And are you going to be publishing any
of the correspondence between
the California Energy Commission
that when you said you were going to
send that letter? I I think a lot of
people want proof that the application
did get sent
and if you have an update on anything
regarding your research on the data
center.
Yeah, Renee, uh, the city manager is
going to address that in his, uh,
comments at the end, so you will get an
update.
» Okay. And, uh, congratulations on the
progress of the pool. I think it's a
wonderful thing for our community. Thank
you.
» Thank you, Renee,
» Jamie.
» Good evening, Richest. Uh last week,
several of a group of concerned citizens
met with the chief uh about the city's
contract with flock safety. Uh first of
all, I want to thank the chief for
giving us the time to do that.
It was a constructive meeting and I want
to acknowledge that. Uh the chief asked
us to draft the specific contract
language we'd want to see. We submitted
uh earlier this week and our
understanding is that it has gone to
flock. I want to tell the residents of
Bridgerest what is in it because
residents deserve to know what's being
asked for on their behalf. First, what
we have asked Flock. Two sections we
focused on. You've all heard me talk
about them before. Uh section 4.3
governs what Flock can do with the data
from our cameras. Right now, it gives
them a permanent license. One that uh
outlives the contract. We ask for four
things. that the license end when the
contract ends with the data destroyed
and destruction certified in writing.
That our data not be used to train their
artificial intelligence systems. Uh the
uh the contract currently allows that by
name. That our data not be used to build
or improve products. The city doesn't
buy. The contract says other flock
offerings and that phrase has no limits
in it. And a small change that matters.
The contract says flock will not sell
our data. We asked that it say flock
will not sell, distribute, license or
transfer it. A company can give that
data away without ever selling it. We
also ask them to document how they
anonymize data, what they actually strip
out and how they test it and to have
that verified independently. Right now
we are taking their word for it.
Next up, section 5.3 uh governs who gets
to see our footage. Today, Flock can
disclose it based on their own good
faith belief that doing so is reasonably
necessary. That's a standard that
companies apply to themselves. We ask
for four things. That good faith belief
be replaced with a real standard. The
closure only under a warrant, subpoena,
or court order, or to prevent someone's
death or serious injury documented at
the time and limited to the minimum
needed. that phrase third parties be
struck entirely and that everyone who
can receive our data be named and
limited. That the city can be told
within 72 hours of any disclosure who
received it, what they received and why.
And that the law and that where the law
allows the city be told before flock
responds to a legal demand so the city
has a chance to object. We also asked
for a clear prohibition on our data
reaching any federal agencies or
agencies outside California. That's not
a new idea. California law already
restricts it and the department's own
policy does as well. Second, what we are
asking of the city that no material
change to the contract, no change of the
system settings affecting retention,
sharing or logging take effect without
the council approving it at a public
meeting
and that this contract not renew
automatically. Renewal should be a vote
you take publicly as a separate agenda
item from the full bud budget. Third,
what we ask the chief other than
submitting the requested amendments.
Searches run against Rididgerest cameras
by outside agencies don't appear
anywhere on the public can see uh the
police can uh RPD can see that. We ask
that they be published quarterly and if
that flock won't p publish them in their
transparency portal that the department
publish them on the city website
instead. That's within the department's
authority and requires no one's
permission. We also asked uh for the
list of every outside vendor and agency
with access to our data and that audit
information may not be reduced or
removed without the city's approval.
We didn't send a take it or leave it
list either for the provisions most
likely to draw resistance. We included
alternative language that gets to the
same place with less imposition on the
vendor. We'd rather this end in an
agreement than a standoff.
To be clear about what we're saying,
we're not accusing anyone of acting
improperly. We're saying the contract
permits things that the city has no way
to see and the city can't verify what it
can observe. I'd also note in February a
federal appeals court dismissed every
claim brought by man who was wrongly
flagged by the system and pulled over.
The court's reasoning was that Flock's
obligation runs to its customer, the
police department, in this case the RPD,
and not to the public. If that's the
law, this contract is the only place
protections for residents can come from.
There is no other mechanism. So here's
what I'm asking tonight. that this
council direct staff to place flock
contract on a future agenda as a
discussion item agenda item with the
proposed amendment language that we have
submitted before you so it can be
presented debated in public and that the
language itself be included in the
public agenda packet. We're not asking
uh anything we're unwilling we're
unwilling to say out loud. Residents
should be able to read exactly what was
requested and judge it for themselves.
We've done the drafting. All we're
asking is that it come before you out in
the open. Thank you.
» Thank you, Jamie.
» Um, we have a member or someone caller.
There we go. That's the word.
» Go ahead, caller.
» Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, good
evening everyone. This is Kathy Brown
calling in. Uh I just want to say uh
with respect to block as we know it is
surveillance but our surveillance in the
society continues to um escalate. Uh you
guys probably all heard about
surveillance pricing when you go
shopping. Your data is being used just
against you to find out I'm going to
charge Joe $5 and Jane too. Right now in
California State Assembly, uh Chris Ward
is passing a bill to eradicate that
insanity. I just wanted everyone to know
about that. Okay. I want to say this
regarding the data center. Kudos to
Richest City Council, to the mayor and
all the attorneys involved and Travis
Reid. I read your seven-page letter,
your intervenor letter that you sent to
the state, I believe on July 20th, and I
want to say something, gentlemen. You
described in great detail all of the
concerns that we had. Uh you did an
excellent job. As far as I'm concerned,
I found this to be extremely positive
letter and presentation and I just
wanted everyone to know I hope they all
read it because it was really well real
well real well real well real well real
well real well real uh written and uh
proposed and I hope the state takes it
seriously. So thank you very much
tonight and have a good one. Thank you.
» Thank you Kathy Mike.
» Good evening everyone. I'll identify
myself tonight. Mike Neil and I'm
standing up here as a veteran of city
council meetings. Uh I've been doing
this way too long. I sometimes wonder if
I had what they call insanity, which is
repeating the same mistake over and over
thinking you're going to get some
results. But here I am nonetheless. And
I'm encouraged, very encouraged to see
that we have a record year, I believe,
this year in the city of Risk Race as
far as candidates running for the city
council and candidates running for the
water district. Uh, I would say the
water district is actually the more
important of the two because your water
district board has fought for you, not
the uh machine in your favor to try to
keep the massively expensive pipeline
out of this valley.
and they have been resisted
with uh a lot of a lot of effort
obviously a lot of use of the
groundwater authorities lawyers to come
up with statements trying to demean and
slander the water district
and there's a lot I could go in on that
but I think most of you know that story
all I can say is uh as to Scott Haymon
running for water district that that is
a self-contradictory
thing he is against what the water
district leaders have been for for the
last eight years and we need them to
continue on the road they're they're
going down they put us on in this city
and that is to prevent that debacle and
get a sound solution.
It also encourages me greatly to see
these pe that a lot of people now are
coming to the meetings mainly because of
their interest in those two uh subjects.
They don't like being surveiled.
And I would say improving the flock
contract is a small step, but what it
really needs to be done is to take them
down, get them out of here. I never
signed up to be put under a surveillance
state and I will never accept it and I
will always speak out against it anytime
the subject comes up. So find out who
these new city council candidates are
and ask them, are you in favor of taking
down the flock cameras around town.
That'll tell you a whole lot about the
possible candidates position on fourth
amendment rights under the Constitution.
If they're for it and they want to
justify it, then I guess they just don't
simply understand what those rights are
all about. The city has allowed it.
They're continuing on. They're not
responding to the objections as far as I
can see. Uh but continued pushing
sometimes gets you action. However, you
can change the nature of the city
council by voting for people who believe
in freedom and not just continuing on
this the way the city has gone on
forever and a day. Thank you.
» Thank you, Mike.
Any other members of the public wish to
comment?
Seeing none,
I think he's taking a phone call and not
wanting to comment. Okay. All right. Um,
we will move on to council announcements
and direction.
Um,
I'm going to take the lead at first and
then I'm sure other people have it. Um,
I just want to give a large kudos to
RPD. Um, I don't know if you guys saw
the the thing that happened on Appaloosa
Street last week, uh, Thursday. It was a
standoff. It lasted
eight hoursish.
Um, and I was lucky, uh, along with uh,
city manager, the other Travis, or the
real Travis. I'm the other Travis. Um,
we got to go and, uh, be with them at
the, um, command center, I guess. Uh, I
also want to highlight, uh, Riley, um,
our IT guy. Uh, he's our drone operator.
Um, and just a fantastic job done by,
you know, all members of our, um, RPD,
of our SWAT team. Um, it had a good
result. Um, the individual was not
harmed. Uh the individual did not harm
anyone else. Um but I also uh want to
highlight uh Officer Moroni. Um he is
our negotiator. Uh and sitting standing
there watching him work, watching him
take the the abuses on the phone and
still try and come back with um you
know, respectful um dialogue. um with
the Kern County mental health
individuals were there. Um all the
officers involved um big shout out to
Officer Groves. Um man is an animal. Um
uh went into the building after the gas
had been in. No mask, no problem. Um but
I was very proud of our RPD. Um the work
that they have put in, the training that
they've put in to get the good result.
Um, I was able to thank them. I also
want to thank the Cal City uh police
department officers who came and helped
um one of the gentlemen I I gave back
ride back here uh so he could get in his
car and assume his shift at at Cal City.
Um a lot of hard work went into that. A
lot of training went into that to make
sure that we had a good result. Um and
Chief, thank you for your leadership on
that one. Um, you know, it's really easy
after eight or heck, after a couple
hours of not getting the result you want
to just bust in and use your force
instead of reason. Um, and so I loved
the restraint that they showed, um,
their ability to get him out and
unharmed. Um, and to get his dogs out
and unharmed. Um, it just, you know, if
you see a police officer, give them a
thank you because they were probably
involved that night. Uh, if you see a
police officer's spouse, give them a
thank you because that was a long time
uh with no communication and worrying
about them coming home. Um, we often
don't think of that. Uh, we're in a
negative society where we want to focus
on the negative. But um I was recently
reminded that we need to start thinking
about some of the positives that we do
and highlighting those. So RPD, uh
Officer Moroni, Chief, uh anyone else
involved that night, thank you guys. Uh
I really appreciate it.
» Yeah, absolutely. Thank you guys.
» Yes, I think in that vein, thank you,
Mr. Mayor. Uh they they probably
correctly turned my mic down. I I get
it. I get it. Um uh so we thank you
Travis foring on the letter from from
Congressman Fong. I'll just share a
piece of it. Uh and that is the
Department of War recognizing China
Lake. Um Mr. Fong writes uh NS China
Lake as well as our region's defense um
as well as our region's defense and
space ecosystem are truly worldclass.
The Department of War's recognition of
China Lake as a global leader is a
credit to the investments that have been
made. strong local and regional support
and the hard work of the talented men
and women who developed and test cutting
edge technology for our nation's war
fighters. Uh it it was a pleasure to
read uh just as the mayor just pointed
out, it's it is far too easy uh in
today's world to to get hung up on some
of the negatives, but uh we do have a
lot of people working hard for us. We
have a lot of support throughout the
community and um I I appreciated
Congressman Fong recognizing all that
goes on here. um they are why this
community is here. That's that's why
Rich Crest exists. So I appreciate the
recognition.
» Just want to thank police department for
their committed service to our
community. Thanks for protecting this
community from bad guys. We really
appreciate what you do.
» I just want it noted I said it first.
And so obviously I I care more.
» Um that last caller uh the lady joggled
my mind just now about uh it'll it'll
develop a name uh and and it shocked me.
I just became aware of uh AI based uh
digital shelf pricing I'll call it
within an institution. Um, I had no
idea, but you can learn uh about it uh
if you find on the internet. Senator
Josh Holly, I think he's from Georgia,
um gave a kickoff narrative to some
subcommittee inside the Senate where um
he brought up the issue, an issue I've
never heard of. and and if indeed
um an ed an end item that he mentioned
uh that I can see going beyond this is
um let's say that uh Travis Reed who
makes an awful lot of money was walking
down the aisles in Walmart. Let's say
admiring the uh the digital pricing uh
sh digital shelf pricing. It's a little
goodie that says whatever it is that's
above this this this little card whose
digital numbers are changing. Um, that's
what it costs. and he might walk up to
it uh maybe to buy a quart or two of
motor oil and he'd see the cost would be
whatever he's willing to pay because the
AI behind that price and I think Flock
is probably contributing data also
um knows what he can afford and if I
walked up to it I'd easily get a low
price and like it perhaps But prices are
changing to suit the buyer and they see
the buyer coming. They know all about
you as you pull into the parking lot and
as you walk into the store. He mentioned
the big supermarket uh nationwide
supermarket chain blast.
Um it wasn't Albertson's, but it could
have been. and
the price of data that's being bought
and sold to put together
the logic that allows pricing to change
as you walk up to it is stunning.
Onethird of this large supermarket
chain's total profit for the year came
from selling the data all about me and
you.
Um, if if you wrote that down, that's
Senator Josh Holly, H A W E Y, uh,
giving the leadin um, introduction to,
uh, a Senate subcommittee, and he spends
five or six minutes describing, to my
horror, uh, this dynamic pricing that's
going to change, it's going to change
the face of the economy in this country
uh, in a breathtaking
manner. there. Um, one other thing I
wanted to report that was spontaneous.
The other thing was as you drive through
town, I noticed changes. And that
building that uh I've been referring to
only as um ma the old Matrix Motors
building, sorry, Chip Holloway, but
that's the only name I know to give that
building. I don't know what it was when
it was originally built, but it was
knocked down over the last couple of
days. And um um Travis to my right knows
more about why and who owns it and
what's going to happen, but it's an old
building that's been there forever. And
uh now it's not and it uh actually looks
much better not being there because that
aesthetically that was an awful looking
building. Always has been. Uh that's all
I have.
» I think all right. We will move on to
the consent calendar.
All items listed on consent are
considered to be routine and
non-controversial by city staff. Consent
items may be approved by one motion if
no member of the council wishes to
comment or ask questions. If comment or
discussion is desired, the item can be
removed from the consent calendar by a
member of the council and will be
considered in listed sequence. There are
five consent items listed on the posted
agenda. Is there anyone in the public
that wishes to comment on the consent
items listed on the agenda?
All right. Are there any items that
council wishes to pull off the agenda
for separate discussion?
» Seeing none, do I have a motion?
» So moved.
» And a second.
» Second.
» Please vote.
» Five eyes. Motion carries.
» All right. We will move on to discussion
and action items. Number eight,
discussion and proposed action to
approve a resolution designating a
voting member and alternate to attend
the League of California Cities annual
conference and represent the city of
Rididgerest.
» So, we currently have uh four uh city
staff and council registered to go to
the conference. The two city council are
uh council member Gorman and council
member Blades. uh we need to designate
one as our voting member and one as an
alternate so that they can go into the
annual business meeting and vote on the
resolutions that are presented that
night which at this point have not come
out yet. Um so among yourself if you
could please just discuss who you want
to put as first and second and let me
know.
» Roshambo rock paper scissors.
» I think I mean well well Skip has been
designated the last few times and I
think it's his to have if he wishes.
Okay, I support that.
» I'd be glad to uh continue to be the
voting member. Uh Kyle, you would be the
alternate.
» Yes, sir.
» Great. See how we did that? Uh Rea,
» That's lovely.
» Are there any members of the public that
wish to comment?
Motion to approve. Councilman Gorman
being the voting member and Councilman
Blades being the alternate.
» Second.
» Motion and second.
» Please vote.
Five eyes. Motion carries. Thank you,
gentlemen.
» I almost voted no just to see what would
happen. Um,
» All right. Number nine, a resolution of
the Rich Crest City Council approving a
professional services agreement for the
evaluation of the wastewater treatment
plant digtor roof.
If it would have been you and I, Mr.
Mayor, a bit of a different story.
» Terry's not here. So,
» Mr.
Mr. Reed, you're up. Terry. Yes, Terry
is not feeling well. Thank you, council
and mayor. Uh, tonight we're bringing
forward a contract with Adora, who is
one of our formerly Mike Nunley. We are
currently in contract with them for some
items as they relate to the plant. Um,
recently Sean has had numerous issues
with dig lids. He has done a very very
good job of trying to limp the 1940s
plant along, but this one requires
structural repair as we have had um lit
literal mountains of poop bubbling out
of the top of the digtor that he has to
deal with and recirculate through the
plant daily. Um so we would like to do
some structural investigation and see if
we can come up with a plan that is not
uh absurdly expensive to try to limp the
digesttors on a little longer. Um,
currently only one functions correctly.
That's the one we're looking at doing
the lid on. The other one has a pipe
that is we believe collapsed that when
we have it pumped down to uh do the
investigation of the lids further. We
would like to eventually maybe take care
of that as well. So that way we have two
functioning digesttors that we can
utilize. Um, with that I'm open for any
questions that you guys may have.
» I do have one question. So this proposal
is only for them to give a
recommendation, right?
» It's it's a yeah, it's a recommendation
and like a 30 to 40% design set of plan
so we can get a rough uh cost estimate
prepared to what the work would be so
that way we can all discuss it and to
see if we want to proceed further from
that point.
» Okay. Thank you.
» Any other council questions, comments?
Uh, no. You guys have been piecing this
thing together for a while. So,
appreciate the hard work.
» Anything from you two?
No. Any
» Do you Do you have a comment question
» With regard to
» Yes.
» No.
» Okay. Okay. Any member of the public,
Mr. Unnamed citizen?
» Yeah. Mike Neil again. Uh here's where
you can get a little value out of old
guys who come to meetings forever in a
day. I was here when they first uh
proposed to raise the sewer fee on the
citizens. They actually tripled it at
that time. That was 2012.
And the statements at that time were
we got to replace the sewer treatment
plant. It's falling apart. They needed
more reserve money. So they need to
raise the rates. And they're supposed to
do that within like the first year or
two, get enough to have reserves that
they could go bond it, get the money and
make the thing happen. Well, that is
almost 15 years since that date. And
here we are and this money we're
spending on these digesttor lids just
that's money down a hole. going to be
thrown away basically just to patch this
thing up to keep it going till
forgot what was in the agenda like 2035
or some some date way out when they're
going to get the new wastewater plant
built.
It's
disappointing to say the least that we
couldn't have got busy with this project
and already had the wastewater plant
built. That could have happened, but we
took forever at the BS of Ron Strand to
make negotiations with the Navy about
easements on to their land so they could
continue getting 500 acre feet of water
from us every year. And it just took
forever and forever and forever. And
this may sound like I'm being harsh, but
I really don't understand why we're now
peacemail replacing parts that are have
to gonna have to be thrown away. And
we're not This isn't even for replacing
the parts. This is just getting getting
the thoughts out on what it takes to
replace the parks. Then we got to get
the parts replaced, which is who knows
how much more. I could ask Travis, maybe
he'd have a rough idea, but this is very
sad that we have let this drag out till
now we're throwing good money after bad.
» Thank you, Mike.
» Yep.
» Yeah, Travis, go ahead.
» Good evening. Uh, I'm Lawrence Cassetta.
I'm one of your uh candidates for city
council and um I was just looking at the
minutes and uh first of all Travis those
are some interesting pictures just the
the corrosion that are around the pipes
this that and the other and I kind of
get it it needs to be patched. Um I was
just looking at it and one thing I was
uh keying in is okay we got the waste uh
water plant that's coming along and um
how's that going? when is it going to be
online? And uh if we had that idea and
everyone had that in motion, then uh
will those patches for the lids for the
digesttors uh will that hold us along to
that point or is there another gap? So
that's all I had. Thank you very much.
» Question, Lawrence. Uh Mr. Reid.
» Yeah, I think I can kind of fill in some
of the blanks for both Mike and
yourself, Lawrence. Uh
» Thank you. We've been working on the
wastewater treatment plant for quite
some time. We do have 100% plans. Um,
with all the reconstruction after the
earthquakes, it kind of put a monkey
wrench into things because the Navy had
such a big rebuild going on on the base
that changed where we were getting power
from. So, that's the last remaining
item. We talk weekly with the Navy.
They've been a great partner with this.
It did take us a while to get the
easement to work out some of that
language, but as it stands, if I
absolutely had to, we could go out to
bid today for for the plan. My problem
is is yes, Mike is correct. Since 2014,
we have collected uh higher sewer fees,
but everything today has gone up
exponentially, and I don't want to put a
giant bond on this community, nor do I
think any of our council members would
want to put a giant bond on this
community. um limping this plan along
right now. This will be really the first
money that we've had to spend that's
chased um this plant that we haven't
been able to address inhouse other than
normal wear items, pumps, things of
that, grit chamber repair, um clarifier
repairs for the paddles and things of
that nature. So, I agree. I would this
is the last thing I wanted to do but
it's it's gotten to the point where the
structural integrity I feel like it
could if a lid falls in the digtor
doesn't work now we're in violation of
our state board order we have fines that
could be bigger uh then than the to look
at this and see if we can come up with a
cost-effective solution to address it.
Um so to say yes we are we are actively
working on the plant. Um if we were to
bid it today and start the plant
wouldn't be built. It's a about a three
and a half year project minimum. So the
plant wouldn't be built till 2030. Our
plan currently is to run that plant
simultaneously with the existing
wastewater treatment plant for at least
2 years. Whenever you bring a a new
plant facility online, there's always
bugs with SCADA systems, with operating
things. And we want to make sure that
when we officially switch and we retire
the current board order that we can meet
the full standards of the new board
order from uh Department of um water and
uh CS I can I think of the acronym not
the not the name. So that really is the
the push at this moment. We are still
pushing daily on the plant. We are just
trying to explore every option for
funding. We're looking at multiple
grants. Um we got a million dollars from
Congressman Fong that we're going after
doing the um grant application process
right now from EPA to further aid this
design. Um and we're like I said, we
look daily for grants. Uh we want to
apply for the state revolving fund. This
will be the fourth year in a row that
we've replied that we've uh constantly
been looking for ways to score higher on
the application so that way we can make
sure that the construction of this plant
is affordable for the community.
» Outstanding. Thank you, Travis.
» Yep, you're good. Thank you very much.
» Thank you. Any other members of the
public wish to comment?
Seeing none, none on the calls. Do we
have a motion?
» Motion to approve and a second.
Second
» Motion and second.
» Please vote.
» Five eyes. Motion carries.
» All right. Next, we will move on to item
number 10. Authorization for temporary
police officer over hire. Honestly,
Chief, I want to thank you for keeping
that title short and sweet. As the one
who has to read it, I appreciate that.
» I'll try to keep the presentation in
line with that. We're at a position at
the police department. Thanks for having
me, uh, Mr. Mayor and Council, I
appreciate the opportunity to be up here
and talk about this proposal.
We have some anticipated openings coming
up in the police department. However, at
this moment, we are fully staffed with
our 29 authorized police officers. What
we would like to do is have a 30th
position authorized for the next 6
months uh from today, allowing us to get
somebody into training to be immediately
able to fill what we know is uh an
opening in the department.
uh we have the people on staff. Uh you
one of our csos will likely move up to
police officer and then we have a
recruiting opportunity as well. This
will give us the ability to have that.
The cost should be nothing because the
anticipated opening is currently not
drawing a salary from the city uh given
the personnel circumstance. So it should
be not cost prohibitive. Uh there could
be a cost if there's an overlap, but it
could be as little as zero. We would
like the opportunity to do that mostly
to fill those positions so we can
continue to operate at full staffing for
a greater length of time as opposed to
having a gap that we have to fill
because as you know to hire somebody off
the street today, it'll be a year before
we can actually see them performing.
So with that, any questions? We'll just
try to keep your questions as short as
my title.
» Uh no, no questions. Just a quick
comment. Chief, I know you're always
looking for efficiencies. I know that
you pay attention to it. I've sat and
talked with you about the budget, about
the money you're spending. Like, we've
gone over everything at length. So, I
know you do your due diligence. Uh, if
you weren't, then we'd be hammering you
over it. But, uh, so I I appreciate your
your approach.
» Thank you.
» I think it's wise to preempt a shortfall
that, you know, is going to be coming up
down the road. And so, I appreciate the
the looking forward aspect of it. So,
» Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it.
Councilman Gorman,
» In your executive summary, you you're
you're doing this right right now.
» No.
» Nope.
» We're on the higher.
» But thank you.
» But I'll be happy to talk with you about
it any other time.
» Uh Chief, I just want to say that I
appreciate you more than
» Kyle. Yeah, I just
» Fair enough.
» Even Even though it was the third one to
talk.
» That might be true. Actually,
» I think he's got short timers.
» All right. Uh, any member of the public
wish to comment?
» Seeing none, uh, do I have a motion?
» Motion to approve.
» Second.
» Motion and second.
» Please vote.
» Okay,
» Travis.
He's just trying to show his
appreciation.
» I missed it. I heard it beep.
» I should have just hit no. Okay.
» Uh next we'll move on to committee
reports. Uh economic development
committee that their report from August
3rd. Yes, we just met. Uh we had a lot
of the same discussion items. Uh and
part of that was
uh Balsam Street. Some of those flags
are are finally going to come down.
They're they're ripped and torn. And so
those are all all going to be removed uh
in the near future. Uh the next food
truck Friday is going to be cancelled.
It's too hot
and and probably looking in the future
and not having a lot of those food truck
Fridays during the summer months. It's
just uh
it's not fruitful for anybody.
» Yeah.
» So uh but but but the next city nights
is on the 22nd of August and it it
should be a good time. There'll be a
phone party. Bridge Gamings I think is
going to have a tournament as uh and of
course a lot of the same food trucks and
whatnot.
Um we also discussed at the economic and
and you will probably hear the same
thing at the infrastructure committee.
Uh Mr. Rulan brought up a lot of good
hey part of the economic development
could also make make sure we're paying
attention to keeping things picked up
and cleaned and stuff like that. So uh
it was a lot of good discussion and
those will be ongoing.
Councilman Roger Adam, anything to add?
» I think um
Jennifer mentioned that there would be
an astronaut to Victor.
» Yes, Ike.
» On August 26th,
» Correct, sir.
» So, she encouraged people to go and
» I didn't have complete notes on that.
So, I know that uh yes, Ike will be in
town. I know that he has a tight
schedule. There's a lot of talk of him
being presenting in one place,
presenting in the other, but I do not
have a full uh full information on what
his schedule's going to be. So, I think
more to follow on that. And I know that
the RACVB is looking into trying to do
something. Uh there's going to be some
amount of presentation on the base, but
I don't want to speak out of turn.
All right. Um the finance committee
their next meeting will be September 8th
um
at 5:30 city hall conference room B on
the first floor infrastructure meeting
uh report from July 23rd. Yeah, you bet.
Uh so there was there was some we talked
about uh so the soccer field parking lot
just maybe getting some grindings.
Um
yeah and I think that we can probably
make that happen. I think was the
consensus was at some point get some
grindings over there. Uh so the PG&
steel covers on Baton that was another
uh point of conversation and we're sort
of at the whim of PG&E but I know that
our engineers are tracking to make sure
that the road is uh is fixed
appropriately afterwards, but they're
over there replacing old gas lines.
Um let's see.
I think that was that was it. Solomon,
do you have anything?
» I was there. you were there.
» Yeah.
» Sorry. It's
» Uh No, I want to I want to highlight Mr.
Ruland for bringing his own agenda to
talk to us about and it brought up a lot
of really good points um that we will
continue to work on.
» Felspar.
» Oh, yeah. Drove on Felspar. Uh is
there's there's a bumpy spot.
Um Mr. ruling was dissatisfied with the
the road.
» Uh let's see.
Yeah, I think that's I think that's it.
All right. Um next we have parks and
wreck. Uh our next meeting will be
September 1st um at 5:30 here in city
hall council chambers. But I do want to
mention um that
we are doing our movie in the theater
instead of movie in the park uh August
14th. Um
and if you or your family would like to
go, please stop by Parks and Wreck to
pick up your tickets. Limited seats
available and five tickets per person.
Tickets must be picked up before end of
business on August 12th. The movie will
be the Minecraft movie. Um, this was one
of the things that I was really
passionate about and I'm happy to see it
go. Uh, I love the theater. I love going
to the movies. There's a there's a magic
to it. Um, you smell the popcorn. You
It's a communal event. Um, you get to
hear other people laughing at things
that you find funny. Uh, you also get to
hear people laughing at things you don't
find funny and then you question
yourself whether or not that really was
funny. Um, but the movies had always
been a magical thing to me and so giving
um the public the opportunity to go for
individuals that might not regularly go
to the theater. Um, and so instead of
being out in the heat, we're going to do
it at the theater. Um, and supporting
Rich Crest Cinemas. So,
all right. Um,
next we will move on to other
committees, boards or commissions.
Anyone have
» He typically looks at me when he says
that.
» I do only because I enjoy
» Kurt Cog uh what I typically sit in on
through Zoom in conference room B was
dark this month. Um,
and speaking uh all the way over to
Tommy Wikenick, the
um
the prospect of having US 395 highway
improved as it goes diagonally through
the Indian Wells Valley. Um, I'm sorry
it's going to be so far into the future,
but we lost um
most of a local family also in a very
tragic accident on US 395 some years
back. I think maybe a dozen years ago.
And um I may have I didn't think I had
the foresight to check Kernog at that
time. Um, I think indirectly I did try
to contact supervisor of um
the supervisor of the county that most
of South 395 is in. Uh, quick, what
county is that?
» Is it San Bernardino?
» Sano.
» San Bernardino County.
They said it loud enough that my hearing
aids actually picked it up. Um, pretty
much ignored. And that caused me though
to start
personally something I could do without
waiting on some other activity to do and
that is start the US 395 safety program
in the form of an image I created of the
US 395 route sign with a skull and
crossbones
uh hanging over it. It's uh it's
sharpedged visually. Motorcyclists just
love it. And I started buying the
stickers from Sticker Mule and uh formed
an arrangement with them. And I've been
buying them uh right along over the
years, over the dozen years. And I'm
thinking we're coming close to getting
around 10,000 of those stickers on
bumpers and uh back truck windows and
elsewhere. Um and what it says to the
driver and other drivers who've seen
them. I can say this because I just
ordered 500 more stickers. They'll be at
my shop and elsewhere for pickup. We're
going to charge $1 a sticker. That'll
allow me to buy 500 more once these are
gone. And it says to the drivers, if
you're going to go on US 395, especially
south of here, put your head on a swivel
because you're you're going to be taking
your life in your hands. pull in behind
some ponderous truck and let the truck
block for you as the crazy people
heading north trying to get to Mammoth
to go skiing or whatever have to pull
into oncoming traffic to get by.
And um I'm pleased to think that over
time perhaps,
you never know for sure, perhaps we've
saved some lives. And when Kernog
finally gets around to improving US 395
by adding two or three passing lane
opportunities, I think that would be the
improvement I'd like to see. That's
something they can actually afford. Um
that'll happen. then I'll quit ordering
stickers.
» Hey, hey, skip, real quick. Um, on the
subject of current cog, Travis, are you
still sitting in on those calls?
» Uh,
Kyle, I'm not hearing you.
» Oh, I'm sorry. Can I can you hear me
now?
» If you if you talk right into that
microphone, I can.
» He was asking if Mr. Reid was also
» Yes. I'm asking uh so Travis so there is
the both the elected portion of kernogg
and there is also a very large probably
a lot a lot larger than it was before uh
presence of staff tackling kernogg and
you can imagine why because it is an
immense amount of money that pours in um
into roads and streets across uh across
the county and so I remember when I was
on curtain cog Travis was there as the
public works director was on those staff
calls and they were making a great deal
of headway towards getting projects and
money and funding. Uh, and it was
actually Travis having projects ready,
shovel ready, he could swoop in and get
other cities money on a pretty
consistent basis. And so my hope was
that we are still doing that. Uh, you're
still paying attention to that.
» So yeah, I do still pay attention to it
actively. I still work with Terry on uh
dealing with our local planners from the
Kernog area for the multitude of grants
that we go after. Um I think one of the
biggest things that's changed is Kernog
has become more of they actually don't
they aren't the overseer of the money
anymore if that makes sense. They are
the advocate for it. We go through their
process to get grants or to get projects
moved to the top of the line. But CALR
is actually the one that administers
most of them. And I'm sure we all have
seen the uh direction that our state has
taken with uh ADA concerns and things
like that. So the majority of CALR shop
funding has been shoved towards ADA and
projects because that's what they're
getting sued on the most. Um we did get
a cargo study done on 395 that shows 395
is the fifth fifth or sixth, I can't
remember, most important project in the
region. So there is still headway being
made on it, but it has been pushed out
due to other concerns and other laws
that have been passed to which have
forced money to other areas.
Another committee I virtually attend is
East Current Air Pollution Control
District. I believe that committee out
of um Tahachchip will be meeting uh
quarterly
and uh they just recently published
their annual toxics report. I um imposed
upon Rick to make us about a dozen
copies that that are on the desk right
now. It's um it's a bit dry but um it
has some elements of interest. It shows
what the East Current Air Pollution
Control District is sniffing about to
become aware of and how they respond to
it and um
their world and
it makes for some interesting reading.
You're invited uh uh I have 12 of them,
13 if I put my copy there laying on the
desk. You're invited to grab yourself a
copy if you're so inclined and um read
it, be informed. That's all I have.
Thank you. Anyone else with the other
committee boards or commission?
All right. Uh I am part of the RAN
board. Um it is actually I don't know
what it's what RAN stands for. Do you
know what RA stand? Yeah. Uh it
basically was the overview of the
sheriff's department um and law
enforcement in Kern County. Uh we had
our annual meeting um
I don't know couple couple weeks ago. Um
we looked at um different proxy
attendants.
um they have a security assessment. Um
and they are using their county IT
system to do the security assessment of
their system. Um I suggested that they
look at SISA and see what SISA can do to
help protect them. Um I was then told
that Kern County can handle it. Uh they
don't need a federal agency doing it for
free. So who am I to say anything
different? Um
they did change their meeting frequency.
Uh so they'll now be meeting twice a
year. Uh March will be the budget
review. September will be the progress
review. They did have their budget
proposal. Um some of the things that
they are looking at is increasing um
oh my god brain fart. Um life where is
he? Chief what's the life scan is life
scan.
» Yes. Uh so they are getting more money
for that. Um they also talked about uh
getting retinal scanners uh with their
uh live scan. So um yeah, that was that
was the RAN board meeting. It was rather
quick. Um all right, next we have the
city manager report.
» So I got a couple things for you
tonight. Uh comprehensive pool update.
No, I'm just kidding. Thank you, Luis,
for for doing that. U I just wanted to
say one of the one quick thing about
Luis. Luis has really been um thrown
into the fire here lately. Him and Sator
are very very busy. So I greatly
appreciate him taking the time to put
that report together. He also handles
all of our encroachment permits uh a lot
of plan checks uh dealing with the
Bowman project uh out on Mayhem and
prepping for our next project. So they
really are have been busy and they're
doing a great job for us. So I
appreciate their their help. Um, next I
check almost daily if not multiple times
a day to see if we have received a
response from CEC. I would assume that
it would come through the docket. Um,
like everything else has come, but I am
yet to see anything be published in
response to our request for intervenor
status. Um, I was going to give it till
the end of the week and if I haven't
heard from anybody the end of the week,
I was going to call Miss Huber or Huber,
however you pronounce that, and see if I
can get an update and see what we are to
expect.
Um, and then I think Chief, do you want
to talk about your uh information, some
statistics that we've had with Fox
system?
Several people on council asked for just
some data on flock, how it's used, most
specifically, have we had success using
it? Is there value? Uh the answer I
believe is yes. Uh we've had 72
specific arrests from Flock. Uh
everything ranging from attempted
homicide, child stealing,
domestic violence, DUIs,
a whole host of different violations
that we've been able to quickly address.
One of the misnomers about Flock is that
it is in some way um replaces the
officer. What I would offer to you is
that it accelerates investigations.
We're able to get more information
faster to make decisions and act on that
uh investigative information.
It gives us the ability, for example,
uh we had a hit and run where without
flock, we wouldn't have able to identify
the vehicles that were in the area at
the time. So, it's been valuable in that
way. uh as the police department being
the point of the flock contract, you
know, we're also trying to work with our
community groups who have privacy
concerns. We recognize that those
concerns are valid and uh in meeting
with them, we were certainly looking for
ways to that's why I asked them to
submit language that they thought was
acceptable. So, I can try to push that
through Flock and say, "Hey, the people
in our community would like it to say
this." I don't know if they'll do it.
they're big corporation, but I
definitely want to take the information
from the community and try to put it in
front of flock and see if I can't get it
through. Uh, I'm not holding my breath
because they're Flock and they didn't
care what LAPD had to say, but we're
Ridgerest, so we'll see how it goes. Um,
so I put a little packet together with
just some information about some of the
case law, some of the cases that we've
uh used Flock for. I I will maybe
correct our conversation a little bit.
Uh while I did acknowledge that the
flock
product does make errors in reading
plates, for example, calling an I a T
when the plate is covered, we didn't
talk about the percentage. We definitely
do not have a 70% misread uh rate here.
That might have happened somewhere else,
but uh we do get misreads, but the
percentage is relatively low. Uh, and
again to reiterate, Flock has no ability
to run a license plate through DMV.
Anything that you read about an error in
a stop is a police officer problem. That
is a police officer police department
mistake, not a Flock mistake. Flock
gives us a picture. We have to evaluate
that picture for authenticity, confirm
that it's the correct plate that we're
looking for before we take any action.
that's incumbent upon our officers to do
that. Uh, knock on wood, we haven't
stopped somebody who shouldn't be
stopped. U, but I can see how it does
happen with people, you know, being a
little bit too assertive and not taking
the time to verify the information. But
we've had good luck. Uh, there was a
point in our policy that, uh, the group
pointed out that they wanted changed and
we control the policy as the city. So,
that change was made. I met with them on
Friday at 5 and that policy was made at
9:00 a.m. on Monday. We were able to
change that policy. It was a wording
issue that was easy to correct. So,
we'll continue to work as closely as we
can with the community members. You
know, of course, my goal is to keep
Flock up and running. So, if that means
we got to, you know, work to get some
language changed, uh, we'll certainly do
that because I do believe it's an
effective tool to help keep your keep
our community safe and catch bad guys
faster than we could before. And I'm
happy to take any questions if you have
them.
» So if can I answer can I ask any
questions? Can
» Go ahead.
» Okay. Um so you've sent the language to
Flock, right? Say they reject it the the
proposed language for the contract. Say
they reject it. Is that a thing when the
next time that the contract is up for
renewal that we can push for those
changes? We actually have a little
window in our contract we can push for
the changes now. Okay.
» So, we'll see what they do. Okay.
» I'll report back and if they don't
change it, we can go from there.
» Okay.
» Like I said, I'm not terribly optimistic
because of they didn't change it for
LAPD. LAPD still gives them a lot more
money than we do. Uh but I think we're a
little more persuasive.
» There we go. That's a spirit.
» Great. Thank you. Oh,
» Sorry.
This is a hot camering
a report.
» It turned off.
» There we go. You're receiving a report
from the city manager. Part of that
report is a report for the police chief
on the status of flock. So there is no
violation. We're fine.
» Thank you.
» Okay.
» So chief, I I just want to say I think
that flock is an effective tool to catch
bad people doing bad things in our
community. U one of the concerns I've
heard from the public on numerous
occasions is the abuse of the
information that flock contains. And so
in when I was reading through this
brief, um correct me if I'm wrong, but I
I read that, you know, we that the
department is having bi-weekly reviews
or you know like I guess you could say
audits that would be one of my you know
suggestions suggestions is to have a you
know a review and an audit of the you
know usage of it and who's using it but
is that correct in what I read that the
the department is doing that on a weekly
basis?
» That is correct. We were doing it
monthly.
» Okay.
» But now it's easier just to do it right
before every meeting so I can speak
intelligently to any lapses that may
occur. We haven't found any, but I want
to make sure I can report in real time
because I think it's valuable to both
the council and the community.
» Very good. Thank you.
» Thank you, Chief.
» Good.
» Yeah. And the last thing for me, um,
Parks is undertaking yet another project
uh, in-house. They are going to be
renovating the varsity softball field
beginning August 10th. They have decided
to use the same method we used on the
Shetland field. The Shetland field's
been uh, holding up quite nicely. It's
held up with the heat so far. I haven't
been out this week with it at 113. Have
you by chance? It still looks good. So,
we're going to try to take that same
approach and try to get the varsity
softball field redone. Um, so we've got
a nice good flat true grass playing
surface for not only the Burough's
varsity softball team, but all the uh
youth groups that use them as well and
adult softball I'm sure at some point
and all that stuff. So, when when does
Burough's
softball start?
» October, right? Is that when they start?
They're they're doing some club stuff
right now, but we're going to move them
to JV. Um, and then, uh, we're going to
have it down from like August 10th to
October 12th. That'll give us time to
get the work done, let the grassroot,
uh, give it time to establish itself,
and then we'll turn it back over so all
the groups can use it. So,
» I just wanted to I I assume you guys
looked into the timing of it. I just
wanted to make sure that it would be
good.
» Nuriss and her staff speak directly with
all the directors of the groups. Uh the
other people that are closely involved
with coaching groups. Uh they teach she
spoke directly to the head coach of the
varsity softball team. Um so she does
they do a really good job of making sure
they maintain communication and let
everybody know when we're planning on
doing it and make sure we can try to
accommodate those groups as best as we
can. I think the groups are probably
more excited to see the field getting
redone than they are for the
inconvenience of maybe potentially
having to move a field. With that,
» It's the end of my report.
» All right. Thank you.
» All right. Uh next we will move to
future agenda items.
» None. None. All right. Mayor and council
comments.
» Oh,
I'm disappointed.
» I I just wanted to see you look
disappointed. I I have actually talked
enough. I haven't I haven't got anything
more to add.
» I just want to say thank you to the
chief for this uh this brief on flock. I
know it's a um a heated contested uh
issue in in the community. But um I want
to thank him for meeting with the folks
in the within the community that have
concerns about it and and trying to work
through some of their some of the issues
that they have um and you know things
that could be bettered and uh keep close
tabs on on the flock. I do think it's
something that is effective um but I
also think it's something that has to be
guarded closely um in house and u so I
just want to thank you for meeting with
these individuals and thank the
individuals for bringing your concerns
to the chief and I and I hope that we
can come to a a workable you know and
and comfortable position on it. So thank
you everyone.
I just want to thank all the candidates
who are running for the council as well
as for mayor. Um this time of the year
there is lot lot of interest but it is a
great calling and with that comes great
responsibility
and great sacrifice and you have to give
lot of time. So thank you very much for
your willingness to serve this
community. It's a great honor. Thank
you.
And secondly,
I want to recognize the planning
commission and the code enforcement. I
mean, some of the work they do, it goes
unnoticed. So, I want to bring to the
public notice that um they have been
working on cleaning up the properties.
One of the property on 505 South Helina
is um given permission for abatement.
So, that property would be cleaned up
soon. I mean it had his own challenges.
I've been following up on this for a
long time. But this is the first example
and this gives us a base for abating
other properties which have legal
issues. So thank you so much for the
code enforcement office for taking care
of these properties.
So, school starts tomorrow and I know
there's probably uh at every age at what
whatever grade you're going into,
there's probably a lot of nerves, a lot
of anticipation. Uh sometimes
sometimes society can be can be rough to
integrate into. But I I wish every
single kid, no matter what grade, no
matter what school, no matter where
you're at, I I wish you the very very
best because I think u I mean, my gosh,
right, there's that that's what those
are the kids. That's what we're supposed
to be paying attention to, the next
generation, the future, growing their
minds, um and and their souls. So, I I
would also like to to add that my
appreciation for everybody running for
council. Uh not just for council, for
mayor, not just for the water district,
uh for the school board, right? There's
a lot of people putting their names out
there and putting themselves out there.
And it's a it's a raw experience. You're
going to witness a part of the community
you've never witnessed before. You're
you're going to you're going to witness
a part of your friends and family that
you didn't know existed. And you're
going to grow exponentially
like as a person you are going to grow
quite a bit and it's nothing but good.
It's nothing but healthy for you. Uh it
there are times that will appear uh
negative but those are momentary and in
the growth path. So, so stick with it,
stay at it, and and no matter how it
turns out, whether it's a win or it's a
loss, uh you went out there and you did
it, and you were just a small tiny
percentage of people that that stepped
into the arena, so to speak. So, so good
on you for doing it, and good luck.
All right, I will close us out. Um,
today in history, 20 years ago, I was
able to con my wife into marrying me.
Uh, so we celebrated our 20-y year
anniversary today, um, by me being at
city council and then being on a flight
to Meoo for most of the day. So, I got
to rub that in her face that it's nice
weather there. Um,
also want to point out, um, as Dave
said, it is silly season. So, um,
thank you for stepping up. There's not a
lot of people willing to take on the
slings and arrows that will be coming
your way. Um, uh, a lot of people are
looking to tear people down instead of
building them up. Um, and and it's not
easy. Um, you have to have thick skin.
Um,
and I will say, uh, stay off of
Facebook.
That's where the evilness is. Um,
um, but it's, you know, each person's
going to have their own leadership
style. Um, mine obviously was to stay
off Facebook um, and to meet people in
person. Uh, so much so that I bought a
shirt that said I'm the mayor because
people had no clue who I was. Uh, they
knew me by my shoes. Uh, still do. Um,
but remember that
people have intent and and while I
generally have
a cynical view of society as whole, uh,
and that's just due to my time in
military intelligence and grad school
and learning about people. Um, people
are good. Um, people are trying to step
up and make a productive change. Um,
people want to help. Um, I was having a
conversation with someone this week and
I I mentioned Mr. Rogers. Uh, Mr. Rogers
used to watch that show all the time.
Uh, and he he had a a bit where he would
talk about look for the helpers. Well,
the helpers are the ones that have
pulled papers and got people to sign for
them and and are trying to help make
this city better. Um, remember that it
is incremental change. Um, a lot of big
changes doesn't happen easy with
government. There's a lot of experiences
with that. Um I don't know if you guys
notice, but I am not seeking
re-election. Um
it is a good weight loss pro program. I
will tell you that. Um stress and
anxiety uh run a muck. Um, what you guys
as the public don't see is I I'm not
going to speak for the rest of you, but
I go home and I question
everything that I just did in that
meeting. Did I make the right choice?
Did I represent to my best abilities?
And that hangs over you for a long time
after that meeting and that gavvel stops
and we've adjourned. Um that's the part
most people don't see and and to be
honest most people don't care to see. Um
they most of the public um they look at
elected representatives through a lens
of greed of selfservice.
Um and and once you get to know uh the
people who are running, you will see
that they are ordinary ordinary average
individuals trying to step up and meet
the moment. Um
I I am not running uh because I talk to
my kids. Uh my wife my wife I love her
to death. She didn't want me to run in
the first place. Um and I ran. Didn't
think I was going to win. I won. Uh so
we were both shocked. Um,
I have enjoyed being the mayor. Um,
because I feel like I'm helping. Um, I
also didn't realize the strain that that
puts on my children. Um, and and my
kids, they matter the world to me. Um,
for as long as I can remember, uh, you
know, as this is my 20 year wedding
anniversary, I start thinking about, you
know, where we were uh, when we got
married.
We were so poor. Um, we had nothing. Uh,
we lived in married student housing in
Purdue. All we dreamed about was having
a family and and eventually getting to
the place that we are today. Um, and you
know, my daughter, she wanted me to run.
Uh, she likes telling people that I'm
the mayor. Um, and that she's going to
be the mayor one day. Uh, but she was
afraid that if I didn't run for mayor
that we would have to move from Richest.
Um, and so I I assured her that we can
stay in Rich cuz I have other jobs. Um,
and then she was like, "Okay, Daddy, you
can you cannot be mayor. You can be home
with me." And my son, I missed a lot of
his life, uh, growing up with the
military, with my grad school, uh, with
this. Um, and so I try and pour myself
into sports with him and to coach him so
I can see that development, so I can see
that growth. Um, and so I don't have
much a lot of time left before he leaves
the house and goes to college and starts
his own family. So, I'm going to make
use of the time with him. Uh, so I can
see him grow and develop and become the
man that he is. Um,
I told myself I wasn't going to cry. Uh
but
just just remember when you're in this
cycle uh the knives will come out.
People will target you for any
deficiency that they see and tell you
that you're not enough.
You are enough. Um you are stepping up
when others didn't. Uh, and so that in
my book puts you on a bigger pedestal
than you're willing to take the the the
anger, the animous of individuals who
wouldn't do it. Um, and so on behalf of
myself, uh, I just want to thank
everyone that is running that wants to
continue to make this city better. Um,
that wants to be that change. Um, and so
that is
is all I have. I don't have a quip or
sarcasm. I was I was told today that
apparently growing up in the Midwest,
sarcasm is part of your lexicon. Uh, too
bad that it's only taken a year and a
half for people to start understanding
that I'm overly sarcastic. And I don't
have the filter to stop. Um, so with
that, um, I hope that, uh, the children
going to school today, tomorrow have a
great school year. Um, that they reach
their potential and that we as a
community continue to support them
through that. Um, and that we give them
all the love and guidance that either we
wish we would have had or that we did
have. So, thank you all. Have a
wonderful evening and we will see you in
two weeks. Thank you.