[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:58] Okay, good evening, everyone. I'm going to call the meeting order. We're going to have a roll call by our city clerk Kathy Veldez.
[1:06] The records shall reflect that all members are present.
[1:09] If you all rise, we're going to do a pledge of allegiance. It'll be led by Deputy Mayor Green.
[1:16] Thank you. Put your hand over your heart, repeat after me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
[1:37] Okay, in accordance with the Brown Act, I'd like to announce that as a result of
[1:40] convening simultaneous meetings, the members of the Buena Sanitation District,
[1:44] when we see a compensation of $147.75 for the district meeting, pursuant to Buena Sanitation
[1:51] District ordinance 2006-1. I'd like to remind everyone that the visible code requires members
[1:58] of the public to observe order and decorum at the meeting and to conduct themselves in a
[2:02] courteous manner. The ordinance was adopted to allow for a public input and to facilitate
[2:06] city business without disruption of the meeting. A clause is appropriate for items listed
[2:11] under the presentation portion of the agenda only. To speak on an item on the agenda please
[2:17] fill out a speaker slip with the number of the item you want to speak on and give it to the
[2:21] clerk secretary staff. Speaker slips are available just outside the council chambers and speakers
[2:26] This will have three minutes to address the city council.
[2:29] So the next thing is the approval of the agenda by our City Manager Patrick Johnson.
[2:36] It's about, thank you, Mayor.
[2:37] There was one item that was previously revised on the agenda and I just wanted to point
[2:42] it out in case anybody's in the audience.
[2:44] That is item D1, the preliminary review of the proposed annexation and zone change for 145
[2:50] Honoled Drive.
[2:51] This item was pulled from the agenda and if it is brought back before the city council, it will
[2:57] you re-noticed to the public. Thank you.
[3:01] Okay, the next thing on our agenda are our presentations and we have three of them tonight.
[3:05] And so I'm going to invite our tire council to come down and join me down below down here.
[3:34] Okay, our first presentation is the recognition of our 2021 Independence Day sponsors.
[3:40] The city of Issy would like to acknowledge our generous stars and stripes and the title sponsors
[3:45] for their contribution in making the 2021 Independence Day a success.
[3:48] Without your support, the City's Independence Day celebration would not have been the best
[3:53] firework display in San Diego County.
[3:56] On behalf of the City of Essa, thank you all for being such generous community partners.
[4:00] We applaud your commitment to our community and appreciate your generous support.
[4:04] So I'd like to offer a certificate of appreciation to each of our five and $10,000 sponsors.
[4:10] The first one's got Mary from BAD Development.
[4:12] Is he here?
[4:13] Come on down.
[4:22] You're right on time, right on time.
[4:26] You're right on time.
[4:27] You're right on time.
[4:28] You're right on time.
[4:29] You're right on time.
[4:30] Thank you so much.
[4:31] I'm taking this really quick.
[4:32] Yeah.
[4:33] You're a picture here.
[4:34] Everybody smile.
[4:36] I'm smiling.
[4:36] But I have my mask on.
[4:42] I can't.
[4:42] I think you're someone else.
[4:44] There's Glenn Volk here from Dick Miller.
[4:46] Is Glenn here?
[4:49] He might not have made it quite on time.
[4:50] we'll see if he gets there in a little bit. Tom Lightner from Turn Around for Veterans is Tom here
[4:55] and I don't see Tom either. So anyway those were our sponsors so...
[5:00] Big thank you to all of our sponsors. Thank you.
[5:12] Our next presentation is a Proclamation Declare in September as the National Preparer Discount and Chief VanderPol, please come to the podium to accept this Proclamation.
[5:28] I was going to read it, but I'll let you read it.
[5:30] Why not? I think that would be appropriate.
[5:35] All right. Thank you.
[5:36] Whereas the federal emergency management agency FEMA has designated September as national preparedness
[5:42] month, and whereas California residents commonly experience the effects of various disasters,
[5:48] ranging from severe winter storms to major earthquakes, devastating wildfires and pandemics,
[5:53] resulting in damages costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and whereas in 2020,
[5:59] the state of California faced multiple hazards, including the loss of more than 64,000 lives
[6:04] to COVID-19 and a record-breaking 4.2 million acres burned in wildfires and highlighted the importance
[6:10] of disaster preparedness, both at the individual and the institutional levels.
[6:15] And whereas the aftermath of the 2014-2017 firestorms in northern San Diego County, as
[6:21] well as the ongoing 18-month activation of the city's emergency operations center, demonstrate
[6:26] the need for careful and thorough, local emergency planning preparedness among individuals,
[6:32] communities, and agencies.
[6:33] And whereas the loss of life and property damage can be greatly reduced if appropriate emergency preparedness measures are taken before during and after a major emergency.
[6:43] And whereas the residents of Vista are encouraged to register online with alert San Diego and download the SD emergency mobile app in order to receive notifications or emergency information related to evacuations and local disasters.
[6:57] I'm going to read the last part.
[7:01] The therefore.
[7:03] Yes, you're all there.
[7:04] There's four.
[7:04] Okay.
[7:06] Okay.
[7:06] So now, therefore, the mayor and members of the VISTA City Council
[7:09] would be here by proclaim the month of September 2021
[7:12] as national prepared this month.
[7:14] Be it further proclaimed that the mayor and members of the VISTA City Council
[7:17] urge all persons to learn what to do before during and after major emergencies
[7:21] to mitigate injuries, loss of life and property damage.
[7:25] So with that, we will, we thank you for coming.
[7:28] And do you have anything you want to say?
[7:30] Or are you just, no, you had it.
[7:38] Okay.
[7:39] Do you need to do a clot over it?
[7:40] Chief, one of you come to the middle here.
[7:42] Yeah.
[7:44] Okay.
[7:45] Okay.
[7:46] Let's go.
[7:52] Thank you.
[7:53] Thank you.
[7:53] Thank you.
[7:55] Sorry, too.
[8:07] I'm going to.
[8:08] I'm going to check.
[8:09] So, the next thing on our presentations are, I'm not going to represent any letters
[8:14] of appreciation to members of, it's called Warriors in Action for a Clean
[8:19] I'm not going to attempt this banish pronunciation.
[8:23] It's called Warriors and Action for a clean VISTA.
[8:25] When I call your name, please come forward to receive your letter and stay at the front
[8:28] of the room so we can take a picture of the entire group.
[8:31] And I'm going to, I'll read the first letter, and then I'm going to,
[8:34] Council Member Contreras is going to hand you the letter.
[8:37] So let me read the first one.
[8:40] And I'll call up a team captain, Javita Seraphin.
[8:43] The team captain is Javita.
[8:52] Okay, I'm going to read this first and then I'll give it to you. Okay, come back here so they can see your face.
[8:58] Okay, this letter appreciation is dedicated to the generous community focus efforts of the
[9:06] Guerrero in actually own poor in this Olympia.
[9:15] Since August 2019, volunteer, oh no, I have to say it again.
[9:19] The volunteer lead guru has performed trash watch every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. that
[9:26] begin at Lusterian Park. guru clears trash from the vistas roads, sidewalks, parks, and open spaces,
[9:32] thereby reducing the waste and vistas storm drains and waterways. collecting litter is no
[9:37] small task, despite inclement weather and heat, guru's walk, two to three miles throughout the city,
[9:43] picking up trash with strollers and families and tow, guru's pick up at least 120 gallons
[9:49] of trash on their weekly walks.
[9:51] This is proud of its residents, volunteerism and interest in making this a safer and more
[9:56] beautiful.
[9:56] The community is better, the community is better for the world.
[10:00] The work of Guerrero in action for UN Vista-Zumpio. The Vista City Council offers a sincere, at gratitude to the members of Guerrero's
[10:10] for their service to the community. And I apologize for murdering that name. The one that is easier is the first one which was
[10:18] more years in action for a clean Vista. So we appreciate you and thank you for doing that every all the time, every week. So we appreciate you and your family.
[10:25] So we're going to, so this is for Javita, this one, and then we have a letter, the exact same letter for each of the members of the community.
[10:32] I'll call each of them up by my name.
[10:34] So the next one is Michelle Veloz.
[10:45] Tell us, remember, container says you're letter for you.
[10:49] Her land is seraphine.
[10:57] Brandon Sweras,
[11:04] Melissa Collins,
[11:09] Grayson Collins, is Grayson here, or Melissa Brindley Collins.
[11:14] Nope, that, okay, the columns aren't here.
[11:17] But we have the Vista Firefighter Association.
[11:20] Thank you.
[11:22] Thank you.
[11:23] Thank you.
[11:25] Thank you.
[11:26] Thank you.
[11:26] The T.C. Lopez Martinez.
[11:33] Stephanie Martinez Lopez.
[11:40] Sylvia Lopez Martinez.
[11:47] Samantha Martinez Lopez.
[11:54] Ashley Martinez Lopez.
[11:56] Alejandro
[12:00] Martinez Lopez,
[12:07] Abilia Dias,
[12:14] Sialmara Dias,
[12:20] Rosie Elvira Diaz,
[12:27] Santa Rose Riegas,
[12:29] Center Rodriguez,
[12:36] Ashley Tetchy, Sebastian Diaz,
[12:49] Katie Garard,
[12:58] Ruben Diaz,
[13:03] Sofia Garcia,
[13:06] at Gar Lopez
[13:14] Alexander Estudio Estudio Estudio Estudio, am I saying that right? Who knows?
[13:26] Marcel Bonilla?
[13:29] No, Stephanie Maser,
[13:32] Cecilia Maser, Isabella Naronho? No, a Brandon
[13:41] We're on our own.
[13:46] We're on, we're on our own.
[13:51] Eduardo, no one.
[13:58] No one.
[13:58] N.A. Barrellas.
[14:07] Sebastian Bonilla.
[14:13] Alexander Bonilla.
[14:22] Thank you to all of you for all that you do every week.
[14:24] We appreciate that so much in VISTA.
[14:26] We have a problem with trash sometimes.
[14:28] It's so nice that you take care of so much of our community that go out every week and
[14:33] do that.
[14:34] So we appreciate all of you, all the kids and the families that do that together.
[14:37] So thank you so much.
[14:38] We appreciate that.
[14:39] I don't even have to come.
[14:44] But we need to be together as much as possible.
[14:45] You guys want to come in here so we can get a picture of all of us together here.
[14:48] Big kids can maybe tell if it's one of the best.
[14:52] I look, kids in the front.
[14:54] Do you want to come out there?
[14:55] So, can you see the kids from here?
[15:35] 1.
[15:50] 2.
[15:51] in the audience from turnaround for veterans who just came in so we could go back to P1 and honor Mr.
[15:58] Lightner.
[16:01] Okay, Mr. Lightner, do you want to come down?
[16:04] It's all.
[16:06] Tom?
[16:18] I'll read this.
[16:20] So this is a terrific appreciation presented to turn around for veterans.
[16:24] The mayor members of the Mississippi Council present this certificate of appreciation and recognition
[16:28] of turn around for veterans for being a title sponsor in your generous support of the city of
[16:32] is Fourth of July celebration, so please then August 24th, 2021.
[16:36] Thank you, sir.
[16:37] Thank you,
[16:44] sir.
[16:44] Come around here, I'm going to take your picture.
[16:46] No, no, no.
[16:47] If you come around here, I'm going to take your picture.
[16:49] What's that hat?
[16:51] What's that hat, you see?
[16:51] Of course.
[16:52] That's perfect.
[16:53] Okay.
[16:54] We love it.
[16:54] And thank you for your service.
[16:56] So many years of service.
[16:56] We just just weeks started the program again after COVID.
[17:00] Oh, that's good to hear that.
[17:01] Good.
[17:02] Good way to check it off.
[17:03] Okay, so everybody smile.
[17:05] Okay.
[17:12] Okay, thanks again.
[17:17] Okay, thank you.
[17:17] Thank you so much.
[17:21] Thank you so much.
[17:22] Take care.
[17:53] Okay, that takes us to,
[17:55] but this I guess I'll put this all right here.
[18:00] That takes us to our consent calendar.
[18:02] While the recommendations on the following consent calendar
[18:04] will be enacted in one motion,
[18:05] unless an item is removed from the calendar.
[18:07] Any member of the public may remove an item by submitting
[18:10] in a request to speak card to the clerk secretary,
[18:13] items removed from the consent calendar
[18:14] will be considered immediately following
[18:16] adoption of a calendar.
[18:17] We have five consent items this evening,
[18:20] and so I have one to see one speaker last week.
[18:24] I wouldn't speak her here on item C5,
[18:26] so I would look for a council member, Franklin.
[18:29] I'd move the balance of the consent agenda.
[18:33] I'll second.
[18:34] Okay, I have a motion of second on the balance
[18:36] of the consent calendar, so please cash your votes.
[18:45] That motion passes unanimously.
[18:48] So that brings us to item C5, the memorandum of understanding with the City Employees Association,
[18:54] the Management and Confidential Employees Compensation Plan, and Citywide Classification and Compensation
[19:00] Update.
[19:00] So with that, we will take our speaker first, I'm Clarence Rich.
[19:17] Good evening.
[19:17] on our Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Joe Green, Councilman, John Franklin, and Council member of
[19:23] Carolina Contrares and Katie Melindus, and to staff.
[19:30] I'm here speaking on item five that was pulled, and I just wanted to say thank you for
[19:35] the agreement, the contractual agreement for four years, and thank you all, and staff as
[19:40] well for your pardon as VCA president.
[19:44] Thank you very much.
[19:45] Thank you. Thanks, Clarence. Okay. With that, Councilor Franklin. I would make a motion
[19:51] to adopt item C5 and thank you very much to the VCEA and employees in Mr. Rich for being with
[19:59] the site.
[20:00] I have a second for that.
[20:02] I'll second.
[20:04] I have a motion on a second, so please cast your votes.
[20:13] That motion passes unanimously.
[20:15] That brings us to our discussion items.
[20:17] We actually have four discussion items.
[20:22] Do we have four?
[20:23] Yeah, four.
[20:24] Okay, because we have the one.
[20:25] We have four discussion items this evening.
[20:27] As announced earlier, item D1 was removed from the agenda and we'll place
[20:30] down a future agenda.
[20:31] So that we're going to take it first is our discussion item D2, which is
[20:36] a small lot single family residential zoning, our community development director John Conley will
[20:42] provide the staff report.
[20:46] Thank you Mayor and council.
[20:47] We're here tonight to get some direction from the council on small lot single family zoning.
[20:53] As you all know there's been a number of recent housing developments that have been built in the city
[20:58] at higher densities.
[20:59] We consider single family at higher densities to be between five to ten units per acre.
[21:04] Some examples of these, these have been in a condominium arrangement on a common lot, but our detached single family homes.
[21:13] Some examples of these are listed here, the Sarah Project, which was built by Shea Holmes upon Eastfist Away, just behind Charles Restaurant,
[21:21] the Wildwood Development, which was built by Maritage Holmes on Buena Vista Drive, just East of Melrose,
[21:27] and the Arroy of Vista Project, which was also developed by Maritage on Sikmar at Watson Way.
[21:33] This type of detached condominium development is permitted in our RM zone that's our multi-residential zone and is frequently pursued to accommodate single family homes in the range of 5 to 10 units per acre.
[21:46] Staff's position on this is that we'd prefer to allow for fee simple lots or home ownership and so condominium units are not always preferred as in a detached arrangement for single family residential development.
[22:00] because, as noted here, it doesn't allow for traditional fee-simple lot or home ownership
[22:04] by the owner and creates issues with yard areas for the planning staff or for the owner
[22:09] when they want to do improvements where there's no lot lines, and there's uncertainty
[22:13] for setbacks and future improvements or expansions like ADUs.
[22:17] So staff is recommending that we evaluate the residential zoning within the range of 5 to 10
[22:22] units per acre.
[22:23] That's in the medium density designation in our general plan, which is shown graphically
[22:27] here. There are some additional areas that would apply in specific plans and in some higher
[22:32] density designations, but to give you an idea it's pretty well spread around the city.
[22:37] It includes the RM zone and the R1B zone and so we would be looking at both those
[22:41] zoning designations to make adjustments. Currently the minimum lot sizes and the RM and the R1B
[22:48] zones are between 6,000 and 9,000 square feet. This depends on the density designation on
[22:54] property. Those lot size limitations actually promote the development of detached condominiums.
[23:01] I'm sorry, promote the development of a touch product at the densities between 5 to 10 units per acre.
[23:07] Because a lot sizes aren't small enough to get that density that you would be able to achieve under the general plan.
[23:12] 6,000 and 9,000 square foot lots would allow something like 5 to 6 units per acre, not anywhere near 10.
[23:20] So staff recommends considering smaller lot sizes within these zones, or adjusting a lot
[23:25] size standards to accommodate the detached single-family residential projects within a density
[23:30] range of five to ten units per acre.
[23:32] This is not intended to allow for further subdivision of 6,000 square foot lots, which
[23:37] is our current minimum lot size, but more to adjust the lot size standards so that a developer
[23:42] could build detached single-family residential homes with a subdivision arrangement and get
[23:47] to close to that ten units per acre.
[23:49] We've not developed the actual lot-sized standards yet because we want to get direction from the council to know that they're okay with that approach.
[23:57] If that's the case, then we'll come back with some specific recommendations and go through the public hearing process.
[24:03] As I mentioned, we're seeking direction from the council and following that, we'll come back to you.
[24:08] That pretty much sums up my staff report and I'm here for any questions. Thank you, Mayor.
[24:13] Okay, Deputy Mayor Green.
[24:15] We don't have any speakers on the side of them.
[24:18] No speakers.
[24:19] No speakers.
[24:20] Thank you so much for the presentation.
[24:21] Mr. Connie, greatly appreciate it.
[24:23] And I actually am in support of this.
[24:25] I like having this smaller zoning and classifying the missing of family residents.
[24:29] I think it's a, you know, a disservice to some of those property saying that their condos.
[24:32] And I think the community also feels like your slamming condos.
[24:35] And you're in truth is they are single family residences.
[24:38] Additionally, with it being a fee simple, a lot of it gives more home.
[24:41] The homeowner more opportunity to do things to their property.
[24:43] and it's easier for them to finance and to sell and all of that.
[24:47] So I think it's a great thing to do for our community,
[24:51] not necessarily for the developer, but as the homeowner who purchases that property,
[24:53] it's a huge benefit.
[24:55] So it's something that I'm definitely in favor of.
[24:56] I'd like to see what the, you know, lot sizes are that you come up with.
[25:00] And see what type of impact that would have on our, you know, reading numbers or whatever, you know, housing stock. That is.
[25:06] But I think that it's a great idea. And I think that that's more what we're actually building. So to call it what it is, in my opinion, is a great idea. So I appreciate you bringing this forward. And I would recommend that we go with your recommendations. So thank you so much.
[25:18] Tell some of them a contraris.
[25:23] I too want to thank you for bringing this forward. Was that a motion?
[25:29] No, it's just...
[25:32] Okay, so one of the things that I do want to illuminate though just for the public is a discussion that I had about this yesterday with Mr. Connelly.
[25:42] So I'm just going to walk through a few scenarios.
[25:46] But I am 100% in favor of being able to expand home ownership and, you know, some of these areas are still going to be H.O.A.
[25:56] But I do want you to walk us through what junior ADU or ADU situation is.
[26:04] If we were to go with this recommendation, are there any changes? What does that look like?
[26:10] That's an excellent question, so the ADUs standard still apply, I mean state law allows for an ADU in a single family zone or in a multi-family zone.
[26:19] So these homeowners could build an ADU in most situations on smaller lots like this.
[26:23] You have homeowners association, you have CCNRs that you have to abide by, and that largely controls what form and shape the ADU takes.
[26:32] The state law says you can't restrict ADU, so most of the time on the smaller lots when there's not a large yard area.
[26:38] The ADU will go inside the house, a junior ADU as it's referred to can be 500 square feet within the existing living space.
[26:46] Or it can be a conversion of the garage, which most of the associations allow for, so there's still an opportunity for that.
[26:53] But the lots are typically too small to fit a detached ADU in.
[26:57] If they can meet the setbacks and abide with the state requirements, then of course they're allowed to do that.
[27:02] It's just that at these lot sizes, you don't always see that opportunity.
[27:07] And I have a follow-up question pertaining to, you know, we have a few of these developments here.
[27:15] Is there an opportunity for any developments that exist to fall into this in a retroactive way or is it just moving forward?
[27:25] It's possible but not likely just because you'd have to get all of those existing
[27:31] condominium owners into a subdivision arrangement, apply a map, have them purchase the land.
[27:37] So it's not likely.
[27:38] It's most likely going to be something we use as a tool moving forward.
[27:42] Okay, thank you.
[27:43] I appreciate it.
[27:44] Plus remember Melinda's.
[27:47] Thank you so much for the discussion and I want to just say that this I think is appropriate based on some of the projects that we've had.
[27:54] that have come forward and have, in the past, potentially, been able to use this zoning.
[28:02] So to just contextualize this for the community, and we don't currently have a zoning for single family homes
[28:10] at this size, at the 6,000 square foot lots, correct?
[28:16] Nothing below 6,000, that's correct.
[28:18] Okay, and then how small would we go in a lot size?
[28:21] right so if we're we are adding this additional form of zoning is it something in the future
[28:27] that would we would even reduce a lot size further.
[28:31] It's possible to further reduce a lot size but that of course would be at the city council's
[28:35] discretion.
[28:35] The staff recommendation at this point would be something above 3,000 square feet so that
[28:39] we're not getting into a situation where a lot of the existing lot owners in visit could
[28:44] further subdivide their property.
[28:46] Okay sounds good and I wanted to also know like looking at the surrounding
[28:51] cities and developing and flux with them. What are some of the similarities of this kind of
[28:59] lot size and other cities?
[29:01] So most of the surrounding cities allow for a smaller lot size and 6,000 square feet.
[29:06] The majority of them do it under a specific plan or a specific planning area because
[29:12] it's a newer development compared to older parts of the city where more traditional zoning occurs.
[29:16] If we have that same arrangement in VISTAs,
[29:18] shout a ridge allows for smaller lot sizes
[29:20] under the specific plan,
[29:22] then our traditional zoning would allow.
[29:24] But in general, most cities within the last five to 10 years
[29:27] have a dopant allowance for smaller lot sizes
[29:30] because of this exact situation.
[29:32] They don't want to be, if they're in that range
[29:34] of five to 10 units per acre in a developer,
[29:36] wants to build detached single family homes.
[29:38] They don't want to be in a situation
[29:39] where they're forcing them to build something different.
[29:41] And that's what this really allows for.
[29:43] Okay, so I think it's great. I think that's good to prioritize the home ownership aspect of it and
[29:49] Also it could potentially be good for in-field development as well. So I
[29:54] Thank you so much for bringing this forward and those are all my comments. I would agree. I I
[30:00] Court that I think when people are looking at houses, it gets confusing when it's called a condo, when people in their mind have a condo, a different vision of a condo, and it's actually a single family home.
[30:12] So I think that better if it's owned like a single family home, and the smaller lives, okay, it's not a lot smaller, it's just called a condo because that was the way we did it in the past.
[30:23] So I support this. Deputy Mayor Green.
[30:25] Yeah, so one more question something you said that kind of stirred my little brain up is that
[30:30] With a lot size being reduced
[30:32] This isn't gonna allow any of our existing lots to be split easier and the reason why I ask that is
[30:38] There's a lot of concern about the rural aspect of vista and you know like my house is on just a little over-quarter acre right now
[30:44] I can't split that into two lots and put another house if we pass something like this
[30:49] Would this affect the ability to split parcels in the city and if it does is
[30:55] there a way to do different overlays in different areas.
[30:59] I know it's really technical, but in order to make sure
[31:02] that we're not affecting the character of our city.
[31:04] Because if I say, you can build a house on a 3,000 square
[31:06] foot lot, I can fit 10 houses where my house is at.
[31:10] I should bulldoze.
[31:11] You know, not anybody in the foothills or whatever to think.
[31:14] That's OK.
[31:16] So let me know, please.
[31:18] We're only looking at specific zones.
[31:20] It's the RM zone and the R1B zone.
[31:22] those are largely multifamily or denser zones.
[31:27] The smallest lot size allowed right now in those zones is 6,000.
[31:31] We wouldn't be recommending anything lower than 3,000 or probably 3,500.
[31:36] So that those existing smallest lot homeowners couldn't further subdivide their land.
[31:41] But someone who has an acre in the R1B zone could potentially subdivide with smaller lots.
[31:46] Okay, but not in R1 zone.
[31:48] are one E1, A1, we wouldn't be touching any of the existing larger single family
[31:53] lot, so.
[31:53] So a lot of that has to do in the district foreign district one, right?
[31:58] They have a lot more R1B than other different areas.
[32:02] R1B is pretty well spread around the city, but there's a good amount of it in the
[32:06] northern portion of it, and the older parts of the city, correct?
[32:09] All right, that's good.
[32:11] Thank you.
[32:13] Thanks.
[32:15] I'm a little conflicted, and maybe it's just, because I've got a question here, but, you know,
[32:22] I, my first home that I owned in Vista was a condo, actually sold that home, because I did
[32:28] not like some of the landscaping decisions that were made by the management, I did not own
[32:34] my front yard, and that didn't care for that, and I decided to buy a house where I did
[32:38] my front yard, so I totally understand the concern of homeowners who want to have control of
[32:46] their destiny of the land that surrounds our home. I'm not sure I am fully on board with the
[32:53] idea that they don't have ownership. I had ownership of my unit. I made a great return in it.
[32:59] And me, it was the functioning of the same as owning the hell my own now, except I had
[33:05] a higher HOA fee.
[33:08] The thing that I'm concerned about, though, is as we build denser communities, this condo
[33:16] map allows a greater level of central management over the look and maintenance of the community.
[33:23] And my concern is that we're going to lose some of that in these very dense communities
[33:31] where how neighbors maintain their property, how common spaces are maintained, and the improvements
[33:40] that are made are what closer you are to your neighbor, the more these things matter to you,
[33:46] about what your neighbor is doing, and so, you know, I've seen developments, you probably
[33:53] can guess the one I'm thinking of, in particular, with smaller lots, where the neighbors
[33:57] aren't getting along, and it's become a real problem for the city.
[34:01] And I guess I just wonder what your opinion is about the potential for long-term maintenance,
[34:09] and, you know, of the community at large, in these really compact neighborhoods.
[34:13] So there's two real ways that we intend to control that.
[34:16] One is right now, subdivisions and VISTA don't require a site development plan, which is landscape on architecture,
[34:23] and that's the way the city manages the look of the project.
[34:25] So you can subdivide in the R1, E1, A1 zone, and just do a subdivision and build your house with a building permit.
[34:32] When we adopt the new rules, we'll have a site development plan requirement attached to that,
[34:37] so that they'll have to show us architecture landscaping.
[34:40] All of those requirements will be approved and we'll be able to manage it from
[34:43] code side. The other thing is majority of these developments now particularly if it's more than just a couple
[34:49] lots are going to have stormwater requirements that are common to the development. They'll have to have an
[34:54] association and maintain those most likely when you establish an association it comes with all those other
[34:59] requirements.
[35:00] City has the ability to impose those aesthetic requirements. We haven't really done that to a large extent, but we have the ability to do that through the site development plan process if we want to.
[35:13] Is there a way to actually mandate nature way?
[35:16] Yes. We do it all the time.
[35:18] Okay. To me, that's one thing that's incredibly important. We saw in this development that I'm not going to reference, but you know what I'm talking about.
[35:26] an HOA was created by the developer, the residents decided not to continue the HOA, and now they lack a dispute resolution mechanism other than coming to the city, and it's created real problems for us.
[35:39] And I particularly believe when you don't have set back from your neighbors, you need that dispute resolution mechanism other than the city to solve problems and make decisions about how you're going to live very very close proximity.
[35:52] So, I think if that's not something that we're currently considering, I think with these really small
[35:59] sizes, I think that's incredibly important.
[36:00] I think we should consider the imposition of an HOA so that they do have that dispute resolution
[36:06] mechanism.
[36:07] Understood.
[36:10] Okay, I see no of the further speakers.
[36:12] Do you have enough information?
[36:13] Thank you.
[36:14] Thank you, Mayor.
[36:14] Looks like there's consensus.
[36:15] So, we'll bring back some changes in a couple months.
[36:18] Okay.
[36:18] Thank you.
[36:19] Thank you.
[36:20] Okay.
[36:21] The next thing on our agenda, our third discussion item, is Gregad and the official name
[36:26] of the park references Pelavista Park, which is kind of funny when you say, you know,
[36:32] name the park, name, name Pelavista Park, it's Pelavista Park, anyway, okay, so this is the city manager
[36:41] immediately is going to provide our staff report.
[36:49] Good evening, mayor and city council members, I thank you for having me.
[36:54] The Polyvestis Civic Center capital park program is currently underway, as I'm sure you've seen driving down Civic Center.
[37:01] There is an expectation that the project should be completed by fall of 2022, so that will be excited.
[37:07] The park has been referenced as the Polyvesti Park due to its geographic location.
[37:12] However, throughout the design process, there was several discussions concerning the park name and whether it should remain Polyvesti Park.
[37:20] There is a city does have a policy that establishes criteria for creating an official park
[37:26] name.
[37:26] The policy states that names can be of, let me, I do have a powerpoint, I guess I could go
[37:31] through it.
[37:33] Sorry, one moment, please.
[37:38] Thank you.
[37:39] The policy states that names can be of an individual who contributed significantly to the
[37:43] quality of life for victims, over a substantial period of time, an individual organization
[37:48] that donated to city parks or recreation facilities at geographical locations such as
[37:54] Polyvista or a link to the city's heritage with an emphasis on names that provide connection
[38:00] to the city's Spanish or heritage. If the city council elects to select an alternative name
[38:07] to the Polyvista park, staff recommends conducting public outreach to ensure that the name reflects
[38:12] the needs and desires of the community. There are various community outreach involvement strategies
[38:17] that may inform the decision-making process, and staff has outlined two options for you to
[38:23] consider. As you can see on the screen in front of you, option 1 is to consult the public
[38:27] on various names. Over the last few years, staff has received recommendations for an official
[38:33] name, including Paula Vista Park, utilizing the list which is detailed on the screen. Staff would
[38:39] create a community survey to solicit feedback from the community. The results would then be
[38:44] with the Parks and Recreation Commission to select a final name for City Council recommendation.
[38:50] And that's an option.
[38:52] There's also option 2, which is outlight in the front of you.
[38:56] This is to solicit name recommendations from the public.
[38:59] Staff would reach out to the community to state name suggestions.
[39:03] The Parks and Recreation Commission would narrow down the names to 5,
[39:07] and then those names would be voted upon by the public with the final results being provided for City Council for consideration.
[39:13] This approach would take a little bit more outreach.
[39:16] You would have to do with more social media and connection with the community.
[39:22] And with any outreach, there's also, we'd really recommend that we use a form that we've established in the staff report as well.
[39:29] So we can really keep people to a protocol, so the names are listed to the criteria.
[39:34] And there's a thoughtfulness behind the approach as well, because the names would have to explain why you selected that name as well.
[39:40] As I mentioned in the beginning, the park construction is underway and certain construction
[39:46] elements are dependent on the park names, such as the Monument Sign, to ensure that the
[39:51] project is on schedule and to avoid construction delays, staff recommends that either public
[39:56] outreach begin following city council's direction.
[40:00] Or city council formalize the name of Paul at this department. This concludes my presentation and I'm available for questions.
[40:06] Okay, I have, I see everybody wants to jump in here, but I'm, I'm, to me, pelvis of park is, pelvis of park. It's always been, pelvis of park and so I, I would support pelvis of park. So I'll just, I'll say that first and then we'll go on down the line. So councilmember Franklin.
[40:21] Thank you Madam Mayor. I just want to say to this city council as well as to pass city councils. Thank you.
[40:28] for approving the funding to acquire this land to build this new park in District 4.
[40:35] We're very happy to have it.
[40:38] And I always like to remind everybody what a great success story this park is.
[40:43] We purchased three drug houses.
[40:46] That's what they were.
[40:48] And we level those houses, kept some of the more mature trees.
[40:52] And we're undergoing the utility lines to improve the appearance of the neighborhood, and we are turning one of the most blighted areas that lines one of the central entryways to our city with a beautiful new park, and it's such a success.
[41:10] As for the name of the park, I'm not opposed to a thoughtful selection of a name, but my personal preference would be to continue the working name of the park, which is Palavista, which means Palm View in English.
[41:27] And because I think that the opportunity will come to maybe this council or perhaps more likely a future council,
[41:36] where we really have somebody who's given a great contribution to the city,
[41:41] and we'll want to name that park after them.
[41:44] And so I think for my personal preference would be to officially name it Palavista,
[41:52] and to preserve the opportunity for a future naming of consequence
[41:56] that, you know, that opportunity, I think will present itself in the future.
[42:02] My personal preference.
[42:03] Consumant for Contreras.
[42:07] I'm going to tell you, I'm going to go and reverse the order, so I actually like
[42:11] Paul of his to park the name, but I just want to throw out option to even though it's going to take forever.
[42:18] It is a way to generate more awareness about the park, and as kind of, you know,
[42:27] a different way to go about marketing the park. So I want to throw that out to my colleagues
[42:33] as a suggestion, but I think Paul of us to park is a great name. So I could go either way.
[42:41] I'm okay with waiting for it to go through kind of a longer process, but for the public to be
[42:47] more involved and for the process itself to generate a lot of buzz around this park. It's a great
[42:54] part, you know, prior to being on the council, I remember going with a few friends to
[43:01] flyer the surrounding apartments. And there were just a tonic kids playing in tiny pieces
[43:09] of grass, so I can't wait for this part to be used. You know, I'm really thankful for the
[43:21] manager, indulge me on a delegation with our assembly member, just to make sure that we had
[43:29] everything we needed to be extra competitive for these state grants and loan behold, I guess
[43:36] we were missing a letter, so we were able to get that and turn that into to the state, and
[43:43] we received those funds, so I am super excited for this part to be part of our community.
[43:49] It is an extremely important gateway and I could go either way on either just doing
[43:55] Paul of a Stapark or using option 2 as a way to generate some buzz around the park.
[44:02] Cosmeme of Melendez.
[44:05] Thank you and thank you so much, Amanda, for your explanation.
[44:08] I had a question about the process that staff has gone through to get to this point.
[44:14] Where did these initial suggestions come from in option one?
[44:22] Through.
[44:23] Well, we reached out to the Parks and Recs Commission and they established that we need to reach out to the community,
[44:32] which we know and they kind of done avenues of public outreach through BUSD or through social media.
[44:40] But there was really no thought of, like, how do we establish these names to come to begin with, so just kind of research through websites of what other jurisdictions have done, what the National Parks and Recreation has done, and there wasn't any, they just said, encourage public outreach. So kind of through, 15 through.
[45:00] So ideas of really kind of how to that range of what outreach is, is really how we narrowed it down as there's consultation without reach, or there's actually engagement. And so we wanted to give both options of the different ways that you can, that you still reach out to the community but centered on like what input you really want.
[45:18] Definitely, and I understand there is a process of ensuring that it fits a certain criteria.
[45:25] If we were to put it out to the community and the community chooses the name that is outside the criteria,
[45:30] what would be the process to override that recommendation?
[45:34] Well, they would have to. It's on the recommendation form. It has the criteria on there.
[45:39] So we would get a deadline and everything, and then staff would review them to the criteria and see if it met it or not.
[45:46] if it didn't meet the criteria, then we do have the contact information on that form as well.
[45:52] And we would reach out to the individual and say that your name is not moving forward because
[45:56] it didn't meet the criteria.
[45:58] So we would have that communication as well.
[46:01] They wouldn't be given another opportunity, but we would just explain that that's the reason
[46:04] was why it wasn't selected.
[46:06] Every name that meets the criteria would go ahead and move through.
[46:10] So it would be staff eliminating that, and then that would be put forward to the public.
[46:15] I may be not super creative, so I think Polyvista is a perfectly fine name.
[46:21] I think there's some other beautiful names that are suggested, but I really appreciate what
[46:26] Council Member Contreras was saying specifically about marketing the park to the community.
[46:33] I thought that was a great way to put it.
[46:34] I think that if we were to choose option two and have more community involvement in deciding
[46:40] the name, it could create a sense of pride, a sense of ownership, that could bring the community
[46:48] together, and ultimately keep that space flourishing and beautiful because people get to
[46:54] participate in what the name or something as it gives a lot of power to that. So in terms of
[47:00] all the options listed, I think polyvists is a beautiful name, it's essential to the area,
[47:05] And it's going to be a beautiful park.
[47:08] And I think that if it were my preference,
[47:12] my ideal preference, we would first start with the community
[47:16] and get those recommendations.
[47:17] Because if there's a lot of creativity out there,
[47:19] there's a lot of history in our community,
[47:21] especially people within the vicinity of the park,
[47:24] that could illuminate some of the values or some of the beauty
[47:27] that we want to be shining within our park development.
[47:32] So, that would be my feedback, and I'll just leave it to the rest of my colleagues.
[47:37] Dipped it very green.
[47:40] Thank you so much for your presentation, Mrs. Lee, I greatly appreciate it.
[47:44] I liked the name of the park as well, but I think like my colleagues said, I think communicating
[47:49] with the cities of big deal, you know, parks are big deals, everybody's got opinions
[47:53] on parks and, you know, we had a lot of outreach for this park.
[47:56] I think if I had to vote on it, I would vote.
[47:58] of us to park as a VISTA resident, but I really am in favor of getting more input from the community.
[48:05] So with that said, I thought that option one.
[48:08] Can you click back to option one for me, Mrs. Lee?
[48:10] So option one and one of the questions that Katie was asking to is,
[48:14] these names that you came up with, Amis Amistad, Colibary Community Park,
[48:18] Gateway Park, a chart park.
[48:19] These were suggestions we got at our initial community study,
[48:23] is that where these names came from,
[48:24] where were these actual names come from on this list right here?
[48:27] let me answer that please when the city council originally decided to go forward with the park
[48:34] purchased the property. These were some of these were names that the city council at that
[48:39] time had come up with as suggestions. Okay so they were created at the staff level or the community
[48:46] level. They were created at the council level and some community level to Amanda and her team.
[48:54] Oh, sorry, and also when during discussions for the design process, members from the community also made comments during public communications.
[49:02] No, and actually I love the names that were up here, and that's what I was saying is I couldn't have came up with all these names by myself.
[49:08] And frankly, I mean, I would be okay with gateway park or polyvesty park, or even a lot and try to park.
[49:13] I mean, but what I'd really like to do is I think instead of saying, hey, everybody come up with names, I like the option one is hey, let's consult on various names.
[49:21] if you have a right in name that you want to
[49:23] a right in and send an application you can,
[49:25] but if not, can we pull the community on these names
[49:28] and pick one of these names?
[49:30] I mean, the truth is, Paula Vista Park may very well win.
[49:33] I mean, it is the most practical name,
[49:35] but we could at least say, hey, as a city council
[49:37] as a city, your opinion matters to us,
[49:39] and this is a way for you to give us your opinion.
[49:43] And I really feel like in the end it could come out the same way,
[49:47] but the community will have ownership on it.
[49:49] It's a great way to market the park.
[49:51] It's a great way to get a huge amount of buzz around it.
[49:54] And since we haven't till the fall of 2022,
[49:57] which is a year until we actually cut the ribbon at the bottom.
[50:00] I think that's enough time to do the research and come up with a community consensus on what a good name is. So my recommendation is for option 1, because it's faster than option 2. And I think if we went with option 2 we'd eventually get to option 1 and then go to that right anyway. So I'd say, hey, let's start at option 1, get consensus from the community and then move forward with a park name. If it's tied all across the board, then as a council, we can make the decision at a meeting. But for now, I would really, really love to hear from the community.
[50:30] And I'd like them to choose from these names because these names are very very thoughtful and concise.
[50:35] That's my recommendation.
[50:36] City Manager.
[50:38] I know there's plenty of time.
[50:40] But what is kind of that drop deadline for getting the name so we can include it on the monument side and go for.
[50:48] Is that probably February?
[50:50] Yeah, I would even gear more towards January as well because we also have to.
[50:55] It's grant funded.
[50:56] So the federal of the state government also needs to have all the information on what the official
[51:00] park name as well for for all their information as well.
[51:04] So especially while we're we've advised them that we need a little bit more time so on our
[51:09] reporting farms right now it's known as politics to part but we do have to finalize that
[51:14] name 60 or 90 day call for public input put a time frame on it and let's get to it.
[51:18] You know what I mean? That's my big.
[51:21] Council Member Franklin.
[51:23] I also like the idea of seeking public input on a name, but I kind of like to see the
[51:30] park open and stand in the park and get a feel for it and have the community come to
[51:36] the park, and I think that I'll get the creative juices flowing.
[51:41] If you go back to option two for a moment, I think this is a very structured process, which
[51:50] almost sort of, you know, drives toward the selection of an aim rather than sort of just
[51:56] allowing some ideas to percolate. I would be in favor of a less formalized process that
[52:02] allows suggestions to come up and maybe even for people to express a preference on those
[52:06] selections. But as was noted, recently a city had a contest for a park and the way a name was,
[52:14] was at Parkie McPark?
[52:15] Parkie McParkerson, yes.
[52:19] So that was the winning thing in the online vote.
[52:24] So I don't want to leave it to an online vote.
[52:27] I think I'd like to be a little bit more thoughtful about it.
[52:30] And I'm not suggesting we have good guidelines,
[52:32] so I don't think Parkie McParkerson would win,
[52:35] but I would maybe like to have a little bit more insight
[52:39] from our Parks and Rec Commission as well as the council.
[52:41] But I think the idea of soliciting input from the community and giving us more things to choose from, and perhaps somebody comes up with a name that the Parks Commission and the Council looks at and says
[52:53] Geez, I can't believe we didn't think of that. That's got to be the name, right?
[52:57] But I just don't know that we need to rush ourselves to that either. So I think we have a deadline looming. We need to finalize paperwork and a marquee. I don't have a problem with, you know, moving forward with Palavista.
[53:09] And then when we have a grand opening, maybe that's when we want to announce we're going to have a, you know, a search for the name.
[53:17] I think I spoke to you soon.
[53:19] I looked it up.
[53:19] It's parking, make park face.
[53:21] So parking, make park face.
[53:22] Oh, good.
[53:23] Even better.
[53:27] Okay.
[53:28] I was never contrary to us.
[53:32] I feel like we're in a tie for like so many different options at once.
[53:40] I really like the idea of giving the public a lot more input on the park name.
[53:51] I don't know if there's a blend between option one and two.
[53:56] That can happen, but I'm having a real hard time right now, because for efficiency
[54:02] say I just want to be like Paul of a Stapark great name let's stamp it move on but I really
[54:09] do think this is a great marketing opportunity for this park and on option one if the public
[54:15] ends up saying that they want guitar park we're going to have to have some jam sessions there
[54:21] so oh no I'm not sure we need a market the park it's and it's right in the where everybody
[54:29] was by at a thousand times a day. And so when they see the park finish, I don't know what you
[54:34] need to market it. It's a small park. It's a small neighborhood park, but you know, I think it's
[54:45] the majority of the city wants, they want more parks. So this is just a way for them to be involved
[54:51] with that creative process, right? Like, I don't know. I still think it's a good idea to
[54:59] if we have a...
[55:00] A little bit of time. The public can be involved and get excited about this park. Because it is small, I don't think everybody's going to be aware of it, but you know, an option too.
[55:16] There's like this huge process, right? Communication with VUSD. I mean, that's, I don't even know how many people are on the VUSD email blast. So, I mean, we don't have a ton of people here to, you know, that are going
[55:29] show up and give us their suggestions because they're at home doing things that they have
[55:34] to do every day. So perhaps, you know, if we do allow for the public input, we can get
[55:41] something great or we can end up with just all of us to bark. I don't know. I'm in favor of
[55:48] the public having a little bit more of their hands involved in getting this from A to B.
[55:57] Okay, Deputy Mayor.
[55:59] All right.
[56:00] So since we don't have to name it right now,
[56:01] because it's just discussion item,
[56:03] my suggestion is that we do a timed call for input,
[56:06] and that we put time frames on it,
[56:08] like 30 day community call for input,
[56:10] 60 day.
[56:11] Whatever you think Amanda is a reasonable amount of time
[56:13] for community input.
[56:14] At that point in time, it comes back to us for a discussion item,
[56:18] or maybe in public hearing.
[56:19] I mean, we can discuss a city manager,
[56:22] but it was a set time frame,
[56:23] so that it's not out there for like,
[56:24] Okay, sometime next fall, we're going to have a new park.
[56:26] So I think if we do a set timeframe for community input, I like the list that's already
[56:31] there, personally, but yes, suggest other names and then come back to us and say, hey,
[56:36] this is how many people from the community have chimed in on this over the last 45 days
[56:40] because the truth is, any community input is better than no community input.
[56:45] So I'd say put a timeframe on it, call for input and then bring it back to us and then it'll
[56:49] be much easier to make a decision.
[56:51] That's my suggestion.
[56:52] So do we need a motion for that?
[56:55] So you're a Councilor.
[56:56] Deputy Mayor Green.
[56:58] It was kind of a hybrid of one and two from what I heard.
[57:02] And I think I heard that as well from Councilmember Contreras.
[57:06] If you're good with that, we can go forward.
[57:09] We can list the names that have been suggested to this point.
[57:12] And ask for additional suggestions.
[57:14] If necessary, we'll put a time limit on it.
[57:17] We'll get it out.
[57:18] We'll get it back to you.
[57:21] and move on.
[57:25] Councilman Franklin, did you want to speak again?
[57:27] I was going to do what our city manager just didn't try to sum it up, but I like
[57:33] the idea of calling for public input and seeking direction.
[57:39] So I think that's a good way to go.
[57:43] Okay, so that news takes care of that, right?
[57:45] Okay.
[57:46] So then, moving on.
[57:48] Our fourth discussion item is the American Rescue Plan Act coronavirus
[57:53] state and local fiscal recovery funding, projectless and spending plan.
[57:57] Our finance director, Mike Silvia, will provide the staff report.
[58:15] Good evening, Mayor and Council.
[58:18] This item is to introduce the American Rescue Plan Act and provide a high-level review
[58:25] of its components, objectives, rules, guidance, and this one's a mouthful, the coronavirus,
[58:31] various state and local fiscal recovery funding, or the CSLFRF.
[58:38] I'm going to call it the ARPA funding, if everyone's okay with that, for conversation
[58:42] sake.
[58:44] Also, towards the end, we'll discuss the city staff's process and developing the proposed
[58:49] project list that has exhibited the agenda report and finish the discussion, review and
[58:56] Q&A and potential modification of the list with Council and any members of the public who
[59:00] to speak to the item.
[59:06] So, ARPA was approved by both houses of Congress in early March and
[59:11] signed into law by President Biden on March 11th, 2021. Provided total funding of $1.9 trillion
[59:19] and included in that sum was the ARPA funding for the state and local governments, which is $350
[59:26] billion, nationwide. Local and state governments were categorized in six different types
[59:33] the city is categorized as a metropolitan city under 250,000 in population with an allocation
[59:42] greater than 5 million. The city's allocation is 26.2 million. It'll be provided in two
[59:49] torrentures. The first half is already arrived on early July of this year and we expect the second
[59:54] half in June of 2022.
[1:00:01] So, the key funding objectives first is to bolster state and local governments efforts in response of missing combatting spread of the virus and controlling the pandemic.
[1:00:13] Also, in fill replacement or revenues lost during the pandemic and thereby funding public services on equipping local economies to retain existing jobs and foster future job growth.
[1:00:25] Number three, closely aligned in number two,
[1:00:27] is stabilizing local economies
[1:00:29] and lastly, providing assistance
[1:00:31] and dealing with the systemic challenges
[1:00:33] related to public health and local economic issues.
[1:00:41] So our guide book or our rule book
[1:00:43] has provided us from the U.S. Treasury,
[1:00:46] otherwise known as the interim final rule or the IFR.
[1:00:50] The ARPA funding is limited to use
[1:00:53] specifically authorized under the IFR
[1:00:56] And in addition, the IFR establishes the compliance
[1:00:59] of reporting requirements for the funding.
[1:01:03] Our initial reporting is due August 31st,
[1:01:07] so in about a week, and then our first quarterly report,
[1:01:10] we do October 31st, similar to the quarterly reporting
[1:01:14] we do for other federal grants.
[1:01:17] The last bullet point I really want to emphasize
[1:01:19] that the IFR makes it clear that only the IFR authorized
[1:01:23] projects can be funded by the ARPA funding, otherwise the local government risk required reimbursement
[1:01:32] back to the federal government. This is consistent with FEMA funding as well and there are
[1:01:38] local government horror stories of eight and nine figure reimbursements due back to the federal
[1:01:43] government.
[1:01:47] Quick summary of the expenditure categories, they are detailed beginning with
[1:01:53] subcategories on page 39 of the Agenda Report, which is a sub part of the compliance
[1:01:59] and reporting document from Treasury. I mostly wanted to comment on our last two bullet points
[1:02:04] here. The IFR makes it very clear that the only types of infrastructure that can be funded
[1:02:10] are water, sewer, storm water, and broadband, and then specific to revenue replacement. It makes
[1:02:19] clear in the IFR that general revenues in aggregate would need to be below our base year,
[1:02:27] which for us would be fiscal 2018-19, and because they are not, staff is not recommending
[1:02:34] revenue replacement of general revenues, and this is consistent with the question I feel
[1:02:39] different deputy or green back in May when I provided the fiscal 2021, a third quarter financial
[1:02:47] report. We do have a few line items that have suffered specifically investment earnings
[1:02:51] and TOT taxes, but overall we're, we're in a better place than we were in fiscal 2019.
[1:03:03] So to summarize, kind of the methodology that city staff utilized in composing the list that
[1:03:10] you see before you initially staff reviewed kind of the general guidance after we received notice
[1:03:15] of the award. It was pretty vague at first and that's what we had to start with. Our initial
[1:03:20] list did have 75 potential projects. From there we did a secondary review of the initial list
[1:03:27] once we had the Treasury Department's IFR and could see the limitations there. And again,
[1:03:33] staff did take a very strict interpretation of the IFR to prevent a potential required payback
[1:03:39] to Treasury of a potentially unallowed project or project costs. From there we made a prioritization
[1:03:47] of the remaining list and wanted to really match our cash flow for the projects that we were
[1:03:53] going to propose and be congruent with one-time revenues to one-time expenses and that's
[1:04:00] compliant with the GF-weight budgeting best practice.
[1:04:03] And I'd say another layer of analysis that we focused on was existing infrastructure repair
[1:04:08] before the consideration of new infrastructure construction.
[1:04:12] And
[1:04:18] so to summarize the 23 projects that are an exhibit to the agenda report, there are
[1:04:24] three categories shown here on this slide, and they comprise about 98% of the funding.
[1:04:31] The largest being infrastructure at 17.4 million or about two-thirds of the total allocation.
[1:04:38] The largest project within that category is the storm drain system rehab and repair at
[1:04:44] and a half million dollars and you know as irony would have I think we've all heard about the
[1:04:50] sinkholes that occurred both on Melrose as well as Sikomore and it really speaks to the
[1:04:57] degradated condition of our court.
[1:05:00] Regulated metal pipe system that comprises that system, which is why it was a high priority on our list.
[1:05:06] Second one is a climate action plan funding at $2.5 million. That's energy efficiency projects,
[1:05:12] fleet conversion to electric vehicles, as well as projects to be implemented as a part of the bicycle master plan.
[1:05:20] Other infrastructure items are downtown Wi-Fi estimated costs on that, as 125,000 replacements
[1:05:28] of concrete line storm drain channels at just under 1.3 million and advanced irrigation
[1:05:35] controllers at Creek side in Thibodot Parks, which we'll save water.
[1:05:42] Next category is the negative economic impact section at 5.4 million or 20.5% of the allocation.
[1:05:49] And the primary project in this expense category is 3 million proposed to be utilized as a business grant program.
[1:05:57] The grants would be between $1,000 and $15,000 for eligible businesses.
[1:06:02] And that criteria is to be determined, although some of those deal points are vetted out for subsidies.
[1:06:12] We've got the wave, senior nutrition and gas tax.
[1:06:15] that total is 1.4 million, about half of that is the wave, senior nutrition is about 30%
[1:06:22] and gas taxes about 20.
[1:06:24] And the last item I'm shown here is premium pay at $3 million or 11.5% of the allocation.
[1:06:32] And that is in line with the MOUs that have been agreed upon between the Employee Organization's
[1:06:38] Management and City Council.
[1:06:40] And I would add the majority of this payout would be expected to be completed by the end
[1:06:45] October.
[1:06:51] So that completes my presentation and I'd say that both staff from the submitting
[1:06:56] departments as well as I are available for questions and discussion on the projects
[1:07:01] that are being proposed and exhibit too. And the way we'd kind of like to structure
[1:07:06] if Council is amenable too. It is almost looking at the 23 items like a consent calendar
[1:07:11] pulling the items that there are concerns or questions on. We can address those with the
[1:07:20] find the list overall as needed, and at the end of the discussion and potential modification
[1:07:27] we'd be seeking approval of the Associated Resolution that would provide for the allocation
[1:07:35] and authorization of the $26.2 million and allowing the City Managers to approve the related
[1:07:42] contracts and documents for the projects contained in the list.
[1:07:47] Okay, so can I ask the council, maybe if there's issues on here that they want to pull out?
[1:07:54] No.
[1:07:54] Mayor, if I might add, we have two speakers.
[1:07:57] So I didn't know if you'd like.
[1:07:58] First and then.
[1:07:59] First and then.
[1:08:00] Then have the council pull out items that they have questions or concerns or issues with.
[1:08:04] Okay.
[1:08:04] Well, you don't have to tell me what they are right now.
[1:08:07] But if you consider them and then we'll take the speakers and then think about the items you want to pull out.
[1:08:12] And then we could do maybe a motion for the balance of that and then just talk about those items.
[1:08:16] that would be okay. Okay, so we'll start with our speakers. I have two speakers, Jim
[1:08:20] Righenbach first.
[1:08:31] Thank you. Hi, my name is Jim Righenbach. I'm a Vista resident. If you
[1:08:35] comments about this topic first regarding the $3 million grant program is that open to non
[1:08:40] profits. If so, will the non profits be in direct competition with the for profit companies?
[1:08:46] Regarding the for profit companies and businesses, is it open to any business in Vista regardless
[1:08:52] of size. I suggest carving out money specifically for nonprofits. Second, it is
[1:08:59] great to see that money is going towards the bicycle master plan. My concern is that the
[1:09:06] plan is out of date and relies two heavily on striped bike lanes. People don't use striped
[1:09:11] bike lanes. Please use this money to start building protected bike lanes on all major
[1:09:15] thoroughfares in the city. If you build barriers between cars and bikes and pedestrians,
[1:09:20] and people will bike more. The mayor mentioned during the last meeting that e-bikes are becoming
[1:09:26] more popular and we need better infrastructure to support them. I completely agree.
[1:09:32] Third is regarding the internship program. It's listed as services to services to
[1:09:37] disproportionately impacted communities who exactly are the disproportionately impacted community
[1:09:43] in that scenario. When I hear that term, I think of the well-documented disparities seen in
[1:09:48] and ethnic minority groups when faced with COVID-19.
[1:09:52] Those are the communities that have been disproportionately impacted.
[1:09:55] And I don't see that these communities are specifically targeted.
[1:09:58] In that section are the...
[1:10:00] This plan in general. There are both biomedical and social determinants that contribute to these disparities. I think those should be addressed in this plan. I'd like to see race and ethnicity specifically addressed here.
[1:10:12] And finally, I'd like to read a short article that was in Sunday's paper related to this issue. It's in the business section, local, it's out of San Marcos.
[1:10:19] had lines city offering three million dollars in grants to non-profits.
[1:10:24] Sam Marcos has opened a three million dollar COVID-19 non-profit community grant program,
[1:10:29] aimed at helping essential non-profits that serve Sam Marcos residents who have been disproportionately
[1:10:33] affected by the pandemic. The city is working with the North County COVID Relief Fund to administer
[1:10:38] the grants. Target populations will include underrepresented communities containing, but not limited
[1:10:43] to youths, low-income individuals, and families, seniors, immigrants, and active military
[1:10:48] and veteran families. Applications are being accepted at this website. The web page also
[1:10:53] outlines eligibility requirements and provides details on the grant process. For more information,
[1:10:58] check the website, there's also a webinar. I suggest we follow Sam Marcos's lead. Thank you.
[1:11:04] Thank you. Rachel Bell, did you, were she? Did you want to talk?
[1:11:18] Good evening, Mayor. I'm at the City Council. I'm Rachel Bell, the CEO of the Vista Chamber of Commerce,
[1:11:22] And I really was just a headmark that I'm in support of the item and I was here tonight
[1:11:27] in case there were any questions specific to the programs where the chamber could be of service and a consultant on these funds.
[1:11:34] Overall, since I'm up here, I'll say that $26.2 million is an amazing opportunity to invest in our community.
[1:11:42] And I'm really excited to see the list of projects before the council tonight. And I look forward to hearing your discussion.
[1:11:47] Thank you. Thank you.
[1:11:49] And that will be, that is the end of our speakers, so then, I guess we need to hear what,
[1:11:57] so should we go to each person and how do I do this?
[1:12:00] Well originally we thought it'd be similar to the consent calendar in terms of if you had,
[1:12:05] there's 23 items.
[1:12:06] If there's items that you want to have more discussion on, you want to have questions on
[1:12:10] or you just want to issue a statement on, go one by one, maybe pull those items off,
[1:12:17] I know Councilwoman, Council Member Contreras,
[1:12:20] Push her button, maybe you can just go through the list
[1:12:23] and then we'll pull those items off
[1:12:25] and then we'll start and go in order.
[1:12:27] Okay, so maybe I'll just go through the list
[1:12:29] of the buttons pushed here and then you can tell
[1:12:32] which items, would that be okay?
[1:12:34] Okay, so we'll start with Council Member Contreras.
[1:12:38] All right, so I
[1:12:43] wanna ask my co-workers on staff.
[1:12:46] One was the last time that we had a workshop
[1:12:49] for the public when it comes to either our budget or this twenty-six million dollar
[1:12:56] a lot meant.
[1:13:03] You asking me?
[1:13:04] I'm asking whoever has an answer.
[1:13:06] All right.
[1:13:07] Well, we had a budgeting process that we brought before the City Council in April, May, and
[1:13:12] June.
[1:13:13] So that was a public process where the public was invited to speak on anything related
[1:13:18] to the budget.
[1:13:19] This is the first time that this item has been brought before the City Council in terms
[1:13:23] the ARPA funding. Okay. So this is a lot of money. There's a lot of money on this list. I know that, you know, we're receiving this list from staff at any point. Is this the first time that the council discusses any of this?
[1:13:50] Yes, it is. Okay, I just want to make it clear for the public. I think it would be
[1:13:55] Huvas to go slowly on accepting these items because I do believe that the public needs
[1:14:05] to have more time to review how they want their money spent. So I'm going to go through certain
[1:14:16] items that I'll just do it like how you said will pull them off. So, premium pay, that's good,
[1:14:27] cap funding, good, subsidy. It could just give me the numbers. So we could do it then up by numbers.
[1:14:34] Stormwater infrastructure at almost $14 million. I wouldn't think of that off. You know,
[1:14:39] like number one, two, three, so we could do the numbers. Yeah, number five, stormwater infrastructure
[1:14:43] at 14 million. Number six, Montemar, Drain, at almost a million. Number seven, West
[1:14:52] to weigh drain channel at 350,000.
[1:15:01] Number 16 financial literacy programs that 174,600,
[1:15:09] number 20 workforce gap analysis,
[1:15:15] number 21 paid internship program,
[1:15:20] number 23 fund a downtown clean and safe program that can provide downtown ambassadors at 460,000.
[1:15:28] For some of these items,
[1:15:34] I believe in them, like the paid internship program.
[1:15:38] However, I want to know how we are going to be under number three for the recovery plan,
[1:15:48] will include at a minimum the following information.
[1:15:51] So, this is page 32 of 43, and it's number three, promoting equitable outcomes.
[1:15:59] Describe efforts to promote equitable outcomes, including how programs were designed with equity
[1:16:05] in mind.
[1:16:07] We're talking about a pandemic that has really highlighted inequities in our community, not
[1:16:15] just here in VISTA, but everywhere.
[1:16:17] So, I really want to make sure that we're constantly, can I get, can I get, can see if any of
[1:16:24] I just want to go through and get everybody's, their numbers filled off here to have, and then clear the, the balance, and then go back and then go back to the list and have you pull each item and discuss it if you can do it that way.
[1:16:36] We can do it that way and I just want to make sure that we're able to answer this number three.
[1:16:43] No, that's promoting equitable outcomes, it's something that we have to do as part of the plan.
[1:16:49] Okay, number three, okay, got it, okay.
[1:16:51] So then, okay, then I'll go to come from Franklin.
[1:16:54] Do you have any numbers that you want to pull out?
[1:16:58] You know, I didn't want to specifically pull it off if we didn't have to, but maybe it's already been pulled off.
[1:17:03] But the $3 million for business impacts.
[1:17:08] I was hoping that that item would come back before the council and we'd have a full discussion and approve a program.
[1:17:15] Is that the intent of staff I assumed it was?
[1:17:17] But what number is that?
[1:17:20] It's number eight.
[1:17:21] Number eight.
[1:17:22] So the intent was we would have our economic development developer,
[1:17:26] have hanged up here and speak to you about the program
[1:17:29] and walk you through how the program might work.
[1:17:33] And we also have we're proposing to have the Chamber of Commerce
[1:17:36] ever see that program and we have as you heard Rachel Bell here as well to be able to comment
[1:17:42] if you have questions for her.
[1:17:44] So I was hoping that we could have a full discussion on that item and that the Council
[1:17:51] could be involved in the creation of that program.
[1:17:55] You know, I agree there's non-profit organizations we're going to want to include as well
[1:17:58] and we're going to want to look at the, you know, which businesses are going to qualify in
[1:18:04] what basis, so I guess I would pull that item so that we can talk about.
[1:18:09] Okay, what I'll do is, once I find what ones we're not here, then we'll do the balance,
[1:18:12] and then I'll go through, we'll start and go five, six, eight, you know, go through them each
[1:18:17] one, okay?
[1:18:18] Okay, so then I'll go to Council Member Melendez.
[1:18:24] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[1:18:26] We are going to do it in this fashion, I'll go ahead and just briefly list off the numbers.
[1:18:31] Although I do want to express that, you know, while we want to have efficiency in these discussions,
[1:18:40] this isn't a consent calendar item and so I want the public to be aware that we want to be thorough
[1:18:46] about all these items here, but we are as individuals highlighting the ones that are very significant to us
[1:18:54] or ones that we have maybe concerns about or would like to discuss in greater depth.
[1:18:59] Ideally, we could discuss all of these in greater depth, but I will go ahead and highlight
[1:19:04] the ones that are very pertinent to me.
[1:19:07] I'm going to say number five, the Stormwater Infrastructure, number eight, the grant program
[1:19:13] with the chamber.
[1:19:16] Let's see also number 16, financial literacy programs,
[1:19:26] 18, training program, 21, page
[1:19:30] internship program, and 23 the clean and safe program I'd like to discuss those at greater
[1:19:38] length. Okay, and Deputy Mayor.
[1:19:43] 3, 8, 11, 14, and 21. Okay, so then could I get, it's, it's
[1:19:53] still this works. A motion for. I would move to approve the balance of the items listed with
[1:20:00] The exception to the numbers that were pulled by my colleagues.
[1:20:03] Got it. Okay, have a motion in a second on that. So can we vote on that and get that set aside?
[1:20:08] And then we'll discuss everything else in detail. Okay? So these cashier votes on that.
[1:20:22] That motion passes unanimously. Okay, so we will start then. Looks to be like the first item number.
[1:20:29] The discuss will be number. How do you want to do this?
[1:20:31] Yeah, let's just, we'll go number three.
[1:20:34] Yeah, so it's going to number three just start with each each number since Mr. Sylvia's city here will start with number three
[1:20:40] Okay, fine answer. Okay, number three. Let's start with. We're going to start with.
[1:20:46] So yeah, that was
[1:20:48] As I said as I detailed in the presentation those are the 1.4 million dollars was just over 700,000 for the way which is a budgeted subsidy
[1:20:58] a bit over 400,000 in senior nutrition and a bit under 200,000 from member correctly for gas
[1:21:06] tax and those were those are budgeted subsidies and if we had the opportunity to backload
[1:21:12] that and relieve the general fund we wanted to go for that.
[1:21:15] Perfect so I it's not that I'm opposed to using those funds allocated in that way at all.
[1:21:20] I just know that our senior community was very hardly impacted by this and they haven't been able
[1:21:25] get back in there and have their meals and have their camaraderie, and if we have money that
[1:21:30] we're allocating towards this, I just want to make sure that staff is fully aware of the level
[1:21:34] of urgency that I want to put behind this to get them back there, eating and doing their thing.
[1:21:39] They're so lonely and they're so desperate to get back to the senior center, so these additional
[1:21:44] funds, if that allows us to get that open and get that run and quicker, I want to do that.
[1:21:49] like I, I'm still bummed that they're not,
[1:21:52] they're eating every day and dancing a few times a week
[1:21:55] and you know, salsa and with myself
[1:21:57] and council member, contraris.
[1:21:59] And I know council member Melinda
[1:22:00] is wanting to get over there to salsa too.
[1:22:02] So the sooner we can get this senior center up
[1:22:04] and running the better.
[1:22:05] So the only reason I wanted to pull that
[1:22:06] is to just stress the importance of getting that senior
[1:22:09] center back up and running
[1:22:10] and make sure that those funds are allocated as quickly
[1:22:12] as possible to get that back up and running.
[1:22:14] So that's it.
[1:22:15] Thank you.
[1:22:16] That's deputy mayor.
[1:22:17] We have just so the council understands we have two key positions that have been higher and we are waiting for them to start in September and once they do that we planned to open the center fully.
[1:22:31] At the towards the end of September and I was going to announce it later tonight under all communications but I want to let you know we are going to open the center on Wednesday mornings as well.
[1:22:42] As an added benefit to get some of the senior population in there in the morning and then we have two seasons Thursdays in the afternoon. Thank you
[1:22:51] Council member Pinterest
[1:22:55] Sorry, I didn't know how to since all our names are still up here
[1:23:00] I wanted to work but thank you. I appreciate it
[1:23:04] I just want to make sure that I'm clear about number three subsidies the
[1:23:11] the money is that going just to making us whole or it or is it additional money from
[1:23:17] the money that we're already budgeted to spend.
[1:23:21] It's additional money typically the money would come from the general fund but because we
[1:23:25] have the south side funding source it would be a savings to the general fund.
[1:23:30] As a savings to the general fund means that this is in addition to what we have allocated
[1:23:36] or doesn't mean that it's a substitute.
[1:23:39] it's a substitute. So it's not, so it's not more, we're not allocating more money than we
[1:23:47] would have if we didn't receive this money because this is a substitute for the money we've
[1:23:53] already allocated in our budget. Am I understanding that correctly? You are. So I just want to
[1:23:58] make sure that everybody understands that we're not going to be providing with this 1.4
[1:24:04] million more money in subsidies.
[1:24:08] It is simply a way to balance our balance sheet.
[1:24:17] Okay, but I'm totally in favor of it.
[1:24:20] Okay, that's my Franklin.
[1:24:23] Yeah, I'm in favor also of item number three.
[1:24:26] These are city programs that we had a demonstrable loss of revenue
[1:24:30] that was directly related to COVID.
[1:24:32] And so I think using these funds, this is one of the most expressed purposes, which the funds were intended,
[1:24:38] was to replace COVID impacted revenues.
[1:24:41] So I think that's the right thing to do.
[1:24:43] I just, the only general comment I want to give is, you know, I think we all had a lot of spending priorities.
[1:24:49] We all always have a lot of spending priorities.
[1:24:51] Most of them did not fit into the guidelines of this program.
[1:24:55] So, you know, on a general basis, I want to commend staff for coming up with some great programming for the...
[1:25:00] These funds that actually allows us maximum flexibility with our general fund in the future.
[1:25:06] And I think the community will appreciate that in the years to come.
[1:25:09] Because a lot of the things that we are able to invest in here are real traditional infrastructure projects
[1:25:15] that we were going to expend funds on in the future.
[1:25:19] So, this plan is really giving us a lot of future flexibility. I think it's good one.
[1:25:26] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[1:25:29] I am also in favor of item three on this list to provide support and supplementation to some of our senior programs and it is also important to recognize that this isn't to expand the programming that is already in place.
[1:25:50] I know that seniors have been very hard hit by COVID.
[1:25:55] The isolation is very strong for some individuals, and while I do support using this
[1:26:04] funding for senior nutrition programs and our senior center, I would like to see this program
[1:26:12] be used not to supplement what would have been coming from our general fund, but to expand
[1:26:19] the programs to perhaps reach further into the community where people are experiencing isolation
[1:26:26] and providing that assistance and providing those services.
[1:26:31] So because, as Council Member Contreras recognized in the document, one of the essential elements
[1:26:39] of these ARPA funds is a focus on equity and when we look at our senior population, they absolutely
[1:26:46] have been hit very hard by COVID and I would like to see, you know, these funds go to expand
[1:26:54] programs if at all possible and maybe you can answer the question for the sake of our discussion
[1:27:00] and also for the community that's here listening. Since these subsidies are now coming from
[1:27:06] the ARPA funding, where is that money that is in our general fund? Where is that planning ongoing?
[1:27:15] It would roll to unassigned fund balance, I mean, it would, it's essentially a general fund savings
[1:27:21] because there was a, you know, if it were, we're to move forward as it's proposed here,
[1:27:26] it has council member, contraris said it's a substitute, but it certainly, it's a desire
[1:27:34] of the council additional funding could be programmed.
[1:27:37] Okay, and would our council have the opportunity in the future to discuss where that funding goes?
[1:27:44] Absolutely, I mean, this is, you know, I didn't say it in the presentation, but when
[1:27:48] the federal government's handing out $350 million to thousands of local governments,
[1:27:55] I don't think any of these plans are set in stone. I mean, if you imagine it like a budget, it's going to
[1:28:07] by December 31st, 2024 and spent by December 31st, 2026.
[1:28:13] And so this is an initial cut, if you will, to something that probably will be a living
[1:28:19] document.
[1:28:20] Okay.
[1:28:21] Well, thank you.
[1:28:21] I'm going to add just real quick, I think I mentioned to a number of you that what we
[1:28:26] are hoping to do is come back at a later date with the subsidy money in particular, not the
[1:28:31] other monies, but the subsidy money and allocate that money and in particular, like the
[1:28:38] We have a need to have a reserve account at the way of water park and this funding would be a boost to be able to provide that.
[1:28:46] So we would be coming back to you with the subsidy funding to be able to allocate.
[1:28:51] Thank you.
[1:28:52] And I am, like I said, in favor of this use allocation for the ARPA funds.
[1:28:59] But I do want to contextualize our conversation that, you know, while this is an item that, you know,
[1:29:04] Most of us are in agreement of using RPF1s4.
[1:29:08] I want to be mindful of how we're planning on using
[1:29:11] these RPF1s, right, in parallel to some of our general fund
[1:29:17] uses that also, we don't want to take away from them.
[1:29:24] So I hope that we can get to some of those next.
[1:29:28] Thank you.
[1:29:29] Tell us about the Franklin.
[1:29:30] Make a motion to approve item number three.
[1:29:33] Okay, do I have a second?
[1:29:35] I'll second.
[1:29:37] Okay, so please catch a votes and item number three.
[1:29:45] And motion passes unanimously.
[1:29:47] The next item I have, would we go to be item number five?
[1:29:51] We have our community development director and director of engineering
[1:29:54] John Conley here to discuss item number five,
[1:29:58] which is stormwater.
[1:30:02] Okay, so Councilmember Ken, Chair, do you want to go first on that?
[1:30:11] I think my biggest issue with this is not the fact that we desperately need to address our stormwater infrastructure.
[1:30:20] The issue that I have is that for my understanding, we haven't been saving for stormwater infrastructure.
[1:30:25] So, at this point, we have received ARPA funds and
[1:30:35] instead of utilizing this funding for promoting equity in our community, we're having to use it on something that we just have neglected to save for.
[1:30:48] So, that's my biggest issue.
[1:30:50] Yeah, maybe I can clarify too for not only the council, but the members of the audience.
[1:30:56] Stormwater is an area that there is no true funding source for similar or like sewer
[1:31:02] where we collect a fee to maintain our sewer infrastructure both the pipes and the operations.
[1:31:08] We're able to do that with sewer funds and unfortunately we don't have a stormwater fund.
[1:31:14] the state didn't mandate a storm water fund, and so we are left with not having an appropriate
[1:31:21] revenue source for infrastructure.
[1:31:23] So back in the 50s, the 60s, the 80s, the 90s, you name it.
[1:31:28] This infrastructure has been maintained to a very slight degree, and so that's why staff
[1:31:36] had put this forward as such a large item, but we think that this is certainly something
[1:31:41] I could set the community up, the City Council is up for the future for the next 40 to 50 years
[1:31:47] by maintaining this infrastructure that is desperately needed as Mr. Silvia said. We've had
[1:31:52] two sinkholes on Melrose and on Sikomore. We've also had a sinkhole on foot hill. We've had
[1:31:58] sinkholes in townside area and it's desperately needed. I know it's a huge amount of money.
[1:32:03] Don't give me wrong. But this is from at least my perspective, a good opportunity to take advantage
[1:32:10] to fixing that infrastructure so that doesn't become a problem for the future.
[1:32:14] Right, and I'm in agreement with that, I just want to make sure that in 40 to 50 years
[1:32:21] that we actually do have something in the bank, because we know that none of this
[1:32:27] lasts indefinitely, so I just want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence as a
[1:32:39] to rely on emergency money that we didn't even know we were going to be receiving to fix structural
[1:32:47] issues in our city.
[1:32:50] That's a good point, as UNI at the conversation yesterday, I would take about $250 to $270,000
[1:32:56] a year starting with to set aside to plan for the future.
[1:33:00] I think it's a great suggestion too.
[1:33:04] Councilmember Melendez.
[1:33:05] Thank you Madam Mayor, thank you Council Member Contrares for considering looking forward in the future of how we're going to support these infrastructure needs.
[1:33:19] My concern with item five with stormwater infrastructure is first when the community is looking at this document.
[1:33:25] It is the largest allocation, $13.5 million, and that's a really huge allocation in this
[1:33:38] entire ARPA funds that could be used for so many things.
[1:33:45] I am concerned about ensuring that this item and other items are accomplishing the objective
[1:33:55] I know that there was an explanation of the risk of reimbursement.
[1:34:02] So would you be able to explain a little bit to us how the stormwater infrastructure specifically fits into some of these objectives, right?
[1:34:11] Supporting the COVID-19 response efforts, replacing loss revenue and assisting in job retention, supporting immediate economic stabilization,
[1:34:21] and addressing systemic public health and economic challenges.
[1:34:26] First glance is hard for me to connect those objectives to improving our stormwater infrastructure,
[1:34:34] especially like my colleague, it has expressed.
[1:34:37] This is a one-time funding from the federal government.
[1:34:44] So if you could explain that, that would be very helpful.
[1:34:46] I think there's a strong connection between storm water and overall health of the community without a doubt.
[1:34:53] I think we could all agree upon that.
[1:34:55] But storm water is called out specifically in this document.
[1:35:00] And saying that this is an eligible use.
[1:35:05] So I understand your question about the criteria that's in here. And just for, just for sake of clarity, on page 32 of 43, it talks about promoting equitable outcomes. And I'm not arguing that we should look at what those equitable outcomes are. But it does only apply to cities that are 250,000 or more in size. So for us, from an audit perspective with the federal government,
[1:35:29] this item, or any of these items that we're proposing fall well into the Arpagide
[1:35:35] lines.
[1:35:36] I'm not sure that I'm answering your question directly, but I did want to stress that
[1:35:39] this is one of those six categories that has spelled out that it's eligible for.
[1:35:46] Yeah, I did.
[1:35:46] And this will be, I think, had some comments.
[1:35:48] I do just if, on page 40 of the staff report in middle of the page, the infrastructure expense
[1:35:55] category is shown there and the subcategory 5.6, clean water, corn, storm water.
[1:36:02] So it's clearly stated as a valid public health aspects.
[1:36:08] Okay, and then I think my final comments were relating to equity and just like kind of looking
[1:36:15] at our city as a whole.
[1:36:17] Do we have an idea of where most of these improvements are going to be occurring with this
[1:36:22] about 13.5 million?
[1:36:25] Yeah, so the recommendation is to address the pipe condition
[1:36:30] that are deteriorating primarily corrugated metal pipes,
[1:36:34] primarily located in the public right away
[1:36:36] and under our public streets.
[1:36:38] They're spread throughout the city,
[1:36:39] but the majority of them, at least the major sections
[1:36:42] are in the older part of the city,
[1:36:44] the northern section, I'd say, north of the 78,
[1:36:47] in the areas that were developed in the 60, 70, 80s timeframe.
[1:36:51] But the objective here is to replace or to line those corrugated metal pipes, those are the pipes that are deteriorating.
[1:36:58] That's where we're finding the sinkholes and the failures, and to line them under our public right-of-way areas not to get into private property.
[1:37:07] Okay. I understand. Thank you.
[1:37:10] And Mr. I just like it at Mr. Conley, the goal would be to video those pipes first and find out where
[1:37:18] they're the most deteriorated pipes occur and take care of those immediately. Correct. Right. So we have an analysis
[1:37:24] of where they all are located. The first step would be evaluating condition and then coming back with a
[1:37:30] project, either line or cut and cover replace the pipes.
[1:37:38] Customers are Franklin.
[1:37:39] So, we learned in the last couple of years about corrugated metal pipe, some of our residents
[1:37:46] unfortunately live in subdivisions that were developed with corrugated metal pipe and unfortunately
[1:37:52] a lot of them own that infrastructure underneath their homes, but what we learned is that in
[1:37:57] the last 20 or so years we don't allow people, maybe it's 30 or 40 years we don't allow people
[1:38:02] to use corrugated metal pipe anymore because it tends to rust out and 50 years later we're looking
[1:38:08] major replacement costs. So what you said is really important. The newer parts of our city
[1:38:16] have concrete storm water pipes. So this is going to primarily benefit those parts of the community.
[1:38:22] And I'm guessing what's the plan? I mean if we're cutting a trench white enough to replace one of
[1:38:27] these storm ramp pipes, we're basically putting a new surface on that street. Is that right?
[1:38:32] In most situations, we'll probably be lining the pipes where we can. So we won't have to cut the
[1:38:38] situations where there's not an ability to line, yes, we'll cut the street and replace the pipe and repeat it.
[1:38:44] Got it.
[1:38:45] So the other thing about this program is staff clearly looked at where the biggest opportunity for a definite future cost for the city.
[1:38:55] And we've, you know, by using these funds to finance a definite future cost, we're also reserving these funds for this council or a future council to spend
[1:39:07] on other priorities as we have an opportunity to discuss and create them as a council.
[1:39:13] So I think this is a really smart use of the funds and I would make a motion to approve item five.
[1:39:21] Yeah, I have a motion. Who is that? The second. It was a council of contours. Okay.
[1:39:25] I have a motion. The second. Please cast your votes on that.
[1:39:32] That motion passes unanimously. That takes us to our next number, which is number six.
[1:39:40] And that is Council Member Contreras.
[1:39:42] That is the money vista, the brain channel.
[1:39:45] So this is a money mar, drink.
[1:39:46] I'm a money mar.
[1:39:46] Yeah, no problem.
[1:39:47] I knew what you meant.
[1:39:49] I forgot my glasses tonight.
[1:39:51] And if we have any technical questions,
[1:39:53] we have our public workstractor, Kunimutisami,
[1:39:56] here that can help answer those.
[1:39:58] Sure, you know, with I-
[1:40:00] Number 5 and 6, excuse me, 6 and 7, I just want for the public to hear a little bit more about why we're spending it on this particular type of infrastructure improvement. I'm not against it, but because this is so much money on the table, I want to be able to tell the community, hey, this is exactly why we chose these items.
[1:40:27] So for number six, what we're talking about now in number seven,
[1:40:31] I would just like a little bit more information from staff.
[1:40:35] So we have it in the public record.
[1:40:36] Thanks.
[1:40:39] If you look at item six, you know,
[1:40:41] for Monti-Made, the Drain Channel.
[1:40:42] It's an open channel now.
[1:40:45] If you look at the sites and also the bottom of the channel,
[1:40:50] it has begun to collapse on the south side of the mobile homes.
[1:40:54] So, I have met the members of the mobile home in a community, but two years ago, and there were
[1:41:05] questions of our plans to address the issue.
[1:41:12] As we look at all the recent developments in the area,
[1:41:18] our plan now is to pipe the channel
[1:41:21] and then also to build a site work on top of the dirt, you know, that will clean up the
[1:41:26] area and then also it will protect the residents and the community in the area.
[1:41:35] It's the same for items 7,
[1:41:40] which is in West Westerway so it's on the not site of the
[1:41:45] street that is the only section which is an open channel.
[1:41:50] So the idea is to pipe that section and then put dirt on it and then also in future when
[1:41:58] funds we would like to put aside well and then also put trees and that will increase the safety
[1:42:05] of the road users.
[1:42:09] Well I really appreciate that and I think it really just highlights and illuminates
[1:42:14] to the public why we're utilizing ARPA funds on some of this infrastructure. It's crucial and it's
[1:42:29] So I really appreciate you kind of just walking us through, I am five and six and seven, right?
[1:42:41] There's so many, six and seven.
[1:42:44] Thank you.
[1:42:46] And I let you know that on the month, you know,
[1:42:48] I met with that mobile park for years, several years and years,
[1:42:52] and we've never had really the money to, and they're worried that their walls
[1:42:55] going to fall in, they worry about it all the time I get calls like leave once a year and then
[1:43:00] I meet with them and I tell them oh yeah we're working on it so this is the we
[1:43:04] have had the money to do it so yeah I'm so grateful for them and they'll be so excited to hear
[1:43:08] that so so is that I see customer Franklin does that year I was just going to make a motion
[1:43:14] to approve item six and seven oh I'll second that how about that did you want to do it okay
[1:43:24] Please catch your votes.
[1:43:34] Okay, that may have some motion passes unanimously, and that takes us to item.
[1:43:38] Mayer, if we could, because a number of the items involved are economic development director, Kevin Hammeth.
[1:43:46] If we could jump to item C11, and then we will go to C16, and then we will finish it out with economic development.
[1:43:56] And I think that would make the flow easier from having Mr. Ham sit down and go up a few
[1:44:01] different times.
[1:44:02] My message up, my pro thing I'm doing here.
[1:44:06] So where am I going?
[1:44:07] Now, it's been Franklin.
[1:44:08] It was that.
[1:44:09] Sorry, I wanted, I really want to spend much more so good.
[1:44:13] I would like to have a full discussion about this program.
[1:44:17] I think probably I'm going to guess that we all agree that we want to do this, but I think
[1:44:23] We're going to all have a lot of questions.
[1:44:25] And I want to have a full discussion about this.
[1:44:27] So I'd like it to come back at our next council meeting
[1:44:30] when we could all really dive in, so I'd do better,
[1:44:32] without being pressed, where we have 23 items to vote.
[1:44:34] So that's fine.
[1:44:35] And that's fine if that's the direction of the council.
[1:44:37] No problem.
[1:44:38] I just wanted to move to see 11 and then come back
[1:44:41] to those items for your discussion.
[1:44:43] But I would make a motion that we would approve item eight
[1:44:46] and direct staff to bring a full discussion
[1:44:48] to approve the final ordinance governing the expenditure
[1:44:53] those funds before us at the next practical meeting, would I would say, would you like to hear what staff have?
[1:45:00] That's the say tonight. And then give us that direction. I really do not want to be pressed to make decisions about this. I want to have the full discussion and not include such a major program that we're all going to have a lot to say about in such a large laundry list of items.
[1:45:17] But that's just my personal preference. If there's not a second to the motion, then I'll rub it.
[1:45:23] Well, you're done.
[1:45:25] Okay, so what if we could go to item C11, provide Wi-Fi and downtown and all attempt to take this
[1:45:32] Deputy Mayor Green, I know that you would pull this item.
[1:45:39] You know, I just wanted to break down the importance of needing Wi-Fi and downtown, actually,
[1:45:44] and having the community that's in that area actually, some of them don't have access to Wi-Fi.
[1:45:48] So, I think this is a great expenditure of funds.
[1:45:50] I also wanted to see once we allocate these funds, what's the time frame for when it will be
[1:45:54] and running and how will our residents actually be able to access it
[1:45:57] where they'll be like a password or something or is it just supposed to be like a
[1:46:00] just click on and you live in like you know what I appreciate you pulling this
[1:46:05] because this is actually a really good partnership with the school district
[1:46:10] VUSD where VUSD is going to outfit a number of sites throughout the community for
[1:46:16] Wi-Fi, Vista High School, Luz-Dran, Linda Rhodes Center, as well as Vista Magnet Middle School.
[1:46:25] And part of the conversations, they lack the ability to get Fiber to Luz-Dran Park.
[1:46:31] So what we're going to do with this money is we'll install Fiber to Luz-Dran Park to give
[1:46:35] them access, and in turn they're going to provide Wi-Fi from Vista Magnet Middle School
[1:46:41] when the connection is all made and it'll go out to the entire downtown and the other good
[1:46:47] part of this is that VUSD will run that Wi-Fi network because we don't run Wi-Fi networks
[1:46:53] and so that's a big benefit to us. They have gone out with an RFP already. I think they may
[1:46:59] have selected a contractor. I might be mistaken, but it's very close and then they're going
[1:47:03] to start that work. We will go ahead with Council approval and start the fiber connection to
[1:47:10] park so there's no hold up on on our behalf for them.
[1:47:16] Is that enough information on that?
[1:47:17] I hope I have to see a lot of speakers.
[1:47:19] Councilman Franklin is your name on this one too or is that possible?
[1:47:22] I think it's a great project, great partnership with the schools and I think this one directly
[1:47:26] speaks to the question of equity.
[1:47:29] So I would move approval of item 11.
[1:47:32] Councilman of Contreras.
[1:47:34] I have to 100% agree with Councilmember Franklin.
[1:47:36] And this is so exciting, and it is exactly the type of partnership that the community expects
[1:47:43] and requires of the city and also of this unified school district.
[1:47:49] So I think it's a win-win, and I just want to throw it out there.
[1:47:54] This is part of our vets, right?
[1:47:57] Our vista economic development strategy.
[1:48:00] So here we are, I think that was like years out, maybe.
[1:48:03] I can't remember where it was in the list, but we have funding now and a great partner
[1:48:09] with the U.S.D. and we're going to get this done.
[1:48:11] It's going to be huge for the downtown and I'm excited.
[1:48:16] I'm really excited for it to go up because we have co-working, we have a lot of people meeting
[1:48:22] up downtown, so many people from all different parts of the city go there.
[1:48:27] It definitely speaks to equity,
[1:48:31] and it's, I hope we have like a ribbon cutting for it.
[1:48:35] It would be really awesome, all right, thanks.
[1:48:39] You know, it's so exciting that we have this money to do some of these projects that were
[1:48:43] way far out, you know, that, I mean, truly, I'm grateful for that.
[1:48:47] So, Cosmo Ramolendez.
[1:48:49] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[1:48:50] I, too, am supportive of this item.
[1:48:54] I just had a question for staff because this, I believe, will be very successful, are there other locations in the city that staff is considering appropriate for public Wi-Fi?
[1:49:07] So, the one that we've talked about for probably the last, I'm looking at Mr. Ham 15 years to have a stable Wi-Fi is downtown.
[1:49:16] We have not been researching other areas.
[1:49:19] I know VUSD is looking at the park sites where kids can congregate and get the Wi-Fi for free.
[1:49:25] But as a city, we have not looked into anything other than downtown.
[1:49:30] Just thought I would ask.
[1:49:31] I'm really excited about this one as well.
[1:49:34] And I'll second that.
[1:49:36] Super.
[1:49:38] So please catch your votes.
[1:49:46] The motion passes unanimously.
[1:49:48] So now we're going to see 16, which is the financial literacy program.
[1:49:52] and we have Ms. Maddali, our Assistant City Manager, and she can provide information, technical information.
[1:50:00] The council may have, and then we're going to go back and we're going to go back and we'll do economic development and then Kevin Hamm won't be able to leave that to you.
[1:50:10] That's missing up my schedule.
[1:50:12] I know, missing everything up.
[1:50:16] But it's okay. We can do it.
[1:50:20] So, council member contraris, I think you were the first to pull this item.
[1:50:25] Yes, I pulled this item, not because I don't believe in financial literacy programs, but
[1:50:31] however, $174,600 is a significant amount of money that, you know, I think we can do
[1:50:41] a pilot program for a year, you know, $43 to $50,000 to see how it's going, how many
[1:50:49] We're able to participate in the rest of that money that we're allocating to number 16 financial literacy programs.
[1:51:01] You know, could that go to other food programs?
[1:51:04] Could that go to rent mortgage and utility aid?
[1:51:07] Could that go to eviction prevention?
[1:51:09] Could that go to aid to high poverty districts or social emotional and mental health services or child care?
[1:51:17] So I just think it's a really large sum to provide towards a pilot program that we don't know how many people are going to be positively impacted.
[1:51:33] I'm sure everybody that goes and is able to do this program will have a benefit.
[1:51:40] But as a percentage of distance, I just don't know.
[1:51:45] So I would also like for my co-worker Amanda to be able to break down how we even get $174,000.
[1:52:00] Sure, thank you for having me.
[1:52:03] It's $3,600 a month for workshops and that would be one workshop plus an additional hour for one on one time with the person who's running the financial literacy program.
[1:52:19] So those would be held on a monthly basis with that additional hour to do those one on one for four years.
[1:52:25] And then that also gives an additional 12, one-on-one hour, 12, one-hour sessions of one-on-one
[1:52:32] as well.
[1:52:33] So if people need additional, to go through a preassessment post-assessment, on a one-on-one
[1:52:38] basis, supposed to do it in a group setting.
[1:52:41] So you're getting 12 a year, for four years, plus also 12, one-on-one sessions, plus an
[1:52:50] additional 12, one-on-one sessions as well, 12 for every year.
[1:52:54] And do we have an idea based on this program run in other capacities about how many individuals
[1:53:05] participate, per session?
[1:53:08] So for a city to run a financial literacy program, it's not something that's done a lot.
[1:53:13] So normally it's done through various financial agencies.
[1:53:17] It's also done through, we were connected through our affordable housing developers
[1:53:22] because they run financial literacy programs and that's who we got connected with and then
[1:53:27] they connected us with someone who runs it in the field as well. So in those affordable housing
[1:53:34] developments a lot of people, I mean there's a high rates and success of people coming from
[1:53:39] all levels. So financial well-being is just kind of meeting you where you're at, whereas whether
[1:53:44] if it's you're not able to make day-to-day and now you're able to actually make month-month
[1:53:49] opposed to day-to-day. It's kind of meeting where you're at to gain to a point where you're actually
[1:53:53] having well-being and being able to do things that you enjoy. It's not necessarily always
[1:53:58] buying the house or buying the cards, kind of just getting to more of a stability level. It's
[1:54:02] would be more targeted for more of our economically vulnerable communities that don't qualify for
[1:54:11] affordable housing, but need those resources available. It is a program that we've talked about
[1:54:16] sometimes through the homeless strategic plan of providing opportunities.
[1:54:20] So that's why staff kind of looked at this and really kind of wanted to develop a plan that was a little bit more robust
[1:54:26] and can kind of mean all the needs of the community without using funding that's restricted for income,
[1:54:32] but more funding. So if you are more, if you don't aren't local income, but you're still struggling on a day-to-day basis,
[1:54:39] you'd be able to also have access to those wellbeing.
[1:54:42] Okay, yeah, just clarify this funding is for four years.
[1:54:46] Or yes, yes.
[1:54:47] As you said, about $43,000 a year.
[1:54:49] $43,000 a year and that includes one workshop,
[1:54:53] plus one additional hour for that one on one focus.
[1:54:56] And that could be someone could take 15 minutes.
[1:54:58] It can be back to back for those hours.
[1:55:00] Okay, yeah, and one of my concerns is right, there's a high utilization rate for someone in like community housing works, right, someone in affordable housing, right, because you have that structure already into connect this program to the people is like a clear connection.
[1:55:26] So one of my concerns is just, you know, do we have to then allocate more money for marketing this or is that part of the 174,000?
[1:55:35] You know, it's a lot of money to allocate on a pilot program that is decentralized from its original model.
[1:55:45] So those are some of my concerns. I'd like to hear from my colleagues.
[1:55:52] Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you so much Amanda for your explanation, and you actually answered some of my questions, so first question was going to be, what's the target audience of financial literacy program and you expressed it would be for those who are economically vulnerable, you know, to get individuals to a place where they are able to have greater well-being.
[1:56:13] So I'm very favorable towards these kinds of programs in my experience providing social work
[1:56:22] and case management services.
[1:56:25] I conducted financial literacy one on one with our program participants.
[1:56:32] And I'll give some feedback that ends up being very, you know, it's kind of like you have to have the experience to understand
[1:56:42] so that's why I want to share it. But when you're working with an individual who really has very
[1:56:47] little to go off of, they may not have employment, maybe the only sorts of income that they have
[1:56:53] at the time is EBT or food stamps, right? You're dealing with, you're working and partnering with
[1:57:00] an individual who has a severe economic disparities at the moment. And just using financial literacy
[1:57:09] coaching on its own may not be sufficient programming to get someone to that place.
[1:57:17] I understand that there's, you know, models that are more effective than others, but
[1:57:21] from my experience, right, when somebody's working with a very, very minimal budget, doing financial
[1:57:27] literacy, it can be, cause a lot of barriers to actually accomplishing that goal of greater
[1:57:35] all being.
[1:57:36] So, something that I think could be effective and if it's possible to include in a financial
[1:57:40] literacy program is including financial assistance funding or flex funding for the individuals
[1:57:45] that are in the program.
[1:57:46] The reason for that is the stability, right?
[1:57:49] Things like rental assistance, utility assistance, you know, teaching individuals to how to
[1:57:55] manage their money, but also understanding that if someone's coming from a position of not
[1:58:00] having a sufficient funds in order to live,
[1:58:04] that having those flex funds can get them to a point
[1:58:07] where they're actually able to start making stable decisions.
[1:58:11] I just like it could be used for things like business
[1:58:13] attire, right?
[1:58:14] And prepping for interviews and stuff like that.
[1:58:16] So I think that, you know, while I am cautionary
[1:58:20] of coming into saying yes to a new program
[1:58:24] that we haven't seen, you know,
[1:58:27] complicated in the city before, if we want to do it successfully, I would recommend including
[1:58:33] some sort of flex funding, or, you know, we do have flex funding with our social worker
[1:58:38] that works for the city through some of our other city programs. If there could be a pipeline
[1:58:46] of, you know, from that program to being able to receive flex funding for assistance for, like I said,
[1:58:54] utilities, things like business attire, things that would create opportunities for someone
[1:59:01] to accomplish that well-being and stability, and then also be able to maintain it with
[1:59:05] that financial literacy. I think would be one of the best ways to structure that kind
[1:59:09] of program. So that's my feedback. Other than that, I mean, I'm very supportive of financial
[1:59:14] literacy programs, but without flex funding, they kind of are a slap in the face of
[1:59:20] and poverty and we're just going to say that and yeah it's really hard to for someone to
[1:59:25] budget with zero zero money and zero leg up. But I've seen a lot of success come from using
[1:59:31] flux funding wisely and using them in tandem with the financial literacy program. That's all
[1:59:36] I have to say.
[1:59:39] It kills me with Franklin.
[1:59:41] So what would our ability be after say the first year of a four year program to repurpose
[1:59:45] a reprogram funding if we felt like the program wasn't all received or wasn't successful
[1:59:52] and getting enough people to come and participate.
[1:59:55] Yeah, that's an ARPA hit.
[1:59:58] Yeah.
[1:59:59] Yeah, as I said earlier.
[2:00:00] This is likely going to be a living document, and we have some premiums built into these estimates, especially the infrastructure ones, because not only is the city a vista considering major infrastructure projects with this funding, every city, counties, the state, everyone is going to be going to market at the same time, so we're expecting premium pricing from contractors who do the work. It's simple economics in that regard.
[2:00:30] as a staff, we fully expect if things aren't working, we're going to need to reprogram them
[2:00:37] for sure. So if we wanted to take your fours program expense and convert that into marketing
[2:00:43] funds for years two and three, that's something that we could do.
[2:00:46] As far as I know to this point, yes, I've yet to see really clear guidance from Treasury
[2:00:52] quite yet on how folks or agencies are going to amend their plans, but you can't create a
[2:00:59] a year plan and have it be completely inflexible. So I'm going on out on a bit of a limb
[2:01:04] there, but I don't see how it would be possible to go. This is what these 23 things
[2:01:11] are going to be locked into and not be able to amend it.
[2:01:15] Very similar to the care funding we could file amendments and things like that. So I think this
[2:01:21] is a really important program. They don't teach you in high school how to create a family budget.
[2:01:27] They don't teach you how to balance a checkbook or how to manage credit cards and some basic financial literacy
[2:01:35] Education I didn't acquire myself to those in my 20s and 30s a lot of the things that I learned about
[2:01:41] You know my own finances or self-taught and they came at the great expense of hard
[2:01:48] Lessons and I really wish that I would have had the benefit of going through something like this
[2:01:53] decade or two earlier in my life would have been great help to me.
[2:01:57] I think this is the kind of knowledge that can change the trajectory of people's lives.
[2:02:02] This is the kind of thing that doesn't address the symptoms of poverty,
[2:02:09] but really it gets at some of the root causes.
[2:02:12] And the reality is that whatever somebody circumstances
[2:02:17] are means budgeting is important and learning to manage credit and learning to access the financial
[2:02:25] system. These are life skills that are going to be great value to the individuals who have
[2:02:32] the opportunity to participate. I look forward to attending one of these courses to learn
[2:02:36] more myself and to see the benefit that has provided the community. So with that I would move
[2:02:44] the
[2:02:51] So yeah, I love the idea of this program.
[2:02:54] I feel like this is just kind of one tool in our toolbox
[2:02:56] to kind of help our community out as a council.
[2:02:58] We've been real fiscal responsible with allocating funds
[2:03:01] for housing assistance and homelessness prevention.
[2:03:05] And there are a lot of tools for this.
[2:03:07] So I feel like the person who helps allocate this financial literacy
[2:03:10] plan will be connected to all the other resources of the city.
[2:03:14] And like you say, you can't do too much.
[2:03:17] And I should have all the tools in your toolbox.
[2:03:18] So I feel like this is one tool that we use.
[2:03:20] And I love that it's $40,000 annually.
[2:03:23] I think that is a reasonable fee.
[2:03:25] And the fact that we can reallocate the funds
[2:03:27] in some other way if it's not effective
[2:03:28] is definitely something that's awesome.
[2:03:31] And kind of like Councilman Franklin said,
[2:03:32] you know, I'm in my almost mid 40s now.
[2:03:35] And they did have consumer math in school
[2:03:37] when I wasn't school, but I know these days they don't.
[2:03:40] And I run into it all the time with people not knowing
[2:03:42] what the effects of credit are and how you save money
[2:03:45] and what debt income ratios are
[2:03:47] and how that affects your purchasing ability
[2:03:49] and things. So I think this is a really good thing that we're doing as a city and I love that
[2:03:54] there's not other cities that do things like this. I want to be at the tip of the spear. I want
[2:03:59] to be a city that tries new things. I want to be a city that other cities look at and go like,
[2:04:03] hey, Vista did that and they did great and their city loves them for it. We should do it as well. So
[2:04:08] come up and coming up with new innovative ideas to help our community is amazing. So with that,
[2:04:13] I will second the motion to approve this item number. Okay, and I agree on this.
[2:04:19] I'm also, I agree with both of you at Deputy Mayor and Council Member Franklin, because the kids, I had
[2:04:25] Grandkids that came out that didn't, was trying to write a check, I don't want to say that could I embarrass them.
[2:04:30] Didn't know how to write a check coming out of school.
[2:04:33] You know, I mean, the kids really need training.
[2:04:36] People need training.
[2:04:37] People get into their 20s and don't know.
[2:04:39] And I actually didn't know that either until I got older.
[2:04:42] You know, this is really an important thing.
[2:04:44] I think I should back in high school, but if we can help people through that, I think that's important.
[2:04:49] So I think Councilor Contreras wanted to say something.
[2:04:54] Awesome, yeah. I like that we have flexibility because we definitely don't want to be paid.
[2:05:06] So, I think it's good. I want to make sure that we are able to review this as a council, but I do have a question because I think council member Melendez brought up a really good point about having flex funding. And I know, at one point, we had allocated money to help with utilities. What's the situation in the state of those funds at this point?
[2:05:28] And if there are funds available, I think this is a great way to be able to, like Deputy
[2:05:34] Mayor Green said, right, the person who is the consultant, you know, we can make sure
[2:05:40] that they're connected.
[2:05:41] So if you run into an individual who, hey, you know what, let utility bill was really high,
[2:05:49] there's a water break or something like that and they need a little bit of help, you know,
[2:05:54] we can then have a direct connection to some of those funds.
[2:05:57] So I just have a question about where we're at there.
[2:06:01] Yeah, so originally we had a rental and utility assistance program and then we unallocated
[2:06:09] those funds and because we reallocated them to other projects and that was because the
[2:06:14] county has funding and it was an amount of funding that they received actually from the
[2:06:19] treasury and the first they only paid 80% of people's rent and made someone else pay
[2:06:25] extra 20 but because they have so much money and it's not being utilized they're now going back
[2:06:30] 12 months and you only never went at 100%. So there's it's flush was cash right now.
[2:06:37] When we receive when we get a customer calling in because they can't pay their ad co-bill we
[2:06:42] refer them immediately to the county and tell them hey there's this utility assistance program
[2:06:46] there's requirements you do have to it's like CDBG where you have to be lower than 80% AMI
[2:06:51] But we definitely use that as a resource.
[2:06:54] We will definitely advise whoever comes in of all the resources that are available.
[2:07:00] Speaking to Council Member Melinda, we also still have our homelessness prevention program.
[2:07:05] So that's also still available.
[2:07:06] And we do refer people to those programs as well.
[2:07:09] So if someone's and those would cover anything to make someone stable on the to their feet.
[2:07:14] So those programs are definitely available to anybody.
[2:07:17] and especially we'll make sure that people are educated and the educators that you can.
[2:07:22] That is great, yeah.
[2:07:24] We definitely want to make sure that they're well-connected in that this information get to the individual utilizing this program.
[2:07:34] I think that's great.
[2:07:35] Thanks.
[2:07:37] Okay, we have a motion in a second on this item, so please cast your votes.
[2:07:46] Motion passes unanimously.
[2:07:48] Okay, slow.
[2:07:48] What would you like to go through now?
[2:07:49] Now, we're going to go back to C8 and the next six items involve our economic development
[2:07:55] director Kevin Ham so he will address the next six items that were pulled by the city council.
[2:08:01] So C8 was Franklin's and it was actually Deputy Mayor Franklin and Katie Melendez, right?
[2:08:09] The grant program.
[2:08:10] And Deputy Mayor Green for a grant program with Mr. Chamber to visit the businesses.
[2:08:14] Yes, okay.
[2:08:15] So, we'll start there.
[2:08:16] But I think that Cosmo and Franklin wanted this to pull off, right?
[2:08:21] Yes.
[2:08:21] So we'll start.
[2:08:22] You give us a report and then we'll go from there.
[2:08:26] So as you know last year we talked about grants to businesses and we decided not to do that.
[2:08:32] Last year when we implemented programs was a bit of constructing an airplane while we were flying it.
[2:08:39] And I think we did a pretty good job.
[2:08:42] This year we're putting in a few parts on the plane while we fly it.
[2:08:45] This is one of them that we've actually taken the model of several other cities.
[2:08:51] The city of San Diego is implemented a grant program, the city of Escundito, the city of San
[2:08:55] Marcos, and the city of Oceanside.
[2:08:58] So we've used that template that they have, the last one that was updated that we're aware of,
[2:09:03] was the city of Oceanside, the Chamber of Commerce and Oceanside, the Main Street Program,
[2:09:08] the Council, the staff, the businesses there, we're very happy with that program.
[2:09:12] So essentially, we have taken that document, modified that document and are working with our
[2:09:18] Chamber of Commerce to put the last details on it, but we have several different tiers for
[2:09:23] independently owned businesses in our community, depending upon where they are in the process,
[2:09:29] how big they are, the impacts that they've had, and I can go over that criteria for you if you
[2:09:36] like. But the idea is that this would take care of losses that they had during the pandemic and the
[2:09:42] impact they had. Also paying for and assisting them with future
[2:09:47] opportunities. So for example businesses may now understand that they
[2:09:52] need to be better represented on the internet. So if they came to the
[2:09:56] chamber who would be administering this and we have the guidelines set out.
[2:10:00] They could apply to create a website for their products and services. It could pay for or bring me and pay for employees.
[2:10:08] Right now, many of our businesses are experiencing, especially restaurants and other businesses, a dearth of employees.
[2:10:15] And so they could give those employees statements. This could also be used for child care for individuals and companies that need to support that specific need.
[2:10:25] So, these are programs that we have essentially copied,
[2:10:30] taken what we've seen as the best model,
[2:10:32] working with the Chamber of Commerce on the last few details,
[2:10:35] and we'd be implementing it with them.
[2:10:42] So, okay. So, Council Member Melendez.
[2:10:46] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[2:10:47] Thank you, Mr. Ham, for describing a little bit an overview
[2:10:50] of what these programs would look like.
[2:10:53] I am also in favor of Council Member Franklin, suggestions to
[2:10:59] bring this back for more thorough discussion that there is so much to go over.
[2:11:04] One of the things I wanted to clarify just before we proceed or you know table it for another meeting,
[2:11:11] is to see what opportunity these grant funds would go to providing rental assistance for businesses
[2:11:19] that may be at risk of eviction in those retail spaces.
[2:11:24] I know that that has been a cause of closure or risk of closure for some of our businesses and I wanted to see what the eligibility was like.
[2:11:33] Yeah, that is something that we can change.
[2:11:36] As we've looked into the document, we actually have covered that with some businesses and we actually have them affirmative to clear several things.
[2:11:46] One of them is that they're not in a rears and if they are in a rears that they make sure that they make up for that.
[2:11:52] So we can clarify in this document that if the R&R Rears, this money would go to that first before any other activity.
[2:12:01] Okay, I do bring that up because, you know, it would be very concerning if we were to provide assistance for a business that, you know, because of a landlord-tenant relationship, you know, a lack of payment of rent, or any kind of issue like that.
[2:12:16] We wouldn't actually be able to sustain the support that we're offering them with this grant because they would have to vacate that property
[2:12:22] So that's one of my concerns just making sure that's a sustainable model and at this point
[2:12:28] Those are my only comments. Thank you. And Mr. Hammer, are you aware of other
[2:12:32] funding sources that are available to businesses that have rental assistance needs?
[2:12:39] There are many grants out there. I can't think of one off the top of my head
[2:12:43] But there are the ones from the counties that we had in the past, the federal grants as well.
[2:12:49] I have not heard of anyone currently, that is in need of those funds.
[2:12:53] They haven't contacted us, but I don't know of any current ones that they could use.
[2:12:57] Thank you.
[2:12:59] Okay.
[2:12:59] Council Member Contreras.
[2:13:02] I hadn't thought about what Council Member Melinda said.
[2:13:06] And even if, you know, we're not certain of what businesses need in that aspect of rental
[2:13:15] assistance, I think it would be good to just have that in the document, just in case,
[2:13:20] as kind of a catch all.
[2:13:22] I am super supportive of this program.
[2:13:26] I think it's a long time coming, and we're able now to utilize our ARPA funds to finally
[2:13:32] get some assistance in this way because I know we did assistance in different ways but this
[2:13:39] is great and I support it. Even though this we're looking at for profit only as the way
[2:13:47] that the documents were in so I think my colleagues may have more to say about that. I am
[2:13:54] favor of for-profits being able to utilize it. I don't know if it should be, you know, 50-50
[2:14:03] or how that needs to be structured. But I am open to that as well.
[2:14:13] Come on, Mr. Franklin.
[2:14:15] Yeah, so again, I think we're all generally supportive of setting this amount of money aside
[2:14:21] to understand, you have some planning and documentary needs to get a plan to the Treasury.
[2:14:28] For that reason, I'm suggesting and making a motion that we approve the item, but with
[2:14:33] the direction that Mr. Hamm brings back the details of how we're going to spend it
[2:14:39] for further approval from the Council and further input on what types of businesses and organizations
[2:14:46] are authorized in the elements of the plan.
[2:14:49] because right now we don't even have a detailed written plan in front of us.
[2:14:52] So I'm saying as I'd like that to come back before the council's so.
[2:14:55] I would make the motion to approve with the, with the, with the, with the kit's all caveat.
[2:14:59] That the,
[2:15:00] The authorizing ordinance come back before council.
[2:15:04] Deputy Mayor Green.
[2:15:06] I love that and we'll second that prior to speaking because I think that is a fantastic idea before I forget.
[2:15:14] I love the rental assistance for business owners.
[2:15:16] The other thing that I'm concerned with in this program is the cap amount 15K.
[2:15:21] We have some businesses that they might be 15K behind in rent and still need a website and still need whatever.
[2:15:27] So when you're talking about business expenses 15,000 dollars as much, I own an operate my own business and
[2:15:34] That wouldn't get us through two months if it didn't happen and some other businesses
[2:15:38] Many more so I'd like you to tell me how you came up with that number possibly
[2:15:43] You know raise the number to find maybe 25,000 seems like a more reasonable number for a business
[2:15:48] Obviously they have to give us a breakdown of what they would use it for in your
[2:15:51] committee and the chamber who's going to be so diligent in allocating these funds would be kind of the police per se on that but I do want to make sure that
[2:16:01] We're giving a
[2:16:02] Grant that is going to make a enough impact that they're truly going to be able to recover
[2:16:07] I'm not trying to get him back to you know, just barely getting by I want to make sure that we're really helping them
[2:16:12] And we're putting them on the path for success. So I don't know that I'm comfortable with capping at at $15,000 because some businesses have a
[2:16:20] more than any than that and $15,000 for $3 million worth of grants. That's a lot of grants.
[2:16:27] So I think maybe we should look at adjusting that figure and when you bring it back for the
[2:16:32] council, maybe we can discuss that. But I do approve and second to motion made by council member
[2:16:38] frankly. I agree. Council member Franklin. Just before we vote, I'm going to be very interested
[2:16:43] to hear what amount you're allotting of this funding to each website. I build a lot of websites.
[2:16:49] I've built them for free, for 500, for 10,000, for 25,000, and more, and a lot of the 25,000
[2:16:55] on our websites then look any better than the 500 on our ones and the free ones.
[2:16:59] So I'm curious what that all entails, so be ready to be drilled on that subject.
[2:17:05] Okay, so please cash your votes.
[2:17:14] Motion passes unanimously.
[2:17:16] So it all might go in back and order again, no?
[2:17:19] 14.
[2:17:21] I'm back on plan.
[2:17:22] I'm reporting in this deputy mayor and hands-brand ambassador efforts.
[2:17:30] Yeah, I just kind of wanted to hear about that a little bit because I love VISTA and I'm always trying to enhance my VISTA brand.
[2:17:36] So if we're going to allocate $20,000, is there like a special, we're going to have a mascot, like, you know, a little VISTA sunshine, a little hummingbird flying around town or something like that.
[2:17:45] So it's just $20,000 that says I'm gonna enhance the brand and I'm gonna, you know, what
[2:17:51] does that look like Kevin?
[2:17:52] And if there's an interpretive dance that goes with it, there's something I am good
[2:17:55] to watch it.
[2:17:56] Go answer.
[2:17:56] I'll explain it, but I will not dance.
[2:18:00] So last year we enhanced our brand ambassador efforts and really all of us know the great news
[2:18:05] about the businesses and our community and the decisions you all make.
[2:18:09] And so sometimes that word just does not get out there.
[2:18:12] And so last year we had about $30,000 set aside.
[2:18:15] This was one of the economic recovery programs.
[2:18:19] It really allowed us to tell the story,
[2:18:21] whether it was about sand and straw,
[2:18:23] whether it was about what's made here in Vista,
[2:18:26] who makes those things in Vista,
[2:18:28] milk organics was one of the last ones we're talking about
[2:18:32] in our next article about the hotels
[2:18:34] and the impact they make in our community.
[2:18:37] And so we had in the regular budget,
[2:18:39] it was approved $12,000 set aside.
[2:18:42] But I thought, really, when we're talking about this, and we've had so much success in telling the wonderful story we have, that really we wanted to add to those funds, and so this would give us a total of $32,000, and we're out in RFP right now, that would allow us to create two stories a month to get out to the media, and how those communicated by that person who is our brand ambassador, essentially our media consultant, to really communicate that great message.
[2:19:10] I love that and as a kid who grew up in Vista, I didn't see us on the news a whole lot and it's
[2:19:15] really cool to think that we want to get word out about Vista.
[2:19:19] So I would love to turn on my five o'clock news and be like, hey, here's a story about best
[2:19:23] pizza and brew, you know, here's a story about, you know, downtown and I, you know, theater or
[2:19:29] whatever.
[2:19:30] So I think it's a great use of fun.
[2:19:31] I think it's a great idea and I think it will help make Vista even more of a destination
[2:19:35] city than it already is, which the council has put a lot of work into.
[2:19:37] So thank you so much for clarification, and thanks for not dancing.
[2:19:41] And your motion?
[2:19:42] Councillor Franck.
[2:19:43] Councillor Franck.
[2:19:43] Oh, he's going to make it.
[2:19:44] Councillor Franck.
[2:19:45] And I'd like to move to approve this item as presented.
[2:19:48] Okay.
[2:19:49] Councillor Franckland.
[2:19:50] You know, I always remind in conversations with the city's management that just because
[2:19:56] we talked about something here and the council meeting doesn't mean the community knows about it.
[2:20:00] So, I'm all about telling the story of the work that we're doing as a community. It's a very important and I second to motion.
[2:20:07] Okay, so see no other speakers, please cast your votes.
[2:20:19] Motion passes unanimously. That takes us to item number 18, which is training program for new entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. That is Council Member Melendez.
[2:20:33] Do you want an explanation on that or
[2:20:36] some questions?
[2:20:37] Yes, I would like a little bit more detail,
[2:20:39] but specifically for 18 and then later for 21.
[2:20:43] I wanted to get a little bit more information regarding
[2:20:46] that equity piece of how this program is going to be
[2:20:52] addressing equity issues in the community
[2:20:54] and how the training program is going to be
[2:20:59] specifically geared towards individuals who might benefit the most from it.
[2:21:06] So this program, last year we put on several training programs with Strategies 360.
[2:21:12] The gentleman that helped us put this on Sid Veracara has worked at the local and state level.
[2:21:18] And so it's been great in working with him because he has a lot of connections with those individuals at the state
[2:21:23] that really can bring resources to bear for our local community.
[2:21:26] And so, we heard great things from our businesses about those training programs.
[2:21:32] And so, this training program, well, let me take a step back, lots of folks in the last
[2:21:37] year had opportunities to move on and become entrepreneurs.
[2:21:41] And so, we have seen, I have seen, many businesses start up.
[2:21:45] And so, seeing this need, we thought that this would be a great opportunity to work with
[2:21:49] these individuals to help them basically understand what are those things you need to do as an
[2:21:54] entrepreneur. Where do you go to put together your business plan? How do you put together
[2:21:58] your business plan? How do you use the Chamber of Commerce? How do you score? Use those
[2:22:03] industry experts to give them that expertise to do that. This cohort would have both an English
[2:22:09] language and a Spanish language piece to it. So that's how it would meet the social equity piece.
[2:22:20] Do you have any other questions? Okay, I'll call some over Franklin.
[2:22:24] I just want to say that I love entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.
[2:22:30] I think it's a way that people change their lives.
[2:22:33] It's also the core of our economy and this country and our community.
[2:22:39] 80% of Americans work for a small business center.
[2:22:43] It's a great way to address social equity to help people achieve the American dream.
[2:22:48] So I'm all about it, and I've moved that we approve item number 18.
[2:22:58] Okay customer contraris.
[2:23:01] Yeah, I think this is a great opportunity.
[2:23:03] We have a lot of individuals that have side hustles, and they want to legitimize it,
[2:23:07] and we want to get tax money from it.
[2:23:10] So it's a win-win.
[2:23:11] What I'm curious about is how many workshops does 30,000 buy us?
[2:23:17] What does that break down to yearly or...
[2:23:21] It just could be a four month program that would consist of about six different workshops over a period of that time.
[2:23:29] It would also have some one-on-one assistance.
[2:23:32] Should they need that assistance from the team at Strategy 360?
[2:23:36] And the workshops would be, would they be individual topics or would there be, like, knowledge needed from the previous to continue and really get more out of the second meeting and then kind of like almost like a prerequisite.
[2:23:54] What's the structure?
[2:23:55] Yeah, so they would be separate programs, if you will, but the one on one assistance really would be
[2:24:02] provided to help them out if they needed to catch up to really connect to the next topic and maybe didn't really fully understand the last topic.
[2:24:11] We find that entrepreneurs really have a great idea a single font. They might be lacking somewhere else, so this really helps fill in that lacking, that skill lack that they might have.
[2:24:21] Awesome, and this is like you said something that we started when we were being a little bit more creative as a city
[2:24:29] To addressing some of the economic impacts of COVID-19
[2:24:33] So I think it's great that we're able to have this type of creativity and then we assess whether a program is working or not
[2:24:43] And if it is, then we get to allocate more funding towards it
[2:24:46] I think this is a great opportunity and I'm excited to see more businesses start up because of it.
[2:24:57] I will second that motion.
[2:25:23] This is one of the programs that we're implementing with the Chamber of Commerce. This comes out of the vista economic development
[2:25:34] strategy as well. Really looking at that entire workforce piece trying to better understand
[2:25:40] where those gaps exist in the workforce specifically for our VISTA businesses and specifically
[2:25:46] for our VISTA residents. So where can we put those residents to work at those great companies
[2:25:50] we have in our community and this one is focused on adults and can also be looked at as an
[2:25:57] opportunity for seniors to find out where they might be able to work and what opportunities might
[2:26:02] for them. I am really happy that you brought up seniors. This is a conversation that I had
[2:26:09] with our city manager. You know, I was on a call. Oh my gosh, I don't even know when it was
[2:26:15] so many Zoom meetings between now and in the past. But the Carl's Bad Senior Center,
[2:26:24] they had a representative and they said, you know what, we're actually seeing a lot of seniors
[2:26:29] meaning to come back into the workforce and they're really struggling because it's just changed,
[2:26:34] even just to be able to find a job, then to apply what if you don't have an email address,
[2:26:41] right, what if all these other factors and they were like, you know what we're going to be looking
[2:26:46] at having a job center at the senior center in order to connect our seniors with those job opportunities
[2:26:53] and have their skills upgraded, right?
[2:26:57] So I'm really happy that you mentioned that
[2:27:00] because I do think that when we think about workforce,
[2:27:05] there's a lot of ageism and we need to be able to address that
[2:27:10] and that's 100% part of looking at equity here in our community.
[2:27:16] So I would 100% be in favor of this and also of ensuring
[2:27:23] that we are reaching out to our senior population as well.
[2:27:28] Okay.
[2:27:30] Councillor Franklin.
[2:27:34] Thank you.
[2:27:35] I support the program also.
[2:27:36] I'd make a motion that we adopt that in 20.
[2:27:39] All second.
[2:27:41] Do I need to go?
[2:27:42] Where do I need to go?
[2:27:44] Do I need to wait for him to vote?
[2:27:48] So?
[2:27:48] Go ahead and vote?
[2:27:50] We can vote on this one when we vote on the next one.
[2:27:54] Do you do that?
[2:27:56] Okay, we'll hold it and we'll vote on this the only one in the next one, okay.
[2:27:59] Hope here comes. Okay, cash to vote, please.
[2:28:06] I don't think you're the whole discussion.
[2:28:10] Okay. Motion passes unanimously. That takes us down to item number 21.
[2:28:19] State internship program and that's...
[2:28:22] Did you want to report? I have three of you on that.
[2:28:24] Deputy Mayor, Councillor Contraryson.
[2:28:25] and Council Member Melinda, as you want to please.
[2:28:30] So again, from the Vista Economic Development Strategy
[2:28:33] that we affectionately call the Veds,
[2:28:36] this is a paid internship program in partnership
[2:28:39] with the Chamber of Commerce.
[2:28:40] You might remember when we went over that document
[2:28:42] in February, we thought the Chamber would be the appropriate place
[2:28:46] to have the workforce activities focused.
[2:28:49] This would be paying eligible students' stipends
[2:28:53] for 100 hours of work.
[2:28:54] This is really 100 students for 100 hours of work at about $16 an hour and this would provide
[2:29:02] VISTA companies with this free time and effort by these students.
[2:29:07] The companies would have to invest the time and intention to help those students understand
[2:29:12] at these VISTA companies what they do.
[2:29:15] So whether that might be Dr. Bronners, might be DJL, might be any of those companies that
[2:29:21] have here, really help them understand what they do and connect with that business community.
[2:29:30] So cuts my room will end us.
[2:29:31] Thank you so much.
[2:29:32] I'm so glad that this program is included.
[2:29:35] I think that it's a really great opportunity for students and young people who want education
[2:29:42] and employment and greater learning and networking as well.
[2:29:48] One of my questions is, do we have a, since you know, an internship does include an element of education, do we have a kind of...
[2:30:00] We're kind of set of expectations for the businesses as to what some of their goals and expectations would look like. I know that there may be a variety of businesses that participate, but I want to ensure that not only are they getting positive work experience, they are being paid, but also that they're not working experience is going to lead to as much education as possible.
[2:30:30] So this is a piece of the plane that we're putting on, so I would ask Ms. Bell to come up
[2:30:35] and kind of talk a little bit about where she might be with that rubric in the process.
[2:30:39] I know that over near the end of this year they're going to be constructing the final details
[2:30:44] and working with everyone with this program to stand up in June of next year.
[2:30:50] Thank you, Kevin.
[2:30:51] If I could just take a moment to just share with the idea for this program came from.
[2:30:57] So, as part of the VEDS, the VEDS document identifies the Chamber as one of the key partners
[2:31:03] of the city to work on workforce development.
[2:31:06] And months ago, when the Council was discussing cannabis funds, the idea of workforce
[2:31:11] development was discussed as a potential use of funds.
[2:31:14] And based on that, I put together a proposal with a number of programs that were actually
[2:31:18] four items proposed.
[2:31:20] And one of the reasons an internship program rose to the top is one of my favorite items
[2:31:25] of that I proposed is because a very large percentage of this
[2:31:30] just students believe it's 96% have to have some sort of work
[2:31:34] right after graduation, whether they go into careers,
[2:31:38] whether they are going to school, they need some sort of income
[2:31:41] to supplement either their educational opportunities
[2:31:43] or whatever, and backing into that, there are a number
[2:31:47] of students that need work, work opportunities
[2:31:50] during the school year, and I think we all know that if you have
[2:31:53] to work in a paid capacity to help support your family
[2:31:56] or to pay for your own car insurance or whatever,
[2:31:59] that excludes you from an unpaid opportunity
[2:32:01] that could open up the doors for networking
[2:32:04] and some of the things that Council Member Melinda has mentioned.
[2:32:07] I personally had that experience as a high school student
[2:32:09] and wanted to participate in an unpaid opportunity.
[2:32:12] I wasn't able to do that.
[2:32:13] I needed to work and help my family.
[2:32:16] So that's where this idea came from.
[2:32:18] So with regard to your question, about a rubric
[2:32:21] as far as expectations.
[2:32:23] We're working on those details.
[2:32:25] This program is set to roll out next summer.
[2:32:29] And we have an idea we've talked with the school district
[2:32:31] about how to identify the students that
[2:32:33] would most appropriately fit within this program.
[2:32:36] There are a number of career pathways students
[2:32:38] that fit within the industries we have interest from companies.
[2:32:43] So there are some details to still flesh out.
[2:32:46] But the intention here is that equity piece,
[2:32:49] the intention here is to connect students with career exploration opportunities, the program
[2:32:54] highlights students between their junior and senior year, where they need those paid
[2:32:59] opportunities and yet they can also make potential work force connections where when they
[2:33:04] graduate and need either part-time or full-time employment they have already a leg up as an
[2:33:10] opportunity for potential long-term employee and perhaps the company can invest in them and
[2:33:15] support them in their educational goals as well. That's really the goal of the program and I'm
[2:33:19] excited that you're considering it.
[2:33:24] Thank you, do you have questions of Rachel?
[2:33:28] No, that was a wonderful explanation.
[2:33:29] Thank you so much.
[2:33:31] I understand that we're at the beginning of the process, right?
[2:33:33] There's still a lot of things to iron out,
[2:33:35] but it's very helpful to know how the program was conceptualized
[2:33:40] and where you're hoping it can go in the future.
[2:33:43] Thank you so much.
[2:33:45] Tell some of our contours.
[2:33:46] Anybody else have questions for Rachel?
[2:33:49] Yes, no, maybe not.
[2:33:51] Okay, thanks for your help, good explanation.
[2:33:55] I just want to say it's so exciting to really see the veds come to life.
[2:34:00] I had a schedule, I'm thrilled that we're able to start making some of our long-term goals start now.
[2:34:13] I just want to make sure that when we're talking about students that match career paths that we don't overlook all to VISTA, that we don't overlook general Murray, we have a lot of students who are credit deficient because they have to work.
[2:34:35] So this is a great opportunity for those individuals who aren't born into networks of knowing, you know, how to even be a, you know, city manager or, you know, economic development in the city, all these different types of careers that are all around us, but that you kind of have to know about.
[2:35:00] And the sooner you can know about them, the better. So, I just want to make sure that we're
[2:35:06] including outreach to all schools. I don't want it to come back and it just be, you know,
[2:35:13] mission VISTA high school. And because I know that when we accept applications for youth
[2:35:19] commissioners, there are some schools that we don't get any applications from. And I don't want
[2:35:23] this program to mirror those types of actions, right? So I just want to make sure that we are
[2:35:32] really getting two or student population and being able to bring people into the first step
[2:35:40] that could be a career path. With that said, I love this program, you know, actually wish we could
[2:35:48] I'll allocate more money to it, dip it in me or green.
[2:35:55] All right, thank you so much.
[2:35:56] Yeah, it's cool to see all these programs come back that they used to teach us back in the
[2:36:00] day in school.
[2:36:01] I had a class called Work Experience and I didn't even have to go to it because I had a real
[2:36:05] job and I actually got college credit for it.
[2:36:09] So the goal of this unified school district is college your career ready.
[2:36:13] A lot of kids aren't going to go to college, a lot of kids are going to go straight into
[2:36:15] careers.
[2:36:16] And as we know in business, it's not a lot about what you know, it's about who you know.
[2:36:19] and some of these people don't have that access so as the chamber stepping up to put these students
[2:36:24] in those positions that they wouldn't have access to I think it's great and I think you know this
[2:36:29] is another great example of the city and school district and chamber all partnering together
[2:36:33] to serve the same exact population and the same exact citizens so I definitely am in support of this.
[2:36:41] I did have a question for you though before I let you sit down Rachel and I sorry I let you sit down
[2:36:47] so quickly. But we are putting a lot on you. Okay. So you're going to get $3 million for
[2:36:53] grant funding. You're getting $2.35 plus 50. So $3.285 million of our ARPA funds are going
[2:36:59] to be allocated to the chamber. I don't know what your current annual budget is, but I'm assuming
[2:37:04] that this is a lot more money than the chamber has typically received. I just want to make
[2:37:08] sure that the citizens know that when we're given you all this money that you have a staff
[2:37:13] in place, ready to run all these programs and ready to make sure everything happens efficiently
[2:37:18] for us.
[2:37:20] Absolutely.
[2:37:20] Our team is beyond thrilled, our board is supportive.
[2:37:23] We recently hired an additional staff member, specifically a bilingual staff member to help
[2:37:29] with the outreach for the business grant program as well as the internship program.
[2:37:34] I don't think that will necessarily be the case as we're working with a consultant on
[2:37:38] the workforce study.
[2:37:39] But we are have a robust team ready to rock and roll and all of these programs are really excited I love the program
[2:37:46] I love the fact that you you wrote the grant and you're just like hey, we need we need this program in Vista and as a Vista kid
[2:37:53] And I know my two other council members here who graduated from Vista schools
[2:37:56] We didn't have anything like this in the person that the chamber wasn't coming to say hey come check out Dr. Bronner is hey come check out
[2:38:02] Day Tron come I mean we have fantastic businesses in this community
[2:38:05] So thank you so much
[2:38:06] Thank you so much economic development director as well with that
[2:38:09] I will make a motion to approve this option
[2:38:12] as presented option number 21, right?
[2:38:16] Thank you.
[2:38:16] Deputy Mayor, just really quick.
[2:38:19] Staff is going to oversee the partnership with the chamber
[2:38:23] and will authorize the payments as they occur.
[2:38:26] So the funds will largely stay with the city
[2:38:29] and as the programs vet themselves,
[2:38:32] then the chamber will act as a...
[2:38:33] Oh, perfect.
[2:38:34] So the act is an intermediate.
[2:38:35] You don't give you like the approved applications
[2:38:36] and then where the actual funding source, that's right.
[2:38:38] So smart, thank you.
[2:38:40] Councilmember Franklin?
[2:38:42] Well, as a kid who did two years of work study,
[2:38:45] junior and senior year, I thought of it as work release.
[2:38:50] And who did four different internships,
[2:38:53] most of the while having a job on the side to support myself,
[2:38:59] I know how important internships are, so I definitely second this.
[2:39:02] My only thing about it is that it's 100 hours, and that's only,
[2:39:05] if you say it's a 20 or a week,
[2:39:07] It would be five weeks, yeah, that's not very long of an internship, I would think it would be more like, I don't know, I would just think maybe it would be six weeks, eight weeks, it seems like a short internship to me.
[2:39:20] So, I think it's great because the SRAM can clarify that, I'm not sure the high school students are working 20 hours a week.
[2:39:27] So, when working with the chamber and talking to some of the businesses, the 100 hours seems to work.
[2:39:31] So it's an investment on the business's half as well.
[2:39:35] So realize they are overseeing, managing these employees,
[2:39:41] these interns.
[2:39:42] And so that investment in that amount of time
[2:39:45] is enough to get them a project or two,
[2:39:47] but not so much time that it's going to take
[2:39:49] a tremendous amount of staff time to oversee and manage.
[2:39:53] OK, I'll leave it to you.
[2:39:55] I just seemed like that it should be a longer learning time
[2:39:57] to me for experience time.
[2:39:59] So...
[2:40:00] And I know there is a summer thing, so I know it's not during school hours, it says here, it's just during the summer. So anyway, okay, please cast your votes.
[2:40:12] I'll just add that as an employer, if you get somebody that's doing a great job for five weeks, you're going to keep them on.
[2:40:17] I think it's a good foot in the floor.
[2:40:19] That motion passes unanimously.
[2:40:21] That's very true.
[2:40:23] And that brings us to our last one.
[2:40:24] Item number 23.
[2:40:26] It is to fund the downtown clean and safe program
[2:40:30] and that's Council Member of Contreras.
[2:40:33] Would you like a report on that?
[2:40:35] Yes.
[2:40:36] I would love a report on this item
[2:40:38] and specifically, you know, something that's not written
[2:40:43] in the summary, but I think is
[2:40:45] almost implied by the summary is homelessness. So I want to hear a little bit
[2:40:55] more, because when we're looking at our downtown area, you know, that's something
[2:41:02] at one point in the strategic plan to address homelessness that we were looking at
[2:41:15] But I feel like there is, it's kind of subtext.
[2:41:20] So thanks.
[2:41:23] So in the veds, we talked about the downtown
[2:41:26] and some of the things that we need to focus on in the downtown.
[2:41:29] And the clean and safe program, although it wasn't spelled out
[2:41:33] in those exact terms, but investment in the downtown,
[2:41:37] looking at how to support those businesses
[2:41:39] and those customers that go down there,
[2:41:43] was an item that was addressed.
[2:41:44] and so we have invested a tremendous amount of time in the businesses to curate if you will
[2:41:51] a really heart to a city and you all know because you've been here for such a long time that
[2:41:57] that downtown has changed. And so we are in competition with other areas as well. And so
[2:42:04] that competition could be cities that are nearby. That's a competition for a dollar that goes to
[2:42:09] downtown business that supports a job in the downtown and we have heard that there are
[2:42:15] any number of things that could support those businesses. So having a clean and safe program
[2:42:20] is something that's implemented in little Italy, downtown San Diego, the city of Riverside
[2:42:25] that puts feet on the street, throughout the week, especially during key hours to have ambassadors
[2:42:32] if you will, helping direct people to where the parking is, where a restaurant might be.
[2:42:40] If individuals need assistance, whatever that assistance may be, helping direct them to the right location.
[2:42:48] If they see an incident incident or an issue going on to call the Sheriff's Department,
[2:42:53] to be those eyes out there to let them know that something needs to be addressed.
[2:42:57] And so, whether it's customers of businesses that I've received emails of, or the businesses,
[2:43:04] this has been addressed as something that would make them feel safer, would make it more
[2:43:10] vibrant in the downtown and really create an environment for the customers and the businesses
[2:43:15] that would be supported by all.
[2:43:18] Okay, that sounds great, but how did we get to $460,000?
[2:43:23] I mean, this is almost seems like we would be building a plaza like what we looked at when we were talking about the gazebo areas, so I mean, that's an extraordinary amount of money.
[2:43:37] I just want to see how we get there because, honestly, I would love to, if we're going to have individuals working downtown as ambassadors, you know, why can't that be part of the paid internship program.
[2:43:51] But anyways, I just, I'm curious to see how we get to 460,000, that's just, it's pretty big.
[2:44:00] So we have received, so to determine some of these costs, we asked for professionals that are experiencing these areas to give us a bid.
[2:44:11] This would eventually go out to RFP, so the company that actually gave us this bid was a company called Block by Block that does this throughout the country.
[2:44:19] And this would be three individuals that would consist of a manager,
[2:44:24] would it consist of two employees.
[2:44:27] It would cover 40 hours for all three of them throughout the week.
[2:44:32] It covers office space, it covers their tracking system,
[2:44:36] for trash, referrals, all of those systems that are in place.
[2:44:42] There are any number of companies that could do this.
[2:44:45] So my guess is when we go out to bid that price may go down.
[2:44:49] Depending upon, as Mr. Silvia said, the competition in premiums that are out there for similar services.
[2:44:56] But we arrived at this based upon a bid that we received from someone.
[2:45:00] That is doing this day-to-day across the country, looking at our downtown and telling us how many folks
[2:45:06] that they thought that we would need for our downtown during key hours.
[2:45:13] Okay, yeah, I just, you know, I'm supportive of this program, but it's a large sum and I still don't
[2:45:22] have that much info on it. So, I don't know how my colleagues feel about it. This is something
[2:45:28] that I actually would like to have a further discussion on, to see a little bit more information.
[2:45:36] When we're talking about renting office space, that starts to get really, really expensive.
[2:45:43] I'm just curious to, and I think that it behooves us to have a little bit more information about how we get to this 460
[2:45:53] And what successes, what goals we have.
[2:45:59] Because right now I don't even, like, I see a list of services that we want to provide.
[2:46:05] That I think are needed in the downtown.
[2:46:08] However, you know, what are specific goals that we have, right?
[2:46:12] Like when it comes to outreach and clean up, right?
[2:46:17] When it comes to, it says support, business, information sharing, I want to just unpack that a little bit more.
[2:46:27] So I'm going to leave it up to the rest of my members on the council, but this is something that I am supportive of.
[2:46:34] However, I really think that we need to look a little bit more in depth at this item.
[2:46:38] Councillor for Franklin.
[2:46:41] Well, thank you.
[2:46:43] My understanding of how we're getting to the 460,000 has we got three full-time equivalents
[2:46:49] times four years.
[2:46:49] Is that right?
[2:46:50] Is this two years?
[2:46:51] Two years.
[2:46:55] I think you can see how we get there numerically.
[2:46:59] Although office space, I'm an agreement.
[2:47:01] I don't think this program needs office space.
[2:47:03] You're going to have to sell me on that one.
[2:47:05] I don't want people sitting in an office.
[2:47:07] If we're paying them I want them on the street doing the job that we're hiring them to do and if we give them a place to sit down in a computer to sit on the internet
[2:47:14] I'm not understanding why that's part of the job
[2:47:17] So you have to sell me on that one also about the chamber would give us a desk for somebody to sit and do some
[2:47:24] You know staff scheduling and filing some reports and I bet they give us a really good price on it too
[2:47:30] because they probably got a desk, they're not fully utilizing.
[2:47:34] So let's think about that rather than having separate offices.
[2:47:38] Maybe we can contract for a very efficient office share with the Chamber.
[2:47:46] Because I think there are a mission to have to tell us nice of it.
[2:47:49] Is the Chamber going to have a role in this program?
[2:47:52] We would work with them and they would be our icing yours out there as well.
[2:47:56] Speaking of the office space component, hopefully the future bidders
[2:48:00] not watching this, but this is one of the areas of savings I think we can experience.
[2:48:05] The other is the office space would just be one space, and we typically be for someone's
[2:48:11] break and resting, and the font that I've had is the film hub.
[2:48:15] We could work with the film hub that's right around the corner and it's in our downtown.
[2:48:19] I'm sure that could be something that we could easily lower the cost and just wanted to
[2:48:23] make sure that we had an industry standard bid to work from and then we can work down from
[2:48:27] that.
[2:48:28] So, I regularly get communication from business owners in the downtown, specifically thinking
[2:48:36] to the, I think now, former owner of Bear Roots, when he opened his facility down there
[2:48:42] had a lot of safety issues, gang issues, crime issues, we do not have deputies, we don't
[2:48:50] have code enforcement who are present on a regular basis in the downtown, sure they're in
[2:48:55] out, but they're not stationed there. It is so important if our downtown businesses are going
[2:49:02] to thrive and more important. If consumers are going to feel safe to come in and have a
[2:49:10] craft brew, eat a slice of pizza, we've got to really start to address some of the safety
[2:49:15] issues, make sure that we're preventing graffiti before it happens, and really sort of protect
[2:49:22] the investment that these business owners have made, and they can't do it by themselves.
[2:49:28] So, in picking up trash, picking up cigarette butts, the things that these folks are
[2:49:32] going to do for us, I think, is really critical to the economic future of the outtails.
[2:49:37] So, I would make a motion that we adopt item 23.
[2:49:43] Thank you so much Madam Mayor.
[2:49:47] Thank you to staff for finding an opportunity to enhance our downtown.
[2:49:55] And my concern with this item is...
[2:50:00] Not necessarily needed, but perhaps it is and could become duplicitous with some other potential programs that the city is pursuing.
[2:50:13] I know we're only on our D4 item here, discussion 4, but for discussion item 5, we are going to be discussing our potential proposed blight reduction team.
[2:50:27] And that that is, you know, some of the activities that the proposed blight reduction team
[2:50:34] would be performing.
[2:50:36] I think like cleanup, you know, incident reporting, that kind of thing.
[2:50:42] So, that is my concern that there is, you know, this expense of three full-time positions,
[2:50:48] where we are also going to be looking at potentially a blight reduction team that is...
[2:50:57] accomplishing similar tasks. So I think that there's some of the elements of this program,
[2:51:05] the downtown clean and safe program that are beneficial. I just don't know if it's an essential use of these funds.
[2:51:12] Although I do understand that we are trying to find opportunities for the allocation of these funds.
[2:51:18] I think that throughout this discussion tonight, I have expressed that some of these items could receive more funding.
[2:51:26] right? So if we were to kind of, you know, curve back on any of the program options that
[2:51:34] are before us, this is one of those program options where, you know, thinking forward to
[2:51:40] our future discussion that we're going to have in a couple minutes, I'm wondering if it
[2:51:44] is as an essential, you know, use of these funds that could better be used elsewhere. So those
[2:51:51] are my comments, those are my concerns and criticisms of this item. I think that it's
[2:51:56] creative program and options, not something the city of VISTA has done before, but we are
[2:52:02] looking at maybe similar overlapping roles or opportunities to explore as a city.
[2:52:08] Thank you.
[2:52:10] I think that this is focused on the downtown, and I think that the next discussion is
[2:52:18] the lightest, the entire city, I think this is more of a downtown focus item, but I'll
[2:52:24] with deputy Mayor Green. Oh dang, I was already on. All right. Let's see, I wrote down, let
[2:52:35] me see. I apologize, ma'am, you complete brain fart right now.
[2:52:41] Is it 21 or is it 23? 23. Sorry. 23.
[2:52:46] Okay, yeah, no, I think this is a great question. I'm just going to make a motion to prove this
[2:52:50] So, appreciate it.
[2:52:51] No, like I've come with time.
[2:52:53] That's my favorite Franklin.
[2:52:55] Yeah, you made the comments I was going to make, Madam Mayor, about the other program
[2:52:59] being focused on the remainder of the city, and the other thing is the other program is
[2:53:04] going to be people and vehicles, and this is people on the streets down down down, and I think
[2:53:10] both deserve full-time presence.
[2:53:14] Yeah, the downtown definitely needs it, so I'm supportive of that.
[2:53:18] So with that, I have a motion in a second, so I guess please catch your votes.
[2:53:31] That motion is passes with one no vote.
[2:53:34] That takes us to our next one, which is here.
[2:53:37] Yes?
[2:53:39] Before we go to the next item, would the Council entertain adopting the resolution that goes along with D4?
[2:53:46] I know that you made a motion and voted on each of the items, but there is a resolution to D4 itself.
[2:53:56] Sure, I look for a motion for that.
[2:53:59] I mean, look at the resolution.
[2:54:03] Resolution number, 2021, accepting the allocation of,
[2:54:06] except for you in the money, you want to accept the money?
[2:54:09] I think that's our resolution, right?
[2:54:11] Yes, okay, so I need a motion.
[2:54:16] What?
[2:54:17] Oh, you're picking me here?
[2:54:20] Thank you.
[2:54:20] I move that we adopt the resolution as presented by staff
[2:54:24] with the additional comments included and a direction from my council.
[2:54:29] Second.
[2:54:30] Okay.
[2:54:31] Motion and a second on that.
[2:54:32] So please catch your votes.
[2:54:40] That motion passes unanimously.
[2:54:42] Okay.
[2:54:42] Good job.
[2:54:43] I know why I was stuck.
[2:54:46] So moving on to our last session, I find a discussion item.
[2:54:50] It's the priorities for excess cannabis revenues.
[2:54:54] Oh, our city clerk, Kathy Veldez is going to provide the staff report.
[2:55:01] Or are you in just a minute to get the PowerPoint switched?
[2:55:21] All right.
[2:55:25] So this item is to discuss priorities for excess cannabis revenues. I'd like to suggest again to help move the conversation along that I provide an overview of all the proposed projects.
[2:55:37] Then we go through and identify whether some consensus and then open up to discussion for those items where there's questions or if we have a lack of consensus on those.
[2:55:47] So do you want to follow the way we do the last one and vote on each thing and each thing as we go along?
[2:55:53] So how should we should do it?
[2:55:53] So I'll do the full report and then we'll go back and look at the specific item.
[2:55:58] Priorities. Yeah.
[2:55:58] Okay.
[2:56:00] All right.
[2:56:03] So back in April, the city council was presented with a draft budget.
[2:56:07] And at that time, there was consensus from the council members to cap the general fund revenue amount at $4 million.
[2:56:15] and use the access funds for special projects, which would be allocated at the end of the year once all of that tax revenue was collected.
[2:56:25] For fiscal year 2020, 2021, the city received 5.113 million in cannabis revenues, which makes 1.113 million available to allocate for projects for the current fiscal year 2021.
[2:56:38] 22.
[2:56:42] At the time of the discussion of the draft budget, as well as when we talked about adult cannabis,
[2:56:48] the C Council provides some recommendations for projects they might like to see funded.
[2:56:54] The slide here shows those items that staff recommends using the cannabis funding to provide for those programs.
[2:57:02] The first is cannabis decoy and enforcement operations.
[2:57:06] At the last year council meeting, you did allocate funds through the
[2:57:09] jagrant for this to do it on a quarterly basis for decoy operations.
[2:57:13] This would allow for additional decoy operations as well as special enforcement
[2:57:17] operations to look at both the businesses as well as delivery.
[2:57:24] And so they might be larger operations or they can be individual
[2:57:26] and we'll be investigating some flexibility
[2:57:30] in the sheriff's department to do that.
[2:57:33] Another item that counts identified was youth cannabis prevention
[2:57:36] and early intervention programs.
[2:57:39] Staff is recommending that we issue an RFP for this.
[2:57:43] It could either be $250,000 grants,
[2:57:47] one for prevention, one for early intervention
[2:57:49] or one larger grant that would cover both items
[2:57:52] and we are suggesting that the Community Safety Commission
[2:57:55] be used to review those applications and make funny recommendations to the council, similar
[2:58:00] to what we do with the CDBG program.
[2:58:03] The next is the scholarship program.
[2:58:05] There was interest in providing support to nonprofit organizations, particularly looking at
[2:58:10] sports leagues and other extracurricular activities.
[2:58:14] So staff is proposing, again, a grant program where nonprofit organizations could apply for
[2:58:19] to $10,000 to cover the costs of enrollment.
[2:58:24] Youth in the program, as well as maybe some other costs
[2:58:27] associated with that, for instance,
[2:58:29] if there's field trips or certain equipment
[2:58:31] that might be needed by the youth, the organization
[2:58:35] can apply to include that as well.
[2:58:38] Again, suggesting that the Community Safety Commission
[2:58:40] be used to review those applications
[2:58:42] and make the funding recommendations to council.
[2:58:46] In crease lighting and neighborhoods,
[2:58:47] It was another item that some council members identified.
[2:58:51] Staff has looked at the costs for installing lighting.
[2:58:54] It says it's made to be about $27,000 per light and about $450 for electricity costs per year.
[2:59:03] So we're recommending $270,000 that would allow for about three blocks worth of new lighting
[2:59:09] in a neighborhood.
[2:59:10] On average, for a residential street, it's about three lights on opposite sides of the street.
[2:59:16] So again, that would give us several blocks in a new neighborhood.
[2:59:22] Adding a share of Stephanie to our cops team.
[2:59:25] I think most people are familiar, but I'll review a little bit what the cops seem
[2:59:29] does.
[2:59:29] They do many of the issues that the council would like to address.
[2:59:33] Things like graffiti, tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, human trafficking, special operations.
[2:59:41] And I'm sure, oh, and homelessness is another big item that they address.
[2:59:45] So that deputy would assist the other WDs and meeting those goals that the city has to address those problems.
[2:59:54] C-Cons are sorry the C staff are recommending a blight reduction team blight has been
[3:00:00] The council has had as a goal to reduce for many years. And this would allow for a two-team person, so two different vehicles to basically covering the city every day of the week to look for black issues.
[3:00:15] So picking up debris that's in the street, identifying problem areas, and also doing enforcement. So it would be sort of a combined public works and code enforcement position.
[3:00:26] So, we're recommending, I'm doing a pilot project for that for one year and see what
[3:00:30] impact is in supporting your goal to reduce blight.
[3:00:35] And then also staff identified the need to increase park restroom maintenance.
[3:00:40] Currently, restaurants are cleaned at the parks at the end of the day after closing and
[3:00:44] there's certainly need throughout the day to do some additional cleaning.
[3:00:47] So our current provider has provided a quote that would allow for two teams to check
[3:00:53] for us rooms throughout the day at all the parks,
[3:00:55] restock and clean as necessary.
[3:00:58] So those are the projects that staff is recommending,
[3:01:01] the total magically comes to 1,113,000, which is perfect,
[3:01:06] but we do have some other projects that the council
[3:01:09] identified, so I want to talk about those as well.
[3:01:13] Some of them we've identified other funding sources for,
[3:01:16] so we're hoping that that will meet our needs.
[3:01:19] One is a purge clinician.
[3:01:20] The county has been talking about increasing
[3:01:22] the number of clinicians throughout the county and so we'd like to see what they come up with
[3:01:29] and hopefully be able to secure per clinician or additional hours as a per clinician in the city.
[3:01:36] Similarly, the county has hired 10 additional social workers to work throughout the city.
[3:01:41] I'm sorry, throughout the county and we're working with the county on whether requirements are
[3:01:47] to have a social worker either assigned full time or certainly part time to the city.
[3:01:53] And then another item, the Council brought up, was steps to abuse recovery programs.
[3:01:58] We have identified CBG as a potential funding source for this, although I do want to caution
[3:02:02] that that would have to come out of the public service funds, which are currently used to
[3:02:06] fund the other special projects or non-profits, so it would be in lieu of some of those other
[3:02:13] grant programs, but that would allow for, so, we're living beds and or some cessation programs
[3:02:23] for marijuana and tobacco, which has been identified as a need in the recovery programs.
[3:02:33] Products that we have already received funding for, or have recommended for funding, actually
[3:02:38] I can say now that they're all funded, since you approved the ARPA grant, are solar panels, oops,
[3:02:44] I forgot, oh, sorry, solar panels at City Facilities.
[3:02:47] We received state funding through that with the help and really the efforts of Assembly
[3:02:55] Women Board of Harvard, so we are certainly grateful for that, so we will be getting
[3:02:59] the solar panels here at the Civic Center.
[3:03:02] You approved the subsidies for the Wave Water Park, Senior Center, and gas tax through the
[3:03:06] ARPA funding, as well as workforce development and financial literacy.
[3:03:12] The final item that was identified by Council was a dog park, however staff are not recommending
[3:03:17] using the cannabis funds for this.
[3:03:20] It would be estimated to be over $2.5 million, which would essentially use the cannabis
[3:03:26] funds for at least a couple of years and not be able to fund other programs.
[3:03:31] We do have part development fees that can be used for this and depending on whether street
[3:03:36] improvements are needed and where they are.
[3:03:38] we also might be able to use traffic congestion management plan funds to use those.
[3:03:46] So our next steps would be to go back through this. I identify what you would like to have included.
[3:03:50] We'll come back with an operating budget adjustment. And I do remind you that we'll do this
[3:03:55] every year. Once we've received all the cannabis tax revenue for the fiscal year.
[3:04:01] So it'll be an opportunity to look at programs you approved tonight. Whether you want to, you know,
[3:04:10] item that we'll have every year. So with that mayor, if you'd like, I can go through the items
[3:04:16] and like you'd be far-frying consensus on those. Do you want to hear the speakers from me?
[3:04:22] Especially with the speakers person. All right, then then we can do that. So we'll start with Jim
[3:04:28] Brigham Bautz, well by Nash Brown.
[3:04:39] Jim Brigham Bautz, this is a resident. There is no justification
[3:04:45] and for adding a deputy sheriff. I listened to the last presentation by the captain of the
[3:04:51] Vista Station to this council. He provided no evidence that the department is in need
[3:04:56] of more deputies. Nor did he give any indication that he...
[3:05:00] Even wanted to add another deputy. Why would you even suggest this? You're going to want to
[3:05:07] me add to a department that you have almost no control over. I've read the contract that the city
[3:05:13] has with the sheriff's department. The city council has very little oversight except to order
[3:05:17] an audit. When was the last time the city did an audit of the sheriff's department? Without a review of
[3:05:23] department, you have no evidence to justify this expense.
[3:05:29] If the department is in need of another deputy position, the captain should come before
[3:05:33] the council with a mountain of charts, graphs and data, and plead his case that he needs
[3:05:40] to add another deputy, and what that deputy is going to do to improve outcomes.
[3:05:44] Why would you add a deputy when a commander isn't even asking for it, it makes no sense?
[3:05:51] Now, we're going to be an attempt to justify this.
[3:05:55] We're going to hear that we haven't added a deputy in several years.
[3:05:59] I think maybe up to 13 years.
[3:06:01] That's not a reason to add one now.
[3:06:04] Maybe we had too many 13 years ago.
[3:06:06] And now we have the perfect amount.
[3:06:08] Maybe we still have too many.
[3:06:11] Maybe they're actually aren't enough,
[3:06:13] but you don't know that because you have no evidence.
[3:06:16] You've presented no evidence to this for this.
[3:06:19] We're also going to hear about the ratio of deputies per capita.
[3:06:23] We're going to hear that as our population has grown and the number of deputies, they
[3:06:27] had the same in the ratio as lower and it's too low.
[3:06:32] This ratio is reported by every police department.
[3:06:35] It's a tiny little data point.
[3:06:38] It's never accompanied with any research that explains what an ideal ratio is.
[3:06:43] No one here knows either.
[3:06:45] it sounds important so people go with it. It's not a reason to do this.
[3:06:53] Okay, you all know
[3:06:54] Rudy Morena, right? He's a Rudy Morena with Hero Inc. He presented to this council last
[3:07:00] year about his youth program. He risks his livelihood to invest in our youth and you guys throw
[3:07:07] crumbs at him and other nonprofits in the city. And then you try to pass this ridiculous giveaway.
[3:07:15] don't do it. Do not vote for this. And based on the earlier discussion about
[3:07:21] the stormwater, drains, and sink holes, you probably should put some of that
[3:07:26] deputy money into a savings account for that. Thank you.
[3:07:31] Nash Brown, followed by Peggy Walker.
[3:07:40] Hi, City Council. I'm Nash Brown. I've lived in
[3:07:43] this distance size about seven, so I'm quite in the microphone so we can hear you up here
[3:07:47] hear me a little better? Yeah, no, we can. All right. Well, I, like I said before, I'm
[3:07:51] Nash Brown. I lived in Vista for about since I was seven years old. So I've been
[3:07:55] here for a long time. I also oppose adding a deputy sheriff. I really don't see a point
[3:08:03] in doing that. I like the idea of, you know, like clean the bathrooms and adding a scholarship
[3:08:10] program and things like that. I don't think y'all realize that like, you know, criminalizing
[3:08:16] homelessness and having deputies clean them up like trash and stuff like that is going to
[3:08:22] solve poverty is going to solve issues like this would really solve what if you look into
[3:08:29] richer neighborhoods and you see that there are successful in that there's not much crime
[3:08:34] rain things like that you got to look deeper and realize that this is because they have access
[3:08:40] to resources they have the money to paper these resources and so things like you know scholarship
[3:08:46] programs and like food programs and things like that, that type of stuff will lower crime rate
[3:08:53] and you know the lights and things like that. That is what's going to you know keep us a healthy
[3:08:59] moving society is if we invest in our community, not invest in shares that you know could be
[3:09:08] that are basically used to be authority over us, and unfortunately, too, I've had some very
[3:09:18] bad not myself, but family and friends have bad experiences with the San Diego Sheriff. Thankfully,
[3:09:25] you know, these guys back there, they're very kind to me, but there are some out here, literally,
[3:09:31] my friend had told me this week he almost got ran over by San Diego Sheriff in Vista because
[3:09:36] he ran a red light with no signal lights on or anything, then it was in urgency or anything
[3:09:42] just knew that he could and did it and almost killed my friend. And then also my father who is a
[3:09:50] pastor who actually works with the Oceanside Police Department was almost murdered by the San
[3:09:55] I'm Diego Sheriff and their...
[3:10:00] There are teammates as well, there are partners, whatever about, I think, 2019, right off of COVID-19, they mistaken for another driver, who I guess the car was stolen, took him out of the car, laid him on the ground, appointed guns at him, my mom was in the back crying, thinking that her husband was going to die.
[3:10:25] And he basically had to go to the Oceanside Police Department to demand an apology letter from them because they want to do themselves from the San Diego Sheriff.
[3:10:35] So there is, I don't see a need for this in terms of community growth.
[3:10:44] We can find community growth and community time is up.
[3:10:47] Oh thank you. Thank you for listening. Thanks. Thank you.
[3:10:51] Peggy Walker?
[3:10:53] Well, by Kelly McCormick.
[3:10:57] Good evening, Council.
[3:10:58] I am a public health educator.
[3:11:01] And I thank you for prioritizing youth education
[3:11:05] for some of these funds.
[3:11:07] But I came tonight to ask for a little bit more,
[3:11:10] a bigger allotment for prevention and intervention programs.
[3:11:16] Because prevention and medication
[3:11:19] our most critical need in this era today,
[3:11:25] a culture that promotes marijuana use as safe and harmless,
[3:11:30] and unfortunately a culture in which kids perceive it as safe and harmless.
[3:11:35] So, I ask also because I receive on a regular basis
[3:11:39] truckloads of information, scientific studies reports
[3:11:44] on the harm of this psychoactive drug to kids.
[3:11:50] And we also have that Vista's California Healthy Kids Survey.
[3:11:54] The results that show VISTA children are using marijuana
[3:12:00] are consuming it more than alcohol,
[3:12:04] and that they also have a lower perception
[3:12:07] of the risk of youth.
[3:12:10] So I would like to see the budget increased
[3:12:12] for youth oriented uses in three ways, increase funding for the decoy and enforcement operations.
[3:12:21] The $20,000 is not enough.
[3:12:26] Decoy events should be written into the sheriff's budget for ongoing operations.
[3:12:33] They are one of the few methods that enforce retailer and especially delivery accountability.
[3:12:42] with youth. I would also like to fund educational programs in schools and in youth institutions,
[3:12:53] scientists and medical professionals say there's strong disconnect between what people,
[3:13:01] especially parents and children, think about marijuana and scientific-based facts,
[3:13:07] citing the potential for serious consequences,
[3:13:11] especially with high-ponent CTHC products,
[3:13:15] including mental health problems for kids.
[3:13:18] We need to create more awareness
[3:13:20] about those mental health problems.
[3:13:22] I know of three parents who lost quality-chate sons
[3:13:26] to Merrill 1 of Related Use and resulting suicide,
[3:13:33] one left a note saying, mom, you were right.
[3:13:36] marijuana has ruined my life, so we need to get out more education about the psychological
[3:13:43] effects of marijuana use. No child aged 12, 14 or 16 or even 18 or 20 can perceive the ramifications
[3:13:54] of addiction. We must do all we can to educate families about these projects and we are
[3:14:01] Ms. Up. Thank you. Thank you.
[3:14:04] Kelly McCormick, fellow by Erika Leary.
[3:14:13] Good evening, Council members. This is Kelly McCormick.
[3:14:16] I'm a public health educator with a focus on alcohol tobacco and drug prevention among children and teens.
[3:14:23] In deciding how to best allocate the extra funds from the marijuana tax, I would like to speak in favor of funding VISTAs youth programs,
[3:14:31] prevention programs, public education on the risks associated with marijuana use, and minor
[3:14:37] decoy operations.
[3:14:39] An example I can share is the danger of marijuana use during pregnancy.
[3:14:44] Even though there is substantial evidence about the harm marijuana use can cause to
[3:14:48] a developing baby, there are buttenders who recommend pot as a way to curb morning sickness.
[3:14:54] This could not be more uninformed.
[3:14:56] The consequences include pre-term delivery.
[3:15:00] Free, low birth weight, a higher than average number of stillbirths, and data also show a higher rate of autism among children of women who use marijuana during pregnancy.
[3:15:12] In addition to minor decoys, I would also suggest that decoys are trained to confirm that consumers are not given dangerous information like this.
[3:15:21] As a reminder, there are no educational requirements for bud tenders.
[3:15:26] There's also education needed about edibles, which are highly concentrated and easy to over-consume.
[3:15:32] We see it in the number of people who end up in hospital emergency departments, including children,
[3:15:38] who unknowingly consume marijuana candy or cookies, not properly secured by the adults in the home.
[3:15:45] Ask any emergency medicine doctor or nurse, and they will tell you about the alarming increase in the number of cases.
[3:15:51] And I can't end without emphasizing the need for more education about drug-driving.
[3:15:57] As you may know, San Diego County said a record last year for the number of fatalities
[3:16:02] caused by impaired drivers.
[3:16:05] Both San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott and San Diego County District Attorney Summers
[3:16:10] Stephan have said that marijuana was a major contributing factor.
[3:16:15] At the same time, surveys show that most marijuana users do not believe pot use affects
[3:16:21] their driving. Clearly, this is a deadly misperception. Please use this money to help mitigate
[3:16:27] the problems that go along with drug use and marijuana commercialization, with a stronger
[3:16:33] effort to help VISTA's youth grow up to be drug-free. Thank you. Thank you, Erika Leary.
[3:16:43] Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Erika Leary. I'm the program manager
[3:16:48] for the North Coastal Prevention Coalition, which works in the cities of Carl's Bed Ocean
[3:16:52] to reduce the harm of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs through community action,
[3:16:59] education, support, and collaboration. I was probably didn't know I was sitting out in the lobby
[3:17:05] earlier, and I was very inspired by your comments about renaming the community park,
[3:17:10] polyvista park in your efforts and desires for community input and outreach, and perhaps that
[3:17:17] be a frame that you take for this issue too, public input and discussions may also be a marketing
[3:17:24] strategy to help portray the message that VISTAs serious about reducing the potential
[3:17:30] risks of marijuana use. I'd like to also commend the staff report for including the importance
[3:17:36] of decoy operations in the project list, but I've strongly encouraged the council to take
[3:17:42] more deliberate than broader approach with this funding, and really commit that all of it should be focused with the goal of
[3:17:51] mitigating the potential risks and harms of marijuana, including youth-use, school suspensions,
[3:17:57] used by pregnant women, impaired driving, healthcare impacts such as ER visits, and exposure to secondhand smoke.
[3:18:05] This really has a potential to lead here in North County to develop a regional and effective approach to reducing the public health impacts of marijuana use, but it's really going to require commitment and coordination.
[3:18:18] Perhaps some of that $4 million that went to the general fund could be used to hire a staff person or a couple staff people to take the lead on such an effort.
[3:18:27] You lead the region now in marijuana businesses with 11 dispensaries and many neighboring
[3:18:34] cities, customers probably come from neighboring cities.
[3:18:39] Deque operations in particular would benefit from a regional task force approach to help
[3:18:43] drive out illegal operators as well as those not complying with local regulations throughout
[3:18:49] North County.
[3:18:53] Sorry, I did my notes a little bit.
[3:18:57] The VISTA Community Safety Commission may be an appropriate body to oversee such an ambitious approach and would also help direct in identifying effective youth prevention programs.
[3:19:11] I would like to point out that it's important to recognize that this tax revenue being generated is driven predominantly by heavy users.
[3:19:19] those who use daily or almost every day.
[3:19:23] With alcohol, heavy drinkers consume nearly 60% of alcohol sold.
[3:19:27] Similarly, a Colorado study found that the top 20% of cannabis
[3:19:31] users accounted for 67% of the sales.
[3:19:35] Those who use less than once a month represent it
[3:19:38] just 1% of the sales.
[3:19:40] So I say this not to condemn the industry,
[3:19:43] but to remind you that your goals are different.
[3:19:45] There's as to make money yours should not be.
[3:19:47] Thank you.
[3:19:48] Thank you. That is all of our speakers. So we will go back to
[3:19:54] Gonna do this like one at a time that we're gonna go through this if you're like I'll pop back up the slide
[3:20:02] So I can go through it and see if there's consensus on them and then the rest we can have a discussion on.
[3:20:09] Do you want to ask folks for their response?
[3:20:14] Maybe we can do it like the last one where if individuals want to pull items and then we'll take care of the remainder of them and then address those on a one by one basis.
[3:20:24] Okay, I have a question for I started because we have three things here, the decoyed enforcement operations and the
[3:20:31] The cancer prevention and this scholarship program and all those three can those kind of quit those be go together and be
[3:20:38] I mean we have the amount of appropriated, but it's like 260,000 total could it be
[3:20:46] Could be used within flexible within within those things possibly or now is that not a possibility
[3:20:53] Well, I think for the budgeting purposes it would need to be separate because they would
[3:20:58] be different categories of funding. Certainly the council can discuss that and make changes
[3:21:03] to how much they'd like to see for each of those items because they would need to, because
[3:21:07] I was thinking that, you know, maybe the DQA program might need more money so because they
[3:21:12] go to the prevention early intervention and pull some from there if they needed to have
[3:21:16] more predictor, you know, or I just was wondering if that would be a possibility. So okay,
[3:21:20] We'll go to my big challenge with those three, especially with number three on that list, which is scholarship program, right?
[3:21:28] Because I don't think we would have a problem
[3:21:32] Awarding 140,000 dollars in scholarships.
[3:21:35] And so, so, forget it.
[3:21:38] We can just go one by one.
[3:21:39] But Kathy.
[3:21:40] It's our mayor also.
[3:21:41] There are a lot of who's reminding me too.
[3:21:42] So with the decoy operations last meeting you approved the Jack funding, which was for
[3:21:47] 12,000 for decoy operations as well.
[3:21:50] So it would be 32,000 available.
[3:21:55] That's a little better.
[3:21:57] So I guess we'll go to the, so I guess I'll ask then who down here wants to have things pull.
[3:22:04] I guess, we'll do like the last one, if, huh?
[3:22:07] Okay.
[3:22:08] I'll go to the buttons on.
[3:22:09] Constable of Contreras.
[3:22:11] Yes.
[3:22:11] I'd like to pull Sheriff's Deputy and Blight Reduction Team.
[3:22:15] Thank you.
[3:22:16] I'm going to number these one two three to help me because you're going to pull Sheriff's
[3:22:23] deputy okay and which is the other one light okay yeah number six plate okay and Councilman
[3:22:32] Franklin I just wanted to say I support all these items okay okay and then I'll
[3:22:40] Council Member Melendez. I'm also interested in pulling chair deputy and
[3:22:47] blight reduction team five and six and then also discussing projects with
[3:22:53] potential other funding sources the substance abuse recovery program. I'm not
[3:22:59] sure how you would like that number but I'd like to discuss that one as well. Which
[3:23:04] What are you talking about?
[3:23:06] It's not on the list.
[3:23:08] It's the next page.
[3:23:10] The priorities for access cannabis revenues, the projects with potential.
[3:23:14] Other funding sources.
[3:23:16] The substance abuse recovery programs.
[3:23:20] Other funding sources for that would be CDBG funds, which would take away from other programs.
[3:23:27] I did kind of want to discuss that, right?
[3:23:28] Okay.
[3:23:32] Okay.
[3:23:33] How about deputy mayor, you have?
[3:23:36] I actually wanted to discuss that scholarship program a little more into in addition to the other items that my council members pulled so with that I would move to approve the balance of the recommendations and move on to the discussion on the remaining items.
[3:23:50] Second.
[3:23:50] Okay.
[3:23:51] We have motion.
[3:23:54] So we vote on those three things.
[3:23:57] We have a motion to vote on those.
[3:23:59] Please catch your votes.
[3:24:05] Okay.
[3:24:05] motion passes unanimously. So, then we'll go in order, first we'll go to number three, which is
[3:24:10] deputy mayor, the scholarship program. Yeah, and I just had a question on that scholarship program.
[3:24:16] I know that these funds are coming from excessive cannabis revenues, but I wasn't sure
[3:24:20] is this scholarship to go to like a college or something, or could this be like a grant program
[3:24:27] for like local sports teams that we want to send to tournaments and things? I mean, what are the
[3:24:33] on fines for this particular scholarship because I know we have great sports teams and
[3:24:37] you know a lot of different people who could use funds so I'm wondering if we can generalize
[3:24:41] these or if they're going to be targeted for something super specific.
[3:24:45] So the intent with what is proposed is to have the nonprofit organizations apply to us and indicate
[3:24:53] how many people they would base for five scholarships to participate in a program.
[3:24:59] So it could be a vaster.
[3:25:00] Today of things is long. And they're only available to non-profits.
[3:25:03] It's not. The process at this point. Yeah, I, my family can certainly take direction from the council on that, but
[3:25:09] intended at this point is non-profits. Whether it's sports legal or other extra-curricular activity.
[3:25:13] But this could go to like our softball teams and football teams and stuff like that. If they qualify for like tournaments and Florida or something.
[3:25:21] It's an avenue we've never had before. So I'm just trying to put it out there. If they apply for it and say, hey, we're taken 30 vissons with us to whatever they made.
[3:25:29] They could I would imagine that folks are going to apply early on so they they wouldn't know that they're going to a tournament
[3:25:35] Okay, but that they could say we want to apply for $5,000. That's going to cover
[3:25:41] You know scholarships. Okay 50 youth and rolled in the program plus the costs for them to travel with us if they're if we make it to turn
[3:25:49] Okay, so we we do want to allow some flexibility for some additional costs
[3:25:53] That's perfect. So it doesn't have to be for an actual event. It can just be for an organization as long as they show you how they're going to allocate those funds
[3:25:59] Yes, and then we're asking to report on a monthly base.
[3:26:01] Patrick?
[3:26:02] Yes, sir.
[3:26:03] Go ahead.
[3:26:03] Go ahead.
[3:26:04] The primary goal from the staff perspective.
[3:26:07] Yes, sir.
[3:26:07] Is to get people scholarships to join those programs, to play soccer.
[3:26:12] OK.
[3:26:13] Football.
[3:26:13] To go to the Boys and Girls Club after school programs.
[3:26:17] And that, you know, and then the answer to your use might be if they're invited, because their team is going somewhere else.
[3:26:22] Perfect.
[3:26:23] So I just wanted to clarify.
[3:26:24] It's not like we're going to have 100 people writing this letters on why we shouldn't send them to.
[3:26:29] somewhere. It's perfect. Okay, so that's it. I don't need to change it in the I just want a little clarification on it. I
[3:26:35] Move to approve that item is presented and less my other council people have questions. I'll second
[3:26:41] Okay, I have I
[3:26:42] Did I think I'd do any to clear this? Is it okay?
[3:26:47] I was hoping that okay, okay, so I have a motion in a second. Please catch your votes on item number three
[3:26:58] motion passes unanimously. They would take it to item number five, which is the Sheriff's
[3:27:04] Deputy.
[3:27:07] Council Member Franklin.
[3:27:09] Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[3:27:10] This is a very important item.
[3:27:12] In fact, according to the Public Policy Institute of California statewide, we have more than
[3:27:19] two deputies per thousand.
[3:27:21] While in the city of VISTA, we have approximately 0.9 per thousand.
[3:27:27] So we have less than half of the average amount of policing in our city that the rest of the state has.
[3:27:34] So in the last 15 years, I think we've added two deputies.
[3:27:39] Our population is grown by over 15,000, and that's the same period of time.
[3:27:43] And I think it is incredibly important.
[3:27:45] And I think our residents demand that our sheriff's department is able to respond quickly.
[3:27:50] quickly that we have low response times and I think having additional
[3:27:54] deputies to do that is important. I think the mission of the
[3:27:58] cops team to which we want to appoint this newest officer is very
[3:28:03] important. I'm personally calling for the cops team to be made a
[3:28:07] seven day a week program right now it only operates five days a week
[3:28:11] and I think we need to have our cops team on the ground seven days a week
[3:28:15] because the issues that the cops team is confronting are not five day week issues, they're
[3:28:21] seven day week issues. Look, there are six deputy sheriffs on duty, sometimes in the patrol
[3:28:30] division, to patrol the entire city. When you tell your voters that there are six deputy
[3:28:37] sheriffs only patrolling the city, nobody that I've talked to finds that to be an acceptable
[3:28:43] quantity. We have not done our duty to provide the funding and resources for sheriff's
[3:28:50] deputies. It is critical that we continue to supply funding so that we can grow the
[3:28:57] number of deputies sheriff serving our city to a reasonable quantity. We are way
[3:29:01] under-resourced. Every deputy sheriff that you talk to will tell you including the
[3:29:07] captain and the latinants and the sergeants. They will all tell you that they need more
[3:29:12] sources they need more deputies to do their job and to do it safely.
[3:29:17] And frankly, the cops team needs more to build the, you know, yeah, there's problems
[3:29:24] with policing in America in California and right here in Vista.
[3:29:29] And with the deputy sheriff's, there's culture that needs to be improved.
[3:29:32] There's relationship with the community that needs to be improved, you know, in some respects,
[3:29:39] We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but deep policing, which is the concept of not adding
[3:29:46] police officers while your population grows, therefore reducing the number of deputies serving
[3:29:52] each thousand residents, that is de facto deep policing.
[3:29:57] If we are not adding deputy sheriffs
[3:30:00] To meet the safety demands of our community, and we are supporting a policy of the policing. I do not support a policy of the policing. I think this is vitally important, and I'm asking every member of the council to support bringing this additional deputy sheriff on unanimously. Thank you for your consideration.
[3:30:20] I just before I speak on this, I want to say I want to speak on how we were called to speak on this, which differs from the ARPA funds, when we have the discussion on the ARPA funds, the individual who pulled the item from consent calendar was the first one to speak, which would have been me in this situation.
[3:30:42] and so. I understand that. I want to complain I was I had the reverse happen in me on one of the other
[3:30:47] issues you were called on before and I had the first so and I pulled it so I'd same same issue
[3:30:53] different what are thank you. So you say I didn't call on you first so that was what the problem was?
[3:30:58] Yeah I'm just saying that there was a switch in how we when and how we are discussing this versus
[3:31:06] how we discuss the ARPA funds, which if we're having a symmetrical type of discussion, I just want
[3:31:13] to clarify, is it whoever presses the button first or is it the person who pulled the item?
[3:31:20] It's a procedural question. I figured everybody gets a chance to speak, so I didn't know that
[3:31:25] it was important the order exactly that you might have to speak. So I just want to clarify so that
[3:31:31] I know that I got to press the request to speak versus being called on like how we did it before.
[3:31:38] And that's how I was going, that's how I was going, because when I went there, that's totally fine.
[3:31:43] So are we doing it?
[3:31:44] Do we have to do requests to speak to be called on or is it the person who is the easiest way to do it?
[3:31:50] Okay, I mean, because I did go down the line on the thing and then I just wrote down,
[3:31:54] but I took you in the order that you're on the screen to ask who is pulling what?
[3:31:59] So then correct. I just wanted to note that there's a difference in procedure than what was
[3:32:06] anticipated and I just want to clarify for moving forward what I have to do to be able to speak
[3:32:13] in a particular order because that's just the way that we do this. Just to clarify moving forward
[3:32:20] I'm say, you know, I want to talk about white reduction and I want to get right on the docket immediately.
[3:32:26] I got to press the request to speak, it's, I don't get called on first because I pulled, I was the member who pulled
[3:32:34] Blight reduction from the list. Is that correct? I guess so, but I guess we ask who wanted, there are other people that there were several
[3:32:42] people that were going to pull it. I have three names here that pulled it. So when I, when I went to the list that I
[3:32:47] asked who to pull it, now I totally understand, I just want to make sure that I have clarification because it was, it is different
[3:32:53] than I've been taking you by whoever pushes their button.
[3:32:56] Perfect.
[3:32:56] There's another level of view.
[3:32:57] I just want to make sure that that's how we're doing it.
[3:33:00] So that way I knew moving forward.
[3:33:02] I did know it's so important who spoke first.
[3:33:04] So what?
[3:33:05] But it's not just your state leaders, right?
[3:33:07] It's not necessarily that it's important.
[3:33:09] It's that it's procedure.
[3:33:11] So I just want to make sure that we have a symmetrical procedure.
[3:33:14] But in any case, I have a few questions.
[3:33:22] One of them is this figure of 0.9 deputies per thousand, it does not include the deputies
[3:33:30] that's going to be starting in a few weeks.
[3:33:34] So, that's your question.
[3:33:36] Currently, if you're not including the captain of the two latinants, we have 89 deputies
[3:33:42] out of the vistas station.
[3:33:44] The deputy, we do have a copstepity through the Exodus agreement that will be starting
[3:33:50] in September, so that would be 9, excuse me, I'm sorry, 90 deputies at the Vista Station.
[3:33:56] Okay, yeah, I guess I'm not good at math, and that I can't do, I don't know if that's
[3:34:01] 0.9 percent.
[3:34:03] It's essentially 0.9, we're looking at 100 and 102,000 population, but about 0.9, yes.
[3:34:08] So it's actually correct that the city of Vista will have another cops deputy starting in
[3:34:15] a few weeks. So it would be incorrect to say that we are not, we have not increased the amount
[3:34:21] of deputies. What is also factual, I guess, would be that the city of VISTA is not paying
[3:34:27] for that deputy in that's being paid for by the county. I just want to eliminate this to
[3:34:33] the public because there was never at any point a discussion, a public discussion about this
[3:34:39] deputy that's going to be starting in the city of VISTA that's an increase to the number
[3:34:43] of deputies that we have in the city of Vista, it was a deal that was cut thanks to actually
[3:34:51] I believe it's Council Member Franklin who cut this deal with the county so we will
[3:34:57] be having one more cop's deputy starting in just if.
[3:35:01] So I just want to make sure that that's on the record.
[3:35:06] I would rather, I'd like some of the points that were made by our speakers today in regards to what are these funds being utilized for?
[3:35:17] primarily they should be used for mitigation.
[3:35:22] And I actually think the 4 million is too much money going to the general fund.
[3:35:27] I wish we were to take a little bit more and be able to put it into more youth cannabis prevention
[3:35:33] and early intervention because I know nobody here on this council wants kids to use cannabis.
[3:35:40] There are detrimental effects to a growing brain and a growing body in the use of cannabis.
[3:35:48] So I would be in favor of allocating the sheriff's deputy money of 275,000, which is a reoccurring cost.
[3:35:58] Let's just be factual about that.
[3:36:00] It is a reoccurring cost of $275,000 annually versus being able to have a lot more of our youth that are severely impacted in our community by our decision, which is the public's decision to have more cannabis in our community.
[3:36:22] So I think we take that 275,000, and we put it either in number two, you've cannabis prevention
[3:36:31] in early intervention or we put it in the scholarship program or a combination of that.
[3:36:37] I really think if we want to get to the root cause of some of these issues, it's not going
[3:36:43] to happen with the deputy.
[3:36:45] There are many things that a deputy could help with, but having our youth have a more successful future, involves having very specific programs for them.
[3:37:03] So, that's my recommendation on the allocated funds of 275,000.
[3:37:11] on first-share for a share of steppity, and I want to say also that when we were discussing
[3:37:17] our priorities for cannabis revenue, there didn't seem that there was a majority of the council
[3:37:23] that approved a utilizing cannabis sales tax revenue for a share of steppity. So I am confused
[3:37:31] as to why we're even discussing this at this time, but I'll leave my comments there. Thank you.
[3:37:39] Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you to my colleagues on council for the discussion and for
[3:37:45] staff for presenting this item.
[3:37:48] First, I just want to thank the speakers and the community members who either wrote in or came into
[3:37:55] speak.
[3:37:56] I think that is really important discussion.
[3:37:59] This is excess of funds, right?
[3:38:02] This is one of the rare opportunities the community has to come together and say,
[3:38:06] These are our dollars that we get to have as a community to invest in our community.
[3:38:12] I've even spoken with individuals who purchase cannabis from some of our retailers, from some of our medical dispensaries.
[3:38:20] And they've expressed, you know, grievances and frustrations with the exorbitant tax that they have to pay in order to safely access cannabis in our community.
[3:38:31] And in having conversations about what these funds are meant to be used for, I received a lot of pushback regarding hiring another sheriff.
[3:38:44] Thank you, Miss Brown, for sharing a very personal story, a very vulnerable story of some of the flaws of relying on law enforcement for safety.
[3:38:55] And I think that while some of my colleagues are describing a removal of sheriff deputy from this item, as deep policing, I think that that is, you know, too much of a political statement to be had in this context because what we're discussing are the priorities for access cannabis revenues for special projects,
[3:39:24] for special sources that are going to meet the communities needs in regards to issues regarding
[3:39:33] cannabis. I understand we are going to be having a new COPS unit deputy come on within the next
[3:39:40] couple of weeks, right? There's a lot of value that our COPS unit does bring to our community,
[3:39:47] but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about what are the issues or gaps in our
[3:39:53] community in regards to safety and in regards to cannabis.
[3:40:00] That we can use this access funds for in order to improve our community. I think that just blindly adding another sheriff's deputy, when one, we need to first be looking at are there other sources of revenue for that to address specifically adding another cop's unit deputy onto our payroll, essentially, right?
[3:40:27] We can look at our entire budget and look for opportunities to add another cops, unit, share
[3:40:34] of deputy, however, these funds are specifically for special projects that I don't think
[3:40:43] a share of deputy is appropriate.
[3:40:45] I think that some of the feedback from the community regarding what safety looks like and
[3:40:49] feels like in the community looks like having increased lighting.
[3:40:54] I want to make a note that three blocks worth of lighting, I can think of three blocks in District 3 off of all of that could use lighting.
[3:41:07] And that's just a very small part of the city. So how are those funds going to be distributed?
[3:41:11] I think that it would be a complete disregard of some of the communities concerns that they've been bringing forward to us for a very long time about what safety looks like for them.
[3:41:26] To hire a new sheriff's deputy for a different program a different unit that isn't necessarily even connected to improving safety and regards to cannabis use in general our community.
[3:41:41] Something that we see all the time we have residents come and talk to us about is lighting in our community and people
[3:41:48] out in public using cannabis in public.
[3:41:52] Things like and there's no enforcement for that.
[3:41:54] We're not experiencing enforcement from that.
[3:41:57] One of the things that we can do to help that is lighting.
[3:41:59] I would just as much value, even more so, I would highly value taking away the use of these funds from a sheriff's deputy
[3:42:10] and putting it towards adding six blocks worth of lighting instead of three blocks worth of lighting in our community.
[3:42:17] Because that's going to be spread incredibly thin throughout our community.
[3:42:21] I agree with Council Member Contreras and many of the other speakers who came here today who said that we need to invest more money
[3:42:27] in youth prevention, youth programming.
[3:42:32] And as our city manager pointed out,
[3:42:35] we will have no problem sharing that $140,000
[3:42:40] for scholarship funds.
[3:42:43] So when we look at the actual youth of these funds
[3:42:45] and how thin they truly are spread,
[3:42:50] it is a surplus and I do understand that.
[3:42:54] But there are already being spread very thin
[3:42:56] through all these different programs.
[3:42:59] I cannot justify endorsing hiring another sheriff when one.
[3:43:03] It's not really meeting the need that is being addressed
[3:43:06] in this funding.
[3:43:08] Two, I understand that the ratio of sheriffs
[3:43:13] to residents is lower than the state average,
[3:43:18] but that does not correlate to safety necessarily.
[3:43:20] I don't see any evidence of that.
[3:43:22] I would love to see some evidence that the number of sheriffs
[3:43:25] provided per resident, actually truly correlates to higher safety, where we do know that better
[3:43:33] lighting does, right? And intervention does, very specifically, we know that. So not only is it not a
[3:43:41] good use of these funds, it's not, you know, relevance to what safety looks like in our community,
[3:43:49] it's a reoccurring cost. So next year when we discuss the surplus funds, are we again going,
[3:43:55] have we already locked ourselves into an agreement with our, with in our shares contract?
[3:44:01] We're not going to hire someone for, we're not going to hire someone for one year, right?
[3:44:06] This would be an ongoing position versus, you know, continuing to year by year provide
[3:44:15] scholarship programs, right, and decide that again at the next upcoming year.
[3:44:19] But if we do decide to hire a sheriff deputy with these funds, that means that next year,
[3:44:27] 275,000 dollars less is going to those other programs that the community is asking for.
[3:44:34] So I don't see any logical justification for it.
[3:44:37] I don't see a political justification for it personally.
[3:44:41] You know, I want to enhance safety in our community.
[3:44:45] And I think that we can do that with a lot of the interventions that the community is asking for.
[3:44:51] And I think we really need to look at what is the purpose of this funding.
[3:44:55] What's the function of this excess cannabis revenue?
[3:45:00] That this truly fits into our goals. I would like to just see this removed. Let's come back to the table with seeing how, you know, maybe with some of the feedback that we're providing staff will see, you know, we can actually enhance our scholarship program and give more money to the scholarship program.
[3:45:17] And if there is reasonable justification for hiring a new cop, sheriff deputy in the future, we do have other funding sources for that. And I want the community to know that we do have other funding sources for that.
[3:45:29] it would be disingenuous to say that this is the only opportunity to provide for a
[3:45:34] cop-share of deputy otherwise we're deeply seeing our community. That's not what's occurring.
[3:45:39] What's occurring is that we have an excess amount of cannabis revenues that we get to use for
[3:45:44] special programs hiring a sheriff's deputy for a cops unit is not a special program that I would be
[3:45:51] endorsing. So those are my thoughts and comments. I really appreciate all the speakers. So very
[3:45:56] discussion because this fund, this resource in our community is very valuable and we really
[3:46:05] get one shot to have a conversation about this. So it's very important that the people
[3:46:09] who did come to speak did speak for those who aren't here that wrote in. Thank you so much for
[3:46:14] sharing your concerns. I'm hearing with the community is saying and I'm going to say no to this one.
[3:46:19] I know to number five hiring a share of deputy.
[3:46:22] Thank you.
[3:46:24] Deputy Mayor Green.
[3:46:26] Thank you so much, Madam Mayor.
[3:46:29] First of all, I want to thank my law enforcement
[3:46:32] share of step-udies.
[3:46:34] When I think about safety, I think about law enforcement
[3:46:36] to be honest.
[3:46:37] I mean, I call 911 and the sirens come.
[3:46:40] I feel more safe when I'm in the presence of a share of
[3:46:42] step-udie than when I'm under a street light personally.
[3:46:44] So I'm going to say that.
[3:46:45] I'm going to say the reason why this is on here
[3:46:47] is share of step-udie is because law enforcement
[3:46:49] in the safety do go hand in hand. I don't think you can say law enforcement in the safety.
[3:46:54] Don't go hand in hand. I personally, my opinion is that that's not a practical statement.
[3:47:00] With that said, do I have a sheriff's captain in the room here please?
[3:47:03] I believe I do, correct? Or Lieutenant that can speak.
[3:47:06] Sheriff, Lieutenant, Lieutenant, be there. Come on, Lieutenant. I have some questions for you.
[3:47:12] So, it was said by my council member, several council members that law enforcement is
[3:47:17] gonna, you know, help safety, it doesn't go hand in hand with safety, so I really want to hear
[3:47:21] what my lieutenant says about law enforcement's direct correlation to safety number one. I'd
[3:47:26] also like to hear Council Member Franklin said that all the lieutenant and all the captains
[3:47:31] and all the deputies could use more resources and could use more deputies. We've had members of
[3:47:35] the community saying that law enforcement doesn't want more deputies. They don't need more deputies
[3:47:39] because that's not what helps with crime per se. So I am not a deputy. I do not have that
[3:47:46] information and you are service so I defer to your knowledge so if you can please explain to
[3:47:51] me some answers to those questions I would appreciate it.
[3:47:54] All right well we're just like going to start.
[3:47:57] I wasn't prepared to give a presentation on this tonight but I will do the best I can
[3:48:01] and we're going to share it now until I have.
[3:48:03] This is a very busy command and I call for service.
[3:48:07] Do add up and the sheriff's deputy's do have extended calls for service times because of
[3:48:11] the projects they tend to and the calls for service that go to.
[3:48:15] So the city of Vista contracts with the sheriff's department
[3:48:20] so as they're a progative, whether they want to have a contract
[3:48:24] for another sheriff's deputy.
[3:48:26] So that's entirely your progative.
[3:48:28] I do feel it would be a value to the station,
[3:48:30] and it does take workload off of other units and so forth.
[3:48:34] And we do have a robust cops unit that deals with all
[3:48:37] of your quality of life issues,
[3:48:38] the marijuana, the dispensaries, alcohol, massage parlors,
[3:48:43] homelessness is a huge problem as well too, I'm not sure where you would say law enforcement
[3:48:51] does kind of go hand in hand with safety.
[3:48:53] Well, that's what we are contracted for, and it is, you know, fair to say, I think Council
[3:48:58] Miller Franklin, you know, we are a lower, I guess, per capita rate of deputy to the population,
[3:49:05] And we are historically in a low, we are in the lowest crime per capita over the last
[3:49:12] probably 20, 30, 40 years.
[3:49:14] I don't know if that's going to stay that way.
[3:49:16] So it is easy to say that it would be easy to not hire or decrease funding for police services
[3:49:22] during those times when crime rate is low.
[3:49:27] But back in the 1990s, it wasn't so low.
[3:49:29] And I worked here in the 1990s, and I experienced that.
[3:49:33] and it would have been nice to have more deputies.
[3:49:35] And you are right, there are probably six or eight deputies
[3:49:39] per shift, you know, to serve a community of, you know,
[3:49:41] over 100,000 for a dedicated shift.
[3:49:45] And that, some of that, you know,
[3:49:46] taking a consideration, set call relief, you know,
[3:49:49] vacations and so forth, a comp time,
[3:49:51] people taking off and people on the injured duty,
[3:49:54] you know, people on light duty, pregnancies and so forth.
[3:49:58] So, we do fill, you know, back.
[3:50:00] All in with people for over time and so forth, but it doesn't pack the staffing levels at times.
[3:50:06] And do you happen to know, my nor crime weight was constantly decreasing over the past years. Do you have the crime stats for the last year?
[3:50:14] We on upwards swing, or we still on a downward swing?
[3:50:16] I think we're kind of just, well, last year was kind of an anomaly, you guys know, recognized that.
[3:50:21] It's hard to really compare this year with last year, so we'd have to compare it with the year before, but I think we're at a number of 15 or 14 per 100, so far.
[3:50:29] And I think it's been generally going down.
[3:50:32] I know that this had come out a couple of years ago.
[3:50:34] It would be very happy with 16.
[3:50:36] And when my captain came in, he was kind of touted with,
[3:50:42] you know, you're never going to see below 16.
[3:50:44] And now we're, I think, 15 or 14 and so forth.
[3:50:47] So I don't imagine it's going to stay at 14 indefinitely,
[3:50:50] but we'll see what that goes.
[3:50:51] I think some of that is due to some of the decriminalization
[3:50:54] and legislative changes over the years, too.
[3:50:56] So things that we used to arrest people for,
[3:50:58] take enforcement action on. We do not anymore. We do have a more robust, you know,
[3:51:04] cops, you know, and other resources in terms of the community outreach with our social
[3:51:09] workers and the Exodus program and services that we never provided before. Our
[3:51:13] Purp clinicians have increased dramatically over the years, where when I worked here,
[3:51:17] we had one Purp clinicians for North County, and now we have two clinicians at the
[3:51:21] station, just by itself.
[3:51:23] Perfect. Well, I definitely appreciate all the information that you gave me from that aspect.
[3:51:27] I'm kind of on the middle of the road here.
[3:51:29] As I've written along with your sheriff's deputies,
[3:51:31] I know the workload that's on them.
[3:51:33] Last time it was before us to come up with a sheriff's
[3:51:36] deputies at this price tag.
[3:51:37] I heard from the community that parks
[3:51:39] were where our concerns were.
[3:51:41] And I think if you look online on the Facebooks
[3:51:43] and all that stuff, you see where a lot of the concern
[3:51:46] was what it had park.
[3:51:47] And I had initially presented, let's have two park ranges.
[3:51:50] Somebody just concentrate on the parks
[3:51:52] because we can't constantly have our sheriff's deputies in there.
[3:51:55] And, you know, that was something that I had, but I do, I do feel that the Sheriff's definitely
[3:51:59] protect our community, but again, since this is something that we revisit every year,
[3:52:05] I want to make sure that we have the highest and best use of our funds.
[3:52:07] And as you say, it's the progative of the jurisdiction on if they need another Sheriff's
[3:52:12] Deputy or not, and, you know, that's obviously a...
[3:52:15] So I think sometimes what people may not understand too is when you contract with the Sheriff's
[3:52:19] Department, it's not just contracting with patrol deputies, right?
[3:52:22] So if we have a homicide, you get a homicide team.
[3:52:26] Where do we store evidence?
[3:52:27] We have an evidence storage.
[3:52:28] We have contract tow services.
[3:52:30] We have, as you want to helicopter over here,
[3:52:31] we have a helicopter.
[3:52:32] We have, if we had an active shooter or a barricade suspect,
[3:52:36] we have a squatting to come out and handle the services.
[3:52:39] So it's a, you have an ancillary services
[3:52:41] that are provided with the sheriff's department
[3:52:44] for all these additional services.
[3:52:46] Yes, you don't see day to day,
[3:52:47] but when they occur, people want sheriff's WZR.
[3:52:49] Yeah, the infrastructure that our San Diego Sheriff's had is amazing and one of my first
[3:52:53] meetings with I think it was Mike Barnett who was the under sheriff had to do with their
[3:52:57] policing strategies within the city and that was before body cams came on you guys and
[3:53:02] all that stuff and I feel like over the last five years the way that the Sheriff's department
[3:53:06] has police VISTA has changed and shifted more to a community-based policing.
[3:53:09] We have a lot more events now with, you know, coffee with the captain, trunk or tree, you
[3:53:14] know, you guys are showing up to schools to give high fives and stuff at a, you know, days
[3:53:17] with our community, so I really like the transition of the share of the department of more
[3:53:22] of a community-based policing, and I do feel a lot safer with the share of the department
[3:53:26] knowing that they're out there working in the community, from a 207, and that's all I have
[3:53:30] for you from question why, so I don't think any stand-up here. I'm going to ask him a question.
[3:53:37] I just want him to have to stand there while I keep talking.
[3:53:39] And so.
[3:53:41] Okay.
[3:53:42] Okay.
[3:53:43] Tell us a thing.
[3:53:46] I just wanted to ask, so if you could illuminate a little bit how the cops team interfaces
[3:53:52] with our marijuana dispensaries, we do have a dedicated marijuana deputy afforded marijuana
[3:54:00] dispensaries.
[3:54:01] They do, you know, they work collaboratively with the city, the code enforcement, and they
[3:54:07] We checked on the marijuana dispenser. We do have some of these opportunities for the calls
[3:54:16] for service. We don't want obviously the youth going in there and we try and keep it obviously
[3:54:21] at certain age limit for legal dispensaries and that sort of thing.
[3:54:25] I guess point I wanted to make is that the cops team has a direct nexus with our cannabis
[3:54:29] dispensaries. I would say a lighting program doesn't necessarily unless it's illuminating
[3:54:36] the dispensary itself may not have as direct an access.
[3:54:40] Also, we're just as crime, I supported it,
[3:54:44] and I want more lighting,
[3:54:45] but the nexus may be a little stronger with the cops team.
[3:54:50] And also, the cannabis enforcement role,
[3:54:54] we've taken a cops deputy,
[3:54:56] and we've allocated part of his or her time to that duty.
[3:55:00] Which has reduced the amount that that deputy has to do the other functions of the cops placing them. Is that right?
[3:55:05] Sure. And it takes some of the load off the patrol team as well.
[3:55:08] So in a way, bringing this deputy on would help to replace some of that time that we've devoted to the cannabis enforcement activity.
[3:55:15] I've depend on where to allocate that deputy, but yeah.
[3:55:18] Lieutenant, thank you very much.
[3:55:20] Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate your information. I don't have any more questions for you, but I do still want to speak on the side and while I have it. Thank you so much.
[3:55:29] Man, so, you know, $275,000 is a lot of money to allocate over a residual amount of time.
[3:55:37] I do love my sheriff's deputies.
[3:55:42] I do love what they bring to the community.
[3:55:44] I would love, I don't, I don't approve of reallocating that funding to youth cannabis or
[3:55:50] to increasing lighting quite frankly.
[3:55:52] I feel like what the sheriff's deputies bring what the cops bring is an actual body
[3:55:56] to the streets that's actually enforcing and providing enforcement to the problem in the community.
[3:56:02] I do feel like park rangers again would provide that enforcement.
[3:56:08] We actually get two park rangers for the cost of one deputy.
[3:56:12] So I actually, for this, these particular funds and mind you, this year we only have $1.1 million in excess funds,
[3:56:19] which we've only had medical marijuana and we just converted recreational.
[3:56:22] I anticipate there's going to be additional excess funds.
[3:56:25] We also have surplus funds at the end of the year.
[3:56:27] And one more thing that I want to say is that we have had two new sheriff's deputies
[3:56:31] over the last two years.
[3:56:33] One of them was for free, thank you, Council Member Franklin, and actually it wasn't for free.
[3:56:37] We have an exodus site here where our sheriffs are going to be able to take 51-50s and
[3:56:42] get back on the road to protect the community.
[3:56:44] So it was actually a very smart, you know, deal per se that we worked out with the county, county
[3:56:49] that saved the community $275,000 on that.
[3:56:53] So we have hired two deputies within the last couple years.
[3:56:56] That is two more than we hired over a 10 year period before.
[3:57:00] So I feel like you've done a great job adding to the force.
[3:57:03] But if we look at when the last time
[3:57:05] was we had park rangers in our parks, I don't know when that is.
[3:57:08] And every time I look on next door
[3:57:10] and every time I look on Facebook,
[3:57:12] it's like, hey, our kids can't play in the parks.
[3:57:13] Hey, this is the bathroom's dirty.
[3:57:15] He's this, and I really feel like as a city,
[3:57:17] We should have dedicated park rangers where it's their job to community building our parks.
[3:57:22] Find out who's walking their kids in the parks, who's walking their dogs in the parks,
[3:57:25] who's in the park, who shouldn't be in the park, our deputies are spread then.
[3:57:28] And one more deputy isn't going to be able to focus on that particular problem.
[3:57:33] And another thing is cannabis is smoked, guess where.
[3:57:36] In a lot of parks, okay?
[3:57:38] So this does, I feel like we're hand in hand with safety.
[3:57:42] It's something that the community would support, it's something that community wants.
[3:57:44] And it's something that I feel like my counsel should support, because we're not saying we don't appreciate our sheriff's deputies.
[3:57:49] We don't think you do a great job. It's just that we are on a downward trend of crime wise.
[3:57:55] We did just hire two more deputies that we don't know how they're going to affect it.
[3:57:59] And maybe next year, when we have this conversation, we're like, look, we have two partners.
[3:58:02] They did great. We could use another deputy that would be three hired over the last three or four years,
[3:58:07] which is three more than's been hired over 18 years. So as much as I love my sheriff's department with these extra funds right now,
[3:58:14] I don't feel like allocating money for one additional sheriff's deputies going to make as big an impact for the community with our cannabis funds as this would and to be able to tell my community
[3:58:24] These cannabis funds are paying for park rangers in your parks every time your kids are in the parks walking around
[3:58:29] There's going to be a park ranger check in we'll put them on a shift however that works okay, but to be able to say
[3:58:35] This money is directly going for that and you can see the trucks driving around you can see the rangers driving around
[3:58:40] As much as I feel like one more cops deputy would be great we have two more right now
[3:58:44] Let them get in the swing of things next year when we really visit this
[3:58:47] I'm still gonna be on the council cuz I'm here for a little bit still and I may be in support of a deputy next year
[3:58:53] But I think the best use of these funds right now and I was out voted last time when we got a deputy
[3:58:58] Is for a park range or because that's what the community's been screaming for so
[3:59:02] for me I
[3:59:04] Pretty much approve everything on this list
[3:59:07] except for the solidification for 275 for Deputy, I would rather see it come back for a park
[3:59:13] ranger, and I think that we could show a bigger benefit to the community for two park
[3:59:17] rangers at this point in time based off of data. And that's what decisions come down to
[3:59:23] is data. It's not politics. It's not whether you're pro-deplicing or not. It's like, what's
[3:59:29] best for Vista? And right now what's best for Vista in my opinion is two park rangers over
[3:59:35] with everything else. I approve everything else. I think it's great, but that's my take on it.
[3:59:40] And I do feel like you bring safety, but I feel like that brings safety. And I feel like that's a great compromise.
[3:59:44] And we got the lights, we got the scholarships, we got safety, and then we can look at it at another time.
[3:59:49] So that's my recommendation. So I do not approve the deputy on this list.
[3:59:53] Because they're frankly, you're next up, but on the Exodus, the 51-50s, the
[4:00:00] And the deputy that the free deputy we have is not a full-time deputy. He's not there. He's there seven days a week?
[4:00:06] Well, not seven days a week.
[4:00:08] He has part-time coverage, but the 5150s are every day. Is that right?
[4:00:12] So the deputy is a full-time equivalent who work 48 hours a week in the city of ISTA. So yes, on the full-time.
[4:00:21] But that's like three or four days. But the 5150s are at 24 hours. Isn't the excess now a 24 hour?
[4:00:27] It is a 24 hour facility.
[4:00:30] Right, so even though we got a deputy, it's not going to cover that all the time.
[4:00:34] It takes at least what six deputies to cover seven days a week.
[4:00:41] Seven days with relief.
[4:00:42] 24 hours is a six deputies.
[4:00:45] Five if not more.
[4:00:47] But what this deputy that is from the Exodus contract is a cop's deputy that is assigned to the team.
[4:00:55] So, listen, I really want to hire this additional deputy, it's very important to me.
[4:01:02] I will trade you one blight reduction team and we will make them park rangers if you
[4:01:08] will approve of the sheriff's deputy.
[4:01:12] We need to increase the amount of deputy serving our community.
[4:01:16] You've got your two sheriff's rangers right there, your two park rangers right there on
[4:01:20] the blight reduction.
[4:01:27] I see, are you through?
[4:01:30] Make sure right down in a fake light.
[4:01:31] It comes my fake light.
[4:01:32] And before I finish, I would make a motion that we approve the Sheriff's Deputy Item.
[4:01:42] Okay, I'll second that for you.
[4:01:46] And then we'll go down the line here.
[4:01:49] So, Council Member Melendez, thank you, Madam Mayor.
[4:01:51] I wanted to take a quick moment to clarify some of my comments that were misconstrued.
[4:01:58] I did not say that sheriffs were not part of safety, I explained that the community is asking
[4:02:05] for specific forms of safety interventions that have been long overdue for investment.
[4:02:11] And I agree that the park range resolution is one of them.
[4:02:16] We did kind of get ahead of that because originally the blight reduction team was my understanding
[4:02:22] supposed to be a park-ranger position, but staff's analysis didn't quite see how that would
[4:02:33] be appropriate. I think it's still worth discussing. I in fact think that there are both of
[4:02:39] those items, a blight reduction team throughout the entire city, as well as a specific presence
[4:02:45] of a authority in the parks to provide safety as well as approachability to the community
[4:02:56] is appropriate.
[4:02:58] So to clarify, the sheriff's deputies in our community are absolutely providing safety
[4:03:04] and law enforcement, however, that's not necessarily essential to fund through this excess
[4:03:14] of his dollars. That was the main point of my comments. I am definitely looking forward to discussing
[4:03:23] what it would look like to hire some park ranger positions and also talk about
[4:03:32] black reduction. I know that we discussed that during our last item, how there's an effort to
[4:03:37] do clean up and have a more integrated downtown and how that is also something that we need to see
[4:03:43] throughout the entire city.
[4:03:45] So there's clearly a lot of needs here
[4:03:46] that are being spread very, very thin.
[4:03:50] And I do want to clarify that safety and law enforcement
[4:03:55] while they overlap.
[4:03:58] We want to recognize what the community has been telling us,
[4:04:01] which is that there's a lot of ways
[4:04:03] that we can practice safety in our community,
[4:04:07] that does not necessitate hiring a new sheriff.
[4:04:11] And I think that some of these solutions, like, increased lighting to reduce crime and hiring
[4:04:19] an approachable park ranger could be solutions for that.
[4:04:23] So I know that we have other items that we want to get to.
[4:04:26] We also have a vote to look forward to and there's other speakers.
[4:04:30] Thank you.
[4:04:31] Tell us about the contraris.
[4:04:36] So I just want to state that I think it's really inappropriate to try and make deals up
[4:04:40] in the way in the fashion that it was stated a little bit earlier.
[4:04:47] Listen.
[4:04:49] Sheriff's deputy.
[4:04:51] Actually, the lieutenant, I was able to have a good conversation with him.
[4:04:55] When I went to go visit the facility at Luzzeran Park.
[4:05:00] We're the gang enforcement task force is out of. And that facility is looking pretty
[4:05:06] haggard. I would rather, instead of having a re-accurring cost of $275,000 for a sheriff's
[4:05:14] deputy, I would rather be able to maybe create a new substation closer to downtown.
[4:05:25] There's
[4:05:26] increase public safety, when it comes to historic crime levels in our city, I represent
[4:05:37] district one. We have a triangle of crime that hasn't moved and guess what else hasn't
[4:05:42] happened there. There's no lighting. So it's not like we're going to pay a deputy to go shine
[4:05:49] In a light 24-7, we can really look at different public safety mitigation strategies that
[4:05:58] go.
[4:05:59] The return on investment is real.
[4:06:01] The community has been asking for it, and I do think we have a responsibility to utilize
[4:06:10] these funds in an appropriate manner, having a recurring cost is just not an appropriate
[4:06:17] way to do that.
[4:06:18] I mean, we're about to come up at the end of our five-year contract with the deputies.
[4:06:26] If we want to look at having another sheriff's deputies, we should be looking at a different
[4:06:32] source of funding.
[4:06:34] Canobus sales tax revenue needs to go into mitigation strategies that the community has endorsed.
[4:06:44] You know, talking about trying to highlight the link between cannabis and the share of
[4:06:51] StepiD.
[4:06:52] Well, you know, there was a point in time where cannabis was not legal here in the city
[4:06:57] of California of Vista and we were spending a lot of money in a lot of time with our
[4:07:05] deputies having to go and shut down these illegal dispensaries.
[4:07:10] it was taxing on them because of the way that the process that you have to go through to
[4:07:16] shut them down. But the last time we spoke about cannabis, I asked the question about how many
[4:07:21] illegal dispensaries we have in the answer was zero. So I just don't see a justification for a
[4:07:28] reoccurring cost of 275,000. You know we already have a 27 million dollar contract that's annually
[4:07:36] and we've added more deputies and we have lower crime rates so the justification is just
[4:07:45] not there and I need to be responsible to the public dollars and to what I hear from
[4:07:52] people and I talk to a lot of people I'm sure we all do but I I'm just not hearing
[4:08:02] that they want a deputy over having more lighting in neighborhoods, over having, you know,
[4:08:09] our youth delinquency rate moved down.
[4:08:12] That is a problem.
[4:08:13] We're a badge and a gun isn't necessarily helping that rate of youth delinquency here in
[4:08:20] the city of Vista go down, but guess what could scholarship programs, right?
[4:08:26] So, I just think we need to be a little bit more responsible with the public's money and not have these types of reoccurring costs.
[4:08:35] If we want to swap out Sheriff's Deputy 275,000 for allocating funds towards a new substation closer to downtown,
[4:08:45] that's a conversation I think we should have.
[4:08:47] But to add another deputy, with the information that the Lieutenant provided us, with the information that we know with the great way that Council Member Franklin was able to get us a deputy for free, I just don't, I can't support that.
[4:09:08] Deputy Mayor Green.
[4:09:10] All right.
[4:09:11] So thank you everybody and thank you so much for clarifying
[4:09:14] Councilman Mondays.
[4:09:15] I wasn't meaning to insult you in any way.
[4:09:16] I just wrote down that law enforcement wasn't tied to safety,
[4:09:19] so I wanted to specify.
[4:09:21] So I appreciate you clarifying that.
[4:09:23] I don't think that a sheriff's deputy in lieu of lights
[4:09:27] or in lieu of a scholarship program is a good idea either,
[4:09:30] but I think that a sheriff's deputy in addition
[4:09:32] to all of that is beneficial.
[4:09:35] and I think if we tell the community that we're spending the $1.13 million in excess revenue
[4:09:41] and we're getting them all of this stuff and one more deputy and possibly two more
[4:09:46] park rangers and park restroom maintenance and all that good stuff, we're not necessarily saying
[4:09:50] we're only doing one thing, we're saying we're doing a lot of things. I also speak to a lot of people
[4:09:56] and, you know, I have people who love share
[4:09:59] celebrities and you don't think-
[4:10:00] We have enough sheriff's deputies, and I know Councilman Franklin and Councilman Ritter probably speak to those same people. We all run in different circles. And I think that's why our council is so well balanced is because we have people who speak with different people in different circles, which is why we have all of these options listed here. So I really feel like with this excess cannabis money, we want to be able to allocate the funds in such a way that it makes all avenues of our community feel like they were heard and that they were given something. And if this breaks down where we can also have park rangers in a
[4:10:29] parks and it's being paid for by excess cannabis revenue. This isn't general fund money. This isn't
[4:10:36] money that we're allocating from the 4 million. This is excess cannabis revenues. So I don't feel
[4:10:41] like it's even money necessarily that the taxpayers were planning on spending. This is excess revenue
[4:10:47] that we're going to be allocating for this. And for the excess cannabis funds, we get to be
[4:10:52] a dollar community. Hey, what are you getting for the marijuana dispensaries in your city? Well,
[4:10:56] cannabis-decor reinforcements, youth cannabis prevention scholarship programs, increase lighting,
[4:11:01] sheriff's deputies, park, rangers, blight reduction, park rest your maintenance.
[4:11:06] I think that's a good bang for your buck. I'm okay with the sheriff's deputy if we can have two
[4:11:13] park rangers as well. And the reason being is I think that that is a lot in addition to lighting.
[4:11:19] Nobody's taking away lighting, nobody's taking away scholarships. We're just dividing the money
[4:11:24] equally, and I think this is kind of a win-win for everybody on all sides.
[4:11:28] So I'm OK with the Sheriff's Deputy, and I look forward to talking about the next item,
[4:11:34] and hoping we can make our granders.
[4:11:35] We're going to fund your park granders.
[4:11:38] Oh, you're...
[4:11:38] Next item, hopefully.
[4:11:38] God, thank you.
[4:11:39] That's been a Franklin.
[4:11:40] Mr. Johnson, the blight reduction team was envisioned as two full-time code enforcement officers
[4:11:51] would be outfitted with F-150 trucks.
[4:11:55] The salary seems like it would be, it seems like it would be very,
[4:12:00] very easy and simple for us to reprioritize,
[4:12:05] instead of having them roaming the entire city,
[4:12:09] making their way from park to park to patrol,
[4:12:12] and to label them as park rangers and give them the
[4:12:15] stated core mission of policing our parks,
[4:12:18] or providing the code enforcement function in our parks.
[4:12:23] Do you see any reason why I'm not making sense right now?
[4:12:29] The blight reduction team was envisioned to be kind of a quasi-public work
[4:12:34] slash code enforcement and take the pressure off of both departments
[4:12:37] but serve the entire community if the city council is present.
[4:12:41] And the reason why that was recommended, I know you talked about park
[4:12:48] city-wide for issues then frankly we do in the parks. And I know you guys hear from individuals
[4:12:54] but we get a lot more community calls but if the council's preferences to go with more of
[4:12:59] a park-based system then we can switch to that. That's not hard. I do want to say one thing though
[4:13:05] and that is we have not had a maybe it semantics maybe it's not. We have not had a formal position
[4:13:12] of park ranger in the city for probably don't 25 or more years and typically cities that
[4:13:19] have park rangers, the park ranger has some higher level than let's say a code officer,
[4:13:27] maybe with a weapon of some sort whether that's a firearm in some cities or a taser, things
[4:13:32] like that, my recommendation to all of you is not to have somebody that's kind of, we
[4:13:38] have park directors that patrol the parks on a daily basis, I would prefer if you want
[4:13:42] go down this route to protecting the parks, having safety in the parks, to hire more park directors.
[4:13:49] We can change their appearance in terms of uniforms and that type of things so there's
[4:13:54] a presence, but currently there are park directors, we've had cut enforcement officers,
[4:13:59] we've got the sheriff's departments, and frankly park rangers would fit somewhere in the middle
[4:14:04] and we're not an agency, nobody in our agency other than code enforcement carries weapons,
[4:14:09] And so that would be a concern to have a couple of people out there that would be patrolling
[4:14:14] the parks at night in different hours.
[4:14:17] If they have problems, I would prefer they call the sheriff's department if there's a
[4:14:20] real need for that.
[4:14:21] But I think park directors serve the purpose anyhow.
[4:14:24] But yeah, you could pivot if that's the desire of the city council.
[4:14:27] I think our park directors already are calling the sheriff's department if they have an issue.
[4:14:32] Absolutely.
[4:14:33] And very clearly any employee who is not a law enforcement officer and is not armed with
[4:14:38] of the force should not during the late hours try to confront somebody, but our code enforcement
[4:14:45] officers go out every day and they enforce the municipal code and they're unarmed.
[4:14:50] And if they encounter a problem, they call the sheriff's department.
[4:14:54] By adding this extra deputy, we have extra resources for these park rangers to call a death.
[4:15:01] This is important to the deputy mayor. And, you know, I had a problem as you well know, on Sunday morning in the park. And, you know, having a presence in the parks, I, I, I never want our parks to be taken over by a criminal element. We know that we had a major problem with the, the VISTA homeboys gang at bubblegum some park.
[4:15:27] You know, we heard from the community activists who came to tell us about the Park in
[4:15:36] and Councilwoman Contrars' district, the name of the park, escapes me.
[4:15:41] Mr. Rand.
[4:15:41] Mr. Rand Park.
[4:15:43] With the vegetation.
[4:15:44] With the marijuana smoking.
[4:15:45] Yes.
[4:15:45] But he called it a vegetation issue.
[4:15:47] No.
[4:15:48] I mean behind the vegetation.
[4:15:49] Oh, okay.
[4:15:51] But, you know what, having a, having an authoritative presence in the parks could absolutely
[4:15:58] make that park safer for Councilwoman, Contreras' parks could make all of our parks
[4:16:06] in the entire city safer and it sounds like maybe the time has come and I don't think
[4:16:14] We're going to have to work that hard to re-invision this, so Madam Mayor, would you allow
[4:16:23] an indulge me to change my motion to one that authorizes the Sheriff's Deputy as well
[4:16:32] as for $277,000, the hiring of two park rangers program to be devised by the City Manager.
[4:16:43] Sure. Thank you. And I just wanted to say something else. Politics is sometimes deal-making,
[4:16:53] and I do resent the implication that there's something wrong with acknowledging
[4:16:57] another council member's priorities, and seeing that their priorities are met in order
[4:17:05] that what you believe are priorities for your constituents are met. That is politics, everything
[4:17:10] we do up here is political and I'm not afraid to admit it and I'm not afraid to do something
[4:17:18] that helps you accomplishing in that's important to your constituents if it can help me accomplish
[4:17:24] an end that's important to mine. That's working together, that's compromise and that's what
[4:17:28] our voters expect us to do every time we get up here. Thank you very much.
[4:17:34] You can call it whatever you want, but it doesn't look good to the public, and in any case,
[4:17:42] you know, I just want clarification on the costs of park rangers because I'm seeing
[4:17:49] the park rangers costing 340,000 and the blight reduction team being 277,000.
[4:17:58] So is there, do we need to allocate more funds?
[4:18:00] because we only have one point, you know, 11, essentially.
[4:18:06] Yeah, if there was a point one.
[4:18:08] I believe, you know, we could drill down on it,
[4:18:11] but if we were instructed to come back with park rangers,
[4:18:14] I believe it would be higher cost than the 277
[4:18:17] listed there, based on what I think, again,
[4:18:23] I'm interpreting the level of service and the classification
[4:18:27] of the position that would be necessary.
[4:18:29] It would be a bit higher than G777.
[4:18:32] I'm not sure how much higher, but it definitely probably
[4:18:35] would be overall $20 to $30,000 more, I would guess.
[4:18:39] Yeah, so it just continues to be a concern.
[4:18:42] The fact that we're spending, we allocated $14 million
[4:18:47] for infrastructure that we weren't saving for,
[4:18:51] and we're going over the allotment that we have
[4:18:54] to spend right now.
[4:18:56] I'm, I just, it's, it's not a good luck for the public, and I'm not in favor of not having a balanced budget.
[4:19:09] So, maybe you all are, but I'm not.
[4:19:14] Deputy Mayor Green.
[4:19:16] Also, thank you so much. Thank you for the spirited conversation.
[4:19:19] Council, I greatly appreciate it.
[4:19:21] As far as the actual range or name,
[4:19:24] park enforcers. I know when we were speaking additionally about a deputy we were able to fit two park
[4:19:30] ranges in the cost of one. Sheriff deputy pretty quick and maybe it wasn't a ranger whatever. So as long as we have
[4:19:37] this is what I want. I want a city truck that says park enforcement and I want two people who are
[4:19:42] charged with only driving by our parks. They have to be park enforcers or something because that's
[4:19:48] what people want to see as somebody that says park enforcement. I mean it's not a ranger that's cool
[4:19:53] fit it within this budget because that's what we want. I do want a valid
[4:19:56] budget and they don't have to carry a gun. They can call the cops too, but it's...
[4:20:00] About community relationships and making it be safer and we can make that happen within the constraints of our budget, and we can make everybody happy.
[4:20:09] So, yeah, I'm okay.
[4:20:10] If it's not technically a ranger, there's classification issues within local government that I think might confuse that.
[4:20:15] And I heard what you said. And I should say that this cost here is a cost for the first year, because we're going to have to buy vehicles in that type of thing.
[4:20:24] If it goes a second year, the cost will go down because we will not be providing vehicles and supplies and those type of things.
[4:20:34] Thank you.
[4:20:36] Councillor Frank, can we call for the question, maybe soon?
[4:20:39] Absolutely.
[4:20:40] I just wanted to note my commitment to work with you Deputy Mayor Green and the staff and all the
[4:20:46] Council here to find the necessary gap in funding.
[4:20:49] If we need to reallocate funds to fully fund this Park Ranger program, it wasn't that I wasn't convinced of the value of it at the time.
[4:20:59] It was that I had another priority at the time.
[4:21:04] Pointly, this last Sunday morning, I had an experience in the parks where something was on social media and I went to check it out and it needed law enforcement response.
[4:21:13] If the Park Rangers had been patrolling that park, probably that situation would have never gotten to that point.
[4:21:18] So, I'm convinced that this is the right thing to do, and you have my commitment to find the funding to fully fund it.
[4:21:25] And I think the city manager is clever enough to find $30,000 without causing us to go bankrupt.
[4:21:32] And in fact, we have a $30,000 access to do we not.
[4:21:36] In our year-end fund balance, we can allocate necessary to have a perfectly balanced budget is required by state law and constitution.
[4:21:43] I think if we call it park enforcement, we will be within the budget.
[4:21:47] Fantastic.
[4:21:48] Move to call the question.
[4:21:51] And then it's called some of them will end us, so when we're less, when less things say.
[4:21:55] Thank you.
[4:21:57] Firstly, I want to understand because there is a change in the motion exactly what we're
[4:22:03] going forward to vote on.
[4:22:06] But I'm not quite understanding the rationale of now we're adding additional priorities
[4:22:14] to this list that would go over the total provided funding and we're providing
[4:22:26] direction for us as a city to find funding to make this priority list whole when
[4:22:35] my understanding is that with some of these priorities such as a share
[4:22:39] deputy, we already can be finding that funding elsewhere and do not need to be using this
[4:22:46] excess cannabis revenue.
[4:22:49] So that I just want to state that comments for the public that we are theorizing to go
[4:22:58] over the allotted amount when I think if we were to be doing this in a smart way, we would
[4:23:06] have tabled the opportunity to hire a sheriff's deputy at this time to prioritize some of the special projects that we are hoping to accomplish with these funds and then ultimately reassess and move forward.
[4:23:21] But those are my final comments and I would just like a clarification on what our vote is going to be on.
[4:23:31] Here does does the city attorney understand clearly in the city clerk understand clearly what the motion is?
[4:23:40] I can restate just briefly. It is that we are authorizing $275,000 for one share of stability and $277,000 for the hiring of two park rangers
[4:23:53] and
[4:23:54] There is sort of an assumed that this is in a loo of the next item
[4:24:00] And although I think, I mean, and I'm agreeing that it's in blue, but I'm not sure that
[4:24:05] that needs to be part of the motion.
[4:24:10] Is it in blue and blue the next item or in addition to the next item?
[4:24:14] It's in blue.
[4:24:14] So we're reallocating the 277,000,000 on that.
[4:24:17] Is that going to have a black reduction team?
[4:24:20] Okay.
[4:24:21] And it's just to clarify, is your motion park rangeers or park enforcers?
[4:24:27] I think you can make it work with park rangeers, but if the deputy mayor would agree to
[4:24:32] I would leave it up to the authority of the city manager.
[4:24:35] I would leave it up to the authority of the city manager,
[4:24:37] as long as the direction is being handled in the budget is balanced.
[4:24:45] Okay, we got it all, I would say one last thing I can think of because I haven't seen anything.
[4:24:50] I would just say the public safety is always been, I don't know,
[4:24:53] one priority in VISTA, fire and sheriff.
[4:24:56] And so I think for the 11 cannabis dispensaries in VISTA,
[4:25:00] I think it's put more of strain on our deputies a little bit. It's just the drivers, just the use of it, and it's, you know, in itself. And the new exodus is going to be open 24 hours a day with 51-50s. I think that that's more of a strain. So I think that we, I think it's, I support the deputies. So anyway, that's, so with that we will vote, capture votes,
[4:25:30] motion passes three to two.
[4:25:32] So, that takes us to, if you have oral communications, our oral communications, or we do have one more thing?
[4:25:43] No, we did in lieu.
[4:25:48] I believe the Council member will let us want to talk about the recovery program as well?
[4:25:53] Substance and abuse recovery.
[4:25:56] I'm okay on just passing up the opportunity to speak.
[4:26:04] Do you have a motion to approve it?
[4:26:08] here or has that already been improved city attorney so I'm going to
[4:26:12] be improved.
[4:26:14] So we're all set to move on.
[4:26:16] Okay, got it.
[4:26:17] So we're going to do our oral communications.
[4:26:19] We have a couple speakers here at Calorie.
[4:26:21] Eric is stuck it out to the Diorin and Rachel too.
[4:26:25] You're next.
[4:26:27] Good evening Mayor and Council members.
[4:26:30] I was going to talk about something else but as we were sitting here this evening
[4:26:34] I did decide to make sure you are all aware that next Tuesday, August 31st is overdose awareness day.
[4:26:45] And NCPC's been working on some different awareness efforts.
[4:26:50] I'm sure you're very well aware about the increasing fentanyl-related deaths.
[4:26:56] I wanted to share some data with you from 2020 here in our tricity region.
[4:27:02] And we've had 73 overdosed related deaths in 2020.
[4:27:09] See, 44% of those were related to fentanyl.
[4:27:12] But if you look at those that impacted people under 40,
[4:27:16] 69% were related to fentanyl.
[4:27:20] 67% of our overdosed deaths impacted people under the age of 50,
[4:27:25] 34 were under 40 and of those 79% were male and 76% were white. The age range with the highest
[4:27:35] related fentanyl overdoses were at those ages 30 to 39. And those are all just a bunch of
[4:27:42] numbers. You probably, I'm sure well aware of the terrible tragic story in the news. I don't
[4:27:49] So I won't speak for her and her family situation, but it was a tragic thing that happened here in Bista.
[4:27:58] So, heavy news, and it does relate to cannabis too.
[4:28:02] You may recall the post I was here at a recent meeting, sharing the graph of fentanyl related overdose deaths,
[4:28:09] with a quote from Dr. Renee Lev, who is an emergency room physician here at Scripps.
[4:28:14] She says in her emergency room, she has not encountered a single overdose patient that did not start their drug use history with marijuana.
[4:28:25] She's also a leading founding member of a new website called Isaac, the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis.
[4:28:34] they have a library of all the research, I encourage you to Google them so that we can
[4:28:40] blend these efforts and address the impacts and tragedies that often occur with substance
[4:28:45] use.
[4:28:46] VISTA Community Clinic is changing their policies so we will have an aloxone available to
[4:28:52] all clinic patients and their family members.
[4:28:55] So if they have family that have problems with illicit substance use, we know it's in all illicit
[4:29:01] strategies, what we're working to expand availability of not so in our communities up here
[4:29:08] in North County and with that I thank you for a long evening and a spirited discussion.
[4:29:15] Thank you.
[4:29:16] Thank you.
[4:29:17] Rachel Bell.
[4:29:22] Good evening.
[4:29:23] Rachel Bell with the VISTA Chamber.
[4:29:26] This is my first back in person meeting that I've attended and it's a good one.
[4:29:30] So thank you so much for all of your discussion tonight.
[4:29:33] It's exciting to be here, stick it out to the end and to hear all the discussions.
[4:29:37] So thank you for that.
[4:29:38] I did want to just mention two things and we heard tonight during the
[4:29:43] our discussion in another comments that there are a number of people looking for jobs
[4:29:48] and there are also businesses that are hiring.
[4:29:51] I wanted to share that the VISTA Chamber has a jobs board on our website.
[4:29:54] this to chamber.org slash jobs if this to business is higher.
[4:30:00] They can utilize that tool and if someone is looking for employment, they can utilize that tool as well.
[4:30:06] Also, when I mentioned that the VISTA Chamber publishes a quarterly publication, the VISTA magazine, it's available also on our website,
[4:30:13] VISTAChamber.org right on the homepage. The fall addition is out. I know tonight we talked about telling VISTA story and all of the things that the city can do to publish articles and to highlight those amazing stories.
[4:30:26] And I just wanted to mention that in addition, the chamber also helps to tell stories, maybe from a little different perspective, and we encourage everyone to check that out online, we have printed copies available to around town.
[4:30:38] When I thank you so much for all of the work that you do and for listening to the public.
[4:30:43] And I hope you have a great evening, and it's also talk of Tuesday.
[4:30:47] Is this still Tuesday?
[4:30:52] Okay, that's all of our speakers, so we'll go to remarks.
[4:30:56] I have a few things for the council here in recognition of National Preparedness Month.
[4:31:01] Check our city website for information on how to prepare for a wildlife, power-ordered
[4:31:06] outages, earthquakes and other disasters at cityivist.com slash emergency prep.
[4:31:12] And next thing is with students returning to the classroom, remember to slow down around
[4:31:16] school zones, stay alert, and let's work together to keep VISTA students safe throughout the school year.
[4:31:22] And lastly, I recreations false sports activities are underway and you can register for adult and children's programs now at
[4:31:30] vistarecreation.org. So go down the line and I'll start with a deputy mayor.
[4:31:36] Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. I want to thank my council members for all the research they do, all the
[4:31:40] comments they make in their heartfelt passion for our city. I know that we don't agree on everything,
[4:31:44] but one thing we read on is we love Vista and we love our constituents and we will fight
[4:31:48] tooth and nail for them. I want to thank Rachel Belld for showing up and for everything that
[4:31:51] you're doing for our community working with the school district is huge. On that same note,
[4:31:56] council member, Karina Contraryr is huge props as a parent of four kids in Vist Unified School
[4:32:01] District with no buses and driving around town all over the place to drop my kids off.
[4:32:06] Council member Contraryr is in North County Transit District which I'll let her tell you about it
[4:32:10] we're able to come to an agreement to get our kids bused home from school and that is a humongous
[4:32:14] deal and I know the principal over there is just ecstatic and that is huge so thank you so much
[4:32:19] council would interest. Another thing is school zones we're back to school I am taking my kid to school
[4:32:24] leave early so that you're not rude in line plan on taking like an hour round trip to drop your kid off
[4:32:30] because if you don't you're rude and it's dangerous and kids can get hurt and lastly
[4:32:34] Filly Burtos and Avery Burtos and Albert tacos are all open 24 hours and have amazing deals
[4:32:39] You can actually get a beef taco for 99 cents at Filly Burtos on the corner of Williamston and Vista way check him out have a great night Vista
[4:32:47] Okay, I'll remember Franklin
[4:32:50] I want a second what the deputy mayor said about the fact that we don't always agree
[4:32:57] And sometimes we don't always agree about the way to do things even when we disagree about how we're what we're getting done
[4:33:04] However, I do know that all of us care about our community,
[4:33:09] and we're all trying to do what we think is right,
[4:33:11] even though we may not agree on what that is.
[4:33:13] So I appreciate the spirit of discussion.
[4:33:16] I appreciate all of you working with me.
[4:33:20] I'm not always the friendlyest guy,
[4:33:22] especially when I get passionate about what I think's right.
[4:33:25] I appreciate you putting up with me,
[4:33:27] and I appreciate being able to work with you guys.
[4:33:30] Thank you, Councilmember Contreras.
[4:33:33] Yeah, so I want to say that by being nonpartisan and not being hyper-political, in less than a year of being on North County Transit District, which I'm super happy and thankful that this council has approved.
[4:33:48] I was able to actually get some work done in the community and that's picking up kids off Pulse Away and all over the place who otherwise would have to walk an excessive two miles every day on streets that don't have sidewalks.
[4:34:03] And so now we're able to get them on the bus.
[4:34:06] It's $23 a month.
[4:34:08] We have a special route for them.
[4:34:10] $3 a day, and I could not have done it
[4:34:14] without Principal DeSanto at Rancho Minerva Middle School.
[4:34:17] This is something that she's been asking for.
[4:34:19] This is something that her and I talked about before.
[4:34:22] I was on North County Transit District.
[4:34:24] And we actually happened to run into each other
[4:34:28] at a film hub for one of the events of the chamber
[4:34:32] was putting on and we're like hey you know what we haven't done in this done let's get it done
[4:34:36] and just like that we made it happen I'm really thankful to our executive director, Matthew Tucker
[4:34:44] at North County Transit District we literally got this done in just a few months so I'm really
[4:34:54] I really happy about that. I also just, you know, on the same line of just working.
[4:35:00] For the community, and not trying to be hyperpartisan, you know, I single-handedly was able to get the city of Vista, $5 million for fire station three, and $3.5 million for solar panels here at the Civic Center.
[4:35:20] And $600,000 for a well at Bringle Tears Park.
[4:35:25] So that was also more than a, it's almost like two years in the making.
[4:35:31] And I always wanted to remind people, Wednesday is trash pick up day.
[4:35:39] So we, if you saw the presentation earlier, we had, get it us.
[4:35:45] here, volunteers that meet up every Wednesday at Los Duran Park 9 a.m. we start walking by 9
[4:35:52] 15 and we walk pick-up trash and come back to Los Duran Park with the aim of getting their
[4:35:59] around 11 a.m. and then our lovely co-workers, my lovely co-workers and public works actually
[4:36:08] finishes the job and they pick up the trash that we pick up. so I'm really thankful for serving
[4:36:14] the community of Vista and focusing in a non-partisan way on things that have to get done.
[4:36:21] Council Member Melendez. Thank you everyone who's endured the entire meeting tonight.
[4:36:28] I know that it was a long one. I just want to say thank you to City staff for
[4:36:37] collaborating with this body and trying to find solutions for the community.
[4:36:43] I am here to serve the community and sometimes that means that I have to fight for my values
[4:36:55] and the values that are reflected in the community even if they don't always sit well in conversation.
[4:37:04] So we have to have very difficult conversations.
[4:37:06] We have to say what we believe is true. I know that I have to say what I believe is true
[4:37:13] and I have a lot of respect for myself and a lot of appreciation of the community for putting me in this position.
[4:37:22] I really see it as a public servant role. This is not a beauty pageant for me.
[4:37:28] I am here to serve the community and talk about really hard issues.
[4:37:32] And in continuing that, I have a date for my first virtual town hall.
[4:37:39] It's a little bit more than a month though.
[4:37:41] It's going to be an October 14th in the evening.
[4:37:44] So if anyone watching or listening or here today is interested in participating in a virtual town hall,
[4:37:50] specifically geared toward infrastructure and safety,
[4:37:54] I would love to have your contributions.
[4:37:56] The more public input, the better I know that some of these in-person meetings aren't always
[4:38:02] as accessible. I know when we were virtual, we were getting a lot of comments on a lot of
[4:38:07] interactions. So since we don't have a hybrid model at this point, hopefully can in the future,
[4:38:13] I would like to try to fill those gaps of public information from the community with what I'm
[4:38:18] able to provide in terms of making myself available to the community to talk about important issues.
[4:38:24] If there is any needs that you have, feel free to reach out to me. You can find on my contact
[4:38:30] information on the city website and I just appreciate so much the community sharing their
[4:38:39] opinions so that I can be up here and advocate for you and I am ready to take a rest
[4:38:48] after a long meeting and I hope everybody has a wonderful blessed night.
[4:38:54] City Manager.
[4:38:55] Thank you Mayor, a couple items I mentioned earlier today that the Senior Center is going to increase their social hours.
[4:39:01] So starting tomorrow, Wednesday, Senior Center will be open from 830 to 1030 on Wednesdays, and we anticipate being fully staffed and open to the public in September.
[4:39:14] As far as our shelter bed availability, we currently have eight beds available between our two shelters at La Pazata and Interfaith.
[4:39:21] And the last item, I want to say happy birthday to our fire chief, Ned Vanderpool, who's birthday was yesterday, I think he was a milestone birthday, I think it was 39, but he's behind the doors back there, so happy birthday to the chief.
[4:39:35] Okay, I want us to be a attorney, Darrell Fiber.
[4:39:39] Thank you, Mayor. Nothing, I really wouldn't dare at this hour.
[4:39:43] City clerk, Kathy, do you have anything? Nothing, thank you.
[4:39:47] Okay, with that, we are adjourned.