[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.]

[0:44] Good afternoon, the time is now 4.30 on the date and time notice for our regularly scheduled Watsonville City Council meeting. Can I get a roll call, please?
[0:54] Clerk?
[0:55] Do you try?
[0:58] Want to see now?
[0:59] Yeah.
[1:00] What else can we do?
[1:03] Here.
[1:06] Guido's Parker?
[1:07] Here.
[1:08] And so I'll see you do.
[1:08] Here.
[1:09] We have quorum.
[1:10] And moving on to reports to Council, it looks like we're going to have a city building assessment
[1:19] study report by administrative services manager Gordo.
[1:24] Good afternoon.
[1:34] Oh, I missed it, sorry, are there any new employees before we start?
[1:40] Okay.
[1:46] Good afternoon.
[1:47] Good afternoon.
[1:48] mayor, council gave board of works and utilities, and I'm here on this afternoon on the request
[1:53] of the city manager to provide the council with the pre-foreview of a city building of
[1:57] the facility assessment study that was conducted by the city a few years back.
[2:05] So why was this
[2:06] facility conducted? Well, back when the study was the idea was proposed, the city was looking at
[2:12] her prioritizing its capital requests from budget. The finance director started when at the time
[2:19] was trying to invest the limited funds and resources
[2:22] that city will automole had in a thoughtful and data-driven way.
[2:27] However, we didn't have information on the condition,
[2:30] the needs of our facilities and so forth.
[2:33] So the idea was to hire an architectural group
[2:37] to conduct what's called the facility assessment.
[2:40] So in 2022, the city hired KPA group to complete in 2023.
[2:47] and selected city sites were included a total of 15 sites on this list were included in the
[2:53] evaluated.
[2:54] As you can see, we have across the board, both fire stations, the police department, municipal
[3:01] service center, various community centers, the Wantsville Senior Center, Pinto Lake City Park,
[3:09] City Hall, all those facilities were part of this study.
[3:14] So what's involved in this study, the purpose of such a study is to provide a comprehensive
[3:19] evaluation of the conditions of the facility, these include the site itself, the building
[3:25] interior, the exterior, the structure, ADA compliance, mechanical condition, and the electrical
[3:32] and plumbing conditions of the facilities.
[3:37] How is this done?
[3:37] It was done to a series of meetings with staff and management, side visits, checklists
[3:44] where written of all facilities, pictures and photos were taken, space surveys were conducted
[3:50] with staff and obviously one of the most important parts of the study was cost estimates.
[3:58] Well, were some of the major findings?
[4:00] Obviously there was evidence of the age and where of the interior of the buildings,
[4:04] because some of the results are pretty old and dated.
[4:07] There was a need for update of mechanical electrical and plumbing systems, and that most parking
[4:14] laws require resurfacing and re-striping.
[4:18] There was also some minor structural cracking found in some other facilities, and that
[4:24] all city buildings require some moderate improvement to maintain their current value, their
[4:30] operational capacity, and need to public needs.
[4:34] One of the major findings is obviously dollars in cents because that's where we're looking at and here is the list of the 15 facilities and the respective estimates for the improvements needed and as you can see they vary the total is a little bit over $6 million and this is in 2023 figures so those will need to be adjusted.
[4:52] But as you can see, one of the highest on the list is the Municipal Service Center, the fire stations combined, they're over almost close to 12 million dollars, city halls in there at eight, the police building there for another eight, and there's a lot of the parking garage in there, which is a facility that demands a lot of services in there for a little bit over three million dollars.
[5:16] So it was really thoughtful and detailed to the evaluation of the architects.
[5:21] So, whatever we've done, the study wasn't just put in a shelf somewhere, so we can say,
[5:26] oh, we can pat our backs and say, oh, you guys are amazing, you're really smart and you
[5:31] conducted this.
[5:32] We actually took the information and director served when looked at ways of funding those projects.
[5:39] One of the projects that was taken into that was developed was a senior center project,
[5:46] which totaled about $587,000 in that came out of CDBG funding.
[5:50] So, the very strategic fire station, one also receives a lot of improvements and we're just finalizing those for a tune of 640,000 using major Wi-phones.
[6:01] And also at the MSC, there's a design project currently in the works for a new admin facility building there.
[6:08] There's a budget of 1.6 million dollars of being funded by water and solid waste.
[6:13] And it's in process, and so far we spent 267,000 dollars on that project.
[6:17] Also, the Ramsey Park Family Center, which is the future home of the nature center, as a budget of $2.4 million,
[6:24] that's being funded from the water and sugar fund, and currently we spent $82,000 in its current design and its current.
[6:37] And what are we planning to do? We're not going to stop there, obviously.
[6:40] We're going to find ways to improve our facilities.
[6:43] Here, just a list of some sites, fire station number two, which is in dire need of a lot of improvement.
[6:49] obviously, it houses our fire department, but it's also used as an academy, as a training
[6:54] ground.
[6:55] So we're looking to see ground opportunities to help us and make improvements.
[6:58] And probably, if you look at the site as itself, not just the building.
[7:03] Pinto Lake Park is related for mashupon, which is great.
[7:06] We expand our recreation opportunities.
[7:08] Just like we're doing at Ramsey, Pinto Lake is a gem of the park.
[7:11] It's great that we're looking at it.
[7:14] The MSC site itself, we're currently working on site improvements for its stormwater.
[7:19] the facility holds a stormwater permit because of the public drop-up that has a house there.
[7:25] So by making stormwater improvements, we can expand the use of the facility and maximize the situation.
[7:31] The Beach Street parking garage, which I mentioned earlier, is the man's a lot of attention from our building of facilities crew. I know currently there is discussions with the metro housing project and see how the parking garage can be part of the project and see if we could allow a partnership that will allow for investment in much needed improvements to that site.
[7:54] And that concludes my quick overview of the survey. I'm really happy to answer any questions you may have.
[8:02] Mayor Protem, Kirk.
[8:03] Thank you. Just one quick question. City Hall on this list is that considered the City Plaza
[8:09] of the building where and now are we talking about the old City Hall building across the street.
[8:13] That is 50 main deal City Hall across the street, old City Hall across the street. Okay, perfect. Thank you.
[8:20] Any other questions? Can some member want to see? Yeah, and can you go back to the list that you had?
[8:28] But what is our priority? Like, you know, I like to know, like, you know, are we just, you know,
[8:35] attacking on this or that or like what's an upper already system you know what is
[8:41] the greatest needs or what you know what are we looking at in the future.
[8:45] Like what the projects that we listed the priority was usually based on the funding availability
[8:49] of course and a lot of places, blah, cities, they have a like a building fund where it's
[8:56] every building we put a size room funds for its annual upkeep of different, all its components
[9:01] HVC, plumbing, roofing, et cetera, the envelope of itself.
[9:06] The priority is just, I would say,
[9:08] is depends on you all, and then the researchers
[9:10] that we have, you combine with the city manager
[9:13] with help us prioritize that.
[9:15] I can tell you that currently building efficiency
[9:18] is really important not just to us,
[9:21] but to the state and to the nationality and the whole world.
[9:25] And it's a big theme, and it's an area
[9:27] that we are often pressed upon.
[9:31] There's energy, efficiency, grants.
[9:34] So there's a availability to fix our billions that way,
[9:37] but it's limited, it's competitive.
[9:40] And we also need to have some sort of design,
[9:42] and some sort of planning around the employees
[9:43] for best practices in our facilities.
[9:46] And that's where we would need to prioritize those things.
[9:51] But so my answer is not very clear, obviously.
[9:53] It's not to me.
[9:55] It's not to me.
[9:56] And by us, I would say the PoloWorks project, but that's not overall.
[10:00] It's like, what is the better shirt for the community?
[10:03] We anticipated that you would ask that.
[10:06] And I like another slide that is, probably second to last game, because, you know, it all depends on funding.
[10:15] Right, like, definitely $76 million of the firmliness is a big task.
[10:21] And we don't have all the money at once, and we sometimes find opportunities within
[10:26] looking. So what this does is I made me realize that the council has never seen this full inventory
[10:33] of our needs. So I think I've asked Gabe to to come present today so that so the council is
[10:41] aware. And and these these summarizes a little bit of the like kind of like short-term opportunities
[10:47] that we're actively working on fire station two as you know we've been having conversations
[10:53] with so-so-love grant and exploring federal grant opportunities and funding. We are in the process
[11:01] of Master Planning, Pintileg, and Director Kalobakubis being working with county parks to actually
[11:10] join forces and Master Planning that. And as we learn from Bramsi Park having a Master Plan
[11:18] really helps go after funding, right? So that is the plan there. And then MSC is something
[11:26] like, again, for the way the property is being used, the mitigation actions that we had
[11:33] to take in terms of store water, store water, just really kind of made us get to work and design
[11:42] better use the realization of that. And then we do have some deficiencies and
[11:47] opportunities also in between the beach street parking garages is one
[11:52] that is in a lot of need of investment, but it needs to be utilizing a
[11:59] different way because the amount of bundleism that it goes on there.
[12:06] And good faith, I couldn't recommend that we put new elevators and we not manage the garage so that they cannot be vandalized again.
[12:16] So until we are able to wrap up a full project, we can really recommend moving forward with millions of dollars and new elevators.
[12:26] So that's how we are prioritizing CIP, this is coming to the Planning Commission in early May
[12:34] to the Council through your budget process.
[12:36] That's going to be another opportunity to continue prioritizing and looking at the amount of money
[12:41] we have available on how we take a dent in our many needs.
[12:48] Yeah, I understand we have, like I said, thank you for that information, because yeah, first
[12:53] I like to challenge, you know, all of you, you know, provide a, you know, a priority, because
[13:02] it's the more deferred maintenance we've got a honing on, you know, not just opportunities,
[13:07] like you mentioned, but also honing on, you know, what is our community's priorities.
[13:13] So we can focus our, you know, attention to advocacy, whether at the state or federal level,
[13:18] or wherever we can to, you know, to be able to tackle,
[13:22] you know, even the one project at a time.
[13:26] Because, yeah, it's a good way that you're doing it,
[13:31] mismatch, you know, but I like to see it just a priority
[13:34] whether it's the, like a police department
[13:37] or the marriage park or whatever,
[13:41] make it our focus, you know, you know,
[13:46] and what that entails, you know, looking at, you know,
[13:50] parks opportunities, whether, you know,
[13:52] Pinto Lake is a better priority than a marriage park.
[13:56] I would tell you, like, better here,
[13:58] like it's closest, you know, the need.
[14:01] So like I said, that kind of brainstorm.
[14:05] So if you remember the parks department data
[14:09] prioritization, that was really strongly based on equity,
[14:14] I know I could be assessment and I don't want to be
[14:20] speak but I think that River Park is the next priority in our park investment
[14:25] as well as the opportunity to master plant into Lake as a major community resource
[14:31] and you know we will have new opportunities that come out of that. That's why that's
[14:36] making the list but River Park if I'm like raise your hand if I'm right yes I'm right
[14:41] will be our next, our next part.
[14:44] And is the park over on the Vista Montaña?
[14:50] Is that our park?
[14:52] Where's that in the park?
[14:54] It's one of our newest parks.
[14:57] So probably the next last needy.
[15:01] I think all has been evaluated on assess. We have a full, I'm happy to maybe recirculate that so that the council has access to that document, the park assessment.
[15:14] Thank you.
[15:17] I have a question and a comment.
[15:19] Come to the member of RISCO.
[15:20] Thank you.
[15:21] So I just want to highlight the fact that I like what you're doing.
[15:26] So, I like the prioritization, but I also like the fact that staff is seeking out opportunities
[15:34] and not just say, we don't have the funding, but really leveraging our partnerships to bring in that additional revenue
[15:42] to address different maintenance.
[15:46] I did have a question on the Metro Project, so there's been discussions, but has that been?
[15:55] Is it set in stone that they are willing to provide funding or work with us to upgrade that parking lot?
[16:05] Given that we will be providing over 100 parking slots for that project?
[16:16] We have been in conversation with them, you're saying for them to fund it?
[16:21] Oh, partially.
[16:23] We have,
[16:27] I don't believe the partners have identified funding source.
[16:31] They can tap into, they're looking at the city, to be able to fund the improvements that would allow for the utilization of those parking spots in the garage.
[16:44] And yeah, so we're not there yet, but we are in conversations to see if they are able to identify funding to pay for it.
[16:57] To some of the improvements, as a way of funding the benefit of relying on that parking.
[17:04] I mean, they are working on a measure, right?
[17:08] So if that were to pass, I don't know how likely that would be, but you know, I don't know, yeah, I know.
[17:19] But if it were to pass, I mean, that's something that we could look into.
[17:25] Is it just transportation being?
[17:27] I think it's a mid-pen project, mostly.
[17:31] I mean, Metro certainly providing the land, but it's not actually like, you know.
[17:41] But they're taking credit for it, so we might as well bring them in into the conversation and explore that partnership further.
[17:50] I don't know.
[17:52] Oh, I know.
[17:57] Mayor, can I?
[17:58] Yes, sir.
[17:59] Thank you.
[18:00] Yeah, we're going off the fiscal cliff, so there's like literally Metro is there's no money.
[18:07] Thank you for this presentation.
[18:08] I visually, in my head, imagined what it sounded like, so, but I do have a couple of questions.
[18:16] Can you go back to the list?
[18:20] Is there any way of, and you may have brought this up already, including that in any rate
[18:27] hikes that we're going to be reviewing and possibly passing to make sure that that project is covered?
[18:35] This is all general funds, so none of these is part of the rate study.
[18:38] this is general fun I understand that but I'm asking why can't that be I mean that seems like
[18:44] a public works kind of project or the amissie can you go back to the other the one where it
[18:51] right there stormwater improvements that seems like something that would be under a water project
[19:00] Yes, so storm water is not an enterprise utility, so we can't use the 218 process for it unless we were to develop a storm water utility.
[19:14] That's a whole other process.
[19:16] But for this particular project, it looks like there's a couple options for grant funding.
[19:21] So we're actively pursuing that.
[19:23] Okay, I did not know that. I did not know. I just assumed that storm water to me is
[19:29] like woodfall in that category. So there are projects that do not fall in that category,
[19:34] even though they may look on the face as like a public works project.
[19:39] Interesting. Okay, and then I am super supportive of the Pinnolake project. To me, Pinnolake is the
[19:46] the next largest park, next to Ramsey Park,
[19:51] which will be done in the next couple years, probably.
[19:56] And you know, so I definitely think
[19:59] that we should be getting that, that should be a priority.
[20:03] I mean, it's a big space, people really utilize it.
[20:06] So I'm definitely supportive of that.
[20:09] And yeah, and thank you, I mean, it's important to start
[20:13] planning ahead.
[20:14] because I think that, you know, I see what projects are going to be finished soon, and I don't really see a vision beyond that, so I'd like to see some of these projects start getting into motion so that we can start accomplishing more things for our community.
[20:31] Thank you.
[20:33] Any other comments from Council?
[20:36] All right, thank you very much.
[20:39] Next item to be study session on city special events budget report by Deputy City Manager,
[20:48] Kelliabakam, and recreational supervisor, baby.
[21:00] Okay, good afternoon, Mayor, members of the council, and I call a bucket of Deputy City Manager
[21:04] and Parks and Community Services Director, and I'm here today with Recreation's Supervisor
[21:09] Jessica BV who, as many of you know, plans and implements all of our large city-wide special
[21:17] events. We're here for a brief study session on mainly the operational cost and revenues regarding
[21:25] our city sponsored or city, special events that the city itself plans and operates.
[21:34] I want to kind of see this up by just saying that this conversation also, you know, like
[21:39] the previous item, is to kind of provide you with some additional information regarding the
[21:45] costs around special events. As we start to prepare our budget for next year, I hope it's
[21:51] to kind of talk through some of the challenges that we're facing in terms of costs and to
[21:55] provide you with some potential scenarios that we could look at just to start at the conversation
[22:01] as we lead into what looks like, kind of a challenging budget year and possibly years to come
[22:08] in terms of revenue.
[22:11] So I wanted to kind of just start off real quickly and talk a little bit
[22:15] about the value that the events bring to our community and what our residents kind of enjoy
[22:22] and get out of these efforts. So first of all we know from a attendance stats through
[22:30] And you saw for that we're using that we have over 70,000 individuals that come and participate in our events on an annual basis.
[22:39] This, of course, fluctuates year to year depending on what events are offered and all kinds of things from the weather to what's happening nationwide and so forth.
[22:48] But in the past year we had over 70,000 people attend our events. If you kind of look at that at face value, I mean it's basically like the entire population of Watsonville and then some coming through our events.
[22:59] throughout the year.
[23:02] With that, there's some great economic development impact that these events create, especially
[23:08] when you look at events like the strawberry festival that bring thousands of people to our
[23:12] downtown, from within Watsonville and from the San Jose area, Monterey County, and even
[23:20] beyond to really spend money in our downtown with our local businesses and support the nonprofits
[23:27] that raise money throughout the events and so forth.
[23:31] It's also alive with our downtown specific plan that calls out the planning and implementation
[23:37] of large events that bring people into the downtown, possibly activates public spaces like
[23:42] the city Plaza and other spaces where when events are taking place throughout the community
[23:48] like at Franch Park, like our recent egg hunt and so forth.
[23:51] They're family-friendly, friendly experiences, you know, whenever we do surveys with the community
[23:57] about what our community enjoys the most from parks and recreation, special events,
[24:02] always kind of land towards the top as experiences that people like to enjoy it together.
[24:09] One thing that I constantly think about with our demographic, especially, is that, you know,
[24:14] we have a lot of families who can't always afford to take their families out of town to experience,
[24:20] things like Disneyland, for example, or amusement parks like the cost a lot during the day.
[24:28] But these experiences really bring those types of feelings and memories to our community
[24:36] and allow folks to create those memories here without having to pay for the expense of
[24:41] going outside of our community to experience similar things.
[24:45] They also involve a large number of our nonprofits and art organizations about 350 plus annually.
[24:53] Obviously promote cultural celebration expression and connections and build community in civic pride.
[24:59] And so forth.
[25:03] So this, we're going to start to kind of get in the mini-degree and I'm going to pass the Jessica after this slide.
[25:08] But this first slide here is just kind of a highlight overview of what our expenses and revenue and net costs have looked like for our special events.
[25:17] going back to 2021-22, so we kind of rolled the clock back to just after the pandemic when
[25:24] our events started to come back after the brief pause in 2020 and shortly after that.
[25:32] We're looking at kind of this period of time and not going back further before the pandemic
[25:37] because we've got one better accounting of all that and it really kind of gives us a better
[25:42] through understanding of what things cost today,
[25:45] because as we all know, prices for everything
[25:48] have just skyrocketed, and that is definitely
[25:50] affected our events as well.
[25:52] So the orders line here represents our expenses.
[25:57] The green line towards the kind of posters of the bottom
[26:01] is our revenue.
[26:01] And then what the blue line does is it marries the two,
[26:04] and it shows you what our net cost is.
[26:07] So if we were, if you kind of think about the city's bank,
[26:11] What we've had a pocket is represented by that baby blue line.
[26:16] And I'm going to turn these over to Jessica.
[26:17] Thank you.
[26:19] So here's a closer look at the trend for services and personnel costs,
[26:24] which include city services such as traffic control, police services,
[26:29] trash services, parks, teammates, et cetera.
[26:33] Also included here are services provided for events such as entertainment,
[26:37] infrastructure, rentals, those kinds of things.
[26:40] Some of what's reflected is expected cost increases from year to year, as we touched upon.
[26:46] But primarily, the increases are due to increased payroll costs and city departments becoming increasingly better at tracking and charging personnel time associated with the implementation of city events.
[27:04] These figures represent the variance between the net expense approved for the events budget in yellow,
[27:11] and the total projected net expense for events in gray for the current fiscal year and for
[27:17] next fiscal year. Again the yellow represents the difference between expenses and revenue
[27:22] that was in the approved budget. The gray represents the projected difference between
[27:27] if it expenses and revenue for each year. The variance for each year listed on the
[27:32] bottom is the difference between the approved net cost and projected net cost.
[27:43] Here you can
[27:43] for each event in the city's portfolio how the projected costs for next fiscal year break down
[27:49] between contract services and non-PCS personnel, materials and PCS personnel costs.
[27:56] Additionally, the revenue of each and projected net cost prevent with anticipated
[28:00] attendance for each based on this fiscal year's attendance.
[28:09] Additionally, as you know,
[28:11] the city provides $35,000 in community special events sponsorships annually
[28:16] to help subsidize events not directly offered by the city.
[28:20] Here is the summary of this year's sponsored events with attendance.
[28:30] So now as we take a look back at the city events with the requests that you provide us
[28:34] general feedback as we prepare our 2627 budget.
[28:38] Here's the summary of the net costs per event for this fiscal year
[28:42] and projected for next fiscal year.
[28:46] Next I will share with you options that illustrate the budget impact
[28:49] if the event portfolio that we currently offer is Modified.
[28:56] Option A is no modification, including all events, would increase the budget by 125 and change.
[29:09] Option B would remove music in the Plaza and the Notre-Dibrio event.
[29:20] Option C would remove this strawberry festival.
[29:28] Option D would remove spirit of Watsonville, fourth of July parade.
[29:32] music in the Plaza in Nochette Ibrillo,
[29:40] and Option D which would be no increase in the
[29:43] budget would remove the egg hunt extravaganza, music in the Plaza event, the Julyis events,
[29:51] strawberry festival, candy crawl and Nochette Ibrillo.
[29:56] So here is a summary of those different.
[30:00] Impacts to the budget by removing events or not.
[30:10] And we have also provided you a handout that has
[30:14] that nice summary of the event, prevent, net cost and breakout. As we are going through our questions,
[30:22] could you go back to the last slide that has those different options?
[30:29] Okay.
[30:30] One is, I know that I met with the city manager at one point and gave her the information
[30:38] for a foundation that gives grants for music in the park, did you guys follow up with
[30:43] that?
[30:44] I mean, I was both a person twice, and this is what that foundation does is they go to communities,
[30:50] especially one like Watsonville where they felt that we would be on the top of the list
[30:54] to be funded.
[30:56] Has that work been done?
[30:57] Yeah, I remember receiving that information probably year or two a good.
[31:01] I love hearing that.
[31:02] Yeah, definitely reached out.
[31:04] I don't recall hearing back from them after that.
[31:07] But I can, I can, okay, I'll follow up.
[31:09] Because I mean, I know the, I know the person that that runs the foundation.
[31:13] So, I mean, that would help us with like situations like to help get funding for this.
[31:21] Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
[31:22] We did actually pursue that.
[31:25] Okay.
[31:25] And they have, they grant with an a certain mileage.
[31:30] And so they had already granted San Jose that grant.
[31:33] So we didn't qualify because of that.
[31:35] Did we do it again in the following year or?
[31:38] I don't know.
[31:39] We can look into that.
[31:40] Yeah, definitely.
[31:41] I will as well just because, I mean, San Jose,
[31:45] they got plenty of money.
[31:48] I mean, in my mind, I feel like some of these programs that
[31:53] can be funded through different grant funding, and maybe we just kind of look out for that,
[31:57] and maybe even ask for the person that seems like that's a event type of a grant, knows
[32:05] of any other grants, but I mean, costs are going up, and do we have the money to just pay
[32:16] for it all?
[32:20] I wish we could say that we did, but what we don't unfortunately, so I think that's really
[32:24] the conversations tonight. So, we're not necessarily asking them to make council tonight to
[32:29] tell us or give us direction on which option we should pick here. I think these are
[32:34] here just to kind of provide some examples of different scenarios and ways we could go.
[32:40] Post pandemic, or actually sorry, let me roll back to clock a little bit. So, when we started to bring
[32:46] back events to after the pandemic, the Parks and Community Services budget for special events
[32:51] wasn't fully restored to what it was before the pandemic.
[32:55] And so we've been kind of trying to make you
[32:57] and have been able to help cover the increased costs
[33:00] through cost savings from other programs with the mid
[33:03] department, but we're kind of getting to the point now
[33:05] where that's just getting harder and harder to get.
[33:08] And I think my other concern is that if you look at other cities,
[33:12] a lot of these programs are run by their chamber.
[33:15] And the city seems to be picking up a lot of it.
[33:17] And that's my real problem with the chamber here
[33:19] is that they're not doing programming that other chambers are doing, and as I've been going
[33:24] through the region, visiting other chambers and learning about them, they're really helping
[33:27] pick up the weight for the cities that they belong to. And I mean, the fourth of July parade,
[33:33] a lot of chambers are the ones I put it on, you know? So, you know, I think that maybe that's a
[33:38] conversation we need to have with, you know, the chamber here in Watsonville, or consider going,
[33:44] you know, to a different using a different chamber, who is there actually starting to show up at
[33:47] events here in our community and so maybe seeing that they could help offset some of this by participating
[33:53] and help co-sponsoring and funding it because at the end of the day a lot of these events
[34:01] are funded by outside sources and they don't rely on their municipal organizations to fund them.
[34:09] So I mean I don't know if those conversations have had happened at all, but maybe they should
[34:14] And then, you know, keep that a consideration, but what's the oldest one on here, the oldest I guess event that we've been throwing it would be the fourth July parade?
[34:28] I would guess it would be.
[34:31] We had a parade for many years, but we not always funded it. It was once upon a time, a chamber event.
[34:37] I mean, I feel like, honestly, I mean, that in the strawberry festival are two like things that we're known for here in this and so I mean, I feel personally that those should be the two that should definitely stay and then we're go from there, but that's just my opinion.
[34:51] Thank you.
[34:52] Thank you.
[34:54] I took a couple of follow-up questions.
[34:56] Can you come back to the personnel staff amounts?
[35:00] So when you're trying to figure out personnel costs, right?
[35:03] I sort of think of it in two different buckets.
[35:05] There's people that we need to bring in over time, especially for the event, right?
[35:11] But I just also went to my job today and worked in 8 to 5.
[35:15] And that's somebody who's getting paid by that department, and we're just redeploying them
[35:19] to the strawberry festival, or to the Noche de Rio, to in my mind those are two different
[35:25] bucket costs, where they're attributing somebody who's already going to be working and then
[35:30] saying, oh, but it's, you know, they're at this event.
[35:32] So that's a personnel cost.
[35:34] How are we teasing that out?
[35:36] Like, what are we really talking about?
[35:38] I think it's very different, for example, a police officer
[35:41] that's already working that shift versus the overtime
[35:45] officer you have to bring in for the Fourth of July, right?
[35:49] And so how, those are different, completely different buckets.
[35:53] Are we dumping them all in the same like,
[35:55] up, you're at this event?
[35:57] Or is this, no, there really is somebody who would not be paid
[36:01] who is not like, who's only coming in for this specific thing.
[36:06] Also, there's flex time.
[36:08] So I know agencies all the time that, you know,
[36:11] you're, because it's, you're going to this special event
[36:13] and you work for parks, we're not going to do overtime
[36:16] and it's within our contract with that employee,
[36:18] we're going to, you know, you're not going to work the day,
[36:21] but you're going to work the night and that's, you know,
[36:23] there's flex time versus overtime.
[36:25] So how are you managing that in this graph?
[36:30] much of what you see in this graph is over time. For example, you know, PD coming in to work the strawberry festival, you know, into the late hours of the night when they still have PD that's working their regular shift right patrolling around the city.
[36:47] The one thing that is a little different I think is with traffic because there are certain funds that fund positions.
[36:58] And so any time traffic works in an event in foreign event, then that time does get coded here and gets charged here.
[37:06] Okay. But for you know like my time is not reflected in here.
[37:10] Yeah, so like these are traffic personnel that may not be otherwise even deployed and then the traffic
[37:18] personnel have to come in for over time specifically.
[37:21] So this is just over time itself, okay, and so this doesn't account for like flex time.
[37:26] You know, I just don't want to say that this like inflating these numbers.
[37:30] First, you know, you use that word, but it's like there are very different meanings of like what are we actually paying versus like somebody's already just employed and we get to say we're counting it for them for the day, right?
[37:42] And are there some people that do use flex time, like if they're doing these events, that kind of thing, are there some employees that you can do flex time for?
[37:49] With, well, we had our admin, yeah, time. So for PCS employees for full timers, that is the case.
[37:57] This also reflects part-timers coming in specifically for the event, and that's across the board to
[38:04] I know traffic has part-timers that they bring in to hello.
[38:08] Okay, and then for the strawberry festival have we reached out to our local agricultural community
[38:14] who grows strawberries and asks them if they would like to participate in the facilitating
[38:22] the festival for their prop.
[38:25] We absolutely have and we do have support and it's increasing.
[38:29] Dr. Skulls has been a long time supporter of the Festival.
[38:32] Last year, Jim Pack joined us for the first year and Golden West Packaging Group.
[38:37] Also contributed $15,000 for the event last year.
[38:41] But we continue to pursue more in the industry to help.
[38:47] Would something like the Festival, the strawberry festival,
[38:49] if we needed in order to keep it or in order to stabilize all of our budget,
[38:53] If we needed to do a $5 admission, would it be something that we could manifest for that particular?
[39:00] We'd have to have exits and entrances, and that kind of thing, it wouldn't be the same vibe.
[39:04] But if we're looking for ways to generate revenue that support these projects that offset the costs for all the things that we need,
[39:15] would a small entrance fee or would some type of entrance fee also help, but also, you know,
[39:22] let's try and work with our partners, like that we are, we are selling their products, right?
[39:27] We're supporting their products, so hopefully there can be something for these bigger festivals.
[39:32] We have large attendance, but large cost have you thought about maybe ways in which we could up.
[39:39] I mean, I know it's terrible, we want to have these free events, but some of these bigger events,
[39:44] we're not going to be able to put entrance fee on the parade, right? That's logistically not happening,
[39:50] but something like the festival, we could do $5 at the door, right? Or a risk band at the door,
[39:56] something like that, that may offset. We have absolutely considered that the infrastructure in order
[40:03] to create that in our downtown area. It's actually quite a large footprint. Yeah, the festival
[40:08] maintains and then there's the sort of traffic detour around that.
[40:14] It would be very difficult to collect the fees to make it worth it, and I also think it would not be well received by our community.
[40:24] Yeah, I agree.
[40:25] It just makes for tough decisions because this is a huge increase in the costs.
[40:30] Maybe we as a council can try and reach out to our agricultural partners.
[40:35] We want to work with our ad community to support the crops and these huge community events,
[40:41] But we're bearing the cost of this festival in a pretty specific way, so we'll keep working on it. We'll help you. Thank you
[40:51] Kazimim Roscoe
[40:52] I have a couple of questions one question and comments. I guess the first question is how did our budget look
[41:01] Prior to being cut for special programs specifically
[41:08] Special programs, especially events. Sorry to the pandemic. Yeah
[41:12] You mentioned that it did not get restored to what it was previously. I'm wondering what that number was.
[41:20] Yeah, I'd have to go back and dig that up. I don't have that off and specifically.
[41:25] Okay, but it's a pretty substantial. I round the $100,000 ballpark coming. I don't need an exact number.
[41:33] Sure, sure. It probably was, I mean, around $100,000 or so.
[41:40] I don't know, I have a big issue with considering any cuts to the events I have been proposed tonight so I'm a big advocate for option A.
[41:53] I feel that when these events, and you mentioned a Nick, it's the most direct way that we embed back in the community.
[42:00] They really bring people together, they reflect who we are, and he creates opportunities for families and everyone to connect us a community.
[42:10] When we look at the numbers, this is a modest investment with a significant return, and this is what I mean by that.
[42:17] Even when I exclude the attendance from the story festival, we're spending about $10.78 per person per participant per year.
[42:30] When you include the attendants from the Strawberry Festival, that drops to $2.60 per person per year to have access to the special events that we host every year.
[42:47] So for the level of impact this event has, that is our responsible investment.
[42:52] If the concern is sustainability, then our focus should really be on strengthening these programs, not reducing them.
[42:58] We need to do a better job in securing sponsorships, so I know there is definitely a
[43:03] proof room for growth in the relationships we have with our chamber, possibly with
[43:12] our growers, and then just corporate our business community as a whole, so I think there
[43:18] is definitely a room for all of us to advocate and contribute to the building of those
[43:28] more support for them years back than we do now.
[43:34] So there's a gap there.
[43:37] We also have a fee study coming before Council pretty soon.
[43:44] And so I feel like that can help us also identify other options
[43:48] to address the funding gaps in a very thoughtful way.
[43:55] So, I mean, these events are tremendously valued, I think, by our community, in addition to the other programming you'll offer for you here in the community.
[44:06] So I'm really asking Council to consider moving forward with option A or giving that direction.
[44:13] And directing staff to come back with strategies that ensure these events remain sustainable into the future.
[44:19] And again, we offered a couple things, like looking at whether it's a fee, looking at
[44:25] building those sponsorships and those partnerships further.
[44:28] And of course, a fee study that's going to come before Council pretty soon.
[44:32] But I think in the long term, we need to be ensuring that we do what we can to make these events
[44:39] sustainable.
[44:42] Now, the mayor-protein park.
[44:44] Thank you.
[44:46] uh... funny uh... council member uh... a rose go to the wind out of my sales
[44:51] cashe was going to she asked the question i was going to ask as well
[44:54] uh... and we'll get back to that
[44:56] uh... it's interesting how she broke down
[44:59] uh...
[45:00] The numbers, because I also broke down the numbers, but I broke it down per event. And so, hearing how she broke it down, it's less of an impact. So thank you for sharing that.
[45:14] come on, you, I'm all for special events, I'm all for, you know, supporting the community,
[45:22] but when you guys are coming to us and you come to us a lot, okay?
[45:26] Your department comes to us a lot asking for money and you don't have the numbers to back it up.
[45:32] You got to do just a little bit better.
[45:35] I mean, I'm all for option A2, but like, how am I supposed to justify to the community if they're
[45:41] going to be very upset that we're going to take money, and we're not voting on that tonight,
[45:46] but we're having that discussion, and we don't have the data to back it up.
[45:51] I would love to know what the number was before it was cut before COVID, and why was it
[45:55] cut?
[45:56] Can you explain why the budget was cut during COVID?
[45:59] I didn't have a bet.
[46:01] Because I mean, well, okay, so just because we don't have the events, doesn't mean
[46:07] that that money shouldn't be there.
[46:10] So the money was cut to go somewhere else then, is what you're telling me.
[46:14] So where did that money go and why is it not returning?
[46:19] Every council after COVID had a opportunity to reprioritize the budget and the budgets
[46:26] that were coming in for approval for growing other countries that we are doing.
[46:33] So like there's not much we can do about what happened in the past because all the revenues
[46:40] that the city received were utilized for the priorities of the council at that time, and it's worth
[46:45] six years later.
[46:48] Today, I just want to clarify, like, we're not really asking you to make any decisions,
[46:54] but this is something that the Park's Director has been bringing up to our attention
[47:00] at every budget cycle.
[47:02] We're just kind of like, kind of scraping by and just kind of like trying to continue having
[47:08] These events, but it's not sustainable.
[47:10] When we have to plan, I know Jessica does a tremendous amount
[47:14] of planning a year ahead and makes financial commitments
[47:18] well in advance.
[47:20] So it's hard to just say, let's just depend on other nation.
[47:24] Yes, other nation could be nice if it comes in.
[47:28] But we are trying to set up something
[47:30] that is more predictable and just really continues
[47:34] to build to the quality of events that I know
[47:37] staff is putting out. So it's, I know that might be a good piece of information to have not
[47:44] much we can do about it because there were like five budget cycles that councils have a
[47:50] proof, you know, things of it. So is it important? Yes, it's an critical. I think it's totally
[47:56] important. And I want to talk about the fact that it was taken and we need to restore, right?
[48:02] But where did it go, and also when you do come back to us when this becomes more of a firm thing and we're going to vote on it, please bring those numbers because I mean that that makes a huge difference, world a difference.
[48:17] So, I also, and with Option A, you know, looking at the numbers, it seems like a huge number,
[48:25] but you divide everything up and you look at the participation, it's not that big of an impact
[48:33] to the budget when you look at each individual person and how it increases their quality
[48:38] of life and the quality of life for the community as a whole, and I very much appreciate the work
[48:43] Jessica does. We have conversations during the events all the time and she does work very, very hard.
[48:50] And I want to acknowledge the fact that the sponsorships are starting to increase and they did go down for a while.
[48:58] There were some issues with, you know, some of the businesses in the cities in this area and they're starting to see a positive change.
[49:04] thank you city manager Vitas because you are very much a huge part of that. But yeah, it
[49:10] just takes some time and brings us the numbers. Okay. Thank you.
[49:17] It can't go member Kira's Carter.
[49:20] Thank you, Mayor.
[49:23] There's a lot going on in my head. I have
[49:26] not had lunch, so if I'll make sense I'm so sorry in advance. But so I'd first I want to say
[49:32] that we have a new supermarket via the and they were very interested in sponsoring so if you
[49:38] haven't talked to them please reach out. So I'm also the option that I'm looking at is not on here
[49:46] because I'm like let's keep everything and let's figure out ways to downsize it and let's get creative
[49:52] and create opportunity. I totally agree with the sentiments that we've already heard. The biggest complaint
[50:00] You already know what we get, there's nothing to do, there's nothing to do, there's nothing to do.
[50:07] If we cut anything, that's not going to go over well.
[50:15] I think there's a lot of opportunity for us to be creative, and I please forgive me if I overstep.
[50:22] But I'm an idea person, so I'm just going to throw ideas like I see opportunity and some things like music in the plaza.
[50:29] I see like can we get make this an opportunity for kids like what if we had battle of the
[50:35] bands the youth center used to do really cool stuff like that um how do we like actually bring
[50:41] the community into these events um in a safe way that's gonna be beneficial for people and also
[50:47] save us money right we could have you know we could downsize music in the plaza not have as many
[50:53] weekends and then it can culminate and like let's do battle of the bands and the winning band gets 300
[50:58] or something like that, right?
[51:00] Like, let's look for opportunities for growth for our community
[51:03] because that's what these really are.
[51:07] Like, no chah, they would be all the tree lighting.
[51:10] Can we combine those?
[51:11] These maybe we don't want to do it,
[51:13] but there's an opportunity there.
[51:14] We can combine it.
[51:15] We could save ourselves a little bit of money.
[51:19] Something that people may not know about me.
[51:21] I know how to throw a party on a dime.
[51:24] Okay.
[51:25] We can do this.
[51:26] We can be frugal and still have a good time.
[51:30] So I would want to keep everything that we have,
[51:32] but look at ways to not necessarily just cut costs,
[51:35] but where are creative opportunities?
[51:38] Where can we actually bring in community partners?
[51:40] And people from the community,
[51:42] because I think that there would be a lot of interest
[51:44] in the community to give back and volunteer
[51:46] and help with these events.
[51:50] Again, to not only keep costs down,
[51:52] but to create opportunity, give people something to do.
[51:55] actually have a hand in creating things.
[51:59] So yeah, I'm in favor if I had to choose an option,
[52:01] I would say option A, but I think one of the most beautiful things
[52:05] about our community is how much our community does love these events.
[52:11] And I'm happy to increase the budget because I think it's worth it.
[52:15] Not only for just the investment, but it just makes people happy.
[52:19] It's, you know, it's crucial for me.
[52:22] So I would not be in favor of cutting anything that said.
[52:25] If I had to pick, I'd probably pick the candy curl because we could do-
[52:30] I think that's all right. Come to my house. We'll hook it up.
[52:36] But yeah, the all of these to me are just, these are, have become staples in who we are and getting
[52:42] rid of them would just be a real shame. So I would just encourage you to think outside
[52:47] the box, think creatively. Look at where you can bring in partners and community to, to make
[52:53] it work. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Council member Deutra.
[52:58] Thank you. I absolutely agree. I mean, if we cut anything, people are going to be like,
[53:03] you know, I'm thinking to do this town. I mean, this is what we hear all the time. So,
[53:07] I don't think we want to hear that anymore, but I think they're... I don't think that the city staff
[53:13] here is it, but we hear it as representatives.
[53:17] And I think you're hearing a common, you know,
[53:27] We're all saying this, like be able to community partnerships, we are the strawberry capital of the world.
[53:32] Like there should be, you named one or two of the big ones, there are several big people in this town.
[53:41] They should, if this is strawberry festival, they should all be a real big part of it.
[53:47] And also getting back to the chamber of getting the chamber involved, give them a little bit of responsibility.
[53:53] You know what I'm saying? Like let them run a couple of things without having to use our staff. They can use their staff and
[54:00] You know, I one of the things that I was just at the Salinas Valley. I'm chamber event this past week and
[54:07] They they actually put on their shop with a cop like we do that here as well
[54:11] But the chamber over there is the one that does it well. It's interesting because they were doing in the in their big
[54:18] branch that they did, they called the QR codes, the QR codes, and they were
[54:27] did fundraiser, and they were raising money for that event, and then another
[54:30] event, I forgot what it was, but one of it was a weekend stay, like in a
[54:35] Monterey hotel, and it was whatever, and the other one was like a dinner for
[54:38] 20, put on by one of the local restaurants, and it was just QR codes, and it's so
[54:42] easy, and so they're raising money for those projects, you know, something maybe
[54:46] friends and parks of Watsonville, could do, or I forgot the name of it, friends and parks and community services.
[54:54] Friends of Watsonville, Parks and Community Services.
[54:56] Friends of Watsonville, Parks and Community Services.
[54:56] Yeah, it's a long.
[54:58] I mean, there are ways of raising money.
[55:00] And I mean, just as I'm watching other areas raised money for there, because I'm sure everyone's in the same situation.
[55:06] You know, money is tight, but we have to be creative on how to do it.
[55:09] So those are just some ideas.
[55:10] I would lean on maybe the friends a little bit more.
[55:12] or did raise some money with QR codes and projects like that.
[55:16] And then I'd also really, really pull in those relationships of our growers, our chamber,
[55:24] our business, our big business people here, so that's my advice.
[55:27] And I'm going to be gluing with option A as well.
[55:30] I mean, I feel like last week we were finding money in a lot of places.
[55:33] So we could find money to cover this.
[55:38] All right, thank you all, I think you really heard the support you have for these events overall.
[55:44] And we appreciate part of your responsibility is to make sure that we are fiscally aware.
[55:49] And that if we want to stay in budget and, you know, this is what the budget currently is.
[55:54] And this is a great, you know, sign that we have all said if we need to, you know, up it we will, but also let's try and figure out partnership.
[56:01] let's, you know, have those bigger connections and conversations, and then use us a support,
[56:07] you know, if you want us to talk to growers, you know, there's, there's a lot of ways we
[56:11] can get our foot in the door to have those collective conversations. So, I was just thinking,
[56:16] I know the garlic festival doesn't exist anymore, probably because of fiscal issues, but
[56:19] there are different ways in which, you know, these crop festivals exist on the artichoke festival.
[56:26] I really do a little bit deeper dive in how the different ways they've been set up in what
[56:32] ways does improve it if there's any sort of fencing, it could end up being a benefit for security
[56:38] or something like that. Look at the different ways that successful crop festivals are being run
[56:45] and see if there's anything we can take from there as well. That would be my final remarks.
[56:50] I love the idea of combining Notre-Dibrio and the Tree Lighting Ceremony. That seems like natural
[56:56] partners. I just wanted to thank Council Member Kyrus Carter for that remark because that's genius.
[57:02] So thank you so much. Thank you. All right and now moving on we are moving on to item 3 closed session.
[57:10] Public comments regarding closed session at this time will be accepted to have any comments from
[57:18] for closed session. Seeing none. We are adjourned. It's fine. I'm getting through it.
[57:32] Recording stop.
[1:35:41] Good evening, the time is now 605. This is the notice date and time for our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Can I get a roll call please?
[1:35:50] Clerk, President, do you try to hear? Want to see no? Here.
[1:35:55] Here.
[1:35:59] Gido's Carter.
[1:36:00] Here.
[1:36:01] And Salcedo.
[1:36:02] And council, yes.
[1:36:05] We need a motion to excuse any abstain council members.
[1:36:08] I'd like to make a motion to excuse councilwoman Parker.
[1:36:12] Second, can I get a roll call?
[1:36:19] Do you trust?
[1:36:20] Want to see you now?
[1:36:20] Yes.
[1:36:21] Otosco.
[1:36:22] Aye.
[1:36:22] Get us Carter.
[1:36:24] And Salcito.
[1:36:25] The motion carries.
[1:36:27] And item five, pledge of allegiance.
[1:36:29] Good council member, Montesino.
[1:36:30] Please let us in lead us in the pledge of allegiance.
[1:36:48] You're doing the meeting.
[1:36:51] All right.
[1:36:52] Moving on to item six.
[1:36:53] There are no report of disbursements, or miscellaneous documents, or written.
[1:36:57] I believe there may be some written reports by Council.
[1:37:00] That would have been for our last conference
[1:37:04] that we went to anything that we need to report on those.
[1:37:09] No, they're just simply informational reports.
[1:37:11] They're available on our agenda packet on our website,
[1:37:14] so if anybody wants to reference them,
[1:37:15] they could visit our website and see them there.
[1:37:18] Or we also have a binder by outside our administrative offices
[1:37:20] with all of that material included.
[1:37:23] And checking in with City Attorney,
[1:37:24] is that layer, and you report sort of close session.
[1:37:31] Madam Mayor, directionless given to staff, nothing to report.
[1:37:34] Thank you very much. Moving on to item eight oral communications. This is the time set aside for members of the general public to address the council on any item, not on the council agenda, which is in within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council.
[1:37:47] No action or discussion shall be taken on any item presented, except that any council member may respond to statements made or questions asked or may ask questions for clarification.
[1:37:57] All matters of an administrative nature will be referred to staff.
[1:38:00] All matters relating to Council will be noted in the minutes.
[1:38:03] It may be scheduled for a future discussion and a future meeting or a
[1:38:06] Fertist staff for clarification and report.
[1:38:09] All speakers are asked to fill out a speaker card and leave it
[1:38:12] at the podium.
[1:38:13] Speakers are asked to announce their name on district
[1:38:16] in order to obtain an accurate record for the minutes.
[1:38:20] Good evening.
[1:38:22] Mayor, if I may make the announcement for your interpretation.
[1:38:24] Please, thank you.
[1:38:25] Thank you.
[1:38:26] To use Spanish interpretation devices obtained from the table by the interpreting booth,
[1:38:31] turn it on and make sure it is on channel E. To use assisted listening, turn the device to channel A.
[1:38:36] If you can't hear, check the device is on. The volume can be adjusted using the arrow buttons.
[1:38:42] Please return it before you leave.
[1:38:44] To use apparatos, the interpretation is Spanish.
[1:38:47] I have one, one, one, one, one, one, one. The interpretation.
[1:39:05] Thank
[1:39:09] you.
[1:39:10] Good evening.
[1:39:12] Good evening, Mayor.
[1:39:13] Members of the council.
[1:39:14] Make call about the deputy city manager in parks and community services director for the city of Watsonville.
[1:39:19] And the afternoon session, there was a little bit of discussion about the Park Assessment Study that we did a couple of years ago that helped us identify all the needs across our Park System and prioritize which of those needs would come first and that we would use to kind of plan around and find funding forward through grants sources and other means.
[1:39:40] And I'm really, really excited to say that this past couple months, we received a statewide award
[1:39:46] with the California Park and Recreation Society for that project that we did in partnership
[1:39:51] with county parks and county park friends.
[1:39:55] And we have a representative, a traditional molin from California Park and Recreation Society
[1:39:59] here tonight to present us with that award.
[1:40:02] She's our next speaker.
[1:40:03] We also have a couple of speakers here from county park friends who are here to celebrate
[1:40:06] with us along with Jeff Gaffney, our county park director.
[1:40:09] So, I'm going to, and my schedule here and pass on to them.
[1:40:14] Thank you.
[1:40:15] Good evening.
[1:40:17] Good evening.
[1:40:17] Thank you, Nick.
[1:40:19] As Nick mentioned, my name is Trishamon, and I'm the region 2 representative of
[1:40:24] SEPRS or California Parks and Recreation Society.
[1:40:28] The SEPRS annual award programs celebrates outstanding examples of quality facility and
[1:40:35] Programming and Complishments, Effective Communications, Community Leadership, and Professional
[1:40:41] Successes that take place daily in our profession.
[1:40:44] Through our five categories, we highlight the people, places, spaces, programs and
[1:40:50] stories that make communities like the City of Watsonville, so very special.
[1:40:56] This year, CPRS refreshed the awards of Excellence Programme with subcommittees to provide improved
[1:41:02] access to the awards. There were 186 applicants and 52 awardees. As one of 12 awardees for
[1:41:12] the Innovation Award of Excellence in the subcategory of Technology and Process Improvements,
[1:41:18] the City of Watson'sville's Parks Assessment made parks better through a data driven
[1:41:24] prioritization tool is a true testament to the improved process.
[1:41:30] With the Parks Equity Values Assessment Tool, Watsonville is able to create a complete transparent inventory of every park amenity which provides certainty in data to deliver the greatest community benefit.
[1:41:45] The Parks Equity Values Assessment Tool has helped Watsonville secure millions in parks funding and engage with the community to build safer, healthier and more vibrant parks.
[1:41:56] This effort and the results aligned with CPRS's parks make life better for everyone in Watsonville.
[1:42:04] Congratulations to your Watsonville Parks and Community Services on winning the 2025 Innovation of Award of Excellence in the subcategory of Technology and Process Improvements Award of Excellence.
[1:42:17] And just with that, I want to share this award.
[1:42:21] This one of a kind award plaque was hand made by an artist through an LA based non-profit
[1:42:27] called Peace by Peace.
[1:42:29] Not only are you being recognized with a unique piece of artwork, the California Park and
[1:42:34] Recreation Society, is also helping people who were formerly unhoused and low-income, developed
[1:42:41] marketable skills, self-confidence, and an improved quality of life.
[1:42:47] Thank you very much.
[1:42:55] Good evening.
[1:42:57] Good evening, everyone.
[1:42:58] Thank you for your service.
[1:43:00] My name is Mariah Roberts and I'm the executive director of your non-profit partner
[1:43:04] to our countywide park system.
[1:43:07] We serve every resident.
[1:43:08] We work with cities.
[1:43:09] We work with county.
[1:43:11] And we're so proud to have been working with county parks in the city of Watsonville for this assessment.
[1:43:17] And how do we know where to put our money, our resources, whether they be public resources
[1:43:23] or whether they're leveraged funds?
[1:43:26] This is how we know from an excellent assessment and process to determine from the community
[1:43:32] where we go first for impact.
[1:43:35] So very proud and grateful.
[1:43:37] Thank you.
[1:43:38] Thank you very much.
[1:43:39] Good evening.
[1:43:42] My name is Yadira Flores and I am the Director of Engagement for County Park Friends.
[1:43:49] I'm here to represent the young outdoor leaders.
[1:43:52] The young outdoor leaders is a group of youth and live-book.
[1:43:56] And they were playing an important role support in the Watsonville Park Assessment by helping
[1:44:00] together in meaningful information for a community-based data.
[1:44:05] With Sirew was a male incarnate park friends, this thing were directly with residents, park users and local stakeholders to collect feedback on park condition accessibility, safety and desire improvements.
[1:44:18] By participating in community surveying in what some people, they gather value, but the leadership experience was actively engaging with residents.
[1:44:29] In gathering our data, one thing we can very clear, community input is not optional, it is essential,
[1:44:36] and I'm proud to be here representing the young elderly, this is all that work.
[1:44:43] Thank you very much. Good evening.
[1:44:45] Good evening Madam Mayor, fellow council members, my name is Jeff Gaffney, I'm the County Park Director.
[1:44:50] I first of all want to compliment you on the amazing staff that you hire.
[1:44:54] I am always at the smile on my face and it just makes my day happy to be able to work with your staff.
[1:45:00] Your city manager is amazing, and very lucky to have her and a glad best city manager I've worked with, and your deputy city manager and parks and community services director is
[1:45:10] absolutely, the most amazing person to work with, and I just feel fortunate, we get to do projects like this and collaborate together.
[1:45:17] He's also a good server right here, but I don't know, I might be questionable, you know, he says he is.
[1:45:22] Just all kidding aside, also the first time that I'm aware of that we've had somebody in this region who's a vice president of CPRS, which is very prestigious and we're very fortunate
[1:45:33] I don't know how he finds the time to do all of these things. I think he has a family too from what I understand a great one. All that aside
[1:45:41] Having opportunities to collaborate like we do regularly
[1:45:44] You may not all the the ins and outs of it all the time, but we always feel like we're producing award winning projects and collaborations
[1:45:51] and it gives us the opportunity to provide the services that people come to expect from
[1:45:58] much larger jurisdictions with a lot more resources.
[1:46:00] We know that we're very unresourced in this in the city here and in the county as a whole.
[1:46:06] But when we work together, people don't know the difference.
[1:46:09] They think they're at a world-class facility and I just feel so fortunate, honestly, to work with
[1:46:13] their staff, they're great.
[1:46:14] Thank you.
[1:46:15] Thank you, Director.
[1:46:16] And we are always looking for more parks outside of the city of Watsonville and look forward
[1:46:20] collaborating, continuing to collaborate with the county.
[1:46:23] I'm ready. Let's do it.
[1:46:24] All right. Thank you.
[1:46:27] Good evening.
[1:46:29] Sorry, my first time here.
[1:46:31] So I apologize if large crowd.
[1:46:34] My name is Caitlyn Guantaro.
[1:46:36] I'm a part of District 7.
[1:46:39] So I'm just here to get clarification regarding the L-MAD
[1:46:43] at where we live in VISTA Montana with some reports that I've reviewed online.
[1:46:49] So, I've reviewed report historical financial data,
[1:46:54] actuals, and noticed five groups of expenditures.
[1:46:57] I then took the report current budget and tied, um,
[1:47:01] tried to categorize each line item into the correct expenditure group.
[1:47:07] The only year that I seemed to get a match dollar for dollar was the year 2021.
[1:47:13] However, when I use those same groupings for 2022, 2023 and 2024, they did not match what's being reported on the actual document.
[1:47:24] I called Joseph back in January of this year to walk him through the findings.
[1:47:30] He didn't have an answer and told me to reach out to an individual Marissa.
[1:47:34] I believe she's a part of accounting, which I was unsuccessful.
[1:47:38] I've tried different ways to move these line items around to match up the totals being reported
[1:47:44] under the expenditures these five groups. But each year it's different. I just want an
[1:47:51] understanding of how these are grouped as it should be the same each year. If I go back
[1:47:58] to 2021 when everything matched up dollar for dollar, I do see that the salary and benefits is actually
[1:48:07] being under-reported on the Actual's document.
[1:48:10] On the Actual's document in 2022,
[1:48:14] you guys, salaries and benefits was forecasted
[1:48:17] for 74,000, but my groupings put that total to 84,000.
[1:48:22] In 2023, it was classified as 78,000,
[1:48:27] but my findings show it was actually 90,000.
[1:48:30] With these groupings, I noticed in 2024,
[1:48:33] a total of 103,000 for salaries and benefits.
[1:48:37] Thank you.
[1:48:38] Thank you.
[1:48:38] So my thoughts are, if you could fill out a speaker card, we appreciate when community members
[1:48:45] are looking at the numbers as diligently as you are, and we want opportunity to sit down
[1:48:52] with you and go over the numbers.
[1:48:53] That's my hope.
[1:48:54] Hold on.
[1:48:54] Just a minute.
[1:48:56] We are well aware of the changes that have happened with the L-MAD.
[1:49:00] I'm sure you were a part of that process as well and we wanted to sit down and make sure
[1:49:06] you know we have an opportunity to speak with you so if you could leave your contact information
[1:49:13] with Madam Clerk right here and then I'll ask some members of staff to sort of directly reach out
[1:49:19] to you and maybe we can sit down and sort of go over whatever it is that you're looking at and they're looking at
[1:49:24] I was not a math major this is not my specialty but I'm really thankful that you are taking the time
[1:49:29] as a community member just to ask questions.
[1:49:32] So hopefully we can connect you with somebody
[1:49:34] that can have those answers, okay?
[1:49:36] Thank you.
[1:49:40] All right, moving on.
[1:49:42] Oral communication from Council, eight B.
[1:49:46] Council member, do you try?
[1:49:48] Thank you, I also want to say, you know,
[1:49:50] we appreciate our community members when you guys come
[1:49:52] and, you know, let us know what's going on
[1:49:54] and how you're proceeding things in our community.
[1:49:56] This way we could be on top of as well,
[1:49:58] city council members.
[1:50:00] It's been really a busy last few weeks.
[1:50:04] I went to the Cleanest Belly Chamber of Commerce luncheon this past week where they honored
[1:50:09] two Watsonville, one community member and one business, Candy Landscaping, Congratulations
[1:50:15] for becoming large business of the Year Award and Mani Eskarsega for getting the ambassador
[1:50:22] of the Year Award, both Watsonville residents being honored by the Cleanest Belly Chamber
[1:50:27] commerce we're very excited, a manny's family actually owns tacos del Fuego in the hanger.
[1:50:33] If you have not been there, it's really good. It's like a chimichanga burrito kind of fried. It's really good.
[1:50:42] And then, and then myself in the city manager, we went to Napa and also to Santa Rosa,
[1:50:50] where we were able to look at economic development of these communities that are just really
[1:50:56] nap as no, it looks so different.
[1:50:59] I mean, the development of that city is been really, it's meeting the times.
[1:51:05] And so it's important for us to be on top of that, especially since economic development is
[1:51:09] something that we prioritize here as a council and that people ask us all about all the time.
[1:51:14] Why can't we spend our money here locally?
[1:51:16] So, making it looking at other cities and how they do it is important to, you know,
[1:51:21] get ideas for our own city.
[1:51:23] And then also, I went to the zone to a water storage tank ribbon cutting.
[1:51:29] So we added another tank that was, I think, two and a half million gallons in my correct water.
[1:51:36] So, I mean, I'm making sure that you guys have a clean, drinkable water in your homes.
[1:51:41] And these are the kind of projects that we're moving forward with.
[1:51:43] And as you see around town, the roads are being torn up.
[1:51:47] I mean, we are really investing a lot
[1:51:48] in door infrastructure here in Watsonville.
[1:51:50] I know some people are a little bit irritated,
[1:51:53] but we're moving in the direction to give you
[1:51:55] what you guys want.
[1:51:56] So thank you so much for your patience.
[1:51:59] Any other council members?
[1:52:00] Council member Roscoe.
[1:52:03] Thank you, Mayor.
[1:52:03] I want to take a moment to welcome everyone
[1:52:06] to the council chambers, especially our youth.
[1:52:08] Thank you so much for being here.
[1:52:11] I recently had the opportunity to spend an evening
[1:52:13] celebrating our state alongside colleagues and committee leaders.
[1:52:17] We heard directly from Leomponetta, who's remarks were focused on the American
[1:52:21] dream and they reminded us that our DiBusy University and immigrant communities are part
[1:52:26] of this strength of this nation.
[1:52:28] We also heard from young leaders.
[1:52:30] Members who share their honest perspectives, and important reminder of the responsibility we carry helping
[1:52:35] shape the next generation. I also attended the girl's thingspring luncheon, where edicup by the
[1:52:41] Ed Chavez was recognized for her leadership and impact in our community. It was an honor to present
[1:52:46] a proclamation on behalf of the City of Watsonville, acknowledging her work and commitment to
[1:52:51] lifting others. Thank you to Assembly Member Galpeloran for the invitation and to girls' ink for
[1:52:57] work they continue to do is supporting and empowering young women and girls in Watsonville.
[1:53:03] On the infrastructure side, we recently marked the completion of a critical investment in our
[1:53:08] water system, a new 2.5 million gallon storage tank representing a $10 million investment
[1:53:14] after nearly six years of work. This project is about reliability and safety, ensuring access
[1:53:21] to clean water, maintaining service, during peak demand and strengthening our emergency response
[1:53:27] capacity including for fire protection. So I really want to thank our public works team and
[1:53:32] everyone who helped deliver this project for our community. Lastly, I want to thank everyone
[1:53:38] who helped make the 24th annual Watsonville community impact award such a meaningful evening.
[1:53:44] It was an honor to recognize individuals whose work continues to make a real difference for
[1:53:50] youth and families here in our community. I'm especially appreciative of the continued partnership
[1:53:55] with the Friends of Watson Parks and Community Services.
[1:53:58] And I'm very proud to be part of those efforts.
[1:54:01] Thank you.
[1:54:04] Thank you very much.
[1:54:05] Any other council members?
[1:54:08] All right.
[1:54:08] I also just wanted to highlight a very happy Easter.
[1:54:12] We had our egg hunt.
[1:54:14] My kiddos are now one in three
[1:54:16] and the general concepts of Easter Bunny hiding eggs
[1:54:19] is still very interesting and malleable thing
[1:54:22] to discuss and navigating that as a parent.
[1:54:25] Always is interesting, but we had a wonderful Easter
[1:54:27] with family. I also had the opportunity to actually cut the ribbon at the tank ceremony and when
[1:54:32] my comments to the staff that worked incredibly hard for years. I mean this has been a huge
[1:54:40] project. There are some foundational expectations of every city and one of the things is that when
[1:54:49] you flush your toilet, the water goes somewhere and you will notice real fast if the water doesn't
[1:54:55] turn on in the sink, and the water doesn't flush when you go to the toilet, right? And these
[1:55:01] are some basic commodities, and the ways in which they need to happen, water storage, and
[1:55:07] that it's stored safely. We are dealing with chromium six issues. This helps in some ways
[1:55:14] a press to deal with that. To ensure that our community, over 60,000 people, have safe drinking
[1:55:21] water. And it cannot be overstated, right? It's not the same as, well, how do our roads look
[1:55:27] at what I'm driving on them every day? But this tank, that's behind a fence that's down
[1:55:32] a dirt road, costs millions for our community. And it was such a critical infrastructure
[1:55:37] piece. It was such a wonderful example of what our department is doing. And there was a lot of
[1:55:45] hard work that went into its production. And I really want to thank staff. I did during my comments
[1:55:50] and I think them again on the dias,
[1:55:53] for all their work on that particular project.
[1:55:56] So thank you very, very much.
[1:56:00] Let's see, I had other things,
[1:56:04] but excuse me, tell some of my very moments to see no.
[1:56:07] One thing, I do one acknowledge staff
[1:56:13] and community for stopping the placement
[1:56:16] of sexually fighting program in our communities.
[1:56:19] So we should all be celebrating
[1:56:20] because it takes a large amount of effort.
[1:56:24] And everyone's advocacy from the community to staff and council members.
[1:56:30] We're able to stop this in the video for being placed here in our community.
[1:56:33] So I just want to thank everyone involved.
[1:56:36] Thank you, Councilmember Clark.
[1:56:38] Very well said, Councilmember Montesino, I was going to bring that up as well.
[1:56:42] I wanted to very much give a heartfelt thank you to all the staff and the community members
[1:56:47] that worked very hard on this.
[1:56:49] The sexually violent predator was going to be placed in District 5, which is the district that I
[1:56:54] represent and my constituents and my neighborhood, we were not so happy about this and so there
[1:57:02] are some city staff that really, really, really put a lot of work and heart and soul into this
[1:57:08] and we want to acknowledge them. And I just personally want to say, good start, chief shop.
[1:57:15] You just came into this city and you're starting with gold stars already, thank you ever so much.
[1:57:21] And I also think that it's very appropriate because of the proclamation that our mayor is going to present next.
[1:57:26] Thank you.
[1:57:27] I'm a little under the weather, and I'm really lucky that Councilman or Montesino and Mayor Pratem Clarke said that.
[1:57:32] Because that does tell us to my second point, April is sexual assault awareness month.
[1:57:37] In my real job that isn't here, I'm a sexual assault prosecutor.
[1:57:40] that's been my job for the last six years, depending on the statistics, it's one in every three women or girls and one in every four boys or men are victims of sexual assault.
[1:57:51] And so I just also want to take a time to recognize, particularly item 10G that we are giving our annual amount of $1,919,000 approximately for our same program.
[1:58:05] Many people don't know what that is, but when someone is a victim of sexual assault, oftentimes
[1:58:10] they are offered what's commonly referred to as a rape kit, and that needs to be done by
[1:58:15] people who are professionally trained and is done collaboratively with our monarch services
[1:58:22] who are here tonight. They're going to be receiving the proclamation for sexual assault
[1:58:27] awareness month. Many of us wear teal ribbons during court for the month, so I'm really
[1:58:32] excited about that particular expenditure and then I also wanted to note 10H, which is our
[1:58:40] mental health liaison for WPD. We have an amazing mental health pairing in our community where
[1:58:46] a community mental health liaison goes out to certain calls and is proactive in the community
[1:58:51] outreaching to individuals who may need services. In the fact that we have this county worker
[1:58:56] is incredibly important for the work that we do with WPD being the liaison for some of the
[1:59:02] most vulnerable members of our community.
[1:59:05] So thank you for mentioning that Councilmember Montesino, I would have totally kicked myself
[1:59:09] if I would have forgotten.
[1:59:11] So any other comments from Council?
[1:59:15] So we have three special proclamations tonight.
[1:59:19] I'm going to start with Yana Rivas from Monarch Services and then we'll be recognizing April
[1:59:25] also as arts, culture, and creativity.
[1:59:29] And then finally, the third proclamation,
[1:59:32] I'm going to see the microphone,
[1:59:34] to Councilmember Kuros Carter for a very special
[1:59:38] proclamation for her grandmother.
[1:59:41] And she's going to tell us all about her
[1:59:43] and everything that she's done during her time here in Watsonville.
[1:59:47] I'm really excited to learn more about that.
[1:59:50] So thank you very much.
[1:59:51] If you want to revisit, could come up please.
[1:59:57] Yes, oh everyone.
[2:00:14] Thank you.
[2:00:37] Thank you.
[2:03:50] This is a collaboration, both our governmental agencies, non-profit organizations. Of course,
[2:03:57] Monarch could not do this work without support services like second harvest, food bank,
[2:04:03] like CN, our, um, the Power of Valley Shelter Services here in South County, um, and our city itself.
[2:04:11] I wanted to highlight that our services are 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
[2:04:16] We have a crisis in support line that anyone can call if you're in crisis or if you had
[2:04:22] harm done to you 20 years ago and you just need to get on the phone and connect with somebody
[2:04:27] every single one of our advocates on the crisis line is here at local.
[2:04:32] Is bilingual and is ready to support you and also as you mentioned.
[2:04:36] Thank you for knowing so much and these are the champion of our work.
[2:04:40] We are available to go out into the community for seven as well.
[2:04:45] And we've been here for almost 50 years.
[2:04:49] So beginning as defense at Inwood Head is women's crisis
[2:04:52] support and now monarch services.
[2:04:53] So thank you again for this honor.
[2:04:56] Yeah, perfect.
[2:04:57] Thank you.
[2:05:00] Thank you.
[2:05:00] Thank you.
[2:05:01] I tell the survivors I work with.
[2:05:03] I'm a decent lawyer, but I'm a terrible therapist.
[2:05:06] So I always refer them to you.
[2:05:08] And you're over the healing begins, right?
[2:05:10] Our system doesn't heal, but they heal through you.
[2:05:13] So I'm just so grateful.
[2:05:14] Thank you ladies for coming tonight, and we definitely honor you with all the work you do.
[2:05:20] Much appreciated. Thank you.
[2:05:21] Thank you.
[2:05:27] Oh yeah.
[2:05:29] I'm terrible about pictures.
[2:05:33] Let me take my mask off for this second.
[2:05:50] All right, who's going to be receiving our call arts and culture community, but please come on up.
[2:05:58] Yes.
[2:06:06] Thank you.
[2:06:10] Good evening.
[2:06:11] Good evening.
[2:06:12] Good evening.
[2:06:14] Hello.
[2:06:15] Again, I would shake everyone's hand, but it's just not today for me.
[2:06:18] Please come up.
[2:06:20] Oh, it is so exciting.
[2:06:21] Yes, please come up.
[2:06:22] Former Councilwoman and Mayor Rebecca Garcia is here with us tonight.
[2:06:26] Please come up.
[2:06:33] I'm going to go this way.
[2:06:36] I am so excited to also proclaim for April and arts, culture, and creativity month.
[2:06:42] And what a year and what a month to recognize everything that has been happening in Watsonville in the, I'll call it the diaspora of arts and everything that we have going on here is truly remarkable.
[2:06:55] It's been such a great year for arts. It's been such a great year for collaboration. You can see it in the streets. You can see it in our murals. You can see it in our community events in the dance projects that we do in all of it in our parks projects.
[2:07:10] everything is just so amazing and so I'm really excited to give this
[2:07:16] proclamation to recognize April particularly and I'm hopeful in the future
[2:07:20] for April we can do some really special events you know it's always like can we
[2:07:24] do more than just a proclamation I would love to do something more collaboratively
[2:07:28] and creatively to recognize
[2:07:30] It's all the different, I like the, we're desk, we're all the different dyes for us of art that we have here, and how we can recognize them and how we can collaborate just to uniquely celebrate this month.
[2:07:41] Arts, culture, and creativity, months, celebrates its eighth year as a statewide of servants established by the California legislature.
[2:07:49] Watsonville was recently designated, one of California's 10-new cultural districts. Can we clap? That's really exciting.
[2:07:58] out of the entire state, one of 10, which is that took a ton of work, it was really exciting
[2:08:04] that we've been recognized, but not surprising because look at our community and look at
[2:08:08] the art that we have here.
[2:08:11] Watsonville Cultural District affirms that the arts, culture, and creativity are essential
[2:08:16] to a thriving community.
[2:08:17] These creative forces bring people together, celebrate diversity, and inspire joy while
[2:08:22] also strengthening the social fabric.
[2:08:24] They contribute significantly to local economic growth by attracting visitors supporting small businesses and creating jobs and workforce opportunities.
[2:08:34] The city parks and communities services department along with local and state arts partners continue to advance artistic initiative through programs and events partnerships and community building efforts.
[2:08:47] Thank you all so so much.
[2:08:48] This is amazing.
[2:08:49] Thank
[2:08:57] you, where's Alcito?
[2:09:00] It is an incredible honor to be working alongside our many artists and dedicated local arts
[2:09:07] organizations and cultural leaders that help make Watsonville such a vibrant place.
[2:09:15] This proclamation comes at the perfect time as our community celebrates its cultural district
[2:09:22] designation.
[2:09:22] And acknowledge that, well, we have long known to be true that art and culture are deeply rooted in Watsonville,
[2:09:32] in Watsonville identity, and they continue to thrive.
[2:09:37] And it's funny that you should mention an event that will showcase much of the art and our community,
[2:09:42] because this Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown Watsonville, the group that created a Watsonville second Saturday,
[2:09:51] has come together to create an event called Ripple Watsonville, the cultural district unfolds.
[2:09:57] So we invite you all to come and celebrate and participate with that.
[2:10:03] There's going to be Watsonville Film Festival Screenings, Watsonville Briante tours,
[2:10:08] an opportunity to help create the mosaic that will be on the new stage skirt in the plaza.
[2:10:15] low-writers showcases dance party so much so we welcome you all it's part of a larger
[2:10:23] inaugural event in Santa Cruz County called Ripple Effect and so we invite you to learn
[2:10:28] some more about that too. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[2:10:36] All right. Do you want more photos?
[2:10:39] And Mayor I just wanted to recognize former council member at a yoga and so on. Oh, thank you.
[2:11:11] Thank you.
[2:11:12] Thank you all very much for coming.
[2:11:14] Thank you.
[2:11:20] Now I'll
[2:11:29] be giving the microphone over to Councilwoman Kuro's Carter.
[2:11:35] Thank you, Mayor.
[2:11:38] I promised myself that I was not going to cry, so let's see if I keep that promise.
[2:11:42] Unfortunately, my grandma is not able to be here because she's 100, so that is what this
[2:11:48] proclamation is for.
[2:11:51] Thank you to the mayor and the city of Watsonville, that's my grandma.
[2:11:55] She could not make it, just for a little bit of context, it was her birthday last week.
[2:12:00] we threw her a party, I threw her a party over the weekend, it was a Bridgerton themed
[2:12:05] Tea Party.
[2:12:06] So that is why she is dressed like that.
[2:12:09] But my mom, who is my grandma's primary caregiver, is here to accept this on her behalf.
[2:12:15] So if I can have her join me, here at the podium, I'm going to read what's written here
[2:12:21] on, I'm going to say I don't know, but I'm going to read a couple things in the past
[2:12:25] to my mom.
[2:12:27] And again, thank you to the city and the mayor.
[2:12:29] And especially thank you, Ale, for letting me know.
[2:12:32] It's not just my grandma when any of our residents
[2:12:34] turn 100 to get a proclamation, so.
[2:12:38] Marigaji Keros, born on April 7, 1926,
[2:12:42] has reached an extraordinary milestone
[2:12:43] of 100 years of life.
[2:12:46] She immigrated into the United States for Mexico
[2:12:48] with only a third grade, actually
[2:12:50] was a second grade, my uncle was wrong.
[2:12:52] Second grade education, guided by courage
[2:12:54] and the hope of building something better.
[2:12:56] Butting had dedicated her life to raising seven children
[2:12:59] who's enduring closeness reflects the love and unity she nurtured.
[2:13:03] She lived with humility and quiet strength,
[2:13:05] offering generosity and care through simple heartfelt actions
[2:13:08] rather than seeing recognition.
[2:13:11] Her life embodies the wisdom that a long peaceful life deeply rooted in family
[2:13:15] is among the most meaningful forms of human experience.
[2:13:19] Through the world at large, though the world at large may not know her name,
[2:13:22] Her legacy lives powerfully in the kindness resilience and unconditional love, she instilled in all who know her.
[2:13:29] So that is my grandmother.
[2:13:31] Here you go mom.
[2:13:32] Thank you for accepting it on behalf of Grandma.
[2:13:35] Do you want to say a couple words?
[2:13:43] On behalf of our family, I am deeply honored to accept this proclamation celebrating my mother's 100th birthday.
[2:13:52] Reaching a century of a life is an extraordinary milestone, and it reflects not only her longevity, but a life filled with love, resilience, and wisdom.
[2:14:06] She has touched so many lives through her kindness, strength, and unwavering spirit.
[2:14:12] Today, we celebrate not just the years, she has lived, but the legacy she has created in all of us who know and love her.
[2:14:23] Thank you for recognizing her in this special way. It means more to our family than words can express.
[2:14:30] So thank you. Thank you.
[2:14:36] Thank you so much.
[2:14:38] So my grandma actually came here by herself.
[2:14:42] I just sit and talk with her. She's honestly one of my best friends, so we just kind of sit
[2:14:46] but she came here and here I want some bills where she met my grandfather and that's how
[2:14:52] they met. She told me a different story and then she told me the truth. She told me she was
[2:14:58] Oh wait, trust me, she was actually...
[2:15:01] That's how she made my grandfather. They made a life here. They had seven beautiful children. Everything that I do, everything that I am is because of the life that she gave me. She saved me from a really horrible situation and she afforded me all the opportunities that I had and everything that I have done in life is to pay her back.
[2:15:24] And I know that it's probably not enough,
[2:15:28] but I try every day, and so it's just really beautiful
[2:15:32] being able to see her and my nieces and nephews.
[2:15:36] And the great grandkids and the great great grandkids,
[2:15:38] all the kids there with her and having multiple generations
[2:15:42] and I know that's something that a lot of us here
[2:15:44] want some little share, and it's just something
[2:15:47] that's very special about our culture.
[2:15:49] So thank you so much, and I really hope your grandma's
[2:15:52] Grandpa's get to a hundred as well.
[2:16:21] Thank you very much.
[2:16:22] Thank you.
[2:16:28] All right.
[2:16:28] Thank you.
[2:16:29] I am a little under the weather and Mayor Protem.
[2:16:32] Clark has agreed to continue on in my set for the remainder of the meeting.
[2:16:36] I really appreciate him stepping in, stepping up for me in the rest of Council.
[2:16:39] I am going to go get some rest.
[2:16:41] So thank you.
[2:16:49] Okay.
[2:16:50] Okay.
[2:16:50] So we are going to move on to item number 10, which is the consent agenda.
[2:16:54] All items appearing on the consent agenda are recommended actions that are considered to be routine and will be active upon in one as one motion.
[2:17:03] Any items removed from the consent, or considered, will be considered immediately after the motion.
[2:17:09] The mayor will allow public input prior to the approval of the consent agenda.
[2:17:14] Is there anybody on the council that has any discussions?
[2:17:17] I just have a comment. I want to voice my strong support for item TNG, proving the contract with
[2:17:25] Santa Cruz County Sheriff for the same program agreement, and also support of 10 each,
[2:17:32] of proving the contract with the County of Santa Cruz for the mental health liaison.
[2:17:37] Wonderful. Thank you. Anybody else?
[2:17:42] Can't like to go to the public. Does anybody in the public have any comments for the consent agenda?
[2:17:48] Nope, seen none.
[2:17:52] Can we get a motion? I know that we have proof that it's such a gender.
[2:17:55] I'll second. Thank you. Wonderful. Can we get a roll call vote?
[2:18:01] Clark?
[2:18:02] Aye.
[2:18:03] Do you turn? Aye.
[2:18:04] Won't this, you know?
[2:18:05] Yes.
[2:18:06] How does it go?
[2:18:07] Aye.
[2:18:08] Get us Carter?
[2:18:09] Aye.
[2:18:10] And so I'll see you, don't.
[2:18:12] Good motion carries.
[2:18:14] Wonderful.
[2:18:16] And we have now items removed from the consent agenda.
[2:18:18] This is where we will move on to item 12, reports to council,
[2:18:20] city managers update report.
[2:18:24] All right, good evening, Vice Mayor and Council.
[2:18:29] That's a tricky one.
[2:18:31] All right, just have a short report today.
[2:18:34] One of highlight are summer.
[2:18:37] It's almost that time of the year,
[2:18:38] where we prepare for wonderful summer programs,
[2:18:41] or summer in the city,
[2:18:43] will take place again,
[2:18:45] starting on June 9th,
[2:18:46] through July 7th.
[2:18:49] And we are offering internships
[2:18:52] since the different city departments to eligible PVUSD students.
[2:19:00] So applications are now open.
[2:19:03] They're available on our website.
[2:19:04] I know some young individuals here can get the word out in the school
[2:19:09] is a wonderful opportunity.
[2:19:12] Participants earn $1,000 stipends.
[2:19:14] They receive elective credits.
[2:19:17] But they also can work towards their seal for saving engagement
[2:19:20] and local governments as a great opportunity for summer time.
[2:19:25] And I want to bring your attention
[2:19:27] that we discussed this item in the previous council meetings.
[2:19:33] And we said we were going to be working on banners
[2:19:36] of Main Street to really kind of promote
[2:19:38] the culture of shopping locals, supporting local businesses,
[2:19:43] and just really helping with that awareness.
[2:19:47] And that supports economic development
[2:19:49] in our city. So the the banners have been installed. There are a few that are missing brackets.
[2:19:55] So we're waiting for a few more brackets and you're going to see that project completed within the next week.
[2:20:02] Next is make sure that the community is aware that we are at the point that we're going to be groundbreaking our city.
[2:20:10] plus a project and that is happening on May 7th is the ground breaking ceremony of 4 p.m.
[2:20:17] that has been scheduled by our parks department.
[2:20:21] Next is our water rape study outreach is in process where our staff is going to be at the
[2:20:31] farmers market on Friday, April 7th, if people have questions about how words was being funded
[2:20:39] with the RAID study. This is a wonderful opportunity to interact with
[2:20:44] their staff and ask questions. We're also hosting a community
[2:20:50] webinar on April 29th and that's a 530 and it's online and it will be recorded
[2:20:57] and it will be another opportunity to answer questions,
[2:21:01] understand the impact and just really dive in deeper into the RAID study.
[2:21:09] that's in progress and next just exciting news in terms of pavement these last week
[2:21:17] April 6 are crews with Granted Rock which was this elected company that is working on
[2:21:23] our payment management plan kicked off the project and there is a lot of striping removal
[2:21:32] of all pavement and ceiling crack, pavement, slurre ceiling, et cetera, and freedom of our
[2:21:42] green valley road, harking through, and forest streets, so you're going to see a lot
[2:21:47] of construction on the road. Again, that's the season we're in. I also want to make sure
[2:21:54] that we promote these and remind the public and those business owners in our community
[2:22:01] that there is a tool free of cost available that offers training videos, downloadable tools,
[2:22:08] peer discussions that can be accessed for free online that really supports retail businesses,
[2:22:16] restaurants or any type of business really.
[2:22:20] There's a lot of information on this tool and is available for free for businesses in our community.
[2:22:26] So far I've seen that there's
[2:22:30] This is about a couple of businesses that have taken advantage of these, but it's a really wonderful tool that is available for all businesses in our community.
[2:22:39] And last, it's also that season. I got twenty, twenty, six, a statewide primary election.
[2:22:46] That's scheduled for June 2nd, but as you know, we started area voting on May 4th and our city clerks office and staff will be open and ready to assist members of the public.
[2:22:59] as early as Monday, May 4th, and that concludes my report.
[2:23:06] Wonderful. Thank you, City Manager Vita, for your report. Are there any council members that have any questions or comments?
[2:23:13] Yes, council member Eduardo Montesino.
[2:23:16] Yeah. Sort of related by that in your report.
[2:23:21] When is the timeline for the freedom board of art from Green by the New Airport to say that too?
[2:23:28] Because I've been asked that question and I feel like, you know?
[2:23:30] From freedom to...
[2:23:32] From Green by the New Airport.
[2:23:34] Green's all laid to airport, okay.
[2:23:36] Daniel.
[2:23:41] I know he's coming, but Daniel is also coming and she will have it.
[2:23:46] She will have it on her answer.
[2:23:47] That's in the back interim director Green.
[2:23:53] So our water services crews are actually going to be the ones to install the water line,
[2:23:58] which in that section we have the pipe ordered.
[2:24:01] They're wrapping up some work they had started a while ago on Lawrence Magnolia area.
[2:24:07] Once they finished that they have to do a little section in Lee Road ahead of a county project
[2:24:13] and then that's their priority.
[2:24:15] So probably around the summer maybe July that'll be starting the utility work and then we're
[2:24:22] helping by the end of the year we'll have the payment work out to bid so that that can follow right on next year.
[2:24:30] Thank you, I just been asked that question.
[2:24:32] Okay, thank you.
[2:24:33] It's true.
[2:24:34] Councilmember Ducha.
[2:24:38] Thank you.
[2:24:40] I think you talked about this, the Freedom Boulevard.
[2:24:43] What's going on there right now?
[2:24:46] What's going on?
[2:24:47] With a light?
[2:24:48] With a light?
[2:24:49] With a light?
[2:24:50] I've, my phone is going off the hook.
[2:24:52] Why is it was happening on Freedom Boulevard?
[2:24:55] As you know, it's pretty much closed down
[2:24:56] between all to visit one lane and to Main Street.
[2:25:01] So it's been pretty bad today.
[2:25:04] So I'd like to know what project is going on.
[2:25:05] No, what's going on there?
[2:25:07] All the Vista on.
[2:25:09] The freedom of art all the way to, it's a big project.
[2:25:12] Not all the way.
[2:25:12] My phone's ringing, your phone should be ringing.
[2:25:15] Not all big projects are our projects, but we can find out.
[2:25:19] I mean, they've literally sanded the entire road.
[2:25:23] All the lines are gone.
[2:25:24] Are you serious?
[2:25:25] No one knows what's going on.
[2:25:26] I saw it down all to best it. It was one lane, but not in freedom.
[2:25:29] It freedom was one lane at one point as well.
[2:25:35] It spores me.
[2:25:37] I mean, trust you all for that whole area, they'd say to the whole area like that.
[2:25:41] So you're referring to all to best it to me in that section of season.
[2:25:45] So that's the project she was updating on this.
[2:25:48] That's what I was asking about, yeah.
[2:25:49] Yeah, yeah, that's what I asked about.
[2:25:51] Yeah, I didn't see those three places on the one side spoke about, so it wasn't triggering me,
[2:25:57] Yeah, that was one of the areas. So there's three areas they went through and
[2:26:03] And remove the striping put temporary floppies and then yeah, they'll be going through with the slurry seal
[2:26:08] Crack seal
[2:26:08] Okay, that's all I said so because people were like, oh well, you know, that's a band-aid
[2:26:13] But I was trying to say that we we reconstructed that road not too long ago
[2:26:17] So this is called maintenance people are not used to maintenance, right?
[2:26:20] They're used to like us breaking down all the roads and then having to reconstruct like this is a good place to be and that we're doing maintenance
[2:26:27] Because now it's like we're protecting that road from having it break down.
[2:26:31] So that's been my explanation to people, just from like common knowledge of what I know.
[2:26:37] But I was, but I just wanted to confirm that.
[2:26:39] Yeah, it cost a lot less to maintain a good road than to have to completely rehabilitate a bad road.
[2:26:46] Right, exactly. So that is my story. I'm sticking with it.
[2:26:50] And when will this be over with?
[2:26:52] Um, that I don't know. I think within a couple months.
[2:26:56] Yes.
[2:26:56] Oh, you know what I read the sign?
[2:26:58] It said May 30th.
[2:27:00] Okay.
[2:27:01] Okay.
[2:27:02] Well, I'm happy.
[2:27:03] I hope you can get a new medium to match those new roads.
[2:27:07] How do you keep saying, it's being noted?
[2:27:10] Yes.
[2:27:10] Thank you.
[2:27:11] I know.
[2:27:11] I will keep noting that.
[2:27:12] Thank you.
[2:27:12] That'd be the City Manager.
[2:27:13] Color Park with us on it.
[2:27:15] Thank you.
[2:27:15] Thank you, Nick.
[2:27:16] Just look forward to it happening.
[2:27:18] Yes.
[2:27:19] It tells me very much.
[2:27:20] Yeah.
[2:27:20] just like I said, and I just want to piggyback on my customer and do
[2:27:25] trusset because that was like my crush. People that are not used to seeing
[2:27:29] main and so they're seeing like green by why are you guys doing green valley and
[2:27:33] that was the that was the question of freedom because people are not used to it
[2:27:37] so like I said it's it's a good thing but I also want to encourage us to you
[2:27:43] know we just finish a lighting project and we didn't celebrate. I mean people
[2:27:49] noticing the lights and, you know, and we haven't celebrated. That's nowhere else at any
[2:27:56] city for county doing that kind of stuff and we don't acknowledge ourselves with some of this
[2:28:03] progress that we do. And, you know, we did it for, you know, water thing.
[2:28:12] You're the tank.
[2:28:13] You know, hardly everybody is like a light bulb or something like that, you know, but this is, you know, to me, it's a really changed people's lives, you know, and that people could actually see you know there and some people are like our frustrated because
[2:28:29] She's right, but that's a good thing, you know, we're just going to use this, like I said, it's just more put that up.
[2:28:34] Thank you. Is there a way to create a video we can all share? You know, just put a line. Yeah, how he looks, you know, before and after and
[2:28:45] Oh, no, it would be nice. Yeah.
[2:28:48] Anyway, I was, so, but no, the, I mean, right now part of my neighborhood looks like a construction site is not all me
[2:29:00] I go over the plane, yeah.
[2:29:05] That is getting repaved, right?
[2:29:07] I mean, there's some major work, I mean.
[2:29:11] So that's not our road maintenance.
[2:29:13] Is a water main replacement or some underground?
[2:29:17] On the ground, right?
[2:29:18] And our crews, when they're done, they do the repave
[2:29:22] and according to our standards.
[2:29:23] So the road will look very nice when it's all done.
[2:29:28] But what does same happen for the project
[2:29:31] that was done on Home Road.
[2:29:38] And it looks bad. It's just like, like, French, and I'm
[2:29:44] going to leave it with a Home Road project, but we can give back to you. That would be great.
[2:29:49] And I just want to thank you for the updates on the science on supporting local shopping local.
[2:30:01] And then also the toolkit online. So thank you. Thank you.
[2:30:09] Okay, council member, future. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to say one more thing. Happy birthday. I forgot. I was going to say that earlier. Happy birthday.
[2:30:17] Thank you.
[2:30:19] I have three things I want to say real quick. Very excited for the banners as well. Thank you for that. That is wonderful.
[2:30:26] The City Plaza ground breaking, that is wonderful to hear that it's coming up.
[2:30:30] It's been contentious with some of us up here, but we are excited that it's happening.
[2:30:34] Director Calbock and I want to acknowledge, again, Eduardo, you brought something up.
[2:30:42] The lighting project.
[2:30:44] I mean, we talked about it, we touted it, we glorified it, and it had happened, and we
[2:30:48] just completely forgot about it.
[2:30:49] So, thank you for bringing that up.
[2:30:51] The hilarious you have it to me though, is that now that everybody can see during day and night, they can see how bad the roads are at night too.
[2:30:59] So thank you very much for that.
[2:31:02] So we're going to move on to item 13 public hearing ordinance and appeals.
[2:31:07] 13 A ordinance and many chapter 14-16 district regulations of the title 14 zoning of the Watsonville Municipal Code to conditionally permit commercial uses.
[2:31:19] on Parsley's own public facilities, I don't know this, PF, and located in the downtown
[2:31:26] Watsonville specific plan area, staff member, director now, community development director
[2:31:36] Orbock, take it away.
[2:31:38] Thank you Mayor for attending board clerk, council, good evening.
[2:31:43] As Mayor for attending board clerk mentioned, my name is Matt Orbock and I'm the new community
[2:31:48] development director for the city of Watsonville having moved up from being a system director.
[2:31:52] So my pleasure to be here tonight to present kind of a cleanup economic development item.
[2:31:59] The proposal before this evening is the first reading of an ordinance, I'm ending two
[2:32:04] different sections of the Watsonville Municipal Code to conditionally permit commercial uses
[2:32:09] on parcels, so in public facilities and located in the downtown Watsonville's specific
[2:32:15] So a little bit of background here, the public facilities zoning district only permits aviation-related commercial uses on the Watsonville Municipal Airport property.
[2:32:25] There are no other commercial uses permitted on any parcels on PF and any other area of the city currently.
[2:32:32] However, we have existing buildings with the vacant commercial tenant spaces in city buildings located in the downtown Watsonville specific plan area that currently have no permitting pathway for commercial uses.
[2:32:45] So, the City staff is recommending changes to these two municipal code sections to allow commercial uses in those areas.
[2:32:52] What it would do is conditionally permit those commercial uses with an administrative use permit and design review,
[2:32:58] approved by the zoning administrator, as long as it is not illegal or prohibited elsewhere in the Wants Mill municipal code.
[2:33:07] On April 7, last week, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution 036 recommending that the City Council adopted an ordinance of ending these two sections.
[2:33:14] And
[2:33:17] a quick aside for anyone who's wondering, there is a commercial tenant space on the first floor of this very building with a tenant in it, so how did that happen?
[2:33:26] Well, so it was approved with zoning clearance back in 2009, because at that time the property was zone central commercial area with a plan development overlay.
[2:33:35] However, when the city went through the downtown Watsonville specific plan process and put in zoning, they made the zoning match the use, which is why it was changed to public facilities there by cutting off the access for commercial use.
[2:33:49] So time I will do a quick overview of the Zoning Code text amendments, which are pretty simple.
[2:33:54] In every view of which parcels are actually going to be subject to this ordinance.
[2:33:59] A quick review of the permitting process.
[2:34:01] A little bit of talking about the Zoning Code text amendment process.
[2:34:04] And then what is going on with this in terms of SQL overview.
[2:34:09] So as I mentioned, the changes to the code are relatively simple.
[2:34:12] In this Watsonville municipal code section 1416802, there's a large table that lists all the permitted.
[2:34:18] and conditionally permitted uses in both the public facilities and the institutional zoning districts.
[2:34:25] So what this ordinance would do is add a subsection J at the very bottom of the table,
[2:34:30] related to downtown Watsonville specific client commercial uses.
[2:34:33] So you see there in the table that it says AUP, which means an administrative use permit would be required with design review.
[2:34:40] And it does not allow commercial uses in the institutional zoning district, which I will get in just a second.
[2:34:45] And then there are subsections underneath the table that describe in more detail what these uses are so we also put in a little bit more information there about what's what DWSP commercial uses means.
[2:34:58] So in that section we elaborate that this means parcels within the public facility zoning district located in the downtown Watsonville specific plan area.
[2:35:05] Any commercial uses may be allowed within administrative use from it unless it's prohibited elsewhere in the Watsonville municipal code.
[2:35:11] And we took that approach because that's the way you commercially use this are regulated in the rest of the downtown specific plan areas, so we wanted to make it consistent.
[2:35:22] So here's the map of the downtown and lots of all specific plan area. This is the regulating plan from the specific plan. The PF zoning district parcels are shown in blue.
[2:35:32] Within blue blue will includes both public facilities and institutional. So when we cut out the institutional zoning district parcels, what's left is these nine parcels with the yellow stars.
[2:35:45] those properties are listed here with the address, the APN, the current use and the owner.
[2:35:50] As you can see, it's mostly city of lots of little properties.
[2:35:53] One kind of Santa Cruz property and one by the American Legion.
[2:35:59] So the permitting process that would be in place of this pass is that a administrative use permit will be required with design review.
[2:36:05] Design review is only required if there's new construction.
[2:36:08] So if we were talking about the example of the city hall building here downstairs,
[2:36:11] there wouldn't have been a design review permit.
[2:36:13] It would just be in the administrative use permit.
[2:36:16] A UVs are approved by the zoning administrator,
[2:36:18] which is currently me.
[2:36:20] It requires findings to ensure compatibility
[2:36:22] with the surrounding uses.
[2:36:23] So we do have a lot of discretion.
[2:36:26] And those approvals may also be conditions.
[2:36:28] So if there are sort of mitigation measures,
[2:36:30] we can use to mitigate any negative impacts
[2:36:33] of a particular use that would bring it
[2:36:36] into what we deem an acceptable condition
[2:36:39] to go into the space that can be accomplished
[2:36:41] to the conditions. And as with any other decision, it can be appealed to planning
[2:36:46] commission and then subsequently appealed to city council.
[2:36:52] So the zoning code
[2:36:52] tax amendment process, this is timely because we have one tonight and then you're
[2:36:55] going to have another one next month and then I think one more at the month after. So
[2:36:59] to familiarize you with what that process entails, zoning code tax amendments go to
[2:37:05] the planning commission first. As I mentioned, went last week. It was reviewed by
[2:37:08] the planning commission and they adopted resolution O326 recommending that the
[2:37:13] Council adoptive pose ordinance. Your job now is to receive that recommendation and review the
[2:37:20] matter of public hearing, which is why we're here tonight. And in order to approve it,
[2:37:24] should you choose to do so, you would need to make the required findings. Those findings with
[2:37:28] supportive evidence are included.
[2:37:30] In the staff report as exhibit B to the ordinance, funding generally by the way, just cover things like consistency with the general plan, making sure if it's in what the community thinks to that effect.
[2:37:42] And then in terms of California, environmental quality act, you know, we review pretty much everything under sequence to make sure there are no impacts.
[2:37:49] This particular change, which is just the change of the text and the document, we believe is exempt from sequo under the common sense exemption.
[2:37:56] And what that is, is that that exemption applies to projects, projects, which have where
[2:38:03] there's no, you can be seen with certain needs, there's no possibility that the activity
[2:38:07] in question may have this significant effect on the environment.
[2:38:10] And if that's the case, then the activity is not subject to sequo.
[2:38:12] So in this case, we're just changing the text of the zoning ordinance online, there's no
[2:38:18] possibility that the changing of that text would have a significant effect on the environment
[2:38:21] therefore it's exempt under this section.
[2:38:23] So that city staff recommends the city council introduced for first reading only, waiting full reading of text and ordinance of ending chapter 1416 district regulations of title 14 zoning of the lots of loneliness book code.
[2:38:38] To conditionally permit commercial uses on parcels zone public facilities and look at in the downtown lots of those specific point area.
[2:38:45] No that would be happy to discuss any aspect of this or entertain questions.
[2:38:49] Thank you Director Urbock for that report. Does the city council have any clearifying questions?
[2:38:58] Okay, seeing that. We'll go out to the public. Does the public have any clearifying questions?
[2:39:06] Okay, seeing that.
[2:39:08] Take a motion.
[2:39:09] I'll move them. I'll move to approve Staffordica recommendation.
[2:39:11] Oh, second bet.
[2:39:13] Okay. Can we get a roll call vote, please?
[2:39:18] Clerk?
[2:39:20] Do you try? Aye.
[2:39:21] What does you know?
[2:39:22] Yes.
[2:39:24] What else go?
[2:39:25] Aye.
[2:39:27] Keydo's Carter?
[2:39:28] Aye.
[2:39:34] So now we're on to item 14 emergency items added to the agenda, which there are none, so we are on to request and scheduling for future agenda items. Yes, council member want to see you know, and then a risk.
[2:39:47] Yeah, no, we just, you know, did some action on the downtown specific.
[2:39:52] I'd like to get a report back on the Dublin specific where we're at, how we entice anybody,
[2:40:01] what are property, if we have been, how we're reaching what are property owners saying,
[2:40:06] what that looks like, where we just invest a lot of money in just a plan,
[2:40:11] like to get a report back.
[2:40:12] I'll be happy to provide an update to the council.
[2:40:15] but thanks.
[2:40:18] Then I have a couple of items. The first one is you can get an update on
[2:40:23] measure Q. Have there any revenues I've been collected? I just thought, you know,
[2:40:31] a general update on when we're saying I know that they had an application that was opened and
[2:40:37] I think it closed and we apply for any of that. That sort of thing. I think it will be helpful.
[2:40:42] Yeah, we will be coming back to the council for approving of measure Q plan and yes, we did apply actually our fire department submitted an application and so did our parks departments of two applications went in for the grant for the city of Guatemala.
[2:40:59] Great, thank you.
[2:41:01] And I also want an update on, and I think we both requested it, but just making sure that we don't forget about it, and update on economic development incentives.
[2:41:13] So, an overview of existing incentives, how they're being utilized and consideration of any additional tools to attract a retainer businesses and support new development here in the city.
[2:41:23] And then an update on the public art selection process, so I would like the opportunity to review our current policies and procedures for selecting artists for CD projects with consideration of potential amendments to prioritize and increase opportunities for local artists.
[2:41:45] Thank you.
[2:41:47] Okay. Any other requests or scheduling for future agenda items?
[2:41:52] Seeing none, meeting adjourned.