Yep.
Good evening. We're going to call our
city council meeting to order for August
11th, 2026.
The time right now is 6:01 and we want
to welcome everyone here in our audience
and viewing from their homes. So, we
want to say welcome. Thank you for
participating and taking an interest in
your city.
Um our first order of business, we will
do an invocation and that is going to be
led by our Pastor Willie Hicks and our
pledge will be led by Council Member
John Timmer.
» Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, we come before you
today asking you to bless these
proceedings today. God, I pray as always
that you would grant wisdom to our
councilors and even our city residents,
Lord. And also, Lord, give us tolerance
and peace so that we can deal with each
other in an
amicable way. And also, God, I just pray
that everything would run smoothly.
Thank you for the resources you brought
to this beautiful city and we don't take
for granted the wonderful things you've
done for us. Keep us
safe from harm and danger and especially
fires during this time. In Jesus' name
and for Christ's sake. Amen.
» Please join with me as we honor the flag
of our great nation. Ready? Begin.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» Thank you all. Pastor, thank you for
coming and praying over us and for our
city. We certainly appreciate you coming
down.
Okay, we'll do a roll call.
Council Member Hogan.
>> Here.
>> Council Member Lilburn.
>> Here.
>> Council member McAllen? Here. Council
member Saldana? Here. And Council member
Timmer?
Well, that's her He's here.
>> He's here.
>> Yes. I would appreciate
>> Okay. We'll move on to our special
presentations this evening. We are
welcoming San Bernardino Council of
Governments program.
Monique
um
for she's the director of Council of
Governments and we want to say welcome.
Thank you for coming and giving us a
update on what's going on out there.
>> Well, Mayor, if I might first
>> Please.
>> I invited Monique to come and and talk
to us about
all the activities going on at Council
of Governments uh [clears throat] so that uh the
Council and the staff are aware of what
the resources are available
uh to us. So, I'm
glad we were able to do that.
>> Thank you, Larry.
>> Good evening. I appreciate the
invitation to address the Council and
provide an update on this work. Um most
people are familiar with our sister
agency SBCTA and they are the builder of
roads and transit projects and we're
largely intertwined with SBCTA as SBCTA
SBCOG share staff. So, the Council of
Governments um just to give a little
background for those of you that are not
familiar with who we are, is a joint
powers authority and it consists of all
24 cities and towns in the region and
the county of uh San Bernardino as the
government entity as well. The board is
made up of one representative from each
jurisdiction and typically it's the
mayor, but there are other um
representatives that participate and all
five county supervisors are on our
board. The purpose of the COG is
twofold. We work with agencies like
SCAG, the Southern California
Association of Governments to that
assure that state mandates are enacted
fairly within our region. An example of
this would be SCAG um working with SCAG
on the arena methodology and
implementation in our region. Our
planning department takes the lead on
that and works with SCAG and all of our
members.
The other side of the cog works to meet
the needs of the member agencies, which
is where most of our work comes in.
Though through the Board of Directors uh
direction has been uh provided through
our SCAG 5-year work plan, which is
funded through the dues the members pay,
and it's supplemented with funds um as
we find them either through grants or
with partners depending on what kind of
project we're working on. So, with that
context, I'll go ahead and go ahead and
get started.
Thank you.
Uh the San Bernardino Regional Housing
Trust is a uh it was a 5-year process to
form this trust, and we just got it up
and running. Uh the purpose of this
program is to find and bring housing
funds to this region for affordable and
attainable housing. To date, 15 agencies
have adopted the Joint Powers Authority
Agreement, and our first board meeting
was held on May 13th. Um our board has
$1.85 million in REAP funds to allocate
on a
so we're excited about that moving
forward.
I think I'm going to need your help.
>> [laughter]
>> Can you move it? Thank you. Um SCAG is
also leading a collaborative strategy
for the region in coordination with
member jurisdictions
um on the regional homeless strategic
plan. Uh the plan will provide a
regional strategy to address the
population of persons experiencing
homelessness within the region with
prioritized programs and targeted
strategies. Uh when we put our work plan
together, we work with 25 agencies, and
this project was the at the top of the
list. 21 of our 25 member agencies
decided that this was the the number one
priority in the region. Um the plan
includes an inventory of existing
resources that we may not know exist, uh
law enforcement options that are
currently underway, uh nonprofit
organization support, which is currently
in place, and really creating strategies
around what the existing resources are
and finding ways to connect the dots
that don't necessarily exist yet.
Additionally, the program will identify
and prioritize funding opportunities to
support the identified strategies that
we would be recommending to our board.
San Bernardino Council of Governments
has partnered with the Randall Lewis
Center of Entrepreneurship at Cal State
San Bernardino for an efficient and
impactful approach to work that we're
doing with small businesses. The small
business initiatives are result of
recommendations from a study to
understand what barriers they were
dealing with in gaining local government
contracts and successfully completing
them. There are three components to the
initiatives. The first one is small
business vendor fairs, and the goal here
is to connect vendors with procurement
and purchasing staff at the cities and
the county to allow for networking to
occur. The biggest barrier that they saw
here, especially for those small
businesses that don't necessarily meet
the requirements for a formal bid
process, identified relationships as
being their their number one barrier.
They just don't have them. So, the
vendor fairs would help to
be a solution to that. The first event
is going to take place in the high
desert this September.
The small business is to help small
businesses be contract ready and to help
them understand and navigate procurement
processes across the region. We have 25
member agencies and it's likely there
are 25 different procurement processes
that these small agencies, I'm sorry,
these small businesses need to figure
out how to navigate. So, we're hoping
that the academy will help that.
And then we are also implementing a
vendor registration dashboard to support
member agencies in finding local vendors
and give local vendors an opportunity to
work with cities and the county. So,
hopefully this will be a dashboard where
small businesses are vetted and are
aware of how to work with cities and
hopefully we'll be able to make those
connections a little bit easier for
them.
Yes.
The small The street vendor toolkit,
this project will be finalized by the
fall with a webpage for access to model
ordinances and interagency protocols
available. The goal of this effort was
to address street vendors from a
regional perspective that provided a bit
of consistency in the approach by the
jurisdictions. So, the purpose of this
was to address the challenge that the
jurisdictions identified, the biggest
one being that as soon as enforcement
occurs, the small the vendors typically
just pick up and move to the next
jurisdiction. So, by
looking at this from a regional
approach, we were hoping to create a bit
of consistency in how the jurisdictions
approached it together.
So, through this effort we work closely
with the planning and code enforcement
staff across the region, and we recently
provided the toolkit link to your
planning and community development
directors and shared an update with the
city managers. The toolkit includes a
frequently asked questions page, a
summary of recent state vending
legislation, model ordinances, um
guidance and links related to health
permits from San Bernardino County
Environmental Services.
Um all these components were informed by
staff surveys and helped identify
jurisdictional needs and priorities.
Completion with this project will be in
about 2 months.
The evacuation and resiliency center
design study. This project is made
possible through funding received from a
Caltrans planning grant, and the study
examines locations that could serve as
resilience centers. And these are
facilities that operate with their own
year-round programming, but during an
emergency can provide things like power,
water, and access to information and
essential resources. So, thinking
community centers, libraries, things
that already are up and running, but can
be a a place a point of contact during
an emergency.
So, over the last 9 9 months, I'm sorry,
over the last 9 months we have been
working with emergency services and
emergency response expert experts, as
well as an ad hoc committee of our board
members to guide specific components of
the study.
The ad hoc provided direction and
feedback on the five subregions to study
based on an analysis that included
climate hazards, geo hazards,
transportation infrastructure
vulnerability, and social vulnerability.
And the subregions selected are the the
mountains, the high desert, the Morongo
Basin, the San Bernardino Valley, and
the East Valley.
Based on the ad hoc's input in this
current phase, we are identifying
potential candidate locations for the
centers to analyze for the study. And
this includes a site in the city of
Highland, and we'll be working with city
staff to verify the analysis is
appropriate and gains and gain details
on the facility information for the
study.
In the immediate future, we'll be
providing survey for public input to
rank sites and to identify what types of
services are most valuable to
incorporate into resiliency centers.
Okay.
REAP, uh Regional Early Action Planning
2.0 Grant. Uh it was a huge funding pot
that is administered by SCAG through
SBCOG and SBCTA.
Um we have been working on
implementation of several programs. One
is the Housing Infill and on public and
private lands pilot program.
We need acronyms in government, so I
apologize, there's so many of them.
Um but HIP is a is to support public
agencies in navigating the process of
developing public lands for housing.
Currently, they we are developing an
implementation guide for member agencies
to be able to navigate the Surplus Lands
Act that will include two implementation
tracks, one that utilizes the act, and
another that is um an exempt process for
the act.
Through the local sites assessment, we
are finding many sites that are owned by
school districts, and we are developing
an implementation memo for these
district-owned properties. Uh we are
coordinating with the county
superintendent of schools through the
convenings with the school districts
countywide.
Another REAP program is the Subregional
Partnership Program or SRP, and this
program provides technical assistance to
support the 6th Cycle Housing Element
implementation. We're working on
projects with 11 member agencies, which
includes all jurisdictions who requested
assistance during our initial outreach.
There are a variety of projects listed
on the slide, but they range from
housing element rezoning to pre-approved
ADU plans and guidebooks. Most of the
projects also include streamlining
development standards. All of these
projects must be completed by December
31st, um most with most of them
scheduled to be completed by this fall.
All right.
CAD to CAD, uh computer-aided dispatch.
Um CAD to CAD is a project
the project is a comprehensive
assessment that includes reviewing
operational requirements, surveying
uh current agencies, identifying gaps,
and providing recommendations on
management of the CAD system. So, the
problem that was brought to our
attention, uh with the request for help
from Confire, Confire is the county's
largest 911 dispatch agency, um they
cover 80% of the geography within the
county.
Um there is no unified communication
system for individual units that have
been dispatched. So, once a unit is
dispatched, whether it's ambulance,
fire, law enforcement, they have no way
to talk to each other. The communication
does not exist. The technology does not
exist. So, what our study here is
looking at is how to get them all on the
same system. Confire has bought a
system, and he's they're trying to get
all of the jurisdictions to buy into it.
They have to there's a cost-share
element, and there's also an
understanding of ongoing maintenance to
make sure that it continues operation.
So, the study is going to identify
governance of this, how it's going to
proceed, and what it looks like in the
future at full capacity.
So, the landscape is rapidly changing,
um and it's
that has expanded sections and
recommendations. We had anticipated the
study to be done in June, but it now is
going to be a couple of months delayed
as we provided an update to the city
managers, and there were some comments
and feedback that are going to be
implemented into the the final report.
So, it's pushing our our uh
end date back
uh just 2 months.
IRWIN is the Inland Regional Energy
Network. It's a partnership with Western
Riverside Council of Governments and the
Coachella Valley Association of
Governments. And the goal of this
program is to use friend funds from the
Public Utilities Commission to implement
public agency building improvements to
make them energy efficient as well as
implementing workforce training and
public code updates. With I Run's public
sector projects, San Bernardino's region
currently has 20 public agencies at some
phase of the process with 34 projects in
motion that add up to approximately $3.6
million in incentives and $8.5 million
in energy savings. I Run has issued the
first incentive checks to San Bernardino
County agencies to the tune of nearly
314,000
and Colton Unified School District
received their entire incentive as well
as San Bernardino Community College
District. They have received their first
installment. The workforce education and
training sector has seen exponential
growth over the last 2 years. There's a
fellowship program that has doubled in
the recent cycle with 32 fellows being
hosted in the last 11 months. 11 of
those fellows were hosted at San
Bernardino County sites and the program
is expected to host around 40 fellows in
the next cycle which will begin in
October with about 16 of those fellows
in San Bernardino County sites for the
year.
I Run's partnership in San Bernardino
County Workforce Development Department
has been able to put 58 participants in
energy career training pathways so far.
All of those have been have received the
train I'm sorry. All of those who have
received the trainings and completed
their programming have been placed with
employers in the region. So it's a it's
a pretty successful program.
The Echo Hero the Eco Hero program has
been able to provide energy awareness
presentations to 14 elementary schools
within San Bernardino County and five of
those schools are within districts that
have an energy career technical
education program.
So.
Okay, the last program we're going to
talk about is grant administration.
We have been successful in securing more
than $46 million in grant funding for
the region in the last year and a half
since we've implemented our grant
administration program.
Highland Highland Redlands Regional
Connector project received 3 million
from MSRC awards and 2 million from a
community project funding through
Representative Pete Aguilar's office.
We've supported additionally Safe
Streets for All applications for the
town of Apple Valley and San Bernardino
County
Superintendent of Schools.
These awards demonstrate the program's
impact building on these successes the
team continues to pursue new funding
opportunities.
We've also submitted SBCTA applications
for Safe Streets for All and Active
Transportation programs for Cycle 8 and
we've supported several applications for
multiple member agencies as well. And we
will continue implementing the grant
support framework which was approved by
the Board of Directors. We encourage our
member agencies to visit the member
agency grant webpage where they can
access current funding opportunities,
grant resources, and submit requests for
grant assistance. I know I just gave you
so much information.
>> [laughter]
>> If there's anything that stuck or you
have a question, I'm happy to answer it.
I'm Monique Arena, the Director of
Council Governments.
» Thank you very much for that
presentation. We know of your agency. We
don't see you a lot, but we know that we
receive grants and
stuff. So we appreciate you coming in
just giving us a little bit more
information.
There is a lot of acronyms out there
between the SBCTA and between you guys.
Um
They have a literally a page of acronyms
that spells everything out. So thank you
for that. Larry, any questions?
>> No, I'm good.
>> Comments?
Well, we appreciate you coming in.
Anyone have any questions for Monique?
Okay.
>> I'm always available.
>> Okay, thank you so much.
>> Thanks a lot, Monique.
» All right, at this time we're going to
do public comment and I'm going to look
to our city clerk to read us into the
public comment portion.
>> Thank you, Mayor. At this time, we will
open the public comment period. Members
of the public may address the city
council on matters that are within the
city's jurisdiction and are not listed
on the agenda. If you wish to speak on
an agenda item, please wait until the
item is called. If you're attending in
person and wish to speak, please
complete a speaker card. The city
council will first hear comments from
in-person speakers, followed by those
participating remotely. For those
participating remotely, please use the
Zoom raise hand feature or press star
nine if participating by phone. When it
is your turn to speak, you'll be
recognized by name.
Participants joining by telephone will
be called using using the last four
digits of their phone number. Once
recognized, you will be unmuted, and you
may state your name for the record
before beginning your comments. Please
limit your remarks to 3 minutes, and for
the record, the city did not receive any
emailed public comments.
>> Thank you very much, and then make sure
when their 3 minutes is up, we we notice
that to them.
>> Yes, Mayor.
>> Thank you. Marsha Lewis.
Haven't seen you in a minute.
>> Two days, yeah.
Um thank you all for being for being
here and leading us, and I just want to
take a few minutes, and Mr. Duran came
and talked to our East Highlands Ranch
Landscape Committee about this
particular issue, and it's about the
removal of a very old, very large
uh tree that run that is right next to
the street on Baseline, which we feel is
one of the prettiest streets Highland
has to offer in East Highlands Ranch,
and it's at the crosswalk area that is
not indicated in any other way than
stripes on the ground.
And so, one of our board members
requested that a lighted system be put
in for safety, cuz people tend to fly
down Baseline, and the safety issue is
definitely needed. There's no question
about that. Our concern is the removal
of the very old tree that is also host
to a hawk's nest. Anybody that's been
following following Jackie
>> Of course.
>> Um
hawks are the same. They come back and
roost in the same nest every year, year
over year. So, to take that tree out
takes out that that hawk's home.
But that that's one only one of the
reasons why I don't want that tree
removed or any tree in that area.
Um we feel that there are other options.
Right now there are posts that were put
in place to handle the system.
And
the location of the post makes no sense
for several reasons. One is it's right
up next to the tree that's supposed to
be removed. And if it were moved to the
other side of that tree, it wouldn't be
an issue. Better yet, move to the center
of the street and there's nothing there.
The big tree that used to be there has
been gone now for months. So, that those
are two options. Another is to move it
to the back side of the crosswalk.
Which would also then move the whole
system to the right side, which people
walk that pathway. I do it every day. Um
walk that pathway counterclockwise for
the most part. So, it would actually put
the buttons on the right side. Right now
they're on the opposite side.
Um
let's see.
Uh
oh, and we were told that the big tree
would be replaced with two or three
smaller trees that we could put wherever
in East Highlands, which that's
fine. I would love to have two or three
trees,
but they will in no way cover the same
area that this tree does. It's been
there for probably 50 years. And to take
it out seems crazy if there are other
options.
Um
and when we did when I spoke with Mr.
Duran, who has been very kind with with
time
uh
both by email, by phone, and he came to
our meeting. Um
he had said at one point that they were
going to remove six trees.
And
that really jolted me cuz that says to
me there was absolutely no planning done
at that point. You don't remove six
trees to put in a light.
So, I really hope that this can be
looked at some more.
And um
it is time sensitive because of that
hawks they're going to come in and take
it as soon as the hawks leave. Thank you
very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you very much. And so,
I think we'll just make sure that we
refer this to I I think this went to a
committee. Um
Okay, maybe we should send it to uh
re-look at, you know,
before I don't I don't know what the We
can't talk about items to you that are
not on the agenda. So, all I can do is
refer it back to our city manager and
that's we can re-address or address
what's going on. I'm not sure of that
particular project. Larry McCallon's the
council member in that district. So,
we'll have him uh meet with Carlos and
see what's going on and the residents.
>> Yeah, if you wanted to go back committee
it is
» Okay.
>> That's where we're
before.
>> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you. Thank you for
coming in.
Uh
Curtis Tovey?
» Um I'm also a member of the landscape
committee for East Highlands Ranch. I'm
Kurt Tovey. Um
claim to fame is that I spent five five
decades as an ISA certified arborist.
So, instead of looking at this as simply
the removal of a single tree,
as Marsha was saying, it's not just a
single tree. This is a decades-old
uh tree, a native sycamore. Uh
nurserymen now replace them with London
plane trees cuz they're easier to
propagate and they don't have the same
form and function as the native sycamore
even though they're related. Um
The issue that Mar- Mar- Marsha already
brought up having to do with the
placement of the post before our
committee ever became aware of how the
project was going to go about. And it is
a necessary project. Of course, senior
citizens having a crosswalk there with
lights is going to be a benefit to
everybody. But the placement of those
lights, this is a really big concern for
us.
Um as an arborist, I look at this a
little bit differently. When we're
looking at the uniqueness of this
particular area,
this is a swale coming down from the
mountains
in which we have an entire grove of
sycamore trees.
When you have a grove of like trees,
they start to work and function together
as a unit. That means you have
interlacing of roots,
sharing of nutrients and water, one tree
supporting another. The tree we're
talking about is probably the biggest
tree. It's right in the middle of this
grove.
It has the biggest spread of canopy.
And the removal of that is going to have
a real negative
impact to that entire grove of trees.
Once again, like Marsha said, we're
looking at what's arguably one of the
prettiest streets, beautifully designed,
beautifully landscaped
um in the city.
And if we can rectify the problem simply
by moving the post out away from the
crosswalk itself to where you're not
going to have a conflict between tree
and
emergency equipment, it would be best
for all and hoping that we can get your
support to have public works take
another look at this and so that we can
brainstorm a couple of more ideas of how
to make it all work. Thanks.
>> Thank you. Thank you very much for
coming in.
Jane Bausch.
Good evening, Mayor and Council.
I just want to make a few announcements
for the Highland Area Chamber of
Commerce. First, our um next lunch is
August the 25th at Spring Lake Club
Spring Lake Clubhouse. Um the um
sign-in starts at 11:30 and the program
begins at noon.
Our last mixer of this year will be at
Mi Casa Inn's and that will be on
Wednesday, September the 16th
and they are celebrating their 35th
anniversary there. So, we are off
actually having a ribbon cutting at
5:30, but the mixer is from 5:00 to
7:00. So, I hope that you'll come out
and um welcome them and thank them for
being in the community for 35 years.
Also, uh the Y has Beyond the Books
Highland YMCA Back to School Bash is on
Saturday, August the 15th and it's from
10:00 to noon. Start the school year
strong at the Highland Family YMCA.
There's also a couple other things on
our calendar on
I if you want to mark ahead of time, we
have our monthly luncheon in September
will be on the 22nd
and we have our last breakfast of the
year will be on October 7th and that
will be hosted at Brightwater Senior
Living. And the check-in will start at
7:30 in the morning and we will start
the program at 8:00 a.m.
Thank you.
» Thank you, Jane. Appreciate that.
Um
also um I'll announce that at the end of our public comments. And that
is all the public speaking I have. Do we
have anyone online?
>> We don't, Mayor.
>> Okay.
Uh we'll
move along then and we'll move on to our
consent calendar.
» I'll move the consent.
>> I'll second.
>> We have a motion and a second. We'll
have a roll call.
>> Council member Hogan?
>> Yes.
>> Council member Lilburn?
>> Yes.
>> Council member McCallion?
>> Yes.
>> Council member Saldana?
>> Yes.
>> And Council member Timmer?
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
>> We'll move on to our legislative and
item 10 is our city manager's report.
>> Yes, thank you, Mayor. Uh members of the
city council, I have a few updates for
you this evening. To begin with, the
Highland Police Department for the month
of July received 3,802 calls, made 354
reports, 138 arrests, 153 citations,
408 traffic enforcement stops, 51
traffic collisions, which included
hidden runs,
47 towed vehicles,
and 43 transient-related calls. This was
actually one of their busiest months
this year just to point out.
>> Very nice.
>> The um Highland Fire Department for the
month of July responded to 610 calls for
service, some of which included 469
medical aids, 26 traffic collisions, 12
structure fires, 24 vegetation fires, 22
other fires, three vehicle fires, and 16
public service assistance that were not
life-threatening.
Following stats are provided by the
administrative services department for
the month of July. 41 new business
licenses license applications were
received. 74 businesses renewed their
licenses.
100 net 108 dog licenses were issued to
residents. 51 yard sale permits were
issued. And 80 payable check account
accounts checks were issued.
Uh
the public works department has the
following update. Construction of a new
113 unit residential development located
at Alta Vista and Greenspot Road is
underway by the builder Lennar Homes. We
are excited to share that the developer
anticipates beginning construction of
the new of a new 42-in storm drain
facility along Greenspot Road.
A key component of the city's master
drainage plan. The new storm drain
system will span approximately 2,500
linear feet extending from Alta Vista
Street to Weaver Street. Construction is
expected to begin on August 17th and
will take approximately 6 to 8 weeks to
complete.
Uh due to the nature of this work
24-hour traffic control measures will
be in place throughout the duration of
the project. Full access to and from
Alta Vista will be allowed during most
of the project. However, a detour will
be needed in the last 2 weeks of the
work for the installation of the lateral
connections.
Motorists should expect traffic delays
and are encouraged to use alternate
routes whenever possible like for
example.
Uh to keep the community informed the
city and the developer will provide
advanced notice through changeable
message signs. These are the ones that
are blinking in the roadway.
Along Greenspot Road mailers and door
hangers delivered to impacted
properties, city social media channels,
and articles in the city newsletter.
Uh following completion of the storm
drain installation, the trenches will be
repaired with a temporary asphalt in
preparation for construction of a raised
median along the frontage of the green
spot along Green Spot Road. Um, full
width uh,
permanent paving, uh, paving between
Weaver Street and Alta Vista is expected
to be completed by the summer of 2027.
Uh, we appreciate the public's patience
and cooperation as these um, important
infrastructure improvements are
completed to support the community.
Uh, volunteer and public services have
the following upcoming events. Uh,
there's a couple here. Uh, Highland
Improvement uh, team cleanup on
Saturday, September 14th from 8:00 a.m.
to 12:00 p.m. The check-in at uh, will
be at 7:00 a.m. at City Hall located at
27215 Baseline.
And the second is a Highland oil change
exchange.
Um, Highland oil filter exchange, excuse
me, on Saturday, September 12th from
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the AutoZone
located at 27292
Baseline.
Uh, for the month of of July, Bert Day
completed 303 illegal uh, dumping work
orders. So, been busy again.
>> Uh, the Community Development Department
has two updates to provide. On August
the 4th, the Planning Commission Appeals
Board conducted two public hearings to
declare existing nuisance, existence of
public nuisance of the following two
properties.
The first is NDP Appliances located at
25414
Baseline for continuing to operate their
existing business without first
obtaining necessary building permits to
rehab fire damaged structures on the
property.
NDP Appliance was given 90 days to
submit plans and obtain the necessary
permits to rehab the damaged fire uh,
structure and remove all junk, trash,
debris from the property.
The second property here is the
abandoned single-family house located at
7222,
Church Avenue, generally uh northwest of
Smart & Final, for failure [snorts] to
uh board and secure the abandoned house
and the accumulated junk, trash, and
debris. The property owner was given 60
days to obtain necessary building
permits to rehab the house and remove
all accumulated junk, trash, and debris.
Uh in May 2026, the Community
Development Director denied a land use
application from Water Mill Express to
install a freestanding water vending
machine near the northeast corner of
Baseline and Sterling Avenue.
The project was denied based on the
findings related to public health,
safety, and general welfare, and
objections from the surrounding
businesses and residents.
Water Mill Express submitted an appeal
to the Community Development Director's
denial, but with their appeal
application on Monday, August the 10th,
Water Mill Express advised staff that
they would explore other potential
locations, and that concludes my report.
Be happy to answer any questions you may
have.
>> Very good. Thank you so much. Um busy month for police and fire. Thank
you guys for your hard work out there,
especially in this heat.
Um
Thank you, Carlos. Appreciate that. And
I know you did send out a report to us
today, so
um we'll move on to city council
comments, and Jimmy or Greg, Greg?
» Okay. No, I don't have any comments
right now.
>> Thank you.
>> Um I uh want to thank the San Bernardino
Valley Municipal Water District, uh
Milford Harrison, Gil Botello, Jose
Velasquez, and the rest of the board for
lowering their ad valorem tax uh
for the following year. They lowered the
tax from 11 cents to 4 cents for every
$100 of assessed value, which for
Highland families represents an average
savings of about $300 per year. So, uh
in a time when it's hard for families to
make ends meet, I think this was a a
really helpful move and I'm you know,
I'm certainly grateful that we're able
to
uh get that done. So, thank you to San
Bernardino Valley Water Municipal
District. That's it for me, Mayor.
>> Okay.
>> I just want I just wanted to say I just wanted to
say thank you to to all all the I've had
I recently had a lost a brother and I
just want to say thank you to the people
within the council and around Highland
that that, you know, actually send their
support. Uh me and my younger brother
were extremely close. I mean, he um I
can't tell you how we we'd argue during
the week about football. You know, he
went off on a strange thing and became a
Rams fan, right? And I've always liked
the Raiders cuz Raiders were in San
Diego and Marcus Allen was in So, we
talk all the time and it was kind of
shocking when somebody younger than you
did, you know, passes away. So, I've
kind of been in a funk, but I want to
thank everybody from the bottom of my
heart. I really appreciate all the
support and calling and reaching out and
all that good stuff. I'm you know, I'm
coming out of it, but thank you guys so
much. I can't say it enough.
And that's that's I just want to say
thanks, yeah.
>> Thank you, Gregory.
Uh John?
>> Yeah, I'd like to take a few minutes
more than normal.
Um I have a a statement to make
to the city council,
to the staff, to the citizens of
Highland and and I'll I'll I'll start
with my statement.
It's a something I need to do and I want
to do and I feel obligated to do.
On July 14th, 2026,
a final map amendment for the tract
number 20387
was on the city council consent calendar
for approval. I requested that item be
pulled
for discussion as it was my recollection
that the developer of
Crestwood Communities had committed to
participate in the city-wide public
safety CFD and I had been informed by
staff that they would no longer being
doing so. During the council meeting, I
stated the developer had lied to the
city council about agreeing to
participate in the CFD. I would like to
make it clear that Crestwood Communities
was not conditioned to participate in
the CFD.
And I would like to make it clear that
Crestwood Communities was not
conditioned to participate in the city
just saying it again.
And
I was bright brought to my attention
that Crestwood Communities didn't in did
not in fact uh commit to participate in
the CFD but rather had stated that it
would considered participating in the in
the CFD. I would like to apologize to
Crestwood Communities
for stating that they lied and and it
was based on my misremembering using a
term
I don't like to use that term but a
misremembering what was transpired in
the prior city council.
Based on my comment and
it was totally inappropriate so I would
like to personally
apologize to city council
to city staff, to the citizens of
Highland
and to Terry Kent and the community and
the
Crestwood Communities. I used
inappropriate language language and I'm
truly sorry and apologize to all parties
involved. Thank you.
» Is that it?
>> That's all. No other announcements.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Um appreciate
your comments. Larry?
>> Yes, uh on Thursday at SBCTA we will be
uh issuing a uh
invitation for bid for construction of
the uh
of the Redlands Highland Redlands gap
closure project. So, that'll be uh for bid uh
and we'll see who applies.
Uh
I also uh represented the city at the
Santa Ana
regional
wastewater
uh control board, whatever it's called.
About a
temporary order that that they're uh
proposing that would uh
cost the city of Highland about 445
not 445
million dollars over the next 20 years.
That's
64%
of our annual
general fund.
And if uh if that's implemented
not only our city, but all of the cities
in San Bernardino County would be
affected.
And uh
I was there to uh
testify in opposition of it along with
the county and and many other cities.
So, hopefully they're going to make a
decision in on the 21st of August and
hopefully they make the right decision.
We'll see.
Uh another unfunded mandate
if it's passed.
Uh also represented uh
the city at the ribbon cutting for the
American First Credit Union. That was a
good event and uh
John and I were there and uh of people
from their corporation and everything.
>> Filled up with them.
>> So,
that's all I have.
>> Very good. Well, thank you for one
representing the city
at the ribbon cutting and two for
representing the city to
state in opposition.
That's a very important issue to our
city and and residents. So, thank you.
Um I only have a couple.
Uh I attended National Night Out last
week and I want to say what a great job
and what a great turnout we had.
Uh it was a fantastic turnout. It was a steady
stream of people all night long. I want
to thank Marco's Pizza for donating the
pizza and I want to say thanks to each
group. We had public works. We had the
different groups of the city. We had uh
city clerk and
everyone came up with such a clever
game. Um
the the talent that we have here and the
minds that we have here. You guys did a
really good job and so I want to say
thank you. Our police was there in force
and our firefighters were in force, but
most importantly, our residents were
there in force and there was a lot of
them with their families and their kids
and it was just a really good showing.
So, thank you for hosting that, Chief.
Um
Captain, we appreciate that and um it
was super well attended. So, again,
thank you to the staff and the city for
the It was I know a lot of work went
behind that. So, we appreciate that.
Uh just a reminder and I know I'm
starting a little early, Melissa.
State of the city is October 22nd and
I'm thinking our East Valley Water
probably wants to note this on their
water bill or something like that when
the state of the city is.
And um and then I wanted to say
congratulations to Council Member
Santana that he will not have an
election. Uh, he was unchallenged, so I
want to say uh, it's great that we're
going to see you back and that is all I
have.
So, with no other we aren't going to
adjourn yet. We're going to recess to
close session, but I do while everyone's
still here, I want to make sure that we
are adjourning. When we do adjourn,
we're going to adjourn in memory of Al
Lebron with Emmanuel Baptist. And for
some reason I thought we had adjourned.
Um, but he was an amazing man and he was
so well liked over there. Uh, I I can't
believe that he's no longer with us, so
um, our prayers then to his family and
to the church over there. He was very
instrumental. So, with that we're going
to recess to close session.
>> And your honor, if I I'm sorry.
Uh, honorable mayor, um, if we can uh,
just make the announcement for close
session. So, we'll be uh, recessing into
close session regarding conference with
legal counsel existing litigation under
government code section 54956.9d1,
uh, City of Highland versus Shahatit.
Thank you.
» And we're going to come back out right
away.
Maybe I'll leave.
some of this stuff out
of the camera.
>> I know, I was thinking about lugging
this around, but I think I'll just leave
it here.
» One.
Two.
» Spelling is correct then?
>> It is, sir. Yes, I verified.
» How are you doing?
>> You're welcome, sir.
» How are you?
All right, I guess.
Put your now feet where they shouldn't
belong.
» All right. right.
Go get some rest for you.
We got to do
I'm walking.
» Wait, but at what at what point did she
drop?
» Mhm.
» All right, we are back uh from our
recess from closed session and I'm going
to have our attorney read us out of
closed session.
>> Uh the city council met in closed
session on the city of Highland versus Shahateet case.
Uh direction was provided by the council
but no reportable action was taken.
>> Thank you very much. With that, we will
adjourn.