I would like to take a moment to dedicate this meeting to the lives lost
the 13 lives lost during the tragedy last week in kabul.
specifically like to honor and pay tribute to corporal hunter lopez, he was a
coachella valley native he selflessly gave his life in the service of his country to help others.
I would like us all to take a moment and prayer to pray for him, his family, for all
those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and for those who are still in
harm's way in afghanistan, fighting for the right of freedom.
let's take a moment in silence.
I would also like to let everyone know we have the city of indio put together a
remembrance or tribute area out here in the quad, the council chambers, to
recognize for people to remember to bring flowers to pray, to discuss, to really
embrace corporal hunter in the days ahead.
thank you for that moment and I would like to move on. To roll call please.
>> councilmember miller >> here >> councilmember ramos amith
>> here >> councilmember ortiz >> here >> mayor pro tem fermon
>> here >> mayor holmes >> here this is the time set aside for public comment on items on the agenda.
please call into the city clerk or fill out a form that the different in the
lobby. We have any requests to speak, ms. Sanchez?
>> I do not have any public comment in person.
I did have a request via zoom that I don't think the person is in attendance.
>> okay, thank you very much. Let's go onto item number three which is the consent calendar.
items a through g. >> I move the percent calendar as presented.
>> so what we will do is move forward the consent calendar except for item c.
>> 3b and 3c. >> then I will turned the gavel over to the mayor pro tem.
>> I have a motion for the items as presented except for bnc.
>> do I hear a second? >> second.
>> all those in favor, may have a roll call vote.
>> councilmember miller >> yeah >> councilmember ramos amith >> yep
>> councilmember ortiz >> yeah >> mayor pro tem fermon >> I >> mayor holmes
>> yes. The motion passes.
>> mayor holmes is when to leave it because her property is it within 500
feet of b and c. So are mayor pro tem fermon will take over the item.
as soon as she leaves, we can move forward.
>> we will start on the first item on the consent calendar which will be 3b, second reading of the ordinance number 176 for approving the second
amendment to the development agreement between the city of indio and golden voice
llc and coachella music fesitval llc to extend the term of agreement to 2050.
as mr. Snyder present?
>> thank you, good afternoon, kevin snyder director of community
development happy to answer any questions you have. This was a first reading item at your previous council meeting.
this would pertain to the extension of the development agreement. Between the city of indio and golden voice llc, coachella music fesitval llc
for a total of 37 years inclusive of the existing 17 year agreement.
this was discussed previously it was contained in the staff report and
recommendations and you're planning commission recognition was to approve
the amendment to the development agreement as requested. Happy to answer any questions the council might have.
>> my comment is more for council then for staff.
I wanted to urge us to go back into negotiations for this deal. I still believe we had not done our due diligence in a community outreach for this
agreement for another 20 years. We practically had no input from a residence on what the community needs are.
those need to be addressed before this item came to us. Being one of the biggest festivals in the world I believe this deserves
extensive outreach because of the large impact it has on our residents and because
of the length of the term. We got about two responses in our outreach and that is not enough for me and
especially knowing that we have time on our side. This agreement still goes to the year 2030.
so we really don't need to rush this through without outreach from the community. Last night oppose a summary of this agenda item asking for feedback and received
about 30 comments with ideas and suggestions for our counsel. From community members.
many involved, many of those concerns involved benefits to those who work at the
festivals such as union jobs for electricians and plumbers and opportunities
for local vendors within the festival grounds. Opportunities for local vendors and restaurants are one of the biggest requests
that I saw on my post. Somewhere also concerned about the impact on the neighborhood seeing that
they go through three weekends every year of noise complaints and trash streets
from tourists coming to the festivals. Summit requested going back to the old of 99,000 people per large festival.
others want to see more of an economic impact on the community asking that we
fund for scholarship, job training or arts programs.
I understand that golden voice is acting some of these efforts and we will continue to work with them on that but right now we are counting on their goodwill
to help us with these issues if we sign a contract as is. When you are in negotiations for a 20 year contract extension you don't want to
count on the goodwill of a company because you want in writing. You don't know who the leadership, how the leadership will change
within the next 30 years of this company. So I think we are losing substantial leverage for these negotiations if we
don't discuss these issues with our community and address these concerns before we extend the agreement for another 20 years.
I do think this should go back to negotiations with our partners at golden voice.
>> mr. Snyder, comment or any other comments? >> I would like to direct councilmember ortiz of the thousands of pages
environmental impact report and the hundreds of responses we received when
we sent this out to the community for their input. And to remind him that the government agency does not have jurisdiction over how a
private entity conducts their business, that's not really something the city
has the authority to do. So I do not support his request and I have a follow-up question on item
c. >> councilmember miller.
>> I appreciate councilmember ortiz's comments. We negotiated this deal a long time ago it was the impact over the whole
committee and as because mother said the environmental report and
surveys and looking at what we can do to limit impacts, every concert that comes
forward has to have a new plan set up with pinpoint precision from a public
works, the police department, so is looked at every time to make sure it
is not have as much impact on the community as possible. That's one of the reasons we are thinking about trying to limit some of the housing
and a lot of those areas so we do not have as much issue but the people that are there that are going to move in or have to move in it states specifically that
there's grounds with concerts and events there so people that buy homes are knowing what those terms around.
from golden voice remind that we bring in this community is across the whole coachella valley not just the city of indio.
without the other partners, this concert, the indio designed the housing, does
not have the transportation or the ability to do this on her own.
not everyone that lives in indio and it works and in indio so all these individuals that work in other cities are getting extra checks and everything
else you cannot measure on that part or the international exposure we get.
I think there is opportunities for us to work with golden voice more
diligently when it comes into other parts of it and looking at negotiating the
development agreement is one thing, I think the contract that is another.
that something we can look at if we look at another opportunities as they come
forward to either if they want to expand, do some things different, that's our
negotiate in part, this is locking them down into the city of indio for multiple
years if they invest more money in the properties they have now. So that is where I look at it.
I think there is great opportunities and if we have not captured as the city of indio that is our fault.
when you look at ourselves to figure out what we need to do and I think they are
going to solve our problems. If there are issues that are brought let's address them and work on it.
but this is a developing agreement to keep them here for the next 20 years after that, I support it.
>> thank you mr. Miller. I will follow-up with my comments. I do support this passing.
there's a bigger picture here when we do appreciate some of the concerns of the community nonetheless it's up to the city to address them and we address them as
we move forward. The city has made a commitment to our festivals, we made a commitment to be in the city of festivals, we have invested in infrastructure, indirectly
and directly with the revenues that come in from the festivals.
we invest our community.
we continue to do so and we continue to strengthen our partnerships with empire
polo and golden voice and I think that partnership is always gonna leave the door open if we need to come back and negotiate on any further procedures or anything that
we need to talk about with the stakeholders. I do support this moving forward and we will move on to the next item before we take a vote.
we do have one public comment after that. The next item it would be, 3c, the second reading ordinance number 1765
amending provisions of the major music festival overlay zone related to the extension of the term. Mr. Snyder will also handle this.
>> thank you mayor pro tem, paragraph b mr. Snyder, is much more restrictive than what we had in the past. Was that planning department recommendation or was it legal counsel's
recommendations to insert the restrictive three days definition for a music festival and consecutive weekends as a festival? Where did it come from?
>> I can answer that, that was the original language with respect to the musical festival event and I'm assuming is the definition of a major music festival
event. And so, this was the original definition with respect to with respect to the permitted attendance although we changed that.
it certainly and here we have it the only change we made with respect to the item before you is that is located in the festival district sub area rather
than the rancho, I forget what it was. >> so it previously since? >> 2013.
>> that is when someone inserted three days? >> it was part of the negotiations with golden voice and so we worked on
this together with respect to the festivals, what we did here is we developed an overlay over all of the properties to provide for a major music festival event.
>> I remember that part and try to figure out at what point the three days was inserted. >> it's always been there since the very beginning.
>> since 1980? >> this is something new, we never had this definition before >> I'm asking because we were never so restrictive.
>> I don't know what we did previously but this correlates with the eir with respect to the three days of the musical performances. >> so the eir is what restricts us?
two consecutive weekends? >> no, it does not restrict us to consecutive weekends, it allows for five events over the term of the year.
three in the spring and two in the fall. So it doesn't necessarily correlate to a specific weekend but.
>> so why do we have to say consecutive weekends? >> when we came up to the agreement with open golden voice we tried to keep it as
open as possible, not restrict it. Because that's not the only festival that's going to happen in our community.
we have the tamale festival, the date festival which are 10 days long. We want this to be a more generic ordinance so now it's becoming so restrictive
that it's going to impede our opportunities moving forward.
not only with golden voice but anyone else. How do we correct this? Is this an eir document is now forcing us to do this or can be corrected?
>> it would be an ei document and I can see look at the second part of that
definition with respect to major music festivals events occurring consecutive
weekends that's a function of the eir and our discussions with golden
voice with respect to the layout of the festival event.
and the fall events can happen at any time. >> but this is an ordinance for the city of indio not golden voice.
>> I understand that. >> and needs to be general.
>> of course, the ordinance is general in terms of the major music festival event
that's where we defined it, that's the way the eir looks at the impacts. >> the eir has nothing to do with the ordinance.
>> it does. That eir doesn't detect this because the eir looks at the major music festival event
overlay ordinance. As a generic ordinance and it looked at impacts with respect to having events
over consecutive weekends. >> so let's forget about golden voice.
you are doing a zoning ordinance update. How will the zoning ordinance update encompass music festivals in indio
regardless of what golden voice eir says?
>> at this time, the only planet changes to the zoning regulations that pertain to
the music festivals are what is contained in here. We proposed to the planning commission for the council to retain the language as
what is presented here. The city attorney is correct in reading through the eir and the major music
festival, there was a time, we can look to modify that that may or may not require
modification to the eir which is basically an amendment to the eir but
there is a relationship between an essence that made music festival grew out of
the eir work. >> we never wanted to be that restrictive.
somehow that was a misstep. I'm asking you how can we correct that because we want to encourage attending
festival. >> I think what we can do is go back and consult with the city to see what flexibility
we have to propose a modification and see if that necessitates any mandatory
work to that impact report that was previously done. So the city attorney I can consult on them and determine that and if it
doesn't the document that will come forward with the zoning regulations could
modify what is presented here. If it does, the city manager and counsel support that modification to the eir
could be looked at and could be brought forward as a pending action. >> if that could happen, if not, we still want to have that generic global welcome
this is the city of festivals, we are not gonna dictate to if lollapalooza wants to come here, you can only have a three day music festival because it has to
be consecutive weekends. No. >> I think it's good to point out would try to be flexible the council has
made a policy to make sure that the city continues to be a place of festivals and
events. So providing flexibly where appropriate. This is something we can look as policy decision for the council eventually and
bring that back to you in a few months when you're looking at the zoning code. >> incorporated you, I wanted to ask that last week but the conversation went in
a different direction last meeting. I wanted to make sure we had the conversation before we move forward with the zoning
updates, thank you very much. >> can ask a question?
cut to the chase, does this have any effect on any other music festival besides golden voice?
>> you mean what we are doing tonight with respect to the changes to the
ordinance? >> no, it's generic to the sense of that time of the permit.
>> so this is the permit for golden voice and if they want to change it they can
modify, if they wanted to go to four days we would have to go back at them and work
on the eir. You're telling me this link which was put in from 2013 and we are just extending
that forward now eight years or we have been doing it now and any networking and
because it was not there before to make sure it matches with the eir?
>> the language that council member was discussing how to do the consecutive events.
that link which has always been in this ordinance so what we're doing tonight and
the changes that are being made to the major music festival overlay zone has to
do with the term of the permit. >> that's what I thought, thank you.
>> and cute mr. Snyder. We now have one public comment for the second reading of the ordinance
1764. >> I think you are okay.
>> sam torres resident of indio. Last time I was here I was spoke that I was in favor of extending the contract for
all the economic reasons many of you you stated. What I'm concerned when I was on counsel and I think was a concern the fact that
golden voice came to the table and said here were going to give you something.
is that the fact that in the city of indio we pay the highest taxes in the valley
in the state. You have got utility tax, trt tax, sales tax, we pay a franchise fee on our gas,
electric and utilities in addition to all these taxes. The council, when I was here taking action this way and epstein have done it since
then, too. I recently think it was a car dealer, you give a tax break to a car dealer. You continue to tax the resident for things you say we need and then you turn
around that tax break comes out of the general fund because the taxes you would
have collected would have went to the general fund. So you get these tax breaks you have an opportunity to negotiate an agreement and
that's what it is an agreement, an opportunity, it's opened up. Last time you had this amendment made I believe mr. Martinez did get one
dollar per ticket morning. Bravo to him for doing that. I think it should have been more, you should be looking at percentages.
the council has decided to have more like a business transaction, this is your
opportunity to negotiate. Negotiate on behalf of the residents who are taxed to death.
we are out there, we are struggling. Then you have a meeting at 3 o'clock in afternoon on a monday so we had to take
time off. Can you imagine how many people cannot make it here right now because to get off at 3 o'clock on a monday is nearly impossible.
anyways, that's a side issue. The thing is if you're not going to negotiate with golden voice, there's
nothing wrong with you, you don't have to but you can.
I think it's incumbent upon the voters to take into their own hands and perhaps
on the next upcoming ballot. I believe we have the right to do that.
if the council will take no action then the voters can go ahead and put this on the
referendum and then the voters can say what they want. Do you want five percent, seven percent, eight percent, 10 percent connect
that's what our neighbors over here at indio wells are getting on their tennis courts.
there's a model agreement already there that you can use that actually but the court and adjudicated.
we can do that. I'm not saint pete golden voice up I am saint negotiate.
if you don't negotiate with them and the citizens take that into their own hands
that's it. It's going to pass, is going to happen.
if the voters have to take it upon themselves to get fair treatment for these
agreements I hope they also remember when it comes time for each of one of you to be elected again because he did not negotiate on behalf of the residents as you did on
the auto dealers or the gas stations or the hamburger stands.
anyways. Thank you very much. >> thank you for your comments, mr. Torres.
you have one more comment. Ms. Priscilla.
>> good afternoon, my name is priscilla.
just made it here from afterschool pickup.
I have been back to my hometown for about two years now.
most of it, I have been both hopeful for a great return, hopeful for a more fruitful
community for my children, for my friends, children and all of ours.
but I of also been very disillusioned. I have a very disillusioned by contradictory actions and emotions for business as
unusual as you may have been referred to. And in regard to this surprise of a contract for the next 30 years with
golden voice it was a big blow to my hope for a more fruitful future for my
children. I have been here since I graduated, I left here for lack of opportunity, I went
to get my degree elsewhere.
I would hope that I would've hoped that after 20 years of being away from a hometown
it would have grown to be a more enriching environment to raise children.
but it seems a little stagnant. I think something like the 30 year contract with a private entity should to
some regard serve the interest of the community that it is utilizing.
there have been a number of stories, news stories, I have been following over the
years on how golden voice provides employees and for certain amount of times but
it's keeping our families of lunch. I think is council numbers and as extended government there it should be a little
more thought into the long-term effects and benefits that everybody can
enjoy other than just private entities, proprietors of restaurants
and what have you and vendors and what have you. The majority of our population is at, below or at poverty level.
they do not have the opportunities to make an extra income when golden
voice comes in and the musicians come to town or what have you.
they needed something more than that. If we are here housing a multibillion-dollar industry every year then we need to
think innovatively and how that contract can serve it for the long-term not for
just those private entities that are at the table, that are benefiting directly but
for holy, holistically across our community.
I think of ways that the multibillion-dollar agreement and I saw the
percentages that we gain for each ticket, $10 or heavy.
those tickets go for $800,000 per person. It's minuscule to think that we are only benefiting that much money.
that little bit of money for the city. I don't understand all the legalities or the stipulations that go into
how municipality can how do you say go into.
>> your time is up. >> bottom line we to think innovatively about how to sustain arts and music
programs for our use. We don't have any art music programs at the school districts, there could be
some sort of benefit to the community and that since but tapping into that untapped
talent our youth is so willing and wanting to share.
thank you. I conclude with that, I hope you don't vote on that contract now as mr. Ortiz
said we have plenty of time to negotiate and time to get input from the community.
as you can see I don't have much time but thank you for hearing me today. Next thank you for your comments.
>> thank you for your comments. >> I will make a motion to move forward with consent calendar items b and c,
ordinance number 1764 and 1765.
>> second. >> we have a motion and a second can I get a vote?
>> councilmember miller >> aye >> councilmember ramos amith next aye
>> councilmember ortiz >> née because the lack of community input regarding this agreement.
>> mayor pro tem fermon >> yes and that would pass 3 to 1 on those two items.
that will conclude our consent calendar would be the next to be administrative items can we get the mayor back in.
>> okay back on the dais I would like to move ahead to item number four,
administrative items continuation of the city council strategic planning
overview. Mr. Montgomery, city manager. >> thank you mayor, follow-up discussion if we can load up the powerpoint.
of what we held last month regarding the eventual formation of a written
specific aggressive bold strategic plan that outlines where you want to focus and
the projects specific action items to achieve the goals that you set forward.
so we discussed last time there are some key components into a strategic
plan. There are more than this but a mission statement is critical as I will discuss
in a minute the strategic areas of focus, where should we be focused within the
scope that we have as a municipality. We recognize there are a lot of services that are provided by other agencies
both public and nonprofit but what you want to focus on within the limited
resources we have within those areas of focus there would be clear goals that we
would ask that you set to guide us as a city staff and then a specific action
items. We list those action items under each goal because if we complete those action
items we would be leading, achieving the goal within that specific area and of
course that meeting our mission as a city. Mission statements are pretty critical.
you start with why, why do we exist as a city?
what is our purpose? Here's kind of a graphic that explains that before we get to the how and what, so
what should we do? How should we do it? Is why?
what is our purpose? What are we trying to achieve? Some questions that are often discussed within a strategic famine strategic
planning framework, why do we do, why is it important? If we could discuss that briefly this is an exercise many of you participated in
a few years ago. There is actually a mission statement that I believe was originally developed in 2012
that's on every agenda that is published and that is this when hearing that the
city of indio's public servants are to provide outstanding municipal services to enhance the quality of life for our residents, visitors and the
business community. It's a very straightforward mission statement.
it's something that we can continue to use as our guide within the new strategic
plan. But this would be a good time, mayor, if there is a general discussion I
provided in the packet a few samples from other cities. Here is a version of one calling alternative a, similar but the city of
indio's mission is to provide a cleaner, safer, more beautiful and more
economical vibrant community so people can be happy and thrive.
circulating this amongst the city team, there were other suggestions something even simpler, to create a community that enables all people to thrive and be
happy. So looking at what we have currently, any changes to that, this might be a good
time certainly does not have to be set in stone, yet. But I think again if we don't set clearly the why, we won't be well guided in
the other decisions that would be made as we move forward. As I have discussed before, we have a lot we are waiting on with regard to first
measure e which is the city ballot measure on the november ballot.
much of what we will discuss in this strategic plan will not be possible without the
passage of measure e. That will be on the ballot in november. So this develpments of the strategic plan will go a little bit slow as we try to
get more information including what the voters are willing to support with
the extension of the existing cell stacks. Mayor, opened up for some discussion if the current strategic, current mission
statement is sound or if there is some tweaks we would like to see, or have
us research, we can discuss that for a few minutes and then move on to the areas of focus.
next I would like to do that >> I would like to do that, let's put ourselves in the shoes of those coming to
visit the city of indio and they read that mission statement and they say
there's a great stable community but there is no energy to it, there's no
excitement, no sense of we got to go, we get to go visit indio because it's a
cool place. Because there are things to go, things to do because it's a great place to live
in a great place to raise kids, it's a great place to retire. I would ask input from my fellow council members in terms of refining our old
mission statement into something a little new, elements of the irvine or
city of indio to maintain community where people can live, work and play, I will
insert the word play. I like words like safe, thrive, vibrant, happy.
I looked up the word happy and thought is there another word for the word happy, I
have to tell you, that's the best word in the english language. If our residents and businesses are happy that we are in good shape.
counsel, chime in.
>> I definitely don't like this one. Because you have to take the ers and the more off of it.
it could be as safe, clean, safe, beautiful, economic environment.
but we don't need to tell people that were not safe, not beatable, not clean not
economic. So this one is a no. I think the other one is too short.
we have to first of all think of the position we are looking at this from, are we
look at this from the position of what is our mission? What are we going to do?
which is the perspective that we use when we came up with our original mission
statement. If are looking at it from brian's proposed perspective, the wise and
all that then that's a different statement. I do like some of the words that are being used in some of the examples that he gave
your to us, I think we can cut and paste and pick any one of them but I don't know
that we can do that now. I think we can all make suggestions and then do a survey amongst us or
whatever and fine-tune it but I don't think you can hash it out in five minutes.
>> let's identify some of the words, I agree some of the ers can go away.
>> just to expand on some of those words, thrive, entertainment, work and
play. I love all those words, happy, vibrant but we had to be able to take those words
and expand on them. What do we talk about, what's our mission? We have entertainment in there, we are now focusing on our downtown districts to
provide entertainment for our visitors, residents and employment, which we mean
thrive? I would talk about residents driving, economically, financially.
when we use these words we need to be able to come up with a sentence or two to back them up.
as we move forward but I do like some of these words. I also want to make sure if that's our mission statement, it's a goal,
that's why, that's a goal but we have to have the correct system to get there.
and so, for instance, we just passed an ordinance for concerts, that's for
entertainment. Our system of getting that entertainment to our system is passing policy to ensure
we have entertainment on paper and in the record for our communities.
so that is our white in our mission so I like the words but I want to make sure we
have that meat and potatoes to back them up. >> I would like to ask everyone to think about the top five, four or five
words, councilmember miller. >> the mission statement and a vision statement are two vastly different things.
the mission statement is most to be precise and say what you're statement of
what you want your community to be, not supposed to be putting in every little
nuance back-and-forth, that's for the vision statement and your bullet points come after that.
this is what you want your city to be. When someone reads it it's quick, precise and they know what city of indio is about.
it's not to go through every little thing. If we focus on entertainment then does that mean that's our goal is entertainment?
>> if this is our mission statement we have to be able to back it up.
>> I don't have a problem with the other statement we have, it needs to be generic
so people know what we are about and then get into the deeper stuff with the vision
and what is it you really want to do, where do you want to go with it?
be happy, it's got to be something that people can relate to. I understand happy but what is happening to everyone, it's different.
it's like art, is objective. Everyone was to be happy but what does it mean economically, physically,
streets clean, or what? You're right on the ers,
>> we want to the staff member under the bus that recommended that.
>> to echo what has been set up with a slight up because well said, councilmember
miller, there is much more meat that comes this is what we do is the clear, clean it
statement as to why and then the meat comes later. So there's plenty of room for more detail.
that might be by one staff members that suggested such a simple one but it may miss
some of the keywords such as play, thrive, entertainment, I went to echo that comment.
there's much more meat we are in the early stages, baby steps, to the whole
plan. >> I would like to ask for an opportunity to go back around with those five
words. >> I like the current one, I think it sticks to the point, that's our main
mission, everything we do is to fulfill that mission of providing outstanding
services to our residents. The one question I did have when we apply for grants do people look at our mission
statement and does emma do you feel that has an impact on any of those
applications? >> I doubt it but great question on having a written strategic plan.
there is nothing I think strength is a grant proposal more than granting entities
that note that we have a specific plan that we are striving to achieve.
so I think we are headed in the right direction to help grants whether it's a specific component or not does not carry a lot of weight but the overall plan
would. >> compared to other statements or comments I like the current statement,
as is. >> for your information, government grants and do ask for your mission.
so they do look at that. So we took a lot of time putting this together, it was a big argument because
there were too many voices in the room. So we settled on this because it seemed to grasp the essence but if we are to
come up with words that we like of course we like vibrancy, I don't think we
need to refer to say for clean because that infers that we are not.
so happy is a good word, vibrant, community, you have to include the word
community. I would not use the word create because that means we are not already, which we
think we are. And I do want to say something about the economy but in a way that it's
beneficial to the resident and I don't know how to say that.
prosperous, I would use prosperous, vibrant, happy, community and positive.
those are my five. >> okay, got them. >> when you get into the seat you get to speak a lot.
councilmember ortiz. >> I think you did a great job with the one we currently have.
I think it fulfills the needs that you guys are talking about.
I see them here and I think the wording is very precise and it's just very, I think
it's good. >> okay.. Councilmember miller. >> I concur with oscar on that. I think the one we have is to the point, the meat and potatoes of the vision
statement and any enhancements we want to go through as we come through
bullet points but if you want to use five words I would say vibrant, enhanced,
excellent, outstanding and thrive. Those are the five but you can add something.
I like the current mission statement at the gets precise and it says exactly what we want to do.
we are public servants working to give outstanding municipal services to the quality of life for our residents, visitors and businesses.
that's exactly, quality of life, not just to our residents but visitors as
they come in and businesses to thrive. >> okay, mayor pro tem.
>> I thought I heard commitment to excellence.
I have five words, I like our current mission statement but also I believe
there is also power in change and moving forward and five words I like, I
could put them innocence, one is a thrive, we want to welcome folks our community
to come and thrive in our residents are here to thrive. And culture, we are rich in culture and our community I think that's something we
are proud of in the city of indio. You can also interchange diversity with culture.
but I also like entertainment. I think indio in the future is going to be the place to be for entertainment and
were moving in that direction. And education. I think we made a commitment to education with our local colleges and also our school
district and soon we may not have to leave to get higher education in our community.
so I like educate and the last one in power, empowerment. I believe not only sitting making policy I also believe in empowering our residents
to do better in our community, it's their community, not ours.
it's theirs to take care of and we are here to empower them so my five would be
thrive, culture, entertain, educate, empower. >> okay, me next.
we were all part of this original one. What I liked about the original one is it's about residents, visitors and the
business community so goes back to the term or word community and what it means.
it's all embracing so I like the word community.
I like the word prosperous or thrive. Something that really is a one word that sends the message of we are exciting,
we are there, we are the place to be.
also like vibrant and I am still working on happy, that seems a little I don't know
disneyland. I am challenged with my fifth word at this point other than really for me
that culture, the arts, the entertainment, everything that the word culture stands
for in terms of the people in our community, the arts in our community, the
entertainment, everything about our community so I think that would be my fifth
word. >> mayor, I have a question, and the marketing study represented last meeting and
the creek came up with a great statement, were there any words in there and what
will that be used for? >> it will drive the marketing and branding but the word culture is in
there, centering is in there, a few of those keywords. >> I like the whole statement.
>> a whole flowing statement.
I am glad you brought that up because based on this input we could take these
five words, match it up with that and bring back a couple of other options that would
be similar to this but that is somewhere where you can give a thumbs up and perhaps
you can vote on it. I think we can steal something from that and some of the words that were in
that statement. I know culture was an. >> there was a lot of contentious back-and-forth when we finally agreed on
this. Residents, visitors and business were very important to identify each of the
categories. But they were to public servants was very important, too.
it is because it reminds us that's who we are at the end of the day.
we are not a government, we are not a city, we are not this untouchable thing, we
are public servants and were here to serve the community. So that was a very important word in our conversation.
>> I wonder if you guys watched the video with the tick-tock the two sentences
that have the initial impact so that then you can read it further and delve into the
house. This is how we achieve this state of being happy or economic prosperity or
thrive or cultural environment.
this is how, this is why the city of indio and this is how we achieve each of those
bullet points. >> to that point, mayor, we want to reflect back to okay the how and the what, does
it match this or not? Does it seem like we are on track? This is a good guide for the whole process.
>> everybody good? We lay it back in your capable hands.
next there are a couple >> we discussed at the last meeting this next step which is what should we focus on
to help achieve those things we just discussed. It seems like we should focus on maybe six or seven areas over a two-year period
maybe five or six but this is 10, I believe it.
and a couple have been added since we last discussed this issue.
public safety is our core service, streets, bridges, interchanges relates to the
roadway infrastructure. We could be more general when we talk about infrastructure, one of the
items added was the water system and supply that infrastructure is certainly
a key part of our mission. As of the water authority. So that is one idea I think encapsulating that into one.
business and job growth relate to economic development. The survey work we did with the random survey as well as the one that was
self-selected people could just chime in. Community beautification as you recall was near the top.
it was a huge priority. The downtown and highway 111 revitalization was discussed.
I knew and as we discussed with a golden voice matter, the festivals, events arts
and culture was not mentioned before so it was a consideration in the area of
focus what are some things we can do in that area to help us achieve our mission? This one again can be combined with infrastructure but the coordination with
iad and the broadband issue.
and then this ongoing participation collaboration with the community
empowering, mayor pro tem invention, continue to communicate to ways
back-and-forth with the community and then kind of an all-encompassing
financial sustainability and operational excellence. So again, whether these make sense we can condense them or eliminate some or at
some. Underneath each one of these would be a goal. So as an example under public safety there is a proposed goal there.
each one of us could have a goal and a public safety you would have to ask yourself
when you get to the action items at a later date, public safety is a focus of
municipal government that's where we spent most of our money so it might be the highest priority we have.
we should take all possible steps to provide for this continued efficient fire,
police, ambulance service, what can we do?
what specific action items if we accomplish are helping to achieve this goal?
going back to these areas of focus, this is where I would conclude today, mayor, I'm not trying to dive into this with too much detail at this point.
if we are missing something, if those look like we should subtract one or two, combine
and maybe we could leave the discussion with that at this meeting, mayor, if you would like, opening up these areas of focus to your discussion and discretion.
>> once again I will reach out and not take my turn first.
>> I don't water system and supply was added later and I think if you move over
secondary tier because that's a given. That's a given in our community that they expect that from us.
so it's more of, they are not going to tell us that that's an area of focus.
it's a demand, it's a state requirement.
how much more serious can we take it. It's already on there.
I do like operational excellence but I don't like financial sustainability
because it implies that we are not financial stable. I would switch those two arounds.
you are only looking for five or six, right? I agree with the first five no matter how much every city manager we have
encountered tries to get away from number five, it's always going to be number
one in the council's eyes until a city manager gets that thing done, we are
sorry, it's on the list. >> the fifth bullet. >> we wish it were not on your areas of focus but it's been on every city manager's
area of focus for over 25 years. So, get it done. So you're only looking for five or six, I won't comment on the renaming because it's
like the second tier. I would add operational excellence because there are so areas we can improve on
and I think that includes communication, participation, community
outreach. That's part of operational excellence.
>> thank you councilmember ramos amith. Councilmember miller.
>> I can agree with that, I think the streets, bridges and interchanges, I think it
should be public infrastructure myself and if you highlight the bullets behind it then you can put all the stuff down below about what you're going to
work on. Because you do have some things they expect on water but there are expansions of
stuff, wells, possible chromium six issue and start to look at. I do agree with council member on some of them, we could throughout
sustainability that would do it but some of these things the only thing I have a
problem here is the focus. Unless we can actually focus on I don't want to put them up there.
we talked about art for many years and we have murals and we talked about the meals we
have not done it for years. We talked about the golden voice piece that were going to put out we talked about
more, it's been done. We have opportunities to do a lot of the stuff which our staff other than push
forward and have the artist then do it have not been done. Some of the other little more difficult because it's financial bridges and then
stuff our long-term stuff. But the stuff we can get, if it's going to be up there like festivals, we just took
a big step towards that, events, what you mean by events, arts, culture it's
all there. What are you talking about? Talk about the bridge art, but all those kids up there and they're supposed to be
little pieces on the pillars on miles avenue and that was done almost 2 years ago.
they were already designed and everything else they did a workshop, never been done. Talked about banners throughout the city, honoring our veterans and
other people with the passing of hunter lopez it breaks, brings highlight to
other things that we were going to do. In the parts as a whole we talked about what a reaction going to do.
some of it is money but was supplanted for not going to be able to get it, say we don't get the grants, through the grants out.
does that mean were never can have good parks? What are we going to do? So areas of focus along as long as a religion of focus, I'm good with.
I would pick four or five we are actually going to make some accomplishments, too.
second tears, put them down below because they're not on the top of our radar.
downtown and highway 111, you can write your own check, you can write out a
horse out of town. That's never been fixed. The commitment is there is just finalizing what were going to do.
we got them all going hopefully that streamlines other stuff.
we have a specific plan, highway 111, but is not to be the silver bullet that's
gonna say college in the desert come in, the only area we have in the city that's going to continue to grow on its own is going to be housing as a whole
because we are still the most economical when it comes to housing.
and of the largest city and secondly the I 10/4 is can it grow because we are along
the freeway, people want to go there they want to be where everyone's going.
more more people are going to do multiple shopping. That's area going to take care of itself obviously we need spoon feeding.
highway 111 in these three areas of focus meeting areas of focus that were really
going to put our effort into and not just put on a band on something that this book
and a focus on in the sperm manager. My two cents worth.
>> thank you. Councilmember ortiz. >> are we going to go into the descriptions under these?
>> I think they may change a little bit, I will bring them back, I will bring back
the goals for further discussion at another meeting. >> I think the only thing I would say is I agree with the councilmember miller the
water system and the bridges under one item. Infrastructure. Altogether infrastructure.
I would like to see outside of the water system is reliability, sustainability
included. How are we going to include sustainability and community beautification. If we are going to do improvements to our parks how do we do that with
native plant species with the desert desert landscaping, having underway's article the building with the least amount of investment.
the other one I wanted to include is in business and job growth, I notice we do not have much on generating new businesses within indio.
we were talking more about attracting business but how are we to make new business
owners within the city and help them thrive and get to the next level?
that's it. >> mayor pro tem. >> I don't know if there is anything left.
I look at this list and it looks like it is ready to go. Public safety is a given, I think we made a commitment to making our city safer
over the years so born and raised here I watched our city go through many changes
and like I say right now I believe this is the safest our city has ever been.
that is a testament to our police department, to our school district, to our
faith-based community and so public safety is a given but I think were doing a great
job with that. The water system supplied that goes without saying that was already spoken
about, that's a given. Some of the other things I like to mention is the communication.
for instance, like I mentioned earlier, we really have to communicate to our
folks it's your community. It's your city so right now just to share some things we have been dealing with
public works and I spoke to some of the council members about this and the city manager about this is we have a few brick walls in our city that have been
knocking down some a dangerous driving out there. We are constantly trying to work with the property owners and were trying to
work with the community but we need to get out and talk to folks and have them
understand this is a your community, we need to be safe. Public safety is not just police, starts at the home, as well.
those are some of the things we need to communication our folks, this is your community. When we talk about beautification, we have a lot going on in our city
right now, if you drive down 111, do we still have challenges are we still
working with our county and some entities about 111?
yes. But if you drive from monroe all the way down to jefferson it's not old 111
and indio, next month the market place is starting construction.
with that project alone that will turn the intersection into a whole new
intersection in our community. We are working on carry-on park right now with the arts.
some of these things are already in place. Downtown, we have all been in closed session we know some of the projects are the
possibilities that are coming downtown and 111. So I'm very ecstatic about some of those things.
I think we need to focus on those five things, public safety, infrastructure, job
growth, we talked about the marketplace, that's going to bring jobs, we talked about
the festivals, those will bring jobs. Right now, we are in a big culture of entrepreneurship in our city.
I think we can support that, as well. I think it's something that is big that I don't see him here is partnerships.
we have to continue to strengthen our partnerships. We talk about parks, parks have been a struggle.
are we going to work with partnerships to take on that challenge. I think partnerships are big but the list we have in front of us I think is good.
some of them support each other but I think we are on a good path so I think
public safety, infrastructure, business growth, beautification and downtown and highway 111, I think those our top ones.
>> so I'm sensing a bronze statue, the city manager at when when when and downtown.
if we put the infrastructure component in a bucket, yes, they cost money but it's
also something that should be an expectation of people coming into our community in
terms of water supply and system and in terms of electrical and fiber and a
broadband infrastructure. I was in a meeting with a transportation committee talk about what that looks
like and I will give you more detail at the next meeting but if this whole
broadband thing comes to fruition right now we are considering a study, it will
run across the 10 freeway. How it perfectly positioned are we to explore that?
if you look at the city of it indio we are having three or four exits off the freeway, awesome. We have a long stretch of highway 111 that's fantastic.
and within that framework there has to be areas that allow us to be prosperous.
our business is to be prosperous. To add it to the tax revenue in our community so we can turn around, take that
money, and build another park or enhance the park we have for all the things that
we need to do. I am looking at community beautification.
I have been here a little over 18 years and people are visual beans.
they want to see clean, pretty, aesthetically pleasing, I don't want to
use the word shiny but they want to see nice. They don't want to see windows in all sorts of things that are not pretty,
they want, it gives people a sense of quality. I am thinking of façade improvement program throughout the community
targeted but throughout the entire community and as part of community beautification.
I can say what can we afford to do and do well so we hit a homerun or knock it out of
the park or whatever term you want to use. It's football season. I'm still in baseball.
but that is waiting to do and of course highway 111 revitalization mall is huge.
the grand marketplace. The streets, the windows, the storefronts, the signage, huge.
and I think part of that but also goes along with that is community outreach,
communication and participation and our ability to engage more of
our community so that people have a sense of pride.
councilmember I will never forget speech you made when one of the parks 20 years
ago and what you said the to the community is this is your part. You need to take care of it.
you need to take pride in it. So as we step up, as we do these things our ability to engage our communities so
that they take pride so that we have volunteer programs so that people can embrace
and take pride, I think are huge. And so, there you go, there is my two cents for what it's worth.
>> that is all very helpful. We will more for this input, bring back a new set of areas of focus so we can run
this by again to the point of engaging the community. The next step also would be putting these online, social media allowing some comments
and people to give organic thought to the next draft and that might glean some
other information that can further enhance these.
so without spending a lot of time on the next few slides, so we would come back with the specific goals that again you can bet, the community can vet and they
will finalize the final approval. I want to conclude as a reminder of course, mr. Eaton is on the ballot
and is something as significant as the new fire station the replacement fire
station and the public safety facility many other roadway projects including
the interchanges so much depends on the voter support of extending the measure x
sales tax that the voters overwhelmingly supported a few years ago.
measure e that's on the ballot that will give us an opportunity as a indio residence to vote to merely extend that matter.
no increase in taxes. As a reminder, if that sales tax does not continue in indio other public entities
have a right to go after that one percent. So as indio residents we will enter pain anyway, so reserving local control over
this money for the long-term is very, very critical to achieve all the things we
just talked about. But, we do have a lump of money that is available.
I say a lump but the federal government has provided some one-time monies, there are
monies in reserve. We are wanting to bring back to you a list of those priorities where you can go
through and menu select those that you think love the biggest impact pursuant
to the strategic plan. But there are a few things we would like to have you considered just to conclude
quickly, mayor, as a near-term projects we would bring these back.
the mayor alluded to on here a business façade and improvement program.
where we would focus on the businesses and look at those that would be willing to participate with us and look at their signage, look at their landscaping, look at
their façade. This has been such a struggle the last 18 months or all businesses of all
sorts. The last thing they might be considering are some of these very visual façades
signage landscaping upgrades because they are just holding on.
unfortunately things are better off today than they were six months or a year
ago. But a program that we can bring back to you is initially direct grants to
assist businesses along highway 111 downtown, other areas to help improve their
façade. Over time, that the subprogram could turn into a loan, low interest loan.
it becomes a revolving loan so initially there be ceded to accomplish some of these
but in time if there's a revolving loan at a low interest rate it seems
future façade improvements. I jumped down to that point, we know at the run road interchange there needs to
be significant investment if we can set aside funds we know need to fund back to
put the off but the and is a high priority.
we feel like we can purchase some ambulances with this lump sum money and those can
be brought back to you in the near term. And then I want to focus the discussion on the downtown living room park in the
corner of summer and miles. It was discussed in the downtown specific plan.
we have great sketches you have seen, we can further refine those with potential
users of the site. By bringing down regular events into downtown and having that living room
available seems to be very easy easily attainable, impactful near-term goal
that if there is a support for that this would come back to you for final approval but we would start developing those plans and prepare that space for these
downtown events. I suggest second saturday but whatever that day might be in the month that folks
in the valley could count on one event, at least, say it's the second saturday and
they knew they could be in downtown indio for the second saturday and there be some fun, entertainment, food, desserts, whatever that might be.
and for minimal investment we could get those rolling. And then as a discussed particularly at our entry points specific update
upgrades to the medians.
consistent with that might be over time with our branding and a new entry sign, new entry element.
but I see these as some near-term allocations that before we complete the strategic plan we can get going on these matters.
so again, maybe to conclude and I'll be quiet if these look to be reasonable we
would bring this back in the near term final approval and proceed.
so we conclude this discussion with some of these near-term
opportunities. >> thank you very much, I think this is a calling down of what the six most
important or near-term easy to do opportunities that we can look at and make a
difference most impactful, that was the right word. Councilmember ramos amith, your thoughts.
>> will the ambulances be replacements or additions?
>> both are replacements, I believe. >> because we need more. But that means more staffing.
we know we need one more so how do you do that? >> the operational cost of the staff.
>> you and chief need to figure that out.
how much of this totally out of our allocation?
>> that some we will be back to his hovering around $35 million and so this, for
example, monroe take that off the top if you are so willing take about 30 so
about two and half million here, is that right?
>> we also mentioned before that we had an unfinished business grant program that
did not get fully funded last cycle, last year. We originally talked about allocating the remaining funds from here, that's
something. >> it was almost $800,000.
>> that is something that's already done are we just going to make the decision
to add the funds is the question? >> here is a question I had or a concept I had, we are all small business owners in
a different place now now that life is perfect then where we were a year ago.
consider using specifically some of those folks that apply for dollars but using
those funds to help people enhance their business.
whether it's a façade, whether it's marketing, whether it's signage.
it's some means that helps people be successful, draw in those customers.
so a slightly different spin than a check for $10,000.
let's consider using those funds to help them make their business successful to
draw customers in. >> if we do that, does he say people that got the grant to get it?
because then they end up in the grant and the façade and doesn't kick in.
another grant is a strata grant the government look the other way, because once
you start putting public money into other projects sometimes picks up the
prevailing wage is that can be a problem if you do this as a separate or is this
gonna come out of the arbor funds were is exempt from this other stuff?
>> I think it's deemed a capital project it would require prevailing wage so
the façade improvements it would just be a little more expensive, fortunately at
those lower values do not see quite the impact but yes.
>> you would not get very far on a lot of these people that do work eternally.
that's what I'm saying if you're talking 15,000 for project that prevailing wage
eats a portion of that away I'm not against I just don't think it's an of the impact
that we are thinking. It's like the yards and you get minimum of 2500 and that if you really want to do a
yard it's seven or $8000. The reason there during her yard, some are conservatives because they want to
conserve water. The others want to purify them, they can afford what they have that I can put an
extra four and half thousand dollars to get what they want to go.
most people want, they will just leave it like it is. If you give them the $7500 they would change their but they're not most people want
to if they pull $5000 out of their pocket they will take the $2500 and do the
cheapest jobs they can. Sometimes those that just don't work. >> I am going to circle back, you lost me, honestly.
why do we have to consider prevailing wage for doing façade improvement?
we haven't façade improvement program, I know, 15 years ago and that façade
improvement so that we can get around the prevailing wage is the city gave the
business owner a certain amount of dollars but those dollars.
it was a forgivable loan at that time but you had to submit plans, it was
specifically for façade improvement or signage and you submitted the plans into
the city and I think the next part is not going to work in this current
environment but at that point in time when you spend a certain amount, 20 percent
or 10 percent or 15 percent you went back to the city and honestly the city
quickly then it turned the check around for that so it allowed for us to not have
to deal with prevailing wage so the person receiving those funds could maximize
how they use them. What councilmember ramos amith is referring to is if you stay in business for
five years and dateline items around that you had to be open for business, five
days a week or three days a week or whatever. If you stay in business for five years it was forgivable.
I'm looking at how we can not have to deal with the city doing the façades and
dealing with the prevailing wage? >> just the mere fact of her hand in the money for someone for that use.
I think the issue we ran with the last façade improvement program was that
the majority and I'm talking over 90 percent of our businesses are leased spaces
and it usually absent landlords who don't care about the façade or the
signage so we kind of ran up against a brick wall with trying to improve and we
only focused on the downtown at that time. >> we did not do it citywide.
>> but the same holds true for citywide the majority of the buildings are absent
landlords that don't care to improve their façades. So it's almost like winter to come up with a strategic plan on certain areas that
would like to improve. Even a subsection then and present to those owners the program.
>> the suggestion early on in part because of covid and in part because what you are
saying it probably cannot be a skin in the game program it says we are willing to do
this, we will research it but that might be why prevailing wage comes into play because what we are dictating there.
it's not really a participation by then, we will research that seen with their program is there's a lot of them out there that might be the best way to
help a business right now or even absentee landlord is to do something physically to
their property. There are a lot of other federal grants, state grants that are not going to
childcare and other small businesses so we may get more bang for our buck even
at prevailing wage if we focus on the infrastructure of the businesses rather
than their operations, I'm echoing what you said, mayor.
>> I think you brought up a good point, lots of good points and discussions to be
made here. How can we help our small business community be successful at the end of the
day? Because if they are successful, the city is successful. And if we are successful and we attract more businesses than that cycle of success
and prosperity is a benefit to all of us and ultimately that is where I went to get.
all right, councilmember ortiz.
I think you need to do more research and take a litmus test of a possible
participation rate because I think some of these small businesses are going to be
offended when you approach them and say we want you to improve your façade, we will
give you money for a new sign or something. They will say what's wrong with my current sign?
I think you need to do more research on this before you present a program.
maybe a targeted approach might work. Instead of just shotgun throughout the city and not seen in impact.
>> I am wondering where the funds because we had a discussion that as soon as
we get the funds we were to do so that about miles park.
dealing with the burger building I don't know if you have any update on their is it usable or will have to be torn down?
emerging but the state park some of those options so I would like to see that
especially before the miles, redoing the other part that's all set up but it
looks really bad. >> $200,000 is set aside specifically for miles.
so aside for this that is in place and does not include the dog park or some of these other extras that can be a discussion for future.
what was the first question? >> you are saying $200,000?
we were talking six or had 700,000 when you're talking on the budget.
>> I will confirm that but I know there's something in the existing budget.
the burger building it doesn't appear to be usable. We spoke with the potential affordable housing developer perhaps taking over that
corner and relying on them to tear it down and to build.
so we are working on that rfp to bring back to you for a number of housing parcels
and it recommend to you to include that corner of the miles avenue park is an
option for an affordable housing complex that let that developer tear down the
building and build something new there. That's been the last contemplation.
the tear down is over one hundred thousand dollars and appears to be evident if we don't find a partner.
>> I agree with oscar on the park, we can say the monroe interchange that's a
no-brainer. The ambulances if we need them, I'm good with going forward. The façade business I believe when you look at different opportunities or
grants or see how it's utilized to the fullest.
whatever we can do and to spend it with our local businesses if we can or
local contractors, I know we can do it all but if we could recommend looking at
them somehow or plumbers or contractors or sign people. We have different people here that do that so keep the money local.
I really do think we are going to knock at the burger thing and down I did
anything about affordable housing I think that's a perfect location for state
park because it's already fenced off, it's who knows what's underneath that, if
you dig a hole in your country and in your parking there already.
you can do that is blocked off for the kids. It always has to be fenced off and gives us opportunity to give a gay part.
I think this opportunities. We are to look outside the box the secondary saturday events we tried that before
and it worked out somewhat well, it was more than it to.
>> we cannot guarantee enough foot traffic. >> it costs a fortune but is mostly staff and people like that.
we had food trucks and other stuff, any landscape and median upgrades mo for that
but we need to do road. Because that's where auto dealerships are is when the people come from all over,
it's ugly next to the road when you look at it from the freeway given vacant areas,
other stuff that we are continuing to build I think we need to fix of that
landscape. A lot of this and I said this before should really come from our indio water
authority. The idea of them having this conversation money and the city is also the customer.
we have all kinds of areas in our landscape district so it doesn't make money,
doesn't mean that you can't utilize, it doesn't have to go to someone else. It doesn't mean we can't take some of these areas out that we had and put in water
conference conservation plans, we can lower the prices down and beautify at
the same time. To say we can use that money and here we had this ugly area that doesn't have money
there's no future for it to get any better. Once you start highlighting them you can go to the other people and say maybe you
should not park your car in the grass or maybe you should invest in the parts of the same time that we are investing back in the community.
and then the other one is when were looking at some of our areas it's the
highlighted areas coming through on the bridge and indio boulevard beautiful
bridge coming and you turn on jefferson avenue this big dead dirt spot right in the
middle that could've taken very little to put in some nice boulders or an art
piece far enough where would not get hurt. It's the small stuff that we have not finished or the entry pieces for the art
that we help design. Will this work done to it. The veterans park and all that stuff and it just sits there.
it's been done. It was agreed to be done so move forward with it, be done with it.
if we do those things and people see it, the rest will come along with it.
I really think it should be away to get the indio water authority to fix some of these areas.
we do pay our own bills so we need to look and see what they can do to help us and
support us. At the same time it helps our community and residents.
one thing also is those walls, we have madison and other places on 44 that have
been at your mentor, someone hit the walls. It's the middle of nowhere. Those two are never going to fix those walls.
either they don't have the funding, waiting for insurance money, I don't see why the city, but it's a public safety issue, fix them and them and they get
the interest by the senate and they decided back over.
it is $2500 that's all they that so we accept.
if nettles boards are going to sit there for months and months on end.
medicine alone has three spots where I can't figure out how they hit it.
I can guess how they did it. It's bizarre.
it looks like you're in the middle, there is so many small things that if you
really drive around and see that we do excellent and then other stuff that really
just needs a little tlc. I know tim is stretched because of the staff but we've got to assign people
to go see things. Like when you see something wrong pick up the phone and call like graffiti and other
stuff. When you see it just tell us what's wrong and come up with a solution.
>> I might chime in, mayor. The next step of the strategic plan with the action items are specific so
say the community beautification if it said werner road landscaping and
specifics and we have a dollar value attached to it it would have a checkbox
that say action item and we would come back as often as you want at least quarterly
and present the final strategic plan and you'd be able to see under community beautification have you done that one yet?
if you find that median on a jefferson as you come in on indio boulevard it would be
jefferson median at indio boulevard it would have a dollar value, someone responsible, and a checkbox.
and that we would be able to show you did we get it done or not. That's why it's so critical to have these things outlined and making sure we
have the resources to do it and not overstretch ourselves on what they have
the financial capacity to do. If it's an action item it's up to us as step to get it done.
if you appropriate the money you've given us the direction I promise you it
will get done. We will be responsible to make sure. >> we want to make sure that you don't miss that he mentioned over and over
again every other city in the coachella valley is very creative on how they use
their arts in public places money, their conversation conservation money and we seem to be very conservative.
for example, the city of indio wells decided they want their entry statement
from 111 and a cook to be those two big date palm groves.
they install those with art in public places money and they apply to them and said
that's arts. Other cities get creative but we always seem to air on the side of conservancy and
I'm glad the city attorney is not here because I blame them. >> we know how to count to three.
so the art direction, as long as it's legal, three every vote we are going to
go get it done. >> we are not talking about anyone breaking the rules but I see it as an
investment back in our community. Who cares if they have the money.
going 10 madison street sets a good example or highway when one went along the rail
tracks, three quarters of the bushes are dead, take them out. Make make a union pacific gravel back and so we do have the homeless, I'm not
trying to be mean so we don't have them by the tracks, it's unsafe. The bushes are dead, it's like no one cares they drive by and they see these things
and it's not my problem so let's doctor. Let's clean up, this is unacceptable in a indio, this isn't acceptable to us,
how are we going to fix it and then be done with it and fix it. >> I think there needs to be the approach I'm not big on boxes with checkmarks the
city attorney can attest, but I think this is the time and we need to have that
where we have expressed the desire, we put numbers, we have a get stuff done city
manager and counsel and staff they desire to move forward. So the ability to say this needed to be done, it's done.
we need to be able to focus and I jumped in front of you mayor pro tem, I wanted to
make a comment about the park thing, I think all of us desire to put the parts
is a high-priority but if the dollars if there are separate dollars for the
park which I think parks which I think there are let us know.
mayor pro tem. >> I am not going to talk about anymore brick walls.
we had another accident the other night. It's a dangerous, I cannot stress how dangerous that is to our public.
we really have to get out there and talk to our young adults in our youngsters driving out there to please a slow down on these roads.
this is a dangerous. Someone is going to get hurt really bad not just a brick wall that someone will get
really hurts. I really get upset and scared when I get an email from the chief about these
incidents at night. So we really have to be careful with our roads.
going to this list, number one on this list for me, ambulance, that's a given.
that's public safety. I believe that's a given but miles that park, that's important that we keep
focusing and keep our guys on downtown areas. We have done the second saturday thing before.
I think we are in a different time, folks really want to be out, folks understand the importance of our downtown area.
and also, our entrepreneurs, we are going to have to invest in that.
it's something I talked to the city manager about that he has brought up to me in a
conversation is our palm trees in the area. We have to look at those palm trees they have been there for a very long time
and can be dangerous. I think we do need to invest and get more folks out there, give them a reason, a
destination to come downtown. I think we are going there but I would like to as the public to go on your google
maps and look at the timeline of some of our roads, some of our parks
from 2007 two 2021, some of the things we're talk about these dollar amounts these
things don't happen overnight. Some of these things take time. It's a process, so please be patient when we are talking about these things.
because we have the, made progress in our cities and in our infrastructure and
parks and I think were moving in the right direction. And prioritizing this list I think it's going to take us to the next level.
and so, looking at the landscaping and the median upgrades look at some of our
old pictures and look where we are now. I drove down when one went yesterday earlier today and I was in awe with how
different the community looks. Looking from that city from jefferson it doesn't look like indio.
he has come up with some of our tarts some of our things we use to really take your
eye off some of the empty lots some of the eyesores.
we are moving. With the brick wall thing, I don't know if that is an option but just the brick
walls but maybe at tarpon we can get those repaired, too. The business of façade, I know the mayor spoke about this before, I know we have
some things some of policies in place but do we encourage folks to follow them?
for instance, some of the liquor stores there are laws and the things that they are
not supposed to be doing advertisements of alcohol and certain things.
there are certain things we need to revisit with some outreach and then it really
start communicating with some of her businesses about some of their façade and
improvements. The morale interchange that's important to all of us but for me it's really
important coming off of our freeways being able to go straight to our grand market
place into our business district, down to the festivals. One of the things we spoke about and I'm going to harp it again.
I was coming into our city last week coming up to the jefferson interchange,
beautiful interchange, beautiful but it's our community, we have to take
care of it. And on the side of it I noticed there is graffiti all over it.
we cannot do that. I am asking the public, please we have to continue when we make these
improvements we have to take care of them in. We have to upkeep them.
if you're out there, we are only as good as our team and our team is a community. If you see something please let us know so we can address it.
and I'm going to stop there because I could keep going. >> I think what is nice about this is the passion that this counsel has.
we are not sitting there going, just go do it, we are so impassioned about our
city, our community of it making it the best that it can be.
that's how cool, how cool is that. That's what strikes me as I listen to everyone here today.
I don't know necessarily I have anything to add.
we discussed how to do this, we discussed the importance of the monroe interchange,
ambulances, the façade and sign improvement program, we talked about the allocation
to those that already submitted for the grants that we had a few months
ago. This whole miles park living room I think is something nesta go hand-in-hand with
what's going on downtown. I think that park is a perfect example of what happens when you bring
something, some quality food, quality entertainment, quality drinking, I am down
there almost every day getting coffee. And something else. And I think it was a success and it kicked off and it can be again and if we need to
grow that success especially with everything that's going on in the greater downtown
area along with the second saturday. Councilmember miller, the auto wall, I just drove by that, looking at focusing on
certain areas to a landscaper fix or maintain is important. Because people do drive in from all over the place for that automall and it's
another presentation of indio, how indio looks. The landscape median upgrades we probably could use all those funds to do
all of the upgrades to everything from a indio boulevard to highway 111 but
let's focus on them and chip away on what's can have the most impact to the people
coming into our community. If we are coming off the freeway or were coming off the highway when when one
and we want to encourage the shopping district whether it's the marketplace with
the downtown area of the north indio and there is more plans of missing than
not. So maybe there is a different approach because it's nearly impossible to fix every single little plants.
not only from a staff perspective but from a financial perspective.
so let's look at that. And I totally support what councilmember ramos amith said, our ability to be
creative with our funds whether there it's arts in public places or the water
authority, I think is huge. I know that there are things with respect to arts with respect to the murals that
will soon be changed changed or evolved or fixed or whatever the case may be and
the same thing with the utility boxes. And so on and so forth. We are looking at giving the entire city a facelift in many different ways and
dividing these dollars up and starting having that place to start is important
and I think this is a very good place to start. >> one thing I would like the county needs to upgrade face to pavement, we need to
keep up on that. No councilmember, the county itself is trying to upgrade the fairgrounds.
and I have not run this by victor but were in need of soccer parks, too.
I don't understand why the lower part of it and not the middle section of it where
they park can be converted into grass. Because you can always park on grass.
make that for soccer fields and they can park in the center there for the swap
meet and other stuff but then if they really need to park they can move the cars
onto the grass and be able to utilize that. But you could use it for other events but at the same time you can turn them into
soccer fields and utilize that a lot more. It would help that middle area down there and take some of the things off of
davis field and they can use some of their money to do it.
throw that by victor emmanuel perez and stephen hernandez and see what they
think. The fairgrounds is a complete eyesore. >> it's an eyesore and it's terribly underutilized.
we can raise that utilization rate will be a benefit to all. Next think about the grass there and soccer fields.
>> cool it down a lot, too. >> you can utilize that whole area, it's a bunch of pics by the juvenile hall
and this couple things there it would be the perfect location. >> city manager, do you have?
>> this is outstanding input and will be formulated this in more detail.
don't be surprised if on september 15 we bring a few these back to see if you
want to take some formal action so we get the ball rolling pending more for
their evaluation of the plans. We will work on that, the business grants will research as well.
there are more that apply then funds were available.
if that is something you want to pull the trigger on that we can do that in conjunction with the façade or separate.
we will bring that back to you for final decision. >> if I can push the thing a little bit, don't throw anything at me.
season is soon upon us, is when businesses hopefully tourists come back.
people from other states come back and they come into all of our communities but a
lot of them come into indio, they eat in our residents, they spent dollars in our
stores, our ability to begin some of these processes in time for season and a time
for people to see what's going on but more poorly in time for our small
businesses to reap the benefits would be awesome. Thank you staff, thank you city manager for working so hard to make this happen,
too caring so much about our community and moving the things forward. It is 4:41 pm.
this meeting is now adjourned. Except mayor pro tem would like to say something.
>> before we adjourn I would like to people public to know that we send our
condolences to the corporal hunter's family and we are working on connecting with
the family but in the future we plan on doing some presentation of
proclamations into the family or maybe even a resolution so the city is it's going all evidence at all costs to honor the fallen and mr. Hunter lopez.
I want to let the community know and I would like that we adjourn the meeting in
his memorial. >> in his honor, as we adjourn the meeting in the honor of the corporal hunter
lopez and the other 12 that gave their lives, let's have another moment of silence
and then we will adjourn into closed session so let's take a moment to think about
the impact that these folks had on our lives this past week.
thank you, everyone.