1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:02,920 10:00 a.m. We'll begin our meeting. Mr. Amabile, Please lead the salute, please. 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:08,320 thank you 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:13,880 and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 4 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:22,880 okay roll call please. Okay commissioner. Reed. 5 00:00:29,985 --> 00:00:29,985 present. Commissioner amabile. Present. Commissioner and chair bertao. 6 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,880 here. Okay. We do have a quorum for today's business. It's a bare minimum quorum, but we can proceed with business. 7 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:43,240 okay. Everybody get a chance to look at the minutes or call for approval of the minutes. 8 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:50,280 if not, I'll give you a minute to look at them. 9 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,520 I'll move to approve minutes from the 17th. Second okay. Motion by commissioner amabile seconded by commissioner reed to approve the minutes Of july 17th. 10 00:01:03,770 --> 00:01:07,570 any comments on them? All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passed. Okay, citizen communication. 11 00:01:15,690 --> 00:01:15,690 public opportunity to address the local agency formation commission on items of interest Over which lafco has 12 00:01:24,730 --> 00:01:24,730 jurisdiction that are not anything that's not on the agenda today. 13 00:01:30,490 --> 00:01:30,490 anyone have any comments or anything they'd like to say? 14 00:01:36,290 --> 00:01:36,290 seeing none and hearing none. We'll proceed. Number 6, Which is the public hearing, the adoption of the city laws of los banos municipal 15 00:01:46,250 --> 00:01:46,250 service review update, mr. Nicholson. Yeah go over to 16 00:01:54,610 --> 00:01:54,610 we'll have the presentation first, and I'll open the public hearing for comments and then We'll have action on it. 17 00:02:07,590 --> 00:02:07,590 all right. This is the municipal service review update for the city of los banos. 18 00:02:12,630 --> 00:02:12,630 as you mentioned, and it's an update from the last municipal service review, Or msr, that was completed in 2012. 19 00:02:20,870 --> 00:02:20,870 and the first one goes back to, I think, 2002. 20 00:02:25,790 --> 00:02:25,790 so just as an introduction on municipal service reviews, It was a requirement 21 00:02:35,510 --> 00:02:35,510 created in state law under government code section 56340. 22 00:02:40,670 --> 00:02:40,670 and it requires that lafco prepare and approve an msr prior to or in conjunction with an Update to a city or district's sphere of 23 00:02:50,510 --> 00:02:50,510 influence. The periodically, you would review them even if you didn't have a sphere Involved. 24 00:02:59,600 --> 00:02:59,600 and we've done that. We're doing that right now for resource conservation districts. That's been kind of dragging on, but I'll give a report on that later. But for cities, 25 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:06,760 it typically is initiated when the city updates their general plan, And it's going to request lafco to update their sphere of influence. 26 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:14,320 and so in those cases, lafco encourages the city to pay for the consultant costs to update The municipal service review. 27 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,800 and we did that in that case or in this case. And we've traditionally used a firm of economic and planning systems, Eps, to prepare our municipal service reviews. 28 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:32,680 and that's the group that prepared this one with staff support. 29 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:40,200 and the purpose of the municipal service reviews are promoting more efficient and higher Quality services. 30 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:46,480 these are the dictates out of state law by the state legislature required that lafcos Prepare municipal service reviews, 31 00:03:55,050 --> 00:03:55,050 which was added in 2000 to the state law. It also allows lafco to be the agency where People 32 00:04:04,650 --> 00:04:04,650 and businesses can go to get information about cities and special districts. 33 00:04:08,930 --> 00:04:08,930 and especially it's important on special districts who are sometimes more hidden than Hard, 34 00:04:15,010 --> 00:04:15,010 hard to get information from compared to cities which have a lot of public information it Assesses the adequacy of services and the levels of services that are provided, 35 00:04:25,650 --> 00:04:25,650 and also would identify 36 00:04:35,490 --> 00:04:35,490 as like special district consolidations. There are seven factors in the msr 37 00:04:45,530 --> 00:04:45,530 that you have to look at and include growth and population projections disadvantaged Unincorporated communities or ducs that are within their contiguous to the 38 00:04:55,310 --> 00:04:55,310 sphere of influence. There's also another low income category, Very similar to a disadvantaged unincorporated community. 39 00:05:04,350 --> 00:05:04,350 and the word unincorporated is excluded, such as disadvantaged community or we call them Dac. 40 00:05:10,270 --> 00:05:10,270 and that that has relevance for this msr as you'll see in my presentation. 41 00:05:16,630 --> 00:05:16,630 then you look at planned and present and planned capacity of services and facilities and Their adequacy the, 42 00:05:23,550 --> 00:05:27,070 the financial ability of agencies to provide the service. And this would be various departments of the city status and opportunities for shared Facilities, 43 00:05:32,070 --> 00:05:32,070 which there are some for los banos, the accountability for community service needs, Including governmental structure, 44 00:05:39,190 --> 00:05:39,190 operational efficiencies that can go into consolidations with other entities if you're Dealing with special districts, 45 00:05:45,470 --> 00:05:45,470 especially, and then any other matter that we might find unique to the situation. 46 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:53,360 so the again, this is the msr for los banos, Initiated by the city's request with their new general plan, 47 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:03,080 their 2042 general plan, and the related utility and service master plans that were Prepared in conjunction with that. 48 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:11,000 and it's taken a couple of years to get to this hearing after we entered the contract with Eps. 49 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:18,560 so in terms of the projected growth and development of the city the city's 2024 population Is estimated at 50 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:26,560 47,419 people. In the general plan that was adopted in 2022, It had a build out capacity of about 51 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:36,200 72,500 people, which is the eir environmental impact report. 52 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:43,720 evaluation of all the land uses and all the residential land uses identified in the plan Of. 53 00:06:49,370 --> 00:06:49,370 if the densities contemplated, that would be the population. 54 00:06:53,850 --> 00:06:53,850 it wasn't necessarily the city's goal to achieve that population by by 2020, 55 00:07:04,090 --> 00:07:04,090 2042. But that's what the bill that would be. 56 00:07:09,130 --> 00:07:09,130 so the population growth, actually, in the msr document, There's a chart showing it, but the growth has. 57 00:07:18,570 --> 00:07:18,570 has been very fast historically, but it has slowed down in the recent decades from over 6% Some years down to 2% during the 58 00:07:28,490 --> 00:07:28,490 2010 decade. And then since 2020, it's been growing at 1.3% per year, Which is much slower than the historic 6% yeah 6% 59 00:07:38,450 --> 00:07:38,450 rate that they were experiencing in the city was really booming. The as I mentioned, There's a lot of studies for facilities that the city prepared 60 00:07:49,710 --> 00:07:49,710 for the general plan update, and in those studies, Some of them are for fees. 61 00:07:57,270 --> 00:07:57,270 the city had assumed a population by 2038. That was like a 20 year horizon of 56,400. 62 00:08:06,950 --> 00:08:06,950 so when you're looking at sewer and water and other facilities, That was the number that was used to determine especially like fees. 63 00:08:15,470 --> 00:08:15,470 how much do we need to charge over this 20 year plan. 64 00:08:20,190 --> 00:08:20,190 and so that you'll see that that number is much smaller or much lower than the 72,500. 65 00:08:26,110 --> 00:08:26,110 that would be on the colored map of the of the land use diagram that I'll show you next. 66 00:08:32,870 --> 00:08:32,870 but that's so that's kind of the target that the city has over the life of this general Plan in terms of their expectations and then how they're providing services. 67 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,520 and yes, I just mentioned it's an important focus for the sphere of influence of what. What the growth of the city is more realistic to be than the than the filling out the General plan boundary by 2042. 68 00:08:58,600 --> 00:08:58,600 not being, not being proposed by the city or necessarily being realistic. 69 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:04,360 again so here's the general plan. As I mentioned the red line area through the middle is Commercial, 70 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,840 and that's following highway 152 or pacheco boulevard. And then kind of in the center is mercy springs or highway 165 running to the point on the North that's got another red, 71 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:23,800 red commercial area. And the boundary of this, I refer to it as a goldfish, kind of because it's like a swimming goldfish [laughter] in 72 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:32,760 the color pointing towards merced or to the east. 73 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:36,880 that that dark green thick line is the alignment of the, I'll say, formally proposed 152 bypass. 74 00:09:46,010 --> 00:09:46,010 I'm sure the city still wants that, but it was a major factor in this general plan diagram Which 75 00:09:57,810 --> 00:09:57,810 because of competing funding across the county. 76 00:10:02,290 --> 00:10:02,290 mcag the merced county association of governments has prioritized regional traffic Projects, 77 00:10:07,650 --> 00:10:07,650 and they've shifted emphasis from this to the merced atwater area and specifically what's Called the merced atwater 78 00:10:18,690 --> 00:10:22,290 expressway, which would link buhach, which has started. There's an interchange there and link up to bellevue road in merced and getting a link to The northern growth and the uc campus. 79 00:10:31,570 --> 00:10:31,570 so one of the issues when we get to this fear stage which isn't today, Is this large boundary tied to 80 00:10:41,270 --> 00:10:41,270 commercial areas to the north and to the west at interchanges that aren't really planned In the in the horizon of this general plan any 81 00:10:51,190 --> 00:10:51,190 longer. It was when they started this it was but it's been altered. 82 00:10:56,350 --> 00:10:56,350 so that's that's a consideration. And again, The other part is the the land use is shown, 83 00:11:03,110 --> 00:11:03,110 the yellow is residential and then there's higher density residential and brown and then Industrial. 84 00:11:10,030 --> 00:11:10,030 there's purple and commercials red. So this would the build out of all that that's been Colored would be about 85 00:11:19,270 --> 00:11:19,270 72,000 people. This map, unfortunately, is a little bit hard to read. 86 00:11:24,470 --> 00:11:24,470 you have it in your packet. It's a little easier to see the it's kind of a gold golden Boundary. 87 00:11:31,470 --> 00:11:31,470 shows the proposed sphere of influence. The black line is the current city limits. 88 00:11:37,910 --> 00:11:37,910 and then there's a dashed line. Again, it might be easier to see on your in your packet. 89 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:43,440 that's the current sphere of influence. Which is tighter, Much tighter, closer to the current city limit. 90 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:50,320 although there's areas for growth, especially on the north, The north side and a little bit on the south. 91 00:11:59,240 --> 00:11:59,240 and then another component of the msr, which I mentioned was this disadvantaged Communities or ducs and or disadvantaged 92 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:09,040 unincorporated. There's also the disadvantaged community which are the difference between That and a duc is that the u stands for unincorporated, 93 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:17,680 whereas the dac the dac is just disadvantaged communities that exist. 94 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:27,920 and they're not they can be in the city. They don't have to be in the county. And so this map highlights the areas that are identified as the state department of water Resources. 95 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:34,840 who who administers this. The bright yellow is the lowest income, And it's a combination of low income 96 00:12:45,180 --> 00:12:45,180 and also having environmental problems. And the the biggest problems cited is water Quality with 97 00:12:54,940 --> 00:12:54,940 chromium-6 and arsenic being constituents in the, In the water. 98 00:12:59,620 --> 00:12:59,620 and so that one of the state's efforts is to target areas, Especially for grant money and for improvements that have underserved communities or low 99 00:13:08,020 --> 00:13:08,020 income communities to get better quality. Don't don't have environmental impacts always Affecting the lowest income people. 100 00:13:16,340 --> 00:13:18,940 the other effect is air quality, which is not localized. It's the the valley. So they have high, you know, High particulate matter affecting everybody. 101 00:13:25,940 --> 00:13:25,940 the lighter the lighter brown is also disadvantaged. 102 00:13:30,860 --> 00:13:30,860 and you can see it goes all the way to the west out in the agricultural area. 103 00:13:35,310 --> 00:13:35,310 so their mapping is is by census tracts, block groups, Not by jurisdictional boundary. 104 00:13:42,510 --> 00:13:45,430 and then the white areas are not disadvantaged. So most of the city 75% of it is, is actually designated as disadvantaged, With the darker yellow severely disadvantaged. 105 00:13:54,710 --> 00:13:54,710 and then the white areas are not. So it's an important issue for the city. 106 00:13:59,070 --> 00:13:59,070 the msr document identified the disadvantaged issue on a service by service level. 107 00:14:08,550 --> 00:14:08,550 so rather than just do a summary up front, the document talks about how our how our parks, 108 00:14:13,910 --> 00:14:13,910 how our the police protection house fire, how are the different services affected Affecting these, 109 00:14:20,430 --> 00:14:20,430 these dac, these disadvantaged communities. So it's presented in that in that manner. 110 00:14:27,950 --> 00:14:27,950 and then another global view is just the physical conditions of the city overall. 111 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:33,360 the city was not so heavily impacted by the covid 19 pandemic, As many jurisdictions were. 112 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:41,480 and they actually had a surplus coming out of the pandemic. 113 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:47,520 but more recently, or actually during 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years, They had a deficit of $2,500,000. 114 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:54,960 and our standards for, for the past fiscal year, I don't know if they've completed the books, 115 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:01,200 but it was estimated by the consultants that there was a $400,000 surplus this past fiscal Year. 116 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,600 so it's it's trending in the right direction. And the city actually received almost $72 million in revenue back in fiscal year 2022-23. 117 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:18,160 so they're doing well with a lot of the commercial and other revenue sources they have. 118 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:24,400 in terms of funding the government and services, The city had passed measure h, the city residents passed measure h back in 119 00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:33,300 2019, which is a half cent sales tax devoted to police, Fire and recreation services, which is allocated through the general fund. 120 00:15:42,620 --> 00:15:42,620 and then back in 2004, many years ago, measure p was passed with another half cent sales Tax that was devoted to police and fire and 911. 121 00:15:53,100 --> 00:15:56,820 but more on capital improvement expenditures. So those are well supportive of city operations. 122 00:16:01,060 --> 00:16:01,060 and they also have established community facilities districts for ongoing operations and For certain services. 123 00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:11,340 so now we're going to get into the summary of the services by the the categories that are In the municipal service review document. 124 00:16:17,860 --> 00:16:17,860 and the first is police service where the city has 48 sworn officers. 125 00:16:22,740 --> 00:16:22,740 and that's approximately a one officer per 1,000 population, Which is reasonable for a size of the city, 126 00:16:30,750 --> 00:16:30,750 like los banos. The about 50% of the general fund budget goes to the police department Funding. 127 00:16:39,550 --> 00:16:39,550 so it's a high priority of the city. And takes up a big part of their budget. 128 00:16:46,510 --> 00:16:46,510 and as the impact fee justification study noted, For police that to maintain that one officer per thousand resident 129 00:16:56,350 --> 00:16:56,350 ratio, they have to have 9 more officers over the 20 year capital or impact fee study Period, 130 00:17:06,150 --> 00:17:06,150 which is four years shorter than the the 2020 or, Excuse me, the 2042 general plan horizon. 131 00:17:14,870 --> 00:17:14,870 but it's so it's very close. And then the talk about the measure h sales tax of 132 00:17:24,430 --> 00:17:24,430 5% that goes to support police and fire. So that helps support the in this category. 133 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:29,640 the police services and then measure p again supports capital facilities for police. 134 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:37,560 then on to fire the city provides its own fire protection and ambulance service within the City and has currently two fire 135 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,000 stations, with two more in to be planned in the future. One that's actually in the design phase. The city has 19 career firefighters and five Volunteer staff, 136 00:17:58,960 --> 00:17:58,960 which results in a firefighter per 1,000 resident ratio of 0.4, Which is below what the national fire protection association 137 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:09,000 study in 2022 identified, which would be about double that from maybe 0.84 to 1.3 Firefighters 138 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:18,960 per 1,000. The previous year budget to 2024-25 budget included funds for two more Firefighters, 139 00:18:28,780 --> 00:18:28,780 and perhaps the city has hired them by now, so they are trying to address it. 140 00:18:35,260 --> 00:18:39,220 I just, you know, maintaining staff as they grow. The city has a response time of 5 to 6 minutes within one and a half mile radius. 141 00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:46,300 and then they're investigating ways to supplement or to to allow the the firefighting Staff, 142 00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:53,180 the professional staff to spend more time on actual emergencies, Response and fires by creating a new funding category that some 143 00:19:03,060 --> 00:19:05,260 cities have called the operational permit fee. And that would be when you're operating businesses that you'd pay an annual fee that's Used to help provide 144 00:19:14,340 --> 00:19:14,340 inspections and other service that you need to, To show fire safety that that your career 145 00:19:23,630 --> 00:19:23,630 firefighters take it takes away from their response into the field by doing these tasks. 146 00:19:28,510 --> 00:19:28,510 so this would create new employees that would be under a different department that do Inspections, 147 00:19:34,230 --> 00:19:37,430 maybe like buildings and safety division or something. So the city is investigating that. And that's kind of how to address the fire staffing Support in the future. 148 00:19:46,950 --> 00:19:46,950 on to storm drainage. They the city updated which it's a big issue for the city. 149 00:19:52,230 --> 00:19:56,150 the storm drainage master plan was updated in 2023. And it was evaluated the general plan growth, Of course, and then problems in the older developed parts of the city which have 150 00:20:06,230 --> 00:20:06,230 the, the discharge for wastewater, excuse me, For stormwater gets into the sewer pipes and causes backup and maybe overflowing of sewer 151 00:20:17,550 --> 00:20:17,550 with, with the stormwater. And again, it affects a lot of the older downtown and a lot of That's the disadvantaged community area. 152 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:24,560 so it's been a historic problem that the city has been grappling with. 153 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:30,160 the city has 17 stormwater detention basins, And it's routed to a system of drainage canals and catch basins and lift stations. 154 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:39,440 and the city's historically been working with ccid and grasslands water district to direct Drainage into their canals and 155 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:52,920 creeks and trying to reduce studying or flooding. And they're designing a new 500 to 600 acre north east detention basin to help capture That 156 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:03,600 water during peak flows. And so it's an ongoing effort, But in terms of collaboration, the city is collaborating with the irrigation districts. 157 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:11,880 they have been in the past, and they're continuing to finding joint joint solutions to, To help reduce this term drainage 158 00:21:21,300 --> 00:21:21,300 impacts. And findings for storm drainage comes from lighting and landscape assessment Districts, 159 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:28,220 which are established over kind of neighborhood levels and for new development areas. 160 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:33,500 and it generates between $100,000 and $200,000 annually. 161 00:21:38,460 --> 00:21:38,460 for wastewater the city's wastewater master plan was 15 years old, But they they for the general plan update, 162 00:21:46,860 --> 00:21:46,860 there was a supplement prepared management plan in 2019 and that. 163 00:21:52,620 --> 00:21:52,620 12019 [laughter] in compliance with state state requirements for district existing Problems they had and for more efficient 164 00:22:02,220 --> 00:22:02,220 operations. So they want to increase the discharge capacity to 4.9 million gallons per Day, 165 00:22:09,220 --> 00:22:09,220 which would accommodate that population identified in the impact fee study of 56,400, Which again, 166 00:22:15,980 --> 00:22:15,980 just pointing out for the sewer they're not planning on sewer plant expansion for the General plan build out. 167 00:22:22,350 --> 00:22:22,350 they're doing it based on the expected growth over the 20 years that the fee studies are Targeted at, 168 00:22:31,510 --> 00:22:31,510 and their fee structure. The current average flow in the recent budget was 3.46 million Gallons per day, 169 00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:41,310 and the revenues for wastewater enterprise were $9 million. 170 00:22:46,230 --> 00:22:49,870 and so, no, they don't put any city general fund money on tour. It's all enterprise fund money. Then, in terms of water, The city prepared a water supply assessment for the general plan update 171 00:23:00,430 --> 00:23:00,430 and also an urban water management plan, which was required by the state department of Water resources. 172 00:23:06,670 --> 00:23:06,670 the current demand is 7,900 acre feet and the city has 13 existing wells, Which is their current water supply. 173 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:17,000 the water supply assessment or urban water management plan identified a need for 11,233 Acre feet by 2045. 174 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:26,680 so that was the life of the urban water management plan went beyond the general plan by a Few years. 175 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:32,840 but it basically shows the need for the additional supply. 176 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:39,000 the challenges that were identified in the msr pointed out that that the merced county Association of governments, 177 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:47,520 who did the background studies for the housing element, Updates of the six cities and the county identified a 178 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:57,240 problem that the local groundwater sustainability plan for the the area where the city is Has 179 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:07,360 a the city is over drafting a sustainable yield by yield by 2,300 acre feet 180 00:24:18,260 --> 00:24:18,260 as of 2019. So right now there are over, over what would be sustainable yield. 181 00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:25,500 and then the growth of the city identified in the water supply assessment would exacerbate That further. 182 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:33,300 and of course, ag irrigation districts also have to deal with with groundwater pumping. 183 00:24:38,220 --> 00:24:38,220 so it's a it's a joint effort through the groundwater sustainability plan and both ponds 184 00:24:47,900 --> 00:24:47,900 agency, gsa, but coordinating with with ccid and san luis and grasslands. 185 00:24:55,060 --> 00:24:55,060 so and so they have the water quantity is a challenge. 186 00:25:00,260 --> 00:25:00,260 and the other challenge is water quality. As I mentioned earlier, There's high arsenic and chromium-6 concentrations. 187 00:25:09,820 --> 00:25:09,820 and and that's part of that disadvantaged community impact cited. 188 00:25:15,030 --> 00:25:15,030 so the city is working with ccid and the grasslands water district to help try to address That through groundwater 189 00:25:24,150 --> 00:25:24,150 recharge and measures that would help clean, Clean the groundwater, which has these natural constituents in it. 190 00:25:31,630 --> 00:25:31,630 besides other, you know, other water treatment systems which are expensive. 191 00:25:36,950 --> 00:25:36,950 and the city has a water fund. It's got a $46 million balance. 192 00:25:43,030 --> 00:25:43,030 and the msr points out revenues may not meet that keep that fund in positive balance. 193 00:25:51,350 --> 00:25:51,350 it's it's in the last year, it was going negative in several million dollars. 194 00:25:56,510 --> 00:25:56,510 and so the part of it, I guess, is the city looking at they may have to increase their Water rates to their customers to maintain a positive balance. 195 00:26:07,790 --> 00:26:07,790 and the, the category of parks and recreation, Has pointed out that the city has 264 acres of 196 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:17,800 variety of parks, from neighborhood and community wide parks to little pocket parks, And they also maintain trails, 197 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:24,920 some of which are ccid canal banks that the city maintains for for recreational use for Citizens. 198 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:32,440 and they have an updated parks master plan, kind of parallel with their general plan Update. 199 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:38,240 they have a ratio of 5.6 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, Which exceeds the general plan standard of 5 acres. 200 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:45,920 so they're doing they're doing good in that regard. Staffing levels are more of a Challenge, 201 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:50,720 though they have 3.9 full time equivalent employees per 10,000 residents where in the msr Points out the national average is more like 8.9 202 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:00,640 staff, so they're about half of what what many cities have managed. 203 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:08,040 so in response to information from the parks and rec department, Though, they feel that they are maintaining their parks and trails successfully and 204 00:27:17,780 --> 00:27:17,780 they've upgraded park facilities, including playgrounds. 205 00:27:26,140 --> 00:27:26,140 23% of the parks and recreation funding does come from the general fund, With a $10 million balance coming from their half cent sales tax measure h that's shared 206 00:27:35,220 --> 00:27:35,220 with police and fire. So that concludes all the different service levels provided by the By 207 00:27:45,140 --> 00:27:45,140 the city. There was one more section that's briefly mentioned in the msr, But I didn't highlight it here. 208 00:27:53,500 --> 00:27:53,500 and the msr doesn't have a separate chapter for it, But it's the city runs the los banos airport, 209 00:27:58,540 --> 00:27:58,540 so that's a major facility that many cities don't have. 210 00:28:02,780 --> 00:28:02,780 and there's no separate chapter on that. But it, As I understand it, these it's the parks and rec department that that maintains the 211 00:28:11,270 --> 00:28:11,270 airport and mayor amabile if you have during our discussion, If there's any if you have any clarification to that, 212 00:28:18,550 --> 00:28:18,550 we could modify that that text. I think it's actually public works 213 00:28:25,030 --> 00:28:25,030 public works okay. Okay, great. All right. So on to the the actions for the commission. 214 00:28:31,550 --> 00:28:31,550 the first is in under environmental review. Normally we're we're dealing with annexations And sphere amendments and things like that. 215 00:28:38,670 --> 00:28:38,670 and they all have a document, environmental document to comply with the california Environmental quality act. 216 00:28:45,830 --> 00:28:45,830 but an msr is actually considered exempt under section 15306 information collection. 217 00:28:54,950 --> 00:28:54,950 as a as just information gathering with we may have recommendations, But there's no action coming out of it that you're going to build something or 218 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:05,440 change the environment anyway. It's more of an analysis of conditions now and in the Future over the horizon of the of the msr. 219 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:13,520 so with that the recommendation actions are to make the environmental determination that Municipal service review is categorically exempt, 220 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:23,360 categorically exempt from ceqa review under that section 15306. 221 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:28,760 the msr determinations which are required to seven determinations are presented chapter by Chapter on each service rather than a summary at the end. 222 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,520 it's what are the conditions of each service level. And those appear on at the end of each section from page 19 all the way to page 60 at the End of each individual 223 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:51,160 section. So you make those determinations and then staff recommends that you approve the Municipal service review based on the four project 224 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:00,240 determinations that are presented on section four of your executive officer's report Before you, 225 00:30:07,540 --> 00:30:07,540 which is at the at the end, I think it's page 9. 226 00:30:13,060 --> 00:30:16,180 and that concludes my presentation. And I'll stay here. If you have any questions, I can go back to a page or a map or whatever. 227 00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:20,620 thank you. I'm going to open the public hearing at 10:33 a.m. 228 00:30:28,940 --> 00:30:28,940 if anyone in the audience would like to comment about the public hearing, The public hearing is open about the presentation. 229 00:30:37,260 --> 00:30:37,260 we'll hear we'll hear that. We'll hear any comments that the commissioners could have Pertaining to questions or anything the public has and will return 230 00:30:47,180 --> 00:30:47,180 it to the commission for approval. Anyone care to come forward and say anything and Comment on the report? 231 00:30:59,620 --> 00:30:59,620 okay seeing or hearing none. I'll close it at 10:34 a.m. 232 00:31:04,070 --> 00:31:04,070 and return it to the commission. Commissioners, Any comments or anything on the on the presentation before we seek approval? 233 00:31:12,190 --> 00:31:12,190 rob 234 00:31:19,070 --> 00:31:19,070 I really when I went over it, it does show what the city council has to look at in the Next few years. 235 00:31:26,510 --> 00:31:26,510 and it does reinforce a lot of the things we've changed over the last six months so I, I do like that. 236 00:31:32,510 --> 00:31:32,510 I like it how spheres haven't changed. And, and I do enjoy that. 237 00:31:39,390 --> 00:31:39,390 and I think we're going to be looking at removing that bypass in the future, Because that's the $1 billion bypass now that 238 00:31:49,390 --> 00:31:52,710 caltrans does not want to see done [laughter] anymore. And so there'll be a lot of changes in the future. 239 00:31:55,830 --> 00:31:55,830 but I appreciate all the help that this staff has given to the city of los banos, And we know how to move forward now. 240 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,480 okay okay, I do. City, the city of los banos sits at it provides 241 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:17,440 ambulance service, but I don't see any ambulances around that town and city of los banos On them are there? 242 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:22,640 it's the riggs service that. It's the riggs 243 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,800 the riggs the riggs service that provides the? Yeah, the whole county. Okay. We're just that one area from centinela. 244 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:32,520 yeah all right. That's that's what I thought. I mean, I think that's kind of a facetious thing here that the city provides. 245 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:39,560 are you paying? Is the city paying for a specific vehicle 246 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,360 I think the way it's done, it's. We don't pay. The county is paying for county goes out for a bidding process. 247 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:56,720 all right. We could clarify that chair. And we can do some cleanup edits here. 248 00:33:02,500 --> 00:33:02,500 following so we can clean that that point up that it's not a city staff like it's not city Fire staff let's say 249 00:33:09,460 --> 00:33:12,020 no well that's what it insinuates though. Yeah. Great. Okay. Second thing about the the water. 250 00:33:18,140 --> 00:33:18,140 water use if you're already pumping, pumping more water than than you're supposed to. 251 00:33:27,620 --> 00:33:27,620 and if the sgma people are going to complain about that. 252 00:33:32,580 --> 00:33:32,580 it brings me back to the to the comment I made with the city of merced when it was time For the university, 253 00:33:38,300 --> 00:33:38,300 when the young lady was here making the presentation and, And she said, and they needed more water and this and that. 254 00:33:44,540 --> 00:33:47,380 and it was during a drought and the yards were drying up. And I asked her, well, what's the what's going to happen when they need more water? 255 00:33:51,620 --> 00:33:55,060 her comment was, well, we'll just dig more wells. Well maybe today that's not going to be the thing. 256 00:33:58,190 --> 00:33:58,190 maybe los banos needs to look at that. If they have to dig more wells, Or if they're going to be into a fight with with the government agencies 257 00:34:08,150 --> 00:34:08,150 about whether they can drill or not and use water instead of restricting, Putting more restrictions on the residents you already have, 258 00:34:15,110 --> 00:34:15,110 maybe they shouldn't expand as much as maybe the plan is but. 259 00:34:21,230 --> 00:34:21,230 you have a very good point. So we're looking at surface water, You know, so we're talking to the districts about surface water in the future. 260 00:34:29,950 --> 00:34:29,950 all our wells do have the natural occurring issues that 261 00:34:36,790 --> 00:34:36,790 and so we know there's an issue there. And with the state coming down and changing their, Their standards, 262 00:34:44,670 --> 00:34:44,670 I should say they just did. It's a it's a big challenge for it's for the whole state. 263 00:34:49,630 --> 00:34:51,950 but we realize we have to figure something out. We're going to probably put a new, tank on the west side of town and start mixing water. 264 00:34:57,890 --> 00:35:00,930 so hopefully we can clean things up but are we getting any water from the from the canals right now or not? 265 00:35:04,090 --> 00:35:07,410 no. No? That's how. Did you in the past? Yes. In the 40s, 50s. It was done that way. Yeah 266 00:35:10,370 --> 00:35:12,650 that madison yard had that but. Okay the city went to wells. Yeah 267 00:35:15,370 --> 00:35:15,370 I had just one other thing. I'd like to see when the time is not for that right now. 268 00:35:20,650 --> 00:35:24,050 but when you do do your sphere. Your sphere deal. I'd still like to see the city north of of pioneer. 269 00:35:29,610 --> 00:35:29,610 and I think there's a little bit projected to go between pioneer and copa de oro. 270 00:35:35,370 --> 00:35:35,370 and I, you know, I don't live in los banos, but personally I always hated to see that Idea. 271 00:35:41,890 --> 00:35:45,570 and I think I've been opposed to that idea ever since I've been on this commission. So, you know, you guys need to take that into consideration too. 272 00:35:48,730 --> 00:35:48,730 yeah, we we understand that's probably the prime ag 273 00:35:53,940 --> 00:35:53,940 so 274 00:35:58,500 --> 00:35:58,500 with that, I would like to move that the los banos municipal service review is exempt from Ceqa review under section 15306, 275 00:36:06,980 --> 00:36:06,980 from the information collected of the ceqa guidelines and adopt the municipal service Review. 276 00:36:14,180 --> 00:36:14,180 I second. Okay. Motion by commissioner amabile, Seconded by commissioner reed that we adopt the the municipal service review with all the 277 00:36:23,860 --> 00:36:23,860 considerations and stipulations. Any other discussion? 278 00:36:29,380 --> 00:36:29,380 all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carried. 279 00:36:34,260 --> 00:36:34,260 okay 280 00:36:44,060 --> 00:36:44,060 of a resource conservation msr. 281 00:37:02,310 --> 00:37:02,310 yes thank you, chair. This item is the other municipal service review that's been ongoing For a couple of years with eps for the 282 00:37:12,030 --> 00:37:12,030 resource conservation districts, and we ran into the problem of finding two of the rcds on The west side are not active. 283 00:37:20,910 --> 00:37:20,910 and we've been working with east merced and trying to trying to get more information from Some of the other rcds on the idea of a consolidation. 284 00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:29,910 so it's delayed completion of the msr, although we're getting getting progress. 285 00:37:34,390 --> 00:37:34,390 we're kind of on the final steps here. And so we wanted to have a six month extension of The contract so that we can detail. 286 00:37:42,390 --> 00:37:42,390 and I'm actually working with eps to keep the costs down to do some of that writing Myself. 287 00:37:47,790 --> 00:37:47,790 but on the the benefits of the consolidation and the desire for it. 288 00:37:53,170 --> 00:37:53,170 and I just actually recently found out that grasslands, Because they have a unique the resource conservation district with grasslands, 289 00:38:01,970 --> 00:38:01,970 is tied to the water district in a lot of ways and including, You know, internal staff they have a different board, 290 00:38:09,570 --> 00:38:09,570 but their, their function being a, a wetlands and duck club oriented district is very Different than ccid in san luis and all the other pretty much all the other ag districts 291 00:38:19,170 --> 00:38:19,170 in the county. So they don't want to consolidate with the other rcds. 292 00:38:24,130 --> 00:38:24,130 so we will probably work on leaving them out of it and then trying to get the others Engaged. 293 00:38:29,930 --> 00:38:29,930 so anyway, this this is a simple this doesn't increase the funds, Is just delaying the date and there's money left to complete the effort. 294 00:38:38,730 --> 00:38:38,730 so we'd recommend support of the amendment. Right 295 00:38:43,890 --> 00:38:47,860 yes, yes motion by commissioner reed. Seconded by. By commissioner amabile that we extend the Contract with eps for the regarding the review of 296 00:38:57,740 --> 00:38:57,740 the resource conservation districts. All in favor, Say aye. 297 00:39:01,820 --> 00:39:01,820 aye. Opposed? Motion carried. Okay. B is the update on the current restructuring of Calafco. 298 00:39:12,500 --> 00:39:12,500 all right yeah. This has been a big process for for a long time now. 299 00:39:21,260 --> 00:39:21,260 and really with a heavy duty involvement of staff from both the. 300 00:39:28,340 --> 00:39:28,340 yeah, the staff of the professional association bringing back under consultant basis. 301 00:39:37,180 --> 00:39:37,180 pamela miller, the former executive director, And jenny tickler was the the head clerk, and she's back. 302 00:39:44,430 --> 00:39:44,430 and then jose enriquez, who was the executive officer of sacramento, Lafco, and still is. 303 00:39:50,270 --> 00:39:50,270 and he he stepped in to perform the lafco executive director duties on top of everything Else he's doing. 304 00:39:58,790 --> 00:39:58,790 and they've done a very good job. Some of the I was going to use the word contentious, But some of the the directors on the board for calafco have 305 00:40:08,630 --> 00:40:08,630 dropped off who were trying to shift the direction of the association. 306 00:40:14,550 --> 00:40:14,550 it was getting dysfunctional and not cooperative and a lot of infighting and people Wanting to quit out of frustration. 307 00:40:22,230 --> 00:40:26,230 and actually about 8 lafcos have dropped out of calafco, Which is historic. It never the only one that dropped out was probably 15, 20 years ago with kern county. 308 00:40:31,870 --> 00:40:35,470 they're the only one who didn't join, and it was completely over budget. But other ones have left for many reasons. And a lot of it is the, The, the dysfunction. 309 00:40:43,490 --> 00:40:43,490 so they've done a lot of effort to update the bylaws and change them. 310 00:40:49,010 --> 00:40:49,010 and at the conference coming up this in october down in san diego, That will there will be a vote on those changes. 311 00:40:56,410 --> 00:40:56,410 and I reported over time on some of the changes that I've been involved in, A lot of the meetings, 312 00:41:01,570 --> 00:41:01,570 you know, attending them and giving input. And it just is getting back to a very good Place. 313 00:41:07,210 --> 00:41:07,210 and maybe with this turmoil has actually caused kind of an upgrading of things that had Been done many years ago and needed to be cleaned up. 314 00:41:14,450 --> 00:41:14,450 but it's back to being much more cooperative, And their goal is to try to get the other lafco to come back. 315 00:41:21,410 --> 00:41:21,410 we're talking some big ones, like los angeles and orange county, And riverside's in there, 316 00:41:26,930 --> 00:41:26,930 and we have smaller ones. Napa dropped out, el dorado dropped out, But most of them are willing to come back if they see they get frustrated and just said, 317 00:41:34,290 --> 00:41:38,290 okay, we don't need to be part of this, but they may come back so. They're going to send representatives to the conference as non-voting members and Observers any of them? 318 00:41:45,260 --> 00:41:47,460 some of them will. Yes, some of them will yeah. Unfortunately, I as I heard, the conference is in san diego and so one of the first to Drop out was san diego. 319 00:41:53,620 --> 00:41:57,500 and so they're not participating. I don't know if they'll show up, But they're not on. They're not doing panel work and they're but but in terms of voting yeah all the ones who Dropped out will not be voting on these bylaws yeah. 320 00:42:04,140 --> 00:42:07,460 they're not entitled to. So yeah. [laughter] so it's good. So hopefully it's it's going in the right direction. 321 00:42:13,860 --> 00:42:13,860 is she still active in this? Oh, yeah. She's she's actually the chair right now. 322 00:42:18,180 --> 00:42:18,180 she's in favor of all these new chairs 323 00:42:24,660 --> 00:42:28,300 a bearcat [laughter]. Yeah. So good. Yeah she's that's the one 324 00:42:31,300 --> 00:42:31,300 yeah. Right. The email saying positive things so. 325 00:42:35,340 --> 00:42:35,340 yeah so that was just more of an update. Just no, No action but 326 00:42:40,510 --> 00:42:40,510 yeah it does. Yes it does. Okay. Anything else on that subject? 327 00:42:45,230 --> 00:42:45,230 no. Okay. We have the appointment of the voting delegate and alternate for the for the Conference. 328 00:42:51,430 --> 00:42:51,430 and from what I understand, it's we're going to recommend that commissioner pedrozo is Going and be the voting 329 00:43:00,990 --> 00:43:03,230 delegate, and you be an alternate. Is that correct? Yes 330 00:43:11,270 --> 00:43:11,270 commissioner amabile, seconded by commissioner reed that we appoint commissioner pedrozo As the voting 331 00:43:20,870 --> 00:43:20,870 delegate and executive director, bill nicholson as the alternate. 332 00:43:26,670 --> 00:43:30,550 all in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion is passed. Okay. Any other comments bill? Anything else that could have officer report on anything? 333 00:43:36,770 --> 00:43:40,450 coming up? No it's pretty yeah. Pretty much just getting gearing up. Oh, well, yeah, I would just mention we we don't have any active applications yet, But there would be plenty on the horizon. 334 00:43:49,490 --> 00:43:49,490 and we have we're completing that, hilmar annexation to the hilmar county water district. But but many more projects will be will be coming 335 00:43:57,090 --> 00:43:57,090 october meeting? I do not think so. I don't. Because we're down to just one for november, December. 336 00:44:04,770 --> 00:44:04,770 right we're just down to one. So yeah. So at this point I don't have anything for the October meeting. So it would be. 337 00:44:09,770 --> 00:44:09,770 yeah november, december. We do we combine those into one meeting and do it in the second Week. 338 00:44:15,130 --> 00:44:18,970 yeah thanks for bringing that up. Okay 339 00:44:25,210 --> 00:44:25,210 no. Hearing none. I'll adjourn the meeting at time is your thing 10:45 a.m. 340 00:44:33,090 --> 00:44:33,090 thank you very much. All right. Thank you for coming.