We got quiet. Must be the right time. So with that,
before we do get started, if we could ask for the interpreter, um,
to take a moment to explain the city's interpretation services that will be offered for
this evening's meeting. Thank you, mayor. Uh, the following will be an
announcement for our spanish speaking guests. We wanna start this.
thank you, mayor. Thank you very much. Uh, just as a reminder, if we could
please silence all cell phones or any other devices in the chamber, that would
be greatly appreciated. With that, I'd like to call the meeting to order
a live webcast of the meeting may be viewed on the city's website. If you're watching
via, uh, zoom, viewing the spanish version of the meeting, interpreter instructions
will appear in the chat box at the bottom of your screen. For those
who refer to sit in the chamber, headsets are available to provide live spanish
translation, please see the, uh, city clerk's, uh, desk,
and, uh, to check out a headsets. The notice agenda and information
on the city of national city's website inform members of the public that they may submit
a general public comment or a public comment on a specific agenda item
in a number of ways, either in person, uh, in the council chamber by
submitting one of these salmon colored slips here at the back of the chamber. And please get those over
just as soon as possible over to our, uh, clerk's desk or via
zoom by pre-registering on the city's website, no later than two hours before the meeting,
or by emailing no later than four hours before the meeting. And
all, uh, excuse me, all written, uh, comments received or
distributed to the city council prior to the meeting and published on the city's website
if received by the deadline. With that, if we could have roll call please.
thank you. Council member yamani here. Council member rodriguez.
present. Council member bush here. Vice mayor
molina. Present. Mayor morrison. Uh, present. May
I have a quorum? Thank you. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Please
remain standing for the invocation. Uh, member bush, would you leave this, please?
right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the united states of america and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under god, under god,
indivisible, with liberty and justice. All
morrison council members and everybody present, this is reverend dr. Kamilla
lead, pastor city church here in nashville city. You join me in prayer,
your lord. We thank you for these wonderful and beautiful days you have given us.
and we pray today that you guide all of these council members,
the mayor and everybody present, and all that will be discussed today
will be with sincerity for the public good of everyone that you would be glorified,
and the desire of good amongst us here in this city
for your glory. In the name of jesus christ, I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
alright. Uh, we'll now hear public comments on items that are not on
the agenda, and
we'll give each person, uh, two minutes on that.
and, uh, with that I will call, uh, three people at a time. And,
uh, so when you hear your name call, please come out into the, into the open area, and that
way it'll be save time between people. Uh, cesar, javier
and paha javier, be followed by ted godshaw.
okay. Evening. Mm-hmm .
okay. Start now.
good evening. I am purita
javier, senior with existing medical condition.
we are with you to share lessons
learned for from our community.
bounded city, san diego
by district nine or poor
under leadership of consular
sean rivera and council
lord. Um,
um, this is henry foster,
respectively.
um, george graphic
political boundaries like
ours at west bank of
choice creek represent disadvantaged
vantage community. Per
observation, one witness
is the devastating of programs
such as physical development on
shelter, mobility, transportation,
roads, streets, amongst other
services in our community,
we have at least eight
concerns. One is the location,
construction and operation
of ceramics manufacturing
with kiln facility
poisoning the air we breathe.
thank, thank you very much. Since 1997,
uh, cesar javier, followed by ted godshaw, be followed by cynthia fo, uh, fuller
es. Thank you uncle sam. Thank you, honorable
mayor morrison, my classmates in, uh, sandag.
we are here consistently, passively,
if only to remind and educate and inform. Councilor
bush. We would say partly
you are accountable in our mystery because
councilor booth is, has volunteered
or perhaps committed to the air pollution control
district, a member of the governing board, a thinker
along with then councilor rivera and the mayor.
the mayor is the founder of taking out a pcd from the county
who is supposed to be regionwide, ensuring clean air for
everyone. But our expectation a hundred
percent is failing because he
favored, if I may say, businesses, rather than help
of san dies. We are witness since
2022 when we accidentally
visited the air pollution control district office in
essa. And we found out that these are the aptors
one, uh, I forgot their names, but the original
mr. Uh, anyway,
, you went our home. We showed you
the ceramic scale, which the a pcd has sent.
science. Don't you respect science?
don't you understand science? It destroys the respira
respiratory gland. Cerus.
and what did you do? They just erased the few.
thank you for your comment in this ceramics. Thank you very much.
help us, mr. Go. Thank you. Okay, ted gotch, followed by cynthia fuller
quinone, followed by edwin neto,
ted gotch here tonight I want to address some of the broken commitments that you have made
lately. First, for 2024, the city council approved a
community health and environmental planner position. This position was never filled,
never taken seriously by anyone here. And now you don't even recognize it as a
vacancy just gone a broken commitment. Second, and about the same year,
you took away arpa funding from the paradise creek educational park habitat and
bathroom project over our objections. You said you would fund it in the next year in the
general fund in 2025, and you did not do that. My third example of
breaking commitments to the community concerns mr. Bush's actions at the countywide a pcd
or the air quality control district. Mr. Bush was not appointed by the mayor or
the council. He did not run for the position. And you know that right
at the may 14th, a pcd meeting, mr. Bush killed a compromise motion made
by county supervisor agiri to have their staff complete a four year
study process with a draft rule to control emissions from warehouse trucks. Mr. Bush
voted against a compromise that would've included incentives
instead suggesting that more air filters would make this pollution problem
somehow better for residents in our city and in the south county.
with public testimony, standing at two to one in favor of new controls, mr. Bush
stood with probe business board members and they voted
five to four to kill the compromise. With this action, mr. Bush
did harm to members of our community. And now I think this council should do two things.
first, thank mrs. Aguire for, with an email
for her support of the residents of national city in the south bay.
second, ask mrs. Aguire to remove
mr. Bush from the a pcd board and request a new member for south
county. Please start addressing
the other commitments that lie broken on your desks.
thank you very much. Uh, cynthia fuller be followed by
edward nieto to be followed by liliana arma. Good
evening mayor. City council members and all here tonight. Uh, you know me,
cynthia, cynthia fuller quinones. I'm here speaking as a national city
resident who, like many other community members, is feeling compelled to
speak up about our representation on the air pollution control district board.
and yet another missed opportunity to make real progress, uh,
addressing terrible air pollution. Here at the may 14th, a pcd
board meeting council member bush cast a deciding vote against beginning,
indirect source role, uh, making, uh, something
that our community has long asked for. His was the fifth vote,
uh, and a five four decision that stopped progress on reducing
the truck pollution that directly impacts neighborhoods like district one. What's
especially concerning is that as a vote went against clear community input
at the a pcd meeting, public testimony was more than two to one in
favor of moving forward with the indirect source rule, process,
residents, advocates, and families who live with health impacts every day.
people like me with copd and uh, chronic asthma,
we spoke up and yet our voices were not reflected in his vote.
instead of supporting a concrete step towards reducing emissions, council
member, uh, bush proposed air filters for which funding is limited at
best and which do nothing to address, uh, to reduce the diesel
trucks driving through our streets and polluting the air we breathe, our
community has been clear. We need real solutions that prevent
pollution, not just measures that help us cope with it.
when a solution exists and the community has spoken, our representatives
have a responsibility to act in support of this and us.
so I urge the council to review council member bush's actions
at the s-b-a-p-c-d, uh, thank supervisor paloma
agiri for supporting our communities and consider whether our city is being
fully, uh, represented at, represented in these critical regional decisions. Thank
you for your comment. Thank you so much. Okay. Edwardo to be followed by
liliana arma.
yes. I'm here to, uh, ask once again and I've asked many times
the fi the fiscal year 24 25 audit report. Last time
I mentioned it, somebody said that it's gonna be, it was due on march 31st
and somebody said they're gonna call up and ask the auditors. Now, you know, you
get to the sitting point we've been asking and asking and asking, there's nothing
to stop a citizen from ask. Calling up the auditors and, and telling them,
where are you with this? It's, I pay for that. I don't wanna do that.
but I gotta tell you, you know, this is an audit report that
reflects, you know, multiple years of deficits, uh, all the things
I've talked about before, and it's one that has an audit finding
that's been repeated. Half put in financial system,
not any bad reflection on, on fiscal staff, but just something
that you just haven't given enough priority to. And it's exactly the thing
you need right now to answer some of your budget questions. So I
don't see why this is not a priority, why you're not asking about it. And where,
and if you do have some idea of the audit report, can you share what the findings
are right now, even before it's issued, and tell us what the status of the recommendations
is. Have you got a management letter? Are you working on the response already? You
know, this is something that's really important that's understated. And I think, again, it's
part of your governance problems that you have in, in the council. If you don't know
what the problems are and it clearly defines what it is, how can you
actually make progress on these things? So that's, um, I'm looking forward to hearing
some disclosure on what, what you're gonna do with that. Okay.
kind of got 25 seconds. I can't believe that. Oh my god. .
lil menta. .
if I can have his 25 seconds, I'd appreciate it, .
all right. Good evening, mayor. Council members and staff. I'm here tonight
as the commander elect of american legion larry e. Bennett, post 2 55
in national city. I want to ask a few questions.
how are we honoring the veterans who live here in national city?
national city is home to hundreds of veterans, families and
veterans and military families. Yet we do not have a city sponsored
memorial day ceremony, nor a veteran's day celebration dedicated
to recognizing their service and sacrifice. When do,
when veterans do not see themselves reflected in our city events? We feel forgotten.
so many proclamations have been issued yet. When was the last time
one was issued to a veteran? Just to say thank you for their service?
the city partners with the chamber of commerce for the annual salute to navy luncheon.
why not also partner with the american legion post 2, 5, 5, and other
veteran organizations for veteran focused events and programs.
as I step into my new role as commander, I'm committed to building those partnerships
and bringing awareness to veteran issues in our community. Supporting veterans
is not just honoring the past. It's about investing in leaders who continue serving
our community every day. I'm also concerned that the city's
wall of honor has not had an active process for veterans and their
families to purchase plaques for quite some time. I can't even purchase a plaque
for myself or anybody else. Recognition matters to us.
it tells veterans that their service is valued and remembered.
tonight, I ask for action together. I
want to work with you all to make national city the most friendly,
the most military friendly city in san diego county. Not just in words,
but through actions, partnerships, visible support for those who serve.
thank you, mayor and marcus for always supporting our events and I'd like to see the other
council members of our events as well. Right. Can we
now have on, uh, on zoom? Sure.
carrie skelly.
terry skelly,
madison wrap.
hi. Good evening mayor and city council members. Tonight I wanted
to raise some awareness about marijuana use and respiratory health, especially
among people living with asthma. As a mother of a
child recently diagnosed with asthma, I was especially interested in this information
and wanted to make sure it was known because as marijuana use continues to rise,
it is critical that we understand its potential health impacts. Asthma
is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases
affecting millions of adults and children. Yet surprisingly little
research has examined how inhaling marijuana affects asthma outcomes.
a recent national study analyzed data from 4,000 adults
with asthma and found that inhaling marijuana, whether by smoking
vaping or both, was associated with a significantly higher likelihood
of experiencing an asthma attack within one year. These findings
highlight a clear association between inhaled marijuana use and
increased asthma risk. The sensitivities, people with asthma have
should open the window for us to see that these inhaled products are actually dangerous
for everyone. On some level, it is not safe to be breathing in these toxic
chemicals. So why are we allowing them to be sold? Four cities
in california now have bans on all tobacco sales, so it's not
a huge leap to expect that all of these harmful products could be banned.
as policymakers, you have a responsibility to ensure that residents receive
accurate health information. Public education, warning labels,
and continued research are essential so that individuals and especially
those with asthma, can make informed decisions about their health. Thank you.
thank you, judy str.
good evening city council and mayor morrison. Thank you. I wanted to share some
information that we've been talking about in my afterschool program
where we provide mentoring to elementary school students and that
mentoring is done by teens. We were very concerned about some
research that was, uh, just came out in the journal of addictive behaviors regarding
the increase in the number of parents that are parenting
children actively who are using marijuana. That rate
is now at one for every 12 parents in the united states.
this is triple what it was just 12 years ago. As you can imagine,
the effect that it has on children to be parented by those who
be might be inattentive or unable to give them the care they needed.
the studies of the effects of this situation have been studied and
the concern they have for risk of neglect and the higher likelihood
of showing children about substance use
are dramatic and tragic, we think. But a particular concern
to us is that population of parents that seem to be using, and they
are younger parents and lower income households and parents who haven't
had the opportunity to go to college and perhaps unmarried parents as well.
so we think as a city, we would want you to know how important it is that
we demonstrate to parents wherever they are, their
role in protecting children and that the role marijuana plays
in making them less than available to their children. So I'd
like to suggest that we take a new look at what the city does in
the way of billboards and permitting, and remember that it is
normalizing and commercializing a product that damages families.
thank you. Thank you, becky. Wrap.
good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is becky
rapp and I come as I'm very concerned regarding the
illegal products, um, being sold at our local tobacco and smoke
shops. Stores are blatantly selling flavored tobacco
cre products and intoxicating hemp products that appeal to you
and often violate state and local laws. Nearby cities
are increasing enforcement and issuing major penalties.
recently, a smoke shop in encinitas received a multimillion dollar
fine, um, and the owner paid it.
why is our city not taking the same aggressive enforcement approach?
we often talk about budget and, and raising, um,
and collecting more funding for all of the important things
that we we need for our community. Um, strong
enforcement would do two things, protect public health, as
well as generate revenue through fines, penalties, permit actions,
and product confiscation. Um, please send the message
that national city will not tolerate businesses profiting from illegal
and dangerous sales in our neighborhoods. It's time to
take the blatant signs out of the windows advertising
these, these products. Thank you. Thank you.
terry kelley?
hello? Can you hear me? Yes. Sorry I missed you earlier. I just stepped out for
one second. Okay. Um, good evening. National city, city council mayor
morrison, I wanna thank you for the adoption of a comprehensive tobacco
retailers licensure program ordinance. As a parent,
I applaud your efforts to reduce tobacco product sales to those under
the age of 21. Please do the same for marijuana products
that young adults find so attractive and available. We all know
that smoking and vaping are leading causes of preventable death,
disease and disability worldwide. Both
marijuana and tobacco deliver toxic chemicals that cause severe respiratory
and cardiovascular damage. These cancer causing chemicals are
dissolved in particles that can be easily inhaled deep into
lungs. Due to their very small size, the chemicals
should never be inhaled by children and rapidly growing teens,
older persons. Those with health deficiencies
on women who are pregnant or nursing regarding enforcement activities,
please remove unauthorized tobacco and marijuana products from the
shelves like illegal flavored tobacco and marijuana products,
and prosecute those who continue to sell them. Thank you for
your continued enforcement actions that affirm your commitment to
healthy and safe residents here in national city. Thank
you and good evening. Thank you. Peggy walker.
hi. Thank you. And good evening. I'm peggy walker, public health educator
for considerable time. Now, medical professionals have warned that smoked
and ingested dispensary marijuana products have no medical
benefit yet. Unsubstantiated, misleading health
claims by the industry persist. This issue
will now be addressed in federal court. A new class action lawsuit
accuses three major cannabis companies of systematically
advertising their products as medicine. While knowing the science does
not support those claims. In another lawsuit, the trump administration
is being sued by a coalition, including doctors
alleging failure to consider marijuana's well-documented health risks
in rescheduling. I bring this here to urge awareness
of mounting lawsuits alleging that unverified health
claims of cannabis products have caused harm, especially
when excessive potency is involved. And these lawsuits allege
use can even worsen health conditions. You'll find if
you check that product sold as medical in dispensaries.
and yes, consumption lounges generally are the same
as those sold as recreational marijuana.
profiteers have deceived the public with false therapeutic claims
for too long. In the worst con, since big tobacco
efforts to hold a industry accountable, suggests it
would serve public health to one codify prohibition
of the sale and marketing of marijuana products as quote,
medical, and two to enact potency caps.
I urge you to consider those policy steps or to support
them at a state level. Thank you. Thank
you. And mayor, that concludes our comment. Alright, thank you very much
with that, then, uh, we go into our recognition
and we have our introduction of new hires and promotions on city employees.
so we can start off first, how about with the, uh,
with the police department captain?
good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council, staff, and community. My name
is chris sullivan. I'm a captain with the national city police department. I have the
pleasure to introduce you to chance knight. Chance knight joined the
national city police department in 2025. Uh, he was originally hired
as an it analyst. Uh, his knowledge of it systems
has been an invaluable resource to the department, not only to the department, but to the city
as well. His impressive experience in his abilities. He was
recently promoted to senior it analyst. Uh, chance has a
great personality. He works great with everybody. Uh, he's
also an extremely talented musician. He plays both the clarinet
and the saxophone. And he also taught private lessons after high school.
he loves animals and would love to volunteer at a local shelter in the near future.
we are extremely proud of chance, our senior it analyst and we
welcome to our national city family. Thank you. Uh,
next we go over to engineering
.
good evening. We have a live one from our department today,
. I know, right? Uh, well, good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council
member, staff and community. My name is marta juarez. I'm the acting
director for engineering and public works. And tonight it's my true joy to
announce this promotion in the engineering division of our department.
jason jasmine first joined the city in 2017 as
an unpaid volunteer, which he did for about three years later. He
came back in 2022 as a part-time student worker. And,
uh, while he continued to go to school, uh, a year later, he joined
us as a full-time permanent employee in 2023. And has served
on our team as an engineering technician the past three years.
and during this time, jason worked really, really hard. He was doing double duty
as he completed his bachelor's of science in civil engineering from
sdsu, which he completed just about a month ago. So
we wanna congratulate him on that .
and, and earlier this year, he also passed the eit exam, the engineer and
training exam with the state of california for civil engineering. So he's well in his way.
he's an exemplary team member who provides excellent customer service, both
internally and externally, uh, in any role regardless of the title.
so we're very fortunate. The city's incredibly fortunate to have such a committed
employee here. Please join me in congratulating jason and his promotion to junior
engineer sybil. Thank you.
thank you everybody for, uh, the, the, uh, gratitude. Um, I
continue to look forward to helping and assisting, uh, the community, uh, within the confines of
my position. So thank you very much, everyone. Nice.
all right. Fire department.
good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of the council city staff and members of the
public. Sergio mora fire chief, and it is my sincere pleasure to
introduce jody and spirit. Uh, jody pierce is our new ems
coordinator. Um, this is a new position for the fire department
and jody's role will be to assist in the fire department in our efforts
to enhance our quality assurance and quality improvement programs at the fire
department. Jody will also play an integral part in be
a key member of our staff as we develop our own emergency medical
transport system. A little bit about jodi. Jodi has
over 32 years in caring for people in emergency medicine.
uh, ms. Pierce retired from the san diego fire rescue department as
the deputy chief of emergency medical services. Throughout
her career, she pour her energy into helping the ems division grow through major changes
and into strengthening the city, the city's medical transportation system.
jodi has also had the privilege of leading and supporting many incredible teams and programs
such as, uh, education quality assurance, ems logistics,
star paramedics, project heartbeat, community health, uh, the
paramedic program for the city of san diego field training medical directors
and ambulance transport agreements. One
of the things jodi is most proud of is helping to expand how the city can show up
for the people in need. And she want would like to do this by growing community
health efforts, supporting alternate destination transport and improving emergency
medical dispatch. I've known jodi for quite some time. And
then we know jodi as someone who listens, brings people together, and keeps the focus
on what matters most practical solutions that help crews do their
best work and help patients get the right care at the right time.
as mentioned, she was the deputy fire chief of emergency medicine city of san
diego. So she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our ranks
as we strive to make improvements in the medical services
delivery system, uh, to our residents and to our visitors. We are
extremely fortunate to have jodi join our ranks and look forward to her
many contributions as we move forward. And as mentioned, jody
comes with a, a great, great amount of experience and, and the things that
we're trying to accomplish here in the fire department. Uh, and I will
bring her around to meet, meet all of you in person here shortly. Thank you. Alright.
okay, next, I'm gonna look to our, uh, acting city manager to, uh, introduce
the next individual. Alright, thank you mayor. Council members of the public staff.
uh, tonight I'm very excited to introduce our interim hr, our
interim human resources director, rex sanders. Little background on, on
rex. He, he grew up in, in gainesville, florida. So for those of
you who are into sports, they pretty big time. Football,
basketball, baseball. But rex, uh, by the time he
was done growing up in a college town, uh, he wanted, he
wanted a change of pace and, and new experiences. So he moved to the west coast, came
to california, uh, finished his schooling, found
his way into the hr world, and, uh, really
had, um, but the bulk of his career working for
a, a regional california public agency where he started really at
the ground level as a technician and worked his way all the way up to an hr
director. And ultimately, uh, an administrative services director, uh, made a
career of it, um, decided to, uh, move to san the
san diego region and, and co-founded a consulting firm where he
continues with his partner to provide support to public agencies with
all things human resources related. Uh, he, he also serves
as the president of the public sector human resources association,
san diego chapter. Um, you know, his resume, uh,
speaks for itself. He comes with the wealth of, of experience. But,
uh, what I really appreciate about rex is just his, his thoughtful
approach in nature. Um, I had a conversation with
him for about an hour. Um, he was referred to us from,
from a colleague, and we initially, we instantly hit it off
and I said, you know, I, I really want to take 'em to meet, um,
the team at, at, at hr. And, uh, they've been through a lot. There's been
a lot of transition in leadership with our hr staff.
and we set up a meet and greet and, um, gave
our staff an opportunity to get to know rex and ask some questions. And then, um,
I left. They had lunch, I came back and it was unanimous.
they really wanted him to come on board right away. And
I just sense, uh, an immediate calming, uh, for the staff
for our department. And he's really coming in and filling a critical role.
he did it, uh, immediately. And we look forward to, uh,
getting to know rex more, working together across departments and,
and, uh, everything that he brings to our organization. Rex, we really appreciate
you being here and, um, contributing to our organization and look
forward to working with you in the coming months.
alright.
you want, you wanna say anything? Rex ?
not really, but I got those. Looks like I, , I were expecting. Um,
thank you so much, steve, for the warm welcome. And I have to say that everybody at the city of national city who
I have come in contact with, and there's plenty of other people that I still need to meet and, and connect
with, has just been so welcoming and warm to me coming in. So thank
you so much. It's helped me a lot. Get, get settled, especially the human
resources team who you mentioned. Steve is, uh, one of the, um,
the folks who just keep me inspired to keep coming back every day and working hard
for the city. Several of 'em are here tonight. Um, and thank you for being here,
uh, hr staff to support , um, me and the city. Um,
it is my pleasure and, uh, an honor to serve this city, its
staff and its residents. Um, so thank you so much for the opportunity, steve and everyone here. Thank
you. Thank you. All right, next we go into
presentations. Our first one is, uh, 7.1. This is, uh,
edco. And give us an update here.
adjusted up here. It stays.
uh, so good evening, mayor and council. I'm carl sheva. Um, I'm the
general manager of family owned and operated edco waste and recycling. And as always,
I'm here with steve south, our ceo. And, uh, so we're just here to
provide you a, an update and oh, thank you very much.
if I can get this right, right. I wanted to talk
a little bit about the, uh, rate increase and the rate increase for standard
residential service. As you can see there, uh, went up a dollar
one or 3.65%. Um, and I wanted
to mention that these rates were part of a five year, two 18 already approved
in 2023, and then will be effective july 1st, 2026.
so, um, in addition, I wanted to point out that edco offers a 20%
discount for seniors, um, at 2282. And
as well as we also offer silver bags at the chamber, um,
for those that produce small amounts of refuge and recycling
at a, at a large discount. So, um, I also wanted to highlight, as you can
see the chart there, um, there's a lot of cities up there and, um,
edco continues to provide the lowest rate, um, in the region. So,
all right, I wanted to talk about some of the programs that we have. Um,
so every year we have four, three, uh, four free, bulky item
curbside collections. Um, and then in addition to that, we have free shredding,
uh, e-waste and mulch. And as you can see, there are over 700,000
pounds hauled away from the numerous, uh, neighborhood cleanups
that, uh, we've all partnered with public works on. Um,
and couldn't do it without the public works department and their, their partnership,
um, as well as council. Um, and so you can see that's a significant,
uh, um, amount all the way. And I'm
happy to say that, uh, we have 49%, uh, over a 49%
diversion rate, so nearly half of that was recycled.
so as you know, we don't own any landfills, so we're really incentivized, um,
to recycle. And then I wanted to point out our public containers that you see throughout
the city. Um, in total we donated 75 of those. And then more
recently with the partnership public works, we're also refurbishing any of those
that need, uh, to be refinished just to make sure that they, um, are
well, um, presented in the public. So,
alright. Um, and I think you've heard me talk about sb 1383
for quite a few years now. Um, sb uh, 1383
went into law in 2016 and we busily went to work,
um, with staff to, to roll out organics to make sure that's diverted from
the landfill. And I'm proud to say that, that those organics,
um, in our anaerobic digester, um, are turned into renewable
natural gas, right. And they're powering our trucks. So, uh, from an emission standpoint,
um, very, very clean. Um, and that, uh,
national city was the first one to be at 100% compliance on sb
13 83 3 stream. And then that's continuous work from
our reps and, uh, public work staff to make sure that we stay in
compliance with state regulations. Okay.
right. Um, also wanted to talk, um, a little about
our enhanced public education. Um, as part of a state
mandate of sb 1383, edco has developed a multi-level
educational and outreach program. Um, we use social media,
um, multiple layers, mailers, and, uh, we've developed a
vast video library, um, over many years that's easily accessible.
um, and then the next steps for our reps is to
go out and, and visit, uh, dining or fast food restaurants
and make sure that they're properly recycling, they have the right signage, they
have the right containers, um, and that they meet the,
uh, requirements of ab 8 27. Um, so we're
busily working, um, doing, doing that out in the community right now.
alright. Um, with that, um, that
concludes my presentation unless there's any questions,
comments. Thank you, carl. Such
a pleasure to see you again. And steve, thank you for coming and visiting us. It,
it is such a wonderful partnership that national city has with edco.
thank you for everything. Um, I always remember the visit that I had to
visit the digester. Um, I, I would love to have another visit. And, and,
uh, I know that, uh, I do, you do offer visits to visit that
location. I, I know that at the time that I visited, it was several weeks, several years
ago. Uh, I don't know if there's another update to the,
the situation with the digester. I think there was another one that was coming on board. Yeah. Um,
that's the great point. And we offer tours anytime anybody wants to tour there.
um, it's very interesting and educational. Um, and, uh, so
we can set that up. And then in addition to that, we've had two additional chambers
to the enter digester. Mm-hmm . Nice. We also got a grant from the state that's helping us with that.
so allow us to have more and more tons within the digester producing
more gas and, uh, helping the city reach its goals for usb
1383. Well, I'll book another tour 'cause I would love to visit and, and see the new updates. And
yeah. Uh, I encourage anybody interested in all of that. The, the tour is
fascinating. All of the science is explained. It is a little smelly, but you know, my background
is in fermentation, so I didn't mind the smells at all. So. Perfect. Thank you.
thank you. Mine two, but that was something .
alright. Okay. Yes. Thank you mayor. Thank you carl
for this presentation. Thank you for this report. We just like to, um, extend
again the, the, the, um, thanks, thanks to you and ed echo. And
I see our ceo there hiding all, always very humble. Um,
you know, I mean, during our cleanup, not only do we see all of you there, but we
see the ceo also, uh, lifting a finger to make sure that our city
is clean from all those, um, the, the things
that we, we collect. I know we have another one june 20, so we look forward
to that, um, cleanup day again. Thank you, sir. Absolutely.
and I thought I'd just quickly mention that. Um, it's just a public, uh, it's
a real pleasure working with public works with martha and steve and the whole group.
um, and we're all out there in the community working side by side, but most recently
we had public works appreciation week and so we kinda sponsored
a little over there and I got to spend time as well as
some of our staff got to spend time. 'cause typically we're out there working side by side
at cleanups. But, uh, we gotta spend some time there. And, uh, just gotta say
that entire team was a pleasure to be around and you could tell they really take pride in what they're doing.
okay. I good. Thanks mayor. Uh, thank you all carl. And, um, thank
you so much again for all the great work that you continue to do in our city and the great partnership.
I still remember, um, you all are available whenever we need
to have a cleanup or whenever there's a disaster that hits our city as it did a few years ago,
is something that I certainly remember and keep close to my heart and really thank
you and your employees for coming out and continuing to assist our community. Thank you.
but if there's anything we can do better, we're available. 7 24. Okay. Well,
uh, member bush is gonna tell you what you can do better now. . Yeah, I, um, don't have
much, uh, to add beyond my colleagues. Um, I'm really happy with the service
level you provide, especially when I look at some of the chaos that some of your competitors
republic, I think as a competitor and just like how the labor disputes they have and everything
else. I hear a lot, what I care about a lot is workers and
how a company treats their workers and ever nothing but good things from your, your workforce
about you all. So I really appreciate that. And then especially the, um, community events
you guys do quarterly, the the cleanups. I think that helps not just clean up, uh, our neighborhoods,
our residents use advantage, uh, take advantage of that. And it, it just, it just really helps.
so I really am satisfied with the work you guys are doing. I don't have, and yeah, the mirror's,
right? I'm not afraid to give constructive feedback. And so, um, I I honestly, I
don't, I don't have any, like, I think you guys do a great job and I'm
open to, you know, we have budget discussions if there's in the future, not for
tonight 'cause not ize, but if there's anything creative that, um, that we can partner
on to, that's a win-win. Um, you know, I'm definitely
open to hearing what more creative things that, that we could be
doing to, to partner. So I really appreciate the work you guys have done. Yeah,
absolutely. And if, uh, there's anything that we, you think we could do better? Um, any of
the council members, mayor, we're available all the time. Um, steve
always says 7 24 and he means it, well sometimes
even beyond that point. Uh, and, uh, you know, I've enjoyed through the decades working
with edco and, and through our solid, uh, uh, regional solid waste association
and everything else and, and the commitments that we put together. And, uh,
but as I say, everyone's got nothing but great things to say about edco and,
uh, and I agree. I mean, you guys are out there all the time, um, and whether
if it is a trash situation or if it's a community project, whether if it's
roofing a house on steve yes. Yes. And, uh,
uh, or a flood say what? Or a flood. Or
a flood, yes. But, uh, yeah, he'll have to tell you about his story about roofing a house one of these
days. He's back there shaking his head like, no, I won't. Okay. Uh, but,
uh, uh, but anyway, yeah, and you know, and you talk about the bio digesters and a lot
of people go, okay, it sounds really nice, but, you know, those are four standalone
containers, uh, half a million gallons a piece.
and so all of your yard waste or your food waste,
you know, you wonder where all that stuff goes. It goes into those things and they go up there to escondido
to their plant up there, and, uh, then you fill it with
enzymes and by the time it gets done, it's got a whole lot of methane gas, which is
what you use to, to run your trucks. And there's not much left
, uh, by the time those enzymes get done with all that stuff. But, uh,
but it's, it's a great way of, of recycling and, uh, and, and
yet at the same time, uh, turning it into something useful. So once again, you
guys, and, and believe me, I, because I go to most of the trade shows, the, uh, uh, the
trash trade shows around and edco is the envy of, of so
many because you're, we're based, we're used to these huge corporations
and edco is the largest family owned trash company in the united states.
and so it's different than, you know, one of these ones that's traded on the, uh, on the
stock exchange or something else, and is very personal. And as, uh, member bush
says, uh, your employees constantly rave about working for edco. And
that's, uh, that's something good to say in this day and age. Well, thank
you. And, and, uh, have to give, uh, credit to our employees too. Absolutely. Just
absolute pleasure working with them. We're blessed. Thank you. Alright, thank you very much. Thank
you. Alright, next we go on to, uh, 7.2.
this is building together mural reveal.
and who is gonna kick this one off?
well, I guess we're just going to bring up the crew.
okay. Uh, yep. You can use that. Just identify yourself and let's
go with it. Alright. Good, good evening, mr. Mayor and, uh, city council. Thank
you for taking the time to hear us out tonight. Um, we're the vision culture
foundation, uh, based right here in national city on highland avenue.
um, we do art, art therapy, mental health support, resources.
um, we do a lot in the community. Um, all our programming's free.
um, but we wanted to bring tonight to your, uh, attention. There's
a, there's an opportunity for national city. So I'm gonna talk about that. I'll keep it as brief as
I can. Hey, . Okay,
so, okay. So on may 2nd, um, we
did a party with you guys. Um, we, it was a building together. We painted a
mural. It's up in the top left hand corner where this slide, um, it's at the public works
building on 18th and wilson. Um, that's some other stuff
we've done in the community real fast. That's under, uh, ma, which
is, uh, on division in palm on the east side. And then, um,
there's a few other projects as well. Uh, thanks speaking to edco again.
thank you. Uh, thanks to edco. We were able to finish the 18th street bridge on the east
side as well, um, that mural. Um, so anyway,
what we want to talk about tonight is for over 40 years, we're talking about
a specific corridor, and it's right by nash, right by the public works building on 18th and wilson.
so for over 40 years, that corridor has cost the city money through repeated graffiti
abatement. Um, we're bringing an event that's never
come to this city before. It's, it's been around for 30 plus years. They've
done over 400 events all over the world. It's an inter it's an international
art event. Okay. And it's finally coming to san diego. So we're hoping to,
to partner with the city again. Um, it's an opportunity to permanently transform
the space on 18th and wilson into internationally recognized public art destination
at almost no cost to the city. And we say almost no cost because it, it
would be the same as we did on the second. I don't know if you guys recall, but all we did was shut
down a couple streets and had detour signs. That's it. We didn't, we, there was no
additional cost. Um, so like I was saying about meeting
a styles, it's a global public art movement. Um, it's a world
recognized street art platform, um, all around the world. It'll help establish
national city as an instant global cultural infrastructure, um, and international.
and it brings an international artistic exchange and it'll become
a world renowned mural movement for the city. Um, the, the event itself,
like I said, over 30 years of history, 400 plus events, um,
brings the best artists from all over the planet. Um, and it'll,
it'll, it'll leave permanent large scale public murals in that area. And it, it'll
attract community engagement and tourism activation. Um,
national city already has the culture here. We're not importing culture into the city.
it's just amplify, amplifying what what already exists here in national city.
national city has deep roots, deep roots in hip hop, muralism, low rider culture
and street art. Um, we're a very tight-knit community. A
a very diverse working class community. Our leadership, we have an
existing public art committee. Um, art is kind of important. We don't have an, uh,
an an art district yet, but it's important to the city. Youth arts as well. There's
a strong youth arts ecosystem. We're part of it. Um, and the
location, it's, you know, national city's beachfront property right here. Very
strategic location in south bay and san diego region. Um, for
decades, the city has, has repeatedly painted over vandalized walls,
removed graff, spent money removing graffiti, spent money late on labor,
on, on covering up this paint, spent maintenance funds. And it's,
it's been a repeated cycle endlessly for over 40 years. Right. Um, but
meeting a stylists has the opportunity to interrupt that. Um, it's large scale
respected murals. People don't want to vandalize things that are respected, you
know what I mean? It's painted from community members that, that are very well known in the art
community. It will dramatically reduce tagging. It will create a
sense of community stewardship and ownership. It will discourage vandalism
and it will reduce those reoccurring abatement costs. It'll save the,
the city tons of money. We did a study a while back and it, it
costs the city over 30 grand every couple months. You know what I mean? Just in graffiti
abatement alone. Um, so again, the cheapest graffiti abatement
strategy is creating spaces. People no longer want to vandalize. And how do you do that? You
activate it with art and vibrant, beautiful murals. This is the area
we're talking about right here. It's on 18th and 19th.
wilson and mckinley are the, are the, the sides. So, so it's all that area down
under there. It's on the west side. It's right by the public works building. That's that
building in the top, top corner. Um, the event that we're
hoping to, to do is on sunday, july 19th. And the only thing that we need
from the city is, is to close the street. That's it. The same thing that we did
before. This is the area right here. And as if you look at these pictures, you can see
all that buff paint all over it. It's just an endless cycle.
james and his crew, this is, if you guys don't know this, it's the man right here.
james and his crew spent countless hours down there painting over this stuff that
gets, it, gets hit all the time. This would immediately activate
the space. It would kind of defacto start like an art
district, you know what I mean? Overnight, you know what I mean? Because these artists come and,
and the reason why it won't cost the city any, any money is because these artists come from all over the
world and they bring their own paint. They bring their own, they, they, they get their own ladders.
they have their own crews, they have their own helpers. They get in one day and
they get out. You know what I mean? It's, there's a theme. And this year it's comic-con
theme. So the area that that was assigned to this would be
all, um, like, like, uh, cartoons. So it'd be cartoon themes.
it would be like betty boop and, you know what I mean? Just think of any kind of cartoon, any era
that those are the themes. Um, so it's, it's all this area right here.
and can you imagine if it was just activated with color, just like that one photo where you could see our
little mural up there. Um, it would change it overnight. This is the party
that we did on may 2nd. These are just some photos from it. It was a really great time.
we know you guys were busy doing city interviews and stuff like that mm-hmm .
but we just want to thank you again for allowing it to happen. 'cause it was, it was a great day.
um, we had a lot of fun and, uh, there was obviously no incidents
or anything like that. It was just a a, a really fun day. Um, and we just wanna do
the same thing on july 19th is just activate that space. Let the artists come
in, these international world re renowned artists with their guidelines and everything
that they're allowed to paint and then, and then get out. Right.
so I'll, I'll I'm almost done guys. Sorry. No problem. So
the beautiful public spaces, it improves community wellness. And that's a fact.
you know what I mean? It it, environmental psychology investing in beautiful
spaces recognizes that our physical surroundings deeply dictate our inner, our wellbeing.
it's, it creates a sense of belonging. Curated public areas in, uh,
invite diverse residents to step outta isolation, gather collectively
and form deep social connections. It's also a sense of identity. Public art and
thoughtful design. Reflect and honor, reflect and honor a community's unique
history, culture, and roots. Um, public art reduces visual blight
increases na, neighborhood pride creates safer feeling. Environments
encourages walking and gathering. And, um, by gathering we mean that
that area could then be activated for street festivals, farmer's markets,
you know what I mean? Um, things like that. It supports youth expression and artistic expression.
and it po it will positively impact the community's emotional wellbeing.
'cause people deserve to see beauty where they live. Um, uh,
yeah, we already said that. . So here's
what national city gets, is this artwork can either remain as either a permanent
public asset or it also opens the door to activate this space
in order for national city to host quarterly yearly art festivals.
so it doesn't have to, we don't have to keep these inter national murals forever.
it can be, you know, interchanged all the time using artists from
the area, from these neighborhoods. Um, these are, like I
said, these are large scale murals. It's a big area. So overnight it would get international
recognition. It would beautify the infrastructure over there that, that gets tagged
on every day. Um, inspires the youth that see that in their community.
it'll attract tourism and visitors for sure. Because this is, this is a,
this, this event's been going on over 30 years internationally. It's huge.
um, it'll bring positive media attention, community activation, reduce vandalism,
and it leaves a cultural legacy. Um, I think
you guys get, just like, have you guys ever heard of art basel in, in miami? It's a huge
festival they do every year. Yeah. And they activate all the south beach and it, it would basically, essentially
turn national city into that overnight. You know what I mean? So
that's really it. Guys. I already kind of touched on this. The artists donate and volunteer
their, their labor. They do it, you know, um, we'll organize all
the logistics just like we did for the last party. And all we need from you guys is just to
support the, support the party on that day, you know?
okay. Good. Um, so yeah, I'm
good. Do you wanna say anything? No, I just wanted to say guys, thank you guys vision, culture for
stepping up and helping our community as well. Um, I've been doing this for going on 20 years
and this is something we're doing new in our city to beautify our community and
keep it safe and, and put color into it. I mean, if you've gone to that street on
18th and 19th street by yourself at night, good luck. You'd be scared. ,
believe me, I wouldn't even go on there if I wasn't there. It's very dark and dingy. It's, it's
scary. But if we could do something like this in our community to keep it safe
mm-hmm . And the one thing that, uh, rj and I were doing the first, you know, project on
the public works building, we, we kind of talked about it like we
seen elderly. We see young kids walking through
there throughout the day, not a certain time throughout the day.
and all the elements around there man is just pretty scary. We've
seen some stuff as we're working. We see some crazy stuff down there at night. Yeah. So
it, to us, to beautify our community, we're in the right step of doing this.
this is what this happened. This is the answer. These guys, this is the answer.
this is the answer that what I'm doing. It's a bad because
it is a cat and mouse chase. I'll buffet it three hours later and hit again.
mm-hmm . And we're losing money, we're losing the battle. And these guys
are stepping up and, uh, be able to do that for our community.
not just do that, but our mental health and working with our youth. High school
kids, not just the high school kids, but also the, the elderly across
the street. They teach graffiti art to be elderly.
that's amazing. That tells you there's no boundary or age of the art
who not considering looking at it as a bad thing anymore. It's a good thing.
and that's what we're trying to create in our community, is to do better things.
'cause what we're doing in the past, guess what?
we gotta find different avenues. Go outside the box, collaborate with
these young men, with young minds and great in our communities.
they don't have to be here, but they're here. Yeah. For the old, why
could they take pride in our community? I just gotta thank them. Thank you guys for
doing. Thank you. Thank you. That was
beautiful. I wanna add also young women and children to that group,
but I just wanna say on, on b, my name is jessica marie banya.
I'm a licensed clinical social worker. I go by ree. It's so good to see you all again.
I just wanna say we have so much gratitude. We've been working together for a long time,
you know, with the low rider, uh, culture movement, it's, I mean even,
let's go back to even like the elections. My daughter, she's now 14
and she was a part of the interview process and you know, the questions that we asked like several
years ago and we're here still working together. I just wanna add that
I know we said, um, community wellbeing and, you know, these are all like punch words
that, you know, I think we know to use. We're aware of what
it is. Um, but I just wanna say thank you, uh, to our mayor
and to city council just for being in collaboration.
we're, we're, we're collaborators in this work in really just loving
our people, loving our community, loving our youth, loving our elderly,
and just seeing the power that we have within. It's a beautiful thing. So
I know we're here. We, we had a wonderful presentation thank you rj for this and for the whole team.
but I just wanted to add that this is, uh, suicide prevention. This
is mental health wellness and community wellness and wellbeing. These are the ways in
which we could do that is by continuing this collaboration that we have with one another.
and we're it, we're here, you know, I, I like wake up every day. I'm like,
oh my gosh. Like, oh, our friends, our people, our colleagues, our city council, you know, ,
you know, we're not just begging to be heard. We're, we're working together in community.
so I appreciate it. We appreciate it. Yeah. Okay. Questions. Alright.
do you guys have questions or? Well, well before we do, let me just find out who all is
speaking because I got a bunch of speaker slips here and I want to see if you're the ones up here. So do
we have, uh, gazelle, giselle, or she's back there?
she's got separately. Okay. How about larry? Okay, so larry's right there.
uh, and then we got george. George
right there. Uh, last name is ramirez
ine. Ah, ine okay. . Okay. You notices how I did that. Then we
have angela. Angela. Oh, angela's over there.
okay, come on up there. And carlos. Carlos right there. Okay.
alright. So we know who all, who all we had there. Uh, alright.
um, so if any of you who I just said who
want to also speak will give you a quick chance to do that also.
okay. Okay. Um, I can start. Hi, my name is giselle. I'm a community advocate and
artist. Um, my family has lived a long time in national city.
um, for decades, these walls have told a story of neglect,
maintain maintenance, and erasure. Every layer of paint covering graffiti
has been an attempt to solve a problem without addressing its root. And tonight we
have an opportunity to tell a different story. Uh, meeting of styles is not simply
an art event. It's an act of transformation. It is the belief that the
places we pass every day should reflect the beauty, creativity, and humanity of
people who live here. It is understanding that the walls can do more than divide
spaces. They can carry our history, our struggles, our dreams, and
our collective imagination. National city does not need culture
imported into it. Culture is already here. It lives in our families, our
neighborhoods, our youth, our artists, our low rider traditions,
our murals, and our streets. Um, what meeting of styles offers
is a platform to honor that culture and to place it on a global stage.
um, imagine stepping off the trolley and being greeted not by
great concrete, but by stories. Imagine young people seeing artists from
around the world, painting alongside local creatives and realizing that their
own voice, their own vision, belongs in the future of the city.
um, public art does something powerful. It reminds people that
they matter. It tells residents that their neighborhood is worthy of care,
worthy of beauty, and worthy of investment. 40 years from now,
no one will remember how many gallons of paints were used to cover these walls,
but they may remember the moment. National city chose creativity over maintenance,
possibility over limitation, and community over neglect.
this is more than just murals. This is placemaking. This is cultural stewardship.
this is a declaration that national city believes beauty belongs to
everyone. I urge you to support this partnership. Thank you. Thank
you. Hi,
everybody. My name's larry. Um, I was invited here one time
to watch my friend carlos do a painting of armando
regatta. Mm-hmm . And he told me a story. I'm like, who's this guy? And he, you know, I never got to meet him. And he
told me, hey, well, you know, he passed away. But one of his, uh, visions was
like, you know what? He wanted to beautify the city. And I'm like, man, I mean, you
know, that's cool, man. That's too bad. He, you know, he passed away and he's like,
you know what? Um, you know, we should carry that. You know, we should
just, you know, make it a reality, not just let it, let it die. So
I support that. I'm like, you know what? Let's, you know, I'm down with that. Let's, let's do it. Let's make it
happen. Um, you know, and, and, and I explored that little
area where they're doing the painting that's like, it's probably the
loneliest part of nashville city, . Like, nobody goes over there. And I'm like, man, you know, it's, it's
pretty, uh, it's pretty dead over there, , you know?
and, and I'm like, but you know what? This is the perfect place. You know, it's perfect place.
I don't know why, but, you know, whenever I go to other communities, I always compare, you know,
uh, nashville city has that. They don't have it. You know, I don't know why I do that, but , I
do that, you know, I do too. . And, um, and I'm like, man, we don't
have an art district here. You know? I don't know what happened, you know? Um, I go to,
uh, north park, they have a nice, you know, it's, and it, they just
created it. Mm-hmm . And I'm like, you know what? Why can't we do that here? Mm-hmm . So,
um, I hope, you know, we could start something and, and it's
not gonna cost anybody. It's, it's a win-win. I think there's a lot of artists already in national
city that, that wanna do something for their city and hopefully
make it happen. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
there. She's good evening mayor and council members. My name is angie micena.
I'm here with logan heights community development corporation, or logan heights, cdc.
and I'm really here to vouch for these artists and this
event, the meeting of styles. Um, we have been working with some
of these artists for about four years now, on a variety of murals
in the logan heights community that have done all the things that you've been hearing
about that have stopped graffiti and tagging
in on public walls that have increased, you
know, community pride in their neighborhood and really reflected the culture
and the stories of the community and created placemaking.
and that's exactly what these artists and community members are trying to do here
in national city. Um, the meeting of styles event is a truly
amazing collection of artists from all over the world coming together to
beautify our communities and our streets and spaces.
and, uh, for logan heights, cdc, we were able to, um, provide some,
some wall space for these artists to put their art. And it has totally transformed the
space. We get compliments on it. People like to take pictures in front of it.
it just transforms a space and really gives folks a sense of
pride in their community. And so, I highly encourage you to
take advantage of this opportunity. Again, these are, these are artists who
are donating their time and, um, they just need, they just
need your support to do that. So I highly encourage you to vote. Vote in favor. Thanks.
thank you.
hello, city campbell. My name is carlos daniel es, also known
as den lock. I'm a multi
medium artist. I'm, I have murals from chula vista to oceanside,
over 30 pieces at murals in chicano park in,
uh, bald park. I'm also a board member of the bar law and planning committee.
I'm a mural advisor for the love city heights committee, as well as I'm over there helping
and fixing murals. And, um, I just, I wanted to come and talk to
you about this, to help, to encourage you to support us with
this, because events like this create artists like me,
you know, create people that become successful and follow the dreams, you
know? And, and I'm a good example of that, and I want to come here and
keep that going. You know, when I was in high school and artists came and
he planted a seed by painting a mural with me at 15 years old.
and that developed to what I am now. So events like this
can create more like this for all of us. Thank you.
he painted armando, he painted armando's portrait. Okay.
alright. Okay. Yep.
hi, uh, mayor, uh, council members, uh, I'm george. I'm one of the artists here, and
we've contributed a lot of art here. And, um, I
actually love these things. I go to all over the country. We've, we've done these, we've been invited to different
countries to do these things. Um, it's a good time.
uh, and just to, just to be very concise about
this, I think if you consider the cultural contribution
and the graffiti abatement savings, and it's
basically for the cost of some cones, we could probably come with the cones
too. , you know,
I know you guys are, are, you're always considering a lot of serious stuff and very
important things. Right. This is a layup, this is an easy one. Mm-hmm . This is,
this is a lot for nothing. So, you know, I,
I strongly consider, uh, I want you guys to consider this and, and support us in this.
thank you guys. Alright, great.
good evening, uh, mayor and council members, thank you for allowing us the opportunity
to speak. I am a volunteer for the vision culture foundation and
a muralist as well. And I just wanted to say this is a great opportunity to build
that culture of belonging here for national city. And I think that comes with
care and accountability through arts. And I think, you know, through that support we can beautify
the city. I make that commute every morning and when I see the public works
building, I always tell, like everyone, like, this is something that I tell my coworkers about. This
is something that makes their commute better. 'cause it's something for them to look at. So I
hope that you consider this opportunity and support this class. Thank you. Alright,
can you state your name for the workers? Jill and ramirez?
thank you. Thank you. Alright. I think that was basically
all of 'em that we had there. Um, okay, let me, uh,
let me just make a couple quick observations and as a, the work you guys, don is
great. One problem I have with it, it's getting lost
with all that graffiti that's on the rest of those walls. You drive down through there,
it's, your work is, gets kinda lost in the middle 'cause it's gorgeous work,
but all that other garbage that's up there. And so I know we've talked about working
together with mts, that as we're doing these things, getting, getting that cleaned
off at least for the time being so that the people can say, hey, no, this is what we're doing. We're not doing
that. We're doing this. 'cause you, what you guys do is great work. Uh, another
thing is, a number of years ago we started to deal with whenever we were doing, uh, projects
in the city and people were building stuff that we had to have them add a
element of art to it. And so there's a lot of different things where there's
been art pieces have been put to, uh, that goes along with the construction.
one of 'em that was supposed to have been done that they didn't follow through on was
southwestern college. 'cause they were supposed to put something out on the corner,
uh, when they built that. 'cause the city put $20 million into that college,
believe it or not. And they were supposed to put something out on the corner of eighth and
national. The other thing they were doing, they were supposed to finish the parking
structure instead of it just being a cinder block.
and, uh, could you imagine the mural you could do there around education,
everything else that would be seen from the freeway. So,
uh, anyway, uh, but anyway, they are talking about doing some expansion right
now in, in to work with the city on. So we might
have a little bit of leverage with them. And, uh, so that, that might be something we might be able
to talk about in the future. But anyway. Okay. We're gonna
gonna go down, down the lines here. Uh, I believe mark. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. Thank
you. Thank you so much to the speakers, the artists here today. Thank you, mr. James. Kim.
thank you rj and the vision, culture foundation for being here today. Uh,
absolutely. Uh, I love public art. I think it is so important. It
especially brings a lot of community pride. Um, and I go by, uh,
that area, you know, I think I heard one of the speakers say, it's such a lonely area. Well, I go
by there. It's on, in the west side of national city, and I go to church at st. Anthony's.
and every single sunday, I do see that mural, uh, and, uh, armando
vera every single sunday. And it does, it fills my heart with pride. Thank
you very much for the, the, the, just the reminder. You know,
it is a piece of pride, uh, in national city. So I'm very grateful for
that. And I do wanna give a, a very good shout out to my colleague here, marcus
bush. Uh, his, um, enthusiasm for this project
from the very beginning has been, uh, one of the reasons I think
that it exists. And I know that his work towards, uh, getting caltrans
involved in mts and, and just all of the red tape that has to, you
know, we have to, to work with. Um, I do wanna give a shout out to
marcus and all of the artists that have come out here to represent. Thank
you. I appreciate all the work. Thank you. Thank you,
marcus. Well, thank you luis, as a team effort. So,
uh, thank you luis for that. And so wanna thank just everyone, vision,
culture foundation. I wanna give a special shout to my council rep,
uh, daniel gonzalez, who's, uh, uh, really worked on this. Like, I couldn't
have done this without him, so I know he is listening. So shout out to him, especially
on this upcoming event. He's working on the permits and with our city staff. So I think this coming to
council in two weeks, the, uh, uh, tup, um, uh, for this
event. Um, but really, um, I want to thank him because, uh,
this was an initiative even though, you know, not in, uh, this is lucy's district, um, not
mine. But this is something that we put a lot of effort into because it benefits us
citywide. And you guys just touched on it, the budget. Uh, there's a better way more
efficient way to do things. So really appreciate the work that he's done on this.
um, and the other major person of this is james. Kim, a huge, uh, shout
out to him. So thank you, james, because you've been a graffiti tech
for, and working with the city for 17, 20, so
almost 20 years, right? Almost 20 years. And thank you for having
the courage and the bravery. Um, just when we were, me and daniel were, were talking and
going downstairs and just seeing how are things going. And you had the bravery to just tell
us and give me, and give us constructive feedback. This is the,
we've been doing for many years, especially along that 24th street corridor.
I'll go out there, I'll paint over it, and within 24 hours at times it's
tagged up again. And so, uh, you know, I thought it was gonna go a lot faster.
I thought it was gonna be, oh, two months, I could get this done. It's been like two years .
but it's taken a lot. It's been worth it. It's the labor of love, I think, for all of us. And
it wouldn't happen without my colleagues here on the dais, our city staff, our active city manager
and his team for, um, approving this and being flexible and innovative with
some of the different, um, logistical, uh, challenges like
the, the crane thing and just, just all of that. And, and, but the crux of this idea,
and it also came from our former city manager, armando vera. So it's just,
all of this is just so beautiful. And it's honestly, for me personally, it's one
of the, the best projects or the best things I feel like I I've
done here on city council other than the, the low rider thing. So just, you know, we, 'cause we
have budget, we have a lot of great stuff that I'm, I'm proud that we've done. Um, but this is just like
transformational and it's economic development. I think this, this,
um, uh, opportunity, um, coming up next month. It doesn't
happen often. And it's just like the stars are aligning and this is like free art.
we're getting good free. And I hope that we, as a city or chamber, I hope that those
artists that are coming, that we can encourage them to stay in our hotels and spend money here
and do little side events here and things that just, you know, um, bring
that attention. Attention. I think there's opportunity for us to, um, if we have
initiatives that staff have initiative, things that they're working on, whether it's our parks,
our library, you know, I don't, I don't even know. There's just so many opportunities. We have a, as a
city has, has to, um, really grow and expand on this. So,
um, and I really think vision, culture, um, you guys, your volunteers,
your staff, everyone really appreciate. Just, you're one of the best nonprofits
in the county, um, and one of the best profits in, uh, national state. We have some
great nonprofits. I, I I just, but what you guys do for mental health,
uh, for our youth, um, for teaching and being a, a community
activist space, I, I want our partnership to, uh, continue to grow
and just what you've brought to the table and how, uh, you do your events and
you're working on the maum, uh, project as well. And, and, uh, council
member rodriguez's district. And so I just, I just think you guys are doing a phenomenal job
and I want, um, continue to do that. Um, the may 2nd event, it
was, it was really good. It was really amazing. And, and we did like that we
were, we were coming off of like a eight hour like marathon on interviews. So we,
like we just said, we were behind on events, so not all of us could make it. Um, but
I'm really excited for this, for this potential event. Um,
a couple things just for city staff, I would ask the city manager.
I don't need an answer right now, unless you or your public works department does have
one. But for this future, um, for this meeting of styles event
in this two p on july 17th, I know we have, um, long
term a, um, a, a project, um, a bike, uh, active
transportation project that we've had a lot of previous back and forth discussions on
city council about design and all that. So, um, I, I'm
not trying to put you on the spot, but if your staff could check into just making
sure there's no, um, like conflicts or anything that was predetermined,
um, uh, with that, because we have caltrans permits that caltrans has been
great, we're working with them. Um, but I just wanna make sure, I think this, this fits
like perfectly and even is enhanced and I think improved what kind of we
had conceptually. And so I think this is consistent because there's no kind of infrastructure.
this is just paint. But, um, if, uh, you, your staff can
look into, uh, this or have any comments about that, um,
or feel free to chime in. Um, and then, um, just
response to, uh, the, uh, mayor and agree with what
he said, um, about the other buildings. We have a long-term plan
for those other buildings. So this first phase was the, uh,
catalyst and it was the easiest to implement because it's land and a
building that we at the city control. So now the next phase and challenges will
be drafting mous. I'm looking at you, city attorney, mous
and, uh, legal work. Uh, because the other part of this is, um, this is
private property that is tagged and they do have a responsibility. And I appreciate you,
james, in one of the meetings you like told them, you just laid it out like it is, like, hey, this is us
as public subsidizing your private operations in your graffiti and it needs to stop.
and so willing to work with them. But those are the next phases of this.
and, uh, we don't have a set budget or anything for it. So this is
a future work that I think we need to do to, for that to implement. And you guys
provided us some concepts. So there's more work that needs to be done. I will say we do have
the money for a project like that. It could come out of our economic contingency reserve
that, uh, the unspent funds from last year. So we could talk more about that.
um, and then the opportunity, I appreciate the mayor's idea of the opportunity for southwestern college because
that garage that's, it's prominent and I didn't realize that that was part of, uh,
mou that they, the southwestern college didn't follow through on. So that's another
opportunity 'cause that's an ugly parking garage. And that's something that's an entrance to the city and we just
need to take better care of our, our city's image. Um, I personally
don't care when people call it nasty city. I really don't because those are the kind of people that
personally I don't care that are coming here, right? Like, so, but we
also want to shed some of the negativity and, and the ugliness
at the same time, or at least like, redefine it and transform it. Um, and embrace like kinda what
you guys are talking about, em, embrace our, our urban culture and embrace
like our, our people that are stereotyped and like graffiti are the,
the graffiti, the murals. Like, there's a bigger, deeper cultural story that's really beautiful
to that. So that's why I love what you guys are doing. I, I really appreciate it and I, I
think we can really get this done. This is economic development too, so I really appreciate you guys.
thank you. Thank you. Oh, last thing, last thing, james, on, on, uh, just on james,
if you continue to to work with our staff and coordinate, um,
uh, on this and in particularly for like in the, uh,
budget longer term, not, not for like this particular discussion, but at least like
for the next, uh, few weeks. But I really appreciate the leadership.
you're, you as a tech. I haven't seen a city employee
that isn't in a manager and leader position. I have not seen an employee do the level of work that
you did in front of the bottom of my heart. I just wanna give you a big shout at and thank you. 'cause this project would not have happened without
you. Thank you.
okay, member rodriguez. Thank you mr. Mayor. I echo the sentiments of my colleagues
and really want to commend the effort of all volunteers, uh, staff,
uh, vision culture foundation, as well as other nonprofits that are involved in the process.
uh, council member bush, thank you so much for leading the effort and daniel as well for helping
make this happen. I mean, I know, I know we all, um, know this
to be true. Art is, uh, is an expression of our history, of our collective history.
and, and it is, um, it's critical that we continue to support that and
demonstrate that at every phase of our city and anywhere we possibly
can. And so there's so many beautiful murals, but there's so much more and so many more opportunities.
and so you certainly have my support and that of our council office on, on, uh,
partnering with, with continuing to expand mural space within our city and within our
district. I think it's imperative in order to display our history and not allow our history
to be written by others. And so thank you so much. Really appreciate all your help. Thank you.
thank you mayor. Um, vision, culture foundation. I'm
awed by the, by the work that you do for our community. Thank you so
much. Thank you. Uh, you have a big support here. Okay.
thank you all very much. Thank you guys. Thank you you for hearing us.
thank you guys. Alright,
next we go into here. Sorry, can we take a picture with them? Is that okay?
uh, if we can get 'em all back up here. Yeah. Can you guys, do you guys mind all coming back up so we can get a
picture? Oh, sure.
thank you. It was a good idea. . Sorry, I forgot. Sorry.
come on. Okay. Yep. Uh, yep. Stay on that side of the podium or otherwise
on this, on this side. You all get blocked out. Thank you.
oh, a couple extra trouble makers in there. Okay.
alright. Thank you. Yeah.
yo, I was waiting for the threat .
oh, just really quick guys, that the mic culture, mike.
oh, vision culture just came up with the great idea. Uh, I know the
passing of mike mejia. I've been working and talking to the fire guys here
and that's something, they came outta heart. They said, you know what? Anything for our first responders,
they'd be more glad to put a mural somewhere in nashville city of honor of mike bia.
that's another thing that they're willing to do and, uh, to our community. Love
it. So just putting it out there as that. Well, thank you james. Love it. And james, since you brought up
something, last thing I forgot to tell you, um, there was a question, um, on
budget and what, um, the return on the investment is and kind of the,
uh, improved, uh, cost estimation for this. So this is, uh, for you, james. So if we can get that, and
actually I'll say it mr. Edt though. And so, um, and I'm sure he doesn't mind
just that, uh, that I disclosed that. So if we can get, uh, some of the
numbers, I think we already have an estimate and, um, and I think it just, uh,
needs a little bit of, uh, refinement. And you can go ahead and talk to mr. Nieto
for some of the details he was working on. But the, this, we did do high
level analysis and this was proven, this concept to save money. So I just, uh,
but getting those numbers I think is, is good. Okay. Thank you. Alright.
um, before we go into consent count, we also have, uh, regional boards
and committee reports. Start down here. Nothing
to report mayor. Okay. Um, no report, mr. Mayor.
okay. Down
here with, uh, mr. Bush. Yes. So a report on air
pollution control district, and also wanted to, uh, respond to the, uh, public comments
about that, which I appreciate. So I want to thank, uh, mr.
ock and, uh, ms. Quinone, and especially, particularly ms. Quinone because, uh, ms.
quinone, you did come to our epc board meetings and you've been,
uh, uh, an advocate about our delayed, uh, pair program and asking those
questions. So I really appreciate the, um, engagement despite some of my, uh, disagreements on
policy, which I'm happy to, uh, sort of give high level update on. And,
you know, we can have follow up conversations on the dais and outside. Um, so
the, um, indirect source rule was, uh, an item that I've updated kept our,
uh, council updated on it. Uh, absolutely was a difficult,
uh, decision and tough for all of us. But I want to do, uh, point out some
things, not just, uh, from the staff report, but also,
um, in the response to the, uh, the email
that you all sent. Um, because there is some facts that I think
need to be stated in and corrected. Um, so,
uh, in terms of the, um, the email,
so one of, so, uh, it was the may 14th, uh,
uh, uh, board agenda meeting, uh, where
we took up the indirect source role. And one of the most important things, I think this letter, uh,
uh, mrs. Is, um, and it, and it states
at the board meeting that I voted against a motion introduced by fellow board member,
district supervisor, olo mere, actually do think for the record, it was introduced by, um,
our chair, berkeley garcia. Um, but, um, but a gire was,
uh, supportive directing a-p-c-d-a-p-c-d staff to do,
to begin drafting an indirect source rule. This rule has been studied
by epcd staff for four years and would be a first step in
a new program to limit emissions from trucks at warehouses. Now, the, now
the key part that, that, that statement that that email misses
is that it was the staff, our a pcd staff that recommended against
moving forward with an indirect source rule. So, um, part of,
uh, well, part of it, I I will say for our a pcd staff, they
are the most, um, uh, I think progressive pro-environmental
justice, uh, staff of any, uh, public agency staff
in the county. Um, and they have been very proactive on protecting health,
on getting data research. So they've been studying this for
four years, and in this staff report in the research,
uh, they, they're based on their research, this was not
the best route to go in, in direct source rule. And these are the reasons
why that I'll read some of these here. So
the, uh, part of this was here, let me get my notes and
read directly from the report.
uh, let's see. Sorry
guys, I lost where I was on the report, so I'm pulling this back up on my laptop.
alright, here we go. So the vote was, uh, five four. It
was, uh, a member gloria bailey, koval, board member, member fitzgerald
and myself in support of the staff recommendation, which was to
move forward with incentives and not to kill the rule, but to delay it.
and the delay was due to the legal risk was
due to the, and I'll read it right here. The estimated emission reductions from a
potential warehouse isr in san diego are projected to be significantly less
than the reductions anticipated from other rulemaking. So it was the cost, and, and
there's a whole, uh, set of bullet points. Uh, I don't wanna, uh, read, um, and
just in sake of, uh, public time. But it was the cost effectiveness, the compliance
cost, uh, the fact that the emission reductions were significantly
less. So staff researched this, and after the research they did,
this rule was not determined to be effective. And staff is an independent body
industry, of course, did support that. But industries, um,
their position besides, you know, the facts, I'm not going
to support industry. I'm gonna support the community and the decades
of, uh, pollution of, uh, health impacts that we've had. But this wasn't the best
approach, in my opinion. It was the legal risk. This rule has been overturned in other
areas. These are facts. This rule has been overturned in other areas. So there's
a legal risk, especially with the state and the federal courts and how they're made up.
so spending this amount of money, and then it would be two to three years to
actually be implemented. And yes, there was a lot of public comment, which I appreciate
all the public testimony, uh, uh, in favor of a rule. But
what the public comments all said is, we need action. We need help now.
so I'm not gonna promise the public that we're gonna do something that's gonna be
two to three years maybe in the making that's expensive and that our staff is telling us
is not the most effective approach or tool. So it's not that it's,
uh, gonna be killed forever. It's, it's paused right now. I offered
some ideas of solutions that can happen to, um, not today,
uh, but that can happen very short term as in the next few months. And a lot of that is based
on what's already existing. It's our pair program, it's our air filter. And
what I wasn't going to do was, uh, and I've done this before where
staff recommended, uh, specifically with the tijuana sewage river crisis, recommended
that we on the board, that we not push them into, uh, creating a new program,
um, addressing this because it, uh, it is a water quality issue. They
argued it not an air quality issue, but we still did what
I, I think was all right. And we, uh, directed staff against their recommendation
to still pursue this. And that was very helpful to getting solutions to
the tijuana river, uh, sewage crisis and getting air filters to those people.
that was helpful. But I disclosed it in this, uh, previous meetings that
actually ended up being negatively impactful to national city. We ended up spreading
our resources to thin at a pcd. So the pair program,
uh, which was for air monitors and air filters to be distributed here in
national city, got delayed and has been delayed for over a year and a half. And the staff did report
that. Part of that was because we started a new program. So, uh, national city's
already, uh, been delayed in some of what I think the resources,
the opportunities to address these issues. So I'm not gonna just, you know, rules
make us feel good regulations. Sometimes they're, they're good for, um,
uh, for doing press releases and saying, oh yeah, we did something, but
I don't think that this was going to do, um, what it, what we,
what we hope to do. And in fact, the staff analysis did say that if
this rule even did survive legal challenge, even after all the money that we spend
on it, they would average an estimated, um, six,
uh, six people. Their health would improve six
per year. And not just in national city, but in what's called the port side
communities. That is a fact. That is in the report. There's a lot of other data in
the report. There is opportunities, and I'm open to changing my
position on this. So I would, um, be definitely open to, uh, planning,
uh, commission, uh, discussion about it, having epcd, uh, uh, come,
come here. Um, but I am interested in doing something now and doing something
with, uh, air filters and getting our air monitors, uh, on track. So
this isn't over, but, and I encourage, uh, continued discussion, but just wanted to,
uh, give an, uh, comprehensive update about that, and then hopefully we
can yeah. Move, uh, move, uh, forward more. Last thing I'll say
on the email, this references, uh, aguire about three or
four times. It feels very political. This letter aguire was
not the only one that supported this. So there's more if, if the, if
the goldie ask in this email is to have our city council think, think
a pcd, then we should think if, if that's the council's decision, then
we should think more than just one supervisor. We, we should thank everyone if that's
the role, if that's what the council wanted to do. So that's my updates for ap
pcd. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh, thank you. I will be attending the
sandag audit committee meeting this friday. Those are all the updates I have. Thank you.
okay. Uh, just real quickly, uh, a couple things. We had
a meeting yesterday on the budget committee for, uh, risa and taking a
look at, uh, for the next two years, uh, national city will
continue to get our, uh, there's an extra amount of money that we get
that the other cities don't get for the simple reason. When we formed risa,
um, our rates were the lowest in the county, so
edco wouldn't go any lower. But what they did do, they dropped the north county rates down,
so we didn't get anything directly out of it. So as a result,
the other cities pay us an amount of money, so we get paid because
we helped get their rates lower. And so that is, uh, continuing.
we've had a couple times we get new board members, they can't figure out why our city, these are
ones from north county, and they can't figure out why our city is getting a rebate on stuff.
and then when we have to explain to 'em the reason your rates are so lower
is because of what we, we put into this project. So, um,
so that was good. The other thing is we're turning over the treasurer, um,
uh, national city has been the treasurer for risk for the last five years, and
now is another city's turn. So we rotated among the city. So,
um, and we had been paid each year to, for the cost that it cost us to do
both the, uh, uh, the treasury work and also on the audit. And
so, um, uh, so, but I say, but it's another city's turn now
for doing on that one. Uh, one other thing is we had the planning meeting of, of,
uh, sandag this last week. And, uh, the discussion was on housing
the arena numbers and, uh, let's just say
lively discussion. And, and it was, it was interesting,
um, different cities, viewpoints and some people, some cities
that have almost no arena numbers, which is the housing, uh,
numbers that, that are assigned to the cities. And, uh,
they were just crying the blues. You would not believe how much they were just crying the blues.
and then when we mentioned what our numbers were, they, they shut up. But, uh,
so it's, uh, um, anyway, but that, that's the debate that's
gonna be going on heavier in the next few years as we enter into the next eight year cycle.
uh, that's the only two things that I have to report at this, at this time. Um,
next we go on to consent calendars. Uh, this is nine
one through nine 16.
16, yes. Nine 16. I have request to
pull, uh, item 7, 8, 11, 15,
and 16. Mayor, I'd like to request to pull item nine
10 and nine 12, please. You said 9 10, 9 10
and nine 12. And nine 12. Thank you.
okay.
all right. Anything else? Just comment on nine, 9.9,
mayor. Okay. Just comment. Okay.
I, and I have, um, a, uh, motion for
9.6, a different one. So, or just, just some
addition. I'm sorry, what? Now? I have an addition, a
motion I wanna make for 9.6. Do you want both? Just I can pull it. Yeah, let's pull it. Okay.
alright. Alright. Uh, anything else?
okay, then we have a motion for the remainder of the calendar.
so move, mr. Mayor. Okay. We have a motion? Do I have a second?
second. Okay. We have a motion and a second.
we have no other discussion. Please vote for the remainder of the calendar.
motion. Prove unanimously. Okay. First we go with, uh, nine six. This
is the annual military equipment use report.
and I believe that was member rodriguez, was it?
oh, no, no, I'm sorry. Member bush. Yeah. So my, and I asked this in briefing, so I wasn't sure
if we had an answer yet, but if not, that's okay. So, um, uh,
the last council meeting, we directed this, uh, to go to the,
um, cprc, which they did, they reviewed it. So thank you to
staff for presenting that. My problem was that there was not,
in terms of their attachments, only the powerpoint was included. None of the background attachments
that we were, um, provided, um, on the
city council, including the list of the weapons and the staff report and all out
of that. So, uh, my question was why that wasn't, uh, included
in the, in the original, like, what, what happened there?
thank you. Council member bush, chris sullivan, uh, captain once again.
so when we were asked to present to the cprc, that's what we had
done. And obviously trying to, uh,
present to counsel on the first go round. Um, and
it was pushed. So we can do that provided us more, uh,
engagement into, uh, community members of the cprc.
the reason that we have the presentation is to try
to present to them, one of the options that we can do is
provide all of the materials in the, in the book to them,
into the future. Great. Um,
okay. So, um, so then
I, so then staff just made a decision not to just, they, uh, to abbreviate
is, is that why, to abbreviate what was given to the cprc?
um, what was given already provided to city council?
when we present in the manner of like a, a, of a powerpoint,
if you're asking why, or is it possible that we can give them the
entire report itself at that time? Yes, we
can do that. Uh, right. Well, that, yes, and that
technically wasn't my question. My question was why they weren't
provided the full report and information that we and counsel was
given were given, I believe at that time
it was trying to get to that presentation to them,
and we just provided them the actual presentation, which is a modified
version, which has all the information that we do have in the report, just not the
extended version of it. Okay. I appreciate that. Um, well, I
just, I mean, I'm ready to make a motion. They, um, they had their input, um,
and, uh, I did listen to, uh, that meeting and talk to some,
uh, to our city staff about some of the ways I think the commission could, um,
I guess be more productive in tone and just it be a little more productive and less,
uh, maybe accusatory, which I'm, you know, comfortable with that. But in the future,
I, I do believe that, um, our
anything that our, um, oversight boards, our,
our, our citizens committees, I think they should have as much information as
possible in the spirit of transparency, accountability, openness, and getting that as, as
advanced and possible. So it sounds like this was just kind of an oversight, and I'm okay with that.
um, but, uh, you know, moving forward, I, I would like, um, and this,
uh, this has come up before last year, so, so moving forward, I would like
our cprc, or for that matter, any commission that is reviewing
something to get all of the information and all the materials, uh, the background because it is
public, and then it, it, you know, it, it might, it will result in a little more work
on our part in the city, but I think it's gonna build more trust and then allow a better understanding
back and forth and for us to make, um, improved, uh,
decision making on, on the budget earlier so that we all have the
capacity to make decisions, okay? Uh, the, you know, the military grade equipment,
do we need this particular piece of equipment that is expensive at the, is there a
cheaper way to do this to achieve the public safety goals that we need? And then you all have an opportunity,
hey, this is a scenario where we need this and this is the risk analysis and
all that. So that's like for me just to better explain what the intent of that would be. So,
but I'm, I'm supportive. I, uh, and I'll, I'll make a motion to support this
item and would, uh, direct staff to when this item
comes up before, before it's, uh, uh, before it comes to city council,
that it goes to the full cprc with the full available information,
um, so that they could provide comments and potential recommendation
or thoughts on that to, to us. So that would be my emotion, approve
this item and have it in the future. Come back to council, come next year's annual report
and next year's annual report whenever it comes back next time, whenever
this related item has got it. Because I think we've had this come in midyear, but
I think we've had budget meetings about things like this. So if it comes up before then, I think it's appropriate
before then, so, okay. Whenever it comes up. So as it relates to the military
equipment report, that's what you're asking for, correct. As it relates to the military grade equipment? Yes.
okay. Thank you. Clarification question. Yes. So, so this, uh, motion has been seconded.
yes. Thank you. Um, and, and so you're fine moving forward with the today?
yes, today's fine. Mm-hmm . Okay. Thank you. And, and I do agree, uh, just for the sake of information,
uh, I appreciate information, I appreciate a lot of information. And because
all of the information had already come to city council, it was published on our city website,
uh, I do agree that it, it should have been fully presented
to the cprc. Um, and I do agree that, uh, we should
utilize our volunteers that wanna do the work, let them do the work. So I do agree with,
um, presenting them with all the information that's available. Thank you. And I'm in, uh, uh,
support of the motion.
all right, so we have a motion and a second. See, no
more discussion, please vote. Motion to approve
unanimously.
alright, next, we'll go to nine seven. Uh, this is the regulatory agreement execution
and amendment to the kimball highland ground leaves and promissory
note. Uh, cesar javier.
thank you uncle sam. I love my national
city. This is my first residence.
when I heard the word kimball, it came to my mind. That's
for the seniors, came to my mind,
the very important element in planning sheltering.
but this item is all about lease and how much
our expectation here, your honor, is that
it would help us in our revenue,
in support of
affordable housing. That's my line of thinking, uh,
sir. And I hope this would
add to the revenue that is being
planned now through sandag
about housing, whether it is 1000
or million, this is a great idea,
particularly coping up with
the high rise of everything. Sir, we
welcome this, particularly if it helps
invest in sheltering within
mind for the seniors.
I commented in sandag that how much 6.8,
less or more if the planners are already
engaged in that particular issue, shelter for many, many
years. And I hope this is a lesson,
if only to realize that there ought to be sheltered for
everyone. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much.
all right. That's the only speaker I have. What is the council pleasure chair comment
on 9.7. Yes. Somebody wanted to make a motion first before I make a comment,
a move to support 9.7. I'll second
the motion comment. Mr. Chair? Yes. Thank you. I have a, uh,
uh, long conversation with, uh, executive staff at, uh, my
briefing, and I have some, um, request to the city manager
with regards to my questions and comments, and I would like to put that
on record. Thank you. Okay.
alright. Um, so we do have a motion, a second.
seeing no other discussion, please vote.
motion to approve unanimously. Okay, next we go to nine eighth. This is a
notice of completion on the bicycle wayfinding signage project.
and so this is just saying that the project has been completed. Mr. Thomas reich,
and then mr. Cesar javier,
uh, this project is for signs $439,000
for signs for that say where
the bike path is. Well, that's,
that's the, that's the point I'm making. That's too expensive. And
this is all, this $439,000 is
going to the good sign and graphics company at 2010,
south five susan street, santa alley,
california. So they're, they're gonna be good
customers of national city, I'm sure. But, uh,
this is, uh, well, the
bike path for people, it,
how many people does, does include, does mere morrison your wife, do you use the
bike path a lot? Oh yeah. Yeah. Every
day. And yeah, there's a sign right out ho right outside here in front from go
to the bike path. So thank you. Alright,
uh, mr. Uh, cesar javier.
thank you, sir. We have
discussed this bike, uh,
issue or problem at sandag. I say problem because,
you know, these bike lanes, signages, et
cetera, are not implemented
as far as standard is concerned. Every community
has its own version. That's true.
very expensive. Others are not just paint,
but something solid that it
is prone to accidents.
come to our city, go around our city,
our community. We haven't gone much in our area
except the major routes and we see a clean, nice
painted lane.
this is a lesson, sir, that
once in my mind, just like an experiment,
this is stages experiment. Why? Because
dmb has already taught riders,
including, uh, cars that hey, let's share the road
so we know even without those lanes, that you have to look
at your side windows, et cetera, to ensure that everyone is safe.
now, for some reason, sandberg approved these projects.
I hope this will not be permanent, sir. Mm-hmm . That's the
next cycle probably of we just put a nice paint costing
10% of the cost only just
to save money. Thank you. Thank you.
alright, that's all the speakers we have for 9.8. What is your
pleasure? The approve. Mr. Chair. Second.
okay. Motion second. This is just a notice of completion, uh,
seeing no other discussion, uh, please vote.
motion approve with council member bush absent. Alright,
next we go to nine 10. This is notice decision planning commission approval
of a conditional use permit for a drive-through edition to an existing restaurant
that's karina's mexican seafood, located at 1705
highland avenue. And, um, chair, I believe that mr. Rodriguez
pulled that she's got a question about it. Mr. Mayor, 9.9,
I have a comment on 9.90, you have a comment on 9.9. Okay. Thank you ma'am. Okay. Okay.
um, just wanted to, um, commend our engineering public works
for completing this project. Um, this is the, uh,
the project, um, is to increase the system capacity of our,
um, of this, um, of this infrastructure. And I just wanted to make to,
um, think our, our engineer and public works for making
sure that our city's infrastructure, um, fits the city's requirements
to serve our people. Thank you and thank you so much. Uh, public works and,
and engineering. Okay. Alright. Now we go
to, uh, nine 10, which is the notice of decision planning commission. We need to,
we already did that was, that was, we did that, uh,
on the remaining. One second. Thank you, mayor. Um, just as a, uh,
this is regarding the, uh, drive-through that is being proposed through carinas over on
highland, uh, avenue. Uh, just a quick question about the landscape plan.
was the landscape plan provided in anticipation or is this something that
the applicant is going to work with staff to develop?
uh, generally speaking, they would be, um, this is an existing building with
existing landscaping and that would need to be maintained and we will work with them through the building permit
process to make sure that they're meeting code requirements for landscaping.
uh, but with regard to landscaping requirements for a drive through which there are
specific requirements because the, uh, drive through lane goes into the
property around and back out again, it wouldn't be, uh, it wouldn't be, the landscape buffer
wouldn't be required, so it would just be whatever landscaping they have that would,
that was approved as part of the original building would need to be maintained. Right. Thank
you. Um, many of us have very fond memories of carinas. It's a wonderful place in
our neighborhood and community. Um, I, I would have, because we've
done this consistently over the last three drive-through applications that we've had a pretty consistent
plan when it comes to our landscaping. And I think we set
very strict standards when it came to, to landscaping with in and out.
and we continue that, uh, with, um, god, what
is the coffee place called? Dutch brothers dutch bros as well. I, I would like to
recommend that we, you know, work with the applicant and have those same strict
guidelines when it comes to planting trees and making sure that they are more
mature trees, as we would assume that there would be more carbon
emissions through, uh, vehicles waiting in the drive through location.
understood. We will work with the application to your building. Thank you. Yeah. Do you need that in the
form of a motion or simply a, a direction would suffice? Uh, I
think, well, direction is fine for us. What I would, what I would say without going too far into this project,
but uh, as it's just a notice of decision, not a public hearing, is
again, the requirements in the land use code for a conditional use permit
for a drive through include landscaping requirements when the
drive through window or the drive aisle is between the drive through window and the right of way.
in which case we require at least three feet high landscaping, 10 feet wide,
et cetera. In this case, the location of the drive through window on the
building would not, uh, we don't get involved in that because it's
not between the right of way and the drive through. Right. So, but however, we, you
know, we will ensure that we maintain our policy of, of uh, making sure
that any required landscaping, whichever was significant when it was built, is maintained
as a part of our normal building permit process. But, but to
keep in line with the previous applicants as well when it came to,
um, uh, tree plantings around the property,
if, if I could that the previous ones were new construction
and so this one is not, this is an existing building that they're just adding
the drive through on. I understand. But with adding a drive through means that
we have further carbon emissions and that's why it's coming to council in the first place because
it would be a drive through. It's, it's the engineering on it that they're quote coming before
us. Is that not correct? I beg, pardon me? It's the engineering and that's the reason it's coming before
us. The engineering of the drive through, uh, that's part of it. There are are
a handful of different things that are involved with the cep that were all analyzed on the staff report that
went to the planning commission. One is the turning radius, which, uh, is established
by the city engineer, which the project was consistent with that. Uh, there
is the landscaping requirement if the drive through mm-hmm . Aisle is between the
window and the doesn't right of way, which is not the case in, in this one. Uh,
and there are also general design requirements as far as, you know, we look, we always look at
noise, we always look at, um, you know, potential nuisance if there are other, um,
if there are houses nearby for example. And of course traffic. Um, and
then we did base all of that on the fact that what corinas would be reopening
and, uh, operating a drive through. And we do have conditions in there if
it morphs into something more intensive that we will have the opportunity to come back
later and look at traffic again. But, uh, sorry. Um,
just to finish off my thought, with the landscaping, obviously we were to the mayor's point, we
were building new, um, new construction and it was, there was,
it definitely, uh, required the 10 foot
landscaping and obviously next to, uh, the freeway on ramp. But with within
and out there was a lot of, uh, landscaping area and, you know, just
a general, a problem in general and that was intended to, to offset that. So
while we do wanna make sure that we have adequate landscaping,
if we have anything that's too big in this location, it's gonna be all in front of the
business on highland avenue, which, which doesn't really, uh,
it doesn't really factor into the drive through discussion in this case. However, we will ensure that, you
know, mature landscaping is, is remains in place after, uh,
the, uh, building permit is, is approved. I appreciate it. Yeah. You know,
I would want to be, uh, continuing to support expansion of
drive-through locations without more mature foliage and trees around the
neighborhood. But I, I, I, I understand and I, uh,
I mean it sounds like you understand what we're referring to. I do understand.
and that also, I think that would be a good opportunity to have future discussion on policy and,
and changing the code to make, maybe make that change based on the potential
for emissions increase. But yeah, I understand. I appreciate that. I know we had that conversation
with the in and out yes. A few years back. Um, and, and it would be
good for us to revise a policy and, and, uh, be more specific when
it comes to new applicants. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome.
uh, with that, I would like to make a motion to adopt item nine point ten nine. Ten second.
okay. Question mr. Chair, we have a motion and a second you have
a question. I would like, um, would you be very kind to please state for the
record, um, why traffic study was not required for this project?
uh, absolutely through the chair. Uh, madam mia, as we just, we
uh, talked about in the planning commission staff report, this is an
existing building and uh, we do look at, well there
was a, a focus traffic study that was, that was, uh, actually I don't even think we did
a focus traffic study, did we? On this one? We did, yes. So it was a very, it was a minor traffic study and
it determined that with the pass by trips with the existing building and the existing trips that were
be generated by this restaurant, that there wasn't an increase enough to require a full traffic
study and therefore any mitigation measures. Thank you mr.
thank you. But if I could, but if the use changes
to a different type, use a heavier use, then we could, right? Yes.
the staff report did discuss that and that was discussed with the planning commission. If it morphed into
a starbucks, shall we say sure. And mega coffee joint,
then we would re-look at that. Yes. Right. Okay. Alright.
alright. We have a motion a second. This is to, uh, accept the notice of decision.
um, nothing else, please vote.
motion carried. Unanimously. Alright, next we go to, uh, nine 11.
there's projects to receive funding pursuant to sb one from the road maintenance
and rehabilitation account through the local streets and roads funding program.
and we have one speaker, uh, uh, says cesar javier.
thank you, sir. Still fresh.
we learned it from sandag that they have, uh, allocated, uh,
1.68 billion for the
city's improvements, maintenance,
rehabilitation of road cities road, very
specific. And, uh, 50% of this
is dedicated for such program. We welcome
this, sir, and let's grab this as soon as possible
before other cities might, uh, you know, jujitsu this
to their advantage. I commented,
uh, heavy enough because
the city of san diego, I hope it'll not happen here,
that our streets, after a year
or two, the, the roads are already cracking.
and we noticed that there is only this thin
adhesive or asphalt. I mean, and
so one time I asked the supervisor, sir,
mr. Supervisor, how many years would this
last? The newly paved road? Oh, mr. Javier, 10 years.
I'll take that. I document that. Why is
it that the fine aggregates one four
inch diameter aggregate
on the surface? I mean, it should not be,
it should be the asphalt payment. Right, sir? Cons,
planner bus. That
should not happen in national city. Sir,
thank you for your comment.
alright. Uh, that's the only speaker that we have on that item.
what is your pleasure? Motion, uh, mr. Chair. Second.
okay, we have a motion. And second. See no
more discussion. Please vote.
motion to approve unanimously. Next we go with, uh, item nine 12. This
is the investment report for the quarter ending december 31st, 2025.
and I believe that was mr. Rodriguez. Was it?
yeah. Um, thank you mayor. Just have
a quick question regarding the investment report. Um, can you walk us through,
uh, can you just walk us through
the, um,
the report, please? Lemme try to pull it up.
specifically the amount that was, oh, there, it's,
um, there was a significant decrease in funding from,
uh, the lafe fund. Um, can you walk us through,
um, that reduction in funding? Of course. Thank you.
um, mayor, counsel, uh, my name is rachel barrera, representing
your, uh, finance department, uh, acting director of finance.
um, so in terms of la, um, that is our more liquid,
uh, liquid account where if we need any amounts
to cover any obligations that we have for personnel or for
accounts payable, we use this account to replenish our cash account
to ensure checks don't, um, get returned from the vendors.
and in terms of the amount, um, as of
quarter ending 12 31, 20 25, you'll see that it was, it
went down to 14,000,486. Is that the one that you're referring
to? Correct. I see, uh, 14,000,517,
is that correct? Uh, five 17. Yeah. Sorry, I apologize. Yep. Um, so we had a couple of things happening.
uh, we had, uh, big ticket items that were, uh, processed
through personnel, um, including the payroll and
the accounts payable. So in those combinations, um, our
job is to make sure that we have enough cash balance in our checking account and to
ensure that we have, that we will turn to lafe where we don't have as much,
um, difficulty with drawing from that account to ensure that
we have enough funds to cover these checks that we produce. Great. And
so, um, combined in the
different accounts, uh, we're looking at chandler,
um, as of december 31st, 2025, 40 million
county of san diego, 41, the lafe account, 14 five
and neighborhood national bank at 2 million. Yes. With a sum of 98 million
in as of december 31st, 2025, correct? Yeah.
and the, um, reduction in, um,
funding amount and the lafe fund, uh,
are we expecting any reduction in that fund over the next year
as a result of our unassigned general fund balance expected to decrease? So
that is all dependent. Um, I'm not gonna say that's an absolute, um, because
we do rely on tax revenue to come in and then of course we've mentioned
several times the revenue initiatives that we're trying to pursue.
I see. And so, um, and just to, to kind of clarify some
of this stuff. So it's 98 millions in total investments
and, and that money comes from our reserve balances.
where does that money? It's a combination of our reserves. Yeah. So our cash balances
are spread out through these different investment accounts to get the highest yield.
and of course, uh, we try to, um, avoid
touching the other ones, which are chandler in the county pool. Um, which is why
we, we actually use lathe as our revolving account
as needed. I see. And um, lastly,
um, so the 98 million in comparison to our total
general fund budget, year to year, how much is it? Um,
I, unfortunately I don't have that in front of me. That's okay. I'll have to, I'll, I'll,
I'll follow up and provide that to you. Yeah, I guess we're going over the, um,
what is it called? The proposed budget for next year. Right. But yeah,
the balance, uh, the budget workshop document, right? I I believe it was in the
eighties. Yeah, it was in the eighties. But again, remember that, uh, that was
derived off of the last quarter of 3 31 20 26.
right. So that does change. Right? Right. But it's safe to say that
considering the reserve balance in the investment amount, um,
it is, it is at about a hundred percent of our yearly operating fund.
that is correct. Okay. Alright. Thank you for the clarification. I know that we haven't
really had deep briefings on our, um, investments
and investment portfolio. Yes. And I very much look forward to the first one
next june, eighth week. Mm-hmm . Next monday. Yeah, next monday. Uh, thank you
very much, appreciated. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Are, are all the, the funds that are
in that from reserve, are those all general fund uh, reserves?
that is correct. We have, um, a number of things sitting there. We have the,
um, let me , we do have the, um, assigned
unassigned. We have all of the five, uh, different categories that we
have in our gasb 54 that are reflected in that amount. Okay. So they're both
assigned. Assigned and unassigned restricted. Unassigned. And do we have
controls on some of those assigned ones as far as liquidity
or us, what we can use 'em for or what we can't. It depends what it is. Yep. If they
are restricted, it will say in the, uh, compliance and the agreements.
so we'll have to read into those to determine whether or not we are able to touch them. There you go. Okay. Thank you.
alright. Um, alright. So what is your pleasure on, uh, nine
12? This is the investment report. Thank you. I'd like to adopt item nine 12.
okay. Second. All right.
uh, there we go. We have motion in a second. See, no more discussion.
please do. Motion to approve a unanimously plea.
alright, next we go to nine 15. This is a warrant registry and
I'm gonna nine 15 and nine 16. We're gonna take
'em together. Uh, mr. Thomas reich. And then
mr. Yto,
I'm just gonna review some of the big items for,
for, for register. 43 and 45. Uh,
dick miller incorporated the toy and park improvements, 160
thou $116,000. Dick meyer,
dick miller, east, east side 1 0 5
greenbelt, 100, 100,000 southwest
signal for intersection, 61,000
city attorney legal services took 300 and
I mean three 33,000 city manager
js and sons catering for employee appreciation lunch, $5,300.
uh, answer grant villa,
$13,000. National electrical,
wo arts workshop, $30,000
motorolas, uh, fire motorola solutions radio
batteries, $2,000. Uh, ec
pipeline store upsizing 515,000.
fernando araiza, 19,000.
no. Okay, I'm for nc national city police department.
investigations capacity 194,000
exus incorporated personnel staffing, 58,000.
it data circuits 27,000. City attorney,
26,000. And
uh, that's all for that. Thank you. Okay. Alright.
uh, edwardo,
um, I, I'm just coming up. I always come up in this area, um,
asking in this warrant register, why don't you put
the date of the invoice finding in the past that
these invoices have been submitted way late and you
don't have the date. And we all know that, you know, your end comes around
and all of a sudden, you know, these miraculous invoices that have
been outstanding for months come in and you start asking,
why would they do that? So that's an audit adjustment that people need
to look at. Why are invoices late? Why is there a surprise?
and, um, you know, I, I've been coming for months to ask if that could be put in
there and I think that would be helpful. Okay. Thank
you. Okay. That is items nine 15 and nine 16
warrant registries. What is your pleasure?
motion to, uh, accept. Okay.
warrants, um, nine point 15
chair. Okay. Alright. Do you have a second?
I'll second. Okay. Okay. We have a motion and a second.
I see. No more discussion. Please vote.
council member
waiting for council member molina. Okay.
this is register. Mm-hmm . This is, yeah. The warrant registries.
motion to approve unanimously. Alright, this is
outta consent calendar. Next we go into public hearings.
first public hearing is public hearing and adoption resolution. Accepting
the city of nashville city's, uh, city sewer tax roll, fiscal year
26 27 report, uh, staff.
good evening. Um, mayor, vice mayor, council members and
staff and community. Marta juarez, acting director for engineering and public works.
um, tonight we have this item, which is, uh, something we bring to you every
year. We're essentially just seeking acceptance of the sewer tax
role for fiscal year two th 20 26 27, uh, which
will be submitted to the county for inclusion on the of the city
sewer service charges on property tax bills. Um,
this opens, uh, the public hearing. And upon authorization,
we'll be able to send this to the county, um, open for any questions or specific
information you'd like on this.
all right. Um, with that, seeing on that, I'm
gonna open the public hearing. We have one speaker on
this. Uh, it says our javier.
thank you, sir. This is
what I diagram. Sweetwater
coming from, uh, sweetwater authority
used by man goes to the sewer.
we call it sewage. Wes
sea. Wes, at an appointed time will be pumped out
by a mobile truck. And
that mobile truck now will bring it to where
treatment plant, of course. And a pcd
investigate, oh, there is an emission,
a neighborhood says. And a pcd goes
there, investigate. There is a leak,
there is a, uh, emission from the treatment plant
specialists come and go. Why? Because that's
a big business throughout the travel of that
sea or sewed costs
because of that service rendered.
my question is,
are we to increase or tax
the already tax resident
when the water, which is supposed to be,
if possible, chip?
what does it mean now, councilor
buser adequate supply of water
and yet we do not recognize collecting. Thank you for your comments. Saving
this gift from heaven. Rain. Thank you sir. Thank you.
that's all the speakers we have. If we could have a motion to close the public
hearing. Close the public hearing. Okay. We have a motion. Can we have a second?
okay. I'll second that. Alright. Um, with that we have
a motion and a second. This is to, uh, close the public hearing. Uh, please vote.
motion preview unanimously. Okay. Alright. We have,
uh, basically a three part that needs to be done on this, accepting
the, uh, the report and then also directing our city clerk to
file a report with the county, uh, auditor and controller. And also directing our
city engineer to submit a certification of the sewer service charges
to the county of san diego auditor and controller. So, move.
okay. Motion can three motions or can all be in one motion. It can all be in one, but yeah. So move
second. We have a motion and a second for the
staff's recommendation. And seeing no discussion,
please vote.
motion preview a unanimously mr. May I have point of clarification? Does
that, does this come back to us again for second reading or no more?
uh, no, this is not, this is not the type that does. Thank you. No.
'cause it's not, it is not an ordinance. Okay. It's an ordinance. It would,
um, okay, next we go to ten two.
this is the, uh, public hearing on the local public employees vacant
positions. That's through assembly bill, uh, 25 61.
um, any staff report on this? Yes. Uh, mr. Mayor, and,
uh, thank you so much for the opportunity tonight. Uh, I'd like to, um,
introduce this item, uh, who, this item which will be presented
by, uh, haley lusher, one of our hr analysts, , um,
in recruitment, uh, does a lot of our public safety recruitments, uh, right
now, very heavy and, uh, working on fire. So thank you hailey, for being here.
this, uh, tonight is a, uh, public hearing
on local public employees vacant positions pursuant to ab 2 5 6 1.
this is a report that we provide every year as part of the budget process
to highlight the agency's vacancies and what we're working on to, uh, improve
vacancy rates. So, with that, I'll turn it over to haley. Thank you so much. He's been waiting all
evening for this. I know. Ready to go. Okay, let's go with it. Okay. Good
evening, mayor, vice mayor and council members. Uh, my name is haley.
I'm here to represent the hr department to speak on behalf of ab
25 61. So what is,
oops. Oh, so
what is ab 25 61?
so, as a reminder from last year's presentation, let's revisit the
legislation intent behind ab 25 61. The legislature
recognized that job vacancies in local government are a widespread
and ongoing challenge. High vacancy rates can increase
workloads for existing staff, contribute to burnout and
turnover, and ulti ultimately affect agency's ability to maintain service
levels and workforce stability. As we move into
this year's update, it's important to keep this context in mind as
these concerns continue to shape the reporting requirements under ab 25 61.
as a result of the findings I mentioned on the previous slide, effective january 1st, 2025,
local government agencies are now required to one
present vacancy data and recruitment efforts as a public hearing
at least once per fiscal year. This includes job openings,
candidate activity, eligibility lists, and retention efforts. And
the hearing must take place before the budget is approved. Um,
and number two, bargaining unions must be notified and if
they choose, so may speak on behalf of this matter.
so, to quickly go over the status of our vacancies, as of may 12th,
we've opened 49 recruitments since the start of this fiscal
year. As a result of our active recruitment efforts, we
have successful, successfully filled 64 full-time
positions. That said, we currently have 40 full-time
vacancies. So here on this side, we have the vacancies
broken down by bargaining union. Um, we can see that we have a total of
376 career full-time positions.
of that total four 40 positions are vacant as of
may 12th. In regards to
our recruitment and retention efforts. Over the past year, the city implemented
several strategies to support recruitment and retention efforts. First,
um, the council approved salary increases across all
employee groups to help maintain competi competitiveness
in the labor market. Um, in addition, requisition
approval workflows in neo gov were streamlined to improve efficiency and reduce
delays in the hiring process, helping departments move more quickly
when filling vacancies. And finally, internally within
hr, we reorganized our recruitment responsibilities to provide more
focus support to departments and strengthen overall recruitment efforts.
so thank you and rex and I are here to answer any questions you may
have. Right. Any
questions? Okay.
thank you very much. Uh, we do have one speaker on this
, you have hailey a hand. Yay,
. All right. Uh, jeremy day.
good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and I should say opening the public hearing. Go now. Now go for it. Council
staff and members of the public, uh, jeremy day, I am the president of
the national city firefighters. Um, very often
we are here to speak into the mic about not necessarily
something negative, but to call light to something to cause a change.
um, but today I want to be positive in that if you look the report,
the fire department has a 2%, uh, vacancy rate.
and that's actually one position, which is a fire captain, which we have interviews for tomorrow.
uh, that does not happen without the hr department
working hand in hand with the staff of the fire department to ensure that we have
continuing and ongoing recruitments. And internally we are
consistently working on our culture and our workload to ensure we
retain folks. If they're leaving faster than you can recruit them,
that's a problem. And if you're not doing the recruitments, then you can't fill the
positions. Now, when, when this assembly bill
was written, it was, it focuses on unions
because we have a voice, because we're a collective
group. The hr department
has had four hr directors in five years.
they're not the only department that has a evolving door in the leadership
position of that department, including the city in general. Recruitment and retention
needs to be focused on across the entire city, not just on the bargaining units.
we can't correctly support our members without
leadership looking for revenues,
developing balanced budgets, and ensuring that our members
are supported. So I just use this item to highlight retention
is a citywide issue and we should be focused on everyone.
thank you very much with that.
um, we have a motion
to close the public hearing, so chair second.
okay. Um, uh,
this is to close the public hearing. Please vote.
question prove unanimously. Now,
I got in turn to our city attorney here in this case, our obligations to hold a public
hearing. But there's really nothing to vote on. Correct? There's no votes. There's no vote
on this one. Alright, that's what I thought. So, as long as we just held the public hearing itself,
we did it. We did it. So we're, we're good there. So
next we get into staff reports. Oh, no. You guys got
anything to report on tonight? Just
a little item
crunch.
cat. I'll kill the mic.
all right, mayor, uh, council members of the public, I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to
our budget manager, paul valez, to present your proposed budget
for fiscal year 27. Um, upon, uh, completion
of this presentation, I'll offer a few closing remarks and then we'll open it up for,
for questions. Thank you.
good evening, mayor morrison, vice mayor molina, and members of the city council. Paul ez,
budget manager. Tonight, staff presents the fiscal year 27
proposed budget for your consideration, and I'll also provide a summary of the following
items. First, I'll be giving an overview of the city's budget, process,
and calendar. Next are some informational slides that address
requests from council at the may 18th workshop. I'll
recap the recommended budget reductions from that workshop, as well as some other
reductions that have been identified and incorporated into the proposed budget.
finally, I'll show the estimated impact of the proposed budget on the general fund
unassigned fund balance.
the city's current budget process was briefly reviewed at the may 18th workshop,
but I wanted to go over it again and give an idea of the timeframe of the
development process. So, beginning in december, finance
begins to gather all the information to develop non-discretionary budgets.
on the expenditure side. This includes extracting informa employee information from the payroll
system, creating salary tables that will be in effect for the next fiscal
year, collecting information on new calpers rates, healthcare
and insurance premium increases and debt service schedules.
on the revenue side, the city meets with our sales tax consultant to
discuss their updated projections for the upcoming fiscal year.
we review valuation reports for the city's property tax revenue and
analyze recent actuals, as well as other economic indicators for the city's
other general revenues. In january,
the financial system is opened up to the departments where they begin entering budget
detail for their discretionary accounts. These accounts are
zero based and include contracts, professional services,
and other maintenance and operations accounts. All expenditures
entered during this part of the process are for maintaining current service levels
only, and do not include any service level enhancements.
departments also enter their estimated program revenues at this time,
a separate but concurrent process allows departments to submit enhancement
requests for items such as additional staff or other service level increases.
these are reviewed and considered independent of the baseline budget process
in march and april. Each department meets with the city manager and finance to
discuss their baseline budget and present information about department operations.
the council are reviewed line by line to ensure that only items maintained in current
service levels are included in the baseline.
these meetings sometimes require one or more follow up meetings.
any enhancement items are considered by the city manager for alignment with the city's
priorities, as well as for available funding due
to the, due to the anticipated budget deficit. There are no general fund
enhancements included in the fiscal year 27 proposed budget.
on may 4th, a workshop was held to review the city's preliminary budget as well as the
estimated impact on the city's unassigned fund balance
on may 18th. A second budget workshop was held to follow up on items dis
discussed on may 4th, as well as to present a series of staff recommended
budget reductions aimed at reducing the estimated budget deficit.
that brings us to today, june 2nd. In addition to the budget
reductions recommended on may 18th, staff has identified additional
reductions that have been also been incorporated into the proposed budget before you today.
and looking forward to the next steps in the process, the city is required to
adopt a budget for the next fiscal year by june 30th. Once
the budget is adopted, drafting of the adopted budget document begins
in addition to the schedules and detail reports included in the propo proposed version
that you have, uh, the adopted document includes additional narrative sections,
including information about national city budget, message and highlights,
department goals and objectives, as well as performance metrics.
the next few slides address council requests that came up during the last budget
workshop. A request was made by council to
provide revenues and expenditures by category for the columns shown here,
fiscal year 2024, actuals fiscal year 2025,
unaudited actuals, year to date actuals through march 31st
for fiscal year 2026, which were presented as part
of the third quarter report on april 21st.
the next column, uh, is made up of those same year to date actuals
through march 31st, plus projected activity for the remainder
of fiscal year 26. These were also presented at the april 21st
council meeting. And finally, the fiscal year 2027
proposed budget, which you'll see again in the upcoming slide.
here are those same columns on the expenditure side,
the impact on the general fund unassigned fund balance, as well as the
change from the fiscal year 27 preliminary to the 27
proposed budget, will be discussed later in the presentation.
here's a list of the 383 fte authorized position in
the fiscal year 27 budget. The slide is for informational
purposes only, and includes and does include positions that have been
frozen in the proposed budget. There has
been an increase of one fte from the preliminary budget due to a
critical need for administrative support and housing. This has no
impact on the general fund as the position is 100% funded
by housing funds.
at the last council workshop, council requested an updated snapshot of general
fund vacancies along with their estimated annual cost.
the list on these two pages aligns with the vacant position report submitted by
human resources in the previous item. I would like to emphasize,
once again, that vacancies are continually changing and this
report would likely look different if regenerated next week.
I've made a note of the positions on the list that are already frozen in the proposed budget.
this was done to indicate that no further savings could be realized by freezing these
positions.
also, at the last workshop, counsel requested to see the impact of recently
approved cost of living adjustments on fiscal year 2027.
I've broken out this information by group as well as general fund versus
other funds. I do wanna point out that the poa adjustments
already went into effect in may, but are included here to show the
value of the increases in fiscal year 2027.
the reductions on this slide were presented and discussed at the may 18th workshop as
staff recommendations, they have now been incorporated into
the proposed budget you are seeing, uh, before you tonight.
in addition to the reductions listed on the previous slide, the reductions listed
below were identified and also incorporated into the proposed budget,
include an additional reduction of vehicle replacement charges, 337,000
reduction of legal services and city manager's office of 60,000,
reallocation of unfunded pension liability debt service on pension
obligation bonds, and general liability costs, 80,000
and a 40,000 reduction of overtime, governmental purposes, and
hourly wages in the mayor's office.
the slide shows the change in revenues from the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget
presented on may 18th to the budget being proposed tonight.
there weren't significant changes on the revenue side. The $73,000
increase you see here are for utility reimbursements and the new golf
course agreement in the community services department.
here we see the result of the budget reductions that we saw earlier.
the $900,000 in personnel services is from, uh, a
reduction from the frozen position and the general fund
$560,000 reduction in m and o, primarily from contractual
services, $468,000 from vehicle replacement
charge reductions and a 1.5 million
reduction in transfer out. If we drill down into that 1.5 million
reduction in transfer out, $1 million was from eliminating new
general fund cip funding, $280,000 from,
uh, nutrition center adjustments and $170,000
from library adjustments.
so when the fiscal year 27 preliminary budget was presented,
there was a $16.1 million deficit after
making the recommended budget reductions previously discussed. The
proposed budget now shows a $12.7 million deficit.
the slide shows the impact of projected deficit on the city's general fund unassigned fund
balance. The first three lines of each column are identical.
the estimated the estimated ending fund balance for fiscal year 25
was 23.4 million. This was presented to council back in
december. If we then subtract the fiscal year 26 projected
deficit of 10.3 million, that leaves an unassigned fund balance of
13.1 million going into fiscal year 27.
looking first at the preliminary column that was presented on may 18th deficit of
16.1 million would completely exhaust the city's general
fund unassigned fund balance and leave an additional $3 million
deficit to cover. Now,
over to the next column, to the budget that we are proposing tonight for your consideration,
the deficit has been reduced to 12.7 million, leaving an estimated
general fund unassigned fund balance of $500,000
at the end of fiscal year 2027.
in addition to the budget reductions that have already been identified, staff will
continue to pursue actions that can mitigate the city's structural deficit,
not only on the expenditure side, but on the revenue side
as well. Council provided
direction at the last budget workshop to continue exploring the revenue revenue
initiatives listed here, which are already in various stages of the
process. And with that, I'll
turn it back over to the city manager. Thank you,
paul. I I just want to acknowledge paul, for the heavy lift and just
the dedication and getting us to this point, keeping us on
schedules, collaboration with all the departments. Um,
excellent job, paul. I know there, there was a lot here in a short amount of time.
um, you know, I also want to acknowledge the public for, for their comments
and, and feedback and our city council for,
you know, their support, their direction and their guidance to this point.
um, you know, looking at where we were, um,
about 30 days ago and what we're proposing tonight,
um, you know, a lot of credit goes to city staff.
uh, our leadership team, working with their staff to, to
come up with a very strategic and thoughtful approach to
presenting roughly three and a half million dollars in, in savings
or budget reductions in a short amount of time. Um,
that's not easy. Um, it's a, it's a very good first step,
but obviously there's a lot more work that needs to be done in a very short amount
of time. Um, if we are going to get
the city, um, on a path to, to fiscal sustainability,
um, we're all gonna have to work together with the staff, with the council, with the
community, um, to make some difficult decisions over the next six to 12 months.
um, so in that vein, what we are proposing
is one, um, looking to the council to,
to adopt the budget for fiscal year 2027.
and then starting in august, uh, we were planning on scheduling a
series of strategic planning workshops with emphasis on
going through the process of priority based budgeting. Uh, which essentially will
allow us to take a deep dive at all the services and programs we offer
to the community, get a better understanding of those costs, the
benefits, and what those opportunities are to right size, a lot of
what we do to fit our budgets in addition to continuing
to, uh, advance these revenue initiatives both in the near term
and long term. With that, I'll turn over to,
uh, the city council for any questions. Thank you.
at this point, any questions towards the staff?
okay. Member bush. Yeah, so, um, thank you staff for
your work on this and, um, appreciate, um, the response
and, um, to our, uh, last action, uh, which was
updating the presentation and, and some of the numbers and just the, um, focusing
on more of the actuals instead of just the, the, the
previous year budget. So I appreciate that paul and city manager and staff for,
um, for hearing us and adjusting. Um, appreciate
us getting the full budget book. Um, I would like
to see that move forward, um, a lot sooner. I think
this is something that we should, I think more consistently,
um, review, keep track of, follow through on,
uh, mid-year reports, a look to this, to updating this, um, because
there, um, was even a couple of months ago, um,
the information that I asked for that I, uh,
I didn't get some of the line item info that is actually of, of reflected on
here. And I have some questions about them. Um, not necessarily
expecting answers tonight for each one, but that's why
I think that moving forward, we, we have to get this, um, we have to get this information
earlier because we have to have time to, uh, digest it. I didn't have time to look
over this budget book over the weekend, so I only started doing it yesterday. So that's just
not enough time to review this thick book. And the devil's
in the details, and this is a lot of good information, a lot of, um, but there's a
lot of things to follow up on. So I'll just, uh, say that. Um, and just overall,
we just need more transparency in this organization. I truly believe that we really need more transparency.
we need to be getting more of the information early on, need more accountability, and
I think we're moving towards that. So I, I see some progress here, but I think there's still,
uh, work to do. Um, I would also like to see, um, I
know city manager, you said that, um, you, you gave direction to the
directors to engage employees, um, at all level because I would, ideally, for me,
I would like to see, um, all, every single employee
asked about this, engaged on the budget, uh, for ideas for,
uh, not just on our expenditure side of it, but our revenue side of it, getting their ideas,
the, the, the boots on the ground, the folks, um, that are in entry level that, um,
do some of this day-to-day work. And I, um, there
have been a couple of employees who reported to me that that wasn't done. So again, these are
improvements that I think we really do need to, um, be an organization
that, that engages more of the employees and, uh, doesn't just go from the top down,
including us, top down, but really, uh, bottom up. So just things I think that, um, that
we should work towards that I, that they think we are, um, on this budget book. Um,
the biggest concern that I've seen so far, I'm concerned that we're undercounting
our revenues. And I'm gonna give some examples and I have some questions. So I'll start with page
58 of the budget book. And I'm looking at code 3,300, and that's
our investment earnings. This is something that I asked our, uh, staff about.
so, um, city manager, uh, uh, um, paul
brittany staff, can you go over a high level, um,
and whatever detail you can provide, the investment earnings, because one of the concerns
I see here that I have is, um, we have about 3.4 million,
um, from fy 25 is our unaudited. Actuals is
what we received in our investment earnings. The fy 26 adopted budget,
the cycle we're currently in is only 1.2 million.
I'm not clear what the actuals are, um, so far
on that or how that number factors into, um,
the powerpoint presentation we were given. But I don't, I think that number's
under counted based on what I know about the stock market and bonds. And there's
a lot, I don't know, um, not an expert in that, but, um,
but the stock market does drive a lot of our investments. And from this to go
down so much at 1.2 million, I like, I I just say, I wanna
make sure that we're act accurately reflecting that. So could, could you,
uh, staff, uh, talk about the investment earnings and maybe
what the actuals are for that? Let, let's see what, get something from them.
well, what I can tell you council member is that for investment earnings,
they can be very volatile and, and hard to predict. So if you were
to look, you know, even further back than the information you have, you, you'll
see some years where we didn't, there were no investment earnings.
uh, so what you don't want to do is, uh, count on those
revenues on a year where they don't come in. Uh, so for the budget, we tend
to be very conservative with, uh, with the investment earnings.
I understand that. So thank you for that. However, for
fy 26, we have some actuals for that. So what are the, to date
actuals that we have, that staff has for code 3,300?
so what are the date actuals? So I'm talking about july
of 2025 to march 31st,
um, almost april of 2026. What is that number?
the actuals so far? I would, I would have to get that number. Okay. Uh, that's fine. So
if we can find that out, uh, please. Uh, I appreciate that because that's
important. That should automatically be built into this, the way
I see it, unless those revenues are tied up some way.
so I just need more clarification. I think we need more clarification on that. Um,
33 1 4, um, uh, rental land,
um, is there, is the rental land, so I see 988,000
and then 900,000 for the year after that. Um,
I actually don't have a question, but I think I just wanna highlight that that is an area,
um, that I think we can get more revenue potential this year in the workshop. Uh,
the workshops we do is the rental land. Um, 3, 3, 1 7 is
the rental las palmas golf course. So I see the actuals,
or excuse me, the adopted fy 26 was 143,000. But again,
um, the actual, I'm not sure that this is reflected
of the actuals because the previous year was 217,000,
so I don't think it makes sense that that would've dropped so much.
so do we. Um, and then they see the next year,
um, for the proposed fy 27 budget is 269,000. So just
for clarification, that 269,000 number that I see, code
33 1 7, page 58, that
was updated then. Correct? Um, because I,
I, I think we, um, had updated as, as you, I think
you said earlier that we updated the golf course numbers because we just renewed
their, their lease with, um, with new terms
age 58, 100 general funds. And it's under the, um,
fund revenue and expenditure detail.
and I'm sorry, council member, what was the object account number? Sure. 33 1 7.
so, uh, so the key areas that I've asked about so far are 3,300, um,
33 14, and 33 17 is the
los palmas golf course. Uh, yes. That, that number 33 17
would reflect the, uh, the new agreement. So the two, so
the fy 27, the 269,000 that has been updated
to reflect the new agreement? That is correct. Okay. So has
the 143, so then is that 143,000
number accurate? Currently? Is that based on our
actuals? No, it is not. The 1 43 is what
was in the fy 26 adopted budget. Okay. So
again, if we can check that, that is another example. And just one line item where
I'm concerned that like all of this is starting to add up, all of these line items are
starting to add up that I'm seeing that I don't have details for. And so I'm worried that we're
under counting revenue. Um, I I, I'm okay with being conservative on some of the estimates,
but now we have updated data on this. So the actuals for these line
items is gonna be important. So need, need that. Um,
3, 4 69 overtime reimbursements. I see
that in, um, uh, fy 25,
the unaudited actuals is 1,492,000 155,
and our fy 26 budgeted is 660,000.
so that's, um, I, I think on this,
I, I think that number, I don't know that, that I, that that should be,
that should be u updated, I think because, um, we have actuals.
I think we already received the actuals that weigh over that, that exceed
that. So I'm just concerned that, that we're not, um,
that we're not basing it off the, the new budget off of the, the actuals
or that this number isn't updated. Yeah,
I can, I can speak to that. The, uh, reimburse overtime is primarily
in the fire department, and so there's really no way of predicting
how much they're gonna be called out to fires outside of the area.
and, um, also as that revenue would
increase, you'd have a corresponding increase on the expenditure side as well.
so it would net out, would net out to a zero. Got it.
okay. I, I appreciate that clarification. And then, um, and then I'll, I'll
step here, but because this is as far as it got, um, on this, but 35 41
plan review fire systems, the actuals
for fy 25, 110,000, we budgeted 65,000
and we budget again for fy 27, 60 5,000. So again, I just, um,
concerned about the, um, just understating the revenues
and how that's feeding into, um, our proposed budget. So,
um, there, I think there's still more to, to look at here, but I, I just
wanna learn more about these, um, these different line item codes, which departments
it's associated with, and, um, anything we
can do for, for savings on this. Like, and I didn't really get to code much
over the expenditure side, but on the expenditure side, I code 72 36
water, the audited actuals, um, or excuse me, the unaudited
actuals for fy 25 for water costs. Again, that's 72 36.
um, it was, uh, 197,000. Our adopted
budget has our, um, water cost of 275,000.
I do not believe that we've been, um, that we've gotten that info
on what our water expenditures are. And so we might be
overstating the expenditures on
water here based on what I see on the actuals for the past. So it's, these are
just, I think some, some things that, again, I, um, could,
could be wrong on this in terms of like, maybe, maybe we aren't
overstating. Maybe this is accurate, but I, I just think, um, that,
that this is a level of detail that, um, I'd like to have more follow up questions and, and
dive into other specific questions
in the moment. We do have a couple speakers, I'll call him up and then we can continue
mr. Thomas rech and then, uh, edward netto.
yeah, don't forget your checkbook. Uh, mr. Ike
.
all right. Alright.
the point I went up, I lost a piece of paper, but it
says there's a,
oh, here it is. The revenue is 140,124,480.
the expenditures are 150 3009,
997,047, the deficit
of 13 million 872, 567.
now, the question I have, do we have enough in the general fund to
cover this year and how many years can they recover it?
so that's, that's, that's the thing.
so bunch of directors can say,
enough, we have enough money in the bank this year. We have enough money in the bank next
year. Right. Edward
netto,
I got, I was prepared to blast you guys , but I'm not gonna do that.
okay. Uh, could I, could you change it to the slide if possible?
I could have somebody change it to the slide for the talk about the revenues and expenditures
stuff that drives me nuts.
hopefully can be a little time here.
um, one more, the, the slides that have expenditures and revenue.
hey, uh, they were getting close. They don't have a slide. They, let's see here.
it's right here. Were right here. This, this one here. Oh, there it is.
okay. There. It's okay. Okay. Could you, could you restart his time, mayor? I would just like to, I mean,
if, if this is the way we're going to allow public comment, I would just like it to be consistent.
it's very unusual to have a public commenter to, uh, direct our staff
to bring up individual slides, but just let's try to be consistent when
it comes to that dividual and commun, thank you so much. Okay. Please go
ahead. Okay. Mike , 70,
$78 million in revenue can go back down
to the expenditure side for fiscal year 2025.
that's a revenue. Go to the expenditure slide,
which doing the slides. Okay,
$78 million. I look at this, I'm saying,
where's the deficit
audit unaudited figure?
see that? You'd see the difference there. Mm-hmm . Yet on the other slide,
we have unaudited fi. Uh, we, we start off with the audited figures
and we have projected deficits that come down to the $2.9 million.
this is unaudited, I keep saying where our audited 2025
figures. So we know what you keep asking about the actuals. All
these actuals would be there if you had that audit
report. Hopefully. Okay. Am I
getting, are you guys getting catching onto this? You sort of look at it and
have a question, you know, where, where are we going with this? So,
you know, on the one hand I look at this, I say, well,
good grief, you know, we're pretty close on audited figures. And then
I see another slide that says, we're off, you know, 12 million, uh, $10 million,
2000, 26, 20, uh, 25. We don't have the audited
figures. We, so I'm really confused. I mean, looking
at it in, in the overall level, you know,
it seems a little confusing. You getting into the detail level makes
it even more confusing because I can see that you're asking about actuals
for what year and then comparing them to what the budget years are.
and I can hear the confusion. I just like to hear it be consistent
and hopefully, uh, make sense
of what's seen it on the, um, on the, on the, on the high level
side. Before we get into the detail side, uh, that's my com comment. Hopefully
that was helpful. Yep. Thank you.
okay. Back to the matter at hand
and
member yamani. Thank you, mayor. Um, so
I am grateful for city manager for leading,
um, to provide us this report. I am, um,
I, I appreciate, um, how directors have streamlined
some of your, uh, department budgets. I understand
that this is a living document and you see projected numbers.
you can see an audited for 24 and 25, you know, mean even
if it's an audited, you know, I mean, we, we will see the correct, the,
the right numbers close to those numbers. And this
26 you'll already see. There's also projected,
as of you, I mean, to, to uh, complete our,
um, fiscal year. But you can already see, um,
as of the last quarter of 26, um,
there's the, uh, unaudited actuals and you added a projected.
so these are projected numbers, and of course, we have to project 2027.
um, what with the addition of our,
um, um, mea, you know, I mean the, the,
the personnel, um, um, decision that we have to, to
have to, uh, provide to our workforce, not only to our workforce,
but for everybody because, um, you know, I mean,
it, it, it's the right thing to do, right? For us to take care
of our staff and for the staff to take care of the people that
we pledge to serve. So, um, these numbers are all projected,
um, come with the revenue, um, program that the staff
had brought before us. I'm very confident that, um,
you know, mean we will get to the closest numbers. Again,
these are good initiatives that we, that we can work on. And I asked
city manager, I wanted 12 months. I wanted zero
to 12 months, and then report at the first quarter of a fiscal year 27.
so we can see our numbers. So of course we have to project, you
know, I mean, we have debt service, we have all this, um, you nomine, um,
expenses that we have to fulfill. Um, so, um, I,
I, I am, um, you noman, I in the, uh, in
the revenue initiative that you have presented city manager, um,
as, as we have, um, um, done our,
um, our, uh, briefing, you know, I mean, I asked for two
things, right? Focused on two things. Our, um,
msa with port to be consistent in the people who
sit in that room, in order for us to have that, um,
that, that, that, um, the, the, the, the,
the confidence and then the, the cons, the consistency of that relationship
between, you know, and the, the staff between the staff of
the city and the staff of the port. So, so then it'll
be clearer and the, they will have more. Um, you
know, I mean, they, they will have more answers to the presentation that we have
presented to them. And, um, the other one that I have,
um, added is to look into the essential services for,
um, all the, the, um, um, um,
affordable housing, affordable, um, homes that we have,
that we provide for essential services. I, I think those are,
it, it is already here. It's, you know, we are providing them service.
um, I believe that those are faster for us to recoup
cost recovery that we call, you know, I mean,
pd go there, you know, I mean, I, I requested for just a, uh,
an initial report from the chief and I receive a report through the city
manager, and I ask, can we monetize that? So these are the
things that, um, that we can, um, recover based on
you, I mean, the services that we provide. So, um, you
know, I mean, I will, I think I, I believe that I
can work with this budget that you all have presented. I am grateful.
I understand this is a living document, and there are projections
and projections that we are going to see. Those are numbers, right?
um, however, with the revenue that we are projecting
to, that will come to the, you know, come within, um, the city.
uh, there are lots of resources that we have that are now
being looked at being revisited. And so, uh, we can
recoup some, uh, cost recovery there. Um, I think I, I have
a very good conversation through the city manager with our
finance director, and, um, she understands, um,
with the, with her team, uh, in the finance department what we
need to streamline more, um, and, and the things that we need to double
check and see those numbers to be tighter. So, um,
I, I, I think I will, uh, support this, uh, for the sake of us moving
forward. And we are going to be asked the five responsible party,
uh, on this daes to be more diligent in how we move forward with
this projections that they are presenting to us today. Thank you,
member rodriguez. Thank you, ms. Mayor. Thank you so much to, uh, uh,
for community for reaching out on this particular item. Thank you to staff for working
on it and having additional budget discussions with me and providing me, uh, numerous,
um, uh, briefings and, and discussions. Very much appreciated.
um, and I agree with my colleagues. This is a living document. I look very much look
forward to having our staff and our, uh, touching base with our city manager
on a monthly basis to make sure that we anticipate on not just
projected revenues, but expenditures and make sure that we keep as expenditures
as low as possible. Um, and also looking forward to the
future, we have a lot of, um, opportunities ahead of us. We're gonna
have ongoing discussions about the business license tax reform, uh, about
the short term rental ordinance, which is going to be applicable soon enough, and about,
uh, digital billboard expansion, as well as other revenue generating opportunities.
so I, I very much appreciate it. The only, um, issue,
and I think this is no surprise, I will continue to bring up, you
know, we just went through a discussion or a, um, update about our,
uh, uh, investment reports, which are, uh,
nearly, uh, 98 million or so as of last december. And
I know those are fluctuating at all times. But, um, so
I, I'm constantly juggling between, you know, um, uh, making
sure that we have a, a balanced budget year to year so that our reserves are healthy,
and also the fact that the reserves are indeed healthy, right? So we
must maintain those reserves. Um, and at the same time, uh,
look out for our community in times of need. Um, a program
in particular that has to serve that purpose has been the nutrition center. So I have
been very vocal and outspoken about, um, stopping the reduction of the meal caps
from two 50 to two 200 that would cost the city $235,000.
um, I'm essentially, uh, look forward to adopting the budget
except for that portion of it, and making sure that the budget stays the
same as it is now, and it is not reduced by 235,000. Thank
you member.
thank you, mayor. Thank you to staff, uh, for all of the work.
um, we have, um, we
have, uh, arrived at the budget, right? So,
um, paul, I just have a question on slide 14.
um, the projected deficit for fiscal
year 27, um, you know, it
is, it is a positive thing. You know, it, it, it's good to see that
what we had, uh, a preliminary deficit of 16.13 million
now has been reduced, which is good. It's still a big deficit, but it did get
reduced from 16.13 million to 12.65 million.
so that, that big decrease is very helpful. And I appreciate
staff. That is all because of all of the reductions that staff were willing to make.
and I know it's a sacrifice. So I do appreciate that. Uh, my, my
question does have to do that deficit, the 12.6 million
of that, going back to slide nine,
uh, the cost of living adjustments that we
approved due to the bargaining that we did with our, uh, labor groups,
um, and then also confidential management and executive.
um, the cost of living adjustments for 27 equal two point
nearly five, 2.5 million, um, what is the
rest of that deficit is made up of? I know
part of it is the pension obligation, right? Well, well,
uh, just to clarify, the 2.5 million is for, for all funds. The general
fund portion is just, uh, the 1.9, almost 2 million
you see there. Uh, the rest of it is the increase in the unfunded
pension liability. Uh, there was a very large increase in
general liability, which shows up as part of personnel
services. Um, those are the two, those are the two
other driving factors in addition to the, uh, the pension general liability
2.5 for the cola adjustments is essentially
what made up the, that's, that's, that's the increase over
last year. Mm-hmm . Okay. And I could provide more details,
just thought I remember seeing it in in the past. Yeah, there was a slide in some
of our workshops. I remember seeing that info. It just wasn't in this slide deck.
uh, but I did wanna point out, um, uh, we remain
a very lean organization. You know, we still have
a lot of, um, just a lot that we're responsible for that
we have to pay for that. We have to, you know, remember
that it's gonna come up again next year. So, uh, in, you know, working
hard. And I, I'm so happy during the briefing that I had with, um, all of the
directors and then our, um, uh, city manager, mr. Steve mag
to hear that we are preparing for next year's
budget. Fiscal year 28, as early as august, um,
is going to be such an important task because it is going to be,
it is gonna be quite the chore. So thank you very much. You know, this is a difficult budget,
but, um, I'm glad that, um, we are gonna make it work
one way or another. We will make it work. I have a lot of faith in that. Thank you. Okay.
if, if I could, uh, a couple things. My understanding is what we're, what
I heard the city manager say that we would be, start looking in august
is still the 27th budget, not necessarily looking to next year, the
following year's budget, but saying that this budget is still needs, needs worked on,
right? So that this gets us through the, the state
requirement and everything. But then in august,
we got right back into this budget. Uh, uh, the other thing
is, if I could, the one other deal is if you'll take a look on
that same page that you were looking at, the, the deficit
at for 26 was over $10 million that carries
over. That's 'cause those expenditures are still the same. And then you get the other
$2 million in just a loan for the, uh, um,
for the coal loan that takes you up to the 12, 12 million right there by itself.
and so it's, uh, um, so yeah,
so then that 12 million will carry on over to the
next year unless we do some changes. Okay. Uh,
member bush. Uh, so,
oh, appreciate the additional, um, information, um,
on, uh, this slide. And we did, um, have a discussion
at the council level about potentially, I'm looking at
freezing some of these salary groups. So really the only ones are management and executive.
and so I wanted to disclose, I did have a good conversation with, in my briefing on
staff, um, a about that and the concept
of holding or, or freezing, um, the
increases for the following year because we would get a savings from that. So, and what was,
uh, told to me through the city manager and the directors that that would, you know, potentially
impact morale and, um, and just, um,
some of the, uh, just their, their, their kind of, their
workload is already kind of expanded. And so I hear that
and I still do want to see more accountability,
more kind of goals, metrics, and I think some of that will come when we get a
new city manager in. And as the directors have complained, um, to me
and to others at council before that, there's been a lot of chaos in the organization. So I recognize
that. And as I've said, I take, uh, responsibility for that. Um, but,
um, you know, I I I'm just concerned that one of the items, for example, and
council member rodriguez, uh, brought this up, the nutrition center, like
I want, I, I want us to balance as an organization, cutting
food to our seniors and then increases
for some of the highest paid employees. Like, those are just balances, they're realities
that we have to have uncomfortable conversations about. Like the, all the budget is
about our choices. It's about, I mean, I did ask for information about,
you know, like our annuitants and, um, uh,
proposing looking at early retirements to save money. So we're not discussing
much of that tonight. I, I think if we were in a better position that should have been talked
about before. So I just say that to emphasize that we really need tom move
forward with some of those creative and tough decisions. Like we talked about
increasing, um, some of the, in, in my briefing we talked about, um,
increasing fees for some of our, um,
uh, resident community, um, programs and services like the
pool and, and stuff like that. So like I, I'm open to those things to increasing
even some of the user fees that are really, um, that I
think are, are really low. Maybe too low, but wanna see that. Another thing
I forgot to, um, bring up is on part-time, the
part-time, uh, salaries and, and
personnel, it's, it's still hard to see where that is reflected
in the budget book and particular, uh, particularly it's, um,
staffing levels by fund page 25, and then the
staffing levels by department, which is page 35. I,
I am, I'm just not understanding how our part-time employees are reflected
in here. So I don't know whether they're included in the fte full-time equivalent,
um, as part of this number. And if they are, then I think they should be broken
out. So it's more clear to us, like what part, how many part-timers
we have versus the full-timers, et cetera.
I can address that. Council member, uh, the staffing
reports that you see with the fte count, those represent permanent
benefited employees or positions, fte. Now,
your hourly non benefitted employees, those are budgeted
as a lump sum in each department. Right. Or departments that have hourly
employees under object code, I think 6 0 0 5.
so those are just budgeted as a, as a lump sum dollar amount.
and the expectation is that departments manage to that budget,
uh, regardless of what, uh, hourly positions they're using
to, uh, you know, to, to, uh, supplement
their permanent staff. Well, well lump
sum, it's, it's hard for us to glean from that. How many personnel,
what is their rate, what, you know, um, hours kind
of, they're working or, you know, maybe it's seasonal. So for example, um,
some of our community programs, services, some of it's after school programs. So all that, I, I
would just like to see more broken out, um, in here because
it's not, it's, it's, uh, not clear. So that's, that's all the comments
I have. Okay. Um, one thing I'm gonna go back and
if I can ask mr. Chenko, in your report that you gave to
us a couple meetings ago, uh, concerning the nutrition
center, the understanding I had from that is that we were not gonna be cutting,
uh, food amounts or the number of food to our senior,
uh, residents, but that we were gonna limit
the number. And so national city residents would get the first
grouping of that. And then it's just the idea of us providing
food for all the other cities too, I think was, am I saying that right?
uh, yes sir. You're correct. Um, a couple months back, um, we had to,
um, do a reservation system per the county. Um, they
said that, you know, this is the norm and all the other nutrition centers, um, because
we're like cooking, like on the spot, we were just providing as many as meals
as we could for the day. Other nutrition centers bring their food in, so they have to have
a, a reservation system, certain count, but the county said they didn't like
the insecurity of seniors just showing up, not knowing if they were gonna get a meal for the day and they'd
get there really early. So this, this reservation system was a long time coming mm-hmm
. Um, and so we, we found a good, uh, number was, um,
250, um, because that, that seemed to be like what we were kind of averaging.
um, but now that we've kind of noticed that it, the reservation system was
great because, uh, I think just getting some direction from you all of, of
trying to prioritize residents. 'cause a lot of non-residents were coming and then the
residents would get there and then we'd be, we'd be outta food. Um, so now we've given them
priority res, um, reservations and so now we've kind of noticed a little bit more,
um, residents coming 'cause they know they can get in. So now we're really confident
that 150 is what we're pretty solid on averaging. So we thought if
we had some room to grow, maybe 200 could be what we could get up to.
um, and if, if that number seems to go up even more because it just keeps getting more successful,
I think we could come back to the budget adjustment if we wanted to, to bump it up again.
um, this is kind of conservative number by saying we, you know,
um, can get to 2 35 to, to serve 200 seniors.
we're thinking just because we see food costs that just keep going up. Um,
so we think 200 would be a, a good number and we're really looking
at the county would help us with, with getting the other non-residents to
the nearby nutrition centers, um, so that it wouldn't be, you know, turning anyone away at all.
okay. Great. Okay. Appreciate that. Yes, sir. Yeah, I, you know, what we've
got before us is a lot of work has went in by a lot of people to
try to get us to this point is it's not, it's always easier to add to a budget than it is to
take away from a budget. It's just the reality. Um, and so
I appreciate all the work that's been done, to be honest with you at this stage of the game, until
we do a deeper dive, I would not be for adding anything
to what has been proposed to us at this stage of the game. Um,
but then we can come back in august, uh, if we do
approve this tonight, come back in august and start work on this
document again, both on the expenditure and also
on the revenue side, and, uh, to see what, you know,
what kind of magic we can we start working. 'cause we got to, otherwise,
you know, we can survive this year. You know, that was, he's not here anymore,
but, uh, uh, uh, you know, he asked the question, do we have enough for this
year? Yeah, we got enough for this year, uh, next year and
the following year starts to be major problem if we don't address
it now. And, uh, so I think that's, there's a lot
of work still ahead of us, even if we approve this and this up
to the state and says, here's our budget. There's still a lot of work on this budget
that we need to do during this, uh, this fiscal year.
so unless there's any other, uh, question,
um, maybe juan, do you have something? Yes. Um, you know, um,
during our, um, briefing with city manager, he really,
um, committed to a, uh, comprehensive revisiting mm-hmm . Budget
per department. And, uh, you know, I mean, I had, um, pointed
out to him, you know, I mean the, uh, overtime of, uh, 3.1
and he said he's gonna really look into that. So then our food
for our seniors in community services, um, will not
be, um, infringed or will not, um, be sacrificed.
um, so I, I know that there are a lot of items here
that, um, you know, I mean, city manager will hand hold,
um, the, whoever is incoming or onboarding city manager
to revisit all this and, and, um, you know, I mean, have
a, a comprehensive look, um, after, you know, during
this, um, dark, dark month that we have. Thank you, mayor.
thank you. Uh, member rodriguez. Thank you, mayor.
um, I appreciate all the work. Um,
sometimes we, we, I mean the budget is a living document and we're talking about,
you know, 80 million plus dollars, right? So to get into the weeds
of now talking about $235,000 in the grand scheme of things,
it's not a insurmountable amount, right? And,
and so it's important to keep that in perspective. Um, it's also
important and, um, I, I know I've brought this up publicly,
but I've also brought this up on, uh, with, with, uh, discussions
with staff. I mean, we failed to apply for a grant for the county
in order to fund the program. The recommendations are then to cut the
program or parts of it. And we've also provided
salaries to our highest paid individuals in our city. And so
I think, I think we have to think through where we are placing our priorities.
and again, $235,000 will not make or break us.
and the purpose of the county program is to provide food for needy individuals in our community.
and yeah, some might live one block away from the city, but they're still in
our community. And so I think, um, I think it's a, it's a matter of
priority and I think that there seems to be a, um,
um, uh, you know, ongoing effort to try to,
uh, reduce the program, not just the funding, but to privatize it. This has been
going on for a long time. Um, and this seems to be a continuation
of that. And so I, I, you know, it, it's kind of a, it
strikes a, um, uh, a nerve with me,
uh, seen as we, we might be able to be able to
continue the same services, yet the recommendations are not that, and,
and it is deeply frustrating to say the least. And so, um,
I mean, just by two comments, I don't know if we're ready to make a motion at some point, but,
uh, I would like to hear from my other colleagues as well. Okay. Any
other comments? Just that I share that
frustration, especially on the, I, you know, staff ex explain
why we didn't apply for the grant and it's psych that's just
not acceptable moving forward. We shouldn't leave money on the table.
let's just, um, be better not pointing the fingers. It's just be better. Okay.
alright. With that then, do I have a motion?
I will make an motion. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry. Uh, move to,
um, approve the proposed budget and
we'll be looking at it more in august, so move to approve.
okay. We have a motion. I'll, I'll second the motion. Okay.
motion. And a second is the person, the maker of the motion, willing to,
um, uh, remove the, um, $235,000,
uh, suggested reduction for the meal program from two
50 to 200 for right now? Yes, I'm willing to do that. Thank you. I'm sorry, what now?
removing the, the meal reduction for the senior nutrition program.
thank you. Okay. We
have a motion and a second
council member. Uh, rodriguez, if you could push press the second button and
there a second. Thank you. I have a motion and a second. Um, speaking to the
motion, I will speak against it. I know we can start cherry picking and I know it's
election time and it's great to stand up for this thing. Um,
but I think staff has worked hard to do this. It's always easy to
say it's just $235,000 when it's somebody else's money.
it's not ours. Um, and at the same time,
we are not taking away from our residents and I think
that's what we have to look at here. I mean, we could do a lot of programs for the entire
county, but that's, we, we either have the obligation
even more so we do not have the funds to do that. So I would speak against that motion
and I would make a substitute motion that we would accept the,
um, this proposal as, as
accept motion. Mr. Chair. It was not amendment. No, that was no, we
just made the first motion that motion can do the motion
and I would make a motion that we accept, uh, this budget
as presented by staff and to be revisited, uh, after
the, uh, july break. Second. Okay.
whoops. May have a motion in a second.
okay. With that, uh,
we have a motion a second. This is on the substitute motion. Please vote.
motion fails by three to two vote. Okay. We go
back to the original motion. This is to
add $235,000 to the budget and
that has been presented to us. Please don't politicize it. It's not to add 235,000,
but, okay. Well that's, it's to the, what was proposed. It has two five
and, and I'm also open to looking at 235,000 where we can cut, if you're concerned
about that. Like which is a valid concern. Mm-hmm . But again, it's about priorities.
I agree with my colleague, council member rodriguez, and I know these are uncomfortable conversations,
but I've said it from the get go weighing priorities. I, they, I think we have
as an organization made mistakes and it is two 35,000.
I'm open to further cuts later, but I mean, for me, I'm just making a statement that I think this
needs to be done better and I don't think that, um, yeah, I
just think we can, uh, do better. Okay. We're back to the
original motion. How do we,
could you do your, uh, first and second? Okay. So the motion maker and
the second would have to okay. Put it in there. Okay. So that is
back to the original motion, which I say is to take
the proposed budget and we add back in 235,000 bucks
and also add that I'll, your point is valid about adding the 235,000.
so at the next, uh, meeting I can mm-hmm . Uh, also suggest,
um, cuts to balance off, um, that, um, additional expenditure.
I think that's a fair point. Alright. Okay. Please vote.
motion approved by four to one vote with mayor morrison. Voting
no. Okay. Alright. With that, uh,
do we have any other staff reports? Okay. We
do not, uh, with that then we go to council reports. We start down here on my left.
um, just, just thank you all for, uh, staff community members,
um, for being so engaged. We have gone through a very tumultuous few months
and thank you so much for, for sticking it through. We have another couple difficult
meetings mm-hmm . At the end of the month, but, uh, but thank you so much. Okay.
I'm grateful to all of you, city manager. Thank you.
okay. Uh, yeah, I'm grateful to staff. I also
wanna give a shout out to my colleagues. I think we've worked really well together in the last few
months and we've improved and yes, there's been chaos and there's been, there's always gonna be politics, but
I really think we have done a much better job. And I want to give special shout out to heidi
because heidi, as our city attorney, I do really from my heart believe that you've
really made an extra effort on that and kind of weighing some of our
personalities. So, and just bouncing what we're trying to do. Yes. We're, we can
be feisty, but it's 'cause we care because we love our community and you
know, we want do the best. So I do think that we've, you know, we're not gonna always agree, but
we're, we talk, we're creative, we've just worked better and I, there's close
session, especially if you guys could see our close session. I think our close session's been even more better and
it's really helped. So appreciate everyone and just us working more cohesively
in the organization and on this diocese a team. Thank you. Alright.
thank you mayor. Thank you staff. I wanna give a
big shout out to all of our graduates at sweetwater high
school this friday. There will be two graduations at 3:00 pm and at
6:00 pm and um, there will be three valedictorians
from sweetwater high school. They are kenneth sagoon,
brian rivera and sol lopez. And,
uh, there are three lopez. Yes. Three valedictorians, uh, because
they couldn't outdo each other at the end. Uh, principal laura,
um, you know, finally called and said, okay, you guys can't do each other,
outdo each other. Uh, they reached, uh, 4.4 0.66
gpa. Um, and uh, one of those three is my,
my kid. So I just wanted to be transparent about that.
coming. You guys didn't see that one coming.
um, you know, I've had tremendous emotions for the last two months, so thank
you for giving me some grace here. But, um, you know, all three
are very good friends. Uh, of all of the schools that all three
got into, they are all gonna stay home and go to ucsd. So I
am not worried about them. National city will be well represented
in la jolla and I'm just so very proud. So congratulations to all three of them.
and if you're gonna be at the graduation on friday, you know, give me, give me grace because
I am going to be an emotional mess. Thank you, .
great. Alright, . Well, I will not be an emotional mess.
I'm sorry. Um, but anyway, uh, do you want to thank staff? I mean, we've
done a lot of, a lot of work here. We've just got a lot more work to do on, on
getting a handle on, on the budget and on the spending and opportunities
for revenue and, uh, to see where we can go and be realistic in
the middle of all this and just appreciate all the hard work that everyone's put into this. So
thank you very much. With that, I'm gonna turn it on over to our city
attorney to, uh, disclose out of closed session. Thank you. Um,
tonight or today, the council did meet in closed session from four
10 uh, pm to 5:41 pm council member bush
joined us at four 14 and all council members were present for the remainder of closed
session. Um, uh, the counsel took no reportable actions tonight.
thank you. And with that, we are adjourned till the 16th.