1
00:00:08,366 --> 00:00:08,366
2026 regular city council meeting to order. Will the city clerk please call the roll

2
00:00:14,433 --> 00:00:14,433
councilmember dayhoff here. Council member pikus here. Deputy mayor mayeda here. Mayor

3
00:00:21,333 --> 00:00:21,333
vohs here. Deputy mayor. Mayor, please lead us in the pledge.

4
00:00:49,733 --> 00:00:49,733
and now, if you'd please join us for a moment of silence.

5
00:01:11,333 --> 00:01:11,333
thank you. First up is public comment. In accordance with state law, an item not

6
00:01:19,666 --> 00:01:19,666
scheduled on the agenda may be brought forward by the general public for comment. However,

7
00:01:24,833 --> 00:01:24,833
the city council will not be able to discuss or take action on any issue not included on

8
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:30,400
the agenda. You may speak up to three minutes. You have one opportunity. I have two

9
00:01:35,066 --> 00:01:35,066
speakers. First up, jim bonner. Good evening. First of all, I'd like to just give a shout out

10
00:01:46,333 --> 00:01:46,333
to the poway high school girls cheer and dance team. I don't know how many of you know of

11
00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:53,400
them or have watched them, but they're going to be heading for a national championship in

12
00:01:58,166 --> 00:01:58,166
vegas next month. They do a very good job. If anybody's familiar with pop warner

13
00:02:03,233 --> 00:02:03,233
football and cheer, they've had national championships over the years. So I'd like to bring a

14
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:08,200
little bit of attention to them. And I know, you know, in this world of city council issues

15
00:02:14,433 --> 00:02:17,566
and traffic and this development and that development and this development and that council person and newspapers are full of publicizing, you know,

16
00:02:23,766 --> 00:02:23,766
things like carols for candlelight and other events. Maybe some of you out there may

17
00:02:28,133 --> 00:02:28,133
want to write a check to poway high, give it to doctor perniola at the poway high

18
00:02:34,533 --> 00:02:34,533
school and help fund them. It's going to be an expensive trip, and any of these events for

19
00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:41,400
such activities for the women's teams and these type of programs should be supported. I

20
00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:47,100
know many of you have sons and daughters that have been cheered on by these girls over

21
00:02:51,833 --> 00:02:51,833
the years and do a lot of hard work, and it's very tough and they do a great job, and it

22
00:02:58,100 --> 00:02:58,100
would be nice once in a while if more people would participate and cheer them on

23
00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:02,700
and give them the money. If you've got a business, if you've got money that you'd

24
00:03:07,366 --> 00:03:07,366
like to support, give it to doctor pegula. Write a check. It's going to go to the school

25
00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:13,400
only to help fund them. They didn't ask me to come up here and do that, but I'm familiar

26
00:03:18,500 --> 00:03:21,700
with this program. I've been watching those programs for years. I've helped them out, raise money, and I'd just like to see something other than the usual promotion and events in

27
00:03:28,866 --> 00:03:28,866
here and just, you know, give applause to them because they could be a national champion.

28
00:03:33,533 --> 00:03:33,533
thank you. Tony rubino. Good evening. I just would like to stop by and say thanks from,

29
00:03:48,033 --> 00:03:48,033
from on behalf of a lot of special needs parents, I want to thank the city and the staff

30
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:52,800
for doing a heck of a job on snow day a couple of weeks ago. It was windy as could be. I

31
00:03:59,133 --> 00:03:59,133
spent the day holding our pop up tent from blowing off somewhere, but I think we

32
00:04:04,500 --> 00:04:04,500
probably passed out about 225 wristbands for security purposes. It includes the

33
00:04:10,933 --> 00:04:10,933
families and the parents and the children. But we every year we get compliments from people

34
00:04:16,733 --> 00:04:16,733
around that come from carlsbad, oceanside, del mar, and they say, we sure wish our city had

35
00:04:21,900 --> 00:04:21,900
something like this. So thanks again. Carrie sanchez did a super job with all of her staff.

36
00:04:26,466 --> 00:04:26,466
thanks so much. Thanks, tony. That concludes public comment. Next on our agenda is the

37
00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:35,500
consent calendar. Do we have any speakers on consent? No speakers on consent. I'm happy

38
00:04:40,333 --> 00:04:40,333
to move approval of the consent calendar second. Second, from councilmember pikus, this is a

39
00:04:47,700 --> 00:04:47,700
roll call vote. Will the city clerk please call the roll? Council member. Dull? Aye.

40
00:04:53,433 --> 00:04:53,433
council member pikus. I deputy mayor maida I and mayor voss I. Item passes. Thank you. Moving

41
00:05:02,166 --> 00:05:02,166
on to public hearings, next on the agenda is the public hearing for recycled water and

42
00:05:06,333 --> 00:05:06,333
wastewater rates. Written protest must be received prior to the close of tonight's

43
00:05:11,066 --> 00:05:11,066
public hearing. If you have a protest letter, please hand it in to the city clerk at this

44
00:05:15,666 --> 00:05:15,666
time. This is the public hearing for the proposed five year water, recycled water and

45
00:05:19,966 --> 00:05:19,966
wastewater rates. I will now open the public hearing. Director of finance greg

46
00:05:25,466 --> 00:05:25,466
schmollinger will present the item along with the powerpoint. Take it away, craig. Thank you,

47
00:05:32,266 --> 00:05:32,266
mayor and council members. So tonight as mentioned, we're going to go over and do a brief

48
00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:38,400
review of the noted rate information for the five year water, recycled water in

49
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:43,800
wastewater rates. We did give a pretty lengthy, possibly two lengthy presentation on

50
00:05:50,233 --> 00:05:50,233
november 18th where we went over all the details, including for the cost of service study

51
00:05:54,900 --> 00:05:54,900
process involved in the rate making process that are included in this five year rate

52
00:06:00,700 --> 00:06:00,700
study. The agenda report from that meeting is also attached to this staff report. So if

53
00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:06,100
anyone's interested in getting that additional information, they're free to go in and look

54
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:10,200
at the attached materials. All right. So looking at the agenda which I'll go through briefly,

55
00:06:18,333 --> 00:06:18,333
we'll kind of kick off with a brief review of the indirect cost allocation plan, which has

56
00:06:23,700 --> 00:06:23,700
been completed and posted online. Pass through provisions. As this is the first time the

57
00:06:30,066 --> 00:06:30,066
city is considering including those pass through provisions in this five year rate

58
00:06:34,866 --> 00:06:34,866
structure. Go through the water and wastewater rate drivers and the proposed revenue

59
00:06:40,633 --> 00:06:44,600
adjustments to each of those enterprises, and then look at the timeline and associated recommendations included there. So the indirect cost allocation plan, just high level review.

60
00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:53,200
this was included in the finance work plan for fiscal year 2425. That was a very

61
00:06:59,333 --> 00:06:59,333
in-depth process involving every city department working collaboratively to update this

62
00:07:04,433 --> 00:07:04,433
plan. What that does is it benefits ratepayers significantly in the form of

63
00:07:10,533 --> 00:07:10,533
splitting out costs for central service functions. Amongst all of those functions. And tonight

64
00:07:16,666 --> 00:07:16,666
that's applicable to water and sewer and recycled water services. So instead of having

65
00:07:21,833 --> 00:07:21,833
a water district, for example, paying for all of a finance department and it staff, city

66
00:07:27,100 --> 00:07:27,100
council and so on, they're paying for proportional share. So they benefit in that way. So

67
00:07:32,466 --> 00:07:32,466
this was called out in the current fiscal year 2526 budget to utilize the results of the

68
00:07:40,066 --> 00:07:40,066
update for the cost allocation plan. In this cost of service study. The results of that

69
00:07:45,466 --> 00:07:45,466
include a de minimis impact to the water enterprise, meaning not much of a change from our

70
00:07:51,033 --> 00:07:51,033
current practice, and it did result in a reduction in cost in the sewer enterprise, which

71
00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:56,000
you'll see reflected in the rate recommendations here shortly. And one last note we

72
00:08:00,566 --> 00:08:00,566
did publish the completed cost allocation plan update on the finance department website or

73
00:08:06,766 --> 00:08:06,766
web page. Excuse me, along with an accompanying memo, just kind of giving a high level overview

74
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:11,800
of how to go through that 100 plus page document. So pass through provisions have been

75
00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:21,100
allowed under the the california government code since 2009. What that allows is

76
00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:27,200
for the automatic pass through of wholesale costs outside of an agency's control, with 30

77
00:08:32,966 --> 00:08:32,966
days written notice to customers as shown. That's the best practice utilized by the

78
00:08:38,266 --> 00:08:38,266
vast majority of water providers here in san diego county, but not currently poway.

79
00:08:43,833 --> 00:08:43,833
however, we are including that in this recommended five year rate structure going through

80
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:49,200
your calendar year 2030. What that would include is wholesale water purchase costs that are

81
00:08:55,266 --> 00:08:55,266
outside of poway's control from the san diego county water authority, wholesale recycled

82
00:09:00,033 --> 00:09:00,033
water purchase costs that are outside of poway's control from the city of san diego, and

83
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:05,000
wholesale wastewater treatment and disposal costs that are outside of poway's control from

84
00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:09,200
san diego metro joint powers authority. And there is a revision to the the volumetric

85
00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:19,800
water rate structure that we're recommending. And that's tied to some recent court rulings,

86
00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:24,800
including here in san diego county, which have successfully challenged the legal viability

87
00:09:30,566 --> 00:09:30,566
of our current and what many agencies utilize, which is a tiered volumetric water rate.

88
00:09:37,766 --> 00:09:37,766
again, so what the city is recommending is shifting gears from that uniform water rate

89
00:09:42,833 --> 00:09:42,833
structure into a more equitable and legally defensible uniform volumetric rate across the

90
00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:49,400
board. But we also affirm that our current tiered structure follows all of the provisions

91
00:09:55,466 --> 00:09:55,466
of the state. Proposition 218 cost of service principles as well. All right. So looking at

92
00:10:04,133 --> 00:10:04,133
what's driving the water rate adjustments. So the the two biggest drivers here are the

93
00:10:10,566 --> 00:10:10,566
wholesale water costs that I mentioned slider two ago from the san diego county water

94
00:10:15,266 --> 00:10:15,266
authority. That along with pumping costs. So energy costs make up a little over 60% of

95
00:10:22,566 --> 00:10:22,566
the water operating costs. So it's a sizable chunk of the cost of doing business for the

96
00:10:27,300 --> 00:10:27,300
water enterprise. Also included are the city capital improvement program projects,

97
00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:33,400
which include the water infrastructure improvement program, which is the largest

98
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:37,600
suite of capital improvement program projects in the city's history, as well as other

99
00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:43,333
capital improvement program projects to make sure we have safe and reliable delivery of

100
00:10:47,966 --> 00:10:47,966
water to customers, on demand, ongoing operations and maintenance costs certainly

101
00:10:53,366 --> 00:10:53,366
factor into rate adjustments as well. And then also meeting our legally required debt covenants

102
00:11:00,033 --> 00:11:00,033
and payments on an annual basis. So to fund all of these costs, there is a proposal. We do have

103
00:11:06,366 --> 00:11:06,366
a proposal for a five year rate adjustments, which are being proposed as shown here at the

104
00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:11,400
bottom of this slide, which include a 9.9% adjustment in year one, and then flattening

105
00:11:17,933 --> 00:11:17,933
out to a 4% annual adjustment for years two through five. So the shown adjustments are the

106
00:11:25,433 --> 00:11:25,433
result of the cost of service study process. We went over at the november 18th, 2025 city

107
00:11:31,566 --> 00:11:31,566
council meeting where we discuss working with industry experts raffaello's financial

108
00:11:36,566 --> 00:11:36,566
consultants for the better part of the last year in consolidating that process. So

109
00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:41,700
sudhir wallace here in the front as well, who we work closely with from raftilose. So

110
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:46,000
if there's any technical questions or any questions for the firm on their process, he

111
00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:50,800
certainly here to answer any questions on that. I do want to note that these year one

112
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:56,400
adjustments include a 4.1% increase attributable to city of poway known cost, and the

113
00:12:03,300 --> 00:12:03,300
remainder of that 9.9%. So 5.8% is attributable to the increase in imported water costs from

114
00:12:10,533 --> 00:12:10,533
the san diego county water authority and as shown in the asterisks here, years two

115
00:12:15,833 --> 00:12:15,833
through five do not include pass through adjustments from wholesale service providers,

116
00:12:20,700 --> 00:12:20,700
including san diego county water authority. So switching gears, looking at wastewater,

117
00:12:27,300 --> 00:12:27,300
the largest driver for wastewater services are treatment and disposal costs,

118
00:12:32,166 --> 00:12:32,166
which are a contract through san diego metro joint powers authority. And of course, as

119
00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:39,600
cost increase through them, those are passed through to retail providers such as poway.

120
00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:46,800
the result of the cost of service study process in year one for poway is a 0%

121
00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:54,700
adjustment for year one, 2026 and year 0% in 2027. So year two and then 3% adjustments for

122
00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:02,300
years three through five. So I wanted to highlight briefly again that while there is a 0%

123
00:13:07,666 --> 00:13:07,666
adjustment for year one because of those cost of service study provisions in, when you realign

124
00:13:14,933 --> 00:13:14,933
the cost of providing service with the rates, it actually results in a net decrease to

125
00:13:19,566 --> 00:13:19,566
residential customers of about 2%, with a corresponding increase to commercial

126
00:13:24,233 --> 00:13:24,233
customers by a like amount. All right. In reflected here on this, this slide is the

127
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:35,000
combined household impact under different usage volumes in each of those columns there. So the

128
00:13:41,900 --> 00:13:45,866
the current rate structure of tiered rates was industry standard, which helped meet state mandates for conservation efforts. As mentioned, there was court rulings that went

129
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:51,200
away with the conservation approach and is steering agencies towards a uniform rate

130
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:55,600
structure, which is exactly what poway is doing. Shown here is in the second column. So

131
00:14:02,766 --> 00:14:02,766
kind of one over from the left, second one over is the average poway customer, which uses 29

132
00:14:09,566 --> 00:14:09,566
units of water over a bi monthly billing period, which results in an increased cost

133
00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:14,600
impact of 9.6% under the recommended rates. So that's the combined water and sewer

134
00:14:19,666 --> 00:14:19,666
bill under those under those usage volumes in each one of those columns. So we took a

135
00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:26,500
look at what one of our neighboring agencies. So city of san diego is pretty close to

136
00:14:31,066 --> 00:14:31,066
us, wanted to look and see what their costs would be under that same scenario, that 29 units.

137
00:14:37,300 --> 00:14:37,300
and I was actually pretty surprised by this. Their total bill would be $512.83. So just

138
00:14:43,133 --> 00:14:43,133
about a dollar more than the proposed rates for city of poway. What that doesn't

139
00:14:47,733 --> 00:14:47,733
include is proposed adjustments in outyears for city of san diego as well. So that analysis

140
00:14:52,900 --> 00:14:52,900
will probably change in the next year or two. All right. So looking at the timeline, we're

141
00:15:02,266 --> 00:15:02,266
looking at a couple of dates here, including setting the public hearing which is

142
00:15:06,833 --> 00:15:06,833
happening tonight, which happen at the november 18th, 2025 city council meeting. The mailing of

143
00:15:14,733 --> 00:15:14,733
the proposition 218 notices to all customers in poway, which includes 15,946 properties, and

144
00:15:22,733 --> 00:15:22,733
that took place on november 21st. To make sure we hit that state, required 45 day noticing

145
00:15:29,500 --> 00:15:29,500
period prior to tonight's public hearing. If a majority protest does not exist at the

146
00:15:35,633 --> 00:15:35,633
conclusion of this public hearing, the proposed rates may be adopted by council. If

147
00:15:41,033 --> 00:15:41,033
adopted, they would go into effect beginning tomorrow for year one and then each january

148
00:15:45,500 --> 00:15:45,500
over the following four years. I do want to note that the rates that are included in the

149
00:15:51,433 --> 00:15:51,433
notice are not to exceed rates. So what that means is, if there's positive financial

150
00:15:56,866 --> 00:15:56,866
conditions for the city that result in some cost savings or some higher revenue than we

151
00:16:01,933 --> 00:16:01,933
anticipate, then the city 4% component for water services in year two through five, or 3%

152
00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:09,500
for wastewater for years three through five, we can implement something less than that. And

153
00:16:13,833 --> 00:16:13,833
that's not a hypothetical that actually happened for ramona water district a few years ago

154
00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:19,900
and city of carlsbad more recently than that. So we're certainly doing everything we

155
00:16:24,233 --> 00:16:24,233
can as a city to kind of drive down costs, look for other revenue sources, and hopefully

156
00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:28,900
realize those not to exceed values less than what we have noticed here tonight. All right.

157
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:37,000
and then staff recommends opening the public hearing, which already took place,

158
00:16:41,533 --> 00:16:45,433
hearing any public comment and accepting all written protest provided during the public hearing and adding them to the the protest we've received to date. There's also a new

159
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:51,600
category of objections, which should be considered if there were any and there have not

160
00:16:55,766 --> 00:16:55,766
been any. Upon conclusion of the public hearing, staff recommends adopting adopting

161
00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:01,100
the resolutions if a majority protest does not exist and a majority protest would exist.

162
00:17:07,066 --> 00:17:07,066
if 50% plus one of those customers did file a valid written protest, which would be

163
00:17:16,833 --> 00:17:16,833
7973 active accounts. So this concludes today's presentation. We're happy to answer any

164
00:17:22,533 --> 00:17:22,533
questions at this time. Thank you. Thank you craig I have two speakers jim bunner. How many

165
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:34,800
public comments was that? 7900. A written protest, 50% plus one would be 7973. Do we know how

166
00:17:45,733 --> 00:17:45,733
many have been turned in? I think we're going to get to that in just a minute. Okay,

167
00:17:49,933 --> 00:17:49,933
good. I'm here to talk about fairness, and I wish there were a bigger crowd. But I think a

168
00:17:54,966 --> 00:17:54,966
lot of people realize where this vote will go anyways, so they didn't bother, but I will.

169
00:17:59,966 --> 00:17:59,966
he spoke about conservation and many of us, myself included, took out my entire lawn all the

170
00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:06,500
way around my house. Why? Because we're supposed to save water, correct? Okay, we're

171
00:18:11,866 --> 00:18:11,866
doing that. The public is doing that now. We're trying to save money with that. Now we're

172
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:18,400
going to have to pay more for us doing our job. On trying to save water. I understand the

173
00:18:23,566 --> 00:18:23,566
city has done a great job chopping down trees for developments, and that's

174
00:18:27,766 --> 00:18:27,766
probably saving water. But that's not what is the driving force here. One other point

175
00:18:32,433 --> 00:18:32,433
about fairness is I have my own home, but I feel sorry if I understand correctly, that

176
00:18:37,433 --> 00:18:37,433
folks that live in the mobile home parks don't get a vote. Should they have to pay then

177
00:18:44,633 --> 00:18:44,633
they should get a vote for this. But that's not fair. And is it sacramento's fault that they

178
00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:50,900
don't get a vote? I don't think so. I think we could do something about that. Those

179
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:55,100
individuals have a right to be able to be counted, and there are a lot of them, and many of

180
00:18:59,900 --> 00:18:59,900
them are seniors on fixed incomes, and they don't get a say. Think about that for a

181
00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:05,500
minute. They don't get a say that is wrong. And I think if you would allow them to, you

182
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:11,400
wouldn't get your little cushy pat, little certain amount of people that answer to the to

183
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:16,000
the emails and to the letters, you'd probably get a lot more people speaking. I know that I

184
00:19:20,300 --> 00:19:20,300
wrote to every one of you, and of course only one wrote back. And I think most of the public

185
00:19:25,166 --> 00:19:25,166
can realize probably who was the only person on that council to give a darn about writing

186
00:19:29,933 --> 00:19:33,566
back to their constituents, because I read a lot about people not getting any responses. And it's not surprising here. We've done our job as the as residents here.

187
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:40,400
we pay our taxes, we try to conserve, find the money elsewhere to pay for this,

188
00:19:46,133 --> 00:19:46,133
maybe in compensation packages. Not everybody makes $500,000 a year or other salaries that can

189
00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:54,100
pay that. Think of the people that can't do it. Those folks that may, you know, especially

190
00:19:59,100 --> 00:19:59,100
the older seniors that are counting their pennies and now you want to take away water

191
00:20:04,166 --> 00:20:04,166
from them or make it more expensive. You can find ways you're smart people. You have

192
00:20:10,366 --> 00:20:10,366
no problem getting development past. You can figure this out. I know you can. It's not

193
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:18,200
sacramento's fault. Everything, sacramento's fault and the public in this town knows that

194
00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:22,900
the taxpayers and the residents never win a thing. Prove me wrong. Final speaker is jerry

195
00:20:33,066 --> 00:20:33,066
bohlen. Thank you, mayor voss. Members of the city council. I think I speak for many people

196
00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:45,300
when I say nobody likes higher water rates, whether it's poway or san diego or anywhere in

197
00:20:50,633 --> 00:20:50,633
california. But for those who might not be aware, if you voted in the state of

198
00:20:56,366 --> 00:20:56,366
california in 1996, chances are you indirectly approved. Tonight's water rate increase

199
00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:06,500
4,202,429 people voted yes on prop 218, the so-called right to vote on taxes initiative.

200
00:21:14,333 --> 00:21:14,333
now, I've heard people I actually thought more people would be here tonight. But if

201
00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:20,500
you listen to various social media next door and some facebook groups that claim to

202
00:21:24,933 --> 00:21:24,933
be organizations, they often blame this council for every water rate increase. It's not

203
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:31,400
their fault. Now, I've said this in the past and I'll say this again prop 218 is

204
00:21:38,833 --> 00:21:38,833
extremely flawed. It's inequitable. It should be reformed and amended on the

205
00:21:45,333 --> 00:21:45,333
capital steps of sacramento to come in the form of a ballot. More people are likely to

206
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:51,800
circle a bubble, drop it off at a polling station. Then, rather than print their own pdf file

207
00:21:58,633 --> 00:21:58,633
by a 78 cent, stamp an envelope and mail it to city hall, let alone drive down here. Now

208
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:06,200
there's an old saying if you want to enact change and you want to do something that's

209
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:11,000
going to make a difference, complain to the right people. In this case, that might very

210
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:17,400
well be the howard jarvis taxpayers association and the two authors of prop 218 from

211
00:22:24,933 --> 00:22:24,933
1996, jon coupal and jack cohen. And I just happen to have the howard jarvis taxpayers

212
00:22:31,433 --> 00:22:31,433
association's phone number for its president, john coupal. If you would like to call him and

213
00:22:36,533 --> 00:22:36,533
leave him a message. It's area code 91644499 50 and express your feelings on how it should

214
00:22:45,466 --> 00:22:45,466
be amended and reformed to be more fair and equitable to all the ratepayers. Thank you. That

215
00:22:54,833 --> 00:22:54,833
concludes our speakers and I will now close the public hearing. City clerk, do we need

216
00:22:59,433 --> 00:22:59,433
a continuance to count the number of written protests? No, we do not. I'll now ask the

217
00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:03,900
city clerk to announce the number of written protests received. 7974. Valid protests

218
00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:11,900
are needed to constitute a majority protest. 49 protests were received and verified as

219
00:23:18,566 --> 00:23:18,566
valid by today's 12 noon deadline. Ten protests were received after today's deadline

220
00:23:24,866 --> 00:23:24,866
and have not yet been verified. 59 total protests have been received. This does not

221
00:23:31,166 --> 00:23:31,166
constitute a majority protest. Thank you. I will now ask the city clerk to announce the

222
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:37,400
number of objections received. Zero objections have been received. Thank you. We'll now

223
00:23:45,533 --> 00:23:45,533
go to council discussion and questions. We'll start with mr. Dayhoff. Thank you, mr. Mayor.

224
00:23:55,666 --> 00:23:55,666
I don't know how you do it. You're you've just remember all those numbers, you know, on the

225
00:24:01,100 --> 00:24:01,100
fly off the top of your head. That's really amazing. I don't think I could do that. I

226
00:24:06,566 --> 00:24:09,700
actually have some other numbers written down. I actually want to thank everybody who's come out tonight. You guys really represent, I think, the folks

227
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:14,000
who truly care about, you know, learning the what's actually going on, learning the the

228
00:24:19,166 --> 00:24:19,166
truth about things, because you really have to come to these meetings and especially tonight

229
00:24:23,766 --> 00:24:23,766
because it's kind of complicated to really get that whole story, because you really

230
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,400
can't get it anywhere else. There's not a whole lot of people that, you know, watch these videos either. And other places like social media aren't really there for facts. Okay.

231
00:24:38,466 --> 00:24:42,466
and actually, you know, other places like the wastewater joint powers authority, I sit on the board there that has a chamber just like this, and we have the policymakers here.

232
00:24:48,433 --> 00:24:48,433
it's a little bit slightly more policymakers, and it's filled not with the public. It's open

233
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:52,800
to the public, but it's filled with staff members because, you know, they know the same thing

234
00:24:57,466 --> 00:24:57,466
that they need to show up here to actually understand what's really going on, you know, do

235
00:25:01,566 --> 00:25:01,566
sidebars and to do their jobs. So thank you guys for showing up. You know, knowledge is

236
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:06,200
power. And, you know, with that comes some responsibility. But you guys are here and hopefully

237
00:25:11,333 --> 00:25:11,333
I'll give you something worthwhile. So if I had to really sort of if I had to

238
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:17,800
summarize this whole process, this whole study in one word, I think that word would be

239
00:25:23,866 --> 00:25:23,866
transparency. Because this study, this, this whole thing has been one of the most

240
00:25:28,966 --> 00:25:28,966
transparent or led to one of the most transparent documents in powys history. With regard

241
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:33,200
to what I would like to thank staff, especially you, craig and and eric and and chris for

242
00:25:38,300 --> 00:25:38,300
for making that happen. Because when you look at it, it, you know, in the past, in part

243
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:44,000
because I've been doing this for a long time out there in the past when paul said, you

244
00:25:48,666 --> 00:25:48,666
know, these are our water rates. What's happening with them? Why are they, you know, going up?

245
00:25:52,733 --> 00:25:52,733
and it's always said, you know, most of our water rates are being driven by our outside

246
00:25:56,866 --> 00:26:00,833
water supplier. And the general critique has been, no, that's not true. You know, there's firetrucks, there's slush funds or whatever. But as we look at this study here, what we can

247
00:26:05,300 --> 00:26:09,266
see, it's broken down really clearly. You know, we're looking at, you know, year over year rate increases of about 3% for sewer and about 4% for for water. And this is in the

248
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,333
context on the water side with the largest infrastructure project or largest, any kind of project in powys history. And both of those numbers are running around the cpi, which

249
00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:25,500
is generally what you expect about inflation. And on the sewer side, what we're looking

250
00:26:30,300 --> 00:26:30,300
at is effectively a refund like craig was talking about. You know, you've got like a 3% year

251
00:26:34,466 --> 00:26:34,466
over year and you've got a 0%. And the difference there is a refund. And and that really

252
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:39,400
doesn't happen a lot in, in other municipalities. But it's happened here in poway before

253
00:26:43,900 --> 00:26:43,900
with the water rates. And it's happening. You know, again I think it's you know, it's

254
00:26:48,666 --> 00:26:48,666
really I think it it shows how poway is different than other places and in a good way. So,

255
00:26:58,400 --> 00:26:58,400
you know, there have been a couple of things that were missed. We're not going to talk

256
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:02,500
about too much about that. But I do want to talk about what this what our studies really,

257
00:27:08,866 --> 00:27:08,866
really show. And because our water rates are not going up, you know, we're not paying 4%

258
00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:14,633
more or 3% more, whatever we're paying, you know, a fair amount more for, you know, our water

259
00:27:20,733 --> 00:27:20,733
costs. And it's pretty clear those are coming from the san diego county water authority.

260
00:27:25,733 --> 00:27:25,733
and I think we need to ask our, our, ourselves some pretty hard questions as to, you know,

261
00:27:31,166 --> 00:27:31,166
what's actually going on there. And some of the stuff is known and and it's been discussed,

262
00:27:37,666 --> 00:27:37,666
but there's actually some stuff that people aren't talking about. There's a political cost

263
00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:42,100
or political burden, I'm sorry, that's showing up on the san diego county water side, and

264
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:47,400
it's coming from san diego city itself. And and the reason it's coming from the city of san

265
00:27:52,066 --> 00:27:52,066
diego is because they basically control that board. You know, we've got our seat on the board,

266
00:27:57,433 --> 00:27:57,433
and it's a weighted vote based pretty much based on how much money you spend or how much or

267
00:28:01,700 --> 00:28:01,700
how much water you use. And san diego controls, like 40% of, you know, the vote there. But

268
00:28:07,900 --> 00:28:07,900
there's this political burden coming from san diego, and it's being spread out across the

269
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:12,600
entire region, including us. And I want to talk about that because I think we need to

270
00:28:18,166 --> 00:28:18,166
address this. And and what I'm talking about, I've talked about this on the wastewater

271
00:28:23,300 --> 00:28:23,300
side before. And the issue is project labor agreements are coming to the san diego county

272
00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:29,500
water authority. And they're they're really going to be a huge problem. And, you know,

273
00:28:34,533 --> 00:28:34,533
rainbow and fallbrook, you know, they saw the writing on the wall for this and a couple

274
00:28:38,966 --> 00:28:38,966
other things there. And they they detached from the agency a while ago. And that actually

275
00:28:43,766 --> 00:28:43,766
really impacted us. But they're on the edge. They're they're on the northern side. They can

276
00:28:48,566 --> 00:28:48,566
leave. They can, you know, get their water, you know, earlier in the pipe. But we can't. So

277
00:28:53,300 --> 00:28:53,300
we have to deal with this. And I think they left in part because, you know, when you're

278
00:28:57,766 --> 00:29:01,233
going with pla project labor agreements, you know, that current course that that we're all on now, you know, it's going to lead to like some pretty severe downstream

279
00:29:06,500 --> 00:29:10,100
consequences because like it or not, we're sailing, you know, directly into what is a financial storm of our own making. And it's I think it's going to lead to this tidal

280
00:29:14,933 --> 00:29:14,933
wave of costs that, that we haven't seen yet. But I think they're going to swamp us all

281
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:19,200
because fundamentally, plas, they reduce competition. They get rid of market rate

282
00:29:25,966 --> 00:29:25,966
competition and result in what are true backroom deals. What are single bids effectively

283
00:29:32,133 --> 00:29:32,133
single bids in name only or in actual practice, and they result in massive cost overruns.

284
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,133
and I've talked about this before. On the wastewater side, I talked about where there was a single bidder contract. You couldn't rescope it. It was for a project. There was, you know,

285
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:46,600
no, no opportunity to do that. It was a $55 million project on the books. And the single bid

286
00:29:51,900 --> 00:29:51,900
came in at 100 and 110, $115 million. So a $60 million ballpark over overage on that.

287
00:29:59,100 --> 00:29:59,100
and that was that's like on the scale of our entire water infrastructure improvement

288
00:30:03,766 --> 00:30:03,766
project. And that was the overage. But, you know, these are coming to, you know, the,

289
00:30:10,333 --> 00:30:10,333
the the water side. And that's going to be a big issue, actually. I'll tell you a quick

290
00:30:15,066 --> 00:30:19,033
story about the pure water program, which is on the wastewater. I have a lot of insight on the wastewater side, because I sit on that board. The pure water program started

291
00:30:23,100 --> 00:30:23,100
out without plas, but because of the political baggage on san diego's side, they started

292
00:30:28,633 --> 00:30:28,633
implementing them, you know, not in the same name, but you know, all the components of the

293
00:30:32,666 --> 00:30:32,666
pla. And they got sued and the the unions basically lost that lawsuit. But the unions were

294
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:39,800
very smart. And I don't blame them for this. You know, if I was in a union, you'd be

295
00:30:44,066 --> 00:30:48,000
wanting to get as much money for your people. And that's understandable. But our job up here as policy makers, our job is to to make policy and to be the the guardians of the public

296
00:30:55,300 --> 00:30:55,300
dollar. We're actually the last, you know, step in that process. And the folks here who are on

297
00:30:59,666 --> 00:30:59,666
staff, their job is to execute the policy. Even if it's bad policy, their job is to do that

298
00:31:05,833 --> 00:31:05,833
and to do it as well as they as well as they can. And sometimes, you know, some folks have lost

299
00:31:11,433 --> 00:31:11,433
sight of, you know, what their role is when they when they, you know, say whatever is

300
00:31:15,900 --> 00:31:15,900
necessary to get into office. But anyway, the unions, they were smart. They had they had

301
00:31:21,033 --> 00:31:21,033
their guys in the, in the assembly, a bunch of folks there. But they had a point

302
00:31:25,133 --> 00:31:25,133
person, really smart fella, you know, really slick, great smile, a lot of ambition, great

303
00:31:29,833 --> 00:31:29,833
pedigree. Much better tailor than than I have. And back then 2019 ish, he passed an assembly

304
00:31:36,333 --> 00:31:36,333
bill. He championed that it was ab 1290. And what that did is that forced plas onto the pure

305
00:31:43,533 --> 00:31:43,533
water program. And and we and because of this, it actually gives us a really great insight

306
00:31:50,433 --> 00:31:50,433
as to what their true costs are for plas, because the pure water program had a bunch of

307
00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:56,100
contracts that were already made, they didn't have plas and suddenly now they did. And just

308
00:32:01,700 --> 00:32:01,700
a couple examples. There's a bunch. I'll just give a couple. There was this is I think,

309
00:32:05,900 --> 00:32:05,900
contract h176935. It was a $75 million project, you know, competitively bid without a pla.

310
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:13,800
and as soon as the pla came in, the first thing that happened was there was a $35 million

311
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:19,200
overage. And that's a 47% increase in that particular contract. And, you know,

312
00:32:23,866 --> 00:32:23,866
another contract, h you know, 176955 that was a $45 million competitively bid contract. And

313
00:32:32,466 --> 00:32:32,466
as soon as the pla came in, the first thing that happened was there was a $40 million overage

314
00:32:37,233 --> 00:32:37,233
on that. So that was an 89% increase in costs. And, you know, that's a lot of money.

315
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:42,600
that's a lot of money. But it's really just the tip of the iceberg. And, you know, there

316
00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:46,700
was a really good deal that they made, you know, and the the politician guy, you know,

317
00:32:51,433 --> 00:32:51,433
is, is, you know, I you may or may not know him, but I think he's doing pretty well. He's

318
00:32:56,666 --> 00:32:56,666
got a, you know, a great smile, his name. Let's see if I get this right. Maybe you guys have

319
00:33:01,666 --> 00:33:01,666
heard of him. His name is todd. Rex. Gloria. And so and so he brought those costs on. And

320
00:33:05,900 --> 00:33:05,900
we're actually taking it from both ways because of that. Because we pay into the pure

321
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:10,000
water program. And so we pay direct costs that are higher and that pure. When the pure

322
00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:14,700
water program costs more money, it raises the cost. San diego residents pay for that water.

323
00:33:18,933 --> 00:33:18,933
and and then they use less water. And that means our per unit water rates go up. So we

324
00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:24,700
pay more, you know, on the front end and more on the back end by these things. And now

325
00:33:29,366 --> 00:33:29,366
they're coming to the san diego county water authority. And our guy on the san diego on on the

326
00:33:35,533 --> 00:33:35,533
board there, you know, eric, there is, is basically yelling and screaming about this, but

327
00:33:39,900 --> 00:33:39,900
he's just one voice. And we're a very small voice on that, on that council. And so we need

328
00:33:45,300 --> 00:33:45,300
more voices there. And I think a lot of the policy makers there really don't know what's

329
00:33:49,333 --> 00:33:49,333
what's coming. They haven't seen this before. Most of them. I think a few of them know

330
00:33:53,566 --> 00:33:53,566
what's going on. But but most of them haven't. And it's going to be really insidious there

331
00:33:58,333 --> 00:34:02,333
because unlike the pure water program, it's not going to be there's a bunch of contracts and now they're switching over to pla. It's just going to be straight pla and they're just

332
00:34:06,433 --> 00:34:06,433
going to be really high. And so you guys now know this. You've got some facts some new stuff.

333
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:12,200
and I'm hoping what we can do and this is including everybody here in this room who's from

334
00:34:16,533 --> 00:34:16,533
poway and outside of poway. What I'm asking everybody to do is try to leverage your

335
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:21,400
networks, your folks who live in san diego, folks who live in carlsbad, in vista, in san

336
00:34:28,433 --> 00:34:28,433
marcos, you know, santee national city, you know, el cajon, whatever it is, and call

337
00:34:33,166 --> 00:34:33,166
them up and tell them they need to talk to their policymakers because their elected

338
00:34:38,833 --> 00:34:38,833
policymakers, you know, need to know this. And who sit on that board, and they need to tell

339
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:44,200
the san diego county water authority that it needs to maintain real competitive

340
00:34:49,233 --> 00:34:52,433
bidding, because you got to tell them that water is different because water is different, as jim is saying here, water is, you know, an essential component of life.

341
00:34:56,366 --> 00:34:56,366
it's not like something that's optional. You have to, you know, you have to buy it. And it

342
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:02,600
demands because of this unique characteristic, it demands the most cost effective methods for

343
00:35:08,700 --> 00:35:08,700
getting it. You know, as I said, we're carrying that message here, but we need need help

344
00:35:14,166 --> 00:35:18,100
with that. And I'm not I'm telling you this to leverage these networks because it actually works. Okay. And now I've said we're the policymakers here, all right.

345
00:35:22,366 --> 00:35:22,366
and and the staff there, they execute policies. I on the wastewater jpa. I raise hell

346
00:35:28,966 --> 00:35:28,966
about single bitter contracts because that was not the only one that $60 million overage. I

347
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,066
see them on occasion and I asked some really tough questions. And I get and they're sometimes they're really uncomfortable questions. You know, some staff members

348
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:40,000
aren't aren't used to those kinds of questions. And, you know, the next project that was

349
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:46,600
on that site that came on that after, you know, I'm raising hell about this and other

350
00:35:51,633 --> 00:35:51,633
things. The next project had seven bids. They were all competitive, and there was not

351
00:35:57,233 --> 00:35:57,233
a project labor agreement in sight. So so it works. You know, staff does listen to

352
00:36:03,866 --> 00:36:07,766
policymakers because that's their job. The job of staff is to listen to policymakers. The jobs of the policymakers is to listen to voters and the jobs of the voters. You know, the

353
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:13,000
job of the voters is really to speak up and and make your voice heard. So I'm hoping, you

354
00:36:18,266 --> 00:36:18,266
know, some of you guys can can help take some action. I know I'm going to be trying to ask

355
00:36:22,833 --> 00:36:22,833
other folks to, but I think, you know, if we all work together, there's a chance we

356
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,600
can actually have a meaningful impact on our future water rates. You know, move the move the dial a little bit. So with that, I will actually thank you for your time. I hope you got

357
00:36:36,933 --> 00:36:36,933
something a little bit useful out of this. And I will move approval. Thank you.

358
00:36:42,666 --> 00:36:42,666
councilmember. Councilmember pikus. All right. I think I'll start. Well, I guess I'll have

359
00:36:47,866 --> 00:36:47,866
to ask, peter, if we use more water, would we have a bigger voice in the san diego water

360
00:36:52,766 --> 00:36:52,766
board? Yes we would. We have to use a a lot more water, though. Just kidding. Okay. Questions

361
00:36:59,566 --> 00:36:59,566
for craig. I guess I should have thought of this before, but in your presentation you

362
00:37:04,733 --> 00:37:08,700
said they pass through has not been approved yet. I thought that was what was discussed back in 2024, when you were going to pass through the increase, or is that just a one

363
00:37:13,733 --> 00:37:13,733
time thing? Yes. Thank you, councilmember pikus. That was just a one time adjustment to

364
00:37:19,766 --> 00:37:23,100
rates, because those were far and beyond what we had forecasted in the last four year rate structure. So just passing on the one year adjustment for county water

365
00:37:27,333 --> 00:37:27,333
authority rates, that went up 13.52%, and we forecast them to only go up 6%. So from now on,

366
00:37:36,633 --> 00:37:36,633
we'll be doing this every year. The adjustment for the pass through, if approved, it would

367
00:37:42,066 --> 00:37:42,066
be authorized to pass that through with a 30 day notice. Correct. Now, also in your

368
00:37:47,866 --> 00:37:47,866
presentation, I guess I didn't realize this when I was reading the materials. Is that the the

369
00:37:54,666 --> 00:37:54,666
4% increase over the next couple of years and the 3% for the sewer does not include

370
00:38:00,066 --> 00:38:00,066
consumer cpi adjustments. I thought it did. Or was that broken out separate? So those

371
00:38:07,633 --> 00:38:07,633
do include adjustments to all the rate classifications outside of wholesale cost. So

372
00:38:14,133 --> 00:38:14,133
on the water side that would include the purchase water cost from san diego county water

373
00:38:19,166 --> 00:38:19,166
authority on the recycled water. It would be the recycled water purchase cost from city of san

374
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:28,200
diego. And on the sewer side, that would be for the sewer treatment and disposal costs from metro jpa. Everything else beyond that, there's not a cpi included in there or anything

375
00:38:32,900 --> 00:38:32,900
that's all factored into the city component, the 4% on the water side or the 3% on the

376
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:38,200
sewer side. So so I guess I so the 4% includes the cpi for the stuff that the 4% includes. Is

377
00:38:46,633 --> 00:38:46,633
that what you're saying? Or it includes all adjustments outside of the wholesale cost.

378
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:51,000
so yes, every other cost that factors into the cost of providing service. So yes. All

379
00:38:55,900 --> 00:38:55,900
right. Thank you for that. Councilmember said. Otherwise other ways it's 4%. It won't be

380
00:39:01,266 --> 00:39:01,266
4% plus a cpi. The 4% is the 4%. And that's to not to exceed amount okay. So if the cpi is

381
00:39:08,633 --> 00:39:08,633
less than that will be less or something. As craig mentioned earlier, if there's additional

382
00:39:13,900 --> 00:39:13,900
revenues or cost savings along the way and there's a there's an ability to recommend a lower

383
00:39:22,166 --> 00:39:22,166
increase, that's exactly what staff would be doing. But we cannot exceed that 4% without

384
00:39:26,966 --> 00:39:26,966
going through an entire prop 218 process. Again, thank you for that. And these all, if we

385
00:39:34,066 --> 00:39:34,066
pass this tonight, this all takes effect tomorrow morning. Is that but you know the bill

386
00:39:38,833 --> 00:39:38,833
comes out every two months. Is it going to be prorated or are you just going to whoever gets

387
00:39:43,633 --> 00:39:43,633
in the billing cycle. It would be effective with bills mailed after today. So beginning

388
00:39:48,433 --> 00:39:48,433
tomorrow with bills mailed, it would include usage over that period. Thank you for that.

389
00:39:55,666 --> 00:39:55,666
let's see. Well peter said a lot and I'm going to clip out most of my notes here. But I'm

390
00:40:01,433 --> 00:40:01,433
just going to say that, you know, I remember a while back his words were the three things,

391
00:40:07,966 --> 00:40:07,966
three things that people look for in a expect from their water system is safe, reliable,

392
00:40:14,866 --> 00:40:14,866
and inexpensive in that order. And I think we've got the safety nailed down and the

393
00:40:22,266 --> 00:40:22,266
reliability and trying to hold the lid on expenses. I had a big thing about all the cost

394
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:28,800
drivers, but craig already covered it, so I'm going to skip over those pages and

395
00:40:34,533 --> 00:40:34,533
mention that, you know. With careful cost analysis, the city is holding it down to 9.9%. I

396
00:40:43,500 --> 00:40:43,500
think that's pretty impressive and 4% in subsequent years. So very pleased by that. And let's

397
00:40:52,233 --> 00:40:52,233
see, the split between the fixed and per unit costs breaks down to 28% fixed and 72% per

398
00:40:59,333 --> 00:40:59,333
unit. Personally, I would have preferred it to be more per unit. You know, the per unit,

399
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:04,800
100 gallons used and less the fixed charge, but is you know, and I mentioned that months ago,

400
00:41:09,500 --> 00:41:09,500
but craig pointed out is that you can't really sustain your system like that because if

401
00:41:14,833 --> 00:41:14,833
people start conserving too much, then the system, the water system goes broke. So

402
00:41:21,300 --> 00:41:21,300
this pretty much this model seems to work in most scenarios. And let's see, jim bonner did

403
00:41:31,433 --> 00:41:31,433
mention about the tiered water rates and the fairness. And I sympathize with him because

404
00:41:36,366 --> 00:41:36,366
those were my first words when we started talking about water many months ago was, you know

405
00:41:42,233 --> 00:41:42,233
what? It'd be nice to have different tiers so that people that you know are careless

406
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:47,200
about their water use would be paying more, and people that are very, you know,

407
00:41:52,266 --> 00:41:52,266
conservation minded would get a break there. But the courts have decided that that's not to

408
00:41:57,333 --> 00:41:57,333
be the case anymore. So five, ten years ago, yeah, you could have done that, but now you

409
00:42:03,066 --> 00:42:03,066
can't. And I realize it's unfair. It feels unfair to the, you know, the apartment dweller

410
00:42:08,100 --> 00:42:08,100
who's paying the fixed charge in the same price per hundred gallon, 100 cubic feet, as, you

411
00:42:15,033 --> 00:42:15,033
know, someone with a couple of acres to water. But that's that's the way proposition 218

412
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:21,800
was laid out. And unfortunately, we, the courts have said that's the way it's got to be. So

413
00:42:28,266 --> 00:42:28,266
unfortunately, that is not fair. And it disappoints me to. Let's see, built into this cost study

414
00:42:36,433 --> 00:42:36,433
which you didn't bring up, but you mentioned last november was that we do have ample reserves

415
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:41,400
built into this and but not excessive. So just, you know, at the, at the good levels of

416
00:42:48,100 --> 00:42:48,100
good practice, which gives us permits us to retain our s&p bond rating of investment grade,

417
00:42:54,533 --> 00:42:54,533
double a minus. So that'll help us if we ever need to borrow money again. So good for that.

418
00:43:01,366 --> 00:43:01,366
and apparently for everybody is reevaluating water rates. And we are squarely in the middle

419
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:08,000
of the pack. They're just slightly below the median, as you had mentioned, a dollar

420
00:43:12,566 --> 00:43:12,566
less than san diego. So per billing cycle. So that's pretty darn good. And. Let's see, our

421
00:43:22,633 --> 00:43:22,633
cost allocation said that this is this is what it costs. So unfortunately this is what we

422
00:43:29,500 --> 00:43:29,500
have to pay. And this is much must pass rulemaking here. Because if we don't pass it,

423
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:35,800
the water enterprise can't really cut costs. I mean, craig and his people have done

424
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:41,000
everything they could. And the only you know, if we don't pass this, we either stop doing

425
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:46,400
maintenance or we start reducing water service or depleting our reserves. And I

426
00:43:51,466 --> 00:43:51,466
think peter showed me a graph of another jurisdiction that considered that and that the

427
00:43:56,500 --> 00:43:56,500
you know, it's like a is like, you know, crash landing into the, the x axis there. So not a

428
00:44:03,300 --> 00:44:03,300
good thing. And if we start cutting service and say, you know, let's just turn off the

429
00:44:07,700 --> 00:44:07,700
water treatment plant between midnight and 6 a.m. Eventually we'd be running afoul of state

430
00:44:12,566 --> 00:44:12,566
and federal law, not to mention fines and litigations from any accidents. So. Sadly, I know no

431
00:44:22,766 --> 00:44:22,766
one's happy about this increase. I don't like passing on increases, but we got to do it.

432
00:44:28,466 --> 00:44:28,466
and so I think most people understand that that's the way it is. And one final point. No.

433
00:44:36,066 --> 00:44:36,066
never mind. No final points. I'll stop there. Thanks so much. And I also second that we adopt

434
00:44:44,300 --> 00:44:44,300
these measures. Thanks. Thank you. Deputy mayor maeda. While some level of increase is

435
00:44:53,733 --> 00:44:53,733
inevitable, I'm concerned about how this will impact our low volume and low income users.

436
00:44:58,733 --> 00:44:58,733
when you're struggling to make ends meet, you reflexively start cutting back on expensive

437
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:03,800
expenses. So it seems a bit cruel to impose such a high meter service charge and create

438
00:45:08,566 --> 00:45:08,566
a situation where even cutting back to zero gallons won't help you much. I would like to make

439
00:45:13,500 --> 00:45:13,500
a friendly amendment to decrease the bimonthly water meter service charge for single

440
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:17,800
family utility customers by 25%, and increase the commodity per unit charge by 12%, while

441
00:45:24,300 --> 00:45:28,300
maintaining the yearly rate of increase. This would generate about the same level of revenue, assuming the average residential customer uses 29 units every two months, as

442
00:45:33,700 --> 00:45:33,700
referenced in table two on page five of the report. Do we have a second for that friendly

443
00:45:43,366 --> 00:45:43,366
amendment? I want to hear from craig as to what would a 25%? I guess that would be a 21% fixed

444
00:45:49,166 --> 00:45:49,166
in a. Was it an 89% of variable cost? Yeah. I'm not sure what those numbers would pencil out

445
00:45:58,400 --> 00:45:58,400
to be. We need to go through and kind of scrub what that would look like. But that would

446
00:46:03,933 --> 00:46:03,933
obviously reduce the amount of revenue we bring in on the fixed component as we're trying

447
00:46:08,266 --> 00:46:08,266
to balance out or more balance out where we recover our fixed costs for. So we do have a

448
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:14,400
significant number of fixed costs, which is why we want to have at least a significant or

449
00:46:18,633 --> 00:46:18,633
somewhat significant amount of revenue brought in from that fixed charge. So we'd have an

450
00:46:23,733 --> 00:46:23,733
imbalance between what our fixed charges are and our fixed revenue sources are. So if

451
00:46:28,033 --> 00:46:32,033
there ever was any kind of drought or lower volume usage, there'd be an imbalance there. It could kind of spiral us downward and we'd have some financial issues. Is there any

452
00:46:39,566 --> 00:46:39,566
mechanism or we can help out those of lower income or have a hard time making these paying

453
00:46:45,766 --> 00:46:45,766
these water bills? Would be alan, chris or craig? I mean, from a legal perspective, I'm

454
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:56,600
aware of some programs about, you know, not being, you know, certain limitations on forcing

455
00:47:01,533 --> 00:47:01,533
collections of water bills if people can't pay. But, you know, those are state laws. I, I'm

456
00:47:06,733 --> 00:47:06,733
not aware of any other sort of city programs. Can I just say something real? All right. Yeah.

457
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:14,200
just piggybacking on what alan was just mentioning. There would be concerns using rate

458
00:47:19,866 --> 00:47:19,866
revenue to offset other users costs. So you couldn't use rate revenue to subsidize one class

459
00:47:25,966 --> 00:47:25,966
of users versus the other? There was recently a case up in la for la department of water

460
00:47:31,733 --> 00:47:35,400
and power, where there was a finding against them doing exactly that. So I would I would have some concerns about doing that. Just really quick. There is the san diego or

461
00:47:40,766 --> 00:47:40,766
something we pay into, which is a two on one program which has services for covering costs for

462
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:49,000
utilities. I think there were like a handful of, I think like 1 or 2 residents in poway who

463
00:47:55,866 --> 00:47:55,866
took advantage of that. So the services are there. They're just not they're not in

464
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:02,000
practice actually needed in our in our city. Hearing no second for that friendly amendment. I

465
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:17,800
do wonder if. We're doing enough good enough job of promoting the 211 opportunities

466
00:48:27,933 --> 00:48:27,933
that could be there for those who are less fortunate. It might help backfill some of the

467
00:48:34,433 --> 00:48:34,433
need that's there. I'd like to see if we can do better. Making people aware of that in those

468
00:48:43,566 --> 00:48:43,566
circumstances. It's really uncomfortable to raise rates. We all pay them. You all pay

469
00:48:54,733 --> 00:48:54,733
them. I don't like high water bills any more than anybody else. But wishing doesn't

470
00:49:03,766 --> 00:49:03,766
change the math or the realities that we're dealing with. And to give some context

471
00:49:10,233 --> 00:49:10,233
to those realities, our neighbor, the city of san diego, recently already approved

472
00:49:15,266 --> 00:49:15,266
nearly a 30% increase in water rates, and now they're looking at another 44% increase in the

473
00:49:24,666 --> 00:49:24,666
very near future just to stay solvent. That's frightening. Against that backdrop, what's

474
00:49:33,666 --> 00:49:33,666
before us tonight is measured. It's transparent, and it's responsible, designed to

475
00:49:42,300 --> 00:49:42,300
maintain safe, reliable service, not just now, but for generations to come, while

476
00:49:47,700 --> 00:49:47,700
avoiding the kind of dramatic spikes that other cities are now facing. So with my comments

477
00:49:55,300 --> 00:49:55,300
reflected, hopefully on the 211 thing I will be supporting this. We have a motion from

478
00:50:03,900 --> 00:50:03,900
councilmember dayhoff and a second from councilmember pikus. Since the majority protest does

479
00:50:14,066 --> 00:50:14,066
not exist, a motion to adopt the resolutions establishing water service charges and rates

480
00:50:19,733 --> 00:50:19,733
and sewer services, charges and rates as enclosed as attachments a and b within the

481
00:50:26,966 --> 00:50:26,966
agenda staff report. This is a roll call vote. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

482
00:50:34,866 --> 00:50:34,866
councilmember dayhoff aye. Council member pikus I deputy mayor maita. No. Mayor voss I.

483
00:50:42,433 --> 00:50:42,433
item passes. Moving on to item five. General plan amendment 25 0001 and zone change 25 0001. A

484
00:50:54,666 --> 00:50:54,666
request to change the general plan, land use designation and zoning classification of

485
00:50:59,333 --> 00:50:59,333
parcels or portions thereof to the open space resource management or natural open

486
00:51:04,766 --> 00:51:04,766
space zoning designation at various locations citywide, and determine the project is

487
00:51:10,866 --> 00:51:10,866
categorically exempt from sequa. I will now open the public hearing assistant planner

488
00:51:15,900 --> 00:51:15,900
jasmine sanchez will present the item along with a powerpoint. Welcome, jasmine.

489
00:51:21,666 --> 00:51:21,666
good evening, honorable mayor and members of the council. My name is jasmine sanchez,

490
00:51:26,333 --> 00:51:26,333
assistant planner here on staff this evening I'm presenting a general plan amendment and zone

491
00:51:31,033 --> 00:51:31,033
change to update the city's general plan and zoning land use map for 32 parcels, or

492
00:51:36,433 --> 00:51:36,433
portions of a parcel that currently have biological conservation easements or are

493
00:51:41,833 --> 00:51:41,833
preserved as open space. This item represents a significant milestone towards achieving the

494
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:47,600
vision of the poway subarea habitat conservation plan, also known as the hcp. In 1996, the

495
00:51:56,933 --> 00:51:56,933
city council adopted the hcp. It is a long term plan designed to preserve threatened and

496
00:52:02,700 --> 00:52:02,700
endangered plant and animal species, as well as their habitats. It covers about

497
00:52:11,366 --> 00:52:11,366
13,000 acres, which is more than half. The city requires that land under a biological

498
00:52:17,100 --> 00:52:17,100
conservation easement, also known as the bce, be rezoned as open space resource management,

499
00:52:23,233 --> 00:52:23,233
also known as osm, to reflect its permanent preservation status. The 32 parcels

500
00:52:29,300 --> 00:52:29,300
identified in the agenda report are all located within the hcp boundaries. With this action,

501
00:52:34,866 --> 00:52:34,866
more than 311 acres would be rezoned for permanent preservation. When a property

502
00:52:43,366 --> 00:52:43,366
owner develops land within the hcp area, they are required to mitigate any loss of natural

503
00:52:49,133 --> 00:52:49,133
habitat caused by that development. In most cases, this is done by permanently

504
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:53,800
preserving a portion of their property as open space through a bce. A bce ensures that the

505
00:53:00,633 --> 00:53:00,633
protected land will remain undeveloped in the future. For 25 of these 32 parcels, only

506
00:53:10,100 --> 00:53:10,100
the portion of the property under a bce will be rezoned to osm. As shown in the example

507
00:53:16,533 --> 00:53:16,533
above, you can see individual homes that have been developed on the outside of the home is a

508
00:53:21,933 --> 00:53:21,933
green hatched area showing the previously dedicated bce. Only this green area is proposed to

509
00:53:28,300 --> 00:53:28,300
be rezoned, and the remaining portion will continue to be zoned residential. The proposed

510
00:53:34,500 --> 00:53:34,500
rezone will not affect the owner's existing property development rights. The

511
00:53:41,333 --> 00:53:41,333
remaining seven parcels have been acquired by the city for the purpose of preservation.

512
00:53:46,766 --> 00:53:46,766
habitat. In lieu fees have been used to fund all or a portion of these parcels. About 205

513
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:53,200
acres will be rezoned to osm for permanent preservation. In the example shown above, about

514
00:54:00,066 --> 00:54:00,066
165 acres of land on van dam peak and about 39 acres of land on twin peaks will be rezoned

515
00:54:06,866 --> 00:54:06,866
and remain as open space in its natural condition. The parcels to be rezoned are outlined in

516
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:13,400
red. The bce and properties acquired by the city have established a large contiguous

517
00:54:19,500 --> 00:54:19,500
open space area. This reflects the city's substantial progress in building the preserve and

518
00:54:25,633 --> 00:54:25,633
achieving the goals of the hcp. This item was duly noticed and was published in the powys news

519
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:35,000
chieftain on january 8th, 2026. A notice was also mailed out to all property owners and

520
00:54:41,066 --> 00:54:41,066
occupants within 500ft of the 32 parcels being rezoned. Staff recommends the following.

521
00:54:48,633 --> 00:54:48,633
conduct a public hearing. Find that the project is categorically exempt from sequa

522
00:54:53,733 --> 00:54:53,733
approved general plan amendment 25 0001 and adopt the resolution and introduce the

523
00:55:00,533 --> 00:55:00,533
ordinance for zone change 25 0001 for first reading. This concludes staff's presentation

524
00:55:07,033 --> 00:55:07,033
and I'm available for any questions. Thank you. Jasmine. We have no speakers on this

525
00:55:13,100 --> 00:55:13,100
item. I will lead it off. I just want to note with some pride that in recent years

526
00:55:23,233 --> 00:55:23,233
we've continued. Yeah, you all heard me say I close the public hearing, right? Sorry about

527
00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:30,800
that. In recent years we've continued to grow highways, open space holdings. We have

528
00:55:37,966 --> 00:55:37,966
more open space as a percentage of our landmass than any other city in the county. I think,

529
00:55:44,066 --> 00:55:44,066
she said. Right around 50% of the city is open space. That doesn't happen by accident. It

530
00:55:51,266 --> 00:55:51,266
reflects long term discipline, respect for our natural assets and decisions like this one

531
00:55:58,533 --> 00:55:58,533
tonight that lock in preservation for generations to come. So for those that suggest

532
00:56:06,066 --> 00:56:06,066
that we're no longer the city in the country, the facts thousands and thousands of

533
00:56:12,900 --> 00:56:12,900
acres already preserved, augmented now by these 311 acres, say otherwise. The

534
00:56:19,700 --> 00:56:19,700
country, part of the city and the country is alive and well and growing, and I am happy to

535
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:26,200
move this item. Deputy mayor maida. Any comment? No. Mr. Pikus, I think you've said

536
00:56:37,333 --> 00:56:37,333
everything I would have said. Thanks, mr. Dayhoff. Thank you, mr. Mayor. This is, I think, a

537
00:56:43,500 --> 00:56:43,500
really great opportunity to, you know, secure the open space for generations to come. I saw

538
00:56:50,066 --> 00:56:50,066
a picture of a gnatcatcher there. I like that catcher's eye. They sound like a little

539
00:56:54,333 --> 00:56:54,333
cat's meow when they're when they're little chirps. I have a question, though. So to jasmine,

540
00:56:59,333 --> 00:56:59,333
I noticed here there's a couple of pcs, four and seven and an rs seven property that are

541
00:57:07,266 --> 00:57:07,266
getting zone two open space of some kind, open space. Does this basically put them under

542
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:14,800
prop control? You know, moving away from that to like if you people wanted to rezone it,

543
00:57:20,966 --> 00:57:20,966
they'd have to go to a vote. Is that an accurate assessment? Yeah. I'm sorry. No problem.

544
00:57:28,866 --> 00:57:28,866
yeah. Yeah I would say short answer is likely. Yes. And all of these, just to be clear, are

545
00:57:33,766 --> 00:57:33,766
already restricted by easements. So I mean as a as a functional matter, they can't really be

546
00:57:38,233 --> 00:57:38,233
developed regardless. But but yes okay. That's great. I thought as much I guess more of

547
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,700
a trivia thing because apparently that doesn't matter. I do appreciate all of these being done at once. You know, every time anything is brought before council, it takes a

548
00:57:53,733 --> 00:57:53,733
reasonable chunk of resources and staff time and money. And so by doing these all in a

549
00:57:58,233 --> 00:57:58,233
block, I think it makes a lot of sense to to save money and improve cost efficiency. So I

550
00:58:03,766 --> 00:58:03,766
believe I will. Am I the second to approve this? Thank you. So we have a motion from the mayor,

551
00:58:11,900 --> 00:58:11,900
a second from council member dorff to approve the resolution and make the determination. The

552
00:58:17,133 --> 00:58:17,133
project is categorically exempt from california environmental quality act sequa as a class

553
00:58:22,533 --> 00:58:22,533
eight categorical exemption pursuant to section 15308 of the scl guidelines. This

554
00:58:29,333 --> 00:58:29,333
project also qualifies under the common sense exemption set forth in ceqa guidelines 1506

555
00:58:35,433 --> 00:58:35,433
one b3, because it can be seen with certainty that it has no possibility of resulting in

556
00:58:41,533 --> 00:58:41,533
significant impact on the environment, and introduce the ordinance for first reading by

557
00:58:46,300 --> 00:58:46,300
title only. Waive further reading and schedule the adoption of the ordinance for

558
00:58:50,633 --> 00:58:50,633
the february 3rd, 2026 regular city council meeting again. Motion by the mayor, second by

559
00:58:56,800 --> 00:58:56,800
council member dayhoff. Will the city clerk please title the ordinance for introduction and

560
00:59:01,366 --> 00:59:01,366
follow the roll call? Vote an ordinance of the city council of the city of poway,

561
00:59:07,166 --> 00:59:07,166
california. Changing the zoning classification of certain properties to open space

562
00:59:11,866 --> 00:59:11,866
resource management os or natural open space os, z 25 0001 council member dayhoff.

563
00:59:23,466 --> 00:59:23,466
aye. Council member picus I. Deputy mayor maeda I and mayor voss I. Item passes. Thank you.

564
00:59:31,700 --> 00:59:31,700
moving on to committee reports and all that stuff. This is an opportunity to briefly share

565
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:40,666
regional committee assignment updates and or briefly highlight city and community events coming up in the next few weeks, or that you've attended. Council member

566
00:59:44,633 --> 00:59:44,633
dayhoff, thank you. Just really quick. Last year, late last year, I spent I had a dinner at

567
00:59:50,066 --> 00:59:50,066
the fire firefighter station. Thank you, chief mitchell. It was a great experience, you

568
00:59:55,100 --> 00:59:55,100
know, for my family to sort of get the nuance, see the how they actually operate. Very

569
00:59:59,766 --> 00:59:59,766
educational. They're a note for the public is while I was there, you know, they did have an

570
01:00:05,533 --> 01:00:05,533
emergency, as typically happens during the middle of dinner. And, you know, a couple of

571
01:00:09,933 --> 01:00:09,933
folks had to head out. And so they head out and they, you know, did their work and they

572
01:00:14,833 --> 01:00:14,833
came back because the the person calling in who needed help declined to go to the

573
01:00:20,666 --> 01:00:20,666
hospital. And then subsequently, they they got called again by the same person who eventually

574
01:00:26,266 --> 01:00:26,266
got taken to the hospital. And so I just really would encourage the public to

575
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:30,400
understand that when the paramedics show up at your door, if they have to, they're there

576
01:00:35,700 --> 01:00:35,700
as professionals. They understand your situation a lot better than you do,

577
01:00:40,433 --> 01:00:44,000
particularly because, you know, you're really stressed about having this emergency. Do your best to seriously consider listening to them. They're not cutting corners. They're going

578
01:00:48,133 --> 01:00:48,133
to spend a lot of time at that hospital to make sure you're there safely, and the folks

579
01:00:52,733 --> 01:00:52,733
there at the hospital are going to be able to take care of you. And I think this lady made it

580
01:00:57,766 --> 01:00:57,766
out. But thank you guys for the work that you do. Council member picus I have nothing.

581
01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:06,000
deputy mayor rader. Last week we had the annual breakfast for our senior volunteer patrol in

582
01:01:18,566 --> 01:01:18,566
poway, and it's a great event every year and some stunning stats out of that breakfast.

583
01:01:26,533 --> 01:01:26,533
our senior volunteer patrol last year conducted 9546 patrols. 48,000. Let me get

584
01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:41,300
this right, covering a total of 48,000 miles. They did 3672 vacation checks and 6067

585
01:01:53,466 --> 01:01:53,466
security checks at houses of worship. That's an incredible gift to the city. These

586
01:02:02,066 --> 01:02:02,066
volunteers, day in and day out, augmenting the work of the sheriff's department and

587
01:02:06,333 --> 01:02:06,333
helping with fire situations, too. We are in their debt. It's always great to celebrate with

588
01:02:12,266 --> 01:02:12,266
them and appreciate being able to have breakfast with them. So I wanted to share that. Chris

589
01:02:20,500 --> 01:02:20,500
allen nothing for me. We will stand