new ordinance. All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order and if you
will lead us in our pledge. >> Just say ready, begin. Okay, whenever
you're ready.
» I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
» So, we're having the uh Melon Carnival coming up and we have a bunch of uh
young ladies that are going to be in a contest. So, now you have a little bit
of appetite for what's going on out there. And I hope everybody wants to
participate. So from that point, let's start with a roll call for uh
declarations of conflict of interest and being present.
» Council member Abram here and none. >> Council member Vixel,
» here none. >> Vice Mayor Mes.
» Council member Phillips here none. >> Mayor Bidler,
» here none. >> All right. Uh approval of agenda as
posted or amended. >> So moved. Second.
» Motion to second. Call the role, please. >> Council member Abram, yes. Council
member Bixel, >> yes.
» Vice Mayor Monet, yes. >> Council member Phillips, yes.
» Mayor Bibler, >> yes. Passes on a 5-0. All right. Uh, we
have Turtle Partnership Incentive Program and I believe that Mr. Sims is
ready.
Tell us something good. >> Good evening, mayor, council members,
city staff, and members of the public. Tonight, we are celebrating another new
Turlock business that has completed the steps in the Turlock Partnership
Incentive Program, Inspire and Bloom LLC, located at 21101 Gear Road, Sweet
101A. They're family-built organization providing applied behavior analysis
therapy and support to children with autism and developmental needs, helping
children build communication, social and everyday life skills. Beyond supporting
local families, Inspire and Bloom is committed to our community by hiring
locally, mentoring students with institutions like Santa State, and
creating sustainable ABA career opportunities right here in the Central
Valley. We wish this new business continued success and look forward to
watching them thrive in our community. At this time, I'd like to invite Mayor
Bublack, city council members, city manager, and the business owners, Mr.
Mike Morgan and Olivia Morgan, forward for a special check presentation.
It's child.
One, two, three. One more.
[applause]
Just like that.
» You got money for us, too?
All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, on behalf of the transit
team, I want to give you a brief update on what we've been up to in July. We've
been pretty busy with a lot of different activities, a lot of good stuff.
First, I wanted to speak about our free rides in July program. This is something
we've been doing for quite a few years now, partnering with our regional
partners at Stan and most recently Merced to offer free rides throughout
the region, which has been great. Um, so here you can see our writership numbers.
Saw a 14.2% increase of writership overall compared to the same period last
year, which is great. If you look at the details there, you can see the large
portion of that was our on demand service. So, as word gets out about
that, I think more and more folks are using that. A lot of folks use that to
get to the fair, which is great. And so, again, the purpose with this is
increased writership. It's achieving that purpose. Every year we do this,
we're seeing more and more writers, which is great. Um, this is largely
funded by a grant through the state called LCTOP.
Unfortunately, LCTOP funding is being cut and so we aren't going to be able to
do these free ride promotions throughout the year like we used to. We used to
have multiple periods. Now, it's just going to be limited to July. If things
change, we'll increase it back again, but for now, it'll still be July, but
received well by the community. Hearing a lot of good things.
Obviously, the fair is a big part of that. Uh I just got through talking
about all of July. Now we're focusing on the fair and we provided a lot of
expanded and extended service during the fair which was July 10th through the
19th. And that service was running buses to later, running more buses, running
the shuttle and um the the main difference between this year and last
year is that prior we would have a physical presence inside the fairgrounds
and this year we changed it up a bit. We decided to focus our efforts at the
transit center itself. That seemed to work really well. We invested a lot more
effort and time into the folks that were using the service to get to the transit
center to ride the shuttle. It started with our gateway to the fair kickoff
event which was great. Had lots of regional transportation partners there
with us. We had the recreation department there with some food, some
games and just was received really well by the community. And so radio
advertising was another big change. You may have noticed uh in prior years the
transit center parking lot would maybe be 50% full at the most. Well, it was
packed pretty much every night of the fair this year. And so, a lot of people
are hearing about the shuttle, uh, hearing about our service, and again,
lots of good things coming from that. The shuttle itself was running every 5
to 10 minutes. We saw, you know, over 7,400 total trips provided, which is a
72% increase over the prior year. Pretty substantial. We handed out over 3,600
bottles of cold water, which was 111% increase. So, for give you an idea, we
order a large pallet of water. That's what we typically go through. We went
more than two pallets of water this year and so it was pretty substantial. We're
going to increase that order next year. Um, but again, the radio advertising
played a huge role. Lots of strong positive feedback from writers, largely
non-transit riders, too. That's the beauty of this system is we're we're
investing in typically non-transit riders. And so, we're breaking down some
of those stigmas that folks have about transit in the community. So, it just
helps us achieve our goals. Going past the fair, we also sponsored a free swim
day at Columbia Pool, which was great. So on July 30th, uh, everybody could
come in for free and so 38 adults and 56 youth were able to take advantage of
that. We were there with our staff. Buzz was there. He did not get in the pool,
but he was there. Um, but had a great time. Uh, lots of interactions with
folks that were learning about the service. And um given that that
particular segment of the city is a disadvantaged area, transit is a really
important feature for a lot of households in that area. And so they
were able to learn about services that are available to them often for free. A
lot of times we're still letting people know kids ride free, you know, so that
they they're not aware of this. So we're able to do that. We had a great time
there. And last but not least, our short-range transit plan. So we at the
last meeting here, we let you know about some upcoming community input sessions.
And so we actually had those. We had our pop-up events throughout Turlock. We had
two community workshops, one at the library and one at the transit center.
We had 10 or 11 folks that showed up for that. Provided a lot of good feedback.
Few notes for the council and the community to know. Community is
generally pretty happy with the transit service that they have. So we were
hearing that loud and clear. We also heard loud and clear Sunday service.
That's probably the most common request that we're getting is for some version
of Sunday service, whether that's fixed route, on demand, uh something just to
be able to get around on Sundays, whether that's to church, whether that's
to Amtrak, um just various places in our community. So, we're hearing that loud
and clear. And then also some other general service changes and some bus
stop improvements, amenity improvements like bus shelters and benches and things
like that. So, a lot of good stuff. And where we're at in that plan right now,
we're at the end of phase two. So, we're kind of wrapping up the community
feedback portion. By all means, if you have feedback, uh, feel free to continue
to send that in. But, we're kind of reaching the end of this phase, moving
into the next phase, which is service evaluation, where we crunch all the
data, look at all the numbers, and eventually get to um some
recommendations back to the community and to the council and say, "This is
what we're hearing. This is what we understand. Here's our budget. Here's
what we can provide. Here's our recommendations. What do you all think
about that?" So, that's where we're at. So, we've been pretty busy during July.
Wanted to give you that update and happy to answer any questions you may have.
» Dr. Murphy and I uh joined there. It was pretty nice. Yeah, I drank at least two
of those waters. >> Very good.
» Any questions? >> Thank you, Mr. York. I appreciate it.
» Thank you. >> Okay, we have a sidewalk program.
Director Fiser,
there's a sidewalk on the mountain.
Good evening, council members, mayor. Thanks for having me tonight. I wanted
to bring you a brief update on our sidewalk program. The last time we
talked about this was in January.
City and state law has long placed responsibility of the sidewalks on the
property of the adjacent property owners. In December of 2025, um we had
brought um a financial assistance program that was primarily funded
through measure L, which gave some assistance to residents that needed to
repair their sidewalks or or mitigate some of the tripping hazards. Um program
involves a city contractor performing the work at prevailing wage. Um and then
the resident the city would pay for that and the resident would then reimburse
their portion of the of the cost. Um and then and in January, we brought the
finalized program um to the municipal code for the updates.
overall process generally takes three to four months um in the from the initial
notice to the of the defect to a city initiated repair. Um obviously if the
residents want to repair that on their own they can't do that and they can do
that within their time frame and we encourage them to do that if if they
choose to do so. Um we conduct a lot of public outreach. We um put utility
mailers um we do social media. Um, we're actually physically going out to the
property and talking to the property owners and we're following up with phone
calls just to make sure that we know that we get all of the education
opportunity that we can and people that are understanding of the program and
what the benefits are. Um, when we do go out to the property, um, once we have
notification of it, we'll paint it and we'll put the appropriate signage and
that really reduces the risk of tripping hazards because it makes it more
obvious. And then we find that some of the smaller lifts in the sidewalks can
create some of the bigger problems because they're not they're not as um,
blatantly obvious as some of the bigger lifts.
Um once we do that, we begin notifying the property owners of their obligation
to repair. City does um we do everything we can to
make sure that we're properly explaining um what the to the owners what the
program is um why why it's respons who's responsible for it and why it's
important. Um we also encourage them to to when they when they get um an
encroment permit, we'll we'll cover that as well. So even if they choose to
repair the subway on their own, we're going to initiate the encroachment
permit for them again and give them um financial assistance on that. So the
city's typically going to send five notices um combination of first class
and certified letters um if the property owner remains nonresponsive um through
this process. the city will initiate the repair um and after the pair the city
you know begins the cost recovery process which ultimately um ends up on
sending a bill to the property owner and ultimately if it's not paid we will put
it on the tax ro as a form of a lean again um this is just a visual
representation of the 3 to four month process um the mailing uh notices and
the owner outreach the phone calls that is the majority of the process and
really the the you know the the city initiated repairs smallest portion of
that. It usually takes like four four weeks to get it done once we decide to
get um that that we'll make the repairs. Couple of stats on it. Um the total
number of properties um city-owned and non cityowned inspect in 2026 have been
187. Um number of applicants that have rolled in our sidewalk repair assistance
program of 54. We've made um 29 completed repairs. We have 15 more that
are out ongoing with the contractor current currently. We have 10 more on
deck. Um there have been some pairs that have not completed through our sidewalk
assistance program. Um there's 25 of those and so the total repair is about
54 and these range um anywhere from a few hundred to you know to several
thousand up to you know in some cases $10,000 depending on you know large
properties and business owners and stuff.
Um looking at budgets the assist program began um in spring of the prior fiscal
year. We didn't budget a whole bunch of money, but we, you know, during the the
new fiscal year, we did. Um, so there's approximately 36,000 assistance has been
or is expected to be provided this year so far. Um, so we have about $263,000
remaining available for the program budget. Um, we're only about two months
into this fiscal year, so um there's plenty of funding left. Um, if we do run
into a a case where it's wildly successful and we need more more money,
we'll we'll be back up here asking for some more.
I want to focus on a couple or bring it, you know, notice to, you know, city
locations. We have been um busy. We've had a combination of staff making
repairs. I know they made numerous repairs at Padretti Park not that long
ago. Um but other city locations of Broadway, Crane, Rotary, Four Seasons,
Kurt, Andre Parks, making sure those parks are safe for our children and
anyone that wants to walk through there, you know, because they're a big part of
our our community and we recognize the importance of those.
We have had some challenges. Um inspection capacity has been limited. Um
you we have a lot of we have a lot of um on deck. We've you know so far we've
done 187 inspections. Um the same inspectors reporting the sidewalk
program. You know they're they're responsible for the capital work in the
city, the utility work um such as like you know looking at race and crochets
and other development projects and any other construction that's that's
operating through the city. Um some property owners have been nonresponsive
or disagree with their responsibility to make the repairs and you know staff is
is spending a sign significant amount of time um conducting outreach and
explaining both obligations and assistance opportunities. Um so
approximately 120 um properties that are currently um in in the compliance
program at this point. So as we're working through this, we started off
kind of slow just kind of get the program filled out um make any changes
that we needed to do and now Now we're at the point where we're ramping up.
So in conclusion, staff will continue to outreach inspections and compliance
efforts. Um we'll continue to, you know, that we'll continue to make sure that we
have adequate inspection capacity and timely um property owner response and
contractor availability. That's one of our key things is keeping this rolling,
making sure that we're keeping our contractors happy and then and we're
going through and making, you know, meaningful repairs where we're grouping
them in areas where, you know, it makes the most sense for everybody. um any you
know any substantive program change at this point we would bring this back to
the council at this point you know we feel that the program is is successful
um but if there's any suggestions at all that you know that we would definitely
listen to them but we would need to bring it back to the council um
currently participation appears generally within our expectations what
we expected and I think that we're just a little bit higher than we expected on
the sidewalk repair assistance program meaning I think that you know there's a
good value to it we're finding that the smaller repairs are generally very
inexpensive for the property owners in some cases as low as $60 for their
portion. And I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have on it.
» Is it true that uh Turlock has one of the better uh methodologies for
sidewalks? >> Yes, it is true. We've actually received
several um inquiries from neighboring cities um that that looking at our
program um and we've also looked at a couple other programs and comparing
them. I think that we really have one of the one of the better programs
um that that it's out there right now. I know that there's other cities that are
really close to us right now that are going through similar issues and
they're, you know, they're struggling with it. We'd be happy to help them, you
know. >> Awesome. Anybody?
All right, stay there because we have to give you a uh
traffic.
pretty big. >> I think so.
» Okay.
» Okay. So, um Mr. Fischer, Director Fischer is going to be leaving us, but
uh not without uh knowing that he still lives here and his heart will still be
here and that he's always welcome to come back, but he got a better job. He
can tell you, not me. Um just more money. So in honor of the distinguished
service of municipal services director SRWA general manager Christopher J.
Fiser. So Chris began his service in the city
of Turlock on October 16th, 2023. During his tenure, he helped guide the
concluding stages of the regional surface water supply project and the
delivery of treated surface water to Turlock and series, a project that
received the design build institution uh of America's national award of merit.
Pretty big deal. Then Chris advanced difficult but necessary initiatives
including financially sustainable and equitable sewer rates and sidewalk
compliance programs as we just heard. He supported the city's roads program
through interdep departmental coordination and staff support and
oversaw completion of the Columbia Pool improvement project. He barely been
here. This is a lot. In the summer of 2026, Chris temporarily served in the
role of city manager during a leadership vacancy, providing continuity and a
steady leadership to city operations, guided by the principles of safety,
quality, and community. Your three pillars, uh Chris inspired those around
him to work smarter and more efficiently while maintaining the higher standards
of ethics, professionalism, and public service. So, on behalf of the city
council, myself, our entire team, and our city, we wish you well and hope that
you come back soon. But I'd love to get a picture with all of us because you are
part of the team. Is that all right? >> Yeah.
» Do you want to say something? >> I do.
» All right. >> Yeah.
» You know, and this wasn't a decision that was that was made easily. Um, you
guys have been incredibly supportive throughout and I have a great staff.
They just they're wonderful people and they will take care of this and like my
work isn't done here you know like I I expect to be back here in you know in
the future because this is my hometown and this is this is where I belong and
I'm I'm extremely proud of the work we've done and JJ I mean I'm sorry Dr.
Murphy, I you know I you know I'm just getting to know you, but you know like
this is the first time and I've seen smiles in the hall and just in people
jumping around. So like I I I feel like you know like there was a lot to learn
you know from you and and but I I hope we can stay in touch and and we can
definitely you know work together in the future.
[applause]
Two, three, four.
So the next one will not take place today because uh Martin is sick and uh
we asked if he wanted if he wanted to do this or if he was sick and he he is in
fact sick. So he he would like to do it another time. So we'll probably the next
meeting we'll we'll correlate with him. He he actually will be uh I think
September 1st is his last day or something. Is that right?
» That sounds about right. He told me when I was uh found him in Ghiradelli in San
Francisco months and months ago he's like I'm I'm leaving. I'm like, "No."
So, 30 some day years he's he's entitled. But our next person is a
police captain, Miguel Pico. Come on up, [applause]
man. Is it something in the water, Chris?
What's happening? Why are these people leaving?
So, uh, we have Captain Miguel Pacheo here who was hired as police officer on
April 16th of 2000. Beginning more than 26 years of dedicated service to the
city, marked by courage, integrity, and professionalism,
Miguel advanced from police officer through the ranks of corporal, sergeant,
lieutenant, and captain, reflecting his enduring commitment to the city, proven
leadership, and continued pursuit of excellence. During his distinguished
career, Captain Pico served on the SWAT team and was entrusted to lead the
police department on several occasions as interim and acting police chief. As
police captain, he provided steady leadership, oversaw critical public
safety operations, supported and mentored fellow officers, and worked
with city officials and community partners to meet the needs of residents.
Uh, it doesn't say on here, but you did. FBI also started running again. That was
awesome. So Miguel Sound judgment, dedication,
and commitment to community oriented policing have strengthened the police
department, advanced public safety, and helped build trust throughout our
community. So on behalf of myself, our entire council, and our community, we
thank you for so many years that you've given to our city and the safeness that
we feel because of you and your leadership. So thank you, Miguel.
[applause]
» Yeah. Uh just super super quick. Um to my wife, uh it's been a journey, but we
made it, right? I'm retiring, so uh most of my sanity is still here, so we're
doing pretty good. Uh to my mom who took me to Explorer meetings, um when I was a
kid, thank you. Family came in. To my kids, uh thank you for all the bad days
they came home and hear me talk about it. Uh won't have that anymore. Uh I
made a lot of requests to council in my years here. Thank you for all the
support. Usually it was around money and stuff we were trying to get, and you
were very supportive. So, thank you. Uh I think it's appropriate to say one
thing before I leave. Uh, one last request and it's really for the city of
Turlock. Please keep the officers in mind who are still doing the job. Uh,
admittedly I've wrote a desk for several years, but um, cops are my heroes. Just
straight up, they are. Um, if you can imagine the worst day in your life, our
officers do that uh, every day of every shift that they work. They meet people
in trauma, dangerous, emotional stuff they go through. So, to the city council
for your support of frontline staff, I do thank you. Turlock's very special. Uh
to the community out there, you've got good cops working here. Um don't believe
everything you see in the paper. It's a special place. I came from Sacramento. I
thought I'd be here a year. We made a life out of here. I raised my kids and
my beautiful wife. Uh we laid roots here special. Please keep the cops in our
prayers. That's all I ask. But thank you.
» Thank you. [applause]
One, two, three, four,
Wait till the KMA point. That's the hardest part, huh?
All right. On to consent calendar. At this time, we will open the public
comment on the consent calendar. This is the opportunity to comment on any item
on the consent calendar or to request from the council that an item be removed
for separate consideration. If you are requesting that an item be pulled,
please state the item number and briefly explain
your request to the council. Public comment on the consent calendar is
limited to one minute. The city clerk will now facilitate that public comment.
» All right, we will for consent item we will begin with we have zero speaker
cards. So we'll go to our online remote speakers. If anyone online would like to
speak, this is your time to raise your hand or press star 9 to indicate so.
Seeing none, we'll go back to in person. If there's anyone in person that would
like to speak regarding the consent calendar, please come forward to the
left turn. >> Seeing none, mayor.
» Okay. At this time, public comment is now closed.
» Move to approve consent calendar as written.
» Second. >> Second.
» Have a motion to second. Will you call the role, please?
» Council member Abram. >> Yes. Council member Bixel.
» Yes. >> Vice Mayor Manz. Yes. Council member
Phillips. Yes. >> Mayor BL.
» Yes. Passes on a 5-0. There are no final readings. Public hearings. We have 8A
authorizing the submitt of PLHA plan amendment uh for 2020 allocation year.
Money man.
Thank you, honorable mayor and council members. item we have before you today
is a request for an amendment to the permanent local housing allocation plan
for the program year of 2020. So the recommended action before you is
really just to amend that the program year of 2020 to adjust what was
submitted prior to for the 80% factor of area income um which we call AMI from
80% to 120%. Really what this does is realign all the other allocations that
we have in place and how we're utilizing the AMI uh factor for first-time home
buyer program background. Um so this program came into
place back in 2017 2017 for some legislation that move forward. Basically
what they did is establish a fee uh for recording uh real estate documentation
for $75 that was carved out uh established this program. Overall, the
program was meant to to assist with housing needs.
Current issue as we just stated really again remending what was done in 2020 um
to match what our current program years and how we're doing the AMI factor of
80%. Why this is important? Because we have an 80% factor for some of our enter
programs where the PHA is a state program which actually has a little more
flexibility where we can increase that number and take on other applications
where we couldn't do another program funding sources. Just to give you an
overall idea of what we've done so far with these with these fundings, we've re
rehabilitated a forplex, one forplex, uh three single family homes, and we've
also done for two first-time home buyer programs.
The physical impact of this action is none really just staff time really
submitting the application and what the action we're doing today. Next steps
overall is to execute the the resolution and the amendments. Again, that is
before you with within your packet overall today.
Again, this this is really just amending the overall program itself to be in line
with the rest of the fiscal years and how they line up. We actually do have
the first-time home buyer in place ready to go as soon as this amendment is done.
So we'll submit that resolution application at least about 30 days to to
move forward and then we can get the applicant moving forward.
» Is there any questions? >> Questions for director.
» Okay. Uh at this time I will open the public comment and ask the city clerk to
facilitate the public comment. Each of you will have three minutes.
» Okay. We have no blue cards for this item. Um if anyone joining remotely
would like to speak regarding this item, please raise your hand or press star 9.
No one online is indicating as anyone in person would like to speak regarding
this item, please come forward to the left turn.
» Seeing none, mayor. >> All right, I will close public comment
at this time. >> Move to approve ad.
» Second. >> Motion in a second. Will you call the
role, please? >> Council member Abram, yes. Council
member Bixel, >> yes.
» Vice Mayor Mes, yes. >> Council member Phillips, yes.
» Mayor Vlac, >> yes. On a 5-0. Thank you, director.
» All right. The next item is a second reading of the ordinance amendment for
our general plan amendment of 2026.
Miss Quintterero. >> Yes.
» Thank you. Good evening, mayor, council, members of the public. The item before
you tonight is the housing element and the associated general plan amendments,
ordinance updates, and reszone actions. This item was introduced at the last
city council meeting and tonight is the public hearing and second reading of the
item and I'm available and happy to answer any questions if there are
» questions for Okay, no questions. All right. So, at
this time I will open it to the public and ask the clerk to facilitate public
comment. >> We have no blue cards for this item. If
anyone is joining remotely that would like to speak regarding this item,
please either raise your hand or press star 9.
Seeing none, mayor, moving back to in person. Would anyone in person like to
speak regarding this item? Please come forward. Thank you.
» Good evening, council, staff, community members. Milt treeer. Our Turle planning
department along with consult have been working on this Turlock housing element
for over two years now. On July 18th, 2024 at the planning commission meeting,
there was a Turlock housing element study to prepare for the housing
element. A notice of the city of the first public review period for the draft
of housing element ran from October 1st or October 2nd to November 1st, 2024.
Two years ago, almost two years ago, the state responded on April 30th, 2025. The
California Department of Housing and PUNY Velum completed a review of the
draft housing element and found that while the draft address sees addresses
many of the statutory requirements, some further revisions are necessary to
substantially comply with the state's housing element law.
After that, multiple plans were submitted to the state for review and
they were all turned down by the state. It seems to me that our planning staff
and consultant were not allowed to make or present the solutions to the issues
of not complying to the state because possibly of from pressure of the many
city managers we had during that period of time
because the city managers are Atwell employees and they're controlled by our
current city of Turlock elected officials. But now once again we're
presenting this to the state. So we will once again find out if the
planning department and the consultants were allowed to do their jobs because if
they have been this will go through. Thank you.
» Is there anyone further would like to speak? Ron Ber
uh just some general comments. Um I've looked through a little bit of the
document. It's a long document with a lot in it. Um, it's got some fascinating
information in it. It really does. Um, and I've made a good number of posts
about that. Um, I just u basically wanted to uh thank
Katie and everybody else who worked on it. I mean, it's a very detailed, very
involved document. I know it's been a long process, but I can't imagine
how much time and effort they had to put into it. So, I just wanted to say thank
you. >> Are there any further speakers regarding
this item? >> Seeing none, mayor.
» All right. Closing public comment. >> Motion to approve the resolution and
both ordin ordinances contained within item 8b.
» Second. We have a motion in a second. May you call the role, please.
» Council member Abram. >> Yes. Yes. Council member Bixel. Yes.
» Vice Mayor Monet. Yes. Council member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bill Black.
» Yes. Pon50. Thank you everyone. >> All right. 9A is accepting the economic
development strategic implementation plan.
Mr. Sims got a lot going on today.
Good evening, mayor, council, members, city staff, and members of the public.
Before you tonight is the proposed economic development strategic plan
implementation plan for 2026 through 2029. As council will recall, on March
10th, 2026, council adopted the updated economic development strategic plan
prepared by Cosmont, establishing nine strategic priorities to focus on in
economic development. The implementation plan takes those priorities, turns them
into specific action items, timelines, and performance metrics so we can track
our progress as we regularly report back to council.
The plan is organized into three phases over three years. Phase one is
foundation and business engagement. Phase two is investment and development
activation. Phase three is long-term growth and destination development. Now,
these phases are not firm boundaries. Economic development doesn't always
happen according to a predetermined schedule. Markets change, opportunities
arise, and we have to be nimble. Something identified for year three may
make sense to pursue in year one. Several activities are also reoccurring
strategies that will continue throughout all three years, including business
retention, attraction, developer engagement, marketing, and business
assistance. We look at this implementation plan much like a playbook
as a coach will carry on the field. We have a game plan. We know what we want
to where we want to go and what we want to do, but we also have to read what's
happening in front of us and adjust the play when conditions change. So, this
plan is I just want to say it's very collaborative. It's crossepart
departmental effort and a great example is the Chick-fil-A grand opening. Uh
that project required significant involvement from development services,
engineering, municipal services, fire, police, city administration, and others
working together to get that project across the finish line. So, great job to
Adrian and her team, Chris and his team, city administration, all staff involved.
And we received tremendous feedback. Chick-fil-A's opening team told us
Turlock was their most businessfriendly experience and that Turlock's
Chick-fil-A grand opening day was the highest performing of all Chick-fil-A
grand openings in the US. So, being able to receive that type of feedback from a
new business comes from leadership, coordination, and city staff working
together to get a project to Yes. So, and as the mayor had said, this isn't
just about Chick-fil-A. It's about using that success as a springboard for
additional investment, jobs, sales tax revenue that support services for our
community. Tonight, rather than going in depth on every
action item in the plan, there's about 35 to 40. I want to highlight a few
examples of what's already happening and why it's happening. One action item
focuses on business retention and expansion. Our city manager is joining
economic development on meetings with some of our largest employers and
stakeholders to better understand challenges, successes, and opportunities
for growth. In one recent meeting, we learned that a large employer has an
opportunity for a 10,000 square foot expansion that could add production
lines and additional jobs in Turlock. This organization has a corporate office
out of state is in and is competing to have an additional investment at their
Turlock facility. And being able to have a development incentive program like the
Turlock development incentive program is an added benefit that we can that can
add to help that large employer win that job.
These incentive programs are prime examples of how it will bring wins to
us. This will help attract projects in WISP and throughout Turlock. We met with
another business that happens to be opening soon that needed assistance with
their project and through collaboration, we coordinated a team meeting to help
that business find a path forward. This is an example of business concierge
priority that is called out in this implementation plan. Instead of
businesses being stuck or not understanding a path forward, acting as
a business concierge will assist our economic development efforts going
forward. Another major focus is business attraction. And we're going all in on
this one. The city manager and I are committed to targeting recruitment
meetings and conferences ICS uh to prospective businesses uh outside
of California to put Turlock in front of them. We've already had several
discussions with high performing businesses considering Turlock for a
location. We're speaking with large employers, potential sports users, and
family entertainment venues. Sports and entertainment are massive economic
drivers for communities, a magnet that pulls outside dollars and assists
others, other local business such as hotels and shopping. The incentive
program will help us get those business attraction wins as well. We're also
meeting and strengthening partnerships with organizations in our community,
including the Turlock Chamber, Santa Loss, Latino Chamber, Beam Circular,
Opportunity Stannis Loss, and Volt Institute. and we're increasing
engagement with developers, property owners, and commercial real estate
brokers. We want to hear what's working, what isn't, and where we can move
faster. The city manager and I have the developer roundt scheduled for early
September to continue that conversation with our local realtors and developers.
And finally, branding, communication, and marketing are important components
of economic development. Our economic development and communications team
continues to do a great job highlighting Turlock businesses, community events,
and opportunities. And we're seeing strong engagement across all our social
media platforms. We're stringing we're seeing strong participation in the
Turlock partnership incentive program with economic development, planning, and
building staff working together to promote that program as businesses come
to the counter. It's really helping us get more wins for that program. Looking
ahead, we're going to market Turlock more aggressively. We're going to think
outside the box. Working with our city manager, our PIO and communication staff
are exploring targeted advertising, commercial real estate and development
publications, geo fencing campaigns, and other strategies to put Turlock in front
of the businesses, developers, and investors, maybe even advertisements in
Bay Area sports team publications. There's a lot of momentum around
economic development in Turlock right now with our new city manager economic
development experience, energy and and how how we get to yes philosophy. I
believe we have an opportunity to build on that momentum and take our efforts to
another level. And that philosophy aligns with this implementation plan. We
want Turlock to compete for investment, respond when opportunities arise, work
collaboratively to solve problems, and get projects across the finish line.
This implementation plan gives us the playbook. Our job now is to execute,
measure our results, remain flexible, and continue working together as one
city team to bring investment, businesses, jobs, and economic
opportunity to Turlock. So, with that, that kind of concludes my
presentation. If there's further question, we can go into that, but I
kind of wanted to give you guys a high level overview of what's going on and
why it's happening and the momentum that we're building.
» Questions for Mr. Simps? >> Great presentation. Thank you.
» Very good. Okay. At this time, uh, we will have we'll open it to the public
and ask the clerk to handle it.
» Yes. So, we have no blue cards for this item. Um, if anyone joining remotely
would like to speak, please raise your hand or press star 9 to indicate so.
Seeing none, if when anyone in person would like to speak regarding this item,
please come forward to the left turn. >> Seeing none, mayor. Okay, we're going to
close public comment, but uh John Madden was on this somehow like the X's and O's
all over the place. >> It's a playbook. We're ready to move.
» Okay, >> if we got to call audible, we will.
» Yeah. Um so, you know, no particular questions, but you know, thank you for
really highlighting kind of where we're at, what we're doing. Um you know, in
the implementation plan, like you said, I think there's what 35 different
different items. Um, and I, you know, back in March when we were presented
with sort of the overarching plan, I I think it was, I can speak for everybody
that it was important to have like here's here's the order of what we're
going to do. Um, and you know, one thing that I I'm not seeing in the plan that I
would have wanted to see a little bit more is sort of like maybe a little bit
more specific timelines on like, you know, a lot of things are listed as
ongoing or in progress and, you know, having having some specific milestones.
So we can come back at that date and say where are we at and and a little bit
more of the the how like phase phase three year three is we're going to
support housing development but I would like to see whatever comes through all
of this collaboration and and you know really talking through departments. I
want to see the specific policies come forth to us so we can really talk about
how we can support what what is out there and what's needed in the
community. Yes, sir.
» So, I just want to say uh economic development will no longer be a just a
department goal. I mean, we're all going to work towards it. If you look at all
the directors over there and this the council, the community, we are all going
to be part of this team. Uh this is not going to be driven by one person, one
branch. We all got to roll up our sleeves and do this. So to your point um
and and I think Anthony said it good in the beginning, economic development has
to be flexible because today's opportunity may be gone, but we always
have to be striving for tomorrow and and how to build what this council and this
community needs. We don't have to chase every bright light out there. We have to
pick what's right for Turlock and and our team's going to be behind that.
Uh, with that I'll move to approve the this item. Second
» with a motion and second. I'll call the role.
» Council member Abram. Yes. >> Council member Bixel. Yes.
» Vice Mayor Manz. Yes. >> Council member Phillips. Yes.
» Mayor BL. >> Yes. Pass on 5 Z. Thank you, Mr. Sims.
All right. The next one is approving an agreement with St. Francis Electric for
traffic signal and and street light prevention, maintenance, and repair
services for five years. Mr. Fisher. >> Back again.
too soon. >> No, no, no.
» This item um tonight before you is requesting a 5-year agreement with St.
Francis Electric for traffic signal and street light maintenance repair services
in the amount not to exceed 2.5 million. Um just a little bit of background. The
city maintains about 100 traffic 102 traffic signals and uh rapid uh flashing
beacon locations along with associated controllers uh detection system, battery
backups, pedestrian equipment, um and street light infrastructure. These are
all critical components um of our of our transportation system and um hopefully
you know we can we can demonstrate tonight like what we've done with the
previous contract and and get you swayed to to approve this one. So, under our
current contract, um, we've been able to do more than simply just respond, um, to
when a signal has a problem. Um, we've really taken a proactive approach on our
maintenance. We've looked at our entire system. We've looked at all of our
inspection records and we've we've prioritized all of the the suggestions
or the information. We've replaced all of the aging battery backup systems. So,
when our, you know, our power goes out, you know, our street lights aren't dark.
Um, fail detection loops. That means that
when you pull up to, you know, you and you stage, um, it detects it detects the
cars in there and it it changes the light appropriately and it prioritizes
those things failed. You won't necessarily know. You're just going to
wait a little bit longer. You know, for instance, when I first started here in
city tour lock, my my distance from my house to to church on Sunday was 17
minutes. It's now 12. Um, so there's a big improvement. Now, have we got areas?
» No. [laughter]
» Sorry. haven't asked, sir.
» So, you know, it's it's a combination of all the little
things, you know, and then, you know, and we got far enough ahead on the on
the the deferred maintenance so we could start making improvements for safety and
visibility. So, you see our new our new uh street signs, you know, replacing the
ones that have been damaged by wind many decades ago where you can't unfadable,
then putting, you know, the signal tape around there and repainting so they
really stand out, right? And like that really helps some of the newer vehicles
that have detection, you know, and be and be more safer. Now when the way I
look at it is, you know, if we pre prevent one injury accident at one
intersection, like the money's well spent. I mean, it's just it's absolutely
incredible. I mean, not only from, you know, people having a bad day to, you
know, to all the time invest spending on on mitigating some of those things. For
this RFP, we went out um and we went out for competitive bid process. Um we you
know propos all all the proposals were evaluated on qualification staffing
methodology and emergency response capability pricing and re you know and
references and following that St. Francis simply was just the the best
one. So under the new proposed agreement sorry sticky fingers
um we made some changes to the scope. Um, previously it was more just
responding um and going out and fixing things. You know, we we've made some
changes to include all of um any changes that we want to make to make safety
improvements. So, if we want to change, for instance, in front of them, you
know, the the junior high to put countdown signal heads for pedestrians,
we can do that with this new contract, you know, and we could use utilize those
existing assets in other locations that maybe don't need that. Um,
so this current contract is basically the same contract. Now, if you remember
when I first started back in 2022, we came back to the council and I asked for
for more money because like I looked at that, you know, our system and I said,
"This is simply isn't enough for what we want to do." You know, when we looked at
it and we said, "Okay, I think this is the amount of work that we can do um
given, you know, our budget, you know, our budget year." So, we we proved that
was accurate. We made a lot of improvements and we're looking for the
next phase of of making this this better. So, um obviously the actual
expenditures will vary. Um this is a not to exceed amount if we find a place
where you know we're we're meeting we won't spend the money but um this is all
funded through um fund 219 which is contract services signalization um we
recommend that you approve this agreement um and it really the goal uh
for me is just have a safe reliable system that is keeps traffic moving and
it makes efficiency because it makes all of our lives better. And again it's it's
so hard to explain the things that we fix that like we don't notice but we
only notice when we're sitting there waiting at a light because it doesn't
go. So, be happy to answer any questions. Yeah.
» Is it true the ants were eating some of the
» Oh, yeah. Regis, that's a thing. That was I didn't believe it. I had to go out
there and look at it myself. But yeah, it was absolutely true.
» So, the ants eat like >> they ate the insulation off the wiring
which cause intermittent shorts during fog events. Yeah.
» Who knew? >> Yeah.
» Who knew? >> Question for director.
» Okay. Um for that then I will open the public comment and ask the city clerk to
facilitate the public comment. >> We have no blue speaker cards. If anyone
joining remotely would like to speak, please raise your hand or press star 9
to indicate. Seeing none any if anyone in person
would like to speak regarding this item, please come forward to lect turn.
» Seeing none, mayor. >> All right, then I will be closing the
public comment. >> Move to approve 9B.
» Second. >> Motion in a second. Will you call the
role, please? >> Council member Abram. Yes. Council
member Bixel. Yes. >> Vice Mayor Manz.
» Council member Phillips. Yes. Mayor >> Back. Yes. Passes on 5-0. Thank you,
Director Fischer. >> Okay. This is the time set aside for the
general public participation and we'll ask the city clerk to facilitate the
public comment. This is opportunity for members of public to address the city
council on matters that are not on tonight's agenda and are within the
council's subject matter jurisdiction. Each speaker will have up to three
minutes and the total time allotted for general public participation is 30
minutes. Madam clerk, >> we have a total of seven speaker cards.
We'll begin with the first five speaker cards and then we'll move to our remote
speakers and then coming back to address the remainder of the blue cards. So the
first blue speaker is Maddie S. If you can please come forward to the lect
turn. >> Yep. Over there.
» Hold that microphone down, sweetheart, so you can reach it. There you go.
Hi, my name is Maddie, which you probably already know, and I'm here
because I think that kids, too. I have three ideas that I think I
could that I think could make our community a better place for kids.
First, create a kids cleanup turlock community day where the community
gathers together to help clean. It would be great to have free or inexpensive
sports art programs, movie night, game night, and community events. Chillock
does not currently offer any ongoing completely free self-defense class for
kids. So, it would be great to have one so kids can learn to be safe.
» Thank you.
» We have Haley Cooper.
Only speakers with sashes get to speak tonight.
» Yes. >> Good evening, council mayor. My name is
Haley Cooper. I am 12 years old. What [snorts] I love about Turlock is the
farmers market and meeting new people and communities. I also love to attend
them with my family and I love holiday parades to see what our community could
do and come together.
» [applause] >> Thank you.
We have Audrey Nelson.
» Hi, my name is Audrey Nelson. And thank you for the people that are
here today. And I love Turlock.
» My favorite thing about Turlock is
the fair.
Thank you.
» Next speaker is Millie Clawson.
» Hello, my name is Lily. One of my favorite things about Sherlock
is that they brought the melon festival back. One,
I really like the parks, too. My favorite park is Crane Park. Thank you
for your time.
[applause]
Next speaker is Melissa Lopez.
All right. Can you hear me? Okay. Okay. Uh, good evening. My name is Melissa
Lopez and there was two comments I wanted to make. Firstly was one that was
already brought up, the sidewalks. Um, myself and other community members on I
don't know directions that side of town. Um, really appreciate that sidewalks
were put in where there was like more like dirt patch. It makes it look nicer.
It's safer. So, we really appreciate that and just wanted to say that. The
second thing was um about two years ago uh Self-Help Enterprises came in and
built I think 24 homes here in Turlock. And I think that was a really great
thing that you guys did it uh really fast. You did the inspections really
quick. And as someone that personally benefit benefited from that, um it was
really great that you guys did that. So, thank you for your time.
Okay, we'll move to our remote speakers before coming back to the blue cards.
Um, if you are joining remotely and would like to speak, please raise your
hand or press star nine. We do have our first speaker is Ramon Rodriguez. Please
go ahead and speak.
» Can everyone hear me? >> We can hear you. Yes.
Uh anyways, my uh suggestions for to see Turlock grow is since California's uh
home to many marathons and half marathons, I think we should have half
marathons in marics here in Turlock because you imagine having a
marathon and half marathon in Turlock. It will bring it will put Turlock on the
map as long as uh being on a list of cities that host marathons and half
marathons because we all know Turlock loves the sports. We have great high
school and college sport programs. Everyone knows about this all and since
uh we can have it, it could be either one year, two years or maybe someday.
But hopefully I would love to see a half marathon and marathon because if you do
allow it, it will bring a lot of recognition. It will bring many visitors
to know where Turlock is and also it means new economic opportunities because
who might know a visitor from Bay Area or Southern California or elsewhere if
they see Turlock being hey this town's nice we I could open up my business or
expand operations. That's a chance right there. So
we have everything. We have the Christmas parade, the Fourth of July
parade, the melon carnival, the farmers market, the the market. That's
everything that Turlock has. The only thing Turlock needs is a half marathon,
a marathon, and that could be a huge multiplier effect for our community as
well as our economic uh engine because we know Turlock is
growing. So if we want to do that, we should consider looking into having a
such an events like a half marathon marathon because every city has these
events. It's a great huge booster for our economy.
You should look at it too.
» Ramon, I believe you've muted yourself. >> Oh, sorry.
» There you go. Anyways,
having a half marathon and a marathon in Turlock is going to be a huge game
booster on the on our community. It will bring a lot of change. It'll bring a lot
of community pride. Also, a lot of opportunities for to grow our economy.
So, we could look at it and I hope you look at it too because Turlock needs to
be on the map all over California. Thank you.
» Thank you. We have no further online. Um, so next person is Candace Bills.
» Hi. I know you guys all know who I am. So, I think that I wouldn't have been so
pissed off last week if our little business arrangement hadn't started off
on lies. So, I spent weeks calling the city departments, uh, the building
department, code enforcement, trying to get some things set up, um, an
inspection of something. And I was told that that wasn't something that existed
in the city of Turlock, that you didn't have a code enforcement. You didn't have
a building inspection department. So, whoever answers your phone for both of
those departments lied to me. It took an email to get the ball rolling. And then
you finally got you finally started to listen to me little bit. And then when I
asked you to correct your mistakes on the thing because you had it you had um
a structural flood listed as a pl a plumbing leak. I said, "Ah, actually
that's factually incorrect. It was a flood structural flood. Water came out
at the baseboards. I thought a pipe broke. That's not a plumbing leak. That
is a flood. Please correct it." Ghost it. Cool. And then there was another
time that um when the inspection did happen, it was 4 days late. no problem
there because you guys uh said it was fine. Um and and when it was supposedly
looked into, uh the city uh manager didn't look into it himself like he
said. He passed it on to somebody else who said it was within the time frame,
which I'm sorry, but 28 comes after 24. I thought could be wrong but um anyway
so that happened and then when I called him out on that on the fact the you know
factual like all the inadequacies and all the inaccuracies on his report
ghosted again no response like okay well that's fun and so then by the time I did
get a response it was past the 10 days so then there was no appeal process so I
come here and then I'm told to appeal how it's already past the 10 days and
everybody knows it so that was done. So, I dealt with that and then I get told
that everything's going to get looked into and it's not. And then last week, I
realized that if this might be a racial thing, I said because I'm a black girl
with cancer and you guys are trying to sweep me under the rug, but you're so
quick to remove a car for someone who is of the white race. And so I just don't
think that I'm that there's some there's some racial disparities here because
I've been begging for your guys' help for months, weeks, whatever. And
nothing. You guys are telling me that 28 is like nothing you guys are telling me
makes sense. Nothing. And then you guys are scrambling to like, oh, we're going
to come fix it now. We're going to reopen your case based on new
information. I'm like, what new information? It's been like this. And
it's actually been a year. I tried so hard not to come to you guys. Tried so
hard because I knew it would meant penalties. I knew that there would be a
problem for my landlord because you guys were supposed to be what's that word
where you don't play favorites. You were supposed to be anti-good boys club and
instead you went right in there with it and now hindsight's shown me that that's
how it happened from the start because you guys would have given me a right.
» The next speaker is Amora Maldonado.
One, two, one, two, three.
That's okay.
We're gonna come back to you guys next time.
» Amora, >> next time.
» You are smart and beautiful. You come back next time and try again,
sweetheart. It's okay. Thank you. [applause]
Are there any speakers that would like to come up to lect turn? Go ahead.
» Okay. I'm speaking uh unexpectedly tonight. I postponed addressing this
council regarding the city's gross handling of public records requests, but
I'm here due to highly unscrupulous interactions that occurred just hours
ago. Your executive administration has
descended into operational chaos, providing contradictory directives
regarding my statutory right to appeal to the planning commission.
The city manager claims I exhausted my administrative remedies in June, but on
July 20th, I made an entirely new discovery. Building permit 25-1123
is void by state law. A six-unit building must be handled as a commercial
property and the city paid the state a fee based on a residential status rather
than the mandated commercial status. I cannot tell the story in three
minutes, but after the city manager sent a letter via certified mail dated July
29th, I realized that I had not exhausted local administrative remedies
due to the explicit and exclusive language of both the planning commission
and city council resolutions regarding my earlier appeals.
Dr. Murphy emailed at 3:00 today to unilaterally shut me down. case closed.
But 45 minutes later, Director Wernern emailed an entirely new appeal form that
did not exist before today. Yet, it shows a revised date of yesterday. How
convenient. And in the frantic rush, it cites on the new form a 2023 resolution
for the appeal fee rather than the council's August 2025 fee schedule.
I have to ask this council who is exactly in charge. The city manager
tells a resident in writing, "The case is closed and no fees, no appeal will be
accepted." Less than an hour later, a department director countermands him
using a new backdated legally incompetent form. I would like to demand
immediate intervention from the city attorney to clarify this administrative
train wreck, but I don't know how she could not be part of the problem.
You must be excited, mayor, to give your got you covered state of the city
address on Thursday. But I am forced to constantly wonder
what would have happened to my elderly mother if she had not had a legal agent
to stand up to this genuinely unscrupulous administration.
Is there anyone further that would like to speak? Please come forth.
» Good evening. uh melt treewater. Do we adults and parents have a responsibility
to our children, grandchildren, and descendants? We sure do because they
can't plan for themselves because they're too young or they haven't been
born yet. In an online vote two years ago, the residents of Turlock responded
to a survey that they liked our small town. Our 73,000 residents is an ideal
population for the city in this valley. Residents of Turlock, remember that
anyone at this das can say almost anything they want. But that doesn't
mean that what they say is good for the Turlock residents.
If you're on your computer now, right now, please open up a new window on your
computer. Go to the city website, city of turlock.org.
Scroll down to the bottom and click on government. Then select the Turlock City
Council and then select the picture of the mayor.
We all know that there's an election coming up, but did you know that we
Turlock residents are paying for the mayor's campaign literature? Here you
will see a 1,700word campaign ad for the mayor. Having
attended, having attended almost every council meeting in the past 12 years, I
can guarantee you that some t staff time was spent on this campaign
advertisement. Of course, it's uh got a lot of exaggerations and false
statements in it, but research will help you find that out. This prepos this is
preposterous. The residents of Turlock must not pay for the Turlock's campaign
advertisement. Just check the two council members on
the same page running for office. They don't have campaign advertisements on
their Tur on the Turlock website. The other two candidates running for mayor
do not have campaign advertisements on the city of Turlock website.
This is a prime example of people seated this dis are falling short.
Lastly, let me make you aware that we must not allow the data centers here in
Turlock or Stannislas County. Data centers will suck up our water, eat up
our electrical power, and pollute our city's air. Data center advocates are
not concerned that we live in an area with the best farmland on Earth. The
data center advocates are not concerned about what is best for our children, our
grandchildren and descendants, but how much money that they can make.
We must aggressively fight against data centers here in Turlock and in Stannis
Los County. We must have an ordinance that will ban data centers here in the
city of Turlock and all the rural areas of Stannislas County. A lot of work to
do, but we've got to get this accomplished. We cannot have these
terrible data centers in the central valley of California. Thank you.
» Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak?
Please. >> All right. Good evening, mayor, city
council, all of our amazing leaders over here. Um, I probably should have gotten
up and said what all our girls were going to be doing. I know that we I made
sure that Mayor Amy had a text message about 25 minutes before we were coming
in here, but when we did bring back in the Turlock Melon Carnival, we also
brought back in the Turlock Melon Pageant. And for the first two years, we
have done a pretty great job for that. But this year, we have changed our melon
pageant um to be more of an ambassador program instead of just a beauty
pageant, right? All of our all of our girls are amazing and beautiful, but we
did think it was important to go ahead and start instilling in this next
generation the importance of being civic-minded and being a strong leader
who has honor, respect, and integrity in their community. So, the girls will be
attending two city council meetings, this one and the other one will be on
September 8th. So, I have notified you guys a little bit earlier. I'm so sorry
about that. And part of it is that they do have to give up and they have to
speak at just one of those meetings. So, a lot of our girls did a really great
job not coming in here before and and jumping up there. So, just so you guys
know, the girls in the sashes, that's what they're doing is they're actually
practicing what it means to be civic-minded and be involved and learn
how to make a difference. Um, the assignment was that they were to come
here and they were to talk to you guys either about something they heard about
during the meeting or to comment about something in Turlock that they're really
proud of that you guys have done or something that they would like to see
improved on. um all with being able to do that with respect and kindness
because we get a lot more done with honey than we do with vinegar. Um so
girls, I am really proud of you guys for coming up here and we are really proud
of what's going on with the Turlock Melon Pageant. And then just a quick
plug cuz I still have a a$124. I still got a dollar again a minute. Um, the
Melon Carnival will be this September 19th and 20th, and all of our girls will
be on stage on that Saturday, September 19th, to see who's going to be Miss
Melon. Um, and our winners will actually have a legacy program that they're going
to continue working on. So, anything that you guys need help with, they
definitely want to be there for you guys. But also, as a group, they'll get
together and they'll think of one item, one thing that they want to do to leave
as a legacy for their reign in Turlock. could be something as simple as um
fundraisers to get blankets for our shelters or planting a tree in one of
the parks, figuring out how to get a bench somewhere. They'll figure out
what's what's close to their heart and work on that together as a group of the
reigning queens this year. So, we're very excited, very proud of them, and
that is what our girls were doing up here with you guys today. So, thank you
for your time.
» Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak regarding public
comment? Seeing none, mayor,
» I'm closing public comment. Moving to the city manager reports and updates.
» Good evening, council. Uh, a couple things. First, I just want to commend
Chris. Chris, uh, it was great working with you side by side. Uh I remember
watching some Turlock council meetings when you were actually in this chair or
presentations you made and uh even in your comments today, you can tell you
love this city, you love this organization, and it's been great to
work and you'll always have a home here whenever you want to come back to the
varsity team. All right. >> Oh, dang.
» Um >> I've been honored. Uh this week I
started my operation switch. So stopped working in the city hall and I got to
work in 911 uh with the staff this week uh the other day. I guess it was
yesterday. Feels like it was a week. It was I guess it was guess it's only
Tuesday. So yesterday I worked a couple hours over there and you know what the
police officer said earlier truly you know you you listen to some of the calls
they take and what what's you know both fire and and police are dispatched to
you never know uh as bad as a day you think you're having what you know they
have to deal with sometimes. And then uh lastly uh this is a bad news good news
story. I had my car towed uh last week and I had to take an Uber to my first
meeting at 7 a.m. And uh when I explained that to the employees, I met
with like 70 employees. Uh this is the type of organization you have. I left. I
was trying to then call 911 to take care of, you know, what's going on and found
out that the car was towed, but there were like five employees who came out
and said, "Hey, sir, uh, what's your car look like?" Because we work all over the
city, you know, where they're the maintenance team and, you know, we'll
keep an eye out for your car. And I was just so touched that employees listened
to my plight and decided take it upon themselves to come out and say, "Look,
we're getting ready to drive out and start our day. But if we can help, we'll
we'll put our eyes out there." So that's what you have. And that's why I'm so
proud to work with this team and I understand why Chris was emotional
because truly we have great employees that are just trying to just do a little
bit to make our community better. So proud to be here.
» Thank you. All right, council member comments,
announcements, and or future items. Council member Raven,
» uh, just briefly, I wanted to say, you know, welcome to all the young ladies
that came out tonight and spoke. And, um, I'll look forward to seeing you
again in in two weeks or however long it is. Um, I saw a couple of you are Girl
Scouts and I saw a few of the daisies leave. So, I hope you're counting this
for part of your Democracy for Daisies and Brownies because this is this is
democracy and work. This is, you know, your government, the closest that you
can get to it. So, welcome. I'm so glad you guys are getting involved.
» I just want to give a shout out to Chris. Um, wish you absolutely, you
know, the best. You will be missed. You're an absolute consumate pro and we
thank you and welcome you back anytime. >> Um, first to our ladies, our young
ladies, our ambassadors. I know some of you are going to be future leaders
around here. And Miss Samora, I just want to tell you, don't be scared,
sweetheart, at coming back to the next council meeting and speaking because
we're all leaders up here in elected officials, but sometimes we get nervous,
too. And it's and it's totally okay. So, we'll be looking forward to what you
have to say at the next council meeting in September. And I wish all of you
young ladies the best at becoming the next Miss Melon. I'm so glad that's
back. Fisher. Oh, Fisher. three short years, Betty, but you've
done some very, very heavy lifting around here at city hall. Um, and it
didn't go unnoticed and it certainly doesn't go unappreciated. So, I'm going
to piggyback what JJ said. When you want to come back to the varsity team, come
on. Um, because you will be missed and you've done a lot in your very short
stay here and we're very grateful. So, but we wish you well and we understand
family commitments and families first and and we want the best for you and
yours. So, thank you. The last thing I have, fire chief Serpa. Boy, you guys
are killing it, man. I love it. Um, it's See, am I wrong to say all of our
firefighters are home? >> Almost except one unit. Just one. Yeah.
Okay. Um, well done. Very appreciated. Um, you guys are knocking it out of the
park. Um, we thought we had a reported structure fire uh down on Lewis and all
of our Turlock units were were tied up and MST showed up with a ladder truck
and a whole company and five extra engines. I it's the support we have from
you guys and the organization is amazing and we're grateful. So, thank you for
that. >> Chris Fischer, we are going to miss you.
Um, just the time I have spent with you. Um, I've learned a lot from you and just
listening to your um, presentation. So, thank you for all that you have done uh
while being here. Um like everybody else said, you are going to be missed. Um but
I'm sure we'll see you around. And to all the young ladies, um everybody who
spoke, you guys did an amazing job. I wish I had I was that brave when I was a
kid. So, um I look forward to seeing you girls back uh in a couple weeks.
» All right, Chris Fischer, you've got big shoes to fill. You you saved us on SRWA.
you set it up for complete just wonderful situation now. It's it's
amazing that what you've done while you've been here and you're always
welcome back. Um to Captain Peno, thank you for all of your years of service
that obviously law enforcement's close to my heart and uh I I get what he's
saying. It's it's think about those people that are going out there every
day still and taking those calls that are your worst day. And then uh loved
hearing the the young voices, the the hope and the the dreams. Bring it you
guys. That's what we need here. That's you guys are our future. So keep coming
and you'll learn. You you'll get your voice. It'll be perfect. All right. We
have close session room. >> Yes, we have two items. A conference
with legal counsel anticipated litigation purs California government
code 549569D21 case. And item B is conference with
legal council existing litigation pursuant to government code 5495
9D1 one case people versus state of California versus the city of Turlock.
At this time I will open up public comment for any items on the close
session the two items that I just read. If anyone would like to come forward to
the lect turn or if anyone is on the remote that would like to speak
regarding this item please raise your hand.
Seeing none, we'll close public comment. >> All right. And we will uh go to close
session. Should there be anything to report out, we'll let you know. Thank
you and be safe.
All right, we're back.
Three, four.