[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:01] We're live, Mayor.
[0:08] Call the meeting to order. We'll call, please. Councilmember Brightling. Present. Councilmember Moss. Present. Councilmember Zuniga. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Garcia. Here. Mayor Belto. All right. Thank you, President. Welcome to the Upland City Council meeting for Monday, April 24th here at Council Chambers. Any additions or deletions? No. Any oral communication at this time?
[0:34] We have one member of the public present that would like to speak on closed session item, and that is Lewis Schmidt.
[0:55] Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council.
[0:58] My name is Lewis Schmidt.
[0:59] I'm a proud, upland resident, but I'm also the business representative with Assum District Council 36.
[1:06] We filed a petition with the City of Upland to represent employees.
[1:13] And today we receive more communication from the City of Upland, from their attorney stating that
[1:19] that we were not going to be included on the ballot for the employees to make a choice.
[1:23] Employees want to have a choice, employees want to have a voice.
[1:26] And so in closed session, you're going to be given an update on labor negotiations,
[1:30] but we feel we follow the process and the rules that are in place.
[1:34] And we expect the city to follow those rules and those processes.
[1:37] As a city of upland resident, I want to make sure that my city spends their money judiciously.
[1:43] And not just in litigation, we know that many of you are new on the council,
[1:49] and
[1:49] the city has already endured many years in the past that we want to leave in the past.
[1:54] So, I sent an additional revised petition to the city again today, and I'm not asking
[2:00] you to take my word for it. I'm not asking you, because you guys don't know me, but what
[2:04] I am asking the city council is to direct the city manager and either Mr. Crawford, the
[2:10] attorney, or whoever you guys are using to look at the case law that covers what I'm talking
[2:17] about. The city association that is currently representing employees has stated that I have seen
[2:25] we're not beyond the ballot, and this is what they're hearing from the city themselves.
[2:29] But what I'm asking you, Mayor and members of the City Council, is to reference case law
[2:36] from PERB, the Public Employment Relations Board. This is the petition that I filed today.
[2:42] It's in place that I was filed with human resources earlier today.
[2:44] It was sent to the city manager and to your representatives, but I'm also going to reference the case, the case law.
[2:52] And, here's a quote from that case, the decision that went against the city.
[2:57] It says,
[2:59] MMBA, an employer must interpret its local rules in a reasonable manner.
[3:05] In the city of Madera 2016, per decision number 2506, local rules should not be interpreted strictly that they become a minefield
[3:15] freezing the status quo in place until the petitioner runs the gauntlet of under symbol
[3:19] of difficult requirements. And this is also from case number LACE 1467-M. And again, the
[3:28] decision is very clear, I'll give you the decision number, that it's going to back up what
[3:34] we have to say, what I'm saying. Again, as a taxpayer, I don't want more delegation,
[3:39] but we're prepared to file the delegation if we have to. But I don't think it's needed,
[3:43] because if the city does the due diligence and references the case that covers the exact item that we're talking about, it'll tell you.
[3:52] And that case is 2771-
[3:55] Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, members of the City Council.
[3:58] I have any additional questions.
[3:59] All right, three sets to close session.
[4:01] City Council recess to close session to discuss item 4A on the agenda.
[4:05] Close session conference with labor negotiators.
[4:08] Thank you.
[4:13] All right.
[4:14] We're live.
[4:16] Good evening and welcome back to the Upland City Council meeting for Monday, April 24th.
[4:22] At this time, I'd like to invite, oh, close session, we did, invocation, Pastor Noel Anderson
[4:30] from First Presbyterian Church, and I've asked Jim Thomas to also do the pledge of allegiance
[4:35] following that.
[4:35] Please rise.
[4:36] We move your hats.
[4:37] Please
[4:42] join me in prayer.
[4:45] Our provident loving Lord, thank you for bringing an end to the COVID pandemic.
[4:52] Out of several years of isolation and alienation, we pray to be made whole as a community.
[4:58] We pray for a new public life, one characterized by civility and grace.
[5:03] Lord, grow us into people who are slow to anger and quick to make peace.
[5:08] Grow in us an increasing respect for every neighbor, even as we acknowledge our essential selfishness.
[5:16] Lead us to new ways of considering the other person's good and let us be quick to express good will in a meaningful manner.
[5:24] As we all make mistakes, let us be gracious with the errors of others just as we would want them to be with ours.
[5:33] Let our life together be a sign of your love by which the power of grace overcomes
[5:39] smallness and pettiness and the strength of virtue outshines the easy and dark temptations
[5:46] of evil. May upland be blessed that we may in turn be known for blessing others. Be with
[5:54] our mayors, our mayor, our council members, city staff and employees, protect and empower
[6:00] them all and bless them in their homes and families that they would know that they are appreciated
[6:06] for their good service. Guide us all in our deliberations this evening and always as we live
[6:13] to your glory. Amen.
[6:25] Please demonstrate your respect for the flag by an appropriate salute
[6:30] or hand over the heart and repeat after me.
[6:33] I pledge to the flag of the United States of America
[6:38] and to the Republic for which it stands
[6:41] one nation under God, individual with liberty
[6:45] and justice for all.
[6:50] Thank you, Pastor Noel, and also Jim.
[6:54] Appreciate that very much.
[6:57] Presentations, Madam Clerk.
[7:00] We have one presentation this evening.
[7:01] a proclamation recognizing World Wish Day 2023,
[7:06] accepted by Ronnie Medrano and Matt Ferrer
[7:08] on behalf of Make a Wish Orange County and Inland Empire.
[7:11] All right, is Ronnie here?
[7:15] Come on down.
[7:17] And Matt, you're by yourself today, huh?
[7:22] The City of Upplin is proud to join with Make a Wish
[7:24] Orange County and the Inland Empire
[7:26] to declare April 29, 2023 is World Wish Day
[7:30] throughout the City of Upplin.
[7:32] We have Ronnie and is Matt here?
[7:35] Matt okay with us tonight to accept this proclamation and provide information with the work the make a wish is accomplishing and I want to on behalf of the mayor and the council give you this proclamation.
[7:48] Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. Absolutely. I'd like to say a few words. Sure I would thank you very much.
[8:01] I'm Matt Ferrerro, and I've been a volunteer wish-granner for Make-A-Wish Orange County in the
[8:06] Illin Empire for 21 years now, and it's been some of the best experiences of my entire
[8:13] life.
[8:14] I'm here on behalf of Make-A-Wish to thank Mayor Velto, Council members, Upland citizens
[8:22] for making the proclamation and recognizing World Wish Day.
[8:26] World Wish Day is celebrated each and every April 29th and commemorates the very first wish that helped to create
[8:34] make wishes and organization. Back in 1980, Chris Grieges, a seven-year-old who at that time was battling
[8:41] leukemia, expressed to his mother that he had always wanted to be a police officer. So, his mom, several of her friends
[8:50] and members of the Arizona Department of Public Service
[8:55] went to work to grant that wish for Chris.
[8:58] That included a tailor-made uniform for him,
[9:02] a ride in a squad car and a police helicopter,
[9:06] and a proclamation making him the first honorary officer
[9:10] in the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
[9:13] And since that time,
[9:15] Make a wish internationally has granted over 500,000 wishes for eligible children who are battling critical illnesses recommended by their physicians and parents.
[9:29] Orange County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County are part of Make a Wish, Orange County and the Ellen Empire.
[9:36] We've been in existence since 1983, this is our 40th anniversary, and during that time, we've granted over 7,800 wishes to eligible kids in our three county area.
[9:47] The thing that I like to emphasize the most is that wishes are life-affirming.
[9:53] When a child is beset by a critical illness, both Kishi and the family is in a place
[10:00] of sadness and despair.
[10:03] And wishes give them something to look forward to replacing that sadness and despair with
[10:07] hope and joy.
[10:09] There's a lot of research out there that shows the direct link between emotional and physical
[10:14] health and the wish-granting process is a big part of that. Parents and physicians
[10:21] constantly say that when a wish is granted it makes a big difference in the
[10:26] child's outcome. So very appreciative of the support that our communities give to
[10:31] us to help make that happen. You might be wondering what kind of wishes we
[10:35] grant while they fall into four major categories. A person may want to travel to
[10:41] to exciting places like a Disney resort or Hawaii,
[10:46] just one with the dolphins, et cetera.
[10:48] They may want to meet someone famous,
[10:50] like a sports personality,
[10:52] or someone from the entertainment industry.
[10:54] They may want to have something,
[10:56] oftentimes a shopping spree, especially for teenagers,
[11:02] background, a playground for their backyard
[11:05] for younger kids,
[11:06] and also to be someone, perhaps a princess
[11:10] for a Marvel superhero, a Star Wars character, we grant many wishes in that area for
[11:17] smaller children.
[11:20] So the bottom line is that we're so appreciative of what the City of Upland has done for us.
[11:26] It helps to raise the awareness of what to make a wish mission is, and also encourages
[11:33] people to both be donors and volunteers to help the artwork done.
[11:38] Without donors or volunteers, especially bilingual volunteers, we couldn't make these wishes happen.
[11:45] So, again, on behalf of Make a Wish, thank you very much for this proclamation.
[11:50] You've done a whole lot in furthering our mission and making our mission viable for all the kids out there that are eligible.
[11:58] Thank you again.
[11:59] Matt, thank you for putting in the selflessness that it takes to grant wishes and make dreams come true for others.
[12:06] But I understand who in all the Make-O-Wash Foundation, who is, I understand John Cena,
[12:13] the wrestler is like the top wish-getter.
[12:16] He's one of the top celebrities that so generously gives of his time to meet with wish-kids.
[12:24] And we can't thank him enough for what he does.
[12:27] We thank you as a community.
[12:29] As I know a lot of parents that have lost children and
[12:34] to know that there's an organization out there that's granting those wishes.
[12:38] And anything we can do as a city, we'd love to participate.
[12:41] If anyone want to be a mayor for the day, a mayor for the day will occur to everyone
[12:50] to, if you want to know more about what Make a Wish doesn't, how we do it.
[12:55] Our website is available Make a Wish OCE and you'll find that on the web.
[13:02] We're also on every social media platform so please feel free to check us out really appreciate it Matt. Thank you again
[13:09] Appreciate you come back. I do have one request that we could share a photo absolutely really appreciate that. Thank you
[14:29] Okay
[14:32] All right
[14:37] City Attorney thank you mayor and council
[14:40] Well, the City Council met in closed session earlier this evening to consider the one item listed on the posted agenda under closed session.
[14:49] No reportable action was taken. Thank you.
[14:52] Thank you, City Attorney.
[14:53] Moving on now to oral communications, Madam Clerk.
[14:56] This is the time for any citizen to comment on any item listed or not listed.
[15:07] Public comments and questions for the purpose of hearing current matters of concern, in our community, and to provide citizens a method for the public to hear those concerns in an open venue is encouraged. However, under the provisions of the Brown Act, the city council is prohibited from discussion of items not list on the agenda. And therefore, the city council, city manager, or city attorney will take communications under advisement for consideration an appropriate
[15:29] response or discussion at a later time.
[15:31] Speakers are requested to keep their comments to know more than three minutes.
[15:34] I have five speaker cards from members of the public present.
[15:38] Our first speaker is Jim Thomas, followed by Jennifer Shaw.
[16:01] Honorable Mayor, esteemed city council members, and wonderful staff.
[16:08] Good evening.
[16:09] My name is Jim Thomas and this is Upland Lions Club President Philip Ketter's.
[16:14] Both of us are very long time residents of the city of gracious living, and we are also
[16:21] members of the largest service organization in the world, the International Lions Club.
[16:30] A very quick history lesson.
[16:33] Businessman Melvin Jones began the Lions organization in Chicago, Illinois, in 1917.
[16:39] From the very beginning, the Lions Clubs have concentrated on giving assistance to the blind and the visually impaired.
[16:46] This goal was firmly fixed in our identity when, at a Lions Convention in 1925, Helen Keller addressed the club and challenged them to become Knights to the blind.
[17:00] 99 years ago, just one year prior to Helen Keller's appearance at that international convention,
[17:07] a local chapter of the International Lions Club was established here in Upland.
[17:14] The goal then, as it continues to be today, is to empower volunteers and partners
[17:19] to improve health and well-being, strengthen communities, and support those in need
[17:24] through humanitarian services and grants that impact lives globally and
[17:30] encourage peace and international understanding. For 69 years the Upland
[17:38] Lions Club has been holding our major fundraiser, mostly at Upland
[17:42] Memorial Park. This year we have relocated to historic downtown venue.
[17:49] Carrying on the mantra of being nights to the blind, Upland host Lions Club has
[17:54] made a commitment that no child in Upland whose family cannot afford to pay will go without
[18:01] a suitable pair of new corrective eyed glasses. We partner with the Upland School District as
[18:08] their nursing staff identifies these students. These glasses enhance the student's self-esteem,
[18:16] increase their awareness of their surroundings and facilitate the learning process.
[18:20] We must sell 10 tickets to our annual fundraiser in order to afford to buy one pair of glasses for one student.
[18:29] A much more efficient way of putting those glasses on a student is to simply ask for sponsors.
[18:36] Anyone can put a pair of glasses on an Upland student for a donation of just $100.
[18:42] In return, that sponsor will have a burning sense of satisfaction that helps the student be successful.
[18:47] Dickens are available by anybody that's wearing a yellow vest and flyers are on the back table.
[18:53] Hope to see all of you, many of you, and many friends in our community to attend on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 from three to seven.
[19:05] Thank you very much and pass the word.
[19:08] Thank you, Jim.
[19:09] Mayor, may I say something?
[19:10] Sure.
[19:10] I just wanted to thank the Lions Club.
[19:13] They were at our Earth Day event and they brought volunteers and I'm going to assume you
[19:18] won't be here at the end of the meeting when I do my Mass thanks.
[19:22] But Philip, thank you so much.
[19:24] You brought a group of Lions members that came and helped out in the coaching family.
[19:30] They're at anything that you ask them.
[19:32] They will never tell me no, which is great, and they brought along the Upland High School
[19:37] football players.
[19:37] So I just wanted to thank you personally why you're still here in the galley.
[19:46] Next is Jennifer Shaw, followed by Tommy Brooks.
[19:55] Good evening Honorable Mayor, City Council and staff.
[19:58] I just wanted to give you two announcements.
[20:02] One of them, your very own Upland High School student was one of our
[20:07] Edison recipient, scholarship recipients for this year.
[20:11] He was awarded $50,000 for his pursuit in a four-year college in STEM, and so we were
[20:20] really happy to present that award to him and surprise him at one of his AP classes
[20:27] a few weeks back.
[20:29] We also honored him at the Upland Unified School District Board meeting, and him and his
[20:35] mother was there.
[20:36] So we're really proud of him.
[20:37] We want more Upland High School students to apply.
[20:41] We do this every year.
[20:43] And so we need more people from the Inland Empire to apply for those scholarships.
[20:49] Secondly, I wanted to introduce to you Melissa Boyd.
[20:52] She is our newest government relations manager that will be taking over the city of Upland.
[20:58] I'm unfortunately leaving Southern California Edison.
[21:02] and so I just wanted to introduce to you your new government relations manager.
[21:07] I really enjoyed working with you all mayor and council.
[21:11] You guys are very supportive and a great partner with Edison.
[21:15] So we want to continue with that with Melissa and I just want to thank you all for your support.
[21:21] So when are you leaving for that little place southwest of here?
[21:27] June 1st is my official day.
[21:30] so we'll be leaving right after that.
[21:33] I want to thank you because you've really been very helpful.
[21:36] I want to right pick the phone up and call until I need something.
[21:38] You respond very quickly.
[21:40] Thank you.
[21:40] I'm grateful.
[21:41] I know Melissa's going to have some big heels to fill.
[21:47] Thank you, Mayor.
[21:48] I appreciate that.
[21:49] And you know, she's doing great and she'll be a great support for you as well.
[21:54] So she's got a lot of connections within the county.
[21:57] She'll be covering the county as well and just feel free to reach out to her and do you have any other?
[22:03] Did I miss anything?
[22:05] I just want to say again on a role mayor council members. Thank you so much for having us here tonight.
[22:11] I have in my prior capacities worked with numerous city council members county of San Bernardino and other legislators.
[22:19] So I'm familiar with the process and
[22:22] And I'm excited to be helping here, helping you in the city of Upland.
[22:28] Upland is near and dear to my heart about 20 years ago when me and my husband were first married.
[22:34] We lived in Upland and we were within walking distance of downtown.
[22:40] So we went to many a lemon festival and very much have a heart for this community.
[22:46] So excited to be back and to be a resource to all of you.
[22:50] Thank you so much for having us.
[22:51] All right, and you have business cards with you tonight?
[22:54] Yes, I have left them with the City Clerk as well.
[22:57] So everyone in this gentleman sitting there, those two, three, those three, and then I will make sure they get a comment.
[23:04] The other three and these five, any other business owners in the city.
[23:12] All right, thank you.
[23:15] Thank you.
[23:17] Next is Tommy Brooks, followed by Jerry Dowdall.
[23:20] Good
[23:30] evening Council, my name is Tommy Brooks.
[23:34] First of all, I want to thank you guys for being a functional council.
[23:39] As we all know, being citizens of Upland, we all hear what goes on.
[23:45] But I'd like to thank you guys in tip my hat to you for being a functional.
[23:49] Yes, you can disagree, but you guys are functional and I appreciate that as a citizen.
[23:54] Secondly, thank you for addressing our needs.
[23:59] As some of you know, I worked on the Measure Q which was to save the South baseball field
[24:06] at Memorial Park.
[24:08] My concern tonight is about the North field.
[24:11] I was at the Upland Rancho game tonight and out there in right field you guys have some
[24:19] major issues with the with the ground out there in my opinion and others that the field is
[24:28] is is is and major accident waiting to happen. There are numerous gopher holes. Actually,
[24:36] they are trenches tunnels rather tunnels that are in the ground over there and right field is
[24:43] actually sinking. It's just a broken ankle in the waiting for some player and it's very
[24:51] dangerous. From what I understand that Upland High School has a joint use agreement with
[25:01] the city. So from what I'm understanding and I could be wrong but I don't think I am
[25:11] that the city or the school district uses that field and isn't contributing their fair share
[25:18] with the paying for the field. Now we have Upland National and we have
[25:26] Western Christian that uses it and from what I believe those two other entities do pay their fair
[25:31] share. But I think that in order to address all the needs of upkeep maintenance and correct
[25:40] what's going on at the field, the city really needs to take a look at that, the condition of that field.
[25:46] It is in terrible shape, and any player can blow out an ankle, especially some senior getting ready to get a scholarship
[25:54] and graduate and move on, he won't mess up his whole future.
[25:58] I do have pictures of some of the conditions out there, would I be able to have
[26:09] that?
[26:16] And these, you've got some that are, you know, looking there's a foul, there's a foul on the right field, there's a hole right there, some other holes.
[26:27] I mean, it's in bad shape.
[26:29] And I appreciate if maybe you guys can get the city maintenance to take a look at that and get an address.
[26:40] Thank you.
[26:40] Hey Tommy would you talk to our public works director he's right there right there Tommy. Thank you appreciate what you're doing
[26:47] Next is Jerry Dowdell followed by Lauren Allison Hendricks
[26:59] I have a handout that I can give later or something
[27:04] I'm here tonight to discuss some safety issues. I live on 15th street between Benson and Mount Avenue
[27:12] Unless you believe in Poltergeist or something there was about a 50-yard span
[27:17] on a south side of the street that within the last two years parked cars have been hit and total.
[27:26] Last Wednesday, the last car was hit with a brand new Telsa three days old, two months before that,
[27:31] his father's car was hit and total. So there is an area in front of 1390 house that for some reason,
[27:41] Then the drivers going eastward cannot pick up cars parked there.
[27:46] Either it's too dark, the fast beads are not sure, but we have an issue that four houses,
[27:53] in four years, have had four total cars parked there.
[27:59] That's not including the cars that hit them.
[28:02] Wendy and elderly woman was seriously hurt.
[28:06] Two years ago or a year and a half, a car totally flipped.
[28:09] that this is a serious issue.
[28:13] I don't know the reasons other than the high speeds.
[28:17] It could be the lack of lighting.
[28:22] But clearly there is an issue for a father and a son
[28:26] to get their cars told in parked in front, you know,
[28:30] yard and two doors down.
[28:32] He's had two vans that were hit and told.
[28:36] So my request is to have someone go out there and take a look at it, maybe putting a stop sign
[28:44] and there is an, what is called, Wimblerley housing there, maybe a stop sign there that would slow people down,
[28:56] maybe speed bumps, maybe repainting the yellow lines, the woman that was heard on Wednesday said that she couldn't see it.
[29:02] She couldn't see the cars parked there. I've heard that before, but you've got to ask,
[29:08] how is it that 50 yards of the exact same place somehow ends up with four total cars
[29:15] parked? There's something weird. There's something wrong. So I'm asking the board to take a look
[29:21] at it and maybe to consider some kind of maintenance on the maybe reflectors in the middle of
[29:26] the road that would show the lights up. But there's a problem. It's so common now that my wife
[29:33] immediately went outside and got the woman to get out of the car. She also got the kid out from
[29:39] the car that flipped over about a year and a half ago. There's something wrong with that area.
[29:46] Whether it's the drivers, whether it's the roadway, whether it's the asphalt,
[29:50] I don't know, but there's something seriously wrong that four cars have been told on 50 yards.
[30:00] All right. You've left that document there. We'll get it. We're going to outline the houses and things like that. City clerk have it. You have a city clerk. Okay, then we'll give it. Next is Lauren Ellison Hendricks.
[30:20] How is everybody? Good to see y'all. I want to say thank you to all. My concern is I've owned a restaurant in downtown up on four 15 years. I've had at least for 16 years. Okay. And I have to explain to you that Rudy is doing an amendment.
[30:38] amazing job in downtown, but the problem is that the business owners are leasing out
[30:44] their buildings and nobody's going into the business.
[30:48] And we do have a problem with the homeless.
[30:51] I don't know if you guys are all shocked, but yes, correct.
[30:57] And on Friday of this last week, which was like the 20th, I think, correct?
[31:01] I don't know.
[31:02] I don't know what date is.
[31:03] Yeah, that's 20th.
[31:05] The homeless guy who is the most craziest guy in downtown, I walked outside and he was
[31:15] out there scrubbing my car with a cloth and who had rocks on it.
[31:22] So he scratched my whole entire car.
[31:25] And so my concern is that I do, I put all my life into this restaurant and I have many
[31:31] Many friends, many friends in downtown, and I think I'm the longest business owner down
[31:37] there other than Mitchell's plumbing when it used to be there.
[31:41] And there's people, the homeless, they're coming out, and if you drive downtown at 8 o'clock
[31:47] in the morning, 8.30 in the morning, when I go there, there's homeless people everywhere.
[31:53] And my concern is I would like to see that cleaned up if we could do something.
[31:59] And the public restroom that you guys put at the north side of Mitchell's building, or I'm sorry, the south side of Mitchell's, if we can do something and I met with the city manager today, I met with Rudy and Courtney, and my question is, can we do something to lock those restrooms because it should not be used for the homeless because they I have multiple, multiple photos that I am going to give you at the end of this meeting that they're in there taking care of
[32:29] showers and they're in there, they're they're robbing people. They're breaking in businesses. So homeless is my first and then Rudy and I and we when we all met today with Mike can I and Rudy and Courtney met today.
[32:45] We had spoke about maybe if we could do something fun in downtown to make business like a curve
[32:52] I would love to like do like a band night downtown like outside
[32:56] Outdoors like we do in Ontario like I would love something cool to happen and I think we all agreed to have something like
[33:05] Fun for the downtown and just bring people back to back to there
[33:09] But I do think you guys for all your work and you guys are all doing an amazing job. So thank you so much
[33:18] I don't have any additional speakers.
[33:26] Okay, let's move on now to the consent calendar.
[33:30] Council, anybody want any items pulled?
[33:34] Hearing none, can I have a motion then?
[33:35] Motion for item 10A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, so moved by Council.
[33:42] Mayor Pro Tem, do I have a second?
[33:44] Yes, second?
[33:44] Second by Councilwoman Miles, let's have a vote.
[33:47] I would just like to announce before you take a vote on that.
[33:49] There are minor revisions.
[33:50] So the resolution for item 10E, which is establishing a policy regarding revenue generated from leases and city parks and that revised copies on the dius for you and there are copies of the back of the room for members of the public as well and they're posted on our website.
[34:05] Right. It was more clear it up. Okay. Thank you. Moving forward and for being items for me, we need a vote still.
[34:12] Right, I'm having a vote with the item, with item 10, with the modifications to item 10E.
[34:24] So moved, so moved by Council, Mayor Pro Tem, second by Council Member Mossad's vote.
[34:42] All right, that approved unanimously.
[34:44] Let's move on now to the Council
[34:48] Committee Reports.
[34:52] Anybody have a Council Committee Reports other than the Public Works Committee?
[34:56] Anything else?
[34:57] I have some, I do have other reports,
[35:05] he's going to start that.
[35:07] Are you going to pull the doors?
[35:09] So, as far as committees, go ahead.
[35:12] You want to do all the work?
[35:13] No, no, not public.
[35:14] James is going to do that.
[35:15] So, I'm going to talk about our trip over.
[35:18] I'll save mine to the end.
[35:19] Okay.
[35:20] So, last week, I attended the League of California City.
[35:26] Mike, he's on.
[35:26] Here on.
[35:27] Yeah.
[35:27] Mike is over here.
[35:31] It sounds like it doesn't sound like it's on, right?
[35:33] It's on.
[35:34] Yeah, it's on.
[35:35] Ready?
[35:36] I'll talk.
[35:37] Check.
[35:38] I mean, I'm good.
[35:40] Okay.
[35:40] Last week I attended the League of California cities.
[35:43] A city leader summit with council member Braithing and our city manager.
[35:47] There was a lot of great sessions that included path to preventing
[35:50] and reducing homelessness, best practices, and addressing all illegal dumping.
[35:54] A lot of talk also about how cities can fight crime with civil litigation
[35:57] and strategies for our local governments to prevent organized retail crime.
[36:01] I will say that our Upland Police Department is on top of everything that's happening in Upland and keeping us safe on a daily basis.
[36:11] So I want to thank, I don't know where Chief went, but thanks Chief and in the rest of our officers for the outstanding job that you guys do every single day.
[36:20] I also wanted to thank our city manager for setting up and leading some very important meetings with Senator Portantino.
[36:27] Assemblyman Holden and Assemblyman Rodriguez,
[36:29] purpose of these meetings, which advocate for assistance
[36:31] in getting our wind storms, damage claims, relook that.
[36:35] Upland was very well represented in these meetings
[36:37] about all three of us.
[36:38] Any additional things you want to say?
[36:41] City of Mager?
[36:42] No, you're good.
[36:43] Okay.
[36:44] Councilman Bradley.
[36:46] Okay.
[36:48] All right.
[36:49] As far as committees on April 11th along with Councilman Rudy
[36:53] Zunig, we attended the San Antonio Water Company
[36:55] shareholders meeting and Rudy is our, Rudy, for those who don't know, Rudy Zuniga's
[36:59] president of San Antonio Water Company, he is also the proxy voter for the city of
[37:04] upland and everything went well. I think we had one, two people, Rudy. Two shareholders
[37:10] besides the city. So that's a good sign. We don't have a lot of people coming and complaining
[37:15] at a shareholders meeting, which is nice. And on April 13th, at 10th of December, you know,
[37:19] transit authority meeting. At that meeting, discussion was made to set aside approximately 1.6
[37:25] $7 million for the city of Upland towards parking structures in the downtown.
[37:32] So I spoke of our needs for these funds that was passed by the board.
[37:35] We are now in the process of conducting our due diligence and look forward to obtain
[37:39] the necessary funding needed to complete the need for parking structures in our downtown.
[37:44] On April 18th, along with Councilmember Zunigo, we attended the regularly scheduled San Antonio
[37:50] Water Company meeting.
[37:53] There's not how much said we just kind of go over things and we're in the process right
[37:57] now of updating some of their some of their concerns okay and that's all my committee meetings
[38:06] I attend the last two weeks. Go ahead councilman Zindiga. I just wanted to thank Mayor Vellto
[38:13] for attending the SBCTA meeting and trying to get us that money for up and they're going to hold
[38:20] on to it for us for a one year so we have a lot of work to do to try to prove to them that we do need
[38:25] that parking structure which we do and Mayor Beltsville thank you for coming out and I really
[38:31] appreciate that. Thank you we're going to get it aren't we? They try to say there's only three cars
[38:36] parking in downtown for the time. It was one council member from a city nearby that sounds like
[38:43] Ontario
[38:45] Said there was only three cars in the parking in the in that parking lot
[38:51] I was shocked and I had a I had a good response for him
[38:55] Then you might want to go back and hear it, but I don't want to say it here.
[39:00] All right councilmember
[39:04] Right thing every sport on the on the post meeting is it? Yes, thank
[39:11] Yours is loud is low
[39:14] So we'll speak on that way.
[39:16] Turn to speaker off.
[39:17] On April 11th, the Public Works Committee held its second quarterly meeting of the year, Mayor
[39:23] Prutem Karciani, along with committee members Sean Haas, John Ickis, Kerry Leach, and Andrew
[39:27] Rubio were in attendance.
[39:29] Public Works Director Braden U and engineering manager Bob Critchfield presented a PowerPoint
[39:34] presentation, update on the city's capital and improvement projects for the residents of
[39:40] the capital improvement program or CIP goals are to identify and evaluate and prioritize
[39:47] projects that are local and significant, significantly impact and enhance the overall
[39:55] quality of life of the city, and its physical structure systems and facilities that provide
[40:00] services to the community, identify funding sources, grants and opportunities to ensure adequate
[40:05] circuit funding is available and communicates to the city priorities and plans for undertaking
[40:12] capital improvement projects to internal and external stakeholders.
[40:17] The, they gave a list during the mean we went over the projects currently in design and
[40:24] as well as the projects that are currently under construction.
[40:28] Due to the heavy rains staff was able to provide us a pretty interesting informative presentation
[40:35] on potholes, which I'm sure we're all familiar with.
[40:38] Potholes, potholes repairing asphalt versus concrete roadways and repair materials.
[40:43] I encourage you to go to the City's website and watch the Public Works Committee meeting for April 11th for more information.
[40:50] I would like to take a segment of that information and report that as of April 11th,
[40:55] the public works had filled approximately 775 potholes, used approximately 70 tons of hot mix,
[41:02] used approximately 30 tons of cold mix and overlay approximately 3,200 square feet of pavement.
[41:09] Also at the Public Works Committee agenda, on the Public Works Committee agenda was the annual CPI
[41:14] rate adjustment for the solid waste and recycling rates for residents.
[41:19] A little background on June 27th, 2022, the City Council approved a restated service agreement
[41:27] agreement with Berthick Waste Industries for Waste Collection and Disposal as the city's exclusive franchisee.
[41:33] The Solid Waste contract provides both residential and commercial customers with collection processing and
[41:39] disposal of the refuse recycling and organic waste for the city.
[41:44] Per section 10.06 of the agreement, Berthick may increase or decrease the service component and
[41:51] the franchise fee component of the total customer rates
[41:55] by the annual consumer price index, the CPI adjustment.
[42:01] The rate adjustment may be requested.
[42:03] In writing by Birch techno later than April 1st of this year,
[42:06] of each year, on March 7th, 2023, Birch sent a letter
[42:11] to request for the 2023 Annual Automatic Free Adjustment
[42:14] for Refuge Collection rates and has provided
[42:17] their proposed rate schedule and supporting worksheets
[42:19] for the city's review.
[42:20] The adjustment shall not exceed 5% per annual and regardless of the percentage change in
[42:28] the CPI.
[42:29] If the CPI for previous year is more than 5%, the additional percentage will be rolled
[42:34] over to the following year as long as the CPI adjustment for that year does not exceed 5%.
[42:38] Can we put up those slides, Gary?
[42:43] Oh, okay, sorry.
[42:47] The, just to describe what the solid waste annual, the rate structure looks like.
[42:53] It's made up of four components, the service fee component, the franchise fee component,
[42:59] which is also the program cost component, a disposal fee component, and the recyclable
[43:03] and, it's a respectable processing fee and organics component.
[43:08] So the first two are subject to the CPI, but at the 5% max, the last two are passed through fees and are adjusted by waste volume and disposal tonnage.
[43:23] So in 2022, the CPI adjustment was 8.7,
[43:28] so
[43:31] for 2022, the CPI adjustment was 8.7.
[43:36] So the rates, which I can't see, I'm sorry, the rates, the new rate schedule is going
[43:45] for the 35 count and it's really hard to do this without the actual presentation.
[43:49] Didn't see the manager go get it?
[43:52] I think so.
[43:53] All right, give us one moment, please.
[44:00] Let's see the manager going to go.
[44:04] There's a lot of numbers to describe without being able to see it.
[44:08] Well, thank you.
[44:10] We thought you had a memorizing.
[44:12] Well, come on James, that was part of your test.
[44:14] Up to here.
[44:18] Okay.
[44:24] But he doesn't color in the line.
[44:26] It kind of goes outside.
[44:32] And now we're from our sponsor.
[44:37] Sure is James.
[44:38] James must have money on this.
[44:48] Do I move on?
[44:50] Continue on?
[44:51] We'll go.
[44:51] We've got to move on if we move on to something that's going to be on to business items so you can tell us.
[45:00] May I make a motion to suspend this? How long is it? He's just bringing a report. Is it going to be a presentation? You want to do a presentation here on this? Well, it's just a slide. Carried to why will I be going down there? Can you put there?
[45:18] Okay. I think I hear him. I think he's got it right there. Let's hear on the screen. Is that it? Yes. Okay, we've got it.
[45:32] That would be better.
[45:34] That would be better.
[45:35] Sorry about that, everyone.
[45:48] All right, there we go.
[45:50] Thank you, Mr. Blaine.
[45:52] So, as you can see, for once the
[45:58] break-to-justment for 2022 takes into effect,
[46:02] it goes into effect, even though we do have a 5% cap,
[46:07] that 5% cap, like I mentioned, is only for the first two components
[46:11] of the service of the total overall fee, the last two are not subject to the cap, but they are subject to volume and whatever fees apply to the disposal sites that these materials go to.
[46:26] A little more of a pass through then?
[46:28] Yeah, the pass through fee.
[46:29] Right.
[46:30] But that's why you can see it's, you know, even though it should all be five percent, it's 5.4, that 0.4 is because of the other two components of the fee.
[46:39] And the next slide, just a little comparison for everyone, as you can see that the rates
[46:48] for our surrounding communities, the figures you see are for upland represent the rate
[46:53] adjustment as we are discussing tonight.
[46:55] The rates listed for surrounding cities reflect their current rates, with the exception of
[46:59] Chino-China Hills Claremont and Ranch Guacamanga.
[47:02] You can see for the most part, we are about in the middle in comparison to our neighboring
[47:07] cities.
[47:08] This is a CPI increase adjustment and is allowed for in our waste agreement with BERTEC.
[47:16] This is a contractual obligation and not a solid waste recycling program changed.
[47:21] Thus, the CPI increase does not require the Prop 218 process to be implemented.
[47:28] That is...
[47:29] If there's any questions, sorry, but that was a very disjointed presentation.
[47:32] All right.
[47:32] Just roll that.
[47:33] Thank you very much.
[47:35] All right.
[47:35] Does that come forward to the next agenda for us to go over that presentation?
[47:41] No.
[47:42] Okay.
[47:42] Is that not something we vote on?
[47:44] That's just part of the agreement, I believe.
[47:46] It's part of the agreement, isn't it?
[47:51] So when you approve the original agreement, in there was a contract agreement that allows
[47:57] Berthick to have their CPI adjustment, and so that's actually part of the contract agreement.
[48:03] So it's not necessarily has to come back to the city.
[48:07] It already got approved.
[48:09] What we're trying to demonstrate here with Councilman Brightlings from the demonstration here is that these are what the changes are.
[48:16] This has been applied to and is available for the public to see.
[48:24] Okay, moving on now to business items.
[48:27] Go ahead, Madam Clerk, 13A.
[48:30] Item 13A is the award of bid for Alpine, Vernon and Palm Rehabilitation and
[48:34] utility improvements, bid number 2023-02, and that will be presented by our Public Work
[48:40] Structure, bringing you.
[48:42] So, staff has prepared a staff presentation if the Council would like to see it that
[48:49] recounts the staff report, otherwise I'm more than happy to answer questions.
[48:57] I reviewed it.
[48:57] Any council members have any questions?
[48:58] I reviewed it.
[49:01] And it's good that, you know what?
[49:02] I think it's important for just an idea, Brad, just so that we can, just for the community,
[49:07] how long does the process usually take to do something?
[49:10] It's not a short process, not something to go out and say, okay, we're going to re-heat,
[49:14] able to take this street.
[49:15] It's a long process, isn't it?
[49:17] Yes, so oftentimes, we try to package as much value within a ward of contract.
[49:23] That means we're not just doing a roadway, we're also doing utility improvements.
[49:29] We're trying to do sidewalk improvements and everything that can encompass what we can do for
[49:34] that particular community.
[49:35] That does take time to design, and it does take time to award.
[49:40] So it is a long process, we do understand that the community wants to get a lot of these pavement projects done, but we don't want to come back again and again when we can take care of everything all at once.
[49:52] All right, thank you very much.
[49:54] I have a question.
[49:55] The staff report mentioned that there were,
[49:57] one of the bidders had a file that complaint saying there was
[50:03] an irregularity with another bidder's responses.
[50:07] Could you elaborate on that?
[50:09] Sure.
[50:09] So the second lowest bidder, Gentry General,
[50:14] filed a bid protest stating that the low bidder had had
[50:18] irregularities within their bids.
[50:20] They had four points that we vetted through with our legal counsel.
[50:26] The four points were that Hardy Harper was a subcontractor to Vito's Marchage, which
[50:33] was the low bidder, but they also submitted a bid as a prime.
[50:37] Under the bid documents instruction to bidders, it does say that it allows a bidder to be
[50:45] a sub as well as a prime, so that's why we discounted that particular argument.
[50:50] There were two arguments, one for the corporate seal missing from the signature page, and
[50:54] one for the corporate seal that was missing from the bid bonds.
[50:57] But they also attached other documents that had the corporate seals on meeting minutes
[51:02] to authorize who was supposed to be on the signature.
[51:05] And also they had a page that had the corporate seal for the bid bonds.
[51:09] So those two were discounted by legal counsel as well.
[51:13] And then finally, the envelope that it was submitted on typically we say where they're
[51:18] We're supposed to label everything so that we can easily find things.
[51:22] I believe on the instructions that said to label it on the lower left hand corner or right hand corner, they had it in the center of the page.
[51:30] This is not going to change the competitive bidding aspect of it.
[51:34] So there again, we said that this was not substantially going to change the bid, so therefore we didn't think that this was valid.
[51:42] that all four points is vetted through legal counsel at which point we are making the recommendation to deny the bid protest.
[51:49] Thank you.
[51:50] All right, thank you. All right, good emotion.
[51:53] So moved.
[51:55] So moved by Councilmember Whitling II by Mayor Pro Temla's vote.
[52:08] All right, that passed and asked us to move on now to item 13B, Madam Clerk.
[52:13] That's the issuance of special tax bonds for community facilities district number 22-1 on Clave it up.
[52:19] and I'll be presented by our Assistant City Manager, Stephen Parker.
[52:24] Not very long though, good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council.
[52:29] The item before you tonight relates to the issuance of special tax bonds for CFD 2022-1,
[52:37] but are known as enclave at Upland and I'd like to invite, except he's already here,
[52:43] so I'd like to introduce Doug Anderson, our municipal advisor with Urban Futures Incorporated.
[52:49] who will be presenting this item to Council.
[52:54] Thank you, Stephen.
[52:54] Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council.
[52:58] Again, this pertains to the issuance of special tax bonds
[53:02] for a community facilities district number 2022-1.
[53:07] CFD number 2022-1 was formed and established by the city
[53:11] just last year in June 2022, following a public hearing
[53:15] by the City Council as legislative body of the district
[53:18] and a landowner election which authorized the incurrence and bonded in debt
[53:22] and an aggregate principal amount of not to exceed 6.5 million and approve the
[53:27] levy of special taxes. The proposed special tax bonds the 2023 bond will be
[53:36] issued to finance certain development impact fees of the city of upwind relating
[53:40] to public facility improvements serving property within the district.
[53:46] Also fund
[53:47] capitalize interest through the first two interest payment dates and pay for all bond issuance costs.
[53:54] Special taxes will be levied by the district and collected by the
[53:57] San Bernardino County Treasurer Tax Collector on taxable parcels within the district in the same
[54:02] manner and at the same time as ad valorem property taxes. The repayment of principal and interest on
[54:08] the 2023 bonds will be secured solely by the special taxes. The 2023 bonds are not a debt
[54:14] that the city's general fund.
[54:18] The 2023 bonds will have a 30 year term,
[54:21] and with a totalist, it made a principal amount
[54:22] of approximately 4.26 million,
[54:25] with annual debt service payments of approximately 271,900 per year.
[54:31] The city's land secured financing policy has several requirements
[54:35] and metrics that all new bond issues must meet,
[54:38] and the 2023 bonds meet or exceed all of those requirements
[54:42] in your policy.
[54:47] The documents in your packet are substantially final.
[54:50] There are some blanks for final interest rates.
[54:53] The bonds have not been priced yet.
[54:55] That's expected to occur in the next few weeks.
[54:57] On the pricing date, the actual interest rate and terms will be finalized and then those
[55:02] final rates will be input into the documents.
[55:10] With me tonight from Best Besson Krieger, our bond council, our Mernel Shah and Danielle Hernandez
[55:18] between the three of us, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
[55:21] That's pretty standard. Any questions for now?
[55:25] Doug, we're used to you.
[55:27] Right.
[55:29] So we appreciate when you bring this stuff forward and we've taught us well over the years.
[55:34] Well, good.
[55:34] Can you turn me around about this stuff a while back, but anyway, get a motion?
[55:39] So moved by Mayor Proctin. Second, second by Councilman Zuniga, let's vote.
[55:53] And that passed unanimously. All right, we'll move on now to Council Communications.
[55:57] Last week we started with Mr. Brightland, this week we'll start with Mayor Pro Tem.
[56:05] All right, thank you Mayor.
[56:07] Thank you for all of you still here and joining us at home.
[56:10] I attended the IED Division lunch with Councilman Brightland and City Manager last Thursday to
[56:13] learn more about the bills that are coming down from Sacramento and why we should be looking
[56:17] out forward to buy back.
[56:19] I want to thank residents who call, email or use our city app to report issues in the community.
[56:24] I will keep reminding you that I do not spend time looking for comments on social media
[56:28] So if you have a concern, complaints for our city, please continue to use our emails, call or report an issue on the app, please.
[56:37] And speaking of communication, I'm having a lunch mob at the Hitchburger on Arrow and
[56:41] Monivista this Wednesday from 1130 to 1.
[56:43] Come help support one of our local restaurants.
[56:46] I plan on having a lunch mob several times a month all over Upland, so if you're a restaurant owner and
[56:50] are listening, please get in touch with me to help better support you.
[56:54] I want to make sure also that if you are a resident or business or restaurant owner join my
[56:59] upland business community page. I am providing free marketing opportunities to help outreach and
[57:03] growth for your business or restaurant community and you can learn more about those hidden gems in
[57:08] our city. We're at the end of the month and that also means that coffee with the councilman
[57:13] happens in the last Saturday of every month come out and take a moment to share some concerns you
[57:17] may have also. This Saturday our residents and business owners are welcome. This event will be
[57:23] Ms. Donuts and Boba in the business park next to Outback's fake house.
[57:27] Stop by, grab some coffee and donuts and list, talk up, and finally, remember that if
[57:32] you see something, folks, please say something.
[57:34] Thank you.
[57:36] I only encourage you to go and have those lunch with Carlos and the coffee group.
[57:42] It's really a lot of fun.
[57:42] A lot of information is given out.
[57:44] So if you have an opportunity to attend those, I'd encourage that also.
[57:48] Council Members, in a good.
[57:49] Okay.
[57:49] I had the honor of attending an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day event this yesterday actually at the Church of Christ located right here in District 4 where I met Pastor Kevork Halagin
[58:03] and a great number of the congregation. A very old mevelto gave a very heartwarming speech. You know, I almost got me to come to tears.
[58:12] You know, I know you're almost there for self.
[58:16] It's a big deal.
[58:18] It is a big deal.
[58:19] I'll tell you to research it and see for yourself and all the stuff they had to go
[58:24] through.
[58:25] My colleagues Garcia and Brightly were also in attendance.
[58:29] Kronkis Roman, Judy Chu was also in attendance who gave a she was a key speaker there.
[58:35] So she did give a speech as well.
[58:37] I'd like to thank Lauren Hendrix for attending tonight and speaking.
[58:41] I know it's never easy to speak at the diet at the podium takes a long time to get the fill for talking in public
[58:48] I'm still not used to it after this my fifth year so
[58:53] But she's right. We do have an issue in downtown and it just seemed like the the homeless population is growing
[59:00] For some reason we're seeing a lot of new ones there and some of the old ones are actually starting to get violent
[59:06] So I encourage the businesses, the restaurants, stop feeding them, please, because they're not going to go away if we keep catering to them. They're not going to go away.
[59:15] We also have people dropping off clothes on the Pacific electric trail bags of clothes for them to go through and find what they want.
[59:24] And then they're also leaving boxes of uncooked pastas and stuff. They don't have a way to cook that. Stop leaving that for them.
[59:30] I go out there and pick it up every week. I'm picking up all the stuff they throw all over the bike trail
[59:35] so we need a
[59:37] Work together. We offer them help the helps there. They don't want to take it
[59:41] Giving them clothes and uncooked pauses not going to help them
[59:46] I want to thank Tommy Brooks also for coming out and speaking about the North field
[59:50] We have a obligation to protect our children in our city. So
[59:56] Like to ask the city manager if to work with the
[1:00:00] What's and try to get that fixed? And it's all I have for this evening. Oh, you know what? What else did I say? Oh, we're also planning a downtown cleanup. We don't have the date yet, but that's in the works right now. So keep your ear to the ground. And we'll let you know as soon as we come up with the date. Okay. Thank you.
[1:00:20] Okay. Councilwoman. Thank you, Mayor. I also wanted to thank you, Lauren. I've gotten quite a few people reaching out about the bathroom in downtown and I think we're all aware of it.
[1:00:31] and all dealing with what higher legislation policies are being made on that level,
[1:00:41] trickle down to our communities. And this is what it looks like when you handicap your law
[1:00:46] enforcement from doing their job.
[1:00:49] But there's always opportunity, as all of us say, you know,
[1:00:53] see something, say something, and that non-emergency line needs to be called. The only way they're
[1:01:00] going to be able to factually know there's an uptick is not by putting it on media well
[1:01:06] you can do that if you want but it's got to be followed up with the phone call so
[1:01:12] that the dispatch logs mirror what we're doing and gives the chief the opportunity to
[1:01:18] direct what areas of concentration that we need that's the same for Cabrillo Park as
[1:01:24] well, so as Councilman Garcia has said, you know, we don't customer service off media,
[1:01:32] we customer service off the app, and the phone calls, so whether that is something you
[1:01:38] share with the HDU board, so that they put out a memo to everyone through their Facebook,
[1:01:43] privately, or email that those phone calls need to start supporting the actual issue of
[1:01:49] reflection. On that, happy or note, Earth Day was last Saturday, and I have a
[1:01:56] barrage of people to thank, so I hope I don't miss any. And if I do, please look
[1:02:01] at Facebook or Instagram. But we could have not done this event in the city
[1:02:06] without our resident committee that put this together. It took about three
[1:02:11] months of meetings and then having over a hundred volunteers. And that was our
[1:02:16] upland high school football students who were back there shoveling dirt and honestly
[1:02:21] it stunk so bad, I could barely even be in the back parking lot.
[1:02:25] So poor things were subjected to that for about three hours.
[1:02:29] Burtech waste sponsored the event, so big thank you to them as well.
[1:02:34] And like I've already said, the Lions Club was their national honor society was there.
[1:02:40] And in a lot of participation for educational boosts on the upper deck, Chino, I'm going
[1:02:46] to get it wrong, you know, based in water district.
[1:02:49] Okay, yeah, West Valley, mosquito,
[1:02:52] they came with all kinds of little mosquito bugs.
[1:02:54] So look at, my kids really love that.
[1:02:56] You know, our local Home Depot don't shop Amazon,
[1:02:59] shop our local stores that produce sales tax for our city
[1:03:04] and go on in there and support them.
[1:03:08] So there was a lot of moving parts
[1:03:10] and it's a collaboration of the city pulling together
[1:03:13] from the school to the nonprofits
[1:03:15] profits to the actual community so that we can be one and the better that we are as one
[1:03:22] and we can move in one direction, great things can be accomplished.
[1:03:25] Thank you so much.
[1:03:32] Councilman Biden.
[1:03:34] Well, the problem with going last is I don't want to repeat myself, but thank you.
[1:03:39] I'm going well.
[1:03:40] Oh, that's true.
[1:03:41] Sorry.
[1:03:41] Mayor Pro Tem, thank you for your comments on the trip to Sacramento.
[1:03:46] It's very important.
[1:03:47] And when we go up there to promote local control, because Sacramento has this desire to constantly try to take our ability to determine our city's own future and every other city in California.
[1:04:00] So it's very important when we go up there to let that, to tell our legislators, our legislative priorities and to keep that at the forefront of their minds.
[1:04:10] This past Saturday was Earth Day, and I wanted to thank Shannon, as well as the other Earth Day
[1:04:16] Committee members, Lisa Nasar, Elizabeth Alvarez, and Jalen Murrow. For all their hard working
[1:04:23] dedication to make this second annual Earth Day celebration a huge success, I look forward to this
[1:04:28] continuing to grow year after year and working together. Thank you. Thank you Rudy for the comments
[1:04:36] for the Armenian Church, that was a really awesome event, and on the 18th I attended the Chamber
[1:04:44] of Commerce ribbon-cutting for cozy pet supply. They now have expanded their services to include
[1:04:50] pet grooming and bathing services, and just a very special comment this evening. Happy
[1:04:55] birthday to my mom, and that's it. Thank you.
[1:04:59] All right, James, thank you. All right, Phil, as you hear live, I want to thank you for sticking
[1:05:06] around, and for those who are going to see this later, and also good evening to everyone.
[1:05:10] On this past Saturday, I attended the Upplin' Earth Day at Greenville Park, and I want
[1:05:15] to recognize Councilmember Shannon Moss and James Brightling for their efforts.
[1:05:19] I know Shannon is really, really, really adamant about not being acknowledged, but I think
[1:05:25] it's important that she understands that the amount of people that she can bring together,
[1:05:29] along with James, is very impressive if you've ever been, and if you've ever watched Shannon
[1:05:34] And when she wants to do something, there's going to be people there.
[1:05:37] And we are very lucky to have someone like Shannon that knows how to rally the troops.
[1:05:41] And she gets them there.
[1:05:42] And I also want to thank the many city employees that were there, up in high school, the Girl Scouts,
[1:05:49] Lions Club, CERT, and any other businesses and entities that I failed to mention.
[1:05:55] I've had been attending the Farmers Mark and Downtown just about every weekend.
[1:05:59] I've been on the walk around, talked to a lot of the vendors and spend time down there.
[1:06:02] Also visit a lot of the businesses.
[1:06:05] It's a great place.
[1:06:06] There's new vendors coming weekly.
[1:06:08] Fresh food's always a treat down there.
[1:06:10] And the choice of items of purchase is unlimited.
[1:06:14] Homeless, yes, are an issue.
[1:06:16] I share a story about my father years ago, gave a guy a chicken,
[1:06:20] over by a stator, but there's a 16th street.
[1:06:22] And the guy says, I'm homeless.
[1:06:23] How do I do with this thing?
[1:06:24] He gave him a raw chicken.
[1:06:26] Pop, he got to give the guy a cook chicken.
[1:06:29] So yeah, people are doing things.
[1:06:33] I couldn't tell my father no, he had a thing for people in need.
[1:06:36] But I think if we can report this, and I've met, stopped at many businesses downtown and told them.
[1:06:43] And throughout the community, when you see homeless, please report them.
[1:06:46] It helps the police department know where they're at.
[1:06:48] They get a night, they do know where they're at, and now they know most of them.
[1:06:52] But I know it's an uphill battle that's very cautious because they have phones and
[1:06:58] They record everything, every interaction with the police.
[1:07:01] So, you know, when you have a police department such as Uplands, that goes out of their way to accommodate the transient population, the residents, the businesses and visitors, I give them credit.
[1:07:14] This is one of the hardest working groups of professionals I've come across, and I've lived in up on a long time, and I think the chief along with his executive team has done a tremendous job.
[1:07:25] A special thank you to our city staff for always being there for our residents.
[1:07:29] Public work has been busy fixing the many potholes and making our parks a great place to visit.
[1:07:34] Our police fire business services, finance, park recreation all working hard and
[1:07:39] is not without notice from myself and I'm pretty certain this council here knows.
[1:07:43] I know how much we do your dedication our city employees have and their all your efforts.
[1:07:48] I'm grateful for the leadership under Mike Michael Blake and his staff.
[1:07:52] And I had the opportunity to meet one of our park rangers a couple of weeks ago in
[1:07:56] real parks we have the park rangers working and they will be up to up to caught up pretty soon. And as always I ask residents business
[1:08:03] Our employees in this council to continue working together to make up a better place to call home city manager
[1:08:12] just real real bravely
[1:08:15] There's been some
[1:08:16] Lot of discussion about the homeless and I would I would encourage anybody that wants to assist them to donate to the various charities and
[1:08:24] a non-profits throughout Upland who are a better choice for your donations and can provide direct support with some accountability.
[1:08:33] I'd also like to say a big thank you to city staff who works tirelessly for Upland.
[1:08:38] We have one of them in attendance here, our engineering manager Bob Critchfield, who is the one putting together these monster CIP projects and
[1:08:47] And these projects are big, detailed projects, and Bob takes personal pride in making sure that we're well prepared for them, that they're designed, and that every TSCross and every ISDOT.
[1:08:59] So thank you, Bob, Chris Field. That's all, yeah.
[1:09:02] All right, with that in mind, we will adjourn to next regularly a Schedule City Council meeting Monday, May 8, 2023. We are adjourned.