How do we give us a hug Okay.

There you go.

Don't smudge.

No smudge.

All right, thank you, Jeremy.

Thank you.

All righty, we'll go ahead and call the meeting to order, and we'll pass it to Clementine to do roll call and to share announcements with the public.

Council Member Barber present.

Council Member Rash here.

Council Member Smith.

Mayor Williamson.

And the record will reflect that Council Member Gino Garcia is absent.

Public comment and participation information for this meeting is provided on its agenda, which is online at Monterey.gov slash agendas.

In person attendees, could you keep your electronic devices muted, please to prevent audio interference with our meeting and consistent with the First Amendment and the Brown Act, individuals have the right to speak at public meetings, which includes the right to criticize or support city policies or actions.

And I think the council gets to hear a little bit more often than the general public does.

Um, but it's always just nice to hear the work that's being done behind the scenes um and recognizing the the great work that's being done that allows the city uh to continue to function and provide the great services that we have.

So with that, I'll pass it to Dante for uh staff presentation.

Thank you, Mayor, and I echo everything that you said.

Um it's um been amazing for me as um I'm meeting with every department and every every employee, and the number of times where I hear people have been here for 20 years, 30 years, um, it is quite unusual.

I I would say, you see, in a lot of the cities and municipalities that I've served, you see people move around, but people stay put here.

Um, and so I think it's important for us to really recognize uh tonight.

We have several uh employees with uh 20 year milestones, um, and then we have a retirement, uh, upcoming retirement with 21 years of service.

And so what I'd like to do is um let our department heads uh come up, uh, talk a little bit about um the employees that are receiving this honor and and maybe saying a few words, um, and then after that, like to take some pictures and give uh some certificates.

Um the three departments, and I'll call them up.

I think we have several represented um in our fire department, um, one in our finance department, uh, one in libraries, and then the last is public works.

So um let me call up fire first and they can start the presentation.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, Council.

Um, thank you for allowing us to do this today.

This is one of the more enjoyable things I get to do.

So, you know, it seems like I've been doing this a lot lately, and I think even I take it for granted at times.

Kind of brought me back down to earth as Dante is saying is that introducing him to our fire employees.

He says, Seems like we have a lot of tenured employees in our in our department.

And and I said, Yeah, it is, and I think it's a testament to not only our community, our city, and our department.

I think it's something we could all be proud of and be uh excited about.

So with that, um, there's five members of the fire department we're gonna recognize today.

Um, three were supposed to be here, but I don't see the third one, but two of them um are not.

So I'm just gonna start briefly with them.

So the first one we're gonna recognize is Captain uh Adam Rust, who's 20 years of service within the department.

He was hired as a firefighter in 2006, promoted engineer in 2017, and then promoted captain in 2020.

He's currently assigned to medic engine 15, which is our engine in Carmel.

Um, he resides here in Monterey a couple blocks up the street with his wife Jen, two sons, Sullivan, and Gideon.

One thing I just want to recognize about Adam is something I just learned recently is that he's gonna be awarded a community service award from our police department.

Something I had no idea that he was even involved with.

Chief Hover called me and said, Hey, do you know when you're firefighters?

He has award, I said, No, I I didn't.

But what happened was in December, um, he lives up, like I said, around the street, he backs to an apartment complex, and he heard a lady calling for help.

So he looked over his fence and saw that there had been a man that had grabbed the lady and was threatening her with a hammer and had her um in his grouse.

So he jumped over the fence with another citizen, separated the two, and kept them separated until police could come and resolve the situation.

I think it says a lot about Adam one is that he actually did it, like decided to intervene, and then two that he didn't tell anybody.

He didn't want any recognition for it.

So just something about Adam.

Second person is Captain Mitch Ocon.

He was a he's 20-year also, he was hired in 2006, promoted captain in 2019.

He's currently assigned to our truck company in downtown.

He resides in Gilroy with his partner Carmen and his adult adult daughter Kelly.

Um, thing about Mitch to know he's really involved with the training in our organization.

He's a part of our training committee and one of our shift trainers.

We always encourage people to go out and take classes and bring information back to the department so we can stay up to date on training techniques.

One thing that we do a lot of is training for civilians and fire, and there's a technique that came out a few years ago called Venator Search.

He not only brought the training back to the department, came up with a training plan, and then executed the training for a whole department.

So I think that says a lot about Mitch on who he is as a member of our organization.

The next person I have is Captain Brian Holm.

I don't know if did Brian show up.

No?

Okay, okay.

I'll go back to him because he maybe he'll he's a little bit late.

Um, the next person I like to recognize is Captain Neil Heard, who is here today.

So Captain Heard has been with the department for 20 years.

He grew up in Beautiful Fireball, which is in uh Central California.

Yeah, Das Palace.

He went to the Modesto Fire Academy and was a seasonal firefighter for Calfire before he joined our department.

He was hired as a firefighter in 2006 and promoted captain in 2015.

He's also currently assigned to Medic Engine 15, which is in Carmel.

He's past president of the Monterey Firefighters Association.

And as you know, for our contract cities, it's really important to have that institutional knowledge within those communities and with our department.

Neil's been primarily assigned to Carmel since he's been a captain.

What about 10 years ago?

He's a great liaison between our department, our city, and our partners in Carmel.

Just as an example of that, you know, recently we took over a staffing the ambulance in Carmel, and there's a lot of work that needed to be done beforehand on how that worked operationally.

Neil was really involved with that operation and greatly appreciated.

Another thing is the station just recently got remodeled.

As you know, as your house, there's a lot of logistics need to go with remodeling.

Um, he really he and his crew really worked beforehand to make sure it was successful, and then put the station back to where it is today afterwards.

So did a lot of great work with that.

Neil resides in Carmel Valley with his wife Carrie Ann and has a daughter Priscilla.

But I think what's really important to know about Neil is that um since 1884, the Monterey Vire Department has only had four Medal of Valor winners.

Neil is one of them.

He proudly displays it on his chest.

So July 18th, 2012, just to remind everybody what happened.

We had a fire up on Golden Oaks Lane, which is 30 Montavista.

There's a condominium complex, large clusters of buildings with common attics.

Fire started one of the units and got up into the attic.

Well, Neil's assigned to the truck that day.

They went on the roof and were cutting holes to help with the suppression efforts.

As they're getting off the roof, his captain fell into a hole.

Not all the way through, but his foot went through the roof.

So can you imagine you have all those tools and equipment?

You're trying to push yourself up off the unstable surface with active fire burning below you.

Neil rushed over, helped him to get out of that hole and make sure he got home safely.

You know, at the very least, saved him from any catastrophic injuries, but at the very worst potential fatality with the fire activity that was in that building.

So I think that says a lot about Neil and who he is as a person and who he is as a firefighter.

So I want to recognize Neil Heard for 25 years of service.

I just want to say I'll be brief.

Uh thank you, Council.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, it's been an honor to work for the city for 20 years.

Um, this is a great place.

Uh I've never thought about leaving, and uh it's it's always been great to me.

So thank you all for the opportunity to continue to serve, and um I appreciate it.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, 20 years of service, not 25.

So the last person I have is Engineer Russell Sopper, last but not least.

Russell, come on up.

Okay.

So Russell started his fire surf career in 1990.

He actually worked for Ford Our Fire Department when we had a fire department out there before the base shut down in 1994.

He transferred over to the Naval Postgraduate School and was a firefighter there before he came to us in 2001.

Um he was promoted to engineer in 2006.

He's currently assigned to downtown on the truck company.

Um, so over the years, Russell's been involved with a lot of projects in our department.

Um, he was really involved with our hose project with all the hosing department.

And one thing I was kind of thought was kind of funny, he was actually involved with our pager project back in the day.

We used to carry pagers with us.

So that tells you how long we've been in the fire service, how far technology has come.

Yeah, he's but he was a member of our USAR team and instructor for our off-road driving.

So we we practice off-road driving.

But I think what's really important to know about Russell is that he is a very uh skilled and tenured professional engineer within our department, and he's helped a lot of people learn that skill and craft and continues to do so today.

So Russell resides in Monterey with his wife Betty and three adult daughters, Gillian, Leah, and Kiona.

And I think that it's really important to understand for Russell about Russell is that you know a lot of people's organizations are forward-facing, and you see them a lot doing things, and then you have those, the quiet and behind the scenes doing the work that are the backbone of the organization, and Russell is one of those guys.

He not only helps uh us better be better as a department, but you know, we have an opportunity to work together.

We become a family.

We work spend a third of our lives together.

And as a family members, you know, everyone goes through troubled times and has difficulties.

And I can guarantee you talk to almost anyone in our department who's gone through those times.

They received a phone call from Russell or something like some kind words or just hey, what do you need?

So I think that says a lot about his character, who he is.

He's very reliable, one of the most trusted members of our organization.

So I'm gonna recognize Russell for 25 years of service to the Monterey Fire Department.

I just wanted to say thank you and everything that you provide and allowing us to do this.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Last call, Captain Home.

Okay.

The last one, uh, just want to recognize is Captain Brian Holm.

He uh 20 years experience as well.

Um he was hired as a firefighter in 2020 pro to captain in 2014.

Um, he's currently signed at our new Monterey Station Hawthorne, um, which cross staffs the boat, so he's been there.

Um, active member of the USAR team.

Um, he resides in Seaside.

And just something about Brian is that as you know, the Monterey Firefighters Association does a lot of community events, including the Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast, which is coming up.

So please come stop by.

But they also do like moving in the park and this uh kids' combat challenge in Pacific River with the good old days.

As you can understand, finding volunteers can work these events can sometimes be challenging.

You go to any event, Brian's always one of the people there that is working the event.

So I think it says a lot about who he is, not only representing the Monterey Fire Department, but representing our community and giving back.

So just want to recognize him as well.

So thank you very much.

Yeah, and thank you.

And and we'll take pictures with everyone.

Uh, that's um at one time at the end.

I like to uh call up uh Brian Edwards uh Library and Museums director uh to recognize his employee.

Thank you.

Thank you to our city manager Dante Hall and our honorable mayor and counsel.

Um I want to recognize public services manager Kim Smith here in the audience for 20 years' service.

Come on up, Kim.

Um, Kim, if if you don't know, like you should know Kim.

Um, Kim is one of those people that if you're ordering books, if you're requesting books, that's somebody who's gonna be looking through your order and adding them in the library.

So Kim is really responsible, her and her team are really going through and making sure we have an equitable collection here for the library.

Kim is looking over the different programs in the library and also things like our new bookmobile.

Kim was the person really responsible for getting that grant, getting over what 190,000 for us to get a brand new bookmobile.

So that bookmobile on the road is thanks to Kim's work.

Kim worked on getting all of our zip books and our grants over the years.

So it's always been looking forward, you know, been somebody really active in the community.

You'll see her on the desk helping out people.

Um we have Nixie and Sinclair supporting her as well.

So, um, really enjoy working with Kim, um, somebody who will be a direct and tell you what she thinks, too.

I think we all need that person in our lives.

So I do appreciate all my time working with Kim.

Um Kim, anything you'd like to add?

Come on out.

Nope, just thank you, everybody.

It's been a wonderful opportunity the last 20 years here.

And um, if I haven't seen you at the library recently, I hope you come by soon.

I love how she inserted the public service announcement, which was well placed for the library, so thank you for that.

Uh next, I'd like to uh call up finance uh for their employee.

Do we have a there we go?

Thank you.

Good afternoon, esteemed counsel and city manager.

My name is Stella Sandoval.

I'm the Assistant finance Director for the city of Monterey.

I don't know if her Linda is here.

So it is my privilege to recognize Herlinda Franklin for an extraordinary milestone of 20 years of dedicated service to the city of Monterey.

Herlinda joined the city revenue Division in June of 2006, and for the past two decades, she has continued to be an integral part of our finance team.

Throughout her tenure with the city, she has been promoted through several accounting positions and is currently an accountant auditor in the revenue division.

Herlinda is a trusted and invaluable resource to her peers and managers throughout the city.

Her attention to detail, extensive knowledge of the city's revenue operations, and unwavering dedication to serving both the city of Monterey and the public have contributed significantly to her success.

She is well respected as someone who is dependable, knowledgeable, and always willing to lend the helping hand.

She continues to demonstrate her commitment to gain technical knowledge and contribute her outstanding work ethic.

We appreciate all her efforts and we take pride in her achievements and look forward to her continued success.

And on behalf of the finance department, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to Herlinda for her two decades of exemplary service to the city of Monterey.

Thank you.

And last but not least, I'd like to call up our public works department who has a milestone retirement.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor City Council.

Thank you, Mr.

Hall.

Today we have the honor of recognizing Michael Coleman as he retires after 21 years of dedicated to the service service to the city of Monterey.

Unfortunately, he was not able to be here with us tonight.

Michael joined the city in 2005 as a parking attendant and built his entire career within the parking division through hard work, dedication, and commitment to excellence.

Over the years, he advanced through the ranks, ultimately serving as parking maintenance supervisor.

Those who work with Michael know him as someone who led a calm, steady presence, no matter what the challenge, he always approaches work with professionalism.

Michael played a very important role in modernizing the parking operations.

He helped implement new technologies while never losing sight of the day-to-day details that keep the facilities running smoothly.

His contributions and leadership have left a lasting mark on a parking division.

In 2025, Michael was recognized with a public works teamwork award and honored that reflects the collaborative spirit and dedication he brought to his work throughout his career.

He's going to be greatly missed.

He is going to live like a local in different areas of the world and snorkel the waters.

So I do wish you the best and thank you so much for all your years of dedication for the city of Monterey and a very well-deserved retirement.

So mayor, if we could um if we invite um all the people who were here tonight to take a picture with the city council and receive your award um recognition letter and also your pen.

So come on up and department heads too, please.

Yeah, I know.

I see the whole area.

Okay, you can get us.

All right, let's try to try to get the uh things.

Perfect.

Here we go.

One, two, three, few.

One, two, and three.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oscar.

Welcome to the people.

Congrats.

And I can hear you.

All right.

And at this point, we'll go ahead and open it up for uh public comments specifically on this item.

So public comments on the anniversary and milestones for our city staff.

How this process works, just to remind everybody.

What we do is we identify those who want to speak during public comment at the beginning of the public comment period.

And then once those folks are identified, only those folks will be able to speak.

So if you raise your hand after the cutoff, you won't be able to have the opportunity to speak.

So again, this is just public comment on the milestones and anniversaries.

All right, I'm not seeing any takers.

So I'll go back to Zoom and do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

And we have nobody on Zoom.

And so with that, bring it back to the council.

Anybody have any last minute comments on this one?

Just uh one quick comment.

Please.

Um, it is really great to see the the folks that are here with milestones of 15, 20, 25.

It is incredible, and it is part of our legacy at the city of Monterey.

It means that there's something right in the culture.

It means that there is a lot of things for people to do, and I don't think anybody really gets bored when they're working.

There are always challenges.

And uh so I I've seen some of these folks when I was walking out the door and retiring and they were just starting.

So it's just great to see how dedicated uh so many of our employees are, and that means that we have something that we have an obligation to sustain, and that's uh providing a workplace that is safe that's a culture that is positive and that is rewarding for uh these fine employees that you saw tonight to make sure that they are supported and that they have the resources to do their work.

So just hats off to the folks that uh land in a good job and love the job and serve this community.

Amen.

Um I I think I would just add to that um when we have a lot of difficult conversations in the community around high salaries within the city and the benefits that our workforce gets.

Um there's a consequence to um being too draconian and and um impacting the benefits that that our employees get.

And so um we need to make sure that we stay competitive and make sure that we can recruit and retain good talent in in the city of Monterey.

Um, otherwise, we may not continue to see these long-term um years of service uh in the city.

So we need to make sure that we continue to take care of our employees that are taking care of us every single day.

Um, all right.

With that, we'll go ahead and move on to general public comments.

So this is for items that are not on today's agenda.

So if it's an ad if you have a comment that is something that's on the agenda, this is not the time to speak.

This is for pretty much anything else that has to do with city business.

Um I'll do the same thing again for folks on Zoom.

You can use the raise hand function.

Anyone in the chamber, I would just ask that you stand up to the left of the podium, or you can stay seated by um identifying yourself by raising your hand.

I'm seeing one, two, three, four, five.

Okay.

Is there a hand raise that I'm missing?

Luis isn't gonna speak.

I'm sorry.

No, you're good.

Four, five.

So there's five in the chamber.

Anybody else in the chamber wishes to speak for general public comment?

All right, so we'll go ahead and cut it off to those five, and I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have one on Zoom.

We're gonna go ahead and leave it to two minutes, and we'll start in the chamber.

Yeah, good evening or good afternoon.

Uh Tom Raleigh, I'm president of the Fisherman's Flats Homeowners and Residents Association.

And recently I was able to give a windshield tour for the new city manager, in which um trying to orient him to the flats and foothills area of Monterey.

With that respect, there's a legal matter coming up that I have not seen on any city council agenda, and it's July 1st, Sperrier Court, and it's on the buffer area of 50 acres that belongs to MPUSD in Tarpee Flats.

It's totally surrounded.

There's no access to it.

It has no city services.

And this was never raised, to my knowledge, during any public comment when it was stuck in the city report to the state to get approved.

So this is one of the buffer areas that the planning commission mentioned during a staff report last the last May uh June 9th.

So I don't see it on your close session for tonight.

And it's July 1.

So it's something you need to find out about.

The city has been sued for its inclusion.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I want to bring something to your attention that I some of you probably already aware of, and that is the uh sidewalk marking that's occurred out in Del Monte Beach uh neighborhood.

Uh people there were quite surprised by all of the orange tagging that happened on the sidewalks, and then they were sent demand letters that said you have to repair your sidewalk and also pay for a permit to uh in order to conduct those repairs.

And staff was very gracious, they got me an answer very promptly today on that.

But as I understand it, we're tripping over the rules of the NCIP policies and procedures manual and also your own policies, which leaves staff with the impression that they can't use public money to repair these sidewalks, which I think is uh a big change from what was being done not all that long ago, and I think we should go back to that or at least enable people to propose an NCIP project in order to pay for those repairs.

Um I think the the right thing to do would be to allow the public to put in a nomination form so that they don't have to pay for those repairs, and not only that, by bundling all these repairs together, it could all cost a lot less money because it'd be the same contractor working in the same neighborhood, and not every single person would have to buy a whatever it is, almost a 400 permit.

So that might be a policy matter that you have to consider because the policies and procedures manual is ultimately approved by the city council.

If that's in fact what's standing in the way of this, then I would ask that you agendize that.

Thank you.

Mr.

Use, I just um ask that you continue working with staff on that.

I can't go into it too much now because it's not an agendized item, but I would encourage you to keep working with staff on getting clarification in regards to the rules associated with that.

So thank you, sir.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the city council.

Josh Stevens, North Monterey.

For the last decade, whenever my generation has voiced concerns about the cost of living, housing or inflation, society has handed us a very specific playbook for fiscal responsibility.

We are told quite simply that our financial struggles are our own fault.

The advice is always the same.

Stop buying avocado toast, make your coffee at home, cancel your streaming subscriptions, stop taking Ubers and take the bus.

Get a second job or a side hustle, learn to code or live within your means.

We are told that if we are running out of money, the solution isn't to demand a bigger allowance, the solution is to tighten our belts, cut out the extras, and make do.

Today, the taxpayers of Monterey are here to offer that exact same advice to city council.

This city has a spending problem.

And whenever the budget falls short, your first instinct is to turn to the taxpayers, treating us like your personal bank of mom and dad and ask for a bailout.

We said it loudly and clearly when we denied Measure D.

And when he also looked at your receipts by your own admission, eight of the ten million dollar deficit was caused by operating a city-owned and operated gym.

You threatened our police and fire services to cover the staggering losses of a municipal gym, a facility that operates to the direct detriment of flourishing, tax-paying competitive private businesses in our own community.

Subsidizing a massive wreck facility while local businesses are trying to survive is the ultimate municipal avocado toast.

Before you ever ask us to open our wallets again at the ballot box, we have to ask have you audited your departments and canceled your unnecessary subscriptions?

Are you making your municipal coffee at home?

From where we sit, it looks like the city council is trying to maintain a lifestyle it can't afford while expecting us to cover your overdraft fees.

Take a page from your playbook from your rental assistance, break out the budgeting uh worksheet.

Stop asking us for an allowance, go home and make your own coffee.

Thank you.

And sir, I hope hopefully you're stick around for this evening's session when we uh look at the budget.

So it'll be a good discussion.

Good evening, Monterey City Council, Mayor Williamson.

My name is Patrice Parks, and I am the co-founder of the nonprofit organization, OCO Arts Foundation.

I'm here tonight to announce that we are extremely close to signing a lease for the uh OCO Theater Complex, and we are now gearing up our fundraising efforts to all eight cylinders and hope to have the theater operational by the end of 2026.

The plans for the OCO Theater Complex 3.0 include four dedicated screening rooms, a multi-use live performance screening room hybrid, and a production studio available to local filmmakers and creatives.

In addition, the cafe will also be up and operational during um offering service both during the morning hours and uh during the theater's operational hours.

The OCO arts foundation seeks to build collaborative relationships and projects with the local filmmakers, artists, performers, nonprofits, businesses, and citizens to create a third space for locals as well as the many visitors to Monterey County.

We are excited to move forward with our plans and hope that we can count on the support of the City of Monterey as we restore and revitalize the OCO to even more than its former glory.

Thank you.

And first off, I want to thank the City of Monterey for its continued commitment to culture and the arts.

And this project signifies a really big investment by the community and even private-led um partners into Monterey County.

And even though we've accomplished a lot, there's still a lot of milestones ahead of us.

So the lease and the associated use permit approval will require review by the city's processes.

Is another month closer to us bringing uh cultural programming, uh space for the community to gather downtown and general economic activity down there.

Um, but with that being said, we recognize that projects to this degree definitely require a lot of collaboration to succeed.

So we would be deeply appreciative for any guidance or support the city council could offer.

Um, and we look forward to working with city staff, city council, uh locals, the artists, and local businesses in restoring the OCO as a vibrant uh cultural anchor in downtown Monterey, hopefully.

That's all.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you both for showing up today.

And I guess my ask for you all is to keep us informed, keep coming back to the council and let us know how the process is going for you all.

We'll do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thanks, you guys.

Take care.

All right.

With that, we'll go to our caller on Zoom.

Laurie, you can unmute and you can go ahead.

Good e good evening, council.

Um, Tom Reeves kind of you're what I'm audio is a little bit faint.

Could you try try again?

Uh boy, I don't know what to do.

It sounds am I am I still faint?

It sounds better.

Is that better?

Yep, yeah.

Okay.

Um, good evening all.

Uh, so Tom Reeves sort of went into what I was gonna bring up, so I'll try to dance around it, and I didn't know we'd only have two minutes, but um, maybe give you a little history uh based from uh Del Monty Beach, because that's where I live.

Um definitely want to raise concerns about that.

And we we've been through probably about three rounds of this now.

So in 2022, my next door neighbor had a safe, called in a safety hazard because she has a senior husband and was worried about tripping.

Public work showed up within days, marked the sidewalks within a week.

They came and ground them down, no permit fees, no demand letters, no bills, no nothing.

Everything was like it always had been.

Just a year later, another senior neighbor called in the same thing, safety concern for a senior member, and we all learned the hard way the city's approach had completely changed.

It was very rough for a number of months before the city announced what was going on, but basically we're required now to pay permit fees exceeding 425 dollars, hire contractors, spends spend up hundred, some in some cases thousands of dollars to repair these sidewalks.

And it might be coincidence, but just seems weird that after Measure D failed within weeks, uh cities come through our neighborhood, we're bright orange everywhere you look.

Latest round was very excessive.

Um, very few homes are not marked.

So, what troubles many of us is that we approved measure S in 2018 to fund these things, sidewalk streets, and storm drains.

So, if we're already paying for sidewalks for measure S.

Why are we being charged separately for repairs?

Um, and it's set to expire next year.

Measure S.

Do you really think in November that residents are going to support renewing this if we're expected to pay out of pocket?

Um, if this is truly citywide, it would be nice to see how many other neighborhoods have been issued these notices and how many, how much of collection and permit fees and how much the cost has shifted on to homeowners.

I will be talking to Tom Reeves.

Uh we are in talks, but before this NCIP didn't work as an option, correct?

Yeah.

All right.

With that, we'll go ahead and close general public comment.

Thank you for all those.

Can we turn that down just a little bit now?

Sorry.

Thank you.

Um, we'll go ahead and close general public comment.

Thank you for all those that that contributed to public comment today.

Um, with that, we'll move on to consent agenda.

There's been no request to pull.

I just want to do another quick check-in with the council.

Any requests to pull items from the consent.

I'd like to go over seven.

Okay, we'll pull seven.

Um staff, anything else that we're not capturing that's been requested.

Just seven.

Okay.

With that, we wouldn't open up for public comment on the consents.

You can either speak to an item on consent, or if you would like an item to be pulled, you can make that request at this time as well.

So we'll start with folks on Zoom.

You can use the raise hand function while you're navigating your way there.

I'll check in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on any of the consent items or wish to pull a consent item?

Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the council.

I'm sorry.

Uh go back to Zoom.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

There's nobody on Zoom.

Bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation.

I make a motion to approve the consent agenda calendar um two through eight, excepting seven.

Second.

All right, it's been moved and seconded.

Any other discussion?

All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, um, we'll look at item seven is to authorize an increase in FY26 grant revenue and appropriation of regional surface transportation funds in the amount of 130,000 to the Madison Herman Larkin Intersection Safety Improvement Project in the Capital Project Fund and award a construction contract in the amount of 140,306.50 cents to Don Chapin Company Inc.

Um, and this is a CIP project, and then um I'll just pass it to you.

Um, Councilman Barash if you had any specific questions that you wanted to kick us off with.

I would just appreciate a review of of it for for myself and the public, and um just walk us through the increased safety, and I have a little bit of question about what I think is the bicycle lanes, which I think are in the middle.

Okay, all right.

Obviously, I don't understand it enough.

Go ahead.

Clementine, if you could put the so this is uh RSTP grant-funded quick build project.

Um, and so the goal of these projects are that they have a low-cost um easy-to-implement shorter timeline.

Um so we have up on the screen, and this was attachment three of the agenda report, and that is what a conceptual of what the intersection will look like.

Um so we are not proposing any bike facilities as part of this.

Um, we are actually proposing painted medians.

Um we're proposing narrowing the pedestrian crossings, as this is a pretty high pedestrian activity location as it's a major entrance and exit for the Monterey High School.

Um, and then we also are proposing a very low mounted um median island in the center, really a traffic circle.

Um, and so this is for a traffic calming effect.

So really the goal is reducing vehicle speed at the intersection approaches, reducing vehicle speed through the intersection, especially when you have such a large area so you can catch speed where you have a lot of pedestrians, particularly students walking, um, by narrowing these crossings, we want to improve the visibility of the intersection, and we proposed making this uh mountable median island that Monterey M.

So we had the opportunity for placemaking to reinforce um that this is an area that's serving the Monterey High School students, okay.

Thank you.

Did you have two questions?

No, um so that center M is elevated.

Yeah.

And the cars are just gonna do a roundabout.

It's um, doesn't seem like there's enough room.

It's bigger than you think.

It's uh it's a very large intersection and it's kind of oddly shaped.

And so um we kind of wanted this to take up space so that cars don't take up space.

Um when you have also when you have to circulate around the traffic circle, it's has the same conflict um reducing effect that a roundabout does, where we want you to go right rather than go left, so you don't do that left hook and um potentially hit a pedestrian.

Um so we just wanted to minimize conflict points.

Um, but it's it's very oddly shaped, um, and there's a little more space than you think um in there.

And will those green middle lanes uh middle dividers, they will be green, they'll be marked green and yellow.

Yeah, so the yellow um and green, we tried to really pull the monterey um high school colors.

So we were going for that placemaking.

There actually will be plastic bollards as well to add a vertical element.

Um, when you add vertical elements, it um causes this effect where you slow down because you feel that it's narrower.

Um so there's it's not just paint, there will be plastic bollards, the mountable traffic circle.

Okay, great.

I appreciate that.

Thanks.

Because I heard you use the term roundabout, and it's not technically a roundabout, it's a traffic circle, which is uh it's just a traffic calm device in the middle of the intersection.

So it's still gonna remain stop controlled, uh unlike a roundabout, you'll still have stop signs as you approach the intersection, but we'll have like I think it's an inch or two inch mountable median.

So even if there's a big truck or something that needs to go through the intersection and they don't have the room to go all the way around, they can still drive over the top of the traffic.

Okay, so but they do still stop and then enter the controlled circle.

Yes, but they're always going right.

Yes, so it remains a controlled uh stop controlled intersection, but the the traffic circle and the middle of the intersection, they should be going around it, but if they're too big to the point where they can't actually navigate around, it's mountable, so they can drive right over the top.

So the stop signs remain, the kids remain crossing the street.

Yes, that's good.

In hordes in hoards, yeah.

Okay, thank you.

That was helpful.

This is similar to the traffic circles that exist, like in Bill Gamani, Guna Grande neighborhoods.

So those ones actually do have yield control, but similar size, and they are not mountable.

Yield control.

So yield control the the yellow or the red and white triangle.

So basically, if you do not have to yield right away to somebody that's already in a circle, you can just go.

Just like you would uh roundabout.

So the here this is stop.

Yes, it's staying um stop controlled with stop signs.

Okay.

I I'm I'm appreciative that you pulled this.

I I have I'm having some hesitation.

I'm getting into comments here.

Let me let me let's take this out to the public and then I'll come back to it.

Can I ask staff a question?

Please, please.

Um, so was there any consideration of um eliminating one of the cross crossings?

In other words, eliminating pedestrians from going across one of them because it's five intersections, it's a lot of people coming all at the same time, and sometimes you can close a crosswalk and encourage folks to cross in another way.

So I know that the vulnerable part up there is on the upper side of Madison, and then when you cross Madison, then they've got to cross again to go across Herman.

So if we're able to cause the pedestrians to spend their time opposite Madison, but actually crossing Larkin and then crossing lower Madison instead of upper Madison, because it seems like a lot of the congestion comes from the pedestrians at the upper side, upper Herman, upper Madison in front of the church.

Any thought about how we can or is this one of those cases where we have to put it in and then we will adjust it if we see that there's an opportunity later?

Yeah, that's actually one of the goals of a quick build project.

Is this like it's like sticking your foot in the water?

Let's see if this is gonna work, and then you can start to basically prove your case of like, oh, we should take you further future steps.

So this is just dipping our toe in the water.

Um, and that's really what quick build projects their goal is.

So at this time, no proposal to change the crosswalks, okay.

Um, and have we done any outreach to the neighborhoods that are most impacted?

Not so much for construction, but their input is at that point in this process.

Um a long, long time ago, back when we um did the grant itself.

So um, and we did reach out and we did get a letter of support from the high school.

Okay, but I'm wondering about the residents.

Have we gotten anything back from the residents?

Because if we did it a long time ago, not recently, these concepts didn't come with that application.

So, so we have not done it recently.

Okay, okay.

Thank you.

One of the questions, please.

Um, so I I think I understand that all five um crosswalks are are crosswalks, but just explain why one is remaining gray and the four are off white.

Oh, I think that might be a like an error in the drawing, but no, it will be staying a yellow crosswalk.

Okay, it might have to do with.

Not sure why, but yes, no, it will be staying yellow.

Thank you.

Um, okay.

Let's did you have anything?

Any questions?

Okay, let's take it.

Thank you for answering those questions.

Um, we'll open it up for public comment for folks on Zoom.

You can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber, just ask that you stand up to the left of the podium, or you can identify yourself by raising your hand.

I see two tickers.

Anybody else?

Alright, we'll cut it off to the two.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

There's nobody on Zoom.

We'll go ahead and start in the chamber to three minutes.

Good afternoon.

I I want the city council to know that I have lived around the corner from that intersection for over 70 years, and I'm very familiar with that intersection.

And none of my neighbors have received any notification that this was happening.

And if the city really wanted to calm traffic, they would try to do something to try to encourage that not be the pickup and drop-off point for Monterey High School, which is what they have done ever since the since this new improved track and all sort of thing.

There's cars that park in that intersection.

A physically park in that intersection and going up Madison, waiting to turn into that high school.

All you're going to do is create more chaos and more trouble with people trying to turn left onto Larkin or to coming down Herman and turn right or crossing Larkin to get into the high school.

The high school needs to come up with their own entrance, and they not dump their entrance on our neighborhood, like what it appears that they're doing since you got approval from the high school, but you didn't get approval from the neighbors.

Now it it is just it is just inconceivable to me that people will not be able to go across Larkin without doing that little roundabout.

If you wanted to calm traffic on Larkin Street, put some speed bumps in.

Do you know the kids try to go between zero and sixty between the high school and the and that intersection at Larkin?

They don't try to go across Larkin.

So I think you really need to be up there and look be and monitor that intersection during when school gets out and during the day.

I just think you're just flat out wrong.

I'm sorry, but none of my neighbors have seen this, and I'm really upset.

So thank you.

And I just remind folks when they're giving public comment to address them to the council.

Uh council, um, I have an apartment building off on Larkin down the street, and I go down there quite a bit.

And it just uh logic tells me that um the more space you have, the more the more ability to people to avoid hitting somebody, having traffic.

And the minute you put something like this, you're gonna restrict traffic on things, you're gonna have accidents, and you're gonna have liability.

I suggest that this is something new, as she said, try it someplace else where there's less traffic and see how it works there before you bring it to a very impacted.

At 3 o'clock, 2 30, the DLI is coming down the hill.

People are going home and back and down the hill, the kids are getting out.

It is you need as much room and space to be safe, even though you have a stop sign there.

You really really shouldn't put something that's going to restrict something.

An elderly person will come down thing, will get confused, will stop traffic.

It'll be it'll be worse than it what it's intended to do.

If it was a it had the space for a roundabout, that's something else.

Roundabout seems to work well.

This is something that's not in the best interest of the people that live there, much less the people that traveled through there.

And I wasn't even gonna speak on this, but it just it just logic jumps out of my head and says, This is this is crazy.

This is some company coming in there trying to spend money that's been allocated by the government.

Why don't you just give it back to the government and tell them to pay down the budget?

All right, and with that, we'll go ahead and close uh public comment, bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation.

Um, I did.

Well, I'll I'll I'll stick to my theme.

I'll I'll I'll close us out.

So please go ahead, Dr.

Barber.

Um, so it sounds to me, just listening to uh the present the brief presentation of the um outreach that the outreach wasn't done um to the to the residents for this time for this specific um uh rendering.

So it sounds like to me that that needs to be done prior to moving forward, just so you can get feedback from the residents that it's gonna impact.

It's great that it that it that the school has given um their approval, and I think that's great.

And I and I applaud you for trying to um address the situation uh that um has been an issue for a while for safety purposes, uh, for not only the students and um the parents and the drop offs, but for even, you know, other people just traveling through.

So I would I would say that we would need to kind of go back a step and get the outreach done just so that we can uh get the feedback from the residents uh for this new rendering.

Can I ask staff something else that might bring some clarity to that?

Yeah.

So staff, if we could ask you a another question.

Sorry to have to do a second round here.

Thank you.

Um so I know that your uh staff and the funds are trying to solve a problem.

It's it's been complex since Nelson went to high school there.

And uh it's funny that he was there at high school at the time.

I was I was also picking up my my now wife at Monterey High School.

It's always been an intersection that has been it's had its complications.

So I'm wondering, do we have a track record of collisions that have occurred at that intersection that helps support why we would want to do something where we change the way it's been for a long time?

Is there any evidence of uh, so I'd have to pull up the memo when we originally um submitted the application back in I believe it was 2022.

Um, and I believe there were collisions for pedestrians and bikes.

Um I would have to pull the memo to get the exact number though, because that would have been part of our application.

Okay.

Um so the other thing, and I think it was brought up by one of the speakers, is that have we had an outreach where we did uh the the high school um and I know they have environmental engineering and I know they have security, but to determine are there other options?

In other words, they just finished the construction last year, which by the way was crucial.

I mean, just terribly long and impacted the neighbors horrifically, but finally there is a student lot.

I'm just wondering the high school has changed its drop-off point a couple of times.

You can't drive through and turn left into the upper staff parking lot.

Formally you could, and that was where your drop-off is.

So now the drop-off has a certain pattern.

I'm just wondering have we gone back to the class or to the school and analyze what other options there might be to reduce some of the pedestrian traffic that's coming in right at the front of the school instead of maybe down at the student parking lot.

No, we haven't.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Andrew, one more question.

The the little black circles to the right of every street at the stop sign, what is that part of the narrowing?

I think I heard the word that you're designing some narrowing.

Am I wrong?

What is that?

The little black circles.

Can we pull it back up?

Sorry.

Oh, I'm on the agenda.

Um, that's where we'd be putting the ballards.

Okay, so that's either the bollards or there's a uh surface mounted, it's an R16 sign that's a pedestrian yield sign.

So I see the the black circles in the median of those painted or so in the middle of those painted medians is um a flexible post sign, and there would be bollards uh along the edge of the median and uh edge of travel way.

Okay, all right.

So I'm I'm pretty close with Nelson's observations.

I I get the beauty because of your explanation, Andrew, of everybody going right.

I think that might be safer for the kids if if everybody's going the same direction.

But I am wondering about the narrowing, but it's not my bailiwick, and um I have a lot of respect for you guys uh and I'm sure you're thinking of the kids.

Um but so I can add maybe just one point of context.

We will be coming back to you in about a year with this item.

So this is quick build, these are all cheap and expensive materials relatively.

We can come back and we can choose not to make it permanent.

We can say, hey, we've come back, we've done more outreach and learning this next year, this last year, seeing how people have acclimated or uh responded to the the quick build and say, okay, you know, people didn't like it or they liked it, but they want this tweak.

We can go ahead and approve those changes a year from now.

This is all if you have commitment issues with this concept.

Uh it's not permanent.

Um, and then we could, if if we're thinking we need to do more outreach before we even do the quick build, we could uh not approve this item tonight.

We come back, do some outreach.

We would probably have to return the grant funds uh to Tamsi and reapply in a future cycle.

Uh, but we would miss the summer window for construction, so meaning we wouldn't be able to do it during summer break while school's out.

Uh we'd have to come back in at least a year from now uh if we're able to hold on to those funds uh with a different concept.

So we have options.

Uh if you don't want to approve this item tonight, um, we probably could return the grant funds, do more outreach, come back with a different concept.

If you do want to approve this item, don't worry, we can come back a year from now and say it was just temporary material, we can remove it.

It's not permanent, or we can change it.

Um essentially, this is something that we can come back.

Uh it's not intended to be permanent.

Can we do just the center and everybody turns right and then we see how people react?

Um, I suppose, yeah, we could probably uh approve, make uh an alternative motion or approve it with some conditions, then as staff we can make plan amendments and work with the contractor and incorporate those changes.

Um Mayor, since uh we're kind of in discussion mode now.

Could I jump in?

Yeah, um I wanted I wanted to also give her some feedback from what she just commented on about.

I I think the biggest thing for me is um the engagement piece, and I appreciate that there was some engagement previously.

The concern that I have is I want this to be successful, and I I'm in the same position that Councilmember Ash is in, which is I'm this isn't I'm not the expert.

I I trust that you all are um knowledgeable enough in this area to know that change can be difficult and we're gonna get some community pushback, right?

But on the other side of this, I just want I want to make sure that what's being proposed is successful.

And so even though there might be some pushback still, I think it would be helpful if we potentially took a pause and and and did some community outreach.

I don't know if just connecting with council member Ash and opening up an opportunity for the neighborhood association to to meet and discuss.

If we delayed this to the next council meeting, would that create a problem with us being able to leverage the grant funding?

No, but the problem I see is we would probably miss the window in order to construct it during the summer break.

Uh so right now we're trying to award uh our contractor would be able to mobilize the next month or two and construct everything before the school season starts up again.

If we push it any further, I it just increases the likelihood that that timeline might start to encroach into the school.

In the school year, yeah.

I I guess I'll pass it over to um uh councilmember Smith here in a second.

I I guess to me, it's if we're gonna do it, we do it.

I don't I I see the traffic circle is the part that maybe is generating some frustration from the community, the concern in the community, it's not the elements that lead up to the circle.

So if we're gonna do it, I I my thought is that we just do it.

Um and then a final note is if we find that it's not working sooner than a year, I don't think anything should prevent us or preclude us from engaging in the conversation sooner.

Like, yeah, this is just really not working.

So I I just kind of throw that in as well.

So council member Smith.

Yeah, I I lean towards uh the pause that you had suggested because uh I think that without appropriately engaging the neighbors and re-engaging the school to discover what's gonna work better, where are the vulnerabilities that they might be able to suggest um without having the conversations and asking those kind of questions?

That is sort of to me, insulting to the neighborhood where they're not even consulted on a current project with some concepts that they can now see that raise questions.

I think the outreach to me is the number one priority.

The engineering is soft scape, it's not not very difficult to go into the project, but I don't think it's money that will never come back to us.

I think it's money that would recycle next year for the TAMSE awarding time.

Um, and I I would rather have a pause to do it right with the outreach.

And also um when you slow it down, we tend to open up our eyes for other options, and it sort of comes together a little bit better.

Um Councilman Rash, you you mentioned right hand turns a couple of times.

Um it's not just a right hand turn.

People are gonna go into the intersection and go around and have to turn left.

So there's a lot of car movement.

I know this is a concept that doesn't have actual space alignment, but to me it looks like when you come up Madison, traffic that's coming up Madison are crowded in to go very close to Larkin, very close to um upper Madison, and then coming through the whole circle and then going down Larkin Street.

Ultimately, everybody's trying to get down Larkin Street.

That's and the drop off is at the front of the school, and you have to get down Larkin to do that.

Anybody else that's going up Herman is dropping off and not approved, not an approved location, but they do it anyway.

I just think that our opportunity is to fully engage the school and neighbors, get it right before we go to construction, uh, pause a bit and then do it when we're ready, where we start a couple weeks after school is out next year, so we don't have a rush because we know how construction goes.

All it takes is a couple of days of rain.

If we started this and we approved it tonight, I'm not real comfortable that we're gonna get it done before school starts.

We don't really have that much time.

Schools back in session early August.

So we really have very little time to do it.

I would rather be prepared, come back at it next year, have this already approved, like you know, February, April, and and then we are able to, you know, move ahead with it when the funds come in.

That's my preference.

I I would agree.

Um and I appreciate your words to not panic too much about you utilizing the money, and I I f think that we often think we have to utilize money or lose it, which maybe we lose it, but another community gets it, or we get it the next time, or it's available the same grant might be available the next year.

I I think we ought to reach out to the community and do this as well as we can.

I think it's a very problematic intersection.

I I appreciate that it's been decades and decades and decades of working this.

So I'd make a motion that we pause um for community outreach and um resubmission in a year.

Is it I mean I'm asking for when the grant is a grant time?

Uh so the grant happens on a two to three year cycle.

Um we will have to reject all bids because there was a couple actions in this council report.

So one was awarding bids to the the Don Japan company.

We'll have to reject bids um and we'll put a pause in approving the plans, do some outreach, and we'll maybe reapply in three years and the grant cycle opens up again.

We will probably have to return the grant funds from this last award.

Um, we'll probably eat uh whatever the um expenditures happen during the design phase.

Um, what probably won't be reimbursed.

How much are we looking at there?

Do you have a uh around 29,000?

How much?

I'm sorry, 2029, so it's a moved and seconded.

Um any other discussion on the motion.

Um just a comment that I know nobody wants to do anything and then waste money and not be able to effectuate the design.

But sometimes uh, and I've done this with a remodeler two where I rushed it thinking that the value is gonna come back with the speed of my calendar, and it winds up every time burning me, and I wind up spending more money.

This is a case of I just think we're a little bit advanced, and I think we owe it to the neighbors, we owe it to the school to do it right.

And I hate to waste the 29,000, but I would rather we do a project that's gonna work and solve the problem.

So I support the motion.

Um I taking a little bit of a different tack.

I mean, there's elements obviously that I'm agreeing with um uh as far as concerns, particularly the community outreach.

I do have concern though that we're not we're gonna return the funds and we make it sound as if it's easy for us to just apply again and we're gonna get the funding.

Um what kind of perception is Tamsi going to have of the city of Monterey if we went through the process of applying and then rejected the funds and had to return them?

And then I just don't think it's a good look for us to be eating cost right now.

Um I think that there's some general concept here that works, and it's probably going to be the thing that we end up doing in the end.

Um, but there is this community engagement piece.

And so I wonder if there could be some kind of middle ground where we say let's delay to the next council meeting, let's get some community engagement in.

I recognize that this might eat into the school year a little bit.

Um, but I think that that's worth doing in order to not lose the grant funding and allow this process to move forward now, as opposed to continuing to kick the can down the road for two or three another two or three years.

Um I think it's a lost opportunity.

That it's it's here in front of us, it may not be perfect.

Um, but knowing that we'll come back in a year, it'll allow us to make those adjustments that are needed to help find that balance within the community.

How much time do we have?

It I believe the end of August of this year.

Well, school starts August uh 9th, something like that.

Yeah, so um so how long did it would it take for outreach uh for community outreach?

So it would take time to prepare notices, get uh something scheduled uh with the community.

I'd say probably at least a month if you wanted us to advertise and market it and make it for people or aware, set up the meeting.

What I could offer is you know, maybe we don't aim for the summer, maybe we aim for I think there's a fall break or the winter break.

Yeah, that's where your weather comes in the factor a little bit, it's a little bit more unpredictable, but we could still award uh chapen tonight.

We could have a contractor ready to go, we could do some outreach, make some uh minor plan modifications, um, and then uh suspend work with chapen until we have whatever those modifications are, and then be ready to go in like winter break or um fall break.

And that's it.

I would also just offer that we don't need to do it.

I don't think we necessarily need to take a lot of time to put notices and things together.

I mean, I think it's just if somebody could create a flyer tomorrow, share that with the neighborhood associations, schedule something for next week.

I don't think it has to be something too extensive.

Um, but neither here nor there.

I'm hearing that there might be some flexibility to at least amend the motion.

Um, and so maybe I I leave it to you, Gene, because you made the motion or or I can try to make a substitute.

No, I I'm fine amending it um or yielding for a substitute motion.

Why don't I?

Yeah, let me try.

Would would you answer um council member member Smith's question about what would be Tamsi's um opinion if we returned it?

Is that a big deal?

I can offer that as a board member of TAMSY.

Uh if I if I said to the executive director the reasons that it didn't pass at the council, this happens all the time.

I don't know when when the money expires.

I mean, you would know that better than I do.

Uh it could it could be the pause, but you might be against the timeline.

So they were, I think we were awarded grant funds in two different cycles.

So the funding's on two different timelines.

We can request an extension.

Usually Tamsi is receptive to allowing extension if there's still a reasonable path forward.

Yeah.

Well, you'd have one vote by the board member.

But I think it's a matter of it's it's an ask of an extension as long as they know that we're getting closer to the work being done.

I think that serves the purpose of the mission of what Tamsey's doing with the money.

But I think it's a twofold.

It's allow staff to request the extension, allow them to number one, go out and do the outreach and work with the school.

And I like the idea of we know we're not gonna get it this summer, but there are other opportunities when the school is in a break.

And these are hard or not hardscapes, but these are probably able to do the adaptation within a week, if that's the uh preliminary plan that you'd want to do, and that could be done during the winter time.

Would you like to do a substitute motion?

I'll do a substitute motion.

So I the second it, right?

You second it, so it doesn't mean an okay.

Okay, so the substitute motion would be a slight modification, uh, instead of it being a canceled that we approve and give direction to staff to do outreach, uh to request uh extension with TAMSI for the funding and look to a later date rather than the summer for this execution after that outreach and look for uh I'd say in the next uh six to eight months and can I add one thing and be open to modifications as you get feedback from the community?

Yeah, I would agree with that.

So this was a little bit of a long resume.

One thing I do need clarification on is are we awarding to the contractor tonight or not?

Because the bid will only be valid for 90 days.

So if part of this action we're gonna need to take that action, you did.

I'm sorry, I didn't.

I you're saying that we need to make this action, we need to take that action tonight as well.

Yes, please.

If you could include that in the motion if we're awarding to the contractor or not, okay.

So this is a classic case of why you probably don't like to do this because what happens when you award the contract and then the input comes from the community and there's a minor modification.

Uh would we be better to just reject the bid and go out to bid once we've finalized what we get from our neighbors and what we get from the school?

Because what you're doing is you're you're working towards an end result which you hope is gonna still be the same as the bid, and then you're gonna have to go back and modify the bid and have a change order, so which is gonna work better for you.

So we could reject bids if they're minor modifications.

Part of this recommended motion was a 15% contingency, and so that would allow for some small change orders.

If we're making major changes, then we're best rejecting bids and coming back with a different set of plans, okay.

But if these are small modifications, part of this recommendation was to approve a 15% contingency, and so that would allow for minor modifications.

And you could come back to the council if it's more than the 15%, right?

We would have if it's more than 15%, we would have to come back.

And you're saying 15%, one five.

That's what I said.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Does that work?

Does that work for you as a modification?

Are you seconding his substitute?

I will second it.

All right.

And Marissa, are we getting you in hot water?

Is this doable?

I see Dante wants to jump in here.

Well, I I I just wanted to clarify.

Um, are you saying um to go do um engagement with the community?

Yes, depending on what they say, that's the decision.

It doesn't come back to council for review.

No, it would have to come back.

We just would have that information to be able to consider for the um for the modification.

Okay, so you want us to get input and come back to council.

Is that your understanding from the motion?

Yeah, that's what's been clarified.

Yes, we will come back.

So that that wasn't what we understood initially.

So this clarification helps, and is that still workable?

Yes.

And as the motion maker, that makes sense and madam clerk has a with the substitute motion.

Did that include um awarding the bid or canceling all bids?

Yep, it it does now.

I did not say it in the beginning, but it needs to add that.

Add that we move ahead with the bid.

Awarding award the bid.

Could I just make one friendly amendment to the substitute motion?

Which is if it's if it's minor and agreeable, I don't think it needs to come back to the council.

If it's a if it's a minor suggestion, we don't need I don't think we need to waste a ministerial on having it come back.

And I and I trust staff to be able to make that determination on whether it's something that would be considered major or minor.

Um if it's something that fits within what staff thinks is reasonable, then I think that we should allow them to move forward.

Um so I appreciate the spirit, however, I think we own it with our neighbors and our public, the general public, and I think that this is this is like the front door of everything that happens in district three, it touches uh district one, and it's district two, and it's the school, and it's what three thousand people that go through that intersection every day.

So I don't have a problem with it coming back because if it changes and it looks better, it's success because the neighbors have to have their input.

So I I would like to let it mature itself out with the conversations, the notices, the the wonderful work that I know the staff is gonna do uh with a with a bid award and they're waiting for final approval, and then you get the assurance that the council's happy with it.

Otherwise, you've left the council out, and I don't think that's good governance.

And you guys say that you're okay with that, right?

As far as time-wise, yeah.

Okay, so yes, we can bring it back uh for any plan modifications uh to the council.

Uh I think if we had to rebid the project, that would add a few months to the timeline, and you'd see pricing probably jump.

Uh, but yeah, so if we award bids tonight and we come back with minor modifications, we plan to approve.

Yeah, we can do that and make it probably work with it.

Okay, oil's gonna go down, so the bid might go down.

Sure.

If we start omitting items, yeah, like for example, the traffic circle in the middle that was considered.

If that comes out and that's a deduction, the the contract would be reduced.

Yeah, okay.

All right, I think we've talked this one to death.

I'm gonna go ahead and call the question.

Um, all those in favor, aye, any opposed.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, staff for that.

Thank you for the members of the public that offered public comment there.

And uh thank you, Councilmember Rash for for pulling that.

It was a worthy discussion there.

Um, all right.

With that, we're gonna go ahead and move to um, we're gonna adjourn to Ocean View Community Services District meeting, and we have our consent agenda.

Um, my understanding that there's been no um requested items to be pulled.

We already did that, didn't we?

Um, no, this is Ocean View Community Services District.

Okay.

Um, I'm supposed to ask OVP CSD directors if there are any items they wish to pull.

Do you wish to pull anything from consent?

OVP CSD directors.

You're not a council member at this point.

Nothing I want to pull.

Okay, we're we're talking about item number nine.

We are talking about in the poll here.

Yeah, okay.

All right.

Um there's no vote needed.

Uh staff.

Has there been any request to pull anything?

Okay.

Um, with that, we'll go ahead and open up for public comment on this item.

So for folks on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

All right, I'm not seeing any takers.

We'll bring it back to Zoom.

My brain is still connecting here.

Uh, I'll do a countdown to five, four, three, two, one.

Nobody on Zoom.

And with that, we'll go ahead and adjourn back to the council meeting and we'll go to our public hearing items.

Item 10 is to levy assessments to fund the Canary Row, New Monterey, and North Fremont Business Improvement Districts.

This has been continued from June 2nd.

And with that, I'll pass it to Dante for staff presentation.

Thank you.

And I'll pass it to Levi, who will be providing the presentation tonight.

Thank you, Mr.

Hog.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Uh, as mentioned, this is the annual levy of assessments for our business improvement districts, and I'll briefly run through uh presentation for that item.

Oh, there we go.

Thank you, Nat.

So as mentioned, this is uh an annual action each year that we state law establishes in a two-part process for a self-assessment.

Uh, the first step of that process was taken on May 19th when this council uh approved the uh each of the boards for uh the business improvement districts, adopted the annual reports and budgets for those districts, and then approved a resolution setting this public hearing, and then this is the second step in which we actually take public hearing and public comment and accept protest and uh levy the assessment.

Uh as mentioned in the staff report, there are no changes to the assessments or the surcharges apply to the business licenses will all remain.

That's 25% for New Monterey, 25% for North Fremont, and then 100% for Canary Row, except for professional services, which are 25% surcharge.

So just some uh highlights from uh the uh proposed plans for each of the business improvement districts.

This is a snapshot of uh the summary for the expenses and revenues for Canary Row business uh improvement district.

As you see, most of their expenses have to do uh uh predominantly with maintenance as well as administrative and overhead and a considerable amount of new projects for total expenses of around 237,000.

Uh for revenues with the BID assessment along with the bus balance forward, they have a total available funds of 279,000.

Uh for lighthouse uh business improvement districts, significantly less uh uh assessment coming through there, so obviously less um uh expenses, roughly about 19,000 dollars in expenses.

And then, as you see here with the BID assessment along with uh other fundraisers, carryover funds, they hit around 22,000 uh dollars in available funds.

Similarly, uh North Fremont's business improvement district spends most of their money on promotion with some uh economic vitality and then other expenses totaling around $34,000 uh with their BID assessment of approximately $20,000, other funds, uh fundraisers on a considerable amount of reserves that uh move forward.

They have a uh total available funds of 137,000.

And with that, staff's uh recommending that the city council adopt uh or hold the public hearing, accept any protests and adopt the levy of assessment for the fiscal year 2026-2027 uh with the following resolutions attached in your packet.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Um a question, and if you answer this before when I was stepped out of the room, you had listed their proposed projects for uh the Canary Row um neighborhood association or uh business association.

They list 65,000 in a new project.

What is that new project?

So that was adopted in the work program.

I'd have to go back and look.

They have a pretty extensive work program in Canary Row because the amount of funding uh they moved through.

Uh so I'd have to go back.

I can I can follow up with you after.

Okay, yeah, just shoot me an email.

That'd be fine.

Absolutely.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, any other questions?

All right, we'll take it out for public comment.

Thank you for the presentation.

Anybody on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item.

See one taker.

Anybody else?

All right, we'll cut it off to the one in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

Nobody on Zoom, go ahead and go to the I I represent two uh property owners on North Fremont.

One has a lot on a corner of Casa Verde, and um another one is a commercial building there.

But my question uh for you is uh every year we spend this money for this North Fremont thing, et cetera, et cetera, and they assess X amount of dollars.

Not exactly sure how they do it, but it seems to be that nothing ever happens.

And I just need to bring the attention to the city council that that bike track that you guys put there for about four or five blocks, it's probably the biggest detriment to any improvement in North Fremont.

And that and one of the one of the biggest detractors is in fact that you can't walk across the street to a business.

And it's it's it's a it was a terrible idea back then, and um this has really affected what people can do on on their on their properties.

And um I just don't know where to go with that North Fremont, something that's been looking like that for years and years and years.

Even the residents in the area have lost all hope that anything will ever happen there.

Because I talked to a few of them, but um, I just wish that the that money that you have can address maybe finding a solution because I I go down North Fremont almost every day, two or three times.

And I guarantee you, I've only seen in one year two bicycles using that hike and bike drill.

That is a travesty of waste of taxpayers' money, and it's really hurting that North Fremont, and you guys should really address that.

Do something about it.

Even it means giving back the 14 or the 15 million dollars that you guys took to put it in because it is it is it is a total disaster.

Thank you.

Okay.

With that, we'll go ahead and close public comment and uh bring it back to the council for um sorry.

Yes, yes, um for motion and deliberation.

I move it.

I move that we approve at this second, it's been moved and seconded.

Go ahead, Council Mr.

Smith.

So, Mayor, does this require a vote or it's just a public hearing first that we hear?

And then we are voting on it because there's no recommendation of this one's a vote.

Okay, I'm looking at the notes too.

And it just doesn't um yeah, uh, just it's missing the uh you know I'm looking at uh item number 10, and it's recommendation if there's not a majority protest by affected business owners after the public hearing, city council should adopt the attached resolutions to levy so which requires a do we have we heard protest votes that have been received?

No protests have been received, okay.

Then in that case, then we can move it.

That's why we got to adopt it to vote.

Second.

Okay, it's a moved and seconded.

Um, any other discussion?

Good point, go ahead.

I and I would just bring up to Mr.

Vega.

This I know you were bringing up the bike path, um, which this is not that item, but if it's related to that for your uh for your colleagues that you work with, um there is a process, and we're just kind of facilitating this for the business community.

Um, and I understand that you're just making those general comments as it relates to the bit the improvements on the North Fremont Business District.

Um, but just as a matter of procedure, we're we're simply accepting um the the resolution um as identified in the staff report.

Um, all right.

All those in favor, aye aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, we will move on to item 11.

Open a public hearing to confirm Alvarado Street Maintenance District 85-1 area and receive protests related to the collection of the assessment proposed in engineers report for fiscal year 2627 and authorize the assessment if a majority protest does not exist.

That I'll pass it to Dante for staff presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I'm gonna turn to uh Cody Hennings, our associate engineer to provide this presentation.

Hi, Cody.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Um so this year um we have our annual downtown business district assessment report.

So each year we meet with the property owners and discuss uh their level of service that the city can provide on top of the base services that the city does.

Um, this includes sidewalk cleaning, trash can uh replacement, trash can cleaning, a little bit of landscaping, and then the tree lighting.

Um so today we are opening the ballots that we've mailed out to all the property owners, um, and they'll vote um on the assessment.

Uh that lays out kind of the cost of all these services that we provide for the year based on um their linear footage in the district.

And if there's any questions, any questions for Cody?

Not seeing any.

Please.

So um, we wait we can get started doing the count, but I think we should take public comment.

Awesome.

All right.

Well, with that, we'll open up for public comment for folks on Zoom.

You can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item.

Seeing one ticker.

Anybody else?

All right, we'll cut it off to the one in the chamber, and I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

Nobody on Zoom.

Just a data point to bring forth to you.

Um, if I remember correctly, the assessment district for Alba Warado and Cali Principal is supposed to be paying for services that are over and above the forget what the wording's like, but it's over and above what ordinarily would be provided.

And what I noticed back when I was upstairs is that as the city raised its standards throughout the city, it caused me to question well, why are these people paying additional amounts on Alvarado and Cali Principal when streets and other areas are being swept just as frequently?

So I don't know if that's been a discussion in the intervening 12 years since I've been retired or not, but uh perhaps it's something you should keep in the back of your minds in terms of uh fairness and parity with other places.

Thank you, Mr.

Reeves.

All right, with that, we'll go ahead and close public comment.

Does anybody on staff have feedback in regards to please please?

Um so these additional uh assessment districts were voted by the property owners, um, and they were looking for additional services, services we provide, which is sidewalk cleaning.

Um we don't do that really around the city very generally.

Um additional landscaping, so actually contracting somebody to plant plants in pots, water them regularly, um, and then uh pay for additional staff time.

Uh they have a uh kind of our city staff two to three times a week, uh picking up additional trash, cleaning up the leaves, um, and things like that.

So it is additional services on top of kind of the base services uh that the city provides.

Um, and it's all broken down in our engineers' report, kind of what we're what they're additionally paying for.

And I and I guess I would just ask the additional clarifying question, which I think is where Mr.

Reeves was going, is that this these additional services that are above and beyond aren't created through some kind of city policy that's been established requiring them to maintain a certain level of service in the district?

Not to my understanding.

They I mean they can vote to have these additional services, so it's all we kind of have a meeting, sit down, and it's pretty open kind of within the um the mechanism that was used to create these districts.

What services we can provide, but we all sit down, go through additional things that way they want to see that we don't provide.

Um example, they wanted um like falconeering is something they threw around.

Not we're not doing that this year, but like odds and ends um of things on top of uh our base services they can kind of work through this process with.

And Cody, it's my understanding that they actually increased their self-assessment in order to clean the streets more frequently.

That is correct.

So, there's great involvement.

I mean, I so admire that they feed themselves more, they and they they're paying more to make the downtown look better better.

So I think that's great.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um I like the falconer.

I want the falconer back.

Um, okay.

I um, so it's a matter of practice uh process, we will just hold tight here while we count the protest votes.

So, no, I'm seeing the key one, yeah.

Yeah, we have one thing.

My mind is still, you know, somewhere else though.

You having island fever.

He has an umbrella drink in his hand still.

Oh my goodness, it takes a while to detox with my ties all day long.

Three, five, or two, yes.

Did you go back to work today?

No, I literally got home at three o'clock.

Boy, that's good planning.

That was all I have.

I'd like to do it in three.

And actually, I wouldn't push it in.

I know.

Uh, he didn't plan a good trip though.

I got it.

Five, six, seven.

Okay.

So it was in the five, six, four, nine, yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

I don't know why, but I do that in the morning.

Maybe it's my in the morning.

My brain's just kind of getting going.

Yeah.

That's a two yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

And I and I'll have a little bit of a and I come out and I start uh plumbing and making noise and talking and my wife is going.

Not yet.

She's got her she's got her hot tea and she's watching, you know, one of the morning shows like I don't know.

I think it's the today show she watches.

And then I I leave the house usually about 7 30, 7 45.

So she's just not ready for engagement.

Well she has a morning person, but she doesn't want to get the wife.

Yeah, she's they got nothing.

It's like I told her it's just got an empty cavern.

There's nothing.

She sleeps and she's not ready to go.

She sleeps and she starts in the morning and she just doesn't want to have to do anything.

That's about nine o'clock.

Okay.

It's funny if they don't have the property.

I don't know.

Yeah, I mean, I'm ready to go off the court and I've already started.

I'm saying, hey, before I begin, what do you think about it?

It's like, I don't know, ask me tonight.

Well tonight tonight when I come home at six o'clock.

I'm like, my word count is already exceeded.

And I walk in and I'm done.

And and you know, I don't want to have it.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yep.

No.

I seven four oh four.

Okay.

Well, they got a lot of them.

How come we didn't have any protests from camera row?

North.

We got but we got a bunch of all the rocks.

Um this is all brought up.

I think it's a mistake.

Yes.

This time the public hearing for the other.

57402.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

574030.

Yes.

Okay.

And there were signatures on the back.

Mr.

Mayor, whenever council member rash is back, we're ready.

You know that engineering one at Madison and Larkin and Herman.

Although it's 140,000.

And you could just say, yeah, okay, we'll go.

But it's like that is a huge impact for everybody.

It's everybody goes through the intersect.

Twice a day.

And all the all the residents in the this side of the skyline are coming down Herman.

And if they're going to work out away, they'll come in.

Alpha Herman down Larkin.

Over New Monterey.

So yeah, so it's it's just yeah.

And there's just it's a heavy, heavy intersection.

Okay, we're gonna go ahead and start up again here.

And I'm gonna pass to Clementine to give us an announcement in regards to the results.

All right, yes.

Yes, so we had a majority yes, which means that a majority protest did not exist.

Awesome.

All right.

Oh, I'm sorry, my microphone was off.

Um we had a majority yes proportionally, and um that means that a majority protest did not take place.

Beautiful.

All right, so is there can we have a count?

Yeah, is there is it a precise count you can report?

It is um eighty-six point one zero two voted percent voted yes.

Okay, thank you.

Is there any motion to adopt I'll make a motion to adopt uh agenda item eleven?

Second.

Any other discussion?

All those in favor, aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously.

We're now past five thirty, so I just want to do a quick check-in with the council.

We have two more items that were scheduled for the afternoon.

Do we want to try to power through and get those done or I do?

We'll be quick.

I just want to make sure we're all consenting.

All right.

No issue here.

All right, so we'll move to item twelve.

Item twelve is open a public hearing to confirm CHI principal maintenance district zero zero-one area and receive protests related to the collection of the assessment proposed in engineers' report for fiscal year 2627 and authorize the assessment for majority protests does not exist.

With that, I'll pass it to Dante for staff presentation.

And I'll bring uh back up Cody uh Hennings to provide the presentation.

And uh now we have our uh annual maintenance district for uh Kai Principal maintenance district.

So similarly, we meet with uh property owners, discuss kind of level of service that they want to see for the year above our base city services.

Um we get together put together an estimate in the engineers' report and then uh send out uh an assessment that they can vote on uh through the mail.

Beautiful.

Any questions from the council?

No.

All right, seeing none.

Thank you, Cody, for your second presentation here.

Um for folks on Zoom, you can use the raise hand function, but we'll bring up public comment.

You can use raise hand function on zoom while you're navigating away there.

I'll check in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

Seeing none.

All right, so we just opened it up public comment.

Um and I'm gonna give folks on Zoom another second here.

My mic was off, so I apologize.

Um navigate your way to the raise hand function.

I'm gonna do a countdown here to five, four, three, two, one.

And there's been nobody on Zoom.

So with that, we will take another quick recess here while we do a count of the votes.

Is it interviews?

So it's right, right?

Yes.

So we're going to say two and zero system.

That's two, so we want to send it up to the side.

Okay.

And then we take one.

Mr.

Mayor, we're all set with this count as well.

All right, beautiful.

All right.

So we're gonna go ahead and ask the city clerk to read the results from the ballot.

Yes, so seventy-three point four eight eight percent voted yes, which means the majority protest did not take place.

What was the percentage, sorry?

Seventy-three point four eight eight.

Three point four eight eight.

Okay.

All right, we'll bring it to the council for motion to adopt.

I make a motion to authorize um the assessment of the Cali P maintenance District.

Second.

So moved and seconded, any other discussion.

All those in favor.

Aye, any opposed.

Motion passes unanimously.

With that, we'll move on to thank you, Cody and team for all the work on that.

My mic's on.

Yep.

Um public appearance item thirteen is to approve installation of a patriotic crosswalk to express the city's support of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.

With that, I'll pass it to Don Tape for staff presentation.

Thank you, and I'll pass it to our director of public works, Andrea Rennie.

Thank you.

Just a couple of minutes while we get the presentation on, but tonight's staff is presenting a request to approve a decorative patriotic crosswalk in our condition of the United States two hundred and fifty anniversary, also known as the semi-quincentennial.

And yes, I did practice that word quite a few times.

So this milestone provides an opportunity to celebrate our nation's history and the many cultures, backgrounds, and traditions that have contributed to the American story and to our Monterey community.

And if you could do next slide, please.

Thank you.

So the proposed location was selected because it lies along the city's fourth of July parade route.

The design itself is pretty simple.

Um it has a legally required white crosswalk and ladder style markings that remain unchanged.

Red and blue decorative elements are placed in between the white markings.

That's the location.

And it was requested to be temporary for one year.

Next slide, please.

Financial considerations.

It is estimated that it's gonna cost 2,100 for painting the crosswalk, $1,700 to remove the crosswalk, which um is contingent on uh being covered by donations.

It might require additional maintenance compared to a conventional crosswalk.

And any refresh of this crosswalk is also contingent on donations.

And I'm here for any questions.

Okay, open it up to the council for questions.

Oh, I'm gonna learn how to do my mic correctly here.

Um to the council for questions.

I see council rash has her hand up.

Um Andrea, does temporary or permanent affect the the shades of the colors?

Remember that was the shades are dictated in um off ambers, in my opinion.

So we we don't want so the M E T C D they don't want anything that's too distracting.

And so that's one of the reasons why we try to keep it simple and have the blue between the red and the white, is that when you're looking at it, and if you don't mind bringing back to if you're looking at it, it does have the transverse markings for a crosswalk.

It has the ladder style, uh similar to the decorative crosswalk we put on Alvarado.

We also try to keep with the same pattern so it's predictable, not distracting.

Uh so it follows the same simplicity.

It'll be it'll be the same shades of red and blue that were similar to the to the pride crosswalk.

We're gonna try and match it.

It's uh it's we have to order special paint.

We're gonna try and match it to as best as we can to do flag colors.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Um, just a point of clarification that this is not a flag, this is just coloring of the red white and blue, right?

Okay, yeah, that's what the request was.

So I guess I would clarify the rendering that's in the presentation is what the crosswalk would look like.

Hopefully.

Yeah, yes.

We will try to match the colors as closely as we can, yes.

Okay, and then if I could ask, and this might be a question for uh councilmember Smith, who made the request.

I I wasn't at the last council meeting, but going back and and listening, um, I guess it'd be helpful to know where this was generated from.

Um yeah, I started uh talking to the folks that are frequenting downtown members of uh coffee shop um relationships, people that I see.

I have an office, I have an office down on Cali Principal.

Um, my office on Cali Principal, although uh I I like to try and work and have some quiet time to get stuff done.

It is a place that people frequently find me and stop by, and so we started having some conversations.

So uh as I advanced the idea and thinking, I put in the request starting back in early May, put the 350 words together, identified the uh the group that's asking and the group that organized to uh get the checks to donate.

Uh the Friends of Alvarado Street, just about 32 people uh that have donated, and a check was delivered to Dante Friday for the amount that the city proposed that it would be.

And uh feeding back to those uh 32 people.

Uh I stopped the collection of donations when we achieved the 3,800, and I've turned away probably another 20 or 30 folks that said, hey, how can we help?

And we'd like to contribute.

So, you know, it's it's just uh it's timely.

July 4th is right around the corner.

The parade's gonna go right past this.

Uh we're celebrating the 250th year, so uh it's it seemed like it was a fitting request, and it's it started with actually uh having a conversation with some folks that I have coffee with frequently at Plumes, and then it was another group at Starbucks, another group at East Village Coffee and a few drop bys at my office, so just a bunch of people that are uh community members and business members.

Um a little bit of a a comment, but leading to a question, um, it may be helpful for us to re-agendize the discussion because I know that there's a lot of questions as it relates to the rainbow crosswalk.

Um, and so I don't know the answer to this because what my understanding was where we left off with this discussion last year is different than I think what we're what we're currently operating under.

Um, and so I think getting that agenda is I think would be helpful just to make sure that we're clear and fair across the board in regards to how we handle crosswalks.

Um, but as it relates to what's being presented to us, which is this uh inclusion of the maintenance cost.

Um I guess that's maybe a little bit where of my concern is if we're if we're gonna add a crosswalk in downtown, anywhere in the city, I would want to make sure that it always looks fresh.

I don't want something that represents America's 250th birthday to look frankly like the rainbow crosswalk looked like for most of the last year.

Um the purple in particular was kind of it didn't look good and and it doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with it.

I think that if it's something that is being managed and operated by the city of Monterey, we should maintain a high standard.

And I know this was a little bit of the discussion that we had when going into the rainbow crosswalk last year, which is which what are the type of materials that we use, and obviously that changes the cost, but all that being said, are we incorporaring the foresight to think about the cost for the maintenance so that we're not having to figure out how does that work and then is the funding available?

And and now that we have the crosswalk there, so I I guess I want to make sure that we do this and we do it right.

Um, and so I guess I just wonder thoughts in regards to how if we're saying for a year, how frequently are we expecting to refresh it so that it looks fresh?

And so, Mayor, yeah, we had uh a good conversation about this.

Um, andrea um has been doing some thinking and we're thinking about I'll let her talk um for a minute about us coming back.

That's exactly what we're we're going to do is come back and clarify the policy.

Um, but as your city manager, this is not practical.

Um, if we're gonna have hundreds of side of crosswalks that are separate um decorations, so we really need to hone in on that policy.

Um, and so Andrea, I think you had some additional comments.

Thank you, City Manager Hall.

Um, yes, we had some some conversations on defining temporary versus um permanent, and so we wanted to go more of a sense of if it is permanent and we're gonna do thermoplastic or material that lasts longer or a methomethacrelate.

And if we're gonna do something that's temporary, then we take into account the cost of removing the crosswalk.

And again, one of the things that is just really hard to predict is the vandalism part of it.

Uh we did not, you know, it's it's hard to predict.

So um I think that absolutely um we're gonna come back um to get a little bit more clarity on permanent versus temporary, so that we can assign the right materials and also come back with a bit of a revision on the crosswalk policy.

I think we also need to have a little bit of a caveat, which we now put in this agenda report, which is, you know, if um it is to our discretion, if it is faded, we don't have the money, or if there is utility work or city work that needs to be done at the site, also that um we're able to do so.

So, yes, we need to do spend a little bit more time uh narrowing down and uh and coming back with the updated policy.

So I guess just to clarify, are we saying then that if it's faded that the city will cover the cost of the maintenance of that?

I'm sorry, can you clarify your question?

If it starts to fade, like we saw with the rainbow crosswalk, um, would the city be covering that cost?

No, what we're asking uh specifically for for this one is that the cost for um refreshing it if it gets defaced essentially is included in the donation.

So we're asking if it's an outside group that's donating that they not only cover the cost of the first installation, but also some money to refresh it or remove it.

Okay.

I'm sorry, I got that that mixed up.

We're we're asking for money to remove it.

Um, and it's gonna be a question about does it continue to exist?

And if that is the case, we're gonna ask for that group, whoever did the donation to also contribute to having it refreshed again.

Okay.

And I guess that's maybe where some my concern is that if we're not um receiving that funding in advance, and then the group or the individuals that are contributing to to do the installation of it.

Don't provide the funding to the city.

Yes, now we're stuck in a position where we don't have a refresh look to the crosswalk.

And that's my concern.

That's that's what I'm trying to address.

Well, can let me answer that question.

This request is realizing it's temporary, it will wear out, and when it gets to the point where it's worn out, one simple phone call from city manager or public works to me and another designated person.

The question is, do you want to keep it going another couple of months?

Likely it's gonna be when it wears out, it wears out.

It was there for July 4th, and it was there for all of July and August, and maybe September.

And if we get rains, and I don't know what the date is, October, December 1st, who knows?

It disappears and the city paints it back to white, white and gray, and they're collecting from this group all of the proceeds needed to install it and remove it.

And if the group doesn't want to continue it, and I don't think they're gonna want to continue it, it's a one-off, it disappears and it goes back to regular crosswalk.

I guess I my my concern that I'm raising is still not being addressed.

Well, the city would name it when it's done.

I hear what you're saying, and and we're getting a little bit into the debate.

So I think maybe we defer this to after public comment.

I think the the thing that I'm raising here is not leaving it to some obscure group on the side to decide are we gonna continue this or not?

My concern is is that we live in a military community.

We have people I get contacted on a regular basis, um, people complaining about why is our flag thrown at half staff, why is there a ripped flag?

I keep hearing this over and over again.

It it is a patriotic community, and and so the moment that that looks dingy, we're gonna hear complaints about it.

And I and I just want to I want us to be prepared about how we're gonna handle this as opposed to uh well let's decide.

I and that's the only point that I'm making.

And it doesn't sound like there's much of a plan there, other than when it happens, we'll talk about it and see if we want to continue it.

Well, well, can I I just want to offer that um to your first part when you were first asking where it came from and the policy, we bifurcated my request uh June 2nd, when you were absent, and that was bifurcated and staff is gonna come back to us with a deeper discussion with the policy, the crosswalk policy.

This request is timed to get it installed before July 4th.

Because it is a patriotic town, because we are a town that's gonna have a July 4th parade.

We are a town with a lot of military folks.

Aside from military folks, there are citizens that love the flag, and that represents country, and it's 250 years.

That's the whole reason to do it.

Um, it's not complicated.

When city staff says, you know, this is it's it's time it's either refresh or we get rid of it.

It the decision's not up to us, only in that do we want to pay for it to be repainted.

The decision is entirely in control of the city when they deem that it needs to be repainted or it's going to be removed.

This group is not arguing that at all.

It is within entire responsibility of public works in the city to tell us it's time to repaint it or it's coming out.

We don't own it.

The city owns it.

This is intended to be temporary and intended to be at least through July 4th.

Okay.

I I still have questions here, but we're we're getting into a debate of it, and I I will defer that until um after public comment.

Are there any other questions at this time from the council?

Well, one for uh council member Smith, which I think you answered, but I'm gonna presume that the businesses very close to the walkway were in that list of businesses that you consulted, and that I'm presuming they go along with it.

Yes, quite an quite a number of property owners.

Okay, and um individual individuals that are retail uh leaseurs, okay, uh, on Alvarado and on Cali Principal and generally downtown, but uh also residents that um don't have a business downtown, they're just residents.

Well, I'm just asking the same question that I asked the first time we were talking about crosswalks.

Were the tangential property business managers consulted and and have an opinion?

And I I mean, the only the only opinion I would think that someone might have about the patriotic colors might be, you know, they don't want it on the ground or but so they've been consulted and they're in support, and yeah, great.

Yeah, and their their support was also support, and many of them wrote checks, and we had it took it took about five days to uh to raise the thirty-eight hundred dollars.

Okay.

With that, we'll go ahead and open up for public comment.

Thank you, Andrea.

Um, for folks on Zoom, we can use the raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber, you can send it to the left of the podium, which is I see we already have a line formed.

Anyone else that's not standing that would like to speak on this item?

All right, so we have two, four, six, eight.

Did I count right?

Okay, so we'll cut it off to the eight in the chamber, and I'll do a so you can come on up.

And I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have two on Zoom.

We're gonna go ahead and leave it to two minutes.

Okay, good afternoon, Jim Clark, Delray Oaks.

Mayor, City Council.

You guys opened this Pandora's box a couple of years ago.

I was here for multiple meetings.

Multiple people said if you do this for one, you've got to do it for all for the SPCA for Friends Save the Wales or whatever for July 4th.

You opened up the Pandora's box.

You cannot in any good conscience start changing the rules or backpedaling now.

We have a legitimate uh request, which followed the exact same rules that you laid down for the other flag being on that individuals provided the money to paint it, refresh it, and renew it.

And you have the exact same thing happening right now.

Don't be hypocrites.

You approved it before, you've opened up the box.

Anybody that comes along and meets those specifications must be approved by this, and just for your information, I'll give you more money too to make this thing happen.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Just to mention, I wasn't so much aware of the uh the pride crosswalk.

Is that correct?

What will you be doing now?

Are they gonna be cleaning that up?

I mean, you know, if you're concerned about the red, white, and blue one.

Are they gonna be doing anything to uh get that cleaned?

Is that so you know what I mean?

I mean, you were concerned about getting making sure this thing stays clean.

Well, I think Ed's already brought up he had people who was turning away to get money for this.

So I'm sure we won't have a problem.

Can the community wash the crosswalk, or does it have to be the city?

I'm just bringing that in.

Ed, it's okay.

I got it.

I got it.

Did I?

Yeah.

I you're answering questions.

I'm assuming they're rhetorical.

So I'll let you continue.

We're not engaging in a back and forth discussion, though.

Oh, no, that's fine.

So I'm in favor of the crosswalk.

And the only safety issue here is when motorists go over it.

Hopefully, they'll still have one hand on the steering wheel when they salute it.

Thank you.

Mayor Williamson and Council members, I want to voice my support for the Patriotic Crosswalk to be installed in Alvarado Street.

This year on July 4th, our country will celebrate 250 years of freedom.

Monterey had an important role in United States history.

On July 7th, we will also celebrate 100 years of the flag of the United States of America flying over California.

Commodore Sloat first raised the United States flag in 1846 here in Monterey at our Custom House.

And then that flag had only 28 stars.

Monterey has a rich cultural history with a wide variety of ties to the military.

In many cases cases, it was the military that brought our families to this area.

Not only would this patriotic crosswalk honor our United States history, but our United States military as well.

I urge you to adopt this resolution.

Thank you.

All the background information that he's given us about the crosswalk.

Obviously, you can tell by my hat, I'm totally in favor of this ordinance.

I promise it's the same as no rumors, no rumors.

Oh my gosh.

I am a daughter of uh army person, and I am a Coast Guard, uh, another representative.

Let's see, the Marines are my nephew in Indiana, and my nephew, my other nephew in um uh Fort Wayne, Indiana.

At any rate, we cover all of the military entities, and we're a very patriotic family.

We're thrilled to be here, and I would love for one of you on the dios to please tell me how much money does the military put in our coffers every year.

They're worth a lot more than that, but excuse me.

15%.

That's very significant.

So we need the crosswalk.

Thank you, and God bless America.

Hello, my name is Patricia Hoffman, and I'm a past president of the Navy Daughters of the Golden West.

And here in Monterey, I'm very proud to be here in Monterey and be a part of that um organization.

Um, I am very much in favor of our red, white, and blue.

We're 250 years old.

How exciting is that?

And we're babies compared to Europe.

And I am so proud to be here in Monterey.

Thank you very much.

Mayor Council.

Um, my name is Nelson Big, and I uh donate and donated $500 toward that cause.

And I'll tell you why.

Because my father served in World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War.

He was in the military for 40 years.

I have a high respect for the people in the military.

We're celebrating this country being 250 years old.

It's not about what's on the other side of town and in the uh other crosswalk.

This is about standing behind the United States that gave us these extraordinary, extraordinary freedoms that we have, and we should celebrate it.

And I find it really insulting that you would be worried more about keeping it clean and stuff than the spirit of why it's being brought here.

This is an inclusive country of diverse people.

I'm Puerto Rican.

I came here as a little kid, but I'm just as patriotic as every other American that was born here.

And I really, really was disappointed in you not just grabbing the time and saying, yes, this is inclusive of all Americans, and this is a special year, and we should do this.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I think we echo all the same sentiment that we are a patriotic city and that we want to celebrate our patriotism.

But what I'm hearing from the mayor is that you're applying a different standard to the patriotic crosswalk than what's been applied to the rainbow crosswalk.

You want to bring it so that it's pristine all of the time.

And we know that the rainbow crosswalk was vandalized, it was maintained twice, and there was just a new petition that was put forward without any approval from anybody beyond the one year.

So please I ask that the policies be applied fairly and the same until the policy is changed.

Thank you.

It seems odd that for once we have an issue before us that should be unifying and not divisive.

I happen to be a Democrat.

A lot of people I know are Republicans.

This isn't a Democrat versus a Republican issue, it's an America issue.

Everybody should get behind this.

Equivocating over who's going to maintain it and how it's going to be maintained when it's already been answered is quite frankly insulting to me, and I'm sure everybody else too.

Councilmember Smith has answered the questions.

I generously and proudly donated to the cause, and I'll do so again if it comes down to having to repaint it if that's what people want to do.

So I ask you to stop equivocating over this.

I brought these very same issues up when the Rainbow Crosswalk came up.

You've had a year since then to consider those issues.

Now what comes before us is all of a sudden it's it's oh my god, this is the first time we've heard this.

We gotta we gotta rehash this whole thing.

The previous meeting, we had the same filibustering going on where it was a two-two vote.

It was, I mean, I it's just astounding to me that an issue like this, as simple as putting a red, white, and blue crosswalk on the 250th anniversary of this nation has caused this much discussion.

Just do it.

Okay, and we'll go to our callers on Zoom.

First speaker, we have Lori.

Well, darn it, Tom Reeve, you and I are gonna just have to get together before these meetings and discuss it.

I'm I don't have anything more to say.

Every speaker's hit the nail on the head.

Tom Reeves just spewed out exactly what I was going to.

We'll leave it there.

And I'll but I will say that I also am a Democrat.

This isn't a partisan issue.

I was among those that said you're gonna open Pandora's box if you fly a certain group's flag, if you put a certain group's cross, you're you're just asking for trouble.

In that we're gonna fight over what group can and what group can't, and nitpick the details.

It's it's ridiculous.

And the fact that the two of the council members last week voted no, like, okay, we vote for a rainbow crosswalk, but not a red, white, and blue one.

Yeah, we need to grow up here and get with the program, and if we're gonna be this way like little children in a in a school yard and you know I don't you it's mine that was my idea you don't get to do this this is I know you I don't want yours there that's ridiculous we need to just scrap the entire uh policy when it comes time for that discussion but we will get there and I'm sure that will be an enlightening one we have much bigger fish to fry with this budget than Bit Green about crosswalks so I'm not even gonna be there I don't really like crowds but for the people who want to be around crowds and there's a parade and it's a festive event absolutely put it in have a good time enjoy it as long as it lasts thank you have a good night good luck with the budget talks.

And our next speaker is our telephone color uh you can unmute and go ahead this is Nina Beattie um I will say the same thing that I said the last time I oppose colored crosswalks painted striped whatever is put on the street streets are for driving and the less distractions that the public has the better um these are um I've anyone who's driven over in in uh seaside on Broadway and all the colors that have been put to designate different zones there's no signage to say what those zones are it's just all of a sudden now we've got different markings than have traditionally been on streets usually had white for crosswalks and then you had the gray of the streets it's very quiet for the eyes you can focus on the street which you're supposed to while you're driving and any pedestrians coming back and forth and you're not distracted by miscellaneous things and these sidewalks that are decorations on the street don't belong on the street and I said that about the rainbow crosswalk and I say it about this we need to keep the streets for driving and that includes the crosswalks across the streets so uh I all the staff time that will be spent even though there's not money going out it's still staff time that's going to be monitoring and making sure things are painted correctly no this is in a budget situation that Monterey's got the streets need to be left as streets and as I oppose the last one I oppose this one too thank you.

Alright with that we'll go ahead and close public comment bring it back to the council for motion and deliberation I'd like to make a motion can I make a statement first uh you you can do that after that he jumped since he jumped in he can make his motion and then we'll we'll we'll go to you next yeah I'll make a motion that the uh request for this crosswalk uh be adopted by the city council and accepted of the resolution of a red white and blue crosswalk at Alvarado in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the United States second I with no fun no public funding no public if we could include that madam clerk second all right so moved it in seconded Dr.

Barber uh so I want to make make sure that uh for a point of clarification to um that people understand that my reservation was very clear I asked the question is this going to be a flag the last time that was the that was the reservation because I don't believe in the flag touching the ground but he's made this very clear that this is not a flag even though I've heard some of the people who were um uh speaking tonight talking about it being a flag and saluting you're making it very clear that it's not a flag not a flag okay because that was my reservation just like I said before um I don't believe in the flag touching the ground um my father served too so I understand and and have that same um pride but I just wanted to make sure about that point thank you thank you any other comments all right so I've I have a few um so it was alluded to from the first public comment and in the last or not the last, the second to last.

Um it was this whole concept of opening Pandora's box.

This conversation would not be happening around a patriotic crosswalk if it wasn't for this community pushing forward a rainbow crosswalk.

It absolutely would not have happened.

Um, and and I think that's the problem that I have with it.

And Mr.

Vega, you alluded to in your comments around being for all, um, and your experience is your experience.

So I I won't um I won't begin to act as if I know what you've gone through in your life.

Um, but the fact that you are of Puerto Rican um ancestry, um, I think a lot of people will say it's fair to say that simply because of the color of your skin, you would be treated different.

Um, and so there is something about equality that we need to be able to look at fairly and openly.

And it doesn't really have anything to do with the rainbow uh the the patriotic crosswalk, but I bring it up as it relates to the rainbow crosswalk because the rainbow crosswalk is truly about inclusivity and making sure that everybody feels that they're included.

I apologize.

So the time for public comment is over.

So if anybody has anything else to say, I just ask that you withhold it for now because right now the conversation sits with the council, and if it's going to be continue to be interrupted by comments in the chambers, I'm gonna ask you to leave the chamber.

So please just be respectful and allow me to finish my comments.

I don't have any problem at all.

The way that this conversation is going, I think is very emblematic of what we're seeing happening at a national level where it becomes like that we're pitting sides against each other, and at no point in this discussion at all have I heard anybody being um anti-patriotic, or bringing in Democrat versus Republican mantra.

I I'm not hearing that.

Um, but I'm feeling it.

And I think that if there was, and and I I would wish there was more time for us to have worked on this.

Um, I'm gonna support it moving forward.

Though again, how we got here is a little bit concerning to me because it it almost feels retaliatory, and some of the same folks that spoke about supporting the rainbow crosswalk, uh, the patriotic crosswalk today were making some of the same points that Miss Beattie were taught was just made in the last public comment.

And I, in fact, I saw some acknowledgement for some folks that are here in support of the patriotic crosswalk.

Like, yeah, it doesn't make sense that we're doing painted crosswalks.

I think the appropriate way, and to me, it's a case-by-case basis.

The rainbow crosswalk represents something about visibility, and that's something that's really important to the LGBTQ community, because as I am a member of, we are often pushed aside, even amongst people within our own families.

So that is a very important symbolic meaning, the visibility.

The patriot the patriotic piece around celebration of the 250th anniversary, I think what would have been a more appropriate response to this would have been let's find a great space to do a public art mural that could last decades, it doesn't have to be something temporary.

Let's let this be something that can endure time and show future generations the support that we've had of our community.

That's what I'm talking about.

It's finding that common ground that we can work together on, there's no disagreement.

I don't think anybody on the council would have disagreed around elevating something to help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, and the role that the city of Monterey has played in that, but unfortunately, members of the public and and unfortunately a member of uh of one of my colleagues on the council has made this.

Contentious unnecessarily.

I feel like the idea around the rainbow crosswalk has been hijacked.

And the point that was made around now the Pandora's box is open, we're going to do this, that, and the other.

I look forward to the conversation around how we follow up with this.

And nothing that I'm saying or doing is treating the patriotic crosswalk any different than the rainbow crosswalk.

I do think that we need to have clear clearer policy.

So I look forward to that discussion.

And with that, I'll go ahead and call the question.

All those in favor?

Well, before we do that, is there so sorry?

Sorry.

We're gonna call the question.

Yeah, you you you made the move.

You made the motion there, and it deserves a response.

Ed, please go ahead.

You seem to be confused about this was either suddenly coming to you or not done the right way.

I started this in early May, and you postponed it.

We ran out of time.

We had an argument.

We postponed this and delayed uh dragged it and delayed it until now it's in the 11th hour in time to get this done by July 4th.

So this could have been done earlier in May.

And you can shake your head, you it's not true.

You continued this.

We couldn't even get to the agenda.

When was it on the calendar?

When was it on the agenda?

It was in May.

When in May?

Well, I think it was the first meeting in May.

Or the second meeting in May.

It was the study session.

It was the last week of May.

Yeah, it was it was a study session special council meeting, and we never got to it.

And and you and you let's let's go through my comments.

You had your comments, and I'll finish it up, and we can take our vote.

And I appreciate the council members that are supporting this.

But don't question my intention of this.

I made it very clear from the beginning, it had nothing to do with the other crosswalk.

This was purely for in symbolic 250th year, July 4th.

If I wanted to do something else, I would have done it right after June of last year.

This was not retribution for the other crosswalk.

This was to celebrate the patriotic feeling of July 4th, and I don't understand how you can confuse my intention with that.

I said it very clearly.

I said it in the in the words, I said it in my news releases.

Everybody who knows I'm not trying to take out the moderate pride.

I've never criticized that after it was voted in ever for a whole year.

My intention is pure.

Red, white, and blue is as simple as you can get.

And for you to make this somehow some social cause and criticize the public, I mean, your words can hang and every and you'll own those words.

That's up to you.

But I think you're way over the line trying to criticize my intention for a patriotic crosswalk.

This red, white, and blue at a different location.

Don't overthink this.

It's just simply that request.

It's got nothing to do with prejudice or the color of your skin or trying to attack another crosswalk.

It's not.

So that's not in my heart or in my head.

This was about July 4th.

That's it.

And you know me well enough.

So you can call for the vote now.

All right.

Call the question.

All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed.

Motion passes unanimously.

And with that, we will take public comment on closed session agenda items.

Item 14 on the closed session is closed session conference with real property negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956 TAC 8 regarding 735 Ramona Avenue.

For those on Zoom, you can use a raise hand function.

Anybody in the chamber wishes speak on this item?

I just ask that everybody keep it down while we try to finish the proceedings, please.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

Alright, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close it off in the chamber.

Do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five or three, two, one.

All right.

Nobody on Zoom bring it back to the council.

We'll go ahead and recess to close session.

Thank you, everybody.

So, if you have a lot of people who are not going to be able to do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a h do we give us a hug Start the meeting here.

Hello, everybody, good evening.

Welcome to our evening session of today's council meeting, June 16th, 2026.

We're going to go ahead and reconvene.

And we will kick this off with Councilmember Rash leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I think what you do to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands on nation under uh individual liberty and justice.

Thank you, Jean.

All right, next we will do continued general public comment.

So this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to the council on items that are not on today's agenda.

So if it's on today's agenda, this is not the opportunity to speak.

This is general public comment.

How this process works is we'll ask folks to identify themselves at the beginning of the public comment period.

Once those folks are identified, we will close it off and then only those folks will be able to speak.

So we'll go ahead and start on Zoom.

For folks on Zoom, you can navigate your way to the raise hand function while you're finding your way there.

I'll check in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wish to speak on this item?

I see we already have two takers.

We have three in the back.

Bob is walking up, so we have four.

Anybody else?

I have the three that are standing.

I have the one hand raise.

Anybody else?

All right, we'll cut it off to the four in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom.

Five, four, three, two, one, and there's two on Zoom.

We'll go ahead and leave it to two minutes.

Go ahead and start in the chamber, sir.

I'm Henry Moller.

President 47 years.

I have emailed my concerns to the council about the budget twice.

Here are my bullet points.

Three as mentioned in email.

Sir, I apologize.

You said the budget.

The budget's on the agenda.

This is for general public comments for items that aren't on today's agenda.

When can I talk about the budget?

So we'll be giving a presentation.

You'll know, because we'll staff will give a presentation.

The council will ask some questions, and then we'll go back out to the public on that item specifically.

Okay.

More to come there, sir.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council, and members of the public.

My name is Jacqueline Simon.

I am the chair and founder of the Youth of Promise and Peace Officer Ambassadors.

For five years after the murder of George Floyd, I decided as a professor, what could I do to change those conditions?

Where someone would lose their life for those reasons.

So I decided to develop a program where youth and police officers can become more aware of each other and how important each of them deserves to get home at night.

And as well as last year worked with uh the city of Monterey.

So if Chief Hober's here, I wanted to make sure that he received the additional acknowledgments for his officers that participated.

This passed the 31st of May.

And your council member here Smith spoke to our group and provided really good quality information in reference to that program.

We also provided you, I don't know if you've received it.

We brought over a picture that shows the police officers and the assistant chief here in an opportunity working with those youth.

So at the end of the day, you've got to start teaching and helping children understand that someone that has a badge and a gun and a cavalier vest is there to protect and serve you, as opposed to sometimes them running away from you.

So I wanted to provide these, and our assistant chief uh Mike Bruno was here.

Great.

Yes, he was in our program and he was awesome.

So I commend you, uh, City of Monterey.

Because in order for it to work, the mayor, the city manager, the police officers, everyone has to be engaged in that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeffrey.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council, staff, Mr.

Hall.

Um, I'm one of the biggest cheerleaders of the city and the city council, the way we run things, we're good.

But with every team, there's always some call you didn't like the way the quarterback called it, or the way the coach said to run the play.

Um I've been a little heightened and I took a trip all over.

I'm trying to struggle through all the rules and costs and expenses of opening the two new restaurants we're doing on Wave Street, and with that I'm doing a lot of driving.

And it's quite disheartening to see how poor our roads are, and then it's more disheartening to get down to Lake Vegas and see gas three dollars a gallon cheaper.

It's bizarre.

But I'm gonna speak to something, bring a little more color to it, maybe the orange painted sidewalks.

Um, I've had a little issue with that.

Um I watched and spoke to the gentleman who did that, and I asked him if he knew the state laws that gave him the ability to require the city to have the business owner repair the sidewalks.

He had no idea, they just told me to go out and paint the sidewalks.

He literally does that, and I have pictures.

He is a hairline crack down the uh middle of a sidewalk square, and he paints all four corners showing you when to be replaced.

I told him the law really requires it has to be a half inch gap.

There's got to be a rise of a half cent.

He says, I have no idea.

And then videotaped and watched him.

He spent more time on his phone playing with that than doing that.

But when we hire these third parties, great way to save money, but train them so they know what to do, because then I got to go back and fight and spend more staff time complaining about a hairline crack that no one could trip on.

So I'd like to just address that issue a little better that we would uh how to resolve that.

Thank you.

Um earlier in this evening, um you kind of you kind of called me out, and I just I don't want it to make it a personal thing.

This is a policy thing, and everything I talk about is about policy, and I just want you to make you just assured.

Um I'm sure that you all are trying to do the best, but we have difference of opinions, but it's strictly about policy, and I don't want it to be a personal thing, and I've apologize if I've offended you.

Okay, with that, we will go to public commenters on Zoom.

Yes, first we have a telephone caller with the last three digits, 705.

You can unmute and then go ahead.

You'll need to dial star six to unmute.

Yes, uh, good evening everyone.

Luna Moffat here.

Um, I noticed the wonderful Canadian geese are here blessing our parts once more.

And there are a few people, I call them the petty people, uh, that are objecting to their goose poop, and all over the United States, they're gassing them with CO2, which is a very cool gas.

If you hold your breath till you can't anymore, that's how they die.

Um, but they have discovered a middle schooler collected some local park gooseboop and discovered it has a bacterium that suppresses melanoma.

So if you've got melanoma, you might want to walk in goose poop.

Um, and uh also uh it is also being studied at the University of Montana for cleaning up toxic metals and lakes.

And I'd like to remind everyone that the skies are filled with all kinds of bird cokes that because they're migrating and they're doing their business.

So we have evolved with that.

We don't need to be worried about poop, except perhaps our own.

And I would like you all to please go look at the marvelous flocks that are blessing our parks right now, and please do not disturb them, do not chase them away, do not gas them as other um states are doing because they're disappearing from the sky.

And I think we all miss the wonderful flocks that used to blacken the sky with our numbers.

And then the second thing, please, any upcoming climate change, do not remove the eucalyptus.

I have proven to you the top fire scientists in the United States, is stating that it is not the eucalyptus that are the problem.

It's a home ignition, zoning problem, which is not being dealt with, and I have given you the science, so please pay attention.

Thank you so much.

Our other speaker is Esther.

Good evening, everybody.

I wanted to make a statement about Measure D that did not pass by a handful of votes.

I want to point out that that measure was placed on the ballot unanimously by all five council members, and they did that because they understood the need for it.

And those that have been on social media claiming to have this massive victory over it, are really going to be called out if and when we end up having to remove staff from physicians and cut services.

And when we end up in a position that currently we have people coming to the city council meetings and complaining about how long it takes to get a permit, how long it takes to get staff to get back to them about things, all of that is not going to get better.

So those of you that have been fighting against the city's revenue really need to think this through because there's a reason why every single council member sitting up there voted for it to go on the ballot, and you voted for them on there in your districts.

They knew that that was important for us to pass as a city.

So keep that in mind as we go through all this and as you celebrate on social media that somehow you feel like you won some big victory because measure D didn't pass.

It's really not going to be something for everybody to celebrate at the end of the day.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you for those that provided public comment.

Um, at this point, we're going to move on to announcements from closed session.

Yes, uh, council convened in closed session regarding 735 Ramona Avenue, Casanova Oaknell Park Center, and uh negotiating were the price in terms of uh license agreement and confidential direction was uh given to legal counsel on a unanimous roll call vote.

And if report, thank you, Nat.

With that, we'll move on to our public appearance.

Items 15 on the agenda is adopt the fiscal year FY2627 operating budget, including appropriation of funds from the neighborhood and community improvement program to the general fund, position control list, the FY2627 salary schedules for regular full-time, regular part-time and part-time seasonal employees effective July 1, 2026.

With that pass it to Dante for staff presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I'll be sharing this presentation with our finance director.

Um, but I did want to say a couple of words about the budget um tonight before I turn it over to her.

Um, like you mentioned, we are looking at and um before you tonight is the fiscal year 26-27 budget, um, and it is no secret um that our cost model that we have employed for a number of years just isn't working anymore.

Um, our revenues are relatively flat, and we're seeing growth in expenditures and in cost, just like everybody else is.

And so we have a deficit, and we are prepared to present to the city council tonight a budget that balances the next fiscal year's budget, but it doesn't solve the problem.

And that was our goal was always sustainability, our goal was always long term, and that's what we need to continue to work on.

So what do we do essentially to close the gap for this year?

We have reduced our personnel.

This first slide, it may be a little bit difficult to see, but what it represents is the movement over time of our staffing.

And there is a significant um hit to your operational staff already.

Thank you.

A significant hit to your operational staff already, um, but I just wanted to point out that we are we are definitely not back to um COVID levels, pre-COVID levels in some of our divisions.

So there has been an effort over years to start reducing staff, but the gap is is just too large for us.

But for this year, um, we have taken a look at our positions, and we are freezing 30 full-time positions.

Uh, next slide, please.

And these are the positions uh by breakdown and in the departments that um we're actually freezing and defunding for this year.

You'll see that some of the departments um are impacted more than others, but this represents what was vacant at the time currently.

So there are no people actually sitting in these seats.

So we've done a you know, and thank you to the departments.

It was a really difficult decision to get to this point, but that really produced um a savings that we needed for this year, but not funding these positions.

In addition to that, what we've done is we've cut our operational cost by 17% over the last two years, over the last two fiscal years.

And in some of these departments, there just really isn't anything else to cut with the exception of personnel.

Um, and thanks to the council and the community, we um got the one-year infusion of NCIP money, and we're using that 3.5 million uh dollars of one-time money, and we're gonna be looking to protect revenue as as the council knows.

Um, we're talking about the continuation of measure measure S, which represents a significant amount of money for us to repair our roads.

Um, but we're doing the work ahead of time to make sure the public is informed.

They understand the importance of this, and hopefully they will support the effort effort moving forward.

And to be clear, again, this budget that we're presenting is not the answer.

It's not the solution to cure our fiscal deficit.

It is an opportunity for us to spend the next period, the next we're talking months, not years, to continue working with the community and with the council with our with our labor groups and other stakeholders to really navigate this path to fiscal sustainability.

And I'll speak in a few minutes after the finance director provides her portion about that roadmap, and I'm calling it a roadmap to resilience because we don't want to be here again in several years.

So we really want to take a look at that plan.

And in a nutshell, it's a coordinated strategy and a way for us to cure our structural deficit.

And it really includes prioritizing our core services, practicing discipline spending, and seeking operational efficiencies in our organization.

We've done a lot of that, but we're going to do a lot more to see if we can streamline processes to save the city money.

And that last piece, which is an important piece, is really this economic growth.

And you'll hear a little bit more about that later.

Later this year, about our economic development strategy that the council visited last year and how we plan to implement that, but we believe that that is a big piece.

And at the same time, we're we're looking at engaging the public.

Everywhere I've gone, and you know, I've been thankful to be invited to neighborhood associations and functions, but I'm using these opportunities to really talk to people about our budget situation and about a pathway forward.

Some of the comments that I got were people were confused, you know, about the budget.

How do we get here?

Um, when and when people have questions, sometimes that leads to trust issues.

Um, and so we would like the opportunity to build back that trust with the community, with council, and with our stakeholders, and we would like to take the opportunity this next period to work on that, and I'll talk a little bit more again about about that strategy.

But the goal is always going to be long-term sustainability.

And so with that, I know that was a uh kind of a long preamble, but with that, I'll turn it to our finance director, um, Director King to provide the presentation for this evening, and then after her presentation, I have a couple more minutes of the strategy moving forward.

So I'll turn it over to Director King.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Um Council.

Um, just want to jump right in.

So, this is what how we're gonna set separate this and talk about it.

So for the 26-27 proposed budget.

So we're gonna talk about the process, our proposed strategy, and um the balancing, how we balance the budget this for next year.

We're gonna review the proposed um budget.

Um, we're gonna review some frequently asked questions that we've been receiving from the um from the public these last few weeks.

Um, talk about our recommendations and turn it back over to Dante for the roadmap to resilience and um any questions.

So our background and process.

So over the last several years, um the city's deficit has continued to grow, and FY2526, the deficit was approximately 10 million, and in six 26-27, the deficit without any corrective action is projected to be approximately 12.12 million.

So city staff has been working diligently since last August to find ways to address the ongoing deficit.

So we just want to I wanted to point this out the debt versus um deficit.

We have in town hall meetings, we've had a lot of um, we've had members of the public say that we're in debt, we're in debt, we're in debt.

Um basically um interchanging debt for deficit.

So we just wanted to give a definition that the deficit is a negative difference between the government right revenue and expenses, so meaning that our revenues that we are projecting are not enough to cover the expenses that we have.

So as opposed to debt, which is money that we owe to outside parties.

Um to date, as of note, we have not taken on the city has not taken on any um debt in order to cover the deficit, and on an annual basis, we use um any savings or carryovers from previous years to help cover any operating deficits.

So 426-27, our process um launched in early 2020 2026.

Our departments were then asked to project their revenues and their expenditures.

This happens in February of every year.

As with previous years, our departments were instructed to conduct a complete review of their operational needs and only request what was truly necessary to support their operations.

Additionally, after we got our first round of numbers, departments were asked to go back and reduce their operating budgets by 10%.

And then a moratorium was placed on new position requests.

Departments were permitted to request any changes as long as that was cost neutral and had no impact on the budget.

Departments are also instructed to limit any requests for new IT products and services as long as the long-term, those long-term costs were passed on to the general fund.

So getting into our projected revenues and expenses.

So this chart should be very familiar by this time.

This is what our, this is the overall big picture.

So our revenues are projected at 114 million and some change expenditures.

This is after the 10%, we're projected at 125 million.

You see that that's that 11.6 almost 12 million dollars worth of a deficit.

Then we have transfers in our annual transfers in at 1.3 million, transfers out 600,000.

That net is 700,000.

So this is where that 10.9 um operating deficit is.

So some of the things that we put in place this year, these are the one-time fixes for this year only, savings from the frozen positions.

We'll talk about that a little bit more.

So we 3.7 million dollars for the frozen positions.

This is just for the general fund as noted in the staff report.

You will see that there believe it was like 4.2 million overall, which included all of the positions, but just for the general fund is 3.7 million.

Then our one-time transfers from NCIP, 3.5 million.

Estimated salary savings, 2.7.

And just so that there's no mix-up about what this means, it means that come July 1, we'll still have another 30 vacant positions, but July 1, all those positions are gonna magically be filled.

So it takes some time for recruiting and to get people in, and when people actually leave the city, retire, move on, there are time to actually there's time that needs to go by in order to get those positions refilled.

So we anticipate by the end of the year that that we bring in an additional 2.7 million in savings, and then our estimated operating and maintenance OM savings of a little more than a million dollars, which brings the total one-time savings to 10.9 in savings.

So as you can see, our surplus at this point is just 25,000, so we are right on the market of being balanced for the year.

This is our five-year forecast.

Um, just a note, um, and I want to thank some of the um public who actually sent us notes.

Some numbers didn't make sense or bullet points.

We made some changes last minute, and just a couple of corrections that needed to be addressed, and they were caught, and so we appreciate that.

So there's a small discrepancy that was identified.

Um, so the five-year forecast as presented here does not include savings from frozen position.

Initially, we had um the first year for 2526-27 to include the 3.7 of savings and expenditures and reduce that amount, but in order for everyone to actually see what we're doing and be consistent with what the numbers are without any changes, we put it back, and then we projected those numbers out and expenditures all through the next five years so that you can see what that number would be without any frozen positions.

So we're actually comparing apples to apples.

Is it the discrepancy that was in the budget book?

Because in the budget book, the numbers show different, or is it something else?

I don't know.

Okay.

Um, I'm gonna come and ask you later.

I'll come back.

I'll come back.

Okay, it should be the same, and if it's not the same, we will fix it to make sure that it is the same.

Okay, so um, here's our transfers in and out each year.

And our operating deficit, as you can see, um the next five years it goes down, but that number does not go down.

It's not a never a balanced budget because we still need some changes that has to be paid, some structural changes.

Um this also does not include the potential transfer to the stormwater utility.

We're waiting for the results of the 26th ballot for that.

It also includes fund 105, which is our facility maintenance fund, which is the extra month, the 5% that we set us.

Now it's 6% that we set aside for the Parks and Recs Department to do facility maintenance from the fees that we collect.

Yeah.

Move on.

So this chart should be very familiar to you.

We show it every year.

These are the top five revenue generators.

Our TOT is always the highest, it's 26.5%.

Fees and charges are 22.6%.

Sales and use tax, 14.2%, property tax, 15.7, utility users tax 4.8.

So these are the top five accounts that account for 84% of the general fund revenue.

Of note, I would like to to the last several years, the TOT is think about three years ago, was closer to 29%.

And as you see, every year that numbers going down, which means that the um the amount that's coming in is flattening out as the other fees kind of catch up to it.

So it's just something to be mindful that we watch for what the TOT money that comes in actually looks like for the long term.

So in more details for next year, our projected revenue for TLT is $35.8 million.

NCIP's portion is $5.7.

And before anyone adds, I know we have six million is projected for NCIP, but NCIP gets about $500,000 worth of interest.

So that's where that difference is.

So this is just the tax.

So that is where our TLT is allocated.

This slide is just a background.

I thought it would be interesting to kind of look at as you see the expenses rising.

The largest is the bottom.

I know you can't tell what color it is on that screen, but the bottom one is salary and benefits, the cost of salary benefits as we go up the next um level, which is orange is our services and supplies, and then is internal services.

So you can see how in proportion our salaries and benefits are our highest expenses as with any organization.

Your highest cost is always going to be your personnel cost.

Go to public fund, public safety.

Parks and recs is 15.6%, community development 6.9%, public works is 7.7, library 3.3%, conference centers 4.6%, and administrative is 9.1.

A nine administrative is inclusive of city managers, city clerk, ISD, HR, and finance, and city council.

So that's the administrative, and I wanted to point out also that public works is 7.7%, but most of their expenses are in other special revenue funds.

So how do we balance our budget?

One of the lists of the frozen positions, these are the lists of the 30 positions, 29.5 FTEs that are projected to be or proposed to be frozen for the next year.

You will find these positions also on the PCL.

There's a column on the PCL list that says unfunded, so they are still on the PCO, but they are moved into a column that says unfunded, so that it's clear which department they're in, and also that they're not funded this year.

So these are the positions.

I'm not gonna go through all of them, but where you see a times two times three, those are the number of that position that's projected to be frozen.

I do want to um because we get a lot of questions about public safety.

I do want to make sure that I point out that um firefighter has three positions and police officers have two.

So I want to point out on the next slide.

These are the positions that are vacant and unfrozen that we did not freeze that are still either currently going through the recruitment process or are slated to be there's still there's funding for the positions and looking at public safety.

Notice that public police officers, there are five positions that are still available to be filled, and firefighters also have five positions that are still available to be filled.

So we did not cut.

First of all, we didn't cut any bodies.

There are no bodies that are in these positions.

One of the things on this slide that you that we will take note of is that some of these positions when this list was done, it was about the end of May, end of April, end of May.

And some of these positions were already going through the recruitment cycle, so some of them are already filled.

For example, I'll just say the finance manager was filled in April, and that was a replacement for someone who was retired.

And some of the other positions for um as noted with other departments as well.

There are these are a lot of them are replacement positions as well.

So the numbers of frozen positions.

So again, the positions that are currently in the recruitment process are not frozen.

Um positions that are not funded by the general fund and reimbursed by other funding sources.

Positions that are not vacant were not considered to be frozen.

So if there's a body in the position, we didn't touch it, we didn't look at it, none of that.

Um other positions that are not recommended based on evaluation completed by each department, and we did a thorough analysis of positions to be performed in reference to long-term strategies during the next fiscal year.

Um so here are some of the other things we talked about at the study session, and some decisions were made at that point, but we're including them here.

So community contributions, the budget team proposes that the following funding levels.

So rental assistance at 125, 125,000, which is a decrease of 125,000 from this fiscal year.

The citywide 4th of July event was proposed, but has been um left alone as $80,000 for the 4th of July first night montereys.

Also was proposed, but it's um maintains at $35,000.

Um for 26-27, the budget still includes a 1.8 contribution to C Monterey.

So our rising costs, I want to talk briefly about this.

I don't want to get into all the details that we talked about before, because um most of these are things that we don't have any control over, and the rising costs of everything actually, you know, helps our full-time our salary.

We have negotiated labor agreements, so those are contracts that increases this year, the last year of the three-year contract of 4%.

We didn't bother with it didn't change that.

Our UAL is up an increase.

What we'll pay out this year is $18.8 million, which is a 1.2 million dollar increase from last year.

Our OPEB is also um projects a total of 1.8 million.

OPEB is 126,000 increase over the current year.

Our overtime, we project uh 5.4 million in overtime costs, 130,000 increase from this current year, and of note that approximately 33% of the city's overtime is reimbursable.

Um we have some special events for Monterey police department that they do that we get reimbursed for, and also services for other contracted cities from the fire department.

Um as you know, liability, our insurance costs where the liability and workers' comp, the liability insurance is up, or we're paying out 6.2 million for this year's insurance premiums and for workers' comp, we're paying 4.1 million um for workers' comp insurance this year.

Our utilities and fuel costs project 4.1 percent and utilities cost is a hundred and forty thousand dollar increase from the current year, and our fuel, we kind of left it about the same.

We have contracts that'll leave it the same, but we are keeping a very close watch as the you know the fuel cost is going up.

Um, so by mid-year, we will know a lot more of where that number is leading and if there's any adjustments that needs to be made.

But any more details on the rising costs can be viewed in our published agenda report.

So moving on to the special revenue funds, enterprise funds, and our special special revenue funds are so special they're listed twice.

All right, so um these are a few.

These are the most popular ones that we listed here.

So our NCIP, we are projected um beginning balance as of 7.126.

We have 27 million, and we're projecting 6.2 million in revenues, expending out 570,000, what we already know about, plus um transfer to 3.5 million to the general funds, which leaves an estimated ending balance of 29.6.

Of note, the NCIP has approximately two 22 million appropriated already in CIP projects from previous years.

Moving to measure SP, we have $16.6 million as beginning balance, revenue we're looking at $12 million, expenditures $1.3 million for an ending balance to $27 million, as noted for most of these when we get projects that comes they come to the council on an individual basis.

So that number will of course increase as projects are identified.

And then Presidio, we have a beginning balance of $2.6 million, expecting revenue with $27 million expenditures of $27 million ending balance to basically approximate the beginning of the year as well.

Our Thailands, $5.6 million as the beginning balance, $4 million in revenue, $3.1 million in expenditures, transfers out of $263 million.

I'm sorry, $263,000, and $6.2 is an ending balance.

And Thailands has approximately $1.1 million already committed to CIP projects from previous years.

If it's not renewed, measure PNS, the revenue will be decreased by $3 million in 26-27 and eliminated in future years.

Again, these are selected ones.

So we start with the sewer line maintenance, beginning balance, $2.5 million, revenue expected of $4.5, expenditures $3.9, leaving an ending balance of $3.1.

The sewer line maintenance fund has $2.3 million already committed in CIP projects from previous years.

Estimated as the ending balance.

Parking fund $1.7 million in unrestricted beginning balance, $13 million in revenues expected, $10 million expenditures, plus $723,000 and transfers out for $4.4 million and unrestricted at the end of the year.

And as of now, $4 million is committed to CIP projects from previous years, as well as a $4 million commitment to loan for an economic development activity for the city.

The beginning balances in red are all bad.

We want it to be black, and we're working on that.

So our vehicle maintenance fund starts with $2.4 million negative balance.

We have revenues $3.1 million.

And you see the expenses are $3.1 million.

Also the ending balance 2.3.

As you can see, there's a shore of very small chip in away at the $2.4.

But these numbers, the expenditures should approximate the revenues in each one of these accounts, and most of them we're doing a better job of making sure that happens but we have to chip away at the beginning balances that are negative and the isd division 2.3 million um beginning balance expecting revenue 7.1 million expenditure 7.1 million and um 2.4 um would be the ending balance our workers' comp fund is um 4 million dollars negative to begin with we have 4 million dollars of uh revenue coming in another 4 million dollars of revenue going out in expenditures so we basically are in the same position 100 thousand dollars um better off by the end of the year our risk and liability 1.2 million in negative in the beginning six million in revenues 5.6 million dollars in expenses um six hundred and twenty five thousand um as the ending ending balance um as you can see this one um we cut the deficit by about six by about half by six hundred thousand by the end of the year is the projection and then our employee benefits fund is all is we have 1.9 million as beginning 11.8 uh million in revenues just as 11.8 um going out plus a seventy five thousand dollar um transfer in so two point two million dollars um it's just the projected ending balance for that i'm not a mathematician but the isd and the risk and liability fund I'm I'm assuming how this works is it's the beginning balance plus the revenue minus expenditure plus or minus in and out depending on what's going on there right and that gives us the estimated and balance so for ISD for an example if you add the 2.3 million and the 7.1 that gives me 9.4 take away seven should shouldn't that be have a positive ending balance am I not reading that correctly it's just it shouldn't be red there's no brackets around the end of it shouldn't be red.

If you see there's no brackets around the end of it yes yes okay it is positive okay and then I guess the same for the risk and liability oh because that's a negative okay okay I think I'm good all right yeah we've established we like black better yes we do we we we like black better absolutely okay I'm I'm paying attention yes you are I'm proud of you thank you gotta you gotta squint to see those that's okay so our other cost and budget items so our debt service we like to show this um um slide every year to let you know where we are as far as our debt service we have this broken down in both interfund and um external loans um so for the first one two three four fire trucks um this is money that's going from the general fund into the equipment replacement fund um this is money to replace the current vehicles um that we have we put aside for and if you see those payoff dates um we have the first one will be paid off in 2027 um and then we have different dates is first is 2027 and the fire loan for the truck this first truck um 2030 then 2032 2031 so by 2032 all of these loans which is money from the general fund going to the equipment um equipment replacement will be paid off so that's money that will still be available will be available in the general fund and then the settlement funding um which is our liability um and risk insurance fund paying from that going into Thailands um there was an initial two million dollar loan this will be paid off in December of 2028, and that's for um there's 400 thousand that'll be left over um by the end of this year, and then the cemetery um from the cemetery fund to the general fund, um gets paid off at the end of next year, which is money from cemetery fund to general fund.

So our total payments in interest, uh principal and interest this year will be 842,000.

This is basically internal um transfers.

The next one is our external loans.

Raphael, before you move on, can we can ask questions now?

Yeah, I think my son now.

Um, yeah, I wanted to ask you as an example where you've listed um the cemetery uh loan is uh annual loan uh payment principal.

So the initial loan was uh eight hundred and seventy-nine thousand correct and our annual payment is fifty-nine thousand and three hundred and eighty-three.

Yes.

So is that annual amount factored in when you're looking at the balance sheet of the cemetery operations?

Yes, debt service in there.

Yes, it's in the PL.

Okay, property and loss statement, yes.

So when you if I go back and you see the cemetery fund, how it's um in a negative position, that will be part included and part of their expenditures.

We didn't, we could have just like, well, just forgive it, don't pay it, but we need to actually show that the actual expenses from this uh just center cemetery fund are what they are, even though the general fund subsidizes those amounts.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, can I do this one?

Okay, and cemetery, I mean the parking fund.

Did I do that one already?

I did that one.

Okay, so our internal funds.

I did that one too.

All right, other costs.

Here I go.

All right, um, I did that one.

Okay, did that one too?

External funds, our external loans.

This is money that goes out of our house into someone into someone else's house.

So the first one is our two thousand twenty thirteen agreement.

This is um being paid out of the debt service fund and it's going to Capital One public funding.

Um the initial loan was seven million dollars.

We're paying out five hundred and forty thousand.

Um, this loan is paid off in 2032.

The next one is the PGE financing, will be paid off in 2027.

This is being paid from the general fund to PGNE.

Um, that'll be paid in 2027.

The fire truck loans, which are the same ones that we talked about earlier.

Um, this is us paying from the equip um equipment replacement fund to um bank of America.

Um, so those will be paid off in December 2029.

Our conference center bond will be paid off and which is paid to from the conference center facilities district will be paid paid to PNC Bank will be paid off by 2020 2034.

Um that's our largest one loan.

As you can see, we had $50 million to start with by the end of um next year.

We'll still have um 19.7 uh left.

Sewer loans for the next two ones are being paid from um fund 2027 or um sewer line maintenance, and it's being paid to the state water resources.

One will be paid off in 2035 and the other one in 2038.

So the total interest and payments that are being paid out of the um from the city to outside agencies is six point one million for the year, and then we'll still have um 31 million worth of debt left.

We started initial uh 74 million.

So we are um chugging right along, and um the good thing is that it's most of our debt is going to be paid off within the next five years.

Uh another question, Raphael.

On the top of this list, it looks like it's a um the financing agreement.

It's got 2013, so I'm assuming that's the date.

That's when it was initiated, yes.

What is that for?

Um, it predates all of us being on the council.

Me too.

I don't I don't know what that is for.

Sports center sports center sports center remodel.

Right?

Did I hear an answer out there?

Air Sports Center.

It was the sports, yeah.

Sports center remote.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Our transfers in and out.

Um in the first slide that had the numbers, it just had what the totals were.

These are kind of the details.

There was a typo in the report.

So just of note that this table does not include um transfers from the general fund from the stormwater utility.

We're waiting for the results, so it's not included in here.

And the small typo, the net transfers are 758,009.

We stated here.

So the projected amounts um the differences were less than um 27,000 in total and compared to 200 million dollar budget.

Um we will fix those to make sure that everything matches because there were some last-minute changes that didn't get go through.

So these are transfers in and out, um, transfers into the general fund or out of the general fund 621,000 and into 1.3 million.

So that net is 758,000.

Our reserves, um, we're not making any um recommendations to fund any of the general fund reserves this year.

Um, we will hopefully next year be able to come back and um and fund them.

We're also not um asking for any uses from any of the reserve funds unless there are changes that um exceed the 25,000 dollar surplus, and then we will ask for any of those um changes to come from a dollar-for-dollar from match to the economic uncertainty reserve for our special revenue funds reserves.

We are continuing to put money aside for those parking sale parking facilities reserve fund for the parking.

Um, our current policy says 250,000 and contributions, we are adding that in.

Um and then sea level rise for the tightlands fund um 250,000 also.

So our um projected ending balance, beginning balance for both funds, 4.4 million, 500,000 worth of contributions, leading to um combined balance of 4.9 million for both funds and in reserve accounts, and then our capital improvement projects.

Um, this is where the funding sources are coming from for the $14 million worth of um capital improvement projects.

I will just kind of skim through this or pass by this because Andrea would love to talk about this capital improvement projects when we're done with this, so I'm just gonna let her be that our numbers match.

We made sure of that.

Okay.

So I'm gonna move on to some of our frequently asked questions, some things that we've gotten on the town halls and also some from emails.

So one of the questions that we keep getting is what is the cost to operate the city's rental registry?

So we put together this quick and dirty.

The city recovers more than 90% of the cost to manage the city's rental registry, and the costs um it costs the city 200 um 23,000.

So our revenues um 211,000, expenses 235,000.

So the city actually pays about 23,000 for the rental registry currently.

Another question is what is the net cost to operate the city sports center?

Again, we've heard some some numbers that people were saying we don't really know where those numbers came from, so we wanted to make sure that we put it out there.

Our total revenue for next year um is projected at $5 million expenditures, um, $8 million.

So our cost recovery is at 62%.

And of note that when the sports center was originally put together, it never was intended to be a hundred percent.

Um cost recovery, it was put together to be 75%.

So we are working towards that, and as soon as the the bond is paid off from the sports center, that number will be higher, the recovery percentage will be higher.

And so moving on to our recommendation are one to adopt the FY 26-27 operating budget in the position control list.

Recommendation two is to adopt the 26-27 position control list with the following administrative corrections.

So we're noting that there's a police service technician position um as frozen.

And make marking a senior police services technician as not frozen.

Yeah, the numbers are correct.

The titles are not.

So we want to make that note.

Also removing one assistant urban forester and adding one urban forester positions as noted in the agenda report.

And then correctly displaying the funding source of the community development department's administrative assistant and property technician positions in the general fund and Thailand's fund.

Some the split, again, the dollar amount is correct, but in the PCL, the split is not updated.

And then a recommendation three is to adopt the 26-27 salary schedule.

And with that, I will turn it back over to our city manager.

Thank you, Rafela.

And just I know the council and community has a number of questions, just a few minutes more about this roadmap to um to resilience.

And uh again, I I think we need to make sure that we keep our our eye on the ball instead of one year.

Let's look at how do we write this ship.

Um and so what we're coining the roadmap to resilience is a process that we're gonna go through, and I'll just spend just a couple of minutes, two or three minutes, just kind of going through the process so you'll understand it, but we will be doing a deeper dive with the city council and at an upcoming meeting.

Um our assistant city manager is working hard to set that up and prepare for that meeting with the council and the community to actually launch.

We're doing some work in the background already, but that first navigation point is really to make sure that we have a shared understanding of our our fiscal deficit.

Um again, when I talk to people in the community and different groups, different numbers were flying around.

People didn't really understand, some people were surprised we had a structural deficit, and so I think part of that is um making sure that we're speaking the same language.

Each time we talk to people in groups, let's make sure that we all understand what the problem is, and this is not going to be easy.

I'm not going to sugarcoat anything here, but the process is going to be filled with hard choices, and um service level expectations are going to need to be adjusted.

Um, and so we want to walk through this process with the council and the community so that we make that.

So that first um step is is really to um make sure everybody understands also it's it's making sure that we understand the drivers behind them, and make sure that we're laser focused on some of the things that we may have some um impact on, for instance, overtime.

Is there something that we can do about that?

But that all starts with just understanding the drivers and communicating that consistent message to to the community.

That second one is is prioritizing the essential services and aligning uh workforce planning.

What this is is is really protecting our core services.

Um, we need to have some agreement with with council about those core services.

But what we're suggesting is these are all the things that people can't do for themselves.

Um it's public safety, it's infrastructure, it's public health, it's community well-being programs, and you know, there are regulatory positions that we're required to have that serve an administrative role.

And it's looking at how um to match the available resources that we have with the stuff that we got to do uh to protect the community.

That's gonna be the first part or the second step of that.

The third one is this um, well, let me let me let me also say that is the point too where we're gonna be looking at uh position control.

Um looking at, you know, if for instance we need to eliminate some of the vacated or vacant currently vacant positions, do um some retooling uh for efficiency sake of divisions and departments, that's when that work is is essentially gonna happen.

That third uh navigation point is is strengthening our organizational efficiencies, taking a real deep look at modernizing our processes, making sure that we streamline workflows, where we can and where we can afford, are there technology um answers that help us do more with less staff, optimizing our contracts with others and outside groups, and and really looking to at how we improve our public-facing services within what we can what we can afford, um, and then advancing some of our management policies to make sure we keep the eye on the ball and look at long-term cost savings uh for the city.

That fourth uh bullet or or that area is is maximizing our revenues and practicing discipline spending.

Um we're going to evaluate some of the items that the city council had put forth as items that you're interested in talking more about.

Um, you know, some are revenue measures.

I talked earlier about uh measure S.

There are other things that were brought up during that session, that public session with council that we're gonna be bringing back and and talking about uh to enhance.

Um but this is the point where we're gonna have to manage our expenses responsibly and um align our spending with the priorities and make sure that we're able to provide whatever services we can to protect the community based on what we what we can afford.

That fifth one is is um engage and inform the community, and that's that's an important one.

Um my thought is we need the cooperation and um the participation of everyone, obviously the council, the community, businesses, our stakeholders to really provide um comments to us, understand what the problem is, and there are some good suggestions and some ideas that we may want to take a look at.

And I think it's also important for us to um understand what the trade-offs are.

These are gonna be hard decisions that are gonna be you know, riddled with trade-offs.

Um, it's it's not gonna be possible to cut a position and not feel anything.

There is gonna be a trade-off.

So, what my idea is is to involve the community multiple times throughout this next six to eight months uh essentially to provide comment um to the council and to um staff as we going as we're going through this and walk with them through this process, um, obviously uh along with with the council and and with with council's permission with that.

That last step is really delivering a sustainable future budget um and a multi this multi-year plan is intended to get to the black in our forecast, and what do we need to do change to get to that black?

So that is just a very high level um view of this roadmap that's gonna be happening within this next um well, the initial tranche within this next six to eight months, but it's gonna be ongoing.

Some of the items that we're gonna be bringing to you are longer term, um, that are big swings essentially, but we think are good ideas for um the city council to consider, and we'll be bringing that uh back to you um at one of your your um upcoming meetings uh very soon.

So that is my long-winded wrap-up of the budget.

Um and and i don't have any other presentation, but I'll turn it back over to the council for questions.

Okay, thank you, staff, for the presentation.

Are there questions from the council let's take please doctor rubber first thank you uh to you and the staff for the hard work um i know that you all put into bringing this to us this evening um i can appreciate the the movement that you're trying to make uh and being able to what i call in sewing measure twice cut once um and that's something that i i i like um that that you're coming up with as far as that concept i had a couple questions though um what was the beginning for the like the rental assistance program um normally i believe it was 250 000 that that was budgeted from before and what is the um balanced in that account now and um how would that look because i'm concerned about the rental assistance cut and because of so many homeless issues and housing issues where people are not able to afford um so i'm just curious as to um that fund and and and um what it was how this uh will impact it and what the balance is now so there's no balance because um it's not an actual uh balance sheet so it's expenses every year that we um 250 000 so this year because we we basically took what we had left remaining in the um in the budget and we allocated it for the fire victims so there will be nothing uh so and yes you're right it was 250 000 a year that we had been um putting in that account okay so it's it's being cut 125 125 000 which that to me i'm i'm looking at that it is is is more problematic because just like the the fire victims if we didn't have the 250 000 in we wouldn't even have been able to help the fire victims so that that's a concern for me um also i had a question on the five-year forecast um and starting at FY2627 um would that is that not showing the the surplus of the 25,043 that's proposed for the 2627 general fund budget overview that we have so I'm in packet let me I got you um packet page 96 for what I'm looking at for the surplus of the 25,043 dollars and packet page 97 for the five year and I was just trying to get an understanding of the FY2627 um trying to figure out why the 2500 surplus is not there is because this this chart does not include the one time things that we so it doesn't include any one time correct okay so this is without any type of one times that we're doing this time so just looking at it from just the the structure itself right okay thank you for that um and then also uh one of the things that I've always talked about you know you know where I'm going cemetery fund right as I talk about it all the time so I'm just curious I know the time before when we spoke about this I think last year we talked about how possibly partnering uh uh so that we can mitigate some of the losses would be a possibility and I'm curious to see where we are on that because I I just look at that number and that's two million dollars right there this a deficit so I'm just curious uh how that's coming and what that looks like there hasn't been a lot of movement in it right now however it is on the list of things that we are looking at as far as making some changes for in the future.

Yeah.

And I'll I'll share, and this goes to the roadmap to resilience and as we look at all the various strategies across the board of partnership opportunities.

We actually met with uh Bishop uh Ramon uh today to talk about potential partnerships on the cemetery for example one of they're they're spending around eighty thousand dollars on water right now uh to water their cemetery yet we have potential water through that we use uh in the lake could we have a agreement where we have some revenue share or share uh supplies and and materials uh for efficiency since there's uh really uh no fence line between the two cemeteries the Catholic cemetery and ours so we're looking at partnerships like that very actively and uh ramping up that engagement over the next few months okay um I think that's all for right now okay so on page 97 when you do the five year forecast on the general fund and it says to complete the above projection city staff have had to make several assumptions key assumptions are listed below beyond fiscal year 26 27 you presume limited growth in full-time and regular part-time salaries so what what percent did you use?

So 2627 has the four percent that's per contract okay um I don't remember if we use zero or one for the following years again those are the contract negotiations starts basically November ish is for next year so we have no idea what that number is going to be and as we're looking at trying to um close this gap I don't want to play my hand but we we're really looking at what can we really do if anything so we didn't want to put a um unrealistic number in there um but a very small um number okay so you're saying you used either zero or one percent very small okay thank you for your transparency I'm sure that's a hard question and and just a presumptive question also um liability insurance I'll I'll tell you what I think I know from from Mr.

Usler and that's that for um for most of what we're liable for we're in a pool through Cal Cities a pool of cities um and we share we pay our premiums and we share liability um so my my question is as we incur some civil liabilities that as I understand are not paid for by that pool um do our does our vulnerability about being sued increase our premiums um out of proportion to the rest of of the cities in California I mean is it like when my grandchild just crashed the her daughter's car my daughter's car um her her premiums are going up because it's the second time so um I presume we have the same liability so the more civil liability we have does does our a our liability increases but if if on the misdemeanors and felony parts that are covered by the pool the our is does our liability increase out of proportion that premium I would say no first of all our we do have a self-insurance rate of a million dollars so the first million dollars is uh for each occurrence is on the city to pay out of pocket um after that because we are in the pool um our rates that we are paying we are broker is um part of it they actually are shopping we just had a board meeting just this past week they shop around our um rates in our the our payroll cost and also our claims loss those pay could make um a big difference in what we pay because we are excellent I'm gonna say excellent on our claims and I'm also gonna knock on wood because um we're just one claim away or one date away one one incident away so as of right now we have very very good rates are the best rates that we can really get and we do have our our pool we just increased from 13 to 14 cities because our pool is run differently from others um and it's one that other cities want to get in because we're run very well and we're the way that we are structured is um okay let me say what I think you just said um that we aren't in a huge pool throughout the state we're in a small um small pool because our outcomes are so great and that's keeping our premiums down and did you say it was 13 or 14 cities we now have 14 cities okay and our the sizes of the cities they are they have we have cities as large as Anaheim um Santa Monica and as small as uh sinficelia modesto so not to go through all the cities but there are um our rates are are lower because we have we're in the pool because our we can get more insurance more coverage because we're in a pool because there's more um agencies that are contributing okay x keeps our rates um okay steady and we we of course go out to professional insurers for for those okay that's that's really interesting to know thank you um sabrina wrote a letter right before um council at break I read it and um she's concerned about eliminating the downtown ambassador position and I've heard this before but I can't find anything about it um can did we did we have a downtown ambassador have we eliminated the downtown ambassador I I know I asked you and I think you answered it but I can't remember yes and that was part of the um recommendations from departments um and I believe um can can you speak to that mike evening mayor and council uh chief over couldn't be here today he's on vacation so yeah so a few years ago we um the um city had given money to the uh downtown business association to hire security the ambassador is actually security that's hired through the downtown association oh all right so it doesn't get into our our budget at all I'm sorry well it it was part of um if I understand correctly from Chief Holbert it was part of the operating budget for the police department correct it was our budget and we help supplement the uh the security for the downtown okay and are it are we continuing that or not the recommendation is not to continue that okay but that's that's a new one this year.

Um I I need to check with finance is that new yes that is new this year.

Okay which is why we're getting the concern from this community okay but but that's that's within the recommendation of the police department there you get your recommendations from each of your 11 departments and you um to a very high degree honor them you correct you you're telling them how much they have and they figure out how to spend it okay okay thank you on that one and then um to the question of overtime I hear a lot from the community that that why can't we lower overtime.

I know it's a complicated question, but on top of it we're we're freezing what was it, five police positions and four fire positions.

So how can we possibly get overtime under more control?

And I'm I don't have an answer, but I I want some more wisdom than I can find.

Okay, so I'm gonna back up.

We are you got it just opposite.

So we are actually recruiting five police officers and five firefighters.

We are freezing, I believe it's two officers and three firefighters, and the ones that we are are freezing are all vacant.

There's nobody in those positions at all.

Right.

So the recruitment, so it has no net effect at the moment.

So again, we didn't touch, we still left um positions in the budget for them and funded them for them to fill the positions, but consistently, I believe it's like nine officer positions that are consistently vacant.

And um the three additional um three um the three firefighter positions are ones that are actually kind of placed in the budget based on how they do their recruitment.

So those are never really meant to be filled, it's just kind of like an overlap thing, but we actually've been funding them, so we're just proposing to take them out and not actually fund them.

But again, there are no bodies, and so we're not um losing.

Right.

Right.

I I get that.

Um it's more a projection into uh an approach of um how do we reduce overtime when we're re reducing potential positions.

Um so I and I don't I don't expect an answer, it's it's kind of a a rhetorical question about I don't I don't think we can do it.

I mean, I want to bring down the overtime.

I don't know how to do that without more bodies.

I I'm hearing that we still have five or so positions.

I get that.

But in order, how many bodies does it take to start bringing down overtime?

And that's just a question I think we should be addressing in the next year.

Is right, we and and we can address that, but I can just tell you conceptually herein lies the argument, right?

Um, with less people, you have the people who are here who are working more and working overtime.

So it's it's uh it's uh it's a loop that that's happening.

Um but here we're we're saying we're allowing police and fire to hire for more positions than they can probably ever fill within the next year.

Okay, all right, all right.

That's reassuring.

Right.

That's reassuring.

Yeah, yeah.

And and and we also we also want them well.

We all we also don't want them exhausted and stressed out.

Okay, I appreciate I appreciate that conversation.

Can I can I weigh in on the overtime?

Sure.

Um ideally, and this is not my wish in public safety, they only stay five years and they leave.

Because the longer you stay, the more vacation benefits you're cure.

And if you work overtime by law, they can take comp time instead of the overtime.

When they take comp time, when they choose to draw on that comp time, that body is gone, and that shift has a vacancy, that shift has to be filled, and then you grab an overtime person to fill the person who is gone.

So it's a perpetual, you're not paying time and a half, you're actually paying two and a half because the longer someone is there, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, they are earning more time off, and in between their days off when they're working, they put in for overtime.

I'm sorry, they put in for vacation time or comp time, and they use their vacation time that they're entitled to and they use their comp time that they're entitled to.

Someone has to fill that position because none of the positions, whether it's police or fire, have more than minimum staffing on duty.

So a patrol shift has a minimum standard, there's no extra bodies, and one body's gone.

They have to hire overtime for that.

Same thing with the engine company.

Somebody's off the engine company on vacation, you have to hire, and it's overtime.

So it is a real art and science in trying to figure out what's the right number.

Um, and I think that it's it's good that we get some reimbursement on the fire side and the special events for police, but the real number that is the challenge is shift coverage when they're using their entitled time, which is vacation time or comp time.

And that's where you're over time by the lion's share.

And if I'm wrong, you tell me.

But it's the lion's share is personnel movement for time that they are entitled to requires overtime to fill it, unless we get to a point where we have a bunch of reserves for police, and that's got some issues, or you have a fire department that's got a bunch of reserves, and that's got its own set of problems.

So it's it's difficult for that overtime because you're you're chasing the numbers to be because you can't say no to someone who is taking their comp time off, and when they're entitled to their vacation time, you certainly want to be able to allot them the time off, but when they're gone, we have to pay time and a half for that.

I think this is an area for a deep dive for the for the community to understand.

I mean, I barely understand it.

And I think the point is still well made that even though it might be um a really fine balancing act, there's still a balancing that exists there that needs to be done, and that we need to engage in.

And I think that's the point that you're raising.

And if I could just raise one other point in the context of what you're bringing up, these frozen positions.

So I think I think it was 2.7 million that we are getting from salary savings, three points, 3.7 from the frozen position and 2.7 from the the other one from the salary savings, yes, and but we can expect that to not be uh a parachute for us basically this this next fiscal year because we're freezing these positions.

So they're not going to be all these vacancies that we've typically seen year over year where positions are just sitting vacant, and maybe we try to recruit them and they're not getting filled, but we're literally now saying they're frozen, we're not even gonna try to recruit them.

So I'm just another element right to to the conversation.

And frozen and defunded.

I I think even frozen positions in the past, we'd have to budget for them if they're on the position control list.

We're actually defunding those positions to realize those savings.

Yeah, which is actually accurate accounting.

Right, helpful.

Just not how we've done it.

It's gonna be a difference, different feeling going into next year's budget.

Those are my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, I want to try and be succinct, but there were several charts that went past, and I need to go back.

Um a question on the sports center.

I know it stands alone because it's a big operation, there's revenue there, but we don't do the same thing for Dennis Minnesota or Don Davi Park or Whispering Springs, you know, they all cost something to maintain.

But in the sports center operation, um the number was way higher than I expected.

Um I didn't realize that it was at sixty-two percent recovery, and I'm wondering have we ever been at a 75 or an 80?

And that's not a fair question because you weren't here five years or six years ago, but where are the opportunities for savings?

If we're running at 62%, then the natural next question is operationally, where are the opportunities to lower that number?

Because we can't sustain this number.

Well, I I re quickly I remember post-COVID, we got to a point where we were in the 80-something percent file.

And I can't remember exactly what that percentage was, but it was like we were we were exceeding the goal.

And we went out with a marketing campaign and people returned.

So I'm I'm wondering, not questioning your numbers because you you've got the balance sheet and the calculator.

Uh, but I'm just wondering, is that really an accurate number?

Because how quickly did we go from being an 80% recovery?

Were we not counting the debt on the loan?

Probably not.

I think that I can speak to this since uh I'm familiar with the sports center budget.

That is exactly correct.

We uh did not include in the cost recovery the debt payment.

And so uh there was that piece.

Uh and uh we we want to make sure we include fully burning costs for an operation, so uh that that does affect the percentage.

But I I can assure you that the team is working very hard to identify as many revenue opportunities as possible, uh, not only in terms of uh fee increases, but being mindful that the more we increase the rates, the more people and we've seen this happen actually, people will stop membership.

We just had a report come out uh this week.

We had a drop in membership when we increased rates.

So that you know reduces revenue.

Right.

So beyond, and I am sensitive to that because I don't want members to say that they can't go and they can't afford it.

That that is a public health that we all really appreciate that, just like you have a recreational trail.

Um what I want to say is that it's probably something we should be talking about as a philosophy, because when we look at the debt service that we have, I'm not sure that we consistently charge back the debt service on everything else.

Now, I appreciate that we have the CCFD for the conference center, but it stands out there as a big debt, but it's actually fully covered through the guests that come and stay in the hotel.

So the city of Monterey is not paying anything for the debt we incurred of the 50 million on the conference center.

But I know it's it's on your books, we're responsible for covering it.

But when it sits there, people in the community and elsewhere count that against us, even though it's got revenue, nothing's guaranteed.

But we can almost say it's guaranteed that it will be paid and covered until it's paid off.

But it's kind of the philosophy of like, okay, is it are we consistently counting everything against that piece of property and then comparing it to revenue expenditures and coming up with a number?

The Dennis Minnesota's park is a hundred percent deficit and costs us whatever it takes to maintain it, plus the insurance we pay out when somebody falls.

So it's philosophy-wise, it's just I'm wondering if we shouldn't have this conversation for how do we report this and record it in the future?

Because I don't think it's really accurate, because I didn't see anywhere in here where we're talking about all of the different parks we have, and that cost that's all wrapped up in the public works or parks and rec.

So the true picture of what everything costs us is not really there's no light shed on it, it's just by the departments.

But if somebody said what's it cost to maintain Don Nelly Park, you're probably the only person in the planet that knows that.

Um, what's it cost for the Dennis Smith's park?

What's it cost for solicitable ballpark?

All those numbers are available, but I just think we probably need to know that more.

I want to quickly go into um are we at a point where we should be talking about the library closing uh on Sunday or Monday?

What would that save us if we close the library one day?

And I know if Brian's out there, he's squirming right now, but we've got to ask these questions.

Should the library be closed to save the money?

Should we be managing the hours at the conference center where we're able to manipulate less costs?

And I think it closes at 10.

Now, my grandson will complain, but that's okay, he'll get over it.

Should it close at nine?

Would that save us?

So I think that these are the things that the city manager is gonna be dealing with between now and January, because there's a lot of those things that are in the unknown, but we need to ask the questions on the cemetery.

I have family and friends that are buried there or in the uh the cement wall there.

I'm just wondering if we have such a large deficit at the cemetery.

Should we close off the burial sites and only sell the urns that hang in the wall?

Because if we are selling or or we are burying folks in a plot that maybe they have had for 20 or 30 years, and they purchased it at I'm just picking a number, they purchased it at 1990, and that burial site now is worth $4,000.

We have no ability to recover, but we are servicing a 1955 purchase in 2026, and we are losing money.

So should we do this a different way?

Should we contract out?

Should we reduce the burial sites that are available and not sell them anymore because that impacts your future costs in 2046?

So should we start to slow down to get out of the business of operating a burial site that's probably 125 years old?

So I don't know the answer to that, but I think we need to do a deep dive on uh how we reduce the ability to service that for the public, and it's well deserved, but it's at a great deficit, and it and that red hangs out there for the cemetery.

Um the downtown security, it's eighty thousand, it comes off of the city police department budget, and I understand that I'm sure that when the chief is faced with, well, what does he cut?

He's got to cut 10%, that one saves him something operationally.

But my approach is that, and we've heard from a gentleman twice here who's testified who has a business who really appreciates what happens with security.

When I'm downtown and I'm in an office and I see the activities, the benefit of having a security who is an ambassador, does greatly impact the ability for the reasons not to have police come on many occasions, and they also serve as a conduit for information, and they also keep the peace before the police officer can get there, and they also service the uh Tuesday night farmers market, and they they do they do offer a variety of services that are greatly beneficial.

So removing them, I think actually has a potential of impacting the response time, the ability to serve, and the ability for Monterey PD to be able to get there fairly quick uh before there is problems.

Now, they're always going to try and get there, but if there's one sergeant and three officers, maybe four, throw in a detective, you know, they're all busy and they're all scattered all over this big town, but that unique place of downtown is where conference centers um attendees go, hoteliers are going, folks are going, they're spending money, and I'd hate to see that impact or ability for uh TOT and sales tax that is impacted by small businesses having that quality loss.

So I don't know where there's 80,000 somewhere.

I know the balance recommended is 25, if we take from somewhere else, the 80,000's got to go back in, but maybe it's 40,000 for security, and then OMBA figures out how they can do it part time with less hours, but still has some presence.

So what I would I would offer that we should um maybe revisit this, uh, if we don't finalize this tonight, I think we need to revisit and consider something of the downtown security in some format, whether it's you know 40,000, $50,000, but the complete elimination of it doesn't make sense to me.

Um, almost done.

I know rental um registry, it shows it has a deficit for total recovery.

I think it was about 23,000 in the red, it's not completely recovering.

I've always questioned the value in it.

I know there are jobs behind it, I don't know if all those jobs are actually charged to that operation, but to me, we don't get anything for that amount of heartburn the community has over it, and the fact that we have a sunset on it that was five years, we're halfway through, we've had two years of reports.

The reports have not given us anything that's uh novel or unique, and it's not going to allow us to have any increased housing uh because we have this.

So I just think that that's one exercise that could go and would save a little bit of money.

So I'll pitch that out again.

I know I'm not gonna agree with everybody on that one, but I wanted to say it again.

I just don't think it's something that we should consider uh continuing year after year.

Um I think I've covered everything.

I'll pass to somebody else.

Um I'm I'm gonna start with the downtown security thing.

Um just because you you rose that as a question, and um I think I spoke to the same business owner that you did.

Um, I think that the I think where this conversation needs to start because we're there's a lot going on, and we're trying to manage multiple things.

I mean, just look at tonight's council meeting and all the different actions that are being put on staff.

When oh, by the way, we're talking about freezing positions, reduce reducing workforce, putting more on staff.

So just being mindful of that.

Um, the message that I gave to that business owner, and I share this with anybody if if OMBA is listening to present a proposal to the city that um shows that they can take some more ownership over that, and so what does that look like for them?

Do they increase the business license fee so that they can collect more for um for their operations?

So, anyways, I just wanted to throw that up because you you you brought that up, but I will stick to my questions for now.

Um so I I had this similar question posed um with the overtime thing.

I think for sake of time, I'm I'm not gonna dive into my questions here because it does sound like we're gonna dive have a deeper dive later on that one.

Um I do think that there I see that staff is proposing that we fully fund um 4th of July and um and first night, um both great events, um, but again, equally to the special grants programs, which a lot of organizations in town are offering great events.

Um, how do we make sure that we're being fair and equitable across the board?

Um, so I think that there needs to be a deeper conversation there, particularly around Fourth of July.

I think the concern is that the city came to some kind of agreement with OMBA sometime in the past, and they took over the operations of Fourth of July for the city.

So I think there just needs to be some conversation around how what does that look like moving forward?

Um, is there an off-ramp um opportunity there so that we can make sure that um the community organizations are being treated fairly and equitably across the board?

Um the five-year forecast thing, um uh Raphaela, I found it.

It's on page.

I actually I did have it here.

It's on page 16 of the of exhibit a it shows the lesser amount um than the amount that's in the in the agenda report in in the staff presentation.

So you say that again, page 16 of this handout.

Um, no, page 16 of exhibit A.

It's the in the agenda, it's the operating budget book.

Okay, it's a 24-page document, page 16 of that, has the five-year forecast, and it shows 2627 deficit being 3.7.

So I think that might be the thing that you were getting feedback on from some folks in the community.

That's fine.

We knew that there were gonna be changes here, so that um abbreviated budget book is going to be updated.

Perfect, perfect.

Um, and we touched on that.

Um, okay, so in the staff report, says due to changes in the city's accounting practices, city staff will be adjusting the um projects located in the city measure SP special revenue fund to be in alignment with the government accounting standards board and the government finance officers officers association best practices.

I'm just hoping that staff could just describe what that what that means and what are the implications.

So, is that a benefit to the city?

In a nutshell, I'll have um Kyle come up in a second, but in a in a nutshell, um a lot of the projects over the last 20 years and measure PNS have been um accounted for as long projects, just add more money, add more money, add more money when they're actually expenses.

Last year we had to do a restatement of our act for 55 million because those are things that should have been expensed as opposed to being capitalized.

So in order for us to do things correctly, we are unwinding some of those major projects, and Kyle can kind of talk a little bit more detail about that.

So there um the budget kind of lives in a different fund than the actual project.

So I'll let him explain a little bit more.

I'm actually not sure if I can add too much, but essentially, as Rafael stated, we have several very large projects that have over the years accumulated several million dollars each.

Um, this is a process that we're working through to essentially unwind this, these large mega projects as we kind of refer to them, and set up these smaller projects, which will require moving funds back and forth between the NCIP or the not NCIP, the CIP fund, uh fund 410 and the fund source fund.

So the Thailand's fund parking fund, et cetera, or measure S<unk>P specifically in this case.

Okay, and then what are the what is what is the outcome of all that?

Is that is that is it going to provide a net benefit to the city?

Yeah, I think the the real net positive is that our our projects and project accounting will more accurately line up with the work that is taking place around the city so that our projects will have accurate start and end dates.

Um when it comes to what Rafael just talked about with capitalizing the assets at the end of the project, it will make it um easier and more transparent to capitalize projects at the end of their life with these large mega projects.

We had to it was not as they were not there was no start in.

So example, and I'm just making this up.

If you had a project that was to fix Street A going through Street D, that's one project, and then E going through K is another project.

But what has been happening over the last 20 years is they just add on just kept adding on, and so that's not proper accounting because it's there's no end day to capitalize anything.

So when you're looking at um uh a line on a fixed assets with a capital improvement or um construction, the project just continues to grow and there's no asset attached to it.

So again, we had to unwind and restate our financial statements because we had been doing that for so long, and so it does not accurately report our assets and expenses.

So um we're making sure that moving forward that we're doing things in the correct way.

Okay, all right.

I think that's a good opportunity to go to public comment.

Okay, um, but before we do, I'm gonna pass it to Dante.

And so I just uh got uh pegged by our um our uh public works director who wants to respond.

Oh, I just have a little bit more context, and we actually have an explanation on that for the CIP presentation.

Perfect.

So the difference that you'll see is that we're not appropriating a huge bucket of money like Rafela said for each ADA projects, road projects, storm drain.

What you're gonna see is over the over the course of the year, we're going to pre appropriate to smaller projects that are more specific.

So instead of the whole bucket of ADA, which is a continuous project, you're gonna see many smaller projects that have a start and a finish state.

So these appropriations requests are gonna come to you throughout the year.

So we have a little bit more detail in a CIP presentation.

It sounds like it might create more work for you all.

It does.

No, it's actually I I agree with Rafela.

It makes it easier to capitalize and and start and close a project.

So I mean, I think there's a public transparency piece that I can appreciate out of that.

I just am trying to find where this um helps streamline.

But if you're saying it does, it's the proper accounting card.

Is the proper accounting fund?

It'm just gonna go with it.

All right.

All right.

With that, we're gonna go to public comment.

So for um folks that are on Zoom, you can navigate your way to the raise hand function.

As you're working your way there, I'll check in the chamber.

Anybody in the chamber wishes to speak on this item?

You see what to do.

Folks are lining up to the left of the podium.

And if you want to remain seated, you can raise your hand, but hold off on raising your hand.

I got you, Mr.

Vega.

Hold off on raising your hand though while I allow folks to stand.

Okay, so we have two, four, six, seven, eight folks standing.

And then can I get hands again?

I see two hands.

My math correct.

Okay.

So we're gonna cut off to the 10 in the chamber.

I'll do a countdown for folks on Zoom to five, four, three, two, one.

We have three on Zoom.

We're gonna go ahead and start in the chamber.

Henry Mole, president of 47 years.

In view of what I've heard, I'm jumping to my bullets.

Four and five.

The Sydney administration wants to grab three point five million from NIP to help balance the budget.

I don't think that should happen.

I have a compromise.

The NIP money of 3.5 million will be used for one year only to fix sidewall sidewalks in the neighborhoods.

That's what NIP money is for.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Mayor members of the council.

I'm require president of the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association.

Uh as Dante indicated, the hard work starts now or as soon as you pass this budget.

I mean, this is a band-aid to get you to starting to deal with your issue, which is historically you've been spending way more than you bring in.

And they're gonna have to be a lot of hard decisions.

And yes, you could add things in tonight.

Of you know, do we put more into rental assistance?

Do we add, do we take out uh the rental program?

Or my suggestion is you deal all of that as you're dealing with how you're gonna get 11 million dollars in permanent savings, and then you have the hard decisions.

You gotta balance your budget tonight.

You have a proposal in front of you.

Is it perfect?

No.

Uh, there are things I would love to see coming out of it tonight, but I think the reality is you need to start that next process.

The voters did speak, they did say you've got to get your act together and start, and you're going to have to cut things, and it's not gonna be easy, and it's going to hurt, and you're gonna have to make hard decisions.

But that's what you got elected to do.

That's what you're up there for.

I've also indicated to the city manager and others, we're happy to be involved and help and be actively involved to help come up with plans to do it.

But the time to start is actually a year ago, but we're a little late getting started, but at least tonight get this off of your plate so that you can start that process.

The longer you spread this out, the less time you have to actually do the hard work because you don't have a lot of time because it's not long until you're gonna have to start having the next budget.

And yeah, it's gonna keep going.

Uh so it's it's time to start dealing with the issues, and you know, there are a lot of good things brought up tonight.

The fact that you're now actually looking at what is the real cost of the sports center, including debt service, that's the way it should always have been, uh, and things of that nature.

It's it's time to start moving forward with dealing with the issues that have to be dealt with.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Uh, my name is Phil Bazuska.

I'm president of the Monterey Firefighters Association.

As I've stated previously, our department has come a long way in the past few years.

Your decisions have restored immense pride in the members of the Monterey Fire Department, and we appreciate the difficulty of the impending budget discussion.

We know that we are just a part of the larger city family, and you have a duty to evaluate all of your options to balance the budget.

I have a duty to represent my members, so obviously my comments will focus on the impacts to firefighters.

These proposed cuts take us backwards.

Let us at least capture the progress we've made rather than letting it slip away.

City staff's recommendation to freeze fire positions goes against multiple findings and recommendations from the City Gate standards of coverage study published in 2022, which found that our fire administration was 4.4 to 7.7 full-time equivalent position short of the capacity required to meet its workload.

Firefighters and the deputy fire marshal are within my bargaining unit, while the assistant chief is not.

But even if you freeze the AC position, the workload will continue to be passed down to my members.

It is abundantly clear that we need people to do the work of the assistant fire chief and deputy fire marshal.

Our fire prevention division has legal and contractual obligations to provide these services to our partners.

Furthermore, you are already you are currently paying an employee to do the work of the assistant chief in an acting capacity, and you are paying a non-union retired innuitant to do the work of the deputy fire marshal.

Freezing these positions only creates an illusion of cost savings.

What will actually happen is that fire suppression employees will continue to act in these positions, creating vacancies in the ranks of my firefighting line personnel.

These vacancies on our fire engines result in increased overtime costs to the city and increased workload on my members who will be forced to work additional shifts above and beyond our 56-hour work week.

We cannot be expected to support this practice indefinitely.

You're already paying overtime because the work needs to be done, just fund the positions permanently and support your employees rather than the stressing our already taxed staffing system.

Thank you.

Kevin Dayton, government affairs liaison for the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.

Wanted to uh say something about the budget.

Uh one thing the chamber points out is there's actually uh another way to uh deal with your budget besides uh raising taxes and fees and cutting spending, and that's reasonable and appropriate economic development.

And uh it's very impressive seeing what's happening in Sand City, Seaside and Marina.

Uh, some of those places have been uh, you know, formerly uh had a reputation for not wanting any growth and how things are happening there.

I've been impressed with the city of Salinas.

They've been uh regularly having summits.

They just had one last week about uh uh ways to do public-private partnerships and infrastructure.

They had one last fall on housing and encouraging uh small development parcels.

Uh you know, will this work out in the end?

We don't know.

But uh, you know, Nat just mentioned uh an idea of working with the Diocea of Monterey on uh irrigation water.

That you gotta think of 25 more ideas to do that.

And I think there is uh a lot of potential here in the city of Monterey for growth.

And I know some people will say, you know what, we don't need any more commerce here, brings in traffic and people, but it is an option that you need to consider.

Basically, most of what you're discussing here.

I remember this discussion happening already.

It all happened in 2019, and the same things are being discussed.

So, you know, obviously these are difficult issues, and maybe encouraging economic growth is a solution to push more aggressively with a systematic plan.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, council, staff.

Um Rick Aldinger speaking on behalf of the Monterey County Hospitality Association.

I hope you do pass this budget tonight.

I want to let you know that we very much appreciate the support given by staff and by council uh regarding C.

Monterey funding.

Budget season is always a challenge, and it seems to be a bigger challenge each year.

It's great that we're not looking at simply plugging a hole for this year without looking ahead.

And fully funding C Monterey is certainly one way to help ensure we are doing what we can to ease the financial burden as we move forward.

The return on investment is proven, and all residents benefit.

As always, we urge you to maximize your return on this investment by maximizing the investment itself.

Thanks again for your continued support.

Uh, you've heard me speak uh in the past about running uh parts of the city more as a business than a bureaucracy, and council member Smith uh brought up the Sports Center.

So I'll tag onto that too.

Uh throughout the years I've heard different numbers from it's it's fully supporting itself to its 80 percent to its 65 percent, and that I think undermines our city, the trust in the city when you hear these wildly varying numbers.

And then also having worked a lot with the NIP committee, I was hearing on one hand, hey, this the sports center is doing pretty well, and then the city council and the recreation department are coming to the NIP with hat in hand saying, Well, we need a couple million dollars or whatever it was to replaster the pool and replace the slide and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So I'm I'm thinking to myself, well, yeah, that doesn't really calculate it.

I thought you were doing great.

Now, why why do you need money from the NIP?

So I applaud the idea of running our city facilities more like a business and be open and transparent about the numbers.

What whatever the number is, let's hear what the number is, and then we can deal with it properly.

Um and then tagging onto that uh your public works director will be talking in the next session or the next item about the CIP, the deferred uh capital improvements that need to be made.

What part of that, if any, is baked into these numbers that you're looking at tonight?

That also seems to be a bit mysterious.

It's like, well, some of it's in there, but some of it's not in there, and why why is it?

Why can't it all be in there?

Just be open and transparent about it.

And lastly, and I'm sure staff has done this, but uh I would like to hear from staff, um, what conversations have been had with our neighboring cities about doing what we've already done with the fire department, which I think is a great model, and that is to partner with them, police department, the public works, uh perhaps parks and recreation, um, to see if there could be some efficiencies there teaming up with those other agencies.

When I first moved here, I thought this is a kind of a strange setup.

You got these little postage stamp cities, all in an area that was probably smaller than the area I grew up in in Los Angeles, which which you know would be an absurd sort of a way to run the city of Los Angeles to have all these different little fiefdoms.

And I understand there's a lot of civic pride in your police department, and people want to know that their police department is run by their city council.

But I think there's ways of doing that to where each city could remain autonomous and yet you would have the savings of the administrative staff, much like what we do with the fire department.

I appreciate all your efforts.

I know it's not easy.

Thank you.

Uh Bob Buluth, Monterey.

Um, I'd like to um follow through what Mr.

Hall was talking about earlier, and have the city and staff and council come up with a better way of articulating the city's budget so its benefits and its costs, so we can have a much more efficient discussion of how to raise revenue for what we take advantage of in the city.

And the structural deficit is a problem, but it's the tip of the iceberg.

We've got the peers that are gonna cost us tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance.

We have the police station, which needs to probably be rebuilt.

The library has enormous amounts of uh deferred maintenance that it has to um come up with.

Colton Hall has deferred maintenance.

It wouldn't surprise me if the state wants to take it over to protect it.

So we have maybe a hundred million dollars in costs that we have to figure out how to cover.

And we're not really going to the uh populace in explaining that we have those big deficits, and we need to raise funds to cover the parts of the city that we all enjoy.

So we've got a real big problem that we need to try to address beyond just the structural deficit of 11 million dollars.

And I think that should all be part of your discussion.

And then how do we articulate to the citizens to want to support those facilities and services?

I mean, we've had staff that have been recruited out of us to go work in marina.

So we've got a hard time keeping the good people that we've got.

And so we can't reduce on the expenses for the crew that uh works the city.

So it all comes down to trying to figure out how to convince the residents to pay more to support what they enjoy.

We get what we pay for.

Thank you.

My name is Shabalasteri.

I'm the chairman for the general employees of the city of Monterey.

Um, I've said this a few times previously, um, but I think one of the best ways to save money is to stop contracting out gem work at twice the price.

We still have landscape contractors, work right alongside of our own people at twice the price.

We have fire truck maintenance mechanics ready to do their job, but we still contracted out at twice the price.

I know we're doing we're planning to, the city wants to just recently contract out CCTV uh inspection for all our storm and sewer lines at twice the price.

This is stuff that we could do in-house at half the cost.

And I don't understand why we continuously attempt to contract the stuff out.

Um the other thing is I know with the with the vacancies, a lot of those are Gem employee positions.

Um, people are doing that work, whether those jobs are filled or not.

I think the probably the right thing to do by the employees is if there's promotional opportunities within, you guys should open those up and then leave the vacancies left by those promotions to be canceled out because people are doing those work, doing that work.

I don't know if people realize, but you can do someone else's job at the city of Monterey for up to three weeks before you're considered to be working out of class, and it's it's been fairly easy historically for management to just simply shuffle out the responsibility around continuously so they don't have to hire out for it.

So I think doing the right thing by the employees, especially now that we know it's zero to one percent for our next contract, is to at least open up those vacancies to inside promotional opportunity.

I think that's the only fair thing you guys can do.

Um, other than that, um, we we've seen that what does the problems that the cities have, and we employees do their best, but I think in all fairness, we need to have a system that makes sense for everyone, and I don't currently see the examples that I've given as as part of the solution.

It can be part of the solution.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Excuse me.

Good evening, Alan Martin, and on behalf of First Night Monterey, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to come up and speak, and for all the hard work that you're doing on the budget.

Um, I wanted to just make it really clear that when you're funding first night, that those revenue, those funds are going back to pay for city services, um, and police, traffic control, public works permits, and that kind of thing.

It's it's it's really the funding is not just to support first night, it's an investment in a safe organized downtown on New Year's Eve.

That's how first night started way back in Boston.

That's why it started here in Monterey, um, to keep our city safe on that last night of the year.

And without first night downtown, there wouldn't be that structure, um, alcohol-free celebration.

So for more than three decades, we've been just more than event.

We have been in New Year's Eve celebration that's safe, organized, where tourist citizens, everybody can come together.

I know it's really, I understand, difficult right now with this budget choices.

This is a modest support.

It does help protect this tradition.

Where many years ago, the city of Monterey named First Night Monterey as a signature event of the city.

We'd like to remain that.

So we hope that you'll approve that 35,000.

And I also want to say that someone that works with OMBA.

We help way back when to bring the parade back with OMBA.

We work with OMBA for the Christmas tree lighting, when the city stopped doing that.

It's so important to bring the community together and having that fourth of July and having an ambassador on the streets being visible to everyone.

I think it's a really important position.

Thank you.

Mayor Council, I've been I've been at these meetings for a long, long many, many years.

And um, when Coach Halbert was up, and he was the mayor, they actually had surpluses for years, and they put money aside for this convention center that we never built because we took the money and spent it.

You need to go back five years, 10 years if you have to find out where how the things get out of control, and then go back and say we're going to have to cut this.

You cannot go out to the public anymore.

The public is taxed up to here, the TO tax is 12%, the sales tax is nine per 9.75%.

All these things are paid by everything that the public does, and it's not fair for you to not be able to live within your means.

When I have, I run a business.

When I have uh cash flow problems, I look at the problems, I say, I gotta cut this, I gotta do this.

Is it is it is it fun?

No, some people get hurt, some people have to lay off people sometimes.

Some things you do have to do.

But the fact is, I I saw probably six or seven groups of people here who are trying to protect their interests instead of coming over up with a solution, they're here to protect their interests.

You have a tough job to do, but at some point, people have to know that the average person has it much worse.

They don't have union protections, the average guy.

They don't uh businesses don't have protections against the loss of business.

I just I just reach out to you that please don't come to the private sector and try to tax us more or with a sales tax, whatever tax is.

I went, I paid uh $2,300, I believe it is, just to get permission to convert a house back to a house that it was.

And I just think it's shocking that that planning department cost that much to make that small of a decision, and I haven't even put the other paperwork in to get the permit.

Thank you very much.

With that, we'll go to the callers on Zoom.

And I would just clarify that there was five callers that we captured before the the time was called.

Chris, you're up first.

You can go ahead.

Hi, uh, can you hear me?

Yes, we hear you.

Okay, good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Christopherson.

I'm here on behalf of MPA.

I'm here to ask that you reconsider the proposal to eliminate two police officer positions in fiscal year 2027.

At first glance, eliminating two vacant positions may appear to be a reasonable budget reduction.

However, it comes at a times when the Monterey Police Department is facing a known staffing challenge outside of patrol.

We currently have no traffic officers, community action team is half staffed, and we only have two of five detectives.

We are currently expecting force sworn.

That's one lieutenant, two sergeants, and one officer retirements during the second quarter of FY27.

Those retirements are not speculative, they are vacancies we know are coming.

The challenge that we have is replacing officers is not immediate between recruitment, background investigations, academy attendance, and field training.

It takes approximately a year before our newly hired officer can work independently in the field.

That is far longer than the other position potentially being cut outside of the fire department.

Uh eliminating these positions now reduces our ability to recruit ahead of those departures and prepare for the staffing losses we know are on the horizon.

As those retirements occur, the work does not go away.

Calls for service must still be answered, reports must still be taken, and community concerns must still be addressed without positions to available to recruit into staffing shortages will replace ready demands on existing personnel and continue to drive overtime costs upward.

Eliminating positions may reduce vacancies on paper, but it does not recruit reduce the workload, it simply shifts the cost from vacancies to overtime.

It's also uh important to understand where these reductions are going to occur.

Patrol staffing must be maintained to answer emergency and non-emergency calls as a result.

Cuts will more likely come from specialized assignments such as traffic and cat.

These units address many quality of life concerns that residents bring up, including traffic compliance, speeding, uh, homeless issues like encampments, neighborhood problem solving, and proactive community engagement.

There's also long-term recruitment and retention implications since 2008.

We've lost 90-sworn employees.

Uh we know additional retirements are coming.

Um, and we have a lack of experience.

Um law enforcement agencies across California are competing for a limited number of qualified applicants, potential candidates want to join organizations that are investing in public safety, and current employees want confidence that their department is supported for the long term.

Eliminating these positions sends the opposite message.

The decision is not simply about uh two positions today, but it's about maintaining the city's ability to respond to community needs tomorrow.

Our department's motto is responsive to all, second to none every time.

Uh preserving these positions will help ensure that that remains more than a slogan.

It uh remains a that it remains a commitment that we can continue to deliver uh to the uh Monterey community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Stacy.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, staff, and uh members of the public.

My name is Stacey L.

Zebler Perkins, and I'm the executive director of Gathering for Women Monterey.

We are a nonprofit that focuses on the unhoused and uh potentially unhoused people in our community, particularly women.

I want to encourage you to continue the rent registry as well as the rental assistance program, is a very small part of your budget, and yet it keeps the those members in our community in their houses, rental assistance program specifically, keeps them in their houses, which is much less expensive than trying to get them into houses once they're homeless.

The rental registry enables us to track what's happening with the rental community and whether or not the rents are the apartments for rent are going up or down, and over time that will enable us to understand what's happening and why we have such an increase in homelessness.

We are seeing a phenomenal increase in homelessness in our community, and it's very frightening.

This is a very small part of your budget, and I hope you will continue to protect that part.

I recognize you're you're having to deal with very pressing issues in this budget, but please consider protecting this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lori.

Good evening.

Um I wrote a public comment letter, so I'll just uh try to say something that isn't in that letter.

Um, just sort of a general preamble to my comments tonight.

Um, is that in it's been clear tonight that you know everybody has their their interest in special groups and everything's important.

Um, or certain things are important to some people and they're not as important to others, and that's gonna go across the board.

It's never gonna be consistent.

Um, but some people and residents are in council members, even are more attracted to some programs and and the causes, and we all have things that we're more passionate about.

But in general, I think it would help all of us if we could actually just be practical and going forward and take a step back and kind of erase the emotion of our personal attachments to everything and embrace the fact that we have to let go of some things and make changes.

Um, and there's no way to make these hard decisions that have to be made to make everyone happy, but it has to be done.

And sometimes you have to chew your leg off to get out of the bear trap, and that's kind of where we are.

Um, so that's my preamble to say that I think we need to keep in our sight what the true purpose of a city government is.

And this is just my practical side.

I'm just saying I don't, our city government is not a nonprofit organization.

It's not the Salvation Army, it's not a charitable foundation.

The purpose of the city government is to provide core municipal services and maintain public infrastructure.

And when we're facing an 11.7 million dollar structural deficit, every dollar should be judged by one question.

And I think if we all ask the same question, at least for now, maybe later when we have a lot more money, we can get a little more flexible with the question.

But does this provide an essential city service that benefits the community as a whole?

I think that should be the key question.

And if the answer is no, it shouldn't be a priority right now.

Residents shouldn't be paying higher fees.

We shouldn't be losing our NCIP funds or being pushed into costly sidewalk repairs while the city continues to expand programs, benefits, and discretionary spending.

And as for the nice, you know, charitable programs and nice to have giveaways, there's many of those, and they're set up to do that work and they do it very well.

And there's a lot of money in this community.

Even when we gave away the 125,000 of the fire victims, I saw in the paper not long after that, another organization donated 110,000.

So I don't think we need to feel like we have to step up to every cause.

I do have other ideas and suggestions.

There's no time to go through it, but hopefully, in time as we go into some of these meetings, I can share some of those.

All right, thank you.

Our next speaker is Esther.

Good evening, everybody.

I'm really happy that she specifically cited the rental inventory program, that it has a 90% recovery because that is a targeted program by people who have vested interests in getting rid of it since day one.

And at this point, there really is no argument for getting rid of it if it has that much of a recovery rate.

Um by specifically Ricoyer and Nelson Vega, and you want to refer to historically, and and you went one of you went back as far as five or 10 years.

Well, guess what?

Five or 10 years ago, if that administration had put together a roadmap, like what Dante has brought forth tonight, we would not be here tonight.

And that's not going to change the matter, but it's also not okay for you guys to try and push the city councils out, blaming them for something that all of you that are coming out tonight to complain about could have been addressing it back then and didn't.

So it's disingenuous for you guys to refer to historically this and that when you only want to do that in one context, but not in the big picture and why we are here.

That program, we would not have been able to help those fire victims if that wasn't in place.

If you are concerned about having an ambassador walking around on Alvarado to help those businesses, you need to be concerned about the number one tool that this city has to help prevent people from becoming homeless, and that is this essential rental assistance program.

If you don't want more homelessness, you have to keep people out of homelessness.

And over to Kevin Dayton, who's trying to compare our city and what our economic development is like to cities like San City and Salinas and Seaside.

We will never be able to bring more economic development here if we don't create affordable housing.

And you know that.

So if you're not willing to step up hardcore and build housing, but not just build any housing to build affordable housing, we will never be able to diversify the economic uh situation and development in this city until then.

Everything revolves around that when it comes to bringing more industries here.

We cannot do it without housing.

Thank you.

All right, and our last speaker is Elena.

Good evening, mayor and council members and staff.

My name's Elena Loomis.

I'm a longtime resident, and I am very well aware of the high cost of rent and housing.

And I want to applaud the city for funding the renters assistance program this past fiscal year.

And I urge you to fully fund it again in fiscal year 2026-27.

And I have a thought of how you could do this.

Monterey is fully funded, and that would be a small chunk to take out of their 1.8 million dollar budget.

And one rationale for that is C Monterey is promoting tourism.

And tourism can't happen without the workforce and the workforce that supports that are many, many, many of them are renters.

So I strongly encourage you to make that little swap and consider um prioritizing our residents who are renters.

And one other thing I'd like to mention is I hope that you don't close the libraries again.

They are vital.

I'm a retired librarian, and they're a vital service to our community, they make our community more vibrant.

And I also hope that the um sports center maintains its funding.

It's a valuable thing.

I was there the other night with my grandchildren and witnessed the joy of children playing in the swimming pool and getting swimming lessons and the day camps.

Yeah, um, it's just a very valuable resource that this community can't afford to lose.

So I appreciate the difficulty and the situation that you're in.

But those are three programs that I really hope maintain their support of the city council and um the city budget.

So thank you for your hard work and your time.

Awesome.

All right, with that, we'll bring it back to the council.

Thank you for all those who provided public comment.