Okay, I think we also didn't want to do that first, but I agree.

And there was a third of the money.

Now that all the council members are present, I call to order the May 20th meeting of the city of West Sacramento City Council, the West Sacramento Redevelopment Agency and Finance Authority.

And we will begin with the land acknowledgement.

We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we live, work, learn, and commune is the original homelands of the indigenous people of West Sacramento who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.

We acknowledge and we thank the original inhabitants who have occupied, maintained and secured this place and who still exist on this land.

We respect and celebrate the many diverse indigenous people still connected to this land on which we gather.

This evening, Mr.

City Attorney, do you have a report?

Yes, ma'am.

The council that in closed session, no reportable action was taken.

Alright, thank you.

And we would like to invite our guests to join Council and Staff in the pledge.

And Sergeant Travel Huddison will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please come to the podium and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you.

Briefly salute.

Be with me.

I pledge allegiance to the project of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so much, Sergeant.

As is noted on our agenda, City Council is prohibited by state law from discussing or taking any action on items that are brought under item one for public comment, but it provides an important opportunity for a public forum.

The public is given an opportunity at this time to address city council and items not listed on your standing on the agenda.

Do you need something?

Sorry, I was standing.

I thought you were calling me to not yet.

Not yet.

Sorry.

It's okay.

We do ask that anyone wishing to address the council on this or any other item this evening to please fill out a request to speak card and return it to the clerk.

Um, once the staff report has been read and we open the item up for public comment, the clerk will announce your name.

That's when you come up.

Um, for you to walk to the podium to speak.

Now, in front of the clerk, there is a timer to ensure that everyone has a chance to be heard, and we ask that all comments be limited to three minutes.

Also, in front of the clerk is an analog flip chart, which indicates which agenda item the council is currently considering.

We also recognize that for some speaking in public can cause anxiety, so we request that there be no applause, booze, cat calls, or other demonstrations.

Furthermore, so that we may maintain a civil discourse here in the chambers.

We ask that those in attendance and those who address the city council abide by the code of conduct, posted and not speak in loud, threatening, offensive, abusive or the disrespectful language that disrupts disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting.

Now this brings us to item one presentations by the public on matters not on the agenda within the jurisdiction of the council.

Madame Clerk.

Yes, ma'am.

Albionna Newberry.

Good evening, Mayor Carero and members of the City Council.

My name is Albiona Newberry, and I live at 408 Alameda Boulevard in West Sacramento.

I have been a resident here for over 12 years.

I am a paying active member of the West Sacramento Art Guild.

I was recently accepted into the fine arts competition at the California State Fair this year, and currently have artwork showing at Gallery 1075 of our community center.

I recently filed for 501c3 status for the Delta West Artist Alliance Foundation, a new public service organization.

The specific purpose of the corporation is to support and promote the arts through fundraising.

Educational programs, community outreach, and charitable initiatives that advance artistic expression, cultural enrichment, and access to the arts for the public benefit.

As part of our launch, we are planning the first annual night on the town 2026 fundraising for the arts scholarships.

The event is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 18th, 2020, 2026 from 7 p.m.

to 10 p.m.

at the Black Box Theater to make this a more enjoyable and successful evening for our exhibitors, local business owners, and guests.

It is important that we can become a valuable community part uh partner here in West Sacramento.

We're eager to collaborate on the arts-related events, support local artists, bring educational programs to our residents, and help make the arts more accessible to everyone in our city.

I respectfully ask the council to take note of our organization as a new resource for the community, consider future partnership of opportunities with the city on arts and cultural initiatives, and look into the necessary repairs of the rooftop terrace at the community center in time for support of this event that of ours.

Thank you for your time and for your continued service to the residents of West Sacramento.

Thank you so much.

Guy Stevenson.

Hello, guy.

How are you doing?

Good.

Mayor, City Council members.

I have an issue.

You've heard this issue.

Nothing's being done about it.

They can stand there and say whatever they want about the food vendors.

There's a lot more going on with these food vendors than you think.

You know, they sell food and you know they're not compliant.

They don't have licenses, and it has nothing to do with race.

You know, I've been called a racist by somebody in this building, like I told you before, because they think I'm picking on these people.

I'm not picking on them.

You know, if you don't have a license, you don't have a tax ID and uh number, or you don't have the health department looking at your stuff, you can get food poisoning.

Guess what?

You can die from food poisoning.

People say that you can't, you can.

So I have an issue with it, and they're doing other stuff besides selling food, believe me.

Uh, and you know, you can either believe it or not believe it.

Uh, it doesn't matter.

I, you know, there's a bit.

The other thing I was gonna bring up, there's a big fit and all problem here in uh town.

In one building right down the street, they had four deaths from people under the age of 50 years old from fit and all.

And uh, and I have an issue with that.

I think that every city employee that works at public works that works at other departments that deal with the public, should be carrying Narcan.

Because you got a lot of people that are doing a lot of bad dope here in West Sacramento.

It's even it's almost as bad over here as it is over there.

So I mean, what's the excuse?

See uh Narcan is very inexpensive, and I would love to see people with public works, code enforcement, people that go out and deal with the public, should be carrying Narcan.

I carried Narcan.

Uh, because Narcan is not that expensive, but you can save somebody's life.

You know, and I saw at least four people that were under the age of 50 years old go to the coroner's office in Woodland.

That's not cool.

Because all these people, their families, you have to tell them, it's just crazy.

But it's very uh it's very, very serious in my heart that you try to save people, and you know, a lot of people say, Oh, well, drugs just let them do their drugs.

No, help them.

Pull them up, get them off the crap, because what's gonna happen, they're gonna end up in a body bag.

You know what I mean?

Thank you very much, ladies.

Have a good night.

And also that letter that I I gave her some pictures of uh via.

Thank you.

We have no more requests to speak on item one, all right.

With that, I'm going to um move around a few agenda items so that we can take up um the proclamation of the West Sacramento City Council recognizing May 11th through the 16th 2026 as National Police Week, and May 15, 2026 is Peace Officers Memorial Day, and we have Council Member Godino who will take that up for us.

Thank you so much, Councilmember.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I appreciate the opportunity to present this proclamation tonight, recognizing National Peace, Police Week and Peace Officers Memorial Day.

And looking out into the crowd, I see that some of our first responders, our peace officers and our community are here with us tonight.

It is a great honor to have you all with us, and we are grateful for the opportunity to recognize you and your brethren and sister sisters who uh give their lives to uh create an opportunity for our community to live in peace.

The proclamation reads whereas there are more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of the West Sacramento Police Department.

Whereas since the first recorded death in 1786, nearly 24,412 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice and have been killed in the line of duty while serving their communities.

And whereas in 1962, President John F.

Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day.

And whereas 345 new names of fallen heroes were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, including 148 officers who died in light of duty in 2024 alone, and 197 from previous years whose sacrifices were recently recognized.

And whereas YOLO County has endured the loss of 12 community protectors since 1912, including West Sac Police Department's own James H.

McKnight in 1990.

And whereas Officer James H.

McKnight faithfully served the West Sacramento community since our city's incorporation in 1987.

And he had the entire and the entire McKnight family will forever have our gratitude.

Now therefore be it proclaimed that the city council, the city of West Sacramento, does hereby recognize May 11th through the 16th as National Police Week and May 15th, 2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and publicly salutes the service of our very own law enforcement.

Proclaim this 20th day of May 2026.

Thank you kindly.

Briefly.

And tonight we have the great opportunity to really honor those who don't ever get our thanks.

In fact, sometimes it's the opposite.

They're met with disdain in a social climate that sometimes doesn't favor those who really truly pay the price.

And so with that, it is my greatest honor that the mayor allowed me to present this proclamation tonight, because I know that we all represent people who have the utmost respect for our officers who've donned on those uniforms on behalf of West Sacramento Police Department and keep our community safe.

So thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Councilmember, any other council members would like to share any thoughts?

That's council member early.

Okay.

Um can't could not say it uh better myself than my my colleague, Councilmember Roscoe, thank you for your service.

Um, our community really cannot, I think, um, really represent how much we appreciate all that you all do day in and day out in order to keep uh the entire West Sacramento um families and our neighbors safe.

And so thank you very much.

Um, this recognition and this proclamation we know aren't enough, but hopefully you can see how much this council really does appreciate your service and what you do for our community.

Thank you, Council Mayor Bouton.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, it's wonderful to see everyone here tonight, even our retired police officers.

Um, you know, uh having a strong police department that can protect our community is really important.

Um, this is the group of folks who run to danger and not away from it.

Um, you are the ones who are in the community having conversations with young kids.

Um, you know, soon we'll have a school resource officer at our local high school making connections with the community and not only keeping the kids safe, but you know, trying to be proactive in relationship building.

Uh and um we couldn't do what we do in this community without you, and I know a lot of things that everyone deals with on a daily basis, isn't just you know, pulling people over and giving them tickets, it's having difficult conversations, it's negotiating with folks, um, it's going to community outreach events, and so I appreciate the entire police department and all the work that's done to keep us safe.

Um, thank you for being here tonight uh and just appreciate you and your families for just committing so much to this community.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Council member.

I just want to say a tremendous thank you for keeping West Sacramento safe.

Thank you.

So, yes, I just want to say to all of you, thank you for all you do for our community.

Uh, you do put your lives on the line for us, you do you know, hearing um from what is happening down on West Capitol, the challenges, you know, addressing homelessness is sometimes challenging those with substance abuse and um family fights that I hear you you put yourselves out, you know, finding guns and um dealing with um quite you know versatile situations.

Um I've been on a couple of ride alongs, want to do another one, want to continue to see the growth, the progress you've made, um, new technology that I see is uh taking place.

I always am curious to see what we can do to do better.

Um, you know, our um support for you goes in whether in in an investment for your pay, um, your salary, your benefits, it's um what we can do on our part, but also rank and file.

When I hear of a departure and abrupt departure of a deputy chief, it raises questions.

One that I'll be taking a look at very closely.

You have my word on that.

I'm just making sure that you know everyone in the department feels as safe and secure and supported, and that's something I think I've always been transparent about, making sure that you feel that you have the support to get your job done.

And so with that, I do want to share that um Deputy Chief.

Um felt that he had pride in his work that he accomplished here, and uh appreciation for the people he served alongside as I have felt with him as well.

And so I'm you know going to um continue that and look into that very closely.

So with that, I'd like for the chief and um our sergeant to come up and share a few words, and if you if the police officers and everybody in the police department like to come on up, please do.

Um yeah, thank you.

Um I think it's incredibly important that you all make the decision to make this statement collectively together, and though those words matter a great deal, we've also seen this council take actions that demonstrate support.

So I want to say thank you for that for those of us that are here and experiencing that.

It's so important to us that it is not just words.

And I think when it comes to how do we honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, I think it's things like this.

It's things that set the tone that give people permission, even in difficult times, to look to you and say, if they're willing to come together and have a collective voice about this, then maybe that gives us permission not to just resist some notion that we can have a better understanding of what the police do and why why they're in the places they're in, and we can actually answer questions that hopefully build confidence, develop trust, and those are the things that help help us not do this job alone, but to do it with community.

Certainly what we've been seeking for a long time, and you have just amazing people standing behind me that execute on that role every day, and I couldn't be more proud of them.

So thank you for allowing us to be here and receive this honor to acknowledge this.

Council, for those who don't know me, my name's Travis Huddleson.

I'm a sergeant with the police department on patrol currently.

I'm also currently our POA president.

Thank you for the time to take the proclamation that allows us to speak today.

Um, on behalf of the officers that I work with, um we live in a very volatile world.

In the 10 years I've served the city.

Um there's been a lot of changes that have happened across profession and even in the city with a massive amount of growth.

Um but despite all these changes, what has remained constant is the drive and the commitment of all the wonderful people I've worked with.

As you've all mentioned, it takes a lot of sacrifice and a lot of dedication to go out and face the challenges that we face.

And while it's very easy to get sucked into national politics or national crises, we are very committed to the service of this great community, and I truly believe the strength of our department is a reflection of the strength of this community.

And so your proclamation today means a lot to us.

We really appreciate it, and we look forward to our continued service, and the city of West Sacramento residents should feel confident that they're in very good hands here with the staff that we currently have.

Thank you.

Any other speakers?

And Chief.

Oh, sorry, wait, we got one more.

Oh, good.

I was just curious, I didn't know.

Hello, Lieutenant.

I'm Lieutenant Ryan Lucas, for the I think everybody knows me.

Uh I am also the president of the PMA.

Uh so I just wanted to say my part of thank you.

I'm also a lifelong resident of this city and um grew up roaming around these streets and uh never really had a care uh in the world as a young young person.

And that's pretty much due to you know the public safety and the care that uh chiefs, past chiefs, councils, um, and everybody involved in in city government takes to really you know um put place that importance on community safety.

So just from from the PMA, thank you very much.

Uh we will continue to do everything we can to make this city uh safe and uh create public trust and confidence uh in the members of the department.

So thank you.

Thank you.

We appreciate you.

We go down for a photo.

Yes, let's go.

All right, so I'll be trying to get a little bit of awesome perfectly.

Hi, all right.

All right, so everyone look this way for me.

Three, one, two, three, two, can you hear?

I think the question I ever seen out here once you can see.

And next is a proclamation of the city council of the city of West Sacramento, honoring Sergeant Lou Cameron on his service with the police department and his retirement.

I'm gonna read the proclamation.

Um say a few words, allow everybody here to say a few words.

I don't know if there are any guests who would like to speak and share a few words present.

Anybody like to raise their hand?

She's got it.

I'll just speak.

Whereas Sergeant Lou Cameron has dedicated more than 22 years of service to the West Sacramento Police Department and more than 24 years to law enforcement.

And whereas in July 2001, Sergeant Lou Cameron began his law enforcement career with the Solano County Sheriff's Office before joining the West Sacramento Police Department on October 8th, 2003, where he faithfully served the community until his retirement on May 15th, 2026.

And whereas throughout his career, Sergeant Lou Cameron was routinely rated as excellent and demonstrated professionalism, integrity, leadership, and commitment to public safety in every assignment he undertook.

And whereas he was promoted to sergeant on May 21st, 2022, and served in numerous specialized and leadership roles, including detective in the special investigations unit, officer in charge, firearms instructor, range master, field training officer, and investigator, and whereas Sergeant Lou Cameron received numerous awards and commendations throughout his career, including Officer of the Year in 2016 and 2019, and multiple certificates, accommodation and letters of appreciation from the Davis Police Chief and the Sutter County District Attorney.

And whereas Sergeant Lou Cameron's dedication and commitment to excellence have left a lasting impact on the West Sacramento Police Department and the broader community he served.

Now, therefore, be a proclaimed that the City Council of the City of West Sacramento does hereby recognize and honor Sergeant Lou Cameron for his outstanding service and congratulate him upon his retirement and extend best wishes for a fulfilling and well deserved retirement.

Sergeant, can you please come on up to the podium?

And the family, if you'd like to join, please come on up as well.

It's it's definitely a thank you so much.

And Sergeant, we're gonna share a few words here.

Um, start to my left with the council member, Guerino Orozco.

Thank you, sir, for your commitment to our community and for all of the years that you've contributed to making other people's lives safe.

You've uh spent countless hours out on the street in the most dangerous situations.

That doesn't, you cannot just leave us unrecognized.

I know this is quite the embarrassing uh scenario here, but we would be remiss in our duties if we didn't take one last opportunity to make sure that you felt congratulated, welcomed, and appreciated for all of your years of service.

So to the journey ahead, best to you, sir.

Thank you.

I will continue with uh the thank yous, but also thank you to your family for their sacrifice in the years of waiting for you to come home and the commitment of them as well.

I hope you enjoy your retirement.

I hope you guys have fun plans to be able to spend time together and watch continue to watch your kids grow up.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I think Lou Cameron is like synonymous with the West Sacramento Police Department as somebody who grew up in West Sacramento.

Everybody knows Lou.

And you're the first person that everybody calls.

I know so many businesses and so many residents that talk about their relationship with you, and that just goes to show the commitment you've made to our community, the connections you've made.

Thank you for our service, your service, excuse me.

Thank you for your service, thank you to the family, and you know, like my colleague said, enjoy retirement and hope you have some really fun things planned.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you.

Councilmember.

Just a big thank you.

And to your family as well, and really have a great time with your retirement.

Well do.

Well, Sergeant, you may wonder why I am doing this.

I'm doing this because not only you, but your family, your extended family, um, your your dad and everybody in your family who has, you know, your wife, you know, have dedicated their lives to law enforcement.

And I know that there are other families and other officers who do that.

Um, but you know, for me, it was extremely important to recognize you because you hold a high standard of professionalism, you hold a standard of getting the job done right.

I have to say that today's commendation here, this proclamation is timely because that's what I expect from the police department.

I expect that and the your ability to communicate when it's necessary and and timely and clear is important for officers to get the job done right.

And so I remember hearing, you know, from you and others what you thought.

And it was it was always this um sign of respect.

You may have been a little salty about it, you know, a little rough, but you know what we heard you and our police department is better that's why I want to dedicate a room with your name over it the Lou Cameron investigation room I know you don't want that but I'm I'm so I'm not giving up because I do want uh the police department to maintain a standard like yours because you have done you have trained so many under your leadership and I thank you for that and um you know just um I think the chief wanted to say something but um you did you want to say something chief now go ahead this is your time and then Lou can share the final words.

Yeah I'll be brief um but man you guys nailed it like you you have heard through constituents so much about this man about how he represented us but really represented the community just as a resource kind of a fixer solver of so many things um he will be missed and and mayor what you said just about the the mark he has made and that legacy that he leaves behind through other people that he trained you know sometimes that was teaching in the most traditional sense and sometimes it it was a little bit more direct.

But I think Lou consistently respects people's time and their energy and what they need to do in their day and is known for that directness and it's effective.

And he has done that with me frankly and that's one of the other things that I think uh that that some people don't know is that he has the courage to to speak truth to power and that's incredibly important to help guide some of us that uh often can become isolated at times in those roles and often almost always the people with the best solutions are closest to the problem and I think he reflects that in all ways.

So that's what I have to say thank you.

I know that we have another little gesture uh for him oh we do oh good hold on sorry from the police department honoring your years of service um we have this put together for you and I know I don't know who won the race between he and his wife but I did want to acknowledge that retirement has happened almost at the same time too so Jenna um we're proud of your service proud of what you guys did together and and what you've been able to accomplish with your family and and with how you show up for everyone here Luke do you want to share a few words thank you sir um no not really but I I will just say thank you I appreciate the recognition and the acknowledgement I would like to think that everyone that comes after me will follow in that exact same path hopefully they do.

I was raised walking up and down West Capitol so I've seen the changes in West Sacramento.

I've been here since the early 70s and we used to you know leave the house and when it was dark we were expecting to be back home and but before that we were out exploring these neighborhoods.

So I did always take it very personal when once I become a police officer here like if crime was committed I wanted to know how it and when it happened and why because I wanted to bring some closure for that person because this was my c is my city.

I was I've spent every waking moment living in this city almost most of them working here so it it it was personal for me at times maybe I did get a little salty or gruff but uh I did find that being direct is sometimes the best you know way to get a point across never with disrespect but with some salt on top so uh I do appreciate everything thank you all very much uh and that's all I have thank you we're gonna come on down take a vote I don't run with the family.

You want this or not?

Yeah I think it's not a little bit there too, I think we're going to be able to do that and you can do it in the middle of the Okay, now we're moving back to the presentations.

We have two, and the first is the presentation by Yola County Youth Empowerment Summit.

And we have Jesse Salinas.

Please come on up.

Good morning good evening.

Look at that.

Good morning, right?

I want it's been a busy time during election season.

So good evening, uh, Mayor Guerrero and Council members.

It's so great to see you.

And how special was that to be able to uh be a part of that and be able to witness that.

So thank you for for uh celebrating our police officers and all that they do, and actually it's a great uh build up for what I'm gonna talk to you about because a big part of the youth empowerment summit that we've had is about introducing the importance of local government to our young people, the importance of voting and the importance of civic engagement.

So uh as you can see, we uh we have our youth empowerment uh logo that happens, and I've shared I think in the past that it is a logo that was designed by student by a student, and it was a whole it was a competition in year one, and that uh logo was selected uh by other students at a vote at our first youth empowerment summit, and it's been our uh logo ever since.

If we can move on to the next, please.

Thank you.

So uh just to summarize what is the youth empowerment summit.

It's yes for short, as you all know, and it's a national award-winning program, and we're pretty proud of that because it's it was recognized by election officials across the nation as a unique program that is engaging young people.

Uh, it was established in 2018.

So I came into office in 2016 and I saw some of the results of just young people not really voting at a high rate, and so how could we do that?

There was another S element that I wanted to bring to the table, which was that you see people showing up for presidential elections, and then there's a big drop off in other elections.

So uh I had a hypothesis back in the day saying the only way we can change that is start to introduce young people about the importance of voting, but also about the importance of local government.

So with that, uh, we actually established uh in 2018 the first summit, and we're now at our ninth annual summit and the next one will be September 24th.

Please put it on your calendar.

You're all gonna get an invitation, and one of the things that we're taking uh we're really excited about is as you've seen, we've transitioned from the community college location we used to be at, which could only house about 70 to 80 students, so now we're at UC Davis's the ARC ballroom uh areas A and B.

And so last year we actually had a hundred and forty-one students show up, which was wonderful.

And what was neat about that is we think we have a little bit more we can squeeze in.

We're gonna shoot for 150 students this time around.

Uh, I would like to say that we had 48 students of the 141, 48 were from West Sacramento from both the high school and the Washington Middle College school.

So great turnout in West Sacramento.

I know many of you were there as well to experience it.

Part of what we're talking about is again the importance of voting, and I'll go a little bit more into what that is all about, because the community needs to know why it's making a difference, and I'll show some data points of why we know it's making a difference.

Another element we're gonna add, because we piloted a little bit of this in the last one, which was to involve invite.

In fact, you had your chief of police here.

We actually invited a chief of police and a fire chief to the last one just to see how that played out, and it went really well.

So we'll be inviting all the police chiefs and fire chiefs from the different jurisdictions that if they can join us, that they are welcome to join us.

It just allows for dialogue.

And so what we're doing is we allow this young people again to understand the importance of voting and getting civically engaged.

Next slide, please.

And just as a quick little uh summary, we have a local government 101, and it's where I go over and I share with the students how local government functions at a operational standpoint in terms of the way the policies and the structure.

So I share how there's a governing body for city councils, for school districts, and for the board of supervisors, and how they have an administrator that you direct to implement your vision, your policies, and and utilize the budget that you've adopted.

So I provide a quick crash course as I call it on that oversight.

So students get to learn about those basics, and then they get to sit around roundtable discussions with elected officials and city officials, which is always probably the most powerful part of yes, because the students and the electeds who participate truly enjoy the conversation that they have, and we get a chance to see that dialogue and connection with young people, which is very special.

And that's part of what makes yes so different than anything else that's out there because it is that opportunity to talk with local leaders in that context.

So another element is that we have a mock election, and we actually give them a ballot that looks like an official looking ballot, and we compare it to data points of of information, and I want to give a shout out to Adrian Wheeler, who's in the audience over there.

Uh, he is my project director and coordinator for the for the program, and he finds data points nationally on what young people view on certain key topics.

It could be about climate change, vaping, it's all kinds of myriad of questions.

And because he's got that national data, we can put questions to ask the students those same questions.

And because it's a mock election, we run the election there while they're having lunch, and then after lunch, we showed them their results compared to the national results.

And you get a lot of ooze and ahs when they start seeing where they fit into the national dialogue on some of those issues.

One of the things we did that I'm actually pretty excited about because we did, since it was September, and you know we had a uh Prop 50 election that took place in November.

We actually draft, we drafted and added to the ballot the ballot measure that voters voted on.

And I wrote up a very simplistic pro and con summary just to keep it neutral, and we had the students read that and vote on it.

And one of the fascinating things about the data points on that, across the state, there was a 64.5% approval of proposition 50.

So I was curious to see where the students were, you know, because this was a good month and a half before we actually had the uh the election itself.

And it turned out 73% of the students said yes.

So I was wondering if that was gonna be a bit of a bellwether for what was gonna happen in with Prop 50.

And so I told the students, you voted on this, so you have you understand this issue now.

I want you to track it on your own.

You know your 73% said yes.

I wonder what the rest of the state is.

So I gave them that homework assignment to follow that ballot measure and see where it ended up.

So it was really positive.

Uh, another new element that we added, which part of what we are driving for is helping young people to have a voice, not only in voting, but participating in their community.

And it's so important.

So we actually had uh we called it the afternoon of engagement.

So we had uh new nonprofits table at the event in the afternoon.

So the students got to go around and learn about nonprofits that are making a difference in YOLO County and learn about it and encourage them that if this is something they want to participate in and get civically involved, great organizations to stay connected with and get more, you know, involved locally.

And that was a huge success, not only from those who participated, they enjoyed talking to the students, but the students rated it very positively as well.

Um I would like to kind of, and if you can give me one next slide, please, because I want to highlight these pictures.

And the young woman on the top right, um, Kaylani Griffith.

Some of you probably know who she is.

She MC'd the event, and she is a star.

For those of you who don't know her, she is an amazing star.

And we we loved having a young person emceeing this event because it's about young people.

And she brought it, she did a fantastic job.

Her energy energy was fantastic.

In fact, afterwards, we had a student come up and say, I'd like to do that next year.

And that was wonderful.

So anyway, she was fantastic.

We're so proud of the good work that she did.

Uh, and these are just some pictures of some folks that were around the table.

And we did include the uh the school superintendent to kind of engage them, and that was actually incredibly well received as well.

So again, we're expanding the program as we speak.

Next slide, please.

So this, I liked those of you who know me.

I'm I'm a little bit of a uh into data, and I love to do things and telling me if I'm moving the needle.

So this shows since the very beginning, we did pre-surveys to say asking students these questions, and we asked them to rate from a strongly agree down to a strongly disagree in that spectrum, or I don't know.

So we would ask them on the left side is the pre-survey results.

So the question that I'm highlighting here is I understand how voting the voting process works.

You can see strongly agree was only 12%, and they agree with 65%.

I want you to see the difference after this one day with them.

The strongly agree went from 12% to 46%.

That's a 286%, 284% increase.

That's a huge shift.

Just saying I now understand how voting process works.

If you go to the next slide, please.

So the next one is even more astounding.

This is I understand how local government functions.

It's that crash course that I give them, right?

In terms of the way the way it kind of comes together, but then they also get a chance to talk to all of you.

So that conversation and dialogue takes place.

You can see when the at the beginning of the day, 4% said they strongly agreed, and approximately 62% said they agreed.

Look at the shift and strongly agree.

It went up literally by 557%.

That's a huge impact.

So young people are starting to understand from this from this program and what how we're engaging them.

Next slide, please.

So next one is I understand the role of elected officials in government.

They need to understand what you all do and how important it is.

And you can see the strongly agree jumped up again, 160%.

That's a huge jump that we're seeing.

So students are getting it, they're seeing that they understand your role, and that's so important because it's that piece is not being captured in the classroom.

Uh, next one, please.

So I think you're a little too far.

I think you went back to one more.

No, wrong direction.

It's all right.

There you go.

So the next one is I feel confident that elected officials would respect my opinion.

Again, look at the shift.

You went from 15 students strongly agreeing to 51 when they were done.

Again, a huge shift, and you see them going from the agree to strongly agree.

And the amount that disagreed or strongly agreed, disagreed, dropped tremendously.

Again, we're moving the needle.

Students are getting the difference there.

Next one, please.

And this one is a very powerful one, right?

Because we're asking them, do you feel empowered to make positive changes in their community?

And here's the number again.

It jumps up on the strongly agree by 83%.

And the ones that are disagree or strongly agree, disagree just drops significantly.

So we're making a difference and getting people engaged.

And part of what we're in the process, I have to give a shout out to not only the numerous partners that we've had working with us on this, but the county office of education, working closely with Garth Lewis and his team.

We're working very to engage the schools.

We're also working with the U.S.

History and Social Science Project as a strong partner.

We have this program that we call the YOLO County Youth Civic Initiative, because this is only the first step because that's only one day where we're going to impact 150 students, perhaps.

We're now talking about bringing it into the schools so that every student in YOLO County can start to have this dialogue with the teachers, and then this becomes a crowning jewel where they get a chance to talk to the electeds.

We want this to continue to grow, and there's an interest in seeing the expansion, and that those partners I talked about, we're working every day kind of seeing how we can make sure this eventually gets into the classroom in terms of that level of engagement.

Next one, please.

So I want to share with you what a difference is this making.

You saw the data points, but what is it making a difference in terms of actual voters and that are young people?

So what this data shows is that California registered voters of 18 to 25 year olds is at the primary election on March 5th, was at 15% because we had low voter turnouts.

Overall in that election, to give you context, the statewide average was 35% in that primary election.

And historically, those 18 to 25 year olds have been historically just under underutilized in terms of their voting power.

So we wanted to really focus are we making a difference?

And you can see if you look at California registered voters of that age group, 15% voted in that election.

But those who participated in yes was 25%.

That's a 10% increase over the statewide average, which means we're starting to have an impact on young people.

But there's still a lot of work to do.

And that'll give you the context.

Because if you look at us in that countywide, the statewide average was 35% in that primary election.

We were at 46%.

So we were at 11% over the statewide average in that election, which I'm incredibly proud of, but there's so much more work because to think that we were 10% above the statewide average in that election, and there was only a 46% turnout, still a lot of work to do.

But let me also share with you on the November 5th, 2024 election, the delta, the difference between California's registered voters.

Keep in mind, to give you a context, we had a 72% statewide turnout in that election.

YOLO County was 80%.

So we are just pulling ourselves away from everybody else.

But look at the participants that are in yes.

They were 7% above statewide average of their comparative group.

So we're making huge strides, but there's still much work to do.

Next one, please.

I just want to highlight the the survey that we did.

We did a word mapping, and we asked students tell us what what are the things that you enjoyed about this?

What were one word comes to you?

What informative, inspiring, fun, engaging, empowering, educational, interesting, amazing.

I mean, these are the words that are coming out of the students from that experience.

So we're on the right track.

Still much to do, but I would like to, if you don't mind going to uh one more slide.

I just want to have you put it on your calendar.

It is the ninth annual.

It'll be on September 24th at UC Davis, the same location.

We hope to see you there.

And I want to just thank all of you for your support, not just the council, but staff, all of you have been incredible, all every jurisdiction believes in what this project's all about.

And you know, we're starting to make a difference, but it's it's an ongoing journey.

And I just want to thank you all for your support and for uh just believing in our young people and helping them to give a get a voice.

So with that, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Oh my god, this is so impressive.

I'm so grateful to see you and get youth involved and engaged, and I just love this program where I can directly speak with you.

Put us in a place where the youth feel really safe and comfortable and excited.

I mean, to have an elected there that they can speak with.

So I greatly appreciate all you do, Jesse.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mira.

So I've had an opportunity to come and join the youth over the years, and it's always the best conversations and questions that I get from our young folks and uh young adults.

And I it you're absolutely correct, and the data is right too where they start at the beginning of the conversations, and then as we rotate the tables, right?

The conversations towards the end really get more lively, and also you can see that they're thinking, they're curious, um, they're really processing the information as as the day goes along.

And I think it's just a wonderful opportunity to continue to get young people interested in civic engagement, quite frankly, because there is this gulf that exists, and I also love the idea of bringing it to our schools as well.

I don't know at what point that it began to get taken out, but it has, and I think we see the results of that, both in engagement in our residents in city council and just local day-to-day government, as well as what happens at the state level.

And to your point, um, oftentimes people pay attention to the presidential elections, but nothing below that, right?

The down ballot things.

And what I like to say is, you know, city council impacts your daily life, right?

Um, these are the folks that are over your roads.

These are the folks that are over your public safety, your parks, right?

The the things that you're going to come in contact with.

Um, and so I love talking to um young kids.

I I have the same conversation with kindergartners when I go into their classroom, like, hey, do you know what your city council member does?

Um, because I just think it's so important.

So thank you for the work that you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here tonight.

The presentation.

Uh, I had the opportunity to be at the summit in 2024.

And it's funny, Keelani was at my table.

And so when you did the round table discussions, I really appreciated how you intentionally match used with um our local students.

And it was really fun for me to be able to meet kids from River City High School.

We had a group of cheerleaders, and not too long after that we were at um the West Sack um canine 5K run, and the girls were like, Verna, our city council member, and you know, we don't get that opportunity a lot of times to meet you know, students.

And so the conversation, like my colleague said, it was just fantastic.

You feel so much hope for the future when you have these conversations, and in your date, your data was fantastic, and I really appreciate the question.

I know how local government functions.

Um, I was recently at a restaurant and I was introduced as you know, the local city council member, and I was with somebody they had to be in their 30s, and they said, So, city council, what does that mean?

I'm like, oh goodness.

And so I said the same thing that, you know, Dr.

Early just said, you know, from parks to police to garbage to roads, um, you know, we're the ones that make sure you know your city functions and it's quality of life for your day-to-day stuff, and when you don't hear from us and things are going really well, that's you're probably doing pretty well.

And so I love that you are sharing this information and that it's directly like impacting getting the young voters, getting young kids voting.

I think it's just so powerful to start at a young age.

So thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you for inviting us.

Your team has always been so proactive.

If we don't RSVP right away, they're like, haven't heard from you, and I just thank you so much for that.

And so I keep up the great work, and I do agree getting it into all the schools would be fantastic.

Okay, thank you.

Jesse, I attended your first youth uh conference, and I remember the kids being so excited and enthusiastic and inspired.

I've always um one of my passions has been voter registration.

I was a member of the League of Women Voters, and we would go to the high schools, and it was great because we were able to actually um inspire the kids and give them an overview of why the vote was so important.

I wish we had more registrars like you, and I just want to thank you so much for the tremendous job that you do.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

Um, thank you, Jesse, for coming again to present before this council.

In 2016, I embarked upon the um what I thought was gonna be one of the greatest uh youth empowerment summits.

It was a mini summit out of my own house because we decided to take a four-year-old, six-year-old, eight-year-old, and twelve-year-old on the streets of West Sacramento to knock on doors and place monsigns in the grassy knolls of before everybody's house, which isn't always that easy, but it takes a lot of grit, it takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of uh doors slamming in your face in order to understand what civic duty can also entail.

Um, children have always been the focal point of my service with West Kids Give Back, West Girls Give Back, the school supply drives we do.

And so when I see something like this that's countywide, that's uh opening the doors uh to service.

Um when I look at the pictures on the wall here to my side, I think about the the region's only all-women council and one of the very few in the state, and this the existence, regardless of what it is that we say from the dais, the the existence value of having photographs like that make this type of service accessible to the youth.

It makes them understand that this isn't just reserved for those who are unlike them, but rather they it is for them.

And so um I've had the opportunity to attend multiple youth empowerment syndrome syndrome.

I'm a DA, okay, uh youth empowerment submit over the year and uh years, and I've met some pretty remarkable young people who I will entrust uh our future.

Um so thank you so much for introducing them to our community.

Uh vice versa.

I truly hope that through this summit um we are able to really truly inspire our future leaders to take the dice in our study.

Thank you very much.

And I will just share that.

Um, so some of you have met uh um Dulce Alfaro, she's my outreach specialist.

And uh when she first came on board, she goes, you know, Jesse, I believe I was at your summit in the beginning.

And I said, really?

And she went into her closet and found the certificate.

She was in the first summit ever.

And now she works for me as an outreach specialist.

So you talk about full circle and even uh just this past year recently, as you know, Woodland just opened up their um their new water center, their aquatic center.

Well, a student who works currently for the Parks and Recs Commission came up to me very excited, and he goes, I was at the summit too.

So we now have young people that experienced it and are giving back, and that's what it's all about, right?

That's why I want to, as you've all said, the importance of getting them throughout our community and finding ways to for them to feel like they have a voice they can make a difference, and what better way than to get involved and make a difference at the local level.

So I want to thank you so much for your support and just thank you for your leadership and and helping us to give these young people a strong voice moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Jesse, for being here.

Thank you.

All right, next we have the presentation by Sacramento Yola Mosquito and Vector Control District.

So we have Janelle Dirk.

Oh, sorry, we have somebody else.

Coming on up.

Well, good evening.

Well, they get that the presentation um up.

It's my pleasure to be here on this warm uh evening when mosquitoes are already out.

It's time for my annual presentation.

It's my pleasure to be here along with uh Janelle.

She is the representative for West Sacramento on our board, so I will be giving you guys a brief update on the mosquito situation and what we can expect for the rest of the upcoming months because summary is around the corner.

So let's get started.

All right, maybe.

I pressed for you told me.

Let's see.

Okay.

Okay, that's the bottom one.

All right.

Okay, so as you know, we are the local um district charged with protecting residents against mosquitoes and mosquito transmitted diseases.

We operate under the California Health and Safety Code, and our job is to make sure that residents can go outside without being eaten alive by the mosquitoes, which I'm sure you may or may not have already experienced some bites.

So mosquito season is here.

We've had kind of odd weather, right?

So today's super hot.

I saw that it's supposed to be raining next Tuesday.

We've recently had some rain as well.

So that combination of the rainy weather with the warm temperatures kind of gives mosquitoes a head start.

And you know, Westnall virus continues to be an issue for us as well as the concern for dengue and invasive mosquitoes is also growing.

So, you know, mosquitoes are gonna be a hot topic from now until October when it really starts to cool down.

Um and it's still a little bit too early to tell what kind of a season is going to be in terms of mosquitoes, but based on the fact that today we actually got our first um mosquito samples that tested positive for the virus in Tahoe Park in Sacramento.

You know, it does promise to be a very busy mosquito season because this is a lot earlier than other years.

All right, so as you know, mosquitoes come from different types of habitats in Yolo County.

We have lots of agricultural areas.

Um obviously we're very close to the river, lots of areas where mosquitoes can grow.

As a district, we know where those big sources are, but it's really the small backyard sources that we're more concerned about, right?

The dog dish, the fountain, the kitty pool, the neglected pools.

Uh one glucose pool alone can produce about a million mosquitoes over the course of a summer.

And oftentimes people always say, Well, I'm a good homeowner, I don't have any stagnant water.

Why do I still have a lot of mosquitoes in my house or in my yard?

Well, it could be that maybe, you know, a neighbor two or three blocks from you has a pool that looks like that that's green and dirty, and those mosquitoes can actually fly one to two miles and infect an entire neighborhood.

So, you know, mosquitoes are definitely um, they can not only be a nuisance, but obviously, you know, they are also a health threat.

But again, I always say the mosquito control is a collaborative effort.

We need everyone to do their part to at least once a week look around their yard and drain any sources of stagnant water before they become big problems, okay.

All right, so how do we control mosquitoes of the district?

We use what we call a mosquito man integrated mosquito management approach that includes a variety of elements.

So, first of all, public education information.

I'm the district's communication manager.

I'm in charge of all of our advertising campaign.

Anytime you hear a fight the bite message on the radio TV reminding you to wear repellent to drain water, that's all part of our education and public information campaign.

We obviously also participate in a lot of different um types of a community events uh here in West Sack.

We're always at rhythm on the river.

Uh we were at your Easter uh festival, um, and you know, we have we were also at a school um here in during mosquito awareness week last month.

Um, as part of our surveillance program, that's our laboratory, they're in charge of tracking and monitoring West Nile virus activity.

So they set mosquito traps to collect mosquitoes and then test them so that we can figure out where and how West Nile virus activity is you know being found.

That's how we were able to find the mosquito samples that tested positive today based on the important work that the lab does.

Uh and then based on that work, then we have our control operations that responds in turn by, you know, if we find positive mosquito samples in any given area, then we would respond by doing the spraying uh to make sure we're reducing those populations of mosquitoes accordingly so they're not posing a threat.

Uh we also have our biological controller, our mosquito fish.

If you have a pond or a fountain or a horse trough, we provide those mosquito fish.

Um they are great at eating immature or baby mosquitoes developing in water when each fish can eat between two to three hard two to three hundred mosquito larvae per day.

So, very, very efficient.

And then, of course, we also have uh our ecological management department where we work with really like big ranchers, big landowners to make sure that they're not breeding mosquitoes on their property.

So, all of that is a comprehensive approach to mosquito control.

All right, so as far as West Nile virus activity, um, last year, these are last year's numbers.

In West Sacramento, we didn't really have much activity, which is great, right?

So only one mosquito sample that tested positive.

So one sample is basically a group of mosquitoes.

So only one group, um, and then two dead birds.

So dead birds such as Jays, crows, magpies, they're the ones that have West Nile virus.

We only found two dead birds during the entire season of the test at positive, so that's great.

Statewide we had 113 human cases, 11 fatalities, unfortunately.

But the CDC estimates that for every reported case, there's 30 to 70 cases that go unreported.

So these numbers or the potential case numbers are actually a lot higher.

All right, so you were lucky in the West Not virus category, but very unlucky in the um in the in detections of invasive mosquitoes.

You can see that there's an area, you know, that uh West Sacramento has a growing and widespread population of invasive mosquitoes.

Not as bad as Sacramento and different areas within Sacramento, but um West Sacramento does have a growing population.

Um and of course, these are our aggressive day biting mosquitoes.

These are the ones that can transmit that have the capability of transmitted in dengue.

So two species that can transmit West Nile virus, two different species of mosquitoes that can transmit uh dengue.

In our whole area, we have about 27 different species that are active at different times of the year.

Um so the reason why we're so concerned is because you know, we're also already starting to see local virus transmission in Southern California of dengue fever.

So, with the fact that these mosquitoes are present now, all it would take would be for somebody to travel somewhere, get infected with dengue, come back, get bitten by one of those mosquitoes, and then that mosquito gets infected, and then it can bite somebody else that hasn't traveled, and that's how locally acquired cases occur.

Um, as I said, we do see travel related cases every year, and then the locally acquired case numbers are also growing, unfortunately.

All right, so how do are we controlling these uh these invasive mosquitoes?

Well, we actually need a lot of new tools because they are a growing threat.

And last year we actually uh we launched uh a pilot program called the Sterile Insect Technique Pilot Program.

We launched it in uh in South Natomas.

So basically, uh what we did was we were releasing sterile male mosquitoes.

Um these mosquitoes do not bite, and when these sterile male mosquitoes mate with the wild mosquitoes that might be in any given area, her eggs uh don't hatch, they become they're infertile, so it's a way of reducing mosquito populations over time without the use of pesticides.

Um, and you know, we had very good results.

We were able to decrease mosquito populations in that South Natomas area by about 40 percent.

So, because of these encouraging results, we are going to be doing moving forward.

We are gonna be planning uh not planning, expanding this SIT program to other areas.

Right now, we do have uh plans to roll out the same program in an area of Sacramento County.

Um, and we're gonna continue with our surveillance efforts with our education efforts, and of course, always encouraging people to report those mosquito breeding sources or problems to us so that we can go ahead and you know make sure that we're keeping a handle on um on this latest problem.

So, West Nile virus season is really upon us, and then of course, these uh these invasive mosquitoes um they're really a fall type of mosquito, but we're finding that because it's warmer and warmer, like earlier in the year, they're becoming more active earlier in the year, not just in the fall.

So, again, um this uh sterile insect technique is proving to be a valuable tool for us, so we will continue to use it along with our education and surveillance and everything else that we do.

So, with that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Um, any mosquito related questions you're itching to ask.

That was good.

That's a good one, huh?

I don't have any questions.

No, but I do would like um our PIO to connect with you to continue to socialize this information and find ways to, you know, fight the bite.

I love that too.

Thank you.

Okay, so Janelle, just reminding we have something very important.

So, as part of our free services that we offer, we do offer free home service inspections.

So if you're having problems with the mosquitoes around your house, you don't know where they're coming from, you can call us and we can come out and conduct a free home service inspection.

We also provide the free mosquito fish that we can deliver to you for your pond, your fountain, your horse trough.

We put them in the rice fields, all the pastures, all the big fossil wetlands are stocked with mosquito fish to help us control those mosquitoes.

We also offer free mosquito repellent wipes for any of your city uh events, your music in the park, your movies in the park, all your summer activities that are coming up.

We provide those uh for any agency that works with the homeless populations, especially along the river here in West Sacramento.

Um, that's all part of our free services that we could deliver to you.

And of course, if there's any other um groups that you think would benefit from a presentation from me, then I'm happy to come out and do a presentation for your neighborhood association, your PTA, like anybody that will listen to me, I will gladly talk to you about mosquitoes.

I love it.

Are you connected with our reclamation district?

I don't believe so.

Maybe we can make sure they have um uh the general manager's contact information, Blake Johnson.

Who um I think the fish would be helpful, you know, where we have our waterways or drains and things like that.

We have a lot of areas um in the Southport area.

We can put some fish.

Perfect.

I might get eaten by bigger fish, but yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's great.

Nothing else.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for your presentation.

Thank you.

Next is um our proclamation, which is the um proclamation of the West Sacramento City Council recognizing May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

And Councilmember Goodino Roscoe, you'll be doing the presentation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I do appreciate the opportunity to present this proclamation before our community.

Uh tonight we are offering the proclamation of the City Council of City of West Sacramento designating May 2026 as the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Whereas the City of West Sacramento proudly acknowledges the rich cultural heritage and significant contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in our community, and whereas AAPI Heritage Month is celebrated annually in May to honor the history, traditions, and diverse cultures of AAPI communities that have enriched our nation and very importantly, the West Sacramento community.

And whereas AAPI individuals have played a vital role in the development and growth of the city of West Sacramento through their entrepreneurial spirit, dedication and education, commitment to community service, and contributions to the arts, sciences, government, and beyond.

And whereas the city of West Sacramento is home to a vibrant and diverse AAPI population and recognizes the importance of promoting awareness and understanding of AAPI heritage while addressing the challenges faced by AAPI communities, including combating prejudice and discrimination.

And whereas the City of West Sacramento recognizes the strength, resilience, and contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and remains committed to fostering connection, belonging, collaboration throughout the community, reflecting the 2026 theme, power in unity, strengthening communities together, which celebrates the importance of collective voices, shared stories, and building bridges that unite and strengthen communities in future generations.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that by the West Sacramento City Council that the month of May 2026 be recognized as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of West Sacramento and the City Council encourages all residents to celebrate the contributions of the AAPI community.

Proclaim this 20th day of May 2026.

Madam Mayor, may I continue?

Yes, you may.

Thank you.

I'd like to ask Alexis Vettenko to please approach the podium, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd take your brief attention to call attention to the person at the podium.

As we all know, every time we have a proclamation such as this, there are a variety of different ways that we would present this.

Sometimes they're local community members, sometimes they're educational professionals, sometimes they are just figureheads in our community.

Today I ask our city council to please recognize Alexis Vitinkle as our recipient of this proclamation tonight.

Lexi, as she commonly is referred to, is a recent graduate of King Hall, which is the UC Davis School of Law.

There is a recent, she's only fresh out of the school.

She has several honors and awards, including the CEB best one L motion, and the class of 2026.

The Reynoso Academic Achievement Award, and I'm part of the Cruz Reynoso Law Bar Association, so I will say that she was presented this in 2024.

She was a finalist in the spring 2024 Intraschool Negotiations Competition and a finalist in the car competition, which is an interschool mock trial competition.

She was on the King Hall negotiation team, Trial Practice Awards Board, Asian American uh Pacific Law Student Association, the Business Law Journal Research Editor, the Business Law Society 1L representative, the Philippine X Law Student Association co-chair, and the Journal of International Law and Policy Research Editor.

The reason I bring this up, because normally we don't acknowledge the accomplishments of individuals when we acknowledge it's a AAPI Heritage Month, but you are our ancestors' wildest dreams, and as the sole um Asian American Pacific Islander representative on this council, I take great pride in saying that, and I not the last, I take pride in saying that when I look at you, I see the future.

And tonight we've taken great strides to acknowledge the contributions that we've all made and that children have made as they graduate through the continuum and their journeys toward greatness and to create such a better place that we now live in in our in our community.

Lexi, members of the council has volunteered on countless events in our community, including helping plant trees along the uh Sycamore Trail uh Orchard Path, as well as other volunteer opportunities and projects in our city.

Again, she is somebody who we have absolute what we should take great pride in acknowledging for becoming one of those leaders we all strive to be, even as we occupy places on this diet, which some people would consider to be a great honor.

I am honored by your presence here tonight.

And in the same uh tone of the way we've talked about the pathway uh to service.

Um we sit uh on this council on the shoulders of greats.

Uh we have recognized many AAPI leaders in our community.

The one most recently a long-term mayor who is a Filipino, and we have had three Filipino community um servants on this dais over the multiple years of this council being in operation.

I thank you so much for your contribution to the AAPI community, and thank you so much for joining us this evening to receive the proclamation.

Would you like to give any comments?

Um, I just want to say thank you so much for this recognition and for this proclamation.

I wouldn't be here today, especially without you, Councilwoman Orozco.

Um, you have been such an inspiration throughout my law school journey, and um I hope to be the woman and the leader that you are today.

Well, I didn't expect that, but thank you so much.

Um, thank you.

Thank you.

My colleagues.

I'm crying over here.

That was so sweet.

That was wonderful.

So, first of all, go Ags.

Congratulations, you're a badass.

Um, I love these proclamations because we get to honor and recognize a community that's sometimes unseen.

Um, and we get to elevate and have a conversation about just how special and important you and your family and um everybody in your community is that it makes West Sacramento so wonderful.

And so thank you for being here tonight.

Um it's so funny because one of the ways that I think you know we share our cultures is through food.

Um, and Filipino food is just the best.

Um, and when we talk about, you know, um our connections to community and food and just these things that's like it always just comes so strong and so I always am like will somebody invite me to like a lumpia rolling party at some point we talk about it all the time.

Between my little sister and Councilmember Roscoe who has said hey she can also roll I mean Lumpia I we should have a Lumpia challenge.

Yes and I know that just one portion of our AAPI community um but it's just that's the stuff that I think about I think it's so wonderful that you share your just soul with us and so thank you for being here tonight.

Congratulations on your success um and you know um what you said about Karina Roscoe I think um that was very special so thank you for sharing that as well.

I can go um I always also uh love these proclamations particularly the ones where we're able to acknowledge um the diverse culture of our community our entire community making sure that um everyone feels seen and that um everyone feels welcomed and that the diversity of our community is truly appreciated um I I recently had the opportunity to go to Japan and it was just such an amazing experience to be able to truly appreciate a culture that has um has uh temples that are over a thousand years old and really that has um treasured and um and given everyone the opportunity to truly appreciate it and um and that's I think one of the things that I love about our community as well is us being able to do again things like this um as well as hold events in which um we really truly appreciate everyone and so thank you for being here um also go ags uh you are very impressive um and I would actually be curious now that you are you said very very newly graduated uh what you're doing next um I will be going to LA and working at a firm for AI and data privacy love it that's great continue to be impressive thank you I was just gonna say your curriculum v tie was outstanding it was so impressive so I just want to wish you a lot of luck and your future and everything you do.

Thank you so much.

And council member is very um humble she's a family of attorneys as well and a son with the private practice practically yes.

I wish you the best and it it is um thank you so so much Councilmember Oldosco for you know recognizing this prominent um and outstanding representative for the AAPI community we have um you know as we go out on canvas and campaign we get a chance to go meet who the who are people who are who are voters primarily are and they um are Chinese Japanese we have a history Japanese internment um victims here in our community had a chance to recognize somebody who made it to 100 years old who was interned and um met with the family and um you know it's uh it's we have such a legacy of um AAPI members of our community so I'm so glad we get to recognize you and um as the legacy of all those that have um come before us and your continued service for our community so thank you so much for that and with that we should all go down thank you.

Up next.

Mental health awareness.

Mental health awareness.

Yes.

Continue.

Sorry, I'm sort of finding my spot here.

Our proclamation and um Robert, come on up.

Proclamation of the West Sacramento City Council recognizing May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month.

Good evening.

The best for last, okay.

Oh, wow.

All right, long day.

Well, you were the youngest in the family, so you're used to waiting.

Here we go.

Proclamation of the city council, City of West Sacramento declaring May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month.

Whereas the City of West Sacramento is committed to supporting those experiencing mental health challenges, and whereas nearly one in seven California adults experience mental illness, including one in twenty-six with a serious mental illness, and whereas local agencies and community organizations, including the Yale County Health and Human Services Agency, work collaboratively to pro to provide critical mental health services and support the residents of West Sacramento.

And whereas the in fiscal year 2024, 2025, 934 West Sacramento residents ages one to 96 engaged in mental health services with the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency, and 21,504 mental health services were provided, demonstrating both the need for an impact of accessible community-based care, and whereas ongoing investments in mental health services through collaborative projects such as the Crisis Intervention Team, the Crisis Co-Responder model, and the Crisis Now Behavioral Health Receiving Center are strengthening crisis response and improving outcomes.

And whereas the 2026 Mental Health Awareness Month theme, more good days together, reminds us that improving mental health is a shared effort and it calls on communities to come together to reduce stigma, expand access to care, and create more opportunities to make more good days possible.

And whereas the council responds recommends everyone needing support.

Proclaim this 20th day of May 2026.

Well, on behalf of the County HHSA and our director Monica Morales, we want to thank you, mayor and the City Council members for the support and uh the acknowledgement.

David Walker, our clinician's been there for many years, responding to the emergencies, and it feels as he is part of the family with the West Sacramento Police Department.

So thank you very much, Chief, for that.

And safety for the community is being one of the primary focuses of behavioral health interventions.

We are expanding services and uh would like to invite you all to tour one of the receiving centers that we are uh currently working with in Sacramento uh for those individuals that sometimes need a little time out, a little bit of a uh respite.

And so, you know, we are expanding services and and again, thank you for that support.

Thank you so much, Robert.

I just want to say I'm so proud of the work you do.

The leadership you show.

Thank you.

I do want to say, of course, um, as a clinician, I know that um, you know, the the stigma from anyone who's seeking care is um is very challenging but um you know we we do want to reduce the stigma you know recently we're a youth committed suicide and um it is something we still have to tackle these days it it has to get addressed we have to be more vocal so this proclamation um is not just a symbol of hey let's let's just do it because it's May but we got to be talking about it every single day and and you know doing more together in um more outreach and communication um for those in need who feel like there's no not you know nothing else they can do um to be able to access you know care and support so thank you so much for being here thank you for what you do out on the on the street and I've got a great team and they make it happen so thank you.

Thank you I appreciate it.

I'm sorry I never speak after you but may I just thank you sorry I missed my opportunity thank you for representing today I know my colleague Chris Ladesma for many years um would be honored to acknowledge this month as mental health awareness month um I will be remiss if I mention you know frankly it it's almost impossible to live in this world the way it is in these days without needing some type of support I think it affects every single person in this di in this uh gallery every single resident in the city of West Sacramento if they're old enough to know what a problem is and uh in a noisy world that is replete with so many different things trying to attack our attention all at once um it's uh it's really I think almost impossible to navigate this you know this this experience um without an outlet and so many of us have been taught to that this is a stigma ties thing that we must have mental health issues if we ask for help and I think that it's our time um to speak directly to that and really normalize uh the experience that's why you with my team the focus is to normalize the experience and to equate behavioral health or mental health issues equal to that of a diabetes or something like that it's an illness that needs to be treated.

Absolutely so thank you and thank you Madam Mayor for allowing me to speak of course may I as well yes thank you Robert thank you for being here you mentioned um 988 the suicide hotline and I watched a video recently and it reminded me um so before it was nine and eight it was a 1800 number um and in 2018 at the Grammys Logic um who's a rapper did a performance um and they call it the suicide prevention anthem and it was a very powerful performance and uh calls to the suicide hotline tripled in the hours following the broadcasts it was all about bringing awareness and sharing that resource and thank you for what you said about mental health is just like physical health it's something that we need to check in with our doctors on it's conversations we need to have our with our family and so thank you for the work that you do thank you for your connection to the community this is such a powerful thing that impacts every single one of us thank you and thank you to my staff and to again police department thank you all right take it down with the photo want to come on up yes you you do get your photo all right.

Okay, we have let me see who's coming up.

You're gonna read it or we just jump into it.

Hold on.

Let me let me read.

Let me see who's coming up.

Rebecca Scott.

It'll rain.

Rebecca Scott.

Okay, great.

Next is our proclamation recognizing May 1720 17 to 23.

2026 is National Public Works Weekend.

We have Rebecca Scott.

Would you please come on up?

How many public works people do we have in here?

We want you all come on up.

Yeah, let's go.

We need a team.

And we have Mayor Portem Silpizio Ho who has a very special presentation for you today.

So thank you, Madam Mayor.

Drum roll, please.

Happy Public Works Week.

We're in the middle of it.

Is there pizza and cookies every day at the office?

No, but we did have a wonderful barbecue today.

Okay, that's one remote.

No, we got invited.

Um so we have a twofer for you tonight.

I have a proclamation that I'm gonna read.

Um, and then I also have a statewide recognition that I'm gonna share with you as well tonight.

Um, and so we'll go through the proclamation, I'll do this award, and then we'll allow my colleagues to speak, um, share some stuff from the um uh the podium as well, and then we'll take a picture.

So proclamation of the city council, city of West Sacramento recognizing May 17th to 23 as National Public Works Week.

Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the people of West Sacramento, California.

And whereas the infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are employees, engineers, and managers at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's roadways, storm drain systems, water supply supply, water treatment, and solid weight systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens.

And whereas it is the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in West Sacramento to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and the understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities.

And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association.

Now, therefore, be a proclaimed that the City Council of the City of West Sacramento hereby recognizes week May 17 to 23, 2026 as National Public Works Week and urges all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and governmental agencies in activities, events, and ceremonies and barbecues designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing quality of life for all.

Proclaim this 20th day of May 2026.

Um I just want to on that note, public works.

Um public works does a bunch of stuff that nobody ever sees.

And when we're doing a really good job, that's a good thing.

Um, I remember when I was first elected to council and we had a terrible power outage in West Sacramento.

And Councilmember Early and I walked neighborhoods, knocked on doors, shared resources, and I remember talking to our city manager at the time.

Um, and um one of the things he said is like one of the things that people don't know is all the things that are happening behind the scenes that are still keeping the community safe.

A big part of it was public works, but it was also our water treatment facility.

We were out of water for a significant period of time.

Sorry, out of power for a significant period of time, but we had clean water.

We didn't have boil orders and sharing that with people and the work that's being done by our public works department in these times of peril was just a really powerful story because when we're doing a good job, nobody knows.

So thank you for your work on that.

Um, I um that twofer that I mentioned is a friend of mine reached out to me recently and shared with me.

Um, that um our public works department won a very large statewide award from Cal Cities earlier this year, and you have not seen it yet.

So the press release went out earlier, earlier in the year.

I love it.

I love the privacy.

This is a surprise.

That's why we had a drum roll.

Okay, so on behalf of Cal City's Public Works Department, President Rebecca Neves, I am pleased to present our Public Works department with the Cal City's 2026 Outstanding Local streets and road projects award in the safety category for the HSIP traffic safety and signal improvement project here in our city.

This federally funded effort brought targeted upgrades designed to reduce collisions, improve visibility, enhance pedestrian access at more than 20 locations throughout the community.

Planning was guided by the system systemic analysis report, which identified high-risk corridors and intersections.

As Director Neves said, this award-winning project reflects creativity, commitment, and innovation of city and county levels to improve rotary safety, strengthen communities, and help strengthen meet climate goals and challenging adverse circumstances.

That all inspired us in the daily pursuit of safety dependable transportation networks.

So very proud of this team.

As Rebecca and I were texting last night to coordinate delivery this morning, she made it very clear that this award is a big deal.

It's a statewide recognition of excellence and innovation and incredible works, public works team to project delivery, and West Sacramento is setting the standard for others to follow.

So behalf on President Needs, the California State Association of Counties, the League of California Cities, and the County Engineers Association of California.

It is my honor to present to you this award.

Okay, we're gonna add a few more people up here because this is a Capital Projects project.

So we actually got to give them a credit for the award.

We do have, yeah, we have Jay and some others from Capital Projects here.

So yeah, come on up.

Oh yay, Jay, my favorite.

Come on up, Jay.

We'll be nice.

Thank you.

And uh all credit on this one goes to David Wong and Kevin Tan, who um was a project manager and project engineer on this.

This is um all along Jefferson Boulevard, so those um intersection changes that were there and throughout the city um on Sacramento Avenue.

Uh those were uh that that's what this project was about, um, improving safety and corridors that we were frequently having accidents on.

So um that is very very important uh work that they did to get that done, uh, and then the grant to to do it in doing it in timely manner.

So thank you.

Go West Sack.

Good job, team.

I love it.

Go ahead.

Anybody else like to share?

Congratulations.

You are an award-winning team.

All the things that Verna um already said, um, and of course, we would be remiss if we did not mention measure o and all the things that because our community said yes, we believe in you, we want more, um, and we want to continue to invest in public works and all the things, and so thank you so much for your work.

Well deserved.

And as the official, you know, League of Cities, we actually we have two.

Um, Councilmember Alcala who's on the board and um myself.

I've been past president of the SAC Valley Division.

I just want to say congratulations.

It's I'm very proud of what you've accomplished and all of what was um Verna had said.

I know she's the recipient.

I'm not sure how all this worked out, but it's such great news.

I learned about it tonight as well.

I didn't realize it, so congratulations.

Thank you.

And ready to go down for the photo?

Okay, do it.

I was just gonna drop this off next to the job.

I think you're now a lot of it.

That was uh yesterday coordination.

Can I get a screenshot of you?

No, you can have this.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, we'll go.

Oh, yeah, all right.

Next is our consent agenda items eight through 15.

Are there any requests to remove any item for review, presentation, questions?

If none, um I'll ask for public comment, Madame Clerk.

Are there any requests to speak?

No request to speak on the consent agenda.

Early moves.

All right, Councilmember Early moved and Council Member Kala seconded.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Roscoe.

Aye.

Councilmember Alcala.

Aye.

Councilmember Early.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tim Solpezio Hall.

Mayor Guerrero.

Hi.

Thank you so much.

Next is item.

I believe it's.

16 under our regular agenda.

Consideration of resolution 26-32 and city council policy.

City Council.

Technically 17.

The new agenda is 17.

Oh, the new agenda 17.

I'm going by my binder.

Yeah.

Um consideration of resolution 26-32 in city council policy.

Is that I-B-08 regarding interactions with federal immigration authorities?

And we have Doug.

Hi.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Doug Drose, Deputy City Manager.

As the mayor said, this item is the consideration of resolution 2632 adopting city council policy IB 08 regarding city interactions with federal immigration authorities.

As outlined in the staff report, this proposal builds on actions taken by a previous city council.

Namely in 2017, the City Council voted to support California's SB 54, the California Values Act, which was subsequently signed into law, and also adopted resolution 1719 declining participation in the federal 287G immigration enforcement program.

Earlier this year, as part of the council's annual strategic planning session, this city council reaffirmed those positions and directed staff to evaluate additional policy options in response to increasing federal civil immigration enforcement activity across the nation.

The policy before you tonight is intended to provide clear operational guidance to city staff while reinforcing the city's long-standing commitment to public trust, community safety, and equitable access to city services.

This policy includes several core provisions.

First, it prohibits city employees from requesting, collecting, or sharing information regarding a person's citizenship or immigration status unless required by law or authorized by judicial warrant or court order.

Second, it prohibits city staff from detaining, arresting, transferring, or otherwise assisting in federal civil immigration enforcement activities except where legally required.

Third, the policy prohibits the use of city-owned or city-controlled facilities, including parking lots, garages, and open spaces as staging areas, processing locations, or operational bases for the purposes of federal civil immigration enforcement.

To implement that final provision, the policy directs a city manager to identify applicable properties, install signage where appropriate, and consider physical access controls such as gates or barriers if necessary.

The policy also establishes internal reporting procedures.

Any requests from immigration authorities for access to property, records, or city facilities will be documented and reported through department leadership to the city manager's office.

The city manager would then compile these requests and produce an annual public summary report to be provided to the city council.

It's important to note that this policy was drafted to remain consistent with state and federal law.

It does not interfere with the execution of lawful judicial warrants, criminal law enforcement activities, or any existing contractual obligations of the city.

As a reminder, staff developed this item in response to the council's 2026 strategic plan item titled Immigration Protection Response.

And we believe that the proposed policy supports also supports uh the strategic plan principle of fostering an inclusive and diverse community.

In closing, uh this policy preserves local control over somebody city resources and provides clear direction to employees.

For those reasons, staff is respectfully recommending that the city council adopt resolution 2632, approving this policy, and that the council author also authorize the city manager or his designee to take all actions necessary to implement the policy.

With that, I'm available to answer questions, as are the city attorney and police chief.

Thank you.

One councilman.

We do have one request to speak by Patience Silva.

All right.

Hello, City Council ladies.

Um I just want to thank you first for your service.

I know that you guys are all uh well intended, and I know you're putting in lots of effort, and I recently found out your stipends suck.

So uh thank you for your service.

Um I'm I'm really just asking you to vote no on Agenda 17.

Uh I want my city to be helped by the federal government, especially in the case where uh they need the ability to arrest criminals or there's issues that come along.

I would love for our city to communicate and collaborate with the federal government around those issues.

Uh I know at the beginning of the meeting we salute the flag, um, and it really is the pledge of allegiance, uh, really a sign of us aligning ourselves with the federal government, and I find this as an opportunity to take action to show that salute is a follow-through with it as far as communicating and collaborating with federal officials.

Um, so yeah, that's where my stance is, and I think that the council members should vote no on item 17.

I'm also curious into where it's really originated from, like the person or if it was one council member or one person in the city who suggested that item.

Because I think it's a pretty big decision to be bringing up.

So that would be helpful, I think, on a public level to hear more about.

Um last, I also think that it should be left to the personal decision of whatever city organization or city member is responsible for collaborating if they choose to do so with the federal government, as far as allowing that to be put in maybe the hands of the police officers or the fire department and let them choose whether or not they want to collaborate or lend their building or such to federal government to aid uh and those kinds of things.

So I highly recommend that you vote no on this because I really think it shows more unity for us to allow the collaboration with the federal government.

Um, and I suppose an extra last here is it seems like this uh agenda item is more based on a motion because it doesn't seem to have any actual substantive substantial stuff behind it because it says accept as required by law.

So I find it also kind of an emotional attack, really, against the government, and it just doesn't seem aligned with saluting the flag.

So I really um ask that you vote no on that item.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Click.

Are there any other requests to speak?

There are no other requests to speak for this item.

Thank you.

Um I would like to um praise this council for um advancing this policy.

Uh we we have seen how how ICE has violated the civil rights of the people in California, not only the immigrants, but citizens, opening up detention centers, contradicting what the goals are of ICE, which is to protect the citizens and the people of this country for border patrol, for security, for real criminals.

There are times there's a criminal there here and there, but for the most part, I've seen people working in farms, going about their business, being a farm worker, people selling their goods, or you know, people trying to can fulfill their obligations and going to a court and being dragged out of a court.

And I've seen just so many civil rights violations that I find that we have to take a stance, and not only that, but a bipartisan letter from the U.S.

Conference of Mayors is also standing locked arm in arm because we are frustrated.

We are frustrated with the actions that ICE has taken early on.

When they initially said they would ramp up, you know, and um increase getting people that are illegal and criminals, but we saw how they were attacking pretty much any any random person.

The goals of the U.S.

Conference of Mayors is to stop wearing face masks and military-style uniforms, visibly display their agency ID number and last name on their uniform, use body worn and vehicle cameras, interacting with the public and require the storage and access of footage recorded, reinstate ISIS sensitive locations policy, which is to prohibit immigration actions at schools, hospitals, institutions of worship courts, holding locations on the election day, but we anticipate that there can be intimidation and other such locations, which we decided to take action and move this forward today.

We stop conducting stops, questioning and searching based on the individual's presence of certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent, or their race and ethnicity, and to have a judicial warrant before entering publicly owned facilities or private property to pursue individuals, thus helping to end indiscriminate arrest.

What we do as mayors do not want is to continue to fund ICE because of these past civil rights violations.

We want an orderly process reinstated.

We want to reinstate the public's trust.

I don't know if we can ever do that with ICE.

I don't think it's ever possible.

I don't consider them law enforcement.

And that's what I say I have to say about that.

There was at one point a law enforcement agency, but I just don't see that anymore.

I, along with many people in this country, have seen ICE mistreat people, kill people, and pretty much say that they are terrorists if if they stand in the way.

That's not what ICE is for.

And so I fully support what's before us today.

And if my colleagues have anything else to say, yes.

Can we go?

Okay.

Um this was uh, as we heard uh during the staff uh presentation and report, uh this was something that was brought up during our strategic planning meeting by all of us in response to what we were seeing in the community.

So to be very, very clear, all of us are supporting this.

We are united in this, and I don't think there's anything more American than what we are doing right now, which is making sure that every single resident in West Sacramento feels protected, and we are doing what we can to support that.

We want to do that lawfully, and we want to make sure that public safety is being upheld to the fullest.

I think that's exactly what we're doing here.

Um I appreciate the council and all of all of us in the work that we are doing to strive to make sure that every single person that lives in West Sacramento truly is protected and feels safe.

We do that in our investments and our public safety, which we heard earlier.

We do that in this um in this uh vote that we are taking today to ensure that uh we are doing everything we can.

And so uh support what our mayor has said here tonight, um, support moving this forward, um, and am really very proud of all of us for standing firm and standing up for what we know to be right and what we know to be American.

Councilmember, yeah.

I don't know if you nodded in.

No, I'm here.

Okay.

I'll just say um, couldn't have said it better, madam mayor and Dr.

Early.

Um, thank you for your words.

Um, I'm proud of this council.

Um I am proud of the dynamic discussion that we had at strategic planning and um staff uh working with us on this.

Um, you know, I've received quite a few emails about ICE in West Sacramento and what are we gonna do about it?

And this is what we're gonna do about it.

And so I'm very proud to sit up here with you women to make this decision to protect our community um and to do what's right for everyone here in West Sacramento.

So thank you for being by my side on this.

All right, Councilmember, did you want to say anything?

I'm just ready to um this you moved it, yeah.

All right, you moved it, so moving it.

Yeah, second.

All right, council member.

Um, moved and council member um Orozco seconded, please call the roll.

Madam Clerk, Councilmember Orosco.

Aye.

Councilmember Alcala.

Aye.

Councilmember Early.

Hi.

Mayor Pro Tim Sulpizio Hall.

Hi, Mayor Guerrero.

Hi.

Next under general administration function part two of council assignment reports.

Anybody have any reports to share?

I have a couple.

So, you go first, I guess.

Let me get everything together.

Okay, all right.

I got you.

Um, let's see.

So we had it was a very busy council week for me.

Um, so uh Monday I had YTD, um, so that's YOLA Transportation District, and we had an opportunity to uh review the first draft of YTD's budget.

And um there were some concerns expressed by both myself as well as my colleagues regarding um some uh what was considered one-time cuts but potential cuts uh to LTF dollars that come uh to our various jurisdictions, including West Sacramento.

Uh it would have resulted in a deficit of $312,000 for West Sacramento's portion of that cut alone, which funds via, just to be very clear.

And this is a conversation that we I think continue to have on this council.

Um I was very vocal uh about not being able to support a budget that would have those kinds of cuts across our jurisdictions, but particularly for our own transportation, um, which would result in and cuts to our services on the via side, which again on the Yale Transportation District side, and we've talked about this, relies on our microtransit for um areas that they don't hit on uh the fixed uh transit routes, and so think of back to that short range transit plan.

They came and reviewed and they said, well, we worked with what you had was coveraged in via, and because of that, we are going to reroute our fixed route system, right?

Um, which makes sense.

However, if you then cut dollars that come to us that we then fund via with, in essence, you're cutting our transportation.

Um, and so uh push back on that, very hopeful that the uh budget that we will see come back to us in June.

Uh, will not have uh those levels of cuts because uh Roberta will uh be very upset with me if I don't know but um but but in reality I just don't think that's something that West Sacramento can handle.

So um that was uh a very good discussion um this month this past Monday.

Uh then we had uh Carta, which was today that is the capital area region uh tolling authority um earlier today, uh or maybe yesterday, my days have started to blend together, um, in which we announced our new executive director, uh which is uh Kathleen, who actually comes from uh SACOG.

So she will be the new executive director of the Capital Area Region Tolling Authority.

We are very excited and very proud of that.

Um and then we also reviewed uh the very first draft budget of the Capital Area Regional Tolling Authority and had um really interesting discussions about the I-5 expansion.

We've talked a lot about the I-80 expansion.

Um, but next up as we continue to do our tolling authority, um actually is the I-5 project.

And so we had discussions around that as well.

Maybe yes, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, let's start with the May 7th um commission to end homelessness.

Uh the annual point in time count um was released, and so I think you there's been a handful of articles.

Um, the point in time count gives us a one-night snapshot of homelessness across Yolo County and helps guide future funding, outreach, shelter, and housing strategies.

This year the countywide count and divided, sorry, identified 912 individuals experiencing homelessness, a slight decrease from 942 in 2024.

Of those, 597 people were unsheltered and 315 were staying in shelters or transitional housing.

For West Sacramento specifically, the count identified 358 individuals experiencing homelessness, up from 288 in 2024, which was an increase of 24%, but regionally it was 30%.

So our numbers remain steady.

West Sacramento now has the highest shelter population.

That's because we're building shelters for folks and we're creating housing for people.

So all of the work with our motels, this is why our numbers high, with 159 individuals in shelters or transitional housing, reflecting both the scale and need of the investments in our community that we've made.

Unsheltered homelessness in West Sacramento also increased modestly from 184 to 199 individuals.

Obviously, we know that homelessness is complex, tied to behavioral health, disability, long-term housing instability.

Countywide, 65% of the individuals counted met the federal definition of chronically homeless, 28% reported serious mental illness, and 34 reported substance use disorders.

So one important takeaway from the report is that the point in time count is only a snapshot.

Weather conditions, temporary stays with friends or family, and visibility can affect all the numbers.

But despite those limitations, the data continue to show a significant need for continued investments in vegetable shelter, supportive housing, behavioral health services, and regional coordination.

And what's also interesting is that the report notes really show that a lot of the folks experiencing homelessness in our county have longstanding ties to Yellow County, including family connections, prior residency, and it really comes down to a local or regional household for housing affordability and health services challenging, not simply people just coming from other places.

And so I want to thank um Mark Sawyer and Taylor Nelson from the police department for spent sitting down and going through these numbers with me to help me understand the little the data a little more and you know just want to thank our team for the work that they do.

I do know that there's more work that needs to be done.

Um housing affordability is such a huge conversation, but you know, West Sacramento continues to show up in the executive commission to address homelessness with incredible grant presentations and winning grants to make sure that we keep moving this forward.

So thank you for everybody on the team who's working through that.

So my next update is from the Yellow Habitat Conservancy.

Um, we met on Monday and received our and well, we got to meet our new executive director, Kathy Little.

So that's very exciting.

She's been in Yolo County for the last 20 plus years, so very excited.

Um working through some staffing with the county.

Um we um are uh fully funded organization, and instead of going out on our own and kind of starting our own organization, we chose to stay with the county, and so with the county's budget constraints at the moment, working through our MOU and kind of we just were able to finalize that.

And then we received our annual report, and it's really cool to um, you know, the Yellow Habitat Conservancy is kind of a hard organization to like explain and understand, but ultimately it's to forget protect um our habitat in the community.

And so when new developments come in, um developers have to mitigate.

Um, we buy land, we um make sure the boroughing owls are safe, we get plant native species, and so to see the results and see more borrowing owls and see more native species growing, and then to see a handful of projects in West Sacramento, including Grand Gateway be part of the Yellow Habitat Conservancy and seeing these big projects, you know, being able to come to um fruition, but also protect the community at the same time, is really nice to see.

So I want to thank our habitat conservancy team for all the work they've done this past year.

And then my final update is May 18th.

Uh, Yellow Sub Basin Groundwater Agency fee study.

Uh the YSGA was created under the state sustainable groundwater management act to oversee and protect groundwater resources across the region.

So up until now, the agency has largely been funded through grants and member agency contributions.

But the state now requires these agencies to become self-funded moving forward.

So the last year YSGA has been working through a public fee process study process with extensive community outreach throughout Yellow County, including workshops in Clarksburg, Woodland Winters, as far as our denagam, and virtual meetings as well.

Um earlier this year, the YSGA board approved moving forward with a two-tier regulatory fee structure that would fund ongoing groundwater monitoring, reportance, compliance, compliance is very important because we're required by the state if you're we're in the sub-basin to be compliant, and have this have the regulatory paperwork and long-sterm sustainability efforts.

The proposed program would generate about 1.6 million across the sub-basin.

So for West Sacramento specifically, our annual contribution increases.

Originally it was 40,000 a year, which the city pays.

Individual residents aren't being assessed for this, and it goes to about 48,000 under the new structure.

Overall, the intent is to maintain local control of groundwater management, stay compliant with state law, and ensure long-term water reliability for the region.

And everybody knows how important water is.

And so just want to these studies are very arduous processes, and so the YSGA team did an incredible job, and it was nice to be as a board be able to move this over the cross the finish line on Monday.

There's my updates.

Any other updates?

Councilmember O'Connell?

I was just gonna say, Mayor, um, we have a with SafeCo meeting tomorrow, and then there's a budget meeting for the Yolosal and Air Quality Management District.

I serve on the budget committee on Friday.

I also wanted to mention that a lot of folks reach out to me.

They're not the kind of folks that will come to a city council meeting, but they have a lot of concerns.

And I want to thank you also because I mentioned these things to you and and to our city manager too.

And I think that um it's it's really important that these individuals know that they can reach out to their council members.

I think that's the most important thing.

So I just wanted to say that I think all of the council here um is very open to meeting with constituents.

I know it's hard to sometimes make these meetings, but I think it's one of the good things that we do here in Wissax.

Thank you.

Um any other updates?

Okay.

So earlier today, the YOLO County Animal JPA met, and um they reviewed what the um, you know, what what is currently happening in um in their animal services, and we we rank pretty much comparable to woodland in um how many animals are being picked up and how many are rescued, and we find that the highest concentration is in the northern part.

Um pretty much more like along West Capitol Avenue, and I'm curious to learn more about why that's the case and what we can do as a city, and it and it may be that um we can do more um sterilization of maybe cats, um, so to do more outreach for that, and um if there's anything we could do to provide support for those with pets, but I I just still don't have enough information.

What we are um trying to determine is whether or not we want to establish a JPA for operations, and we have yet to receive a presentation.

I learned that we have not.

Area in the city has, and we're still waiting.

I was unable to express what our you know what my council's feedback was at the meeting today.

Um, so we're um gonna try to actively pursue getting that presentation done because they're moving forward with the conversation, costs, things like that.

So I don't want us to be left out.

Um, and last week I joined um the US mayors and CEOs um uh on housing.

It's a uh bipartisan group of mayors and um CEOs in Washington DC.

Umette does a good really good job of um providing a lot of meetings with congressional members and including the White House.

Um I felt like we were able to articulate what our priorities are.

There are two um legislative proposals, the Senate's 21st century Road to Housing Act and the House's housing for the 21st century act, which would streamline federal reviews for housing development and reform housing programs and incentivize new construction.

These um bills would help increase the nation's housing supply, reduce regulatory barriers to construction, and provide greater flexibility within critical funding programs like home CDBG and establish new grant programs that would support state and local housing development funds.

So the expansion of what we can do with CDBG, I think um everybody's really excited, and um the opportunity to use a new funding stream, which is for innovation.

I think um a city like ours would benefit from that.

So we are hoping that um we see this um, I think this historic legislation be finalized.

It's been over 20 years that something like this has happened.

I think somebody asked me, how come there's how come like you know, um, do you think Congress has anything to do with um housing?

I'm like, because they can never come to an agreement.

It takes about 20-something years for that to happen.

It's their responsibility.

And finally, we have two bipartisan bills, and we have a president who's willing to sign something.

I think the president has made his demands known, and that was integrated probably the night before we arrived.

Um, so there were more mock-ups to the legislation to encourage the credit the president's signature.

We anticipate given the timeline for congressional action for this to um be finalized in three weeks.

We are still keeping our fingers crossed, optimistic that anything can happen.

The other um action we were asking is to increase and maintain funding for critical housing, homelessness, and community development programs in the appropriations bill.

As you heard, there were um programs like CDBG, homeless assistance programs, housing vouchers, and pro housing grants that are vital to us, and they were proposed for cuts.

So we do we did um here's some positive feedback that they would restore it.

It took Congress last year to restore that and they're gonna restore it again.

Um this year, though that was the positive feedback.

We I think they really understand from the mayors how important this is, and we also put our our resources and support on the table for to do anything else that we need to do to take action.

I just want to give a big shout out to Manette because they they do allow for mayors to be front and center and and organize these meetings.

They do this every year.

Um, but I felt like uh the impact we had this year, and also that open access to um members um in the White House administration was pretty important.

I think that was very helpful.

So with that, um, go next to council calendar.

Yeah, just a reminder that tomorrow is the state of the city at 11 a.m.

in the galleria downstairs.

And then we do have a city manager report, and as it pertains to one of the departments that Ariana oversees, she's gonna give that report.

Good evening.

I wanted to share some news with the council.

Um, some fittersweet news.

Happy, happy for her, sad for us.

Um, our community development director, Andrea Aus, um, has put in her resignation and will be uh here through the end of the month.

Um, and so since this is her last meeting, I wanted to acknowledge her and uh recognize her and her hard work that she's done with the department.

Um, and I think it it's almost five years when I was doing the math right.

Yeah, almost five years that she's been with us.

Um, and so uh wanted to acknowledge her and give her recognition and also um we happen to have um Desmond Corley, who's our current um development, I don't want to get it right, services manager, um, who's going to be taking over as interim um director along with Tristan Osborne, our planning manager in the meantime as we recruit for replacement.

Um so if you are not familiar with Desmond, you probably should be already.

Um, he's been doing a great job, he has um accepted taking the role as an interim, um half interim and uh working through the transition, um, but wanted to inform uh the mayor and council tonight.

Anyone want to say anything?

Um right.

Well, uh, first off, Andrea, why?

We we just got you, we just trained you.

You understand?

Desmond, you know, hang in there.

You're always gonna get bombarded with questions.

You know, we get a lot of calls and demands about what what's up with my, you know, um project.

Why isn't it gotten approved yet?

So um, you know, there's yes, go ahead.

Go ahead.

So, of course, you are going to be missed.

We um we have had a chance to work together over the past couple years on transportation, and so appreciate um your willingness to uh always go search out the answers to my questions.

I have in case you can't tell or don't know me, I always have a lot of questions uh to everything.

Um, and so appreciated your hard work, appreciated your team's hard work, as I said, particularly on on transportation.

Um, and so thank you so much.

And congratulations, because I'm almost positive this is going to be uh promotion.

And so congratulations on your on your on your new journey.

I think that I think this is a tremendous surprise, but at the same time, I understand that all journeys, um, you know, necessarily come to an end, regardless of whether or not it's uh it's you know, sooner or later we all have to move on to other things that bring us joy and that fulfill our purpose.

Um I've had extraordinary conversations with you uh over the last several years.

I've been grateful for the opportunity to work with you to learn from you, um, and to help guide the city forward, specifically and most importantly for me in district two, or most of the development is occurring.

Andrew, you've always been just a quick call and a very responsive um call away from all of the answers that I seek, and you will be extraordinarily missed.

Um I wish you the best as you navigate new terrain, and just know that um West Sacramento was a great greater place with you calling it home.

So I hope that this isn't the end of the road with you as a resident here.

Um, and I I wish you the best.

Um, and I know that your new endeavor will incredibly be benefited.

Uh they will be benefited by your sound mayor.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, there you are.

Um thank you for your service to the city.

I know um, you know, working in your department is not easy, and you know, like city council, we don't get calls being told we're doing a good job.

I always come to you and it's like, hey, we've got something stacked for let's have a conversation about this project.

And I just appreciate you always trying to work things through with me.

And like one of my favorite memories of you is when we were talking about we were at the council meeting, you were um at the podium, and we talked about a culture of yes, and I appreciate you um making sure that happens in our city, and so thank you for that.

Um, I hope we get to keep you as a resident in District 4.

Um, thank you for your service to the community and wish you well in whatever's next for you.

Council member.

I want to wish you the best.

A lot of happiness, and I hope that you get to work with great people like you have in this city.

Well, all I can say is you've um been through real a real impactful change during your time here.

I think you've done a lot.

You know, I can think of the cannabis, license, spending a lot of hours on that.

Very, very insightful, and I appreciated our time, you know, the time we had to hammer out the the pros and cons and the benefit of the city.

And I think just I appreciate that you you always watched out for the city and the and the benefit of or the just to make sure the city was in the best position moving forward.

Um, so your honesty and um your knowledge and uh just um full integrity in the work you do, and I wish you the best and whatever look forward to seeing more more adventures.

I see you continue to move up.

I was a little nervous when I saw that they appointed you to something.

I'm like, she's gonna leave us, but you are you are um very um experienced and knowledgeable, and you do great work.

So I wish you the best in what you do.

Thank you.

Thank you for letting us know on.

Um, anything else?

All right, um city attorney report.

I have no report tonight.

Staff direction from city council members.

Uh no, I do have an acknowledgement though, Madam Mayor.

Yes, okay.

Okay.

We did receive these handy dandy uh West Snack Local Guide.

It was something that our council discussed at the retreat in February.

Uh for the folks that are watching, all three of you.

Um this is an eat and drink like a local guide.

Please share it far and wide to all of your friends that are coming to A's Games and River Cats Games and or just enjoying the amenities that our mighty little city have to offer.

They uh include restaurants, where to play, where to stay, and eat and drink like a local.

So these local guide, honestly, it answers my prayers.

I feel like this is exactly what we were looking for, and I'm so grateful that it's on in a pocket size guide.

So kudos to staff.

Yeah, looking great.

Thank you so much.

This is great.

Appreciate it.

Um, and yes, um, you know, given given the recent um departure of deputy chief.

I as far as staff direction, I would like to, you know, work with the with the chief on what exactly happened there and how to um increase communication.

I received an email late in the afternoon.

I'm not sure if that's the best way to be informed, but I would like improve communication on that moving forward.

Future agenda item requests by council?

None.

Okay, we are now adjourned.

Thank you.