Thank you Mayor and members of the City Council and good afternoon. It's my pleasure to provide your presentation on the city council strategic plan. I'd like to acknowledge the great work that staff continues to perform throughout the city for our community members um and this work is reflected in the comprehensive progress memorandum provided to use an attachment to the agenda report Additionally, I'd like to extend my gratitude to the strategic planning team and the prioritization team in preparing this information. There's a lot of work that goes into compiling all the great work that our staff is doing, compiling it and putting it together for tonight's presentation, and then also at year-end presentation.
So tonight's presentation is framed in three sections. Section one provides City Council a performance update on fiscal year 2025-26 strategic plan it's important that we check in with you to ensure that action strategies are moving in the direction as expected by the city council Section 2 is an overview of the goals and the values of the existing plan. And then Raina Robertson, Budget and Purchasing Manager will lead off section 3 and will provide you an overview of major project prioritization to receive confirmation from you for these projects to be included in budget development and for further council review through the budget development process.
The prioritization process ensures that the city's resources are used on major projects and programs aligned with City Council's priorities. We often start by reviewing the mission statement, which the work that we do, the action strategies, the goals and objectives of support. And it reads, we are dedicated to providing effective and efficient municipal services that promote a high quality of life, economic vitality, and a safe environment for all.
Last year, staff and Council's review focused on ensuring that City Council's policies and directives were aligned with the strategic plan. Some goals and objectives were added, removed, and revised. Intentional emphasis was made to efforts such as public safety, emergency resilience, technology, city facilities, water and wastewater sustainability, and environmental sustainability.
As a result of this work with the City Council, the City Council's strategic plan is comprised of 11 goals and 100% are activated. 67 objectives and approximately 125 action strategies are current active and ongoing including the 11 that were directed by city council in the current plan Some action strategies are one-time tasks or projects, while many become programs services and activities that are incorporated in the day to day operations. Most action strategies can take several months to years to fully develop and be implemented. And this is why it's this process is so important we want to make sure that what we are doing is aligned with the City Council's priorities Because after that is established, we look at action strategies to support those.
We look at the resources that are needed. And when I mentioned that action strategies can take several months to years to fully develop and implement, we look at these resources to understand the need and the sustainability of these resources. Will this be a one-time project that we have to invest resources in a 1 to 3 year period? Is this a project or program that may continue and what will those needed resources be now as we do analysis into implementation.
So the agenda, the written report in part of the agenda provides a lengthy update on organizational progress on all the City Council's goals. For this section of the presentation we will limit it to some performance targets as the report contains much additional information. I do have to say that this part of the workshop is pretty lengthy and summarizing key achievements And so I'm going to change it up a little bit from in section 2, but put a pin on that now and I'll explain how will do Let's begin with fiscal management. That is our goal number one.
Understanding and maximizing the City's fiscal position is critical for strategic planning in ensuring that the City's resources are invested with prioritization in mind. Staff continue to aggressively seek grant funds and federal and state appropriations, evaluating investment options and setting fiscal opportunities for major projects. As you know, we are currently undergoing the water reclamation plant that's upgrades major project and we're still studying the financial capability of that project.
The city continues to work with Caltrans on funding for the lost process bridge program through the application submitted to the highway bridge program for fiscal year 2024. However as an alternate plan, the city submitted an application to the highway bridge program fiscal year 2026 cycle For a total of 19.8 million additionally the city was successful in securing CMAQ and STBG funding to enhance safety across our intersections and the Pleasant Valley bike lanes project so as you can see here there are five main focus areas we also submitted six support letters for funding opportunities Community enrichment. This involves a partnership between government and community the graffiti abatement program is a great project, and it's scheduled as the need arises and as well, and it's also a great volunteer opportunity city staff received and handle 214 reports of graffiti.
I think some way may say well we don't CC. We don't see graffiti in city of Camarillo that's because as soon as it's reported either by it could be a constituent, it could business member it could staff and sometimes the City Council but as soon as reported its handle we also identify we track it we monitor we stay on top In fiscal year 2526, a total of 181,000 was awarded in community service grants to 19 organizations. The City Council was expecting us to expand contributions to nonprofits and that was achieved.
These events and programs benefited approximately 18,000 residents. Additionally a total of 167,000 was awarded in community event grants to six organizations. Their events and programs benefited approximately 57,000 residents. And most recently City Council contributed to FoodShare to help with food insecurity in the amount of $70,000. In fiscal 2526, the City had a total of $504,000 in CDBG funding to allocate and to support non-profit organizations for the variety of service needs in our community.
Art installation at this park continues to move forward after City Council approved the proposed art in 2025. Installation is beginning and the art installation is expected to be completed by February or March of this year with the ribbon cutting, grand opening expected mid-March. There are other examples of public art in the progress report provided. The city's homelessness efforts are delivering measurable results through smarter data systems, strategic partnerships and focused outreach that prioritizes Camarillo residents while maintaining regional coordination.
The data-driven system inefficiency is driven by Project HOPE. They implemented a by name list tracking system for real time monitoring and launched a centralized online intake form that has already received 21 service requests since late September. With 57% being non-Camarillo residents who were appropriately screened out and referred to their home jurisdictions, allowing staff to efficiently focus resources on individuals with local connections.
The housing outcomes and impact the program achieved 14 permanent housing placements and assisted nine additional individuals in transitioning to emergency shelter, transitional housing or family reunification resulting in an 11.3% reduction in active unsheltered homelessness. Despite 14 newly identified individuals entering the system, this demonstrates that outflows exceeded inflows through targeted intervention.
Strategic partnerships delivered significant support, including $21,000 in donated services from RAINN communities for housing stability assistance and a new collaboration with Adult Protective Services to prevent homelessness among vulnerable elderly residents. This also was used for holiday initiatives providing toys to 20 children and 50 Thanksgiving meals were distributed in partnership with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
And lastly, as an item here on the community cleanup efforts. Project HOPE coordinated cleanup operations at Camarillo Park and Ride with California Highway Patrol and Caltrans along Pleasant Valley Road with City Public Works and with along with Pleasant Valley Road with City Public Works maintaining a balanced approach that addresses public space concerns while at the same time connecting individuals to resources and services.
In public safety and emergency resilience, the city staff worked on the Retail Alcohol Sales Zoning Ordinance Amendment. Staff evaluated the impacts of retail alcohol sales and developed a zoning ordinance updates. The ordinance is scheduled for second reading tonight and it's anticipated to take effect on March 1. Under public nuisance regulations, staff effectively managed 371 public nuisance concerns through Camarillo Connect, achieving 97.33% voluntary compliance rate. This takes a lot of effort by staff to go out in the field and meet with residents, community members to discuss the public nuisances and to ensure that they understand the code.
Under Camarillo Police, you reviewed the report that the Camarillo Police Department's Community Resource Unit continues to conduct extensive community outreach. We heard you counsel that you want us out into the community so they are educating the public on crime trends, crime prevention and emergency preparedness among many other subjects. They present at homeowners associations, churches, businesses and directly with residents and at events. More details provided on page 8 of the progress memorandum.
You heard about the great work that project continues to do supporting the unhoused and unsheltered community, as well those experienced a mental crisis and you can find additional detail in the report as well. On page 12 of the report, you'll find that the addition of a patrol cover car in September of 2024 resulted in workload balances and response times were positively impacted for critical calls at every beat.
Turning to emergency resilience. The safety element was adopted on September 10th to align with recent state law changes and to strengthen the city's approach to community preparedness response, hazard reduction. Staff is currently working to implement the identified strategies to ensure community resilience. The climate action plan was reviewed by the Economic Development and Land Use Committee and Planning Commission. Staff anticipates presenting it to City Council at the February 25th meeting.
And then finally, several community meetings continue to happen. The police department staff, city staff, fire prevention and others focused this year on emergency preparedness. One example includes an informational meeting at Leisure Village to discuss emergency preparation and evacuation concerns. I have two slides on land use, transportation, transit and community development.
First the comprehensive general plan update is underway. Staff have initiated citywide outreach including community events, stakeholder interviews and youth engagement. We completed a technical background report and convened across department core team. Outreach efforts continue as well as the formation of the advisory committee and we plan on hosting a community workshop soon.
Staff completed a market analysis to identify funding sources and assess current marketing conditions for redevelopment opportunities for the Camarillo Common Strategic Plan. Staff conducted outreach to the property owners to identify potential constraints that can be addressed through an update of the plan. In under Commercial and Industrial Zoning Ordinance Amendment, the ordinance amendment is scheduled to be presented to City Council on February 25th. The updates are designed to make the development process more efficient and business-friendly while also enhancing staff's ability to administer zoning regulations.
Regarding public transit the camera area transit has recently implemented the tap to ride platform, enabling passengers to pay with a credit card on the fix and trolley route. Passengers on dial-a-ride yes they can also play pay by credit card. CAT also took possession of three new transit vehicles this fall, completing its three-year replacement plan of the 17 of 18 vehicles.
And the City Council recently received a presentation from VCTC concerning the short range transit plan. Efforts continue on this item. Under Community Development, the Down Payment Assistance Program to date has produced 13 loans and with two additional loans in the pipeline. That means that we will have after those two loans are issued 15 new homeowners due to the policy that the City Council has on its down payment assistance program.
One of those, the two additional loans are scheduled for City Council approval tonight and one loan is in the process. All funds totaling $800,000 are fully appropriated. The temporary transitional housing project is currently in plan check with building and safety and staff anticipate the project to be operational by the end of the fiscal year. You'll be assured some additional updates on that project. And then the Arneill Road permanent supportive housing project, staff are finalizing the notice inviting BITS to select a general contractor for project construction.
Transportation and safety improvements have included installation of a rapid flashing beacon at Adolfo Camarillo High School. Also, installation of two speed feedback signs increase the total signage to 10 throughout the city. And there's a really cool picture of one that tells you your speed is as you're traveling through our city. So those are the speed feedback signs.
We also installed two audible pedestrian systems which now increases the city's 64 cities are signalized with the audible pedestrian systems. The transportation and infrastructure has included executing an agreement with Caltrans for them to perform a city water mainline relocation as part of their SR 34 project Installing 60 automatic transfer switches, allowing traffic signals to safely transition to backup power source during powder outages. This is really important during powder outages to reduce potential accidents, to increase evacuation flow when necessary.
The installation of these 60 automatic transfer switches are necessary. The super capacitor hybrid battery backup systems were installed at 11 intersections along Santa Rosa Road and four intersections along Upland Road. Under traffic operations and technology. We've installed a installation of safety cables at 200 signal Street names in response to high wind events have been completed. We've also installed at the installation Moving on to technology and city facilities, and these are two areas which there was an emphasis this year as we were creating and forming new goals or restructuring the goals.
In support of Council's goal to modernize and maintain critical infrastructure, the City has advanced key initiatives across cybersecurity, infrastructure resiliency, and operational modernization, strengthening system security, expanding hybrid public engagement, and improving power and connectivity reliability. And advancing data, energy and building management capabilities. Together these efforts establish the foundation for enterprise-wide operational budget.
I'm sorry excuse me enterprise wide operational support including the Enterprise Asset Management System. There are several projects in each of these areas so although they're key topics there are several projects that we will be endeavoring in this year. Talk about efficiencies when you switch the button from manual to using technology. So one of the first major initiatives under the Technology Modernization Plan is the implementation of an enterprise asset management system. This will modernize how the City manages assets across finance, fleet, facilities, water, wastewater, streets and traffic. After a 16-month evaluation and prioritization process, this enterprise system will replace manual and paper-based processes with integrated mobile workflows, improved reporting, and long-term capital planning.
Council will begin hearing this item as early as February 11th at the February 11th meeting. So why is this important? Well, or some important key factors of all of this. Most cities regionally are in the process of replacing their legacy EAM systems so most cities have an EAM system but we have the benefit of starting fresh and learning from shortfalls. So while we have not implemented one, we have learned a lot from our neighbors.
We will be connecting systems, fixing integrations with existing systems. We will be modernizing operations something like going from manual logbooks to technology such as iPads. We will have the ability to have reporting and analytics When we come to the City Council and we ask for new assets, when we plan for future needs, we can use the information that we will be tracking and monitoring through an EAM system to provide that justification and support. Right now as I mentioned earlier, we're going from paper log books to technology In the area of natural resource infrastructure and management, community outreach continues. And we're doing really well in this area. We've delivered water conservation messaging across multiple channels. We've had social media posts, newsletter articles, cablecasts and websites.
We continue our rebate program continuing water efficiency rebates for low flush toilets and recirculating water heaters. Our conservation installations continue. We provided one hot water pump rebate, installed two smart irrigation controllers, converted 350 feet to drip irrigation, completed 67 nozzle retrofits throughout our community and conducted four water service surveys to identify reduction opportunities.
And a project that we're very proud of and that is moving very quickly is the AMI Meter Project. It's launched summer of 2025 to replace approximately 14,000 water meters. It provides real-time automated reading and usage data to city and customers, and we're currently at 64% complete. For someone that recently had an irrigation water with an immense loss of water, an AMI system is really important.
That was me by the way. Sustainability environmental stewardship. The police station was retrofitted with a lighting system providing efficient energy systems that provides environmental sustainability and cost savings. It replaces antiquated obsolete equipment that can no longer be repaired. The corporation yard projects started this month, so you'll be hearing about more of that. This is really important. It replaces antiquated obsolete equipment that can no longer be repaired. So it's no longer an option that we have where we want to be more energy efficient, yes, we want to be more energy efficient and we will be installing energy efficiency but when something goes down in our lighting and HVAC system as well as other systems they cannot be repaired.
So we are in you will start seeing projects and why facility was another key focus. Our city facilities because we have had some deferred maintenance that an outdated We've also purchased seven additional Ford F-150 Lightning trucks and one E-Transit van, bringing the total to 20 vehicle replacements out of the 33 targeted. We've implemented the 33 City Fleet Vehicle Replacements identified for replacement by 2026 And we're proud to talk about the Bike to Work event scheduled for 2026, promoting and encouraging employee participation in regional and national bike-to-work days and months.
On the solid waste program highlights for sustainability environmental stewardship, very proud of our numbers. Solid Waste Division's major achievements include successfully procuring over 3200 tons of organic material. This advances sustainability and diversion goals exceeding the state's mandated target for the city. So we have exceeded their mandated target timeline We established a partnership with Pleasant Valley Rec and Parks District to directly support local park improvement projects through a $30,000 voucher issued to the district for the use of compost and mulch. We completed more than 10,000 SB 1383 waste audits strengthening compliance across residential and commercial sectors. And we promoted solid waste programs and organics recycling, not just in our newsletter and through social media but also by attending summer concerts and other events reaching the 2200 residents that come out to our concerts.
On the economic development front, we've embedded the Economic Development Strategic Plan into daily operations. A plan refresh is targeted for quarter one 2026 to ensure that Camarillo's economic development strategy is effective and aligned with the needs of the community. ChooseCamarillo.com continues to be a strong business information and marketing platform for the city with almost 4,000 views from July to December 2025.
The focus this coming year will be to incorporate aerospace defense into the industry section and highlight more local businesses. In terms of business retention and expansion, Camarillo's business space is broad and active with nearly 4400 firms operating in Camarillo. 75% in commercial districts and 25% home-based and 3700 companies that serve our market but are based out of the city.
Despite global uncertainty, Camarillo's vacancies are lower than state averages. Retail vacancy continues to be low at a rate of 4.1% compared to the state's overall figure of 5.4. The $11 million square feet of industrial space in Camarillo hosts over 100 manufacturers with a 3.9% vacancy rate compared to the state's average of 7 1⁄2%. The office market continues to adapt to new work patterns with a vacancy rate of 10.9% compared to the state's average of 14.1%.
This tells you with those low vacancy rates that businesses want to do business in Camarillo, so a focus is on our economic development efforts and again we will be bringing your refresh of the Economic Development Strategic Plan to you in these upcoming months. Staff continue to make improvements with OpenGov and this year have increased communication and provide even more transparency to property owners to track contractor performance. The City successfully launched OpenGov online permitting and licensing on July 1, 2025 following a phased rollout and extensive cross-departmental collaboration.
In the first 6 months. The system process 3,021 online Staff continues to monitor usage and gather feedback to enhance accessibility, efficiency and user experience. I'd like to touch on this a little bit further because while we are... This is a public-facing software that we're using. These numbers could not be brought to you if we didn't have technology. Why does technology is so important for us to catch up in technology?
Community relations. The Library's Teen Civic Engagement Club serves youth ages 13 to 18. This year, the club set a priority to learn about local city government. So this is the beginning of incorporating youth into civic engagement opportunities. From October through December, the club met five times with 29 teens participating for planning and visioning purposes. These sessions introduced the basics of civic engagement and sparked great discussion among the youth. Looking ahead from January through June, the club will host guest speakers including Library Board President and Council Member Susan Santangelo, Mayor David Tennyson and staff from Public Works and Economic Development. These conversations will help teens understand the roles of the City Council, city management and city services that matter to them such as transit and economic development.
In addition, the teens will have an opportunity to visit City Hall and attend a city council meeting putting their learning into action. This initiative is about empowering the next generation to engage with their local government and contribute their voices to our community's future. The Los Personas Community Academy is back for its third year as part of Camarillo's community engagement strategy. This interactive program helps residents learn about the city's roles and responsibilities while encouraging civic participation.
The Spring 2025 Academy began this past Monday, and will continue for six consecutive Monday evenings through March 9th. We have a cohort of 21 Camarillo residents including a student from Adolfo Camarillo High School. Community engagement is a priority of the City Council and we continue to expand the city's reach through digital communication. We have sustained a strong city email open rate of 68%, a 3% increase over last year, but we've increased the total social media followers by 24%.
And we increased social media shares by 7% reflecting higher audience engagement compared to 5.8% in 2025 and we've achieved a 307%, yes, 307% increase in impressions all thumbs up which speaks to the quality of our social media communications. In intergovernmental relations, staff met with Assembly Member Bennett to negotiate an amendment to AB 367 concerning water infrastructure to ensure city interests are met. And we also continue to meet with the Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Camarillo Sanitary District stormwater permit. These are only two examples of the many intergovernmental relations meetings and discussions that we have, and more information is provided in your report.
All right, we're going to close off this section with employee relations. They've been very active. The Human Resource Department is taking the lead in advancing the City Council's goal of maintaining an optimum work environment. Building strong leaders through the organization with a commitment of supporting the city council's vision is making great advancements through a newly developed leadership program. We continue to provide ongoing training on technical skills, safety soft skills and technology.
In addition to other efforts, the Human Resources Department continues to work on NeoGov. This is a platform that allows for an efficient performance evaluation process. Human resources continue to update their form in a digital format. Regarding programs and other projects, HR continues to foster collaborative and engage To foster collaborative and engagement for employee participating in many internal activities. Other initiatives that have started or are continuous implementations include the modernization of personnel roles and wellness initiatives.
Some planned HR projects for 2026 include performance management review, organizational assessment and the comprehensive benefits review. And Mayor this concludes section one which is a performance update. The recommendation here I'll pause for questions concerns input we're really looking for your input but the recommendation here is to review and provide input on the progress of the fiscal year 2025-2026 strategic plan
