City Council — September 23, 2026

Call the September 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Camarillo City Council, Camarillo Sanitary District, Camarillo Library Board and successor agency to order. Madam Clerk roll call please.

Yes. Mayor and Council, we have three items on for closed session two under existing litigation related to the OPV Coalition versus Fox Canyon as well as REAL versus City of Camarillo in addition we have one real property matter related to the property at 2222 Ventura Boulevard and if there's any reportable action I will make that report

Thank you Madam Clerk. Do we have any public comments on closed session? Hearing that, we will recess to closed session. The first session of September 23rd, 2026 of the Camarillo City Council Sanitary District Library Board and Successor Agency to order. And Madam Clerk if you could call the roll once again.

No.

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, general public comments.

We receive four requests to speak. General public comment is limited to 20 minutes, accommodating six to seven people. Each speaker will have three minutes when your time expires you will be muted and

Welcome, sir.

Good evening Council. It is once again my distressing duty to inform you all the depredations of the so-called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency have continued almost unabated I say almost because we have become of necessity more able to protect ourselves from them marginally more able You have said council ICE as it is called for short, ironically in these days of pollution, is a federal agency and beyond the control of the city government. Yet I believe a statement condemning their activity from the City Council and extending condolences to those victimized would be of great interest. It would be most welcome, I think, to the voting public And a statement from the police department refusing to cooperate with this agency would be equally so.

So much for that. May I also take the opportunity to say, I very much welcome drought-resistant planting on the city streets but I believe there is more than one qualification for a plant to be acceptable and to public view, it should be attractive to us, to birds and butterflies, to all and sundry. And it should ideally be native to California or to some similar climate.

And it should certainly not be surrounded by a patch of wood chips nor should it be limited to one street only. What we need indeed is to beautify the city and to preserve its water supplies through conservation, of course. Finally I believe we are also in need of more pedestrian conveniences benches drinking fountains shade from the sun and such things along the roads All these would be very useful indeed. Camarillo has long stretches of road, but very little in the way of shelter for anyone simply walking through whether on one business or another.

I mention all these things not to blame you, Council or any other agency concerned but to inform you and every other agency concerned. These needs exist and the sooner they are fulfilled the better. That's all for now. Thank you.

Spencer Ritchie followed by Grace Ta.

Good afternoon Spencer welcome.

Hello good afternoon to all to all of you. I am Spencer Ritchie have lived here my whole life in Camarillo and first ditto on everything Sid Siddharth said and then I'm going to add two wait, I need to grab Okay so. As of the end about the I guess you could call it, politely, enhanced ice operations in the greater Los Angeles area. Technically since January 20th 2025 but the enhanced ice operations started here in the Greater LA metro area in June 2025 so since then Up until the end of last week, ICE has abducted 2,725 people from the entire 805 area code. So Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County. 1,275 people from Ventura County alone and 519 people from Camarillo alone And to that, I really do not know what else to say or how else to say it to any of you regarding Basically, your lack of meaningfully pushing back or trying to help with the ill effects of ICE's extended enhanced enforcement here in Camarillo and beyond, well in its surroundings.

Basically, If you, especially at this point if you are not doing really anything in your power to stand up against oppression or whatever that is tacit approval. That is collaborating with them by just letting them do their stuff. Thank you.

Thank you Spencer.

Grace Ta followed by Evan Francisco

Welcome. Hold the mic close, there you go.

Hello City Council of Camarillo my name is Grace Ta.

And my name is Evan Francisco we both serve as district committee members of California Nevada Hawaii Key Winds an organization that promotes our youth in service.

We're here today to bring attention to an issue that extends far beyond our community the well-being and future of children all around the world

As of today, 400 million children live in poverty thriving off as little as $3 a day. Specifically we want to address this issue in the country of Zambia Africa.

Zambia is a growing country full of developing youth yet according to UNICEF 70.6% of children face a lack of nutrition education and basic infrastructure. This is approximately 6.6 million children facing barriers to opportunities

These children whose biggest challenge to learning isn't about a difficult assignment. No, it's much bigger than that. Their biggest challenge is not having access to the most basic of resources. Their biggest challenge is not having the support to take that first step towards a deserved education or to a healthy life.

We mentioned before about millions of children who go through these similar experiences. However, we are part of an organization, a community that can overcome these challenges to help out any way we can. So how can we start helping our children in Zambia? We can Start Strong! We are proud to introduce Start Strong Zambia, a UNICEF initiative supported by Kiwanis. This campaign focuses on early child development by helping build early learning communities, centers and supporting parents to create a nurturing environment for the youth. Together we can donate to this cause, spread awareness and expand this initiative.

We can fundraise and donate directly to Start Strong Zambia in order to support the children's access to education and nutrition. Additionally, we can also partner with local businesses and organizations to sponsor fundraisers or match donations allowing our community's contributions to grow even bigger towards a great cause. Furthermore, our school and student-led organizations can help by spreading awareness and organizing service projects in order to support Start Strong Zambia. This gives students the opportunity to become involved with issues affecting children around the world because when we spread awareness, we give people the chance to understand these issues and to do something about it.

These may seem like small contributions to our initiative, but little action counts and adds up. You can't start strong if you don't start at all. Today, at this very moment, our initiative starts with a speech bringing awareness to you guys the City Council members of Camarillo. It starts with making it known that children in Zambia deserves a chance for a better future towards better nutrition and health.

It starts with C&H Cubans and it starts with UNICEF and hopefully now it starts with Camarillo's community.

Together we can start strong for those who can't. Thank you for your time.

Let me ask a question, do you guys go to school here locally?

Yes, we do. We go to Adolfo Camarillo High School.

Okay I'm gonna ask you to go on the city website my phone number is there text me and I will have you invited as a speaker to a local Rotary Club because that's where it started with service organizations. Thank you very much.

There are no more speakers.

Anybody else want to speak during public comments? With that, we will move on to council comments. Do I have someone that wants to go first? I'm not seeing anyone so Mr. Kildee held up his finger first

I look forward to going to that event every year. Wednesday, September 16th we had the volunteer recognition dinner at the ranch house for all of our volunteers and I've said this for several years now that per capita camera has more volunteers than any other city in the county. And that's what makes our city what it is. I can't thank the volunteers enough for what they do for our city.

Thursday, September 17th I had a VRSD board meeting that I attended and today Wednesday September 23rd I had an investment committee meeting that I attended as well. And that's all I have

tonight your honor. Mr. Tremblay

Thanks Mr. Mayor on meetings attended September 10 the Airport Authority on September 11 the Ventura County Transportation Commission On the 12th, the Peavey Historical Museum and Garden of Don Antonio's recognition and congratulations to the recipients. On September 16, the Utilities Committee and also the City Volunteer Recognition Dinner. Ditto to what Mr. Kildee said regarding our volunteers in the city.

And then earlier today a Fox Canyon GMA board meeting. And that's it. Thank

you. Thank you. Vice Mayor.

Thank you on September 10th, I attended the Taste of History fundraiser for the Museum of Ventura County. September 14th, VCAS Ventura County Animal Services meeting and I'm actually going to be a part of an ad hoc committee that's gonna focus on looking at some of the bylaws and reviewing that. September 14th I was also at Pretty much like a half-day retreat with CSUCI site authority.

And September 16th, I was at a CSUCI site authority audit exit meeting. September 17th, some of my council members, Mayor Tennyson, Council Member Santangelo at the Calistoga apartment ribbon cutting and that was a lot of fun. It's an apartment complex that's bringing in 20 low-income and 20 moderate income housing, in addition to just the regular housing as well.

And then September 18th, I attended a press conference at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura. I was asked to be a speaker there. I have multiple roles that I play. One of them is I'm co-chair of our regional ADL and this is in regards to some of the hateful incidents that were displayed there. What I can say is there is No place for hate in Ventura, no place for hate in Camarillo, no place for hate anywhere.

September 19th I attended the second annual The Springs Firewise Expo. I was invited last year and I was very honored to come back and I just wanted to thank even some of the volunteers who are here everyone who put it together and dedicated their time It's a very important issue in terms of being prepared. And I've definitely been a part of that and hope to continue those efforts as well. So thank you to all who made that possible, and to all of the other entities, the other organizations that showed up to bring those resources to our community members in Camarillo Springs.

September 20th, I attended the AAUW kickoff meeting. That's the American Association of University Women. I'm also a member of that nonprofit. I served for 10 years presenting under The Woman in History, a program at our local schools and they're recruiting right now presenters. So if that's something that you're interested in please go to their website and reach out to them.

It's a great program for our children in addition to so many other programs that they have And then today, September 23rd I attended the lunch fundraiser in memory of Lisa Alonso. These funds you can make a donation through VCCF and this is for scholarships that go to specifically Camarillo High School students. And so I was happy to be there and provide support as well.

And that's all that I have. Thank you.

Councilmember Santangelo?

Thank you. Okay, for meetings attended September 10th of Ventura County Airport Authority. September 12th I also attended the Dones and the Donas Awards. On September 15th I had an interview with the auditor for the Clean Power Alliance Finances. On September 16th I had a LAFCO meeting and I attended the volunteer dinner later that night Thank you to the volunteers and thank you to staff for putting on a really nice event. September 17th, I attended CPA Executive Committee and then I attended the Calixa Grand Opening.

On September 18th, they attended the Clean Power Alliance Board Retreat in Los Angeles. And earlier today 923, I attended the Investment Committee and that's all I have.

I attended the Regional Defense Partnership General Membership meeting on September 10th, Ventura Council of Governments on September 10th. And for my fellow council members' information, VCOG hosts an annual dinner and it will be October 8th. The venue is an absolutely fantastic venue. It's the Camarillo Ranch House, The Barn. So please mark it on your calendars.

On September 16th, I attended the Utilities Committee meeting as well as the volunteer recognition dinner that evening and on September 17th, the VCOG Admin Committee meeting. I also attended the grand opening with Council Member Santangelo and the Vice Mayor for Calico.

It's a beautiful

development. Great courtyard amenities There's a lot of businesses in that general area, so I think it's a great addition to the city. And with that, I will move on to the consent calendar. Madam Clerk any public comments on consent?

Yes mayor we have one speaker Spencer Ritchie

Come on up Spencer

Hello, once again. I am Spencer Ritchie. Again, I live here in Camarillo. And this pertains to just the Camarillo Council on Aging, since I've noticed that one of the items tonight concerns their bylaws. And I will say that I do support what The Camarillo Council on Aging does. I also support what the county level area agency on aging does, I think those groups are really good and necessary because otherwise you know we do have a tend to have a bad habit of overlooking the needs Our senior residents, our older ones.

However I will add that... Hold on thinking. That of course among Camarillo's population of seniors You know, again, immigrants and other people who are being negatively impacted by entities like especially you the Camarillo City Council basically just letting VCSO use Camarillo as their free hunting grounds. Basically with not You know, not I'll not even like you know scolding the CSO for you know they're protecting ice vehicles harassing people who are trying to record ice in the wild and handing ice targets directly to them at our jails in Ventura County.

VCSO still has their flock offer contract, even though we already know that ICE has accessed the flock offer data from our town and used it to target people in our town. There are people who the Camarillo Council on Aging is, you know, advocating for and working for who are being negatively affected by your lackluster approach to immigration enforcement. And that's interfering with the

council. Thank you, Spencer. Madam Clerk, any more?

No more speakers.

Hearing that, are there any questions from Council? Seeing none. Is there a motion? Move consent.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Roll call please.

That passes unanimously

Thank you. Now will the City Attorney report out on closed session

Yes, Mayor and Council we did conduct a closed session earlier but there's no reportable action.

Thank you very much and with that this evening's meeting is adjourned.