City Council — January 27, 2026

public comments. And this we do have several public comments. We have three minutes per speaker and our first speaker is Ron Merkford.

Council. My name is Ron Murcord, I live over in Bardsdale and consider myself a resident of Fillmore here. And I'm speaking tonight on behalf of 805 UndocuFund which is an immigrant support group here in Ventura County throughout the 805 area. We are trying to build up a volunteer presence here in Fillmore because even though we have volunteers responding different immigrant issues throughout the rest of the county. Here in Fillmore, it's kind of like a dark area right now where we don't have a lot of volunteers.

Volunteers will be doing things from everything from supporting families where one member has been taken by ICE that kind of thing providing support for them after the fact To even having volunteers out legally documenting what they see ICE agents doing. And it requires, you know, a fair number of volunteers. So we will be having a volunteer training here in Fillmore on February 6th at 530 p.m..

So you can get more information by going to 805undocufund.org slash trainings and We don't have it on the site yet because it's so new today, but it'll be there in a few days In addition, we're also having one in Spanish offered in Piru on February 1st. So we hope people will come out and support the organization and all of the work we're doing for immigrant rights.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Beatriz Hernandez. Welcome, Beatriz.

I'm Beatrice Hernandez. I'm a citizen here of Fillmore. I walk a lot, I just walk. I do not drive. There's been these always people that drive e-bikes and they go so fast. They go so fast. It's been a few times that Thank you. Also, and by Uh-huh. On the, on a street and a street going downward that, um, the curve, the curve. And the other one was over here on the 1 26 on the entrance of McDonald's he was coming East and I was going West and he, he was going with the traffic obviously with how quick he was going, but he came so fast that he, he was on the side of the highway and he came onto the Um, entrance to where that little tiny spot his bike jumped and he went right in front of me across and he just flew right by me.

So it's just scary because it's something you don't, you don' expect it. So if you can do something about that, please. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Yvonne Becerra. Welcome, Yvonne.

Hello everybody I'm Yvonne Becerra, supervisor at the Fillmore Library 502 2nd Street, Fillmore. Always make sure everybody knows where the library is and you're all welcome anytime and I'm just here to say hello from the library and bring you up-to-date with a few things that are going on We continue to have a lot of youth at the library and daily activities, which are great. On Tuesday evenings we have an active fiber arts group which is happening right now and it's for teens and adults and there's one learning to sew right now, a couple others visiting while they crochet. It's almost like an old-time quilter circle where people socialize Accomplishing a task and a craft as well, so it's really great.

So we continue to have those things going on like that We have the master gardeners Ventura the UC Master Gardeners in Ventura coming in during a monthly series on gardening And it says second Tuesday second Monday excuse me of each month and just to help people get their gardens prepared so they could grow their own produce And we've had some really nice community turnout at that. So please everybody's welcome to join for that 6 p.m.. 6 p m You know what, check our calendar to make sure because I may have a couple times off. Mondays and Tuesdays we're open until 7 so we're able to have evening programs the rest of the week we're open till 5. One thing the library has now and I want to make sure people know about this actually all the county libraries is scan and fax capabilities and I know for this community it's very helpful So people can scan documents, photos etc.

to either a flash drive or send it to their email also or somebody else's email if you want to share that information as well as faxing capabilities you know just place the item in the In the fax machine, put in the info. It'll send you an email receipt if you desire that and there's no charge for any of this. And they're available during both open hours and the library's express hours which are a couple hours before the library opens if you just need to dash in and get something done or want some quiet studying. We also have a lot of homeschoolers who come in during that time and meet with their teachers, their regional teachers And so it's just a vibrant place. And if anybody needs assistance in getting a library card or looking up a card they may already have and forgot where it is, we'll take care of that for you or just want to come by and say hi.

All right? So I just wanted to say hi to all of you as well. OK? Thanks. Good to see all of you.

The next speaker is Joseph Zurbanski Jr. Sorry if I didn't say that right. You're so close.

Good evening, my name is Joseph Dobczynski Jr. I am the 805 UndocuFund Rapid Response Organizer for Ventura County and Southern Santa Barbara County. I'm also a resident of Camarillo and I spend my mornings outside of Cortez Circle tracking raid activity to protect the undocumented community within Ventura County. It has been my experience since last June that the force that has been built up in ICE is full of undisciplined, untrained fascist cowards who are using escalating violence against community members and against the undocumented community in whatever ethnic cleansing they're trying to do right now. To wit, since we've started tracking numbers back in January throughout Of 805, that's San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

We've had 1,524 abductions at least that we know of. 803 were in Ventura County and just for some of the surrounding areas, Fillmore has had 14, 10 to 11 picked up in one day as I recall recently. Santa Paula has had nine, Saticoy has had three, and Piru has had two. We understand that city councils and police departments are under a number of restraints in order to help this community right now. But I assure you that it's only going to get worse, and I can assure you that it has gotten worse over the last two months particularly up in Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo where there is a four-day reign of terror where they picked up 145 people minimum over the course of those four days.

But there is help on the way, we have made the Santa Clara River Valley a priority for 805 UndocuFun early in this year. Regret not being out here sooner but we are here now. We have trainings coming up for people who want to get involved. We have a volunteer training where folks can learn about our mutual aid programs, about community outreach like this And our rapid response introduction, and we also have a full rapid response training where we teach people how to patrol for ice and hold them accountable because other folks cannot or will not at this point. There are also trainings on Oxnard on the 29th for volunteers, Carpentaria for volunteer and rapid response on the 31st. Piru will have a Spanish language training on February 1st. Fillmore will have one on February 6th, and there's at least one to be scheduled in Santa Paula I encourage everyone on this City Council to figure out what they can do for the undocumented community right now, because nobody else is taking care of them.

And I also ask that you guys consider putting together an immigrant stakeholders committee as Oxnard has done and as Moorpark is starting to do so we can have dialogues about what we can do right now, as opposed to me coming up here for three minutes at a time. So thank you for your time this evening, and I look forward to working with this community to defend everyone from the reign of terror of ICE. Thank you.

Moving on to number six city council reports recommendations comments committee commission and board reports

Okay, I do. We had a meeting for Ventura Regional Sanitation District. The agenda was actually quite light. The main action item that we did was actually offer mutual aid and assistance to the Ojai Valley Sanitation District. And the reason for it is, as we've seen both in our city with our gaining employment and help with sanitation and sewer. And really across the county there's really a dearth of qualified professionals who are taking these jobs. And so things are starting to get actually so thin that different sanitation districts are actually asking for help from other sanitation districts.

It's really important that we as council members and as advocates, as we look to the future in the pipeline of what's needed here in the Santa Clara Valley or across Ventura County, that we do need jobs in a pipeline for these kind of specialized technical Municipal jobs, municipal public work jobs. So that's the update from VRSD. Let's see I have this week we are having a actually couple of meetings about the potential of the Santa Paula Hospital relocation one of them is sort of a small group it's not a public meeting of stakeholders including The CEO of Limoneta concerning the actual land space there on the southeast corner of Halligan 126.

And then actually later on Thursday afternoon, there's an official Santa Paula Hospital Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting and that takes place up at the hospital In their library room and I'm planning on attending both. And so, I look forward to reporting back. I do have another comment. So those are my updates from the city. I do have a couple of personal comments to make and again this is for me, it's my opinion And I thank you for giving me just a few minutes here. And it's very apropos actually that we had speakers here to talk about the 805 UndocuFund and the need in our community.

I want to take a moment to honor the life of Alex Pretty, gunned down by ICE in Minneapolis Saturday morning like the killing of Rene Good by ICE 17 days earlier. It was shocking and brutal. Mr. Pretty died trying to assist a woman being pepper sprayed and both were exercising their first amendment right, the freedom to bear witness to the authoritarian actions taking place in Minnesota.

Some will say that Mr. Pretty died as a result of him exercising his second amendment right, that right to bear arms. The second iteration of this administration has thrown constitutional rights out I was here five years ago on this dais, maybe for one of my first or second meeting when we had a constitutional crisis at that point in time with the storming of the Capitol on January 6th 2021.

As individuals, as a community and as a country I believe it's our duty to defend not only our rights as we see them but every person's right as they apply. Every person, every child in America has the right to due process and we should, not we should, we need to be able to stand up for those rights, to observe if these rights are being violated And to defend these rights without fear of losing our lives, our livelihood or our way of life.

This is not the America that I want for our children and dollars to donuts, I'm willing to bet that nearly everyone I talk to this is not the America that we want for our children. I am so sorry for these lives that have been lost and as a society hopefully And positively, as we see the actions and the ability to take action and to move forward and defend our communities. May we begin to realize this in mass that this is not what we want. And may Mr. Pretty's death not be in vain.

I do wanna speak to how this affects Fillmore. Two days before Christmas, there was a dozen farm workers who were taken. I think it was 12 up on near Edison Lane and Fourth Street in North Fillmore. And all that was left was their lunch boxes as they were leaving at 530 in the morning to go pick lemons, as they have for years and years. But the loncheras weren't the only thing that were left behind, their kids.

Their kids and their wives and their spouses and their partners were left behind. So this is in our community, and I just ask everyone to do what you can and to stand up and to speak up for what's right because we all swore an oath to the Constitution and maybe I'll defend it. Thank you.

So I just want to say, I think that was very brave of you to speak out. I think there's unfortunately an error of people being too cautious about speaking out against what is, to me, blatantly wrong and what's going on in our country. And I think we need more voices to speak out like you did. And I completely agree, Christina, in what you said. I don't want my grandkids growing up in a country where they're Afraid to go outside because of the color of their skin, that they could get pulled over or possibly murdered because of the color of their skin.

That is not the America that I went and served my time in the service for. As you said, we all swore an oath to the Constitution. And that constitution is the only thing that really matters and makes us different from other countries. And now it seems like that constitution is being tossed by the wayside so. Thank you for speaking up about that. On other more mundane topics, I'm going to attend the United Water Conservation District meeting tomorrow morning. It's a tour of the facilities.

We did not have a meeting for the Fulmore-Piru Groundwater Sustainability Basin last month but there is going to be another one on the 22nd of February and that's it from me.

Anybody else?

I'd like to share something, and thank you John Garnica and Christy Neves for saying that because I definitely agree with that. And we should definitely speak up. Last week, I attended a three-day new mayor's new council conference up in Sacramento, and it was great. And learned a lot of great things about Different cities and how we can enhance the city as well. And all the wonderful work that everybody's doing made me really proud of saying I'm from Fillmore. And so just that, and yeah thank you.

Last week I attended the EDC meeting Economic Development Collaborative Meeting Which was on Thursday and it was held at the Moorpark Country Club. We had only one item on the agenda, and it was to review the budget. But afterwards there was an event and it focused on film in Ventura County. And it was really, really informative. They touched on all the filming and all the different parts of the county. And Wednesday they're going to have an event.

Erica what's that date again?

The fifth annual permit palooza on February 26th at 10 a.m.?

And if you're interested in the film and what's going on in Ventura County, or if you're involved in the process for your city, register for that event. There'll be tons of information for you to learn and bring back and share with your colleagues.

But I want to also say thank you Christina and John and Mario for speaking up. Thank you. Moving on to number

seven, consent

calendar. Can I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

So

moved. You got a motion, a second?

I'll second.

All in favor? Aye. Thank you, motion passes. Moving on to number eight new business 8A appointment to the Cultural and Arts and Recreation Commission.

Thank you Mayor, I will be presenting that item. In November of last year staff received notice that Nancy Hernandez Rodriguez had resigned from her position as a Cultural Arts and Recreation Commissioner prior to the completion of her term which was set to expire on January 31st of 2029 and pursuant to our Municipal Code Chapter 2.28 Any appointment made to fill a vacancy occurring during a commissioner's term shall be for the unexpired portion of that term.

So accordingly, the vacancy created a resignation for that term ending on January 31st of 2029. Consistent with our policy, which provides that commissioners' applications remain active and we file those for a one-year term. Staff confirmed that Mr. Casey Clark who's here in the audience tonight Had a valid application on file at the time that the vacancy occurred and we've subsequently conferred with our City Council ad hoc interview committee, which is consistent from council member via senior. At the time that the interview took place she was mayor and then council member Brogy. And they both agreed to recommend that the mayor recommends the council tonight for Mr. Casey to fill the vacancy through the ending term of January 31st of 2029.

That concludes my presentation, happy to answer any questions.

Okay, any questions

from the council? Discussion? Can I have a motion then?

I will make that

motion. Can we get a second? All in favor? Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Mr. Clark, congratulations. Welcome.

Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. I'm going to be presenting this item before you today and I'm going to start with basically divide this report into four parts. I want to go over the background of the project why people self-help housing is in need of the funds and where the funds come from and loan details and project financing. So a little bit about the background of the project People's Self-Help Housing Corporation is constructing a 50 unit permanent supportive housing project that is located off of Palm Street between Highway 126 and Santa Clara Street.

The project is unique in that it didn't come before the Planning Commission or the City Council as in past would have been expected, It was approved ministerially by the City of Fillmore on August 25th, 2023 in accordance with Assembly Bill 2162 which is the Bi-Right Supportive Housing Law and the Housing Accountability Act. This project otherwise known as a Fillmore Terrace is currently going through its fourth plan check and has the goal of obtaining permits by spring of this year Fillmore Terrace intends to serve households earning between 30% and 60% of Ventura County's area median income.

And the development will include designated units with specific occupancy criteria, including 13 homeless households, five households with a qualifying development disability, and 24 farm worker households. And just to give a little bit more information about the project itself, it consists of multiple two-story buildings and provides a unit mix of 22 one bedroom units, 14 two bedroom units and 14 three bedroom units.

And it will contain several amenities, including a resident-serving community room with a meeting space kitchen and offices for People Self Help Corporation supportive services and management staff. Outdoor courtyards, a playground, and a common laundry area. People Self Help Corporation is the project developer, owner, property manager, and social service provider for the project.

So let's get to why People Self Housing Corporation is in need of the funds. and why staff is recommending that the City Council authorize that we enter into an agreement for a $500,000 loan to support this project. And essentially, this loan is intended to help support development and construction costs for the project. It also helps the project compete for low-income housing tax credits which is the primary source of financing for the project.

So this loan, the commitment from the municipality within which the project is going to be built really helps to make their project much more competitive and makes it more of a reality that they will obtain that financing, which will help get it built. And so where do the funds come from? So we're proposing to use funds from the former Redevelopment Agency Housing Set-Aside Funds. To give a little background on that, Back in 2012, the State of California per Assembly Bill X1-26 dissolved redevelopment agencies across the state.

And so in part of that process, the state allowed cities to hold on to their housing set aside funds and use them for housing projects such as this one. In the current year, City Council allocated $100,000 from the former RDA fund to Ventura County Housing Trust Fund to support regional housing throughout the county. And there remained a balance of $500,000 which is what we're proposing to use to support the People's Self-Housing Filmwork Terrace project.

So a little bit more information. The RDA contribution will be structured as a loan, and the loan would be deferred and require residual receipt payments. The term will be for 55 years and with an interest rate between 0% to 3%. The loan will indeed restrict five units to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. And let's see here... In terms of the financing that the project currently has, it's a total of $16,768,332. And these funds come from various sources as identified in the staff report including the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Ventura County, the county of Ventura, AHP loan, California Department of Development Disabilities and NeighborWorks And this upcoming February, the project will apply for 4% low-income housing tax credits.

And then after that we'll also apply for 9% low income housing tax credits. The proposed loan represents a strategic use of one time restricted housing funds to leverage substantial outside investment through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program thereby maximizing impact of the city's limited resources while advancing housing goals and priorities For the low-income housing tax credit application public funds must be committed to the project as evidenced through a signed letter.

Stating the loan amount, project name and terms which has been attached to the letter this was a draft there is some information in there that's going to be modified but that is a letter that's referred to in the staff report And with that, I'll just repeat the recommendation. That the City Council authorize the Assistant City Manager to enter into an agreement with People Self Help Housing Corporation for a $500,000 redevelopment agency housing set aside fund loan to help fund development and construction costs of their 50 unit permanent supportive housing project. With that, that concludes my staff report and happy to answer any questions that the council might have.

Thank you. We do have some speakers, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Any questions? Okay, our first speaker on this will be Gabrielle Vignone. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Mendez and honorable council members. My name is Gabrielle Vignone and I'm the Executive Director of House Farm Workers. We also have a Fillmore and Piru Housing Task Force and we've come to speak before you. We submitted a letter and Erica has put it in for record but I would also like to read it here for you today. So Fillmore Terrace, as Manuel said is developed by People's Self-Help Housing and an example of quality affordable housing that the City of Fillmore can have. And that the City of Fillmore desperately needs. They will provide 50 units and that will help fulfill the city's obligation to meet RHNA, the state's regional housing numbers allocation.

We agree with the report that Mr. Menjarez submitted, and we agree that City Council should appropriate $500,000 from the RDA Housing Set-Aside Fund and authorize the Assistant Manager to enter into an agreement with People's Self-Help Housing. And this allows for others to see that the city of Fillmore is willing to invest in Fillmore Terrace which enhances their chances to be more competitive when applying for other financing.

We have come before you in the past about this, asking for support. We've walked the site with the architect. We've had conversations with the developers and we agree that it will be a great addition to the community. As it was said, it's gonna serve people with 30% and 60% of Ventura County's area medium income but it's also serving the unhoused and our local farm workers. So again, we hope that you approve the staff recommendation. Thank you.

Just quick question. Yes, so I'm just out of curiosity so is Is any of the calculation at all? Have to do our guesses I'm really asking about involvement with veterans like homeless veterans or is anything with veterans involved in In the grant application

No, there isn't necessarily a specific veteran component to this. Although there is nothing in the project that would prohibit a veteran in need of a unit so long as they were eligible for the type of unit. So as mentioned before, there are units for individuals that have developmental disabilities. So if the veteran has a developmental disability, they could be eligible or if they're a homeless veteran, yeah, because they would be eligible.

So as long as they're in the 30 to 60 percent.

And their income range

is okay. Great, thank you.

Of course. The one thing I also failed to mention I'd like to add is the project would help significantly with the ERF homeless encampment grant that we're currently working on unlike a lot of other communities within the state that have a dedicated shelter transitional housing or permanent supportive housing already built for Thank you. And any questions?

I got one question, Manny. So the population that can get in as you mentioned is it anybody in Ventura County or anybody or just specifically for Fillmore residents?

So per the tax credit rules, folks outside of Fillmore can apply and are required to be considered. However is common practice with these type of projects what they often do is to do early advertising within the community to give as much notice as possible to folks that live in a community to apply early and be considered Daisy, if you'd like to speak to that at all. But that's my understanding, right? There wouldn't be any prohibition on folks that live outside of Fillmore for applying.

Thank you.

I do have one more speaker question. Yes.

Going back to the beginning of time when people self-help brought this to us. They were talking about staff that would be there 24-7 to assist some of the residents there that might need assistance or if problems occur. I'm going to ask you a question.

Okay, yeah. So the project is a permanent supportive housing project and I'd go to defer to Daisy from People Self-Help to answer questions about whether the number of staff and the number of hours that they'll be working on site.

Right, okay

thank you. Our next

speaker is Daisy

Miguel. Hi everyone, I'm Daisy Miguel. Nice to see you Mayor Mendez and council members. Yes we, to answer your question, we will have a full-time staff person. We will have a property manager on site in addition to our supportive services staff. The supportive services staff will not be there 24 hours but the property manager will be onsite and we usually provide surveillance cameras throughout the property as well So we usually have that as well. There's also a vast amount of lighting that we've included as part of the project design and some other design elements that also help with security.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah So yeah, I'm just here tonight to thank you all for considering this item. We've had the property since 2017 we've been trying to get the project constructed For some time now so we really appreciate you considering this request Really feel like this will help The project be able to secure low-income housing tax credits and I'm just here to try to answer any questions You might have and That's it, thank you.

Question? So can you just in very I guess succinctly tell us what is the process for securing the funds once let's assume that that the City Council does vote in favor of giving the $500,000 loan what would be the next steps in order to secure the funding for the full amount to develop the property

Sure, so the last piece of financing really that the project needs is low-income housing tax credits. So there's one application for 4% tax credits that's coming up on February 3rd. We are submitting an application if that application is not successful then we would apply again for 9% low-income housing tax credits, and I believe that application is in May. So there's usually two 9% rounds and two 4% rounds so essentially we have kind of the ability to apply four times to see if we will be able to be awarded but part of the process to secure low income housing tax credits is you have to show that you have public finance already committed to the project. And the more public finance that you have committed to the project, the more likely you are to get an award.

So part of the reason why we're requesting additional public finance is to help us with that tiebreaker process that they have.

OK, thank you.

Yeah, sure.

I just had, I guess a comment to add and maybe ask Daisy if this is true in what of my belief. What I've been working with an understanding and that's that it is more and more difficult to get this kind of financing like you said without the public investment. And then also the fact that it's some farm worker units The way the current system works right now, there's sort of like I guess unfortunately it doesn't work with you. It works a little bit against you on the scoring. Is that is that right?

Yeah so I guess It is very difficult to secure a low-income housing tax credit allocation for projects that are specifically in rural areas. So part of what's made it difficult for us to secure a low income housing tax credit allocation is that this site is in what's considered a rural area under the tax credit definition, and for 4% tax credits if you're applying for 4 percent tax credits There's two different allocations you can receive, federal credits and state credits.

Usually you want to just request federal credits because if you're submitting a request for any state credits it decreases your opportunity to be awarded. So really what we are trying to do is to reduce our state credit ask so we can increase...so we can just be requesting federal credits to increase our opportunity to get awarded But yes, it has been increasingly difficult to get awarded in the rule set aside.

Unfortunately. Yeah sure thank you.

Well, I just had one more comment to make and that's just a really big thank you to Manuel, to Daisy, to Veronica at People Self-Help, to Kevin, to Brian, to all those who've been working over the years on just to work on this application and understand that this project is really needed in our community. So thank you again for all of the work And yeah, I just want to say that I'm really supportive. I think that it's important as was mentioned for Fillmore to have an investment in this in our future for our residents. Our residents we know that, you know, I know there's no guarantees but like he said there's ways to try and do what we can to get Fillmore folks into these units.

And we know that there's waiting lists. Long, long waiting list for our Mountain View apartments. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of families for sure. So anyway I think it's a good thing. Thank

you. Further discussion? Can we get a motion?

I will make a motion City Council appropriate $500,000 from the Redevelopment Housing Set-Aside Fund and authorize The city manager to enter into an agreement with People Self Help Housing Corporation for 500,000 RDA housing set-aside fund loan to help fund development and construction costs of their 50 unit permanent supportive housing project.

Thank you. I got a motion can have a second? I'll second. Okay we've got a motion in second all in favor aye okay motion passes unanimously thank you Moving on to number item 8C. Adoption of a resolution to acknowledge receipt of the fire inspection report required by Senate Bill 1205. Firefighter of the year Bennett, congratulations!

Thank you Mr. Mayor and City Council. Happy to be here this evening to present your staff report Is our recommendation that you adopt and accept the resolution 26-4092 in compliance of Senate Bill 1205. The purpose is of annual fire inspections, and Senate Bill 1205 is that we I'm here There is no fiscal impact associated with this. And then it aligns perfectly with City Council's goal for this year of public safety and just ensuring the citizens have a safe residence here in the city of Fillmore. I'm here for any questions if you have any?

Okay, if you adopt, just ask that you read the resolution and adopt it for the city. Thank you.

Just a quick comment, thanks for all the inspections keeping our city safe so thank you very much.

I would also like to add my congratulations on being Fireman of the Year and just on that same note we had a fantastic event last night at the fire station presenting awards can you just elaborate on that real quick? Can we do that even though it's not agendized? Yeah, so can you elaborate on what the event was last night?

Oh yeah. So we had our annual fire foundation sponsored celebration like you said honoring the firefighters here not just the full-time personnel like myself but we do have considerable number of reserve firefighters so they put in all their time and One, get experience and two potentially move on to a full-time department. So big part of our event that we do every year is to recognize those personnel give them their off probation shield and their Fillmore Fire Department belt buckle that they get after completion or probation. And then also to recognize Firefighter of the Year in any promotions as well so it was great time thank you for all for joining us

There were a lot of great giveaways to that raffle was fantastic.

That was all chief right there

Thank

you, thank you

Okay, I will move that City Council adopt resolution 26 a 26-4092, a resolution of the City Council of the city of Fillmore California acknowledging receipt of the annual Senate Bill 1205 fire inspection report. Yep, that's it. I second.

Second?

Got a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to The discussion of whether to increase the city council salaries.

Thank you, Mayor. So this item is a continuation of last meeting Which the item was introduced and under the direction of the City Council, we were requested to further bring you data on what other cities are being compensated for. And so we have that data available for you today. I'm just going to run down by the cities and then mention what they're currently receiving and then we'll get to the CalPERS portion of it.

And so we used our comparison cities for purposes of collecting this data as well. So the city of Agoura Hills is currently receiving a $300 stipend, but they are receiving other statutory benefits such as a car allowance, group health insurance, group dental insurance and they get reimbursed for travel meetings outreach supplies and they also have the ability to Opt into the CalPERS retirement system.

City of Arroyo Grande currently is receiving $648 as of 2024, an additional $150 for the mayor is paid or $798. They are eligible for medical, dental and vision insurance Moving on to the City of Calabasas, currently receiving $1,171. Medical, dental and vision are also provided to them. City of Carpinteria it's $950. Health, dental wellness allowance benefits are also provided to their council City of La Canyada-Flintridge, it's $300 and council receives the same benefits as their employees. City of Moorpark is currently $600 and they're eligible for CalPERS benefits. No cash back payments in lieu of health insurance.

City of Ojai is $988. They do have a 5% increase every year and that's why the amount is higher The expense reimbursement is up to no more than $250 and they're eligible for CalPERS benefits. City of Port Hueneme, it's a stipend of $751.38 and they do provide CalPERS benefits City of San Fernando, it's $950. Health, dental, workers' comp, vision, life and wellness insurance and automotive allowance is also provided. City of Santa Paula is 600 with CalPERS benefits which is a 2,540 per year in cost. And then city of Sullivan is $600 and no other statutory benefits are provided. So moving on to PERS, we decided to look into what our current contract states and so back in May of 1973 It was adopted by the Council at the time that the elected officials would not be eligible for PERS.

And so, that's right now currently stipulated in our contract and so tonight if you were to entertain the retirement option what that would mean We would have to amend our current contract. There is a lengthy process and legal process that we would have to follow. Submit documentation to CalPERS, there's a $200 cost associated with that. And so I just wanted you to be aware of that. But if the council were to consider providing benefits as part of your compensation, the estimated costs are charted here. I just wanted to bring that up just to give you a visual.

So the medical annual cost would be $27,000 and $312 per member. Dental is 660 annual costs The vision is $96, and then added to that would be the monthly stipend if the stipend were to increase. That would be the $11,400. So you're looking at a total of $39,468 per council member. We added the annual cost so that you could also compare that And the CalPERS retirement rates are just for reference only, and that would be if we were going through the amendment process.

There's two tiers so the first tier is classic and the employer rate is typically 13.11% and then the employee rate is 7%. And the PEPRA, which is the second tier would be 8.16% for the employer and then 8% for the employee. And the purpose of this is just to allow you to have a continued discussion and to provide us direction on which way you would like to proceed. That concludes my presentation and happy to answer any questions.

Well, I mean one of the things that sticks out to me is that there's only one city that doesn't have CalPERS benefits at a minimum and that was Solvang. And us. So we're the only ones that don't have that currently. Not necessarily that should weigh overly in my opinion, but it is something do we really want to be in that same category? I mean, that's where we currently are at the very bottom of the list in terms of what the benefits are to council members.

Correct me if I'm wrong Erica, but if council were to move forward with the CalPERS that would then trigger a negotiation for all the staff.

It potentially could

yeah and so from my perspective that's opening up a whole can of worms that I don't think we want to go down it that for City Council To acquire that kind of a benefit, even though there's only one other city in the Southern California region that has it besides or does not have it besides us. I would not be in favor of that.

So my input is an agreement with Carrie. I think that the cost of the benefit is quite large, and I think it would take a really significant administrative chunk from our budget. And I think we need to balance You know, what we were the reason this came up or the idea of incentivizing folks to come in and join City Council and be willing to put the time and effort into it.