City Council — March 10, 2026

I call the meeting for March 10th, 2026 to order. Roll call please.

So moved.

I'll second. Motion and a second? I'll

second.

All in favor? Aye. All right, thank you. And moving on to number five, presentations. Tonight we have a proclamation honoring Women's History Month. Proclaiming March as Women's History Month, March 2026. Whereas the month of March is recognized nationally as Women's History A time to celebrate and honor the vital contributions of women to our nation's history, culture, governance, economy, community life. And whereas women of every race, class and ethnic background have made historic and lasting contributions and strength of our country, the state of California and the city of Fillmore.

And whereas women have played and continue to play critical roles in advancing civil rights, public service, education, health care, business, public safety, science, the arts and countless other fields that shape our community and improve quality of life for all residents And whereas women leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, mothers, caregivers and volunteers in Fillmore have helped build a resilient, compassionate and thriving community rooted in service.

opportunity and civic pride. And whereas recognizing Women's History Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress made toward equality, to acknowledge ongoing challenges, and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that women and girls have access to opportunities, leadership roles, and equitable participation in all aspects of civic life. And whereas it is fitting and proper that the City of Fillmore join communities throughout the nation in celebrating Women's History Month And honoring the countless women whose dedication and perseverance continue to shape our shared future.

Now therefore, I Albert Mendez mayor of City of Fillmore do hereby proclaim February 2026 as Women's History Month in the city of Fillmore be it further resolved that the city of Fillmore encourages residents schools businesses and community organizations To recognize and celebrate the achievements of women in our community and throughout history. And to support efforts and promote equality, leadership and opportunity for women and girls.

Just a couple of items for me. So I attended the Fillmore-Piru Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency meeting on the 20, let me see what day was that? Those are Thursday, the 26th. Not much to report. The United Water Conservation District is going forward. Looks like they're trying to figure out which way to pay for some of the improvements that are required to the Piru or Santa Felicia Dam spillway.

It's gonna be quite an expensive endeavor but they're looking at different ways to do that And they're also looking at an increase in the rates per acre foot. So those are the two main takeaways from that meeting, and then I also attended the Little League and T-Ball opening ceremonies. That was last Friday. That was a lot of fun. I hadn't been to one probably in 30 plus years, and it was a lot of fun. The better part though was watching my grandson's first T-ball game when One of his teammates hit the ball and then ran after the ball to go get it, while the opposing team also tried to get it. So it was fun. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids doing that so that's it for me. Thank you. Anybody

else?

Thank you Mayor. Yes, I do. So our Ventura Regional Sanitation District meeting, our first one of the month of March was cancelled so I'll have more of an update at our next meeting but just a couple of events that are coming up. March 18th is actually a pretty busy day on my calendar We will be having the groundbreaking for, I think all of our council members are invited and mayor and others here in the city for the Creekside development up in North Fillmore.

That's in the morning. In the afternoon, I'll be participating in the Southern California Edison This is my first one of the year, so I look forward to that meeting hearing updates from Edison. Particularly, you know, I think we're going to have a record weekend of heat this weekend. It's going to be in the 90s, I think. And we had some 90-degree temperatures in February. So that's all to say that these really warm days can happen any time of the year.

High levels of heat and potential, you know, potential shut off. So I'm really looking forward to seeing hearing the updates. I'll provide that back as well. And then later on on the 18th in the evening, I'll be attending and all are welcome. The community to, it's the Economic Development Board of Ventura County in conjunction with the Fillmore Adult Schools having their second annual job and resource expo. And this is gonna take place again Wednesday March 18th from 5 PM to 7 PM at the Fillmore Middle School, 543 A Street. And there'll be professional resume assistance, virtual reality career exploration Free professional photos, which I think is really wonderful so people can have that. Tuition assistance information about tuition assistance maybe on some vocational programs and also just more information about a community assistance programs.

So there's a flyer, I'll be sure to share that with the city and we can help to promote this. But it's Wednesday March 18th 5 PM at the middle school job resource fair. Thank you.

I attended a VCTC, Ventura County Transportation Commission meeting on Friday and we spent the majority of our three hours listening to a gentleman A representative from the National Committee for the, I almost said 84, the 28 Olympics. And for those of you who aren't aware there is a website that's titled LA28 and it's the official website for the upcoming Olympics. And I hadn't put a whole lot of thought into it. I know it's in L.A., but after hearing this gentleman speak it occurred to me that communities on outlying areas such as Our community here in Fillmore, we need to be prepared for this because some of the stats that this gentleman from LA 28 shared with us.

For example he said this is the largest Olympics that they've ever held ever in history. He also said that this based on the number, there's more events than any other Olympics. And they're expecting more people to be in the Southern California region, LA area specifically, than any gathering of human beings ever in history. So the reason Ventura County Transportation Commission is involved in this is because obviously transportation is a huge issue when it comes to the number of visitors coming to the region.

But I'm kind of floating along here thinking, okay well it's down in LA and until I heard this gentleman speaking and it occurred to me that we need to be prepared. He pointed out that not everybody that's going to be visiting the area will be attending every event. So in other words, they're gonna have a lot of downtime and when they have downtime not attending events, they're gonna go to the beach. They're gonna go out exploring the area.

I can see taking advantage of this but what I'm thinking is that we don't need to deal with it right this minute but I think we need to start thinking about possibly an ad hoc committee or something of that sort

If I may just chime in, so we have been attending the economic development staff meetings and there has been discussions about having a plan. And so we have been behind-the-scenes advocating to make sure that the initial thought was just to highlight the 101 corridor and then our staff member was like wait a minute! There's a different way for you to get to the beach and it's the 126 so we also need to be on the map So that discussions are actually happening behind the scenes.

And we can start providing you with updates as this continues. That would make me feel a lot better. Okay,

so and it'd be nice if we could like put up a couple of hotels while we're between. Anyway, so that was really really interesting and I've never been a you know like the sports but I've never tuned into Olympics on a fanatical basis but I'll be watching this one from a distance. I don't want to get down in the crowd. So anyway so there was that and then also

quick question on that topic did they mention anything about having any events at Casitas?

There are no events being held. The rowing is going to be held at a lake, I'm drawing a blank on it, it's down toward the Long Beach area so there will not be any events up here specifically but that doesn't mean we won't have crowds. So we need to take advantage of that I think. Be proactive. Okay. And then let's say I attended a school district meeting this morning, two plus two we call it, we get together with two other of the board members, their school board members as well as superintendent and then our city manager Participates as well, and we do we talked about the partnering issues and things that we have in common And how we can assist one another with regard to?

the use of facilities It's all sorts of things. It was very very productive, and I think we'll hear more details soon on what are some things that will be occurring as a result of that meeting and Then I also have my porch talk on Wednesday this week again. So anybody who is interested in talking about anything Fillmore, please join me on my front porch and we meet at six o'clock and it's supposed to be 6-8 but sometimes we go 6-9. Sometimes it's 6- 930 but it's all good so please join us if you'd like to come in here or bring up issues regarding Fillmore. Thank you.

No updates for me, the only thing I would like to remind you that I am having a meeting town hall slash meeting greet on March 28th at Delores State Park from 11am to 1pm. And so that's an opportunity for me to meet people from Fillmore or anybody who wants to stop by and say hi! So I'm going to be doing a little data walk with that too just grabbing some information Those who attend. In addition to that, I did invite a few local nonprofits to come and share local resources for those who attend. So hopefully we'll see more of attendance. Thank you.

Thank you. I also, this past week attended the Fillmore Little League Opening Ceremonies. It was a great event. Always love to support the youth. I also attended the Fillmore Girls Softball Fast Pitch. They're in their inaugural season and it was amazing. Those little girls are, man they're superstars. It was awesome. And I also attended along with Council Member Brogy our 2 plus 2 meeting. She covered pretty much She said not much to report there. I also attended the air pollution control board.

heard that they threw that entire project away. They hired new engineers, new planners, new architects submitted a brand new application

Okay, that's good. Good to know because I know initially with that Look like a prison. I think

it did It was difficult for it looked like an affordable project You know the tenement housing from like let's say the East Coast whatever it look like that This project that we approved does not look like this. That's

great Yeah quite an improvement so thank you for

yeah, hopefully it'll be like the the mini mansion project that we had Hopefully get this same rave reviews

Okay, great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Any public speakers?

Thanks Kevin and yeah I'm your city engineer Roxanne I'm going to continue to talk about it. I'm really glad that Kevin was able to present this project to you, catch up to speed on where it's gone because it did go right through planning department under Kevin's discretion which we're in safe hands with Kevin so thank you Kevin good job. And the business tonight is we've gotten to where we've reviewed all the improvement plans identified the costs of the improvements and created the offsite improvement agreement.

A bunch of public improvements and then turn them over to the city, and if for any reason once you start building you go away. The city has bonds on that we can finish the construction of the sidewalks and curbs and gutters so we don't get left with a city that's like half constructed right? So, the offsite improvement agreement is in your council packet. On an entirety along with the full conditions of approval on the project that are referenced from the improvement agreement. But a quick list of what's being bonded for is it's over $800,000 worth of public improvements that people self-help will be building for the city of Fillmore as a part of this development. I've broken it down kind of frontage by frontage. So like on Santa Clara Street, they are giving a 13 foot irrevocable offer of right-of-way dedication on Santa Clara Street You'll see in the next picture that we're not going to completely widen that whole block because you can't be like driving down a narrow street and then have a wide street and then a narrow street again Because it's just one block but what we did do is we popped out and we have parallel parking in between curb extensions so we can use all like We do widen Santa Clara in the frontage, but we do it with curb extensions which I'll show you a picture of.

So it worked out really elegant solution and we have the 13 foot right-of-way dedication on that side. And then it's curb gutter sidewalk streetlights, that parallel parking there's tree wells in the sidewalks with trees they're building new public fire hydrants on Santa Clara Street and ADA ramps. Palm Street similar There's tree planters and trees in the diagonal parking. They have those diamonds, and there's trees every other diamond. And they're doing a new sewer manhole on Sewer Wise because all their sewer lines connect in Palm Street.

Their main site driveway is off of Palm Street. They're also doing streetlights and ADA ramps on Palm Street. And the alley on the other side, they will be widening the alley. The existing alley is only 16 feet. A lot of our alleys are narrow like that all along the project frontage. They're dedicating four feet and making a 20 foot wide alley and then towards the north end by Santa Clara there's another property that's not them so we'll go back down to 16 feet but for now until that property develops but we will have a nice widened alley and they'll be overlaying the entire alley up to Santa Clara Street so it'll be brand new pavement And they're also doing a lot of overhead utility work. There's a ton of overhead wires on Palm Street and so they'll be taking them off the poles, undergrounding In some cases, relocating them to the other side of the street because there's so many things that can't be downed that aren't on their frontage that they couldn't do anything about.

They worked with Edison to get as much underground as we could. So all along the property frontage there will be no overheads but some of it is moving to the other side of the street, the east side of the street in the alley and then on Ventura Street They're going to do curb gutters, sidewalk ADA ramps, landscaping and trees. And there's a new parkway drain that drains their parking lot that's on that side of the use. So I have a picture kind of like Kevin did just to give you a visual of everything we talked about if you look at Santa Clara Street, you can see the curb extensions and then One, two, three, four parking spots. So if you park on that side you pull out of Santa Clara and Park, which the fire chief was super happy about because there's parking on both sides and it gets pretty tight.

So that'll be a lovely use and there's like tree wells along there to look really nice. And then you see all the diagonal parking along Palm Street. And then their main parking lot, which is an open you know not covered parking on the highway 126 and there will be new sidewalk all along. There's existing sidewalk out though they're going to replacing all that sidewalk and putting a new curb ramps And in the alley, you can see that four-foot widening of new pavement that then goes back to 16 when you get to the other parcel. That's not a part of the project. So that's the offsite improvement agreement. They'll be giving us $810,000 in secured bonds to build all of that stuff. And that's what that agreement is about. And then there's also a license agreement in your packet, and the license agreement is a document that basically is between the developer and the city that secures that they can put their private improvements in our public right of way and then ongoingly maintain them so it puts the rules and responsibilities surrounding.

They're going to give us on a 14 foot dedication for road right away on the highway side so If and when Caltrans ever widens the highway, we can get to that 100-foot Caltrans right of way. In the meantime, we're going to allow them to landscape it and then maintain the private landscaping. And so the license agreement gives them the permission and the responsibility to maintain that landscaping in right away that they dedicated to us. And so this is the exhibit that's also with the license agreement in your council packet. And that really concludes my presentation, and I'm open to any questions.

Questions?

Just a comment. I think it looks great, I think it's a great project and certainly better than what was described before and so I would be happy if it looks like what the ground view was. I think it's going to look beautiful.

I would add for all of those right-of-way dedications, we have it in municipal code that the city manager can accept dedications of street right-of way. And so as all those documents come to fruition and are ready for acceptance, Erica will be doing that.

Just a question, comment first on the question. It did look like there was a good number of spaces on Palm for parking. I was wondering if you had a total number? We were, I was trying to add them up with my fingers.

There's 45 total with the whole project. Forty-five, okay. Including their own street parking in Palm Street and Santa Clara, right? Have we counted the off-street ones? Okay. That was what was in the first slide but a lot of them are on Palm Street. Yeah. But they're not specific to the use, they're public parking. Okay got it.

Um, we Had information from People Self Help a long time ago when this was first brought to us, the original version of it. About the way the residents, the security that's going to be there that I thought once people self help is going to provide some sense of security and when we discussed it awhile back, the concern is taxing bringing in homeless population into this location And then possibly taxing the hours of our law enforcement here in Fillmore.

And at one point in time, there was on people's self-help if I recall correctly, they had plans to have someone onsite. And I've asked this question a couple different times. And I don't know is where do we stand on that? I mean, that's my biggest

concern. We made that a condition of approval and the developer agreed to it so they'll have people on site managing as best they can and they're qualified too.

Okay. And do we have a total number of hours?

I do, I need to reread the condition and I'll forward it to all of you.

But the applicants here too perhaps they can just answer the question.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers. Tanner Shelton with Sandbell. We're honored to serve as the planning consultants on this project. Councilmember Brogy, to answer your question, as Kevin was saying there will be an onsite staff person there, a property manager, as well as caseworkers who will be monitoring the project site. We also were conditioned by the city to submit what is called I'm going to forget the exact name but effectively a security plan that has to be reviewed and approved by the City's Police Department prior to certificate of occupancy So there will be a comprehensive security system on the property as well. That's not just human bodies, they'll also be security cameras and things of that nature alarm systems and the like to secure the facility.

And then the internal courtyard will also be secured as well from from the public so we've worked extensively with planning staff, the police department in the city engineers to work through those concerns and we're happy with the result. Thank you.

Actually, Mayor if I may and Tanner, I may have another question for you and Etika. And it is concerning about the topic we're on right now. And that is that this is a family affordable housing project. And being so, that does limit certain individuals from being able to live in this affordable housing. So I wondered if either one of you could speak to that?

Yeah, I'll invite Daisy up from People Self Help Housing to talk a little bit about kind of what their envisioned target population is but we have a variety of bedroom sizes One, two and three bedrooms across the project. So we're targeting a broad range of folks and families are certainly a part of that dynamic. So Daisy I don't know if you have anything to add about specifically target populations or anything of that nature but yeah. Thank you.

Council members. Yeah, I mean, I think we have 50 units on site. Most of the units are set aside for families. It's only 13 units that are set aside for permanent supportive housing but as Tanner mentioned, we do have a case manager. We do have case managers and supportive services staff on site and we do have a property manager that lives onsite as well. I don't know if that answers your question.

Just for Councilmember Brogy, I believe that I'm in the right about this is that in affordable housing projects that include family there are restrictive to individuals.

So I think your question is pertaining that if someone has some sort of a record or like a rap sheet that I believe to be part of this project because there's families. Yeah, so yes you're on the right track and I

didn't know exactly what the And

we have had those discussions with them. You know, when we were looking at the funding mechanisms and like the tiers to get your points for your funding and so that's something that has been taken under consideration. Manuela and I have been closely working with transition of the shelter and I think if it does come into fruition there will be the ability to house those individuals may potentially have a rap sheet into a men's shelter only. So there's different avenues to make sure that we're meeting our on-house population needs.

Great, thank you for that clarification. I just think it was important to the conversation that we know that there are restrictions here at the affordable housing.

If I could just clarify, unhoused people isn't the only definition of supportive housing. Other types of people that have housing insecurity go there so it's a variety of people and families.

Yeah, I mean it could be somebody with like a developmental disability. That's somebody else that might go into the permanent supportive housing unit at risk could also go into the permanent supportive housing unit so it doesn't necessarily have to be that somebody is directly homeless. It could be somebody who's at risk of homelessness or right like

someone who

just aged out of the foster

system there are a lot of different people who fall in that category of supportive housing okay

Just so I'm clear though, we're not talking about that anybody going into the self-help building would be a family. There will be singles there will be maybe two in one apartment but not solely restricted to family units

So only the 13 units will be for permanent supportive housing. The rest of the units are for families, but really it's based on the occupancy level for each individual unit. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks.

Okay any other questions?

I just want to thank staff on all their hard work and When it first came, I was on the planning commission and it totally welded to the project that we have here. And all the hard work you guys did, thank you so much.

You're welcome. Teamwork.

OK. Nothing else? No other speakers on this? No? Can I get a motion?

I'll move that the City Council authorize the city manager or designee to execute the off-site improvement agreement and accept the performance and payment bonds for required public improvements fronting this subject project, and authorize the city manager or designee to execute a license agreement for the use of the city right-of-way along Ventura Street State Route 126 for additional landscaping and miscellaneous features to be owned and maintained by People's Self Help Housing.

Okay we got a motion second? I'll second it. Okay motion second all in favor?

Aye

Any opposed? Motion passes, thank you.

So good evening council members Mayor Mendez I'm Deborah Cavaletto finance director. Item 9b has staff recommending the City Council to receive the Mid Year Financial Report and approve the proposed mid year budget adjustments For tonight's presentation, I'll be discussing the General Fund Special Revenue and Deferred Capital Projects. And Anne-Marie Tabay, our accounting supervisor will be talking about the capital improvements requests.

For the general fund as discussed in the staff report, the request for additional general fund appropriations include approximately $100,000 in transfers to other projects which will be discussed in this presentation and approximately $57,000 to general fund operations. For general fund operations, this includes a new work truck to replace the 2003 aging truck and a projected increase in park management costs and contract services for developer trust account review and financial department support.

In the case of the bike path maintenance fund We are planning to complete the city hall handicap parking. This has been in work since probably, since 2000 I believe, 13-14 and that includes approximately $68,876 appropriation requested from the bike path of 57,876 with the remaining 11,000 coming from the aforementioned recommended transfer from the general fund.

50% of the project is being funded by the Transportation Development Act local transportation funds, or called Article III. A budget adjustment at $49,125 is requested from the general fund transfer mentioned above as costs are projected to be over budget. These include cost in utility costs, various program costs and a reallocation of a liability insurance expense of $19,000 which was not part of the original budget Recreation makes up various services in the area, which include grant program fees and the general fund that support it.

These services include the senior nutrition program, the active adult center and youth basketball. Capital projects are budgeted annually and throughout the year. Of the 2026 budget capital projects that are being deferred to future fiscal years are the Sespe Creek bike path, the Central Avenue storm drain first to third and a portion of the Waterline project. The projects that were submitted during this mid-year projection review For consideration, the storm drain county country court and stadium way projects have been deferred as well as the orchard streetlight and the city's portion of the Fillmore neon sign. That means the city goes and does the trenching in Edison comes in for that project.

They have been deferred either for next fiscal year or be become maybe coming up to upcoming available at later City Council meetings Consideration includes the timing of right now the fiscal year. Of course, we are in March and can they can the project be completed as well as being the cost of the project? It may be so high that we like want to come to City Council to discuss more of the project and being considered a shovel ready So now I'm gonna be turning over the presentation to Ann Marie

Good evening Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. I am Amber Thibay. I'm the Accounting Supervisor and I'm here to present the major budget adjustment requests for the Capital Improvement Funds. First is the Street Improvement Fund 467. Staff recommends a budget adjustment of $35,000 from the General Fund. And this request is for the driveway repair and resurfacing project totaling $25,000 and installation of a street light which cost estimate of $10,000. Both of these projects are ready to proceed in the coming months and will maintain the city's safety standards.

Next one is the Public Buildings Improvements Fund 490. Staff recommends a budget adjustment of $5,455 from the general fund and the reallocation of Fund 490 which funds from the Cespe Creek bike path that Deborah mentioned which is $44,545 which has been deferred to next fiscal year. And remaining savings from the storefront roof project of $15,000. Additional funds from the general fund are being requested for the perimeter improvements at the public works yard and active adult center totaling $45,000. And the upgrade of City Hall's fire alarm system which is $20,000 The Public Works Yard Perimeter Project will address traffic flow to provide a more secure environment During hazardous waste day events at the location. So the $5,455 is the net of the transfer and the request.

The next one is a sewer capital fund 463. Staff recommends a budget adjustment of $95,000 from Sewer Replacement Reserve Fund for 503. Staff is requesting additional funds from the Sewer Capital Replacement Reserve Fund for three projects needed at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. These projects are to upgrade plant security, $25,000, repair and replace the sludge conveyor which manages the byproducts of the treatment process, $30,000 and replacement of the UV bank in Area B, which disinfects to remove harmful pathogens and contaminants. And that's 40,000.

The project maintains efficiency and operational standards and safety. Next portion of my presentation is to provide an update to the remaining capital improvement projects carried over from prior year. The two capital improvement funds, Fund 464 which is a park improvement and Fund 453 Water Capital Improvement Funds have expenses relating to prior year City Council approved projects which were not able to finish in fiscal year 25.

The remaining expenses of these projects, the AMI or the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project in Fund 453 and the Two Rivers Lighting and Landscaping Project in Fund 464 continued in fiscal year 26. Approved funding committed to the projects remain to cover these expenses. These funds will be re-established into the adjusted budget for this fiscal year 2026.

Approval of the recommended budget adjustments to fund unbudgeted expenses or negative fund balances is needed to meet this city's operational activities. As also explained, sufficient funding exists to accommodate these transfers. That concludes my presentation and I'm here to answer your questions.

Questions? Do we have any other speakers on this from the public?

I didn't have a question, but just sort of a comment and reassurance that these mid-year budget adjustments are really needed. I think it's said well under fiscal impact in the staff report That this is needed to meet the city's operational activities and I think that's just the word operational is very key. And that, you know we need to move things around a little bit and transfer some things in from the general fund and defer because we need to meet the city's basic operational needs this fiscal year so just sort of You know, to put that out there. Understand it and you know thank you for the presentation and really laying out why these are needs and where the money is coming from what's you know what is being deferred so it's very clear.

So thank you Amber.

We work closely with a public works director and the city manager and we prioritize the projects and push the projects for next fiscal year if it's not a priority.

Thank you. I just want to make a general comment. Thank you for all the work that the finance department has put into this. At a different level, though, I think it would be good for the City Council to have special public meetings regarding budgets and training. Obviously this is a lot of individual line items that need to be taken care of I think just overall educating the public as well as the City Council on, for example, we say that we've got six goals, five goals. Okay so how does that, how does the city council's goals line up with the actual expenditures that are seen in the budget?