REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Would clerk please take roll?

Good evening Councilmember Barrett. Present. Councilmember Delgado. Present. Council Member Means. Present. Mayor Innegren. Present and the record will reflect that council member Castro is absent this evening

Next is item for proclamations and accommodations Item 4a as a proclamation declaring October 2026 as domestic violence awareness month. Well, Miss Jill Abouy please representing the Siroptimus Club of Simi Valley in Moorpark and available members please join me at the dais in front We still haven't figured this out yet. A proclamation of the Moorpark City Council proclaiming October 2026 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Whereas, October was first declared as Domestic Violence Awareness month in 1989 this annual campaign raises awareness about the prevalence and impact of intimate partner violence on our survivors and victims and connects communities with resources Whereas more than 1 in 3 women in the United States and nearly 43.5 million have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

And whereas more than 1 in 20 U.S. women experience intimate partner contact sexual violence, physical violence and or stalking in the past year alone. Whereas in 2024, a national crime victimization survey counted nearly 783,000 intimate partner violent victimizations. Roughly one in eight violent victimizations that year. Whereas young women face especially high rates of intimate partner violence and most female victims first experience it before age 25.

Whereas a weapon has been present in about one in five intimate partner violence victimizations against women and crime victimization studies. Whereas domestic violence is not confined to any group or groups of people, but crosses all economic, racial, gender, educational, religious and societal barriers. Whereas domestic violence individuals' privacy, dignity, security and humanity We're a Suroptimist International Simi Valley Moorpark provides support to women experiencing crisis and those pursuing a better life for herself and her children through the Live Your Dream Award.

The Debbie Thomas Founders Award and the other programs made possible through events such as Little Black Dress. And whereas Seroptimist's mission is to empower women and girls to reach their full potential, and live safe healthy and productive lives. Raising awareness about domestic violence is an important part of that mission. Particularly because education community awareness can help prevent violence and support those who may be experiencing it. Now, therefore be it resolved that the Moorpark City Council hereby proclaims October 2026 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month to increase awareness of intimate partner violence and to encourage victims to seek assistance and support. A witness whereof, Moorpark City Council does set its hand and cause a seal of the city of Moorpark to be affixed this 21st day of October 2026.

Good evening. My name is Jill Abula, and I'm honored to be here tonight to represent Seroptimus International of Simi Valley and Moorpark. These five ladies behind me are representing almost 70 members of our organization. They work very hard to raise funds to provide scholarships and grants to young women and girls who sometimes They are recovering or they've been victimized in the past by domestic violence. We also work to raise awareness of human trafficking as well and all of that's possible because of the generosity of people like the citizens of Moorpark and residents here, and the City Council and city staff so thank you for having us tonight And for recognizing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. You notice that some of us are wearing purple, that's the color designating October domestic violence awareness so we invite you to join us and wear purple this month might bring more awareness to this issue and if you are experiencing domestic violence and you need help, we encourage you to call 211.

The County of Ventura has resources to help you out as well. Thank you again.

All right, item 4B is a proclamation declaring October 2026 as Fire Prevention Month. Will Ventura County Fire Department Division Chief Guillermo de la Rosa and Prevention Bureau representative please join me in front of the dais? I think we dodged a bullet last week. Got pretty windy but never cooked off. There we go. We got a proclamation I'll read it off. A proclamation of the Moorpark City Council proclaiming October 2026 as Fire Prevention Month, whereas fire prevention and public safety are essential to safeguarding and protecting the lives, homes, neighborhoods, businesses, natural resources, and overall well-being of our residents. Whereas Fire Prevention Month serves as an important opportunity to educate the public about the fire hazards, promote prevention practices, and encourage individuals, families, and communities to take steps to reduce the risks of fire.

Whereas the 2026 theme, Charge into Fire Safety, Safe Charging as a Superpower, emphasizes the importance of safe charging practices and raising awareness of the fire risk associated with lithium-ion batteries and devices they power including smartphones, laptops, e-bikes other rechargeable equipment. Whereas lithium-ion battery fires can occur when batteries or charged equipment are damaged improperly used, overcharged or incompatible with devices they power making it essential to follow instructions and recognize warning signs of battery failure. Whereas residents can help prevent fires by using manufacturer-approved charging equipment and charging devices on hard services. Whereas the city recognizes the dedication and services of firefighters emergency responders educators and community partners who work throughout the year to prevent fires respond to emergencies and promote public awareness And whereas through education, preparedness and shared responsibility residents of all ages can become everyday fire safety champions and help create a safer community.

Whereas the city would like to commend the Ventura County Fire Department for its dedication to educating the public about fire prevention and encourages everyone to take proactive safety measures Now therefore, be it resolved that Moorpark City Council hereby proclaims October 2026 as Fire Prevention Month and encourages all residents and businesses to observe this month by learning and practicing safe charging habits, reviewing fire prevention measures, taking proactive steps to protect lives and property. In witness whereof, the Moorpark City Council does set its hand and cause a seal of the city of Moorpark to be affixed this 21st day of October 2026.

Good evening, everybody. Mayor, City Council, thank you so much for the recognition. More importantly, the continued support for our agency and fire prevention. You know, fire prevention isn't always the most glamorous but it truly is the most effective tool in preventing fires and keeping people safe. Keeping property safe and I think our agency gratefully we do it really well but I would say that the biggest contributing factor to that is the relationships that we have. Our agency with the City of Moorpark and with the residents that live in the city of Moorpark and we couldn't do without you guys so thank you very much.

Next is item five, public comment. Are there any speakers?

Yes Mr. Mayor I have two, I'm sorry three speaker cards

Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, city managers and the new city attorney I believe we have? My name is John Davidson. I'm the current president of the Masters at Moorpark Homeowners Association representing 50 homeowners. I am here tonight to request specific procedural action concerning our September 30th 2026 written demand for an administrative investigation.

We respectfully request that the City Council take five actions. Place this matter on a properly noticed future City Council agenda for public discussion and possible action. Second, consider authorizing an independent investigation or direct the city manager to return with a proposal including scope, estimated costs, and independent investigative process. Third, in that investigation the city's development approvals will include ADA requirements Inspections, certificates of occupancy, roll curb driveway approvals, acceptance of required improvements and release of performance bonds. Fourth, establish a specific date for follow-up. Fifth, direct the preservation of all relative city records, correspondence engineering documents and inspections.

As you know our concerns involve nearly a decade of city oversight relating to the 50 homes constructed by Toll Brothers. The city approved development plans requiring two substantial 15-foot by 3-foot yellow truncated dome ADA ramps were in the new program or a new plan map that were never installed. The homeowners were never informed of that, and it was ongoing for over eight years before we found out about that.

Serious questions also remain concerning the city's approval of the original road curb design for which we have not had an appropriate answer in seven years. Today, 32 of our 40 homeowners have installed rubber driveway ramps in order to access their property. Meanwhile, certificates of occupancy were issued, homes were occupied and development bonds were released raising significant questions about the city's oversight and accessibility compliance.

These are not isolated concerns. They involve decisions across multiple city departments for over nearly a decade There's another fundamental issue before the council. The City Council has a responsibility to make decisions based upon complete, truthful and accurate information provided by the city manager and staff. And when material facts are disputed, the council must not simply accept administrative representations without reasonable verification but independent review is essential to informed oversight and public accountability.

Moorpark Municipal Code Section 2.12.060 identifies the city manager's administrative responsibilities, while section 2.04.120 addresses the City Council's investigative authority.

Thank

you.

Time is up. We'll take this offline.

Okay.

And our next speaker is Daniel, who will be followed by Ashley.

Good evening, Council. Today I want to use my public comment time to ask about the Alper cameras and the development with the Flock and the Axon discussion that we were promised almost two months ago by PJ. I'm asking for clear public answers about automated license plate readers, the records used to oversee them and who is responsible for those records leave important questions unanswered Residents should not have to become forensic data analysts to understand a surveillance system that their government helps fund.

My output review identified serious limits in what the supplied records can establish, they do not reliably connect the recorded activity to an identified user, documented purpose, a case or an outcome. That means we don't know if these were false flags, if there was a warrant, if there was any just cause, or if they thought that the comment reason was nice ass or you know LOL what?

Which are documented cases in other public facing records, ones that were provided without the obfuscation. So I would like for them to explain the redactions, identify the basis for withholding the information and distinguish what information was withheld because we don't know. They gave us four columns and redacted everything else. There was no record of any formal training, which is one of the requirements that was set forth in the contract that you guys have with them. They said there was no records, not no responsive records. We don't keep these records. So that means nobody's being trained on the system that the first thing you have to do is require that they're trained or they're refusing to provide the documentation of that to a public records request.

Why are the cops acting like criminals? I don't know. And is it every one of them? No. But come on man. The unusual shifts around the end of the month. The data requests, they're often being cut off a little bit early like there's a mass search being conducted at the end of the month and the numbers show it so that those were intentionally kind of left out and there's a 35-page report at justtrustusbro.vcso.replit.app I was told by our chief of police, Nick Odenath that they need warrants for this and that. But then they redact the column that specifies if they had a warrant and if they got an actual hit. And I'm told that no one at his level would do that. But then the officers who we paid out as a county $500,000 because they beat up a bouncer in front of a million of these FOC cameras over at the El Rey Cantina?

Well, one of them is the son of his equivalent in Fillmore. So I really have some accountability questions over the system. And in Camarillo, the same agency has a father-son duo asking to circumvent public questions. He's writing the CEO of the company saying how do I address these concerns instead of or he's saying how do I circumnavigate and avoid these concerns instead of how do i address them with the data?

That's not sad. I don't care what badge you're wearing your responsibility is us we're paying you and when it comes to them we're paying a lot of them almost four hundred thousand dollars that's VCSO by the way so Yay. Thank you.

And the last speaker I have is Ashley.

Good evening, City Council. I'd like to give you all the latest abduction numbers as of October 21st. 805 Area Code is now at 3,028 people. We are up 334 abductions. Ventura County is at 1,360. We are now up 90. And the numbers for Moorpark are at 26. We're up by two. Incidents since September 12th. Seven ICE reports resulting in six confirmed ICE vehicles and two confirmed abductions in the city of Moorpark.

We were officially in a 45-day surge, and things have escalated quickly. HSI ICE has become really aggressive since the surge has begun. Use of pepper spray, bear mace, tasers, brandishing handguns, brandishing assault rifles and ramming vehicles to get them to pull over. Two 805 undocumented volunteers were taken into custody for constitutionally protected activity with no one identifying themselves from the federal government in either case.

In Ventura, I srammed a father and his three kids off the road then started pepper spraying community members that were unaffiliated with rapid response networks and shoving a firefighter trying to check on the children in the van. The community response ultimately led to them vacating the area which was also the case in Oxnard. In Simi Valley, ICE hit both moving and parked cars while abducting at least two individuals.

Incident involved multiple ICE vehicles and SBPD were on-site observing. Many of those officers on scene were just as disgusted with ICE's actions as the rest of us. Additionally in Simi Valley last week When I responded to a call that someone had been taken, I arrived to find a vehicle parked crooked in a lot with two minors left alone at the scene. They had locked themselves inside the vehicle and were there terrified and crying.

We are literally being terrorized by these federal agents and it looks worse and worse as local law enforcement stands on the sidelines. People will be hurt or killed if the federal agents are not held accountable for their actions soon, and no one will forgive local councils boards or officers for their inaction creating another cycle of generational trauma I'd also like to take this moment to acknowledge the very real struggles being witnessed within your city. A Moorpark employee recently reached out to me in tears, telling me that employees that used to sit together on lunches and breaks chatting about their lives joyfully now spend much of their time discussing their overwhelming fears instead.

And even noted seeing an employee check the parking lot from the safety of the building before making a mad dash to their vehicle. They say this is the new normal, and it absolutely breaks their heart. This is our reality. Thank you for your time and for your consideration I know the city of Moorpark will continue towards a better tomorrow For all its people and look forward to seeing each new step forward

Thank you

And Mr. Mayor, I've received another comment card this is from Mr. Ken Hurst

Good evening. I wanted to further address the issues with Flock. Flock is not a trustworthy company. Repeatedly, their response to being caught in, for example, when the nationwide search flag was set back in February, their response was to shut down the reporting that enabled that to be caught. Right now in Simi Valley, who is using it is completely redacted.

The reason is gone. They used to have that and now in place of that they have a box, there's a pull-down menu that they have to say what kind of crime it is and that they're looking for. We have in Simi Valley on the order of three to five hundred lookups a month. That's far more crimes than occur in Simi Valley by order magnitude And the flock is just not trustworthy. They've been caught with their hand in a candy jar multiple times. Just recently, Chief Dickey who's heading the police department at Ventura City Represented to the City Council that they had done an audit, and there were only a couple of instances where ICE was involved when that switch was thrown.

The audit conveniently went from March to March. If they had gone back another month, they would have found tens of accesses by ICE. And it extended back for quite some time. So that's an extremely unfortunate situation. I have no idea why he represented that to the city council. It could have been any one of a number of reasons, but it was an incomplete answer at best and misleading at best.

In general, right now with Simi Valley all you get is the time at which the flock data was accessed and the drop down menu of about five different things that it could be. That's not acceptable. The point of the log is to be able to tell whether or not it's being accessed by the right people and that is totally redacted, and I believe that's true in Moorpark also.

That's unacceptable. I've filed a Freedom of Information request with Simi Valley and been stiff-armed so far but we will continue to push on that. Thank you.

And that is the final comment card that I have for general public comment.

Thank

you. All right, next is item 6, reordering of and distancing to agenda. I'm going to recommend we pull the items 10A and B and do that after consent if everyone's OK with that. Outside of that, does anyone need to pull anything from the agenda? Consent?

Did have one Mr. Mayor, you may have just pulled it. I failed to note it.

Pardon me for just a second.

And Mayor, just to clarify we're just reordering items 10A, B and C ahead of the public hearing? Correct. You're

not looking for what we want to pull? I'll get with this meeting at some point relatively soon. Apologies. It's going to be a rough one, we know that.

Okay so we'll pull 8F. Next item 7 announcements future agenda items reports on meetings conferences attended by council members and mayor. We'll start with Mr. Barrett

On October 12th, I attended a Marketing Ad Hoc Committee meeting discussing the Children's Library. On October 14th, um, I attended the Fathomworks Summit in Port of Wene'mu. Um, we've been talking about, um...Fathomworks through the Regional Defense Partnership that I'm part of and it was great to see all the innovation and Defense companies coming together to collaborate, and that facility is a special one that we have here in the county.

And one that our businesses here in Moorpark can really benefit from as well. On October 14th, I also attended the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce board meeting. On October 16th, attended the Moorpark Chamber networking breakfast. This was a special breakfast because we actually did it in the dark since there was no power so it did not stop the Chamber of Commerce from meeting and doing their business but definitely It was great to see good attendance and everyone kind of persevering even though many people did not have power in their homes at the time.

And last night, with many of you I attended, with all of you actually, I attended the Moorpark Community Awards. Another wonderful event that was put on by the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce and it was wonderful to see all the great works that people in the city of Moorpark are doing and to recognize some of them for that. Thank you.

All right. On October 8th, I attended the Moorpark Young Professional Group at the Tiara Rejada Golf Course. We meet this second Thursday of every month at a different Moorpark restaurant and our November 12th meeting will be at Lemos Pizzeria at noon so please come join us 40-ish and under. On October 9th, I attended the opening night of Frozen at the High Street Arts Center.

I say it every time I see a show there but truly this one really blew me away. Incredible talent on that stage! If you haven't seen it yet please treat yourself to a great evening out. On the 12th I had the Library Ad Hoc meeting with Councilmember Barrett regarding the interior of the library On the 14th, also along with Council Member Barrett, I attended the Chamber of Commerce board meeting. And on the 14th I also attended the teen council meeting and got to speak to our new teen council.

On the 15th, I attended Fathomworks Summit at the Navy base in Port Hueneme. The summit's goal is to encourage relationships between industry, academia and the Navy. On October 16th, I attended the Chamber of Commerce Breakfast by Candlelight since as Council Member Barrett mentioned there was no power. I also had the opportunity to speak with NBC's John Cadiz-Klimak about the PSPS event. He happened to be walking down the street so I dragged him into our meeting and he did a segment which highlighted Moorpark's disproportionate amount of power outages On October 17th, I attended the See Me Moorpark Relay for Life event put on by the American Cancer Society.

And yesterday along with all of you here, I also attended the Chamber of Commerce Community Awards. I always enjoy celebrating the people who go above and beyond in Moorpark and they truly make it such a great place to live and work and raise a family so I'm happy to have honored them.

Mr. Means, thank you mayor from October 13th through 15th I was in Santa Barbara at the YPO Pacific regional leadership conference discussing with other leaders in the western region Western United States vision and good leadership and stewardship Then as mentioned already On the 20th of October. I attended the Moorpark Community Awards with 20 unique winners throughout Moorpark Some of which are here today not least of which being you mr. Mayor, so congratulations on your award hotly contested No library tours in Santa Barbara I should have gotten to a library but I was so busy hoping and wishing that you were gonna get that award that I forgot completely

As for myself, Thursday October 8th I along with city manager Gagahena attended Moorpark High School at the college to talk about City of Moorpark governmental leadership. We do that every year it's always a great turnout. On Thursday October 15th I took part in the Which seems like it's a yearly Edison fail and I celebrated that by making my own power with gasoline, which is really fun. Bunch of extension cords and hope that goes away at some point but it feels like Moorpark is always getting the short end of this stick.

Tuesday October 20th, which was yesterday attended the Moorpark Community Awards and that is all I have to report. And I've got a few announcements here Pull on your quads or blades and join us for Halloween Hits Skate Night on Sunday, October 25th from 4 to 6pm at the Royal Vista Community Park. Enjoy an evening of skating, music and games plus fun activities for non-skaters. There will also be a costume contest. Admission is free. For more information visit moorparkca.gov slash skate On October 31st, visit Haunted High Street for Halloween fun including trunk retreating, a carnival with games and attractions, a live DJ, the Moorpark Library's Arts & Craft Pumpkin Patch, food trucks and more. Carnival admission is $5 in advance, $10 at the gate.

All activities are free. For details and to purchase carnival tickets, visit moorparkca.gov slash haunted. As we get ready for El Nino rains this year, the city has rolled out two self-service sandbag stations for Moorpark residents. Sand and bags are available but residents will need to fill their own bags. Sandbag stations are located at Via Campancina Park on La De Yancey Road and the south end of College View Avenue next to Moorpark Dog Park.

Note that the former station at the Moorpark City Library is no longer open since we're building a new Moorpark library on that site. More information is available online at moorparkca.gov slash sandbags Okay, next item is a consent calendar we pulled item F so I'll entertain a motion for the balance Thank you good motion in a second we need a roll call vote

And the record will reflect that council member Castro is absent this evening.

Okay, move to item 8F. Consider agreement co-sponsoring the Rotary Club of Moorpark's morning holiday on High Street event for a three year term.

Ms. Sandifer? Mayor Integron if I may, I'm not sure if I have a conflict on this event but because I am involved in the planning of it I'm just going to recuse myself out of an abundance of caution.

Good evening City Mayor, Mayor and City Council members. Jessica Sandifer I don't have a presentation prepared this evening but I'm happy to answer any questions about the item

Yeah, thank you. This is regarding something that I think the whole community rallies around and the city support is appreciated and appropriate but it's a three-year contract with the Rotary Club of Moorpark and because it's three year contract and because it's impacting some things like our costs being as much as almost $20,000 a year Some of the future items that we may consider in street safety, like bollards may change that or in other security options could change that. Some of the developments that may happen even later tonight could change some of these details and so I just wanted to pull it because it's a multi-year contract. It's a lot of money. Thank you to city staff for taking the time to walk me through it. We can exit this contract.

So we do have a clause if things materially change That we could say, oh this isn't working for us or we can save some money Or we can provide better services for less But I just wanted to call it out because it is a three-year contract spending Spending a bit of money and please if I stated that incorrectly at all you are the expert. I am not

No, it is contingent upon the City Council budgeting for the event. So yeah

Thank You

Yeah, I agree with that point. Also we discussed or which we will discuss soon is the business improvement district in High Street as a possibility that could come down the pipeline and I think right now it's kind of hard because things are a little vacant right now but I've heard a lot of new things that might be coming in that might be great so Not to throw it out there yet, but I see that coming around. And when we have more businesses down there and a business improvement district, I'm sure there's going to be more collaboration with the groups that are going to be there, especially with entertainment zones and so on.

So I don't see any reason to not just approve this every year because we've been doing this for the last about five years. It's been a great event, but I don't see any value of just putting a three-year contract together

So are you saying to just do a one-year contract?

Yeah. We don't need a contract at all, we just do it every year. Okay. And we can change it every year if we need to. We won't lose anything. I

guess question for staff, question for expert. Is there a reason why the Rotary prefers or we preferred a three-year contract?

I don't recall who brought it up, so I'm not going to say who brought it up. But I believe one of the council comment was when we were continually bringing these events back annually and we know that they're successful and we're going to do them annually could we do a three-year term just so we don't have to you know sort of do the paperwork all the time? So that was the impetus for it. I don''t recall who made the comment on and when made the comment but when the agreement came back around We chose not to do with country days this year because they are a new Operator organizer for the event so we're still getting them time to get some feet under them But holiday on high street has been around for several years now, and so we felt we could Attempt the three-year agreement You know to save a little bit on the staff time then all obviously we did give ourselves the out should the City Council choose to not You know Budget for the event or budget in a lesser amount so that we would have to modify it We could just have a new agreement at that time But we could certainly convert back to the one-year agreement It would be that you know minor changes to the agreement to do that

So if I'm hearing right this body requested it and then we're asking why we requested it I don't blame Antonio Yeah, let's blame he who is not here. I can see why for administrative purposes it's easier to have a longer term contract. It's certainly something we want the out clause for us I think is important and with us only having to provide 30 days I'm willing to go that route. I also could be equally talked into reviewing it annually depending on what your preference is.

It takes place pretty much inside of the private development that's vacant right now so... If things were to change the whole event can changes completely so I see a very big variability which is. Country days different story on the street city owned property so.

Yeah, I mean the bulk of their event though is still on High Street. That's where all the vendor booths are they still use the Metrolink lot for their kids areas and stuff like that so the event covers the use mostly of the street And the Metrolink lot in any of the other city properties that they leverage for for the event but not not the village green That's completely up to you The daily group to continue a lot to allow them to use that so

Yeah, it's a great event. I just don't see the need for any contract really. I'd rather have the flexibility.

Given the time of year with what's in front of us if we were to change this from a three-year to a one-year are we creating a timing issue for any of the parties involved?

I think you can, and I would look to the city attorney for this. But I believe you can just direct us to draft the one year agreement. I mean really it changes a whereas or two otherwise the language would be fairly similar. That's really all I modified to make it a multi-year agreement. So if I ask the city attorney for advice.

I don't see a reason that this would be held up any further than that. You can just, the council can direct us to make those edits if it seems fit.

I don't have a preference Mr. Mayor, if you do then I'm happy to bring it to a one year and excited to see what we're doing next year at High Street and how that may change some of the options.

Yeah, I'll just do that. It makes sense.

You want to move it?

Yeah, I'll move to change that to a one-year.

I'll

second. Do we have motion to second? We need a roll call.

And the record will reflect that Council Member Barrett has recused and Council Member Castro is not present this evening.

Okay, we're going to move to Presentation Action Discussion Item 10A. Let's consider Water Rate and Monthly Meter Charge Adjustment presentation by Water and Sanitation Director Paul Chan from Ventura County Water Works District 1. Good evening

Mayor, Councilmembers. Thank you so much for having me here tonight. And it is my goal to be here more often as the water and sands director to ensure that we have positive and open communication. As you know, the Moorpark service area consists of both water and sewer. What you see in the shaded blue area is only for sewer because sewer's really only for the City of Moorpark. And then at the outlying areas to include the unincorporated area is Water Work District 1 which includes Moorpark.

And just some short facts, 177 miles of water lines. Five ground water wells right now we have one operational. 19 reservoirs and then 11 booster pump stations. As you can see the establishment dates. Some of our pipes especially in the high street is over 100 years old so... And then rate adjustment, we just completed a rate study with Riftelis Financial Consultant. So they actually did a cost to service rate assessment for us and the report will be coming out later on this month.

And that consider inflationary adjustments as water imported water costs from Cayagas because 85% of the District 1's water comes actually from Cayagas imported water and 15% of our water comes from groundwater. And then, in addition to that for Cayagas, they're increasing the rates for 5% in 27 and then 5.8% in 28. And then as part of the financial reserves for the county, you guys probably have seen this before, we require 10% of operating revenue and 25% of the operating expenses to be part of reserves. And Water Work District 1 Waterworks has no issues with that.

And this is the rates compared to Water Work District 1 in Cayegas. As you can see, you're keeping up with the averages. No big issues here. The next one, as you can see from the slide before we actually requested a 10% increase in 26. Despite that there's some good news. Conservation is working however that also means that the number of units of water we're buying is less so we went from 9000 acre feet. Acre feet is roughly three Olympic sized pool about 1 meter deep or one foot deep so that creates mental image in regards to what an acre foot is.

So we went from about 9,000 acre feet to about 8,500 acre feet and now we're hovering around 7,500 acre feet mainly because we're using more recycled water which is kind of nice right? Because that's also a lot cheaper for irrigation your golf courses rustic canyons farm area so all that is now being supplied and supported by reclaimed water But however, even with the 10% increase last year we had a $1.6 million deficit in the Water Work District 1 water accounts and that's really because of the number of units. So just like El Nino it is great for the city and everybody else because rain is always good for us to fill up the reservoir groundwater percolation. However there might be some impact in regards to Water District 1 mainly because we would sell less units when it's raining And what we have proposed is a 9% water rate increase for both 27 and 28 to keep things steady, to ensure that we're on the right path.

And then we were focused on high priority CIP. And what that means is, what we talked about before, 85% of our water comes from imported and only 15% is from groundwater. In groundwater... I'll go to the next slide. Groundwater saves you roughly $1,000 per acre foot. So the more groundwater you can extract, the more affordable your water rates can be and also more resilient in case of any droughts and any concerns during hot seasons or If Cayegas actually decided to reduce the number of units that they'll give to Moorpark or Waterworks District 1, this will allow you to have a reliable resilient source of water.

So what we have proposed as part of the rate increases is to do three major projects. It's a new Grimes Reservoir. And I don't know if you guys know your water zone too well, so right now all the groundwater is really supporting the unincorporated areas. The city of Moorpark by itself is really being supplied by Cahagas. So if we can do an integration of Zone 744 and also 757 then I can actually put groundwater into the city and I can blend it also use more of the groundwater. Because right now I'm capped on how much ground water I can use is roughly 1800 acre feet, because that's all the demand does in the unincorporated area side. But if I enter a city, I can use the maximum groundwater allocation of 26,000 or 2,661 acre feet per year. So which will Actually, it drops you about $1.2 million per year.

So therefore the payback is great if we can get more groundwater. And then here's a recommendation again two-year rate increase 9% for 27 and 28 focus CIP on really trying to get ground water extraction back up and also the Peach Hill and Tierra Rejada tanks backup so you have fire flow storage and everything else Okay. Any questions? That's all I have. Thank you.

If you have any questions, go

ahead. So the monthly service charge, they're broken down by the size of pipe. Yes, size of meters. Size of meters, sorry. What is this for everybody to understand what is the average meter size for a single family home built between 70s and 90s?

So three quarter inch meter and the roughly usage is about 1200 cubic feet. So that's about 600 gallons. And that's what this graph provides, so I'm comparing a normal Typical household use compared to everybody else. And I did want to make one comment both all Amargosa, City of Oxnard, Port Wene'mu and Camarillo they're still working through the rate studies so they'll be doing exactly what I'm doing now going through Prop 218 also rate adjustments

I just have one more question. Go ahead. So it's not just a rate increase, you're also lowering the thresholds for different tiers? Yes. Is there a reason for that and then what would that actually be for someone who was in one tier and is now being bumped to the more expensive tier so what is the actual rate increase for someone like that?

So if you look at Tier 1, there was no change in Tier 1. So as long as you consume which is a normal household 9.33 hundred cubic feet, there shouldn't be any changes at all in regards to your tier. But what happens is if you are not conserving, and also the data that was driven before was about 10 years old. So that's why we did a rate study, looked at our consumption data for the past five years and do a rolling average so therefore the closer year actually has more relevance.

And then that's when you adjust the tiers because of conservation people are using less water. I don't know if that helps?

Yes thank you.

Thank you the report appreciate you coming in to talk to us about it and tell us what's going on 9% compounding increases is hard for anybody to take I know that you're aware of it. I'm not not doubting the need I'm not doubting the financials It's just it's just hard to brace for Is it fair to say that with the groundwater that you're attempting to extract and enter into the system, that we would expect lower increases than we otherwise would as we move further into the future?

That would be the goal. I would like to make sure that water is affordable but in order for us to make it affordable, we have to get our aging infrastructure recapitalized. Especially when you have five water wells, only one of them is operational. I need to get the other four or at least three of them back up so therefore I can maximize your groundwater extraction or allocation.

I appreciate that and with the, you mentioned the hundred-year old pipes and the wells that are offline, is there any concern about the quality of the water being delivered to the homes after these projects are done?

Not at this time. Right now, I will tell you there are some changes in regulation as well on June 2nd 2026 the Water Board recently made manganese be instead of an aesthetic issue is now a health concern so there's now a notification limit and response limit and secondary MCL associated manganese which Well 95 and Well 98 had but they're offline right now so therefore there's no concerns there

That's good to know, thank you for that. Final question relates back to 85% of our water is imported during the drought years that were just a couple of years ago. Our side of the region got impacted, our side of Southern California got impacted potentially, not potentially, greater than other parts of the region with mandatory cutbacks and et cetera. And I was told at the time that was based on not your systems at all but aging infrastructure, infrastructure that hadn't been built that was intended to, plans that never came to development If we're paying more on our rates and some of that is going along to the water that we are buying, are we seeing that infrastructure being improved materially to create water security for our residents here in our region?