City Council — 2020-01-14

Okay,

I'm calling the meeting Hello everybody out there. I know we're running a little late, but we're now calling the meeting to order So will the clerk please call the roll?

We have three public comment cards for item two. Does anybody here need a Spanish language interpreter for agenda item two? It looks like we do not. We have three speakers, but it looks like

okay So we I was gonna suggest a reordering of the agenda if we didn't need to keep the interpreter But if there is not going to be a requirement for that, I

guess

Well, I don't know mr. City manager what What's your sense here?

I Think we should keep the interpreter

Okay Okay, it would is that all right if we with the council if we Reorder that to take it up early. So we know and if there's no necessity We could excuse the interpreter earlier.

Sure. Yeah,

okay. So Let's see which item is that? That is

Okay, we got it.

sheriff of Ventura County and and uh i'm the guilty one i'm taking Jim Fryhoff from you yeah I know the connection Jim has formed with this council, with the community. I've seen it before in other places where he worked. He's done an excellent job everywhere he goes. I know he did an excellent job here. You heard from him in his own words how important it is to him to build that relationship with the community, to mentor the young deputies that he sets an example for. To work on creative ways to keep crime low in this valley and he just gives of himself. And that's an expectation he has wherever he goes. That's something I need at a higher level within the agency and I think you can appreciate and understand that. But that's also an expectation that I have for someone who fills that role.

And that's something you're going to get with Jim's successor, he's here this evening, Captain Jose Rivera. He's a 29-year member of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. He is a very gifted investigator, he's worked in fact we worked side by side in major crimes working homicides and some of the most serious crimes this county sees countywide. He's been a narcotics investigator, he has worked patrol, he has worked on our jail system He's an outstanding human being and that's what I wanted to speak to this evening. His resume really speaks for itself, but he has got the same substance that James Fryhoff has. He is going to be committed to this community. He is going to give of himself and bring his heart to the job.

And you will see that in the results that will play out in the community. He's gonna continue the great work that Jim has done for you over the last few years. And so it's my pleasure to introduce Jose this evening. A little bit more about him, he's a Camarillo resident married to his wife Laura they have their five children and like I said they live together in Camarillo and he is absolutely thrilled to be here And it's my pleasure to introduce him to you this evening. I have a photo for the screen here, just... Oh wait!

We didn't see that picture. This is Jose. Welcome!

Thank you very much for the welcome. I feel very fortunate to be here, to be in this position. I look forward to working with everyone here especially the community and continuing the tradition that Commander Fryhoff has place in this community. Again, I feel very fortunate to be here. A little bit on my personal side, I know the Sheriff touched my wife Laura and my five children you'll probably see them running around here shortly. My four-year-old, I have a four year old and a two year old.

You'll see the four-year-old running around here he's aching to come up here and check out dad's new office and look at the station and so I look forward to it and I'll be short. I know you guys are busy and we have a full agenda for tonight, but I Look forward to working with everybody the community Council members mayor Thank you very much for the opportunity and I look forward to seeing you guys in the future here. Thank you very much

Welcome, Captain, for allowing me to report to you as chief. Thank you very much, sir. And we're delighted not only have you as James' successor but he couldn't have been more flattering of a candidate I have to admit that and we take his opinion, we value it highly so we're sure we're going to value you highly. Well thank you very much. And Sheriff, thank you for taking the time to come in and introduce him. Thank you. Okay, so now if Mr., Mr., Commander, this is the happy part.

Nobody's more deserving of the promotion but yeah and we were all in your corner but we knew that when the day came that you got the promotion we'd be losing you a thousand oaks gain and for the benefit of the public Jay, you started out working here in the Valley many years ago did you not?

I did. Ojai was my first patrol station which is why it's always had a really special place for me right? I was assigned here from 1994 to 98 and patrol and then I was at the old Honor Farm for those that remember the Honor Farm on Baldwin for two years so I spent six years early on in my career after my stay in jail three-and-a-half years are for my first time through so that I got here in 1994 and I just loved it With the exception of one really, really bad day.

It was a wonderful time here and so I looked forward to coming back and having another wonderful time here absent the one bad day and I was able to do it. So very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be chief here. And I think I've said before that kind of the two bucket list items I've had in my 29 years was being the Chief of Police in Ojai and the Chief of Police in Thousand Oaks. And blessed to have been able to do both.

Let me tell the audience both here and at home a little bit more about you, if you don't mind. There's a lot of stuff here and the sheriff covered some of it but Commander Fryhoff has spent 29 years with the department

So, Jose and I are academy classmates. I've known Jose for 29 years. It

was a very good year. Produced a lot of quality people. He started in 1990. Was a patrol officer as he said here in Ojai. He...I hope that you don't mind me mentioning the very bad day? The very bad day if you go by the station here, you'll see what looks like a kind of a street corner sign with the name of Gary on it and usually with a blue ribbon tied around it.

And as a young man Patrolman Sheriff Aguirre lost his life here in the Ojai Valley. But in that altercation that led to his death, Jim wasn't the partner but he was on duty and he responded and I don't know how many shots were fired At this gentleman on behalf of the community to make it safe, but he didn't kill the suspect. But he took him down with a shot and that person is on death row right now although I don't know that he's subject to that. I think it's lifetime in prison.

Yeah, I

think the governor has taken the death penalty off but he still on death row. Right? He'll be there

So that's a life-altering thing for a lot of people, but for a law enforcement officer, that's huge. And for Jim to come back to the Valley and have such a love in his heart for everybody—and my understanding was when you arrived, you went back to that scene and by coincidence There was a 22-year-old young man who was two years old at the time of this very bad day.

And that young man said he was there when that happened, and today I believe he is... Is he a graduate of the academy? He's a deputy sheriff working out at the Todd Road facility. As we say in Ohio, that two and three degrees of separation everybody crosses everybody's path but I want to thank you Jim for what you've done for us in the past but even more so for what you have done for the department, the community with your commitment to this idea of community involvement walking to lunch every day making yourself accessible to the public When this started, you and I both kind of came on about the same time. And every night wasn't as pleasant as tonight. We were having a lot of difficulties where, I don't know whether it would be miscommunication or bad information, fake news on the social media reporting things that were going on that made the department sound like they were some sort of jackbooted, don't care about the citizens.

And that was not true, but this gentleman came in and took it to heart. And immediately he didn't just say well we're the good guys you know just trust us. He got involved with a community to where many of the critics to start with are the biggest supporters and were really sad and called my office saying how do you let this guy go? I said if you really love him you want him to get his promotion and to get your promotion you get your ticket punched you move on but who knows he may come back.

Let's

see, what else do I have? He received the Medal of Valor. He was the Deputy of the Year twice in his career. He has a master's degree. He teaches criminal justice. He really gives back both to his profession and the community and we were blessed to have you for the last three years. So, and during the Thomas fire with you and Shane taking us into harm's way a little bit but we were safe. But it was a pretty hazardous week or two that we had. And one of the remarkable things for this town is that people from all over the world knew about that fire. At the time it was historically unfortunately we've had people who sort of outdone us in terms of size But if you ever look at a map, they refer to us as the hole in the donut. But the fire was all around us, half the town at least was evacuated.

Then we had the concerns about looting. We didn't lose a structure, we didn't lose a life and there were virtually people's homes were safe because we went what from five officers to 55 taking care of the town while the fire guys did their job and they came from all over the country too. We're very fortunate. I have a couple of things I want to give you, or present you with.

And I'm going to show the pictures that we blasted by as I sent these to Gail. So on my first day here did two things one. I went to 122 North Encino where the shooting occurred made peace with the house stood outside. I was talking to Shane about how it all happened kind of pointed at the tree that saved my life. I was shot at 17 times like I was armed with 2 handguns and a giant oak tree saved my life so So, this picture was taken my first day off of training in 1994 at the church at Church and Kuyama.

And so on my first day I went back and did a recreation of it. First day as chief, Church and Cuyama.

Not a day

older.

We might landmark that.

Okay, let's see what we have here. First we have a proclamation and I won't read all through it because I think between the sheriff you and me Can everybody hear me out there? For the recording yes, hello. Okay, we're on the air We have a gift. Oh here it is I Don't know how we're gonna do this I'll walk over here with you and allow you to And what we have here is one of the flags that flew during the Thomas fire where this gentleman was keeping us all safe Okay, so they probably don't do this at the academy but let me give you a hug.

We're not from France I won't kiss you on each cheek. Yeah, live long and prosper. Godspeed to Thousand Oaks and tell them we'll hold it against them. Okay. Thanks. Okay, and if Jose behaves himself look what's where you get I'll give you a hug okay? Here is your certificate. A certificate of authenticity of the flag.

Thank you very much. Well once again thank you guys very much I appreciate it as you know, I loved my time in the valley. It's amazing how many people thought when I got transferred to Thousand Oaks that they're like are you moving your family and I said well I go no I don't live in Ojai because of my involvement there was a lot of people that thought that I lived here actually was Commuting from the east end of Simi Valley. So I was spending three hours a day on the road coming to and from My drive just got a whole lot shorter Thank you very much as all it's a lot of time back in my life But I use the time wisely, I made a lot of phone calls You know anybody that had called during the day they want to talk I would I had an hour and a half To give them on my drive home so I didn't but I didn't call people at 6 in the morning on my driving anything anybody be that receptive to it

Right in the marathon sessions of the city council that ran till midnight then you had another hour to

get home about 1.30 in the morning, and then the household still gets up because I have two teenage girls and the house is up at five in the morning so it was rough. I told him I told Jose that the meetings have not gone too long recently I know James has done really well at trying Keep the tasks on point, making sure that all the details are done. The staff has done a great job of making sure that what you're getting is ready to go so I'm confident that you won't have to violate your 1030 rule.

Thank you all. I appreciate it so much.

Okay let's get back here on the agenda and public communications is now

You can escape if you want. You don't

have to, though. Yeah, anybody who came mostly for the presentations is... Shifting gears! We're shifting gears. Nobody's offended. Thank you. I'm

just jealous

we're not

offended.

Here are the public comment cards.

Okay, we've got a batch of them and we have a closed session at 930. So I'm going to ask everybody to keep it to two minutes but if you have to go over a little bit longer that will... And I'm gonna call on Laura Ward come on up. And Jeffrey Starkweather, you are on deck. We have a little chair up front but it looks like you won't have to take too long to get up here so remain seated.

Thank you. I'm Laura Ward, I am the publisher of the Ojai Valley News and resident in the city. Mayor Matt Levere and the rest of the Ventura Council decided to sue each and every property owner in the Ojai Valley en masse. This despite the fact they had entered into an agreement with a channel keeper. They claim this pain is needed so they don't get sued again. Our community has been attacked by our neighbors And Mayor LeVere is planning to be elected as the Ventura Supervisor to represent the Ojai Valley. He plans to serve us while he helps Ventura to our water, our rights to our water and the money to pay Ventura's $3 million in legal fees along with our own.

I urge the Ventuara City residents to recall Matt LeVere and every member of their council for financial recklessness and inability to lead. The Ojai Valley has reduced its water usage More than 50% since 1989 and is currently conserving water as if we were at a stage 5 drought. Ventura continues to grow, issuing ever more water permits and now making a grab for their neighbors' water.

Mayor LeVere told me he had not read the lawsuit and that he let the city attorney and attorneys in Walnut Creek make this decision for him. The lawyers in Walnut Creek do not care about our friendship with Ventura or if our cities go bankrupt in paying them, or even if we have water. These lawyers are holding three meetings beginning January 30th to explain it to us how they want this to go and we need to be there and be ready.

I'm asking the Ojai Valley to come together now, to stand up for our rights, to work together, to fight Ventura and this adjudication. Here is what you can do now. Demand the Ventura City Council put on their big girl pants and dismiss the case. Call them, email them, urge your Ventura friends to recall them. Talk about and go to the town hall meeting Your Water, Your Voice Tuesday January 21st at the Boyd Center in Sarasota Park. The Ojai Valley News is hosting this event with an expert panel to explain the situation offer advice and answer your questions The City of Ojai needs to act to intervene on our behalf legally. Please take this up.

Casitas Water needs to act on our behalf of the rate payers, legally. Five, subscribe to the Ojai Valley News. Start following the Ojai Valley News on our site and social media. We will keep you informed all the way to the convoy to the Los Angeles courthouse on June 1st. Come with us.

And the time and place,

date for your meeting? Oh it's 530 January 21st. That's Tuesday at 530 Sarasota Park Boyd Center. We've got about six panelists you can fill out a question they'll talk we'll learn. We're

going to live stream it too. Thank you.

Okay there again.

We'll live stream it.

Okay it will be live streamed for those of you at home or those who want

to stay at home.

It might

be on Facebook. We are working our way off Facebook but... Video

archived yeah.

It's an important issue that needs everybody to be as educated as possible. Okay, we got Jeffrey Starkweather is up and Dr. Neal you are on deck.

I'm basically going to echo her comments but I do want to point out that Bill and Randy and I were at the Democratic Club meeting in Ventura and Mr. LeVere who is the mayor and is a lawyer and does all kinds of complicated real estate and agricultural law, claimed he didn't know enough about the ecology and the science of it to have an opinion. And he didn't know enough about that area of law which I found as a lawyer to be astonishing.

If you're elected and you're suing somebody it's your job, all of your jobs, to know what you're doing. Secondly if you're running for office wanting to represent us You should be able to explain it. What's going on? I would say two other interesting things, one they have a contract with this law firm for $1.8 million and the other thing I thought is really bizarre is one of their people they're suing is the Casitas Water System and of course who does the Casitas Water System serve as a customer? Their largest customer is the city of Ventura So it's kind of bizarre, they're actually like suing themselves.

So I do think we need to stand up for this. I would love if somebody would file as a writing candidate to give Mr. LeVere at least a protest and of course if he goes in there and doesn't represent us, we can always recall him but I think he needs to feel the pressure that Ojai is really upset about this And I also, while I'm here, I'm the Vice President of the Democratic Club of Ojai Valley.

We have on January 27th at 630 I think and our meetings are right here. We're going to have Steve Bennett who's going to talk to us. Of course he's running for the Assembly but we're going to have Ben Pettery Who is the channel keeper policy expert? Jeffrey,

I'm going to have to ask you. I've got a bunch of cards here.

Okay, yeah it's fine. Anyway he ... I've talked to him and he is a really good source of explaining about their lawsuit and the fact that they The City of Ventura did not need to sue us. They could have resolved this thing between the two parties. Date,

time and place for that meeting?

That is 630 at the Kent Hall which is right over here. Day? On January 27th. At Help of Ojai. Help of Ojai. Yes. So Steve Bennett's going to speak for a half hour and be asked questions and then he's gonna speak for an hour-and-a-half and people can ask some questions. Thank you. I think you get a lot of information from him. Okay thank you.

Dr.

Dre and Alexia Park, you're on deck

Hi So as all of you know and have taken action on we have ten years to make drastic change On our habits to be resilient against climate change One of those things is actually being resilient with our resources We cannot afford to lose water as a resource That's what's going to happen if we lay down and let the city of Ventura take our water rights. What adjudication means for our community is drastic impact on our economy, housing prices are all of our expenses in our houses will drop in value and it also means that our agriculture and our development will be managed and owned by unsubstantiated growth in the city of Ventura So when we think about water, it's not just the water we drink which is incredibly important.

It what makes our community and our economic growth and makes everything happen here. And beyond that when we think about our water resources in our agricultural zones, the wetting zones of our agricultural Production zones are so important for fire resiliency. If we don't have water, we can't fight fire. If we don't have water, we can't produce agriculture. If you don't have water, we can't grow with economic strength. If you don't rights to our water, we don' t have the ability to make our choices and to grow as we want to as a community.

So I urge you to be very active in this issue. It's not one that we can sit back and let it happen because it's a long fight, but it's one that's really important for us all in the long term. So thank

you. Thank you. Okay. Alexia, you're up and Megan Edwards, you're on deck.

Right. Actually, can I reverse the order? Let Megan just speak first.

Okay. That's fine. Okay, two minutes and two minutes.

Good evening Mayor Johnson and council members. Thank you for this opportunity I represent Zip Health and my colleague is here of course Alexia Parks. I'm going to nudge us into some positive and good news, and what this has to do with is a newly signed in bill Assembly Bill 377 377 is described as micro enterprise home kitchen operations. And we are working within this bill and working within the Ojai Valley to bring it forward in this unique circumstance, in ideal conditions.

The law focuses on creating new jobs for women, immigrants, people of color and represents both workforce development and health improvement opportunities. It connects people who love to cook healthy delicious home cooked meals with neighbors who want to eat better food. Among them busy two income families, millennials and seniors attempting to maintain their health while aging in place and avoiding isolation.

Zip Health will be using the micro kitchen blueprint that is already in operation in Riverside and moving forward, which includes all their forms and all our eventual forms and statutory guidelines. They'll all be present. As mayor and council members would you not agree that you have an enduring passion to foster cohesive healthy strong and resilient communities?

What Zip Health will be doing is supporting that aim by helping people to make a viable living wage, to contribute to their wage in this very valley. Thank you very much.

Could you state again your name and the... I couldn't catch the organization or what that word was. Micro Kitchen Zip Health?

My name is Megan, not that Megan, another one. And it's Megan Edwards and the bill is 377 and it is micro enterprise home kitchen operation or what you may see referred to as MECO.

Okay I get it. Thank

you.

Thank you very much.

Okay Alexia you're up and Robert Duffy you're on deck

Great, thank you again and it's great to be here. My first presentation to the council and to you all. This is our third presentation today. We were down at the Ventura Board of Supervisors or the board this morning where they actually had a change of the chair to a woman named Linda Parks so I had to say Alexia Parks is my name but I'm no relation. And when we describe this opportunity, which is the AB 377, it is now a state law.

It's now applicable and we are taking advantage of it to bring living wage as Megan said to the Ojai Valley because this will be our first area to launch the project and extend then down into the rest of the Ventura area The California micro enterprise home kitchen bill, which may be new to many of you because it is just was signed into law as urgent and marked urgent in October October 7th.

Signed by the governor and approved is for cities and counties to support and that's the urgent nature but It's a bill, it's in law. Riverside County has been the first county to open their doors to it. It was led by Mr. Garcia not the same but a different Garcia representative assembly member who now created all the blueprint that we are following. So I will say it represents both an economic development and a workforce program and a healthcare opportunity. Who do we serve? People love to cook people want to make consistent income as she mentioned And residents of Ojai Valley who are seeking the delicious, healthy home-cooked meals that include locally sourced produce and an inflammatory meal for those who need that anti-inflammatory meal will be training them on that.