City Council — 2022-08-23

We have a quorum. May we have the roll call, please, Gail?

is attending remotely and I don't think he's in the meeting yet.

Okay, well we have a quorum. So welcome everyone to the August 23rd 2022 meeting of the Ojai City Council. Randy will you do the pledge for us please?

Yes I will Mary. Right hand over your heart

Commission reports tonight?

I do not believe so. Gail, did you have any commissioners signed up? No.

Okay. All right we will move on to public communication and just a reminder these are items not on the agenda and because they're not on the agenda we cannot discuss them when you make a comment we're not ignoring you we appreciate your viewpoint and participation and we can agendize for the future Public comment is three minutes, and we will have a chime as a gentle reminder at the end of the three minutes. And there's no giving away time so thank you so much for being here. And we'll start with Michelle Pinero then Linda Harmon and then Leonard Claife.

Good evening, my name is Michelle Pinheiro and I'm here tonight to announce that I am running for a seat on Ojai City Council. I live in District 1 and I will be on the ballot this November 8th. Some of you may recognize me from last Thursday's forum but for those of you who are new to my face both tuning in and here in this room, I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my background.

I graduated from the Ohio State University in 2008 with a dual degree in political science and journalism. Shortly after graduating, I moved out to Southern California and I pretty quickly became involved in civic life. I was a campaign director at a national peace non-profit, where I worked extensively with both national and local governance. I then used that position to leverage a spot in a congressional campaign where I helped a candidate in Los Angeles' 33rd district become elected.

I was on their policy and issues research team. Currently, I am a marketing consultant and a mother to an amazing four year old little girl. I'm running for City Council in short because I love Ojai and I feel obligated to do everything that I can to make this city sustainable, diverse, inclusive and a prosperous community. I have lived in Ventura County for four-and-a-half years and I have tuned in and watched every single City Council meeting for the last year.

I am invested in this community and I care Many of the issues that we face today are unprecedented. And I am pragmatic enough to understand that the solutions and the actions that we need to move us forward are gonna have to come from fresh and diverse leadership. A leadership that is diverse, and as representative of our evolving community. I believe that I can be that bridge, and I hope that you will join me in creating something great together. Thank

you so much. Thank you, Michelle. Next we have Linda Harmon then Lenny Klaif and then Jill Dolan.

Good evening Mayor, members of council and staff. I'm here this evening representing Ojai Trees a nonprofit founded by Tom Bostrom in 2008. For those of you not familiar with us our mission is to maintain our urban tree canopy by dedicating ourselves to planting trees as well as teaching others in our valley how to select the right tree for the right place plant trees and care for them.

We have planted over 1,760 trees in our over 14 years. We've also donated and planted trees in our public parks, our watershed and in our schools. That's our history and we're proud of it because trees are an essential part of this nation's plan to fight climate change. Trees are natural sequesters of carbon. They increase rainwater retention and can reduce temperatures under their canopy by as much as 20 degrees.

If cited correctly, they reduce energy costs for homeowners and businesses alike. Their shade supports a more pedestrian friendly town that encourages folks to get out of their cars and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and neighborhoods that Ojai has to offer. I think those are all things that make Ojai more resilient. So where am I going with all this? Well, our board has asked me to address you tonight about the future of Ojai and its trees.

We were told that with the additional revenue the city gained from Prop C, that some of that would go to hiring a staff person, preferably an arborist whose duties would include overseeing care of our trees. This hasn't happened. We are asking tonight that the City Council direct staff to hire full-time accredited arborists and maintain a dedicated staff to steward the care of our precious tree canopy.

Our trees need a public steward and they deserve it There are many problems the city, if properly staffed and funded could swiftly address. Ojai became Tree City USA something I think we all are proud of but I'd like to read one of the requirements for that designation. Standard one form a tree board or department delegating responsibility for this city on trees. The first official step to becoming a tree city by forming a tree board or department Cities can create a more organized and effective urban forestry plan.

At this time, we have no such board or department. We would like the situation to be rectified and also suggest the following things that our new tree department could handle if we dedicate ourselves to saving our urban canopy. One, make licensing a business requirement to do any tree trimming in Ojai. Said licensing should require proof of training by an arborist and or experience with an arborist knowledgeable in our area along with necessary insurance.

Trees are being damaged by improper trimming on a daily basis by uneducated trimmers and private citizens alike. They are too often topped, which will leave them at risk of sunburn and promote weaker growth more prone to limb failure down the road. A tree planted in the right place should not need trimming unless there is a dead wood, crossing branch growth or if an owner wants to take weight off the ends of a heavy limb that extends over a building. We can't do anything but educate the owners themselves who may trim their trees improperly but we can certainly require someone who's setting up a for-profit business in Ojai to be licensed in Ojai.

Trees also need to be properly watered during the drought, even mature ones. The city could take on this responsibility in an organized manner. We as an organization did it for the first five years for the street trees that we have planted. Other trees now need to be evaluated and watered as needed until conditions change. Our website has specific directions in a video for watering that homeowners and business owners can use That also outlines the reasons this is necessary. And our website is ohitrees.org. One more thing- Could you repeat that?

Oh, sorry. Ohitrees dot org.

Ohitrees dot org for people to learn how to water properly. Yes. Thank you.

Number three, replace all missing damaged or dying trees and find additional suitable tree locations. We can help with that and we'd love to. There's a saying the perfect time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. Our founder took the initiative years ago in helping create our OI tree ordinance, formed a tree committee, created a recommended tree list for this city which the city has just updated and surveyed and mapped our existing heritage trees. Without him we would be much farther behind in protecting our trees than we are now and we thank him.

We have done all we can and we will continue to do all we can but we need the city to step up and do their part. I'd like to end this with a positive note. Our city staff is wonderful and we are lucky to have them, we are lucky you our City Council who offers this opportunity to speak before us before you. We are grateful to all the staff who has worked with us over the years during public planting events and supplying the support of a water truck during our watering days. We have so many beautiful native mature trees some hundreds of years old We need to take seriously our responsibility to future generations of Ojai and the planet, to maintain them and plant new ones as these valued citizens pass on. Thank you very much. I'm sorry I went over.

Thank you, Linda.

I have a copy too.

Thank you so much. Next we have Jill Dolan then Lenny Klaif and then Jeffrey Starkweather.

Hello, I'm back. I'm Jill Dolan and I hope you have me memorized by now like with your lines and everything. I am with the Ojai Art Center Theater and I'm here to bring you up-to-date on what's happening now right now we're running a wonderful one woman show it's not a wonderful woman that's me it's a wonderful one woman show called Just The Ticket starring Lynn Van Emmerich and we opened over the weekend It's really, really a lovely piece. She does a great job and I would say it's for people of a certain age perhaps?

Anyway, I think you'd really enjoy it and I hope you can come and share that experience with us. I'd also like to announce that on the second Tuesday...the first Tuesday, the first Tuesday of September is our theater branch meeting. It's open to the public all our meetings are And at that meeting, we're going to be announcing our 2023 season. So if anybody wants to become a volunteer or know what's up that they might want to audition for or anything like that, that will be the first opportunity, first opportunity to know what that season will be.

And then opening on September 30th we have another show, Walter Cronkite is Dead which is about two women sort of trapped in an airport polar opposites philosophically who have to come to terms with their differences and or sit in silence. Drink both things kind of happen. It's fun it's a fun show and then our Christmas program is Elf the musical so auditions for that will be coming up too. So if you have a little it's a multigenerational show so if you're dying to be an elf the musical I encourage Next we have Lenny Klaif, then Jeffrey Starkweather, then Leslie Ruhl.

Good evening, everybody. I was going to talk about trees and I will but as president of the Board of the Art Center let me just say that the play that's on now with Lynn Van Emmerich is only two more weekends Friday and Saturday nights at 7, Sundays at 2. Reservations can be had at ohiact.org And the only other thing I would say about that is Lynn Van Emmerich is a fabulous actor and anything she does at One Woman Show is definitely worth seeing And the other thing I guess I should mention is there are five Santa Clauses in Elf the Musical and I am starting my beard hoping to be one of them.

We want to hear your ho, ho, ho!

I wanted to talk about trees too. I second everything my wife Linda Harmon said, but my focus is on Southern California Edison and the horrible job they do of butchering trees in Ojai. I cannot tell you the number of times either Linda and or myself have watched as an Edison tree truck pulls up in front of an oak tree, starts taking out the equipment. When we approach and say do you have an arborist? Are you aware this is an oak?

They either claim not to know that it was an oak which is possible because they really don't know much anything and then pack up and leave We have called this to the city's attention numerous times and what we are told is, we're working on it but golly gee, we can't follow them around. Maybe that's one thing somebody who would be the tree person in all I could do is follow them around because something needs to be done to stop them from butchering our trees.

It's a travesty, it's improper, it violates city ordinances and they do it with impunity so please act on that thank you

Thank you Lenny.

At the end of the meeting, you don't have to answer now but could we just put on the agenda something or do something where Edison absolutely has to have an arborist when they come to Ojai and we could provide it? And I would you know, I know it's not on the agenda, but that's what I would like to see happen

So the item could be requested. We'd have to do some research on what can be done so that it can be requested at the end of the meeting. I did want to just note because I've had several discussions and I want to be clear, the answer is not golly gee. The answer is we call Edison and we tell them that we expect a higher level of trimming here And I can say that they tell us every time that we are the most, the city that holds them to the highest standard and that they're struggling to meet our standard. And we've told them we understand that but you need to meet the OHAI standard and we've cited them several times. So we don't throw our hands up and say like sorry but it's an ongoing battle. They made the argument and I can't get too far into it They have a mandate to do all this work to prevent the next fire.

We've told them we understand that, but they need to meet our standard and we've held them to that consistently so.

Okay thank you James. Next we have Jeffrey Starkweather then Leslie Rule and then Andy Gilman.

Good evening Mayor City Council members fellow citizens Let me just say I love Ojai trees. We have nine of them in our house and are a lot small little lot and I've been out with them numerous Saturdays digging trees, and it's a very communal thing so I'm a big supporter of Ojai trees I think maybe a start might be some kind of a board, because it doesn't cost any money to get people together to start seeing how they could do things. But anyway... My second thing is this Sunday at 1.30 with doors open 2 p.m., the speaker will start. Our Assemblyman Steve Bennett is going to be a guest at the Ojai Valley Democratic Club meeting And of course, as you know there are a lot of issues around housing, around water, around all kinds of things that the assembly in fact there was a great article this week about how Newsom is going to balance pushing housing and climate control at the same time.

So I think we should have a lot of questions for him and obviously what happens in Sacramento's a big happen it makes a big difference for our city so I would hope you'd come The second thing or third thing I want to talk about, and I've got one minute and 42 seconds. And I won't take that long. I have been in a lot of meetings and I hear a lot of people say things concerned about water. We shouldn't do things because of water but I never hear any real facts so I went on the lake Excuse me, you can see this water district website found their annual report which was on May 11th 2022.

And it also references their water efficiency and allocation program which was passed in May 12 2021. And then I listened to the meeting. They had a PowerPoint and I think what I heard was a lot different when I'm hearing in these meetings that we're not in bad shape but I'm not going to tell you, I'm not an expert on it. I think it would really do this board and this town well to invite them to come to your meeting And present their report, annual report as to what the status is because it affects you. That's where we get our water from. We don't control it they provide it and the figure about well you're worried about the lake. We only get 20% of our water from the lake They don't consider us in a crisis, but you know again they ought to come make the presentation.

Let citizens ask questions let you ask questions and let's get some facts about what our real situation is because they are the people that supply us water thank you.

Thank you Jeffrey next we have Leslie Rule then Andy Gilman then Robin Gerber

Good evening, thank you for this opportunity to address you. Like Michelle I am also running for City Council in District 1 so I wanted to give you a little bit of an introduction to me. I will start with my experience because that differentiates me from my opponents. I have very deep municipal governance experience. I started as an ad hoc member of a planning board working on affordable housing and also building codes and how they affect each other I was then elected to a school board where I was chair of the education committee trying to figure out the best types of curriculum for our particular students. I was then drafted to be on the city council for my small town and basically, I worked on infrastructure and weather on that. I wa s also on the advisory board for the science teachers at Berkshire County and worked as a teacher trainer for science teachers.

My background, An undergraduate degree from University of California, Berkeley in rhetoric and linguistics. And a graduate degree in educational anthropology from Harvard. My last job I was project manager of the National Science Foundation grant that was housed at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and also Williams College. So I am a scientist. I believe in data. I believe in science.

And I believe in science education as a way forward, an important way forward. But most importantly, I'm creative. I'm a collaborator and I'm consensus-driven problem solver. I don't believe there are any problems that people of goodwill and honest intent who are determined to find the solution can't find the solution. So I'm asking for each one of your endorsements. I did go to the forum and the Democratic Club Forum and do have that endorsement but I'm asking for your endorsement as well.

And if not Let's have a cup of coffee and talk about it. I'm happy to discuss the three things that I really feel are important for Ojai that I can add to our fire resilience, affordable housing. I have 10 years in affordable housing building especially short term affordable housing as you run through the longer term things that take years and years and years to get past. I know how to do it in three months. I've done it a number of times.

And then I have a plan for a sustainable Ojai, not my plan. I have a group of people who we have started discussing what a sustainable Ojai could actually look like given that we are a town that runs on tourism. And finally, I vote trees. I would put it on the agenda. I would find a second and I will follow that truck around and I will make sure that they cut that properly So, thank you very much for your time and once again I hope to have your endorsement. It's District 1 and I'm happy to discuss anything with anyone at any time. Thank you very much.

Thank You Leslie. Oh! I'm not a one-person issue by the way what I will advocate for as an individual is not necessarily what I would advocate for as a council person so thank you very much.

Thank you next we have Andy Gilman then Robin Gerber and then Bob Daddy

Good evening Council and staff. I'm here to mention two events on behalf of the Ojai Chautauqua. One is, and hopefully it's not a surprise, on Wednesday September 7th at Matiloha Auditorium we will be hosting a candidate forum and so far all of the City Council candidates have been very positively affirmative that they are attending. We haven't got confirmations from everybody but hopefully you received an email from me this afternoon to look over with some questions and things that we're asking for so we hope that this will be a great opportunity to have the city, all the voters be able to hear all of the candidates. So once again that's 530-730 at Matilaha Auditorium September 7th and that is co-sponsored by The Ojai Chautauqua, The Ojai Valley News and the Chamber of Commerce And so we'll have one feature, which is we can't cover everything in one event.

We could have another event in October but we are going to set up a discussion forum where people could email me questions that I would post and then any candidate who wishes could respond to it so that people can continue that conversation and learn more. The second event is we are actively working on it and this kind of goes to Jeff's point. We're working on our next panel on water so we're working with Casitas, OBGMA, the City of Ventura a lot of nonprofits to try to have a comprehensive panel that could illuminate what's happening in the mediation project that's happening right now which looks favorable So we hope in October. We'll be able to have an event to give us a good take on Where are we at with the lake our groundwater table levels?

But also working with the city of Ventura The state water interconnection and so on so look for that coming in October, so I hope you the candidates who are renewing I hope you will attend or consider it seriously and please email me if you have any questions Thank You

Thank You Andy next Robin Gerber and then Bob daddy

Hi, I'm Robin Gerber Now that filings are closed, I simply wanted to thank Councilman Wyrick and Blatz, the empty chair there hopefully is watching for their service. It's not easy to serve on the council. For those who take it seriously, it requires learning not only process like Robertson's rules but also diving into those tough issues Water, housing, fire.

It requires a thick skin and a belief that the greater good is more important than your personal feeling. It requires collegiality, a willingness to find ways to collaborate even with those you don't agree with or particularly like or respect because you each have a vote. It is often time consuming. It is time consuming, often frustrating and too often thankless so let me say thanks.

I've not always agreed with you or with Councilman Wyrick, probably less often than more often. But I respect your efforts to wrestle with tough issues, to speak frankly and to give us all the benefit of your experience. I look forward to a new council especially after hearing the women tonight that will focus on collaborating by showing up with open minds and hearts asking questions of other members at meetings Listening to the public and getting to yes more often than not.

The greatest climate bill in our nation's history was just passed and signed by a president who continued to try and try again, working with people who he surely did not like having to persuade. But he did. That's what this council and those who come next must do on our critical issues. I hope voters will take the time to learn the truth about each candidate, and then take them at their word.

Let's not add to the conspiracy mongering, the name-calling, misinformation culture We can agree to disagree with respect. We can reject those who ascribe bad motives to their opposition without evidence. The Ojai I know is not looking for division, we want trust and we want love. And I trust Ryan and Bill wherever you are that in your future post-council life, you'll continue to contribute to our city's future.

Thank you.

Thank you, Robin. Next we have Bob Detty.

Council Mayor Robin that was excellent. Thank you. Very good. I came to talk to trees too maybe I'm in the wrong room tonight. I actually want to congratulate the city manager and the staff for removing that massive eucalyptus grove from across the street giving us defensible space should we have an ember cast in fire. We will actually be able to get a unit in here to save this building I would urge you to look for other places where we can start doing more defensible space.

We have a number of invasive areas, we have non-native plants, I would like you folks to either channel that to recreation because I think the kids Thank you, Bob. Anyone on Zoom? Gail?

If there's anyone in the Zoom queue who would like to speak, please use the raised hand function now. No one is raising their hand.

Thank you. Let's move on to the consent calendar.

Somebody left their phone here. I'll just set it here but your phone is there.

OK. All right, we'll move on to the consent calendar. Oh,

I want to pull item J. J? OK. The animal ordinance. Anything else?

No? OK, is there a

motion? We want to move to approve all items other than J. Yes. And pull J for discussion.

OK. So that we have a motion to pull and then we're pulling J. Second for that one?

Second Warrick.

OK, can we have a roll call please, Gail?

Council Member Blatz?

All

right so if you could go to item J and because I might go through the pages

Hopefully efficiently. So my first question for the audience, this is... The recommendation is that the City Council approve the ordinance amending Title 5 Chapter 4 Animals of the Ojai Municipal Code to be consistent with Ventura County Animal Services best practices And on the whole, I totally agreed with the language changes. Good that we're changing Pound Master and you know, the ordinance is from 19... We have an old ordinance from 1971 when the whole philosophy about animals was completely different.

So um, I do have a list of things that I think is missing but my initial question is if we adopt this Is there an opportunity to amend, and these are kind of related questions. Why does the Ojai Animal Ordinance have to be the same as the county? Can we have an opportunity to strengthen it? And is it better to adopt and amend later or is it better to postpone and have a public hearing on strengthening the ordinance because Ojai has backyard chickens, horses Goats.

Things that are not, I only saw a few lines and they kind of put all animals including horses as they call them, what's the word? Livestock. Livestock. I would like to address every animal separately because the underlying purpose of this ordinance is to protect Against animal abuse and I know these ordinance are weak because for years. I've reported Dire animals in dire straits and and the criteria for what constitutes you know adequate care of an animal is just so low that they the officer could Rarely could do anything So those are my questions and concerns

Thank you. Yeah and last meeting we had this on I think it was as a public hearing I think is it might have been a discussion or a public hearing and we gave a little bit of an introduction so today I know it's on consent so we didn't have a chance to explain it but in short, so we as a city have been working on strengthening our animal keeping ordinance for the last year I would say.

Two years yeah my fault no and

you know I remember that you and I had a draft at one point, and then we heard from the community and we wanted to take another look because it is complicated in Ojai. And I think it's like we have to make sure we cover a lot more than maybe some other areas. We have backyard farms and everything like that. And so we are working on that. And that doesn't, that's not precluded by anything in this.

What happened with this is that the county as a, on the county level decided that they do not have the resources to do hearings for nuisance complaints and so they asked each city to take over responsibility for that and to update the ordinance to reflect that They use the opportunity and we use the opportunity to do like you said, the quick cleanup of taking out words that just are not appropriate anymore. Poundmaster is one is the one that comes to mind but we did not do anything else other substantive except change that hearing process because the county's just not going to be able to do it so we had to write it now where for nuisance complaints if there's a hearing it goes through our city hearing officer And so that's all that really substantively is being done.

The nuisance process is kind of being tweaked, but we can still come back once that's adopted and rewrite or you know strengthen our own code in coming months. The county had asked that we adopt this in the meantime so that they can be assured that countywide there is a consistent nuisance hearing process

Okay, so in general I'm fine with that knowing that we can amend it. But there's one point that I feel very strongly about on page seven at the bottom of the second paragraph where it states this when reasonable effort fails to locate the owner or when an owner ever having been located refuses to accept responsibility for further medical treatment of a diseased or injured animal, the director may euthanize such animal in a humane manner.

And I would like that paragraph to be the same or similar to the one that's down below where it states the words that are missing. I'll find them in a second. It says, I think if the animal is in severe pain and not likely to survive, I would be okay with the director having to make that judgment call. But otherwise, the director needs to reach out to rescue groups and volunteers.

So if we could add that sentence, I would be okay with this second reading and then we'll clean it. We'll go deeper at another.

Yeah, I understand. So what I would suggest you know it's a little bit of a process so what I would suggest is I think we should adopt the language we're comfortable with will submit it to the county and if they come back and ask us to you know it doesn't fit with what they're trying to do whatever then we'll come back and have that conversation. So if that's the language that the council is comfortable with I think we should adopt it with that

language. Because it's down below for wild animals why not apply it to domestic animals?

Certainly and I would expect subject to confirmation the county would be OK with that from our discussions with them.

Yeah

applying the same standard for the shelter animals.

Yeah it doesn't trigger any you know things where I think it will cause a problem with them. So I think it's worth

Randy

I just, Susan don't you sit on this? Yes. I do. Didn't you, weren't you part of this review? No no yeah it was not. I'm just asking.

Yeah but I am the city of Ojai liaison to Ventura County Animal Services but I did not go through and do you know it's mostly things crossed out and up it's an update

Yeah, because you know for instance some of the things you're identifying is we don't have an animal shelter here. other than the private one that we have.

At the Ventura

County

Humane Society.

Right, so these guidelines don't necessarily aren't adopted by them and they don't do them. These are for the Humane Society or the Animal Shelter of the county. So I think we just have to recognize some of this we can change but some of this is county language that they're using throughout the nine other cities

Yes, but

we can amend it. I'm in agreement with you, I'm just pointing this out that...

A

lot of this is signed off by all the cities in the county. Yes,

that is true at this point all cities have signed on we think it'll be the theme today as we were the city that had the most changes and the most requests and so every other city has signed it at this point we are the last we thought it got to a point where was at least acceptable but again we noted that we are planning to make more amendments to this

Thank you. At least we're consistent, right? Thank you Susan for bringing that up and as we all know Ojai is such a huge animal community so much appreciate all the work that you've done for animals in Ojai thank

you. We need a motion

to vote on

it. I'm

calling this to my attention.

We still have to have a motion and vote on the changes.

You want to make a motion? Yes I'll make a motion that...I might need help...on page 7 That point B adds additional language that the director may euthanize such an animal in a humane manner if it is in severe pain and not likely to survive. But otherwise, the director will give an opportunity We'll reach out to rescue groups and volunteers that are standing, you can help me with the language. You get the gist, that are willing to help pay for additional medical expenses.

What I would recommend is that the sentence and the ordinance stop at may euthanize such animal in a humane manner if it is in severe pain and not likely to survive, period. Yes. The second provision regarding what to do next wouldn't necessarily need to be in the ordinance. That's the standard shelter protocols.

What was the last thing you said?

The second provision regarding what to do instead of euthanasia doesn't necessarily need to be in the ordinance because that's already part of the shelters operations. Reaching out to rescues is already something they do.

Yeah and I think the more specific we try to direct them, the more likely they have problems with the language too. So I think saying more what you can't do would be