City Council — 2024-11-12

And a call to order. We have a roll call, could we please have the roll call please? We have quorum that's what we have.

Absolutely ma'am. Thank you. Welcome community, honorable council

Commission report So we will move on to general public comment. And just a reminder to everyone This is when we hear from you about items that are not on the agenda so we cannot discuss them We can agendize them for the future. So let's begin with Ron Solorzano and then Jolene Catlett and Then Teal Rowe

All right, thank you so much members of council I am Ron Solorzano. I am the regional librarian for the Ojai Valley and I just wanted to come by today to mention a couple of things that are coming up at the library and one of which is that we are happy to be renewing our partnership or continuing our partnership rather With the Workforce Development Board of Ventura County.

The Workforce Development Board is excited to announce the return of their weekly series that encourages job seekers to take the first steps towards a fulfilling career. Ventura County Works is the name of this particular program, and once again they're going to be offering one-on-one career coaching at the Ojai Library The coaching is free, registration is not required and drop-ins are welcome.

Ventura County Works staff are going to be available at the library every Thursday afternoon from 1pm to 4pm. Coaching sessions are going to cover topics that are essential for job seekers in the 21st century including professional branding to promote yourself in the workplace, digital literacy, emotional intelligence, networking, interviewing and more. So we were doing this for a while some months ago took a little break and now they're back so just yeah stop on by we'd be happy to have folks in for that program The other thing I wanted to mention, this has been a long time coming but we are finally ready to launch our pilot program at the library where we are going to be lending out electric leaf blowers. So we have a limited number of them but this pilot project is gonna allow us to basically it is a kit, a big bin that contains the blower itself, battery pack instructions like all that kind of stuff together You borrow it with your library card, you just need to have a card in good standing with a verified mailing address and you can come by the Ojai Library to check one of those out.

Again only a limited number right now so we're sort of soft launching it but we're excited to get this off the ground and see how it goes. So again stop by the library visit our website for more information and if you have any questions about what's going on out there you can reach out to us thank you so much!

Thank you, Ron. Next we have Jolene Catlett then Teal Rowe and then Michelle Thomas.

Thank you for having me tonight on Thursday of this week I had sent out emails to all council and the only person that got back to me was Miss Sticks thank you Mayor Sticks. I wanted to share my email as i don't feel like it's been heard from my council I'm a lifelong resident of Ojai and a mother of two daughters in the local gymnastics program. I wanted to inquire if council members have themselves reached out directly to either the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group or any other staff of the gymnastics program, particularly Vicki or Coach Stacey?

Or has all the information on this issue solely been provided by Mr. Davis, who is a newcomer and he's the one who seems to know the least about our program and how it runs? I truly believe that Matt Davis does not quite understand the program and he is feeding council incorrect information. I would hope that you look into these issues for yourselves And ask the appropriate questions. I would trust that you would want to hear from multiple parties and perspectives as your community is very clearly upset about how things are being handled by Mr Davis, if I was a council member were to encounter an issue I would want to gather my own information Especially since most of you probably are removed from the workings and logistics of the program.

Inquiring to veteran staff, the parents group who have all reached out to you many times and other staff at the recreation center seemed like a good starting point. As of early last week no one had reached out to any of the staff or the parents group. Our community has spoken, you are our council members and this is an important issue that impacts the youth of this community.

Ojai has a program that's benefiting hundreds of youth every eight weeks in and out of city limits and I would expect greater effort from our elected officials Madam Mayor, it's my understanding that you have a meeting set up with the parents group. Thank you very much as for the remaining council members I would hope that you do your due diligence to investigate the issue from multiple perspectives and not simply from the mouth of mr Davis who I feel is Making a mess of the rec center and losing the trust of their patrons Thank You Thank You Jojo

Mayor, could I respond very briefly? I have reached out to the parents group had a half an hour conversation with one of the parents and will be meeting at the rec gym on Friday. So I don't know exactly if that information is traveling back to you but I have done both of those things so and I look forward to actually seeing the program

And I also have a meeting scheduled on Thursday with the parents group and I have been in other conversations as well. So we are, we hear you. We are on it and we care very much.

I'm going to say that I have two granddaughters in the gymnastic program and I know a lot of the parents. And in fact Skyler who wrote that great letter to the editor that was in The Friday Paper was at my at the birthday party yesterday and I got it you know a lot of the parents that came to the party are involved so I've got my pulse on the situation.

And Mayor, if I could add before we go on. The Council and staff are also working diligently towards a full comprehensive public discussion of this subject at the Special City Council meeting scheduled for next Tuesday November 19th here at 6 p.m. The agenda for that meeting is expected to be out tomorrow or perhaps Thursday it will include an detailed evaluation of the gymnastics program concerns and opportunities for the future by staff and with in consultation with the council and the community, and the staff is working hard on a resolution that should achieve success. So stay tuned for that agenda coming out tomorrow or the next day 6 p.m. Tuesday November 19th here at Ken Hall for the meeting thank you.

Thank You Mr. City Attorney. Next we have Teal Rowe then Michelle Thomas and then Tina Abe

Good evening Mayor, Council and staff. And thank you for the time I gave Weston a copy of what I'm going to go over this evening And I mean this comment with all due respect. I ask that you not pass the nature ordinance until you give the public proof and steps you intend to take in order to enforce what you propose. I ask that you console the public with exact steps intended toward

accountability. I'm sorry Tia, this is on the consent calendar can you hold that comment?

It's for chapter one through five through the nature ordinance

not

five through ten

But the nature ordinance is on the consent calendar. So can you? OK, I'll

wait.

OK, thank you very much. OK, next we have Michelle Thomas.

Hi. Hi, I'm Michelle Thomas Ojai. I emailed you today not you chief but I should have an evacuation study done by the city of Ashland Oregon a local citizen actually emailed it to me I reviewed it I am horrified there are a lot of parallels for our town now the studies long it's done by a professional company You could fast forward to the last, you know, to the conclusions and then you'll probably want to go back. But please look at it as we know what's happened in Camarillo. We know we have ingress and egress issues here all the time. We don't know how many people were going to be evacuating because we don't know how many people are here from day-to-day. There's a lot of issues brought up in this study that I think we need to look at.

I'm going to call once you do for a professional evacuation study to be done. Yes, I think the county could share the cost and should but that's another issue. Thank you very much.

Thank You Michelle Next we have Tina Ave then Alex Mooney and then Jimmy Garrow

Hi, I'm Tina Abe. I'm the secretary for the Ojai Valley Gymnastics group parents group. I know we're having a meeting next Tuesday regarding the future of the gymnastics program and this week We are meeting with some of you council members one-on-one. I appreciate that We still don't have meetings on the books for a few of you If you'd like to meet with us, you can contact Susan Malkin When a good time would be we have really flexible schedules to meet with you I'd also like to mention we'd love to have a presentation spot on the agenda. I know it's coming out soon since part of the agenda is directly about the parents group. I'd like to say one more thing about the gymnastics program in the recreation department and there seems to be a big push to get rid of the competitive team aspect of the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Program, but I want to say a word of support for keeping the competition.

Competition is actually necessary for participants to progress into higher level gymnastics. Starting at Level 3, athletes cannot get to more difficult skills unless they are adjudicated at a gymnastics meet and competitive gymnastics can be found not only in private gyms But in many recreation departments across the country. I've personally spoken to five such departments, three of them in California in the past few weeks and there are more I could have reached out to, I just didn't have the time.

There is something about a competitive team in a rec setting though that offers a different experience than one in a private gym For our family, this is why we chose Ojai Valley Gymnastics. Cost was certainly a factor but we like the fact that we didn't have to sign our child's life away in the gym. Other programs require gymnasts to spend 15-20 hours a week in the gym in order to compete.

Ojai Valley Gymnastics does that in 7 1⁄2 hours and that includes the time it takes to take down their equipment. Girls compete at high levels, often atop the medals platform against gyms that are requiring many more hours of time. In this way, the gymnastics program in Ojai encourages balance in school, home and gym life including giving PE credit at Nordoff High School.

This program is also known in local gymnastics circles as one in which the athletes actually look like they're having fun. This is solely due to the warm family environment fostered by Vicki Hollingsworth and Stacey Pergson. There is nothing quite like this program, it's working here let's keep it going for the untold benefits to the youth of the Ojai Valley thank you.

Thank You Tina next we have Alex Mooney then Jimmy Garrow and then Dean Wicker

Hi Mayor Stix and City Council. Thank you for listening tonight, I've lived in Ojai for about 30 years, I raised my son here. Every summer our dogs cats and animals shake with pure terror and hide under our beds each 4th of July. Every summer the temperatures climb higher the brush gets drier and the risk of fire increases A group of us would like to propose that the city move to put on a spectacular drone show instead of fireworks for the 4th of July. It would be much quieter for animals, less traumatic for both animals and veterans with PTSD. The fire risk could be reduced greatly and the show could vary from year-to-year instead of being a variety of the same show year after year. In fact, the event could be made free to the public and become a true Ojai community event.

The Ventura County Fair and many other places around the county, or country I mean, have switched from dangerous and loud fireworks to drone shows. And the feedback was fantastic! We currently have a website it is usofthevalley.com with a petition you can sign again that is usofthevalley.com. I ask the city and Ojai community to consider making the change from fireworks to drone shows this year and years to come. Thank You

Thank you, Alex. Next we have Jimmy Garrow then Dean Wigger and then David Mendoza.

Hi Mayor Sticks and City Council. My name is James Garrow and Jimmy Garrow and I'm here in support of the 4th of July initiative. I'm not necessarily against you know the traditional fireworks but I am in favor of moving away from them and doing the drone thing. You know, for the sake of the many households that have pets including mine. I suppose if I didn't have a pet for the last five or six years this wouldn't have been caught my attention but it's I just can't imagine what everybody else is going through because after seeing my dog there's just no way around it The drone displays that I've witnessed are awe-inspiring, and they just seem like it would have little impact on the environment.

I never even thought of that until recently. Air pollution and noise pollution. And I'm sure there's disruption to the natural wildlife as well. So anyway, thank you for your time.

Thank you Jimmy. Next we have Dean Wigger then David Mendoza then Robin Gerber

Hello, good evening Council. Thank you for allowing me the time this evening to enlighten you with my opinions. I don't know Weston did you hand out the okay cool. Anyway, my name is Dean Wiggum a resident of Ojai and I'm speaking tonight as a concerned citizen that there isn't a plan B option for the cabin village site selection alternative public works. I arrived at my concern after attending the Planning Commission last week, where 23 members of the public spoke in opposition of the Public Works site and the many challenges that were brought up by the Planning Commission that we need to be overcome.

Namely parking, sidewalks on Montgomery, possible site contamination, grading and ADA challenges along with putting at risk individuals amongst neighbors for safety concerns. I'd like to point out that there is an alternative site consisting of three combined properties on Bryant Place that was originally on the Board of Realtors selections, that I feel is a better fit to the city and its impact to residential neighborhoods.

See attachment A in your packet. It has many advantages over the public works yard which I have outlined in the handout to you tonight with visual aids to get a picture of the concept. First of all the dignity moves model I overlaid on actually my son overlayed that for me on. The. Site selection there with showing that there's ample parking as well as the model does fit perfectly.

Item number two was omitted from the original board real realtors list you can see that it's on that list and attachment B. Proximity to public transport with the trolley stop on the adjacent street was whispering oaks, which is on attachment C. It's close to other R3 zoning so it's not a burden on low density residential and only two lots from the recently approved Cabrillo project with a similar zone change.

The fire department has great access and public utilities are onsite And then I've included for you, the original listings that I could find on the internet just as a public citizen of both nine all three lots 914 which is over half an acre it's point six acres hundred by 260 which is a flat lot easily for building. 915, which has a storage facility plus a small building that could be accessed for services for the Cabin Village site. And then finally 917, which is an 1100 square foot house that sold for almost $1 million. It's quite a nice house that could be used for resident steward and support staff.

In conclusion, I would like to remind the City Manager Harvey of his commitment on the administrative report from August 27th to provide the City and Council members with a cost model for this project before the end of the calendar year of 2024. And a method for forecasting the costs to taxpayers for maintaining services and maintenance in any budget shortfalls after grant funds run out. And finally, to urge the city staff to engage with the California Housing and Community Development Department to find out definitively if sites outside of city limits can be included in this grant. And if so, to engage with the county as our partner in this helping endeavor moving forward. Thank you for your time.

Thank you Dean. Next we have David Mendoza and then Robin Gerber

Good evening, Mayor, Council. I've spoken to you before about this. My name is Dave Mendoza. I live on South Signal Street. We all agree we need to have a solution to help our Ojai homeless. I just don't think this is the right one. I have 30 years' experience in fire service, retired as a captain. A large percentage of our calls are to the homeless population.

I've tried to use that experience to kind of educate you on what the problems are, but you guys don't seem to be listening to what I'm trying to tell ya. I'm here today to give you some concrete data as to how a permanent shelter doesn't fit in any residential area and help change your decision. I went to the Sheriff's Office this last week down at 800 South Victorian Ventura and I requested calls for service for the last three years to the Ojai City Hall campus. So again, these calls are calls the sheriff's officers had to respond to, to city hall campus, tent town and the area behind you here.

The types of calls that sheriffs responded to are vandalism, trespassing, warrant services, keeping the peace, disturbing the peace, abandoned vehicles, noisy disturbances, shots heard fired, two of those Brandishing weapons, indecent exposure, illegal entry, battery theft and narcotics activity. I don't know if you guys know this but there's marijuana growing right back here right now on city property again some of the some of your residents probably need this but is that what you want when you're also treating people for narcotics behavior? In 2022 you had 21 calls for service that's for 21 calls to this location that's before you had a tent town Last year you had 75 calls for service, you know a huge increase there.

This year alone we're not at the end of the year you've already had 157 calls for service. Of those calls that I listed those were just to this site I know not all the residents are responsible for these issues, but you can't ignore what these numbers prove. If this project stays where it is or is moved permanently to the city yard, we the neighbors will be affected the most.

But make no mistake, so will our entire community. If you have a downtown business, if you like to play at the park with your child, or you just want to go downtown and shop or have dinner, you'll be impacted by this plan. If you have doubts, ask your friends. Ask your family. Ask your neighbors who are sheriffs, police officers or firefighters. Ask them if they think it's a good idea to place a homeless drug alcohol mental health facility in a neighborhood sharing offense with Libbey Park within the downtown area. I hope you guys can change your decision and I thank you for your time

Thank you, David. Next we have Robin Gerber.

Chief Trina, a question. Since the tent town and since Ames has come in with the St. Francis challenge, how many calls roughly have you been getting? I mean, how many... Roughly if you know.

I don't want to give you a number. It would be a complete estimation, but I can tell you that the numbers have gone down and there's many reasons for that that I won't get into here because I think it deserves a more detailed explanation, but I can tell you that with the security having been there and AIMS having been there we obviously have had some problem individuals, but those individuals have been removed.

Okay thank you very much. All right, next we have Robin Gerber and a question for council. Normally we just take 10 comments at the beginning and move on. We have six more so is council all right for finishing? Okay, so after Robin we have Mick Frohlich and then Debbie Robertson. Oh Rubenstein sorry.

Hi I'm Robin Gerber and live here in Ojai mayor members of the council I'm here to talk about our beloved Recreation and Parks Department. And yes, I know there's a meeting coming up next week but you need to think about what is going to be talked about in that meeting because gymnastics isn't enough or we're gonna be playing whack-a-mole here. How is it that just gymnastics came up? I don't know, we don't know anything. We don't know anything because you all had a private closed meeting which I'm not sure how you all consented to although I know Matt is very convincing but how he convinced you that there would be a lawsuit when no one even knew what you were going to be talking about, I don't know.

That's illegality and the DA is gonna handle it but it was wrong And what's right now is to involve the public in this most public facing of departments. I mean, what department in the city has more of the public that's engaged with parks and recreation? Walking our dogs, taking our grandkids, being in the programs. So I'm asking that you please Broaden the agenda for next Tuesday because there evidently are many programs, if you don't know this, that are being discussed to be cut back or cut away completely.

Tots, horseback riding, yoga, all kinds of things we all love. I am not sure why our new city manager is not willing to be more transparent The idea that this is somehow programs that don't get enough kids from the city, we have a sphere of influence. That we all understand because we have lived here and this is what newcomers need to be educated about both himself And this man who he has hired, who doesn't appear to be very good at communicating to the public. We would have highways running through this city if it weren't for the sphere of influence. We would have environmental degradation like no one can imagine if it weren't for the sphere of influence.

So we want the kids from Miners Oaks and Casita Springs in the upper Ojai to come to our rec department just like we want our own kids to come. So please broaden that agenda next Tuesday. We need to look at the whole rec department and we need that rec commission to be in place so we know we have volunteers from the public looking at the rec department. Thank you.

Thank you, Robin. Next, we have Mick Froelich and then Debbie Rubenstein and then Jesse Austin.

City Council and Mayor, thanks for letting me speak. I wanted to say a few things following the Planning Commission meeting last week as we're about to nominate a new planning commissioner amid site approval process. After a poorly prepared sales pitch by the city staff last week to try and rush this project into approval, the city manager and staff have continued to act dishonestly in severely lacking in transparency. First and foremost, I want to emphasize that the decision to place the Cabin Village In our neighborhood has been done without any meaningful input from the people who live there. The fact I find problematic as they continue to tell the public and the Planning Commission that they've thoroughly vetted the site.

Public comments at every turn seem to be falling on deaf ears. Ohio is made up of people who've chosen to live here because of its quiet, close-knit nature. Many of us have invested our time, our energy and most of our resources into building our families, friendships, neighborhoods and small businesses. The idea the city can ignore all that for a few million dollars to build a cabin village in the heart of a low density neighborhood something Dignity Moves has admitted they've never done and within blocks of our main attractions Libbey Park and The Avenue Without so much as a conversation with all of those affected is an oversight at best and a violation of trust at worst. Building this shelter without listening to the concerns and suggestions of the neighbors is a missed opportunity, sends messages that our voices do not matter.

This isn't just a building it's about the future of our economy we've begun canvassing the small businesses between Ventura Street and Montgomery Street as well to find there's little to no support for the City Council and city managers decision I believe the city manager and staff are also suggesting that the budget to run this project in perpetuity is only $500,000 per year. A fact that the state has proven otherwise.

According to an article in The LA Times November 9th, the Coalition on Homelessness has determined the average cost per night to sustain a permanent shelter is $139 per person per evening. LA is going to attempt to only budget $116 per night per person and hope for the best. That amount comes to $1.27 million per year to run our cabin village, so someone needs to do better homework frankly.

In closing I'd ask you to reconsider this decision explore other options that involve genuine community input and long-term planning real dollars and cents budgeting to determine the cost of this project in perpetuity as the state has shown in the last year that grant monies will not continue to come indefinitely just ask Santa Barbara Alameda and Los Angeles The citizens deserve a better solution that's well thought out, sustainable and sensitive to everyone in the town. Not just those with the loudest voices or the most in need.

You know, I was at the Planning Commission meeting. I don't want to put you on the spot but I did notice that most of the speakers left maybe halfway through three-fourth through so I want to know I'm asking if you watch the end of the meeting where Dignity Moves did speak to the fact that they put these types of projects in residential

What they said was not in a low-density residential neighborhood if you look Yeah, I was that I was listening virtually while I was driving What they said it's been in multi use for multi residential zones But never in a neighborhood where a homeless issue didn't exist.

Okay? Thank you. I just wanted to make sure thank you

Okay. Thank You make next we have Debbie Rubinstein then Jesse Austin the name Renee Roth and

Good evening, members of council and neighbors. Going off of that because I wasn't gonna speak about that but I do agree that it should not be in a neighborhood and Ojai being four-and-a-half square miles the city of Ojai where they want to put it I find pretty ridiculous also because it's gonna be in somebody's backyard and you know I just think that maybe we should go outside of the box So and because the people that do get kicked out are on the streets, you know doing not so good things.

So and there's not a plan for them either. So once they do get booted out for bad behavior, you know there's no program or nothing set up for what happens to them after. So they're just around Ojai here, up to no good some of them. But what I really wanted to talk about was the number one, the stop signs on Drown. I find it to be very dangerous because of how Drown is situated where you have this part of it where the stop sign is back and then the other, then you have them at all the different corners So somebody making a left-hand turn from, let's say the signal area and then somebody going straight.

It almost happened to me when I was making a left hand turn that somebody at the stop sign almost hit me and I've seen it happen a couple times. I just find that to be very dangerous. Stop sign issue there. So hopefully something can be done about that, all the other ones are fine because they're all aligned where that one is not. Then I want to talk about how dark it is at night in this town And down all the side streets, it is so dark that you can't see anybody. There's people on bikes and some of them don't have lights on at night and I've had this issue where my husband said to say, there's a biker up there because I can't see.

When you're driving down the avenue downtown on the right hand side, there are no lights at all, no streetlights You know, where on the left-hand side there is. But it's very, very dark and so many of the side streets are so dark. There's no street lights whatsoever and I think that's a really important issue especially with all the kids riding their e-bikes and everything else. The last thing is the downtown crosswalks. I think they need to be lit up more. I think they need to be more defined and have the blinkers because again, I think that's a really big issue So, that is it. Thank you.

Thank you Debbie. Next we have Jesse Austin then Renee Roth and then William Wyrick

Good evening, everybody. My name is Jessie Austin I'm the vice president of the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group. First of all, I just want to second what Robin said. I've emailed you a request to expand the agenda to the Rec Department in general haven't heard back on that. I just wanted to make a brief comment tonight. First, to thank those of you who have responded to our request for individual meetings. Mayor Sticks, Councilwoman Ruhle and Councilwoman Lange, thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Whitman and Councilwoman Francina, really appreciate if you would respond at your earliest convenience so that we can meet with you. We would also like for you all to respond to our request for a 20-minute presentation spot at the November 19th meeting. We understand that you will be receiving a staff report that night from Ojai City staff regarding the gymnastics program.

But given that the information you've been provided in the past has been inaccurate, we feel it's imperative for us to be given an opportunity to present you with factual information. It seems crazy to me that the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group has had to spend countless hours over the past month, combing over 20 plus years of records and having meetings and emailing and texting daily to defend our ability to continue giving money and equipment to the city of Ojai.

When I was asked to join this board, I was told one meeting a month. Honestly it has never been so difficult for me to give away my money in my time In your decision making next week, please consider why our efforts are being rejected by the city and why our love for this program and the community are being treated as a liability instead of as an asset.

Thank you. Thank you, Jessie. Next we have Renee Roth, then William Wyrick, and then Andrew Stassi.

Good evening everybody. This is interesting. I grew up in Ashland, Oregon. The woman who was talking about the evacuation plan? Maybe that's why I'm concerned and very concerned about fire preparedness because I grew up in that little town in Southern Oregon. It's got an exit up here and exit down there on a big old freeway behind it and big old mountains behind it. Maybe that's why I love Ojai. Maybe that's why So at yesterday's press conference on the mountain fire, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner reminds us.

Give each other grace. Take care of your neighbors. Remember, Ventura is strong. The 805 is resilient and I want to thank the Ojai Valley News for putting that in the paper. It was a reminder and it brought me to tears because I remember buying those T-shirts for the Thomas fire out in front of Nordoff that we are resilient and we can do this. So after this, oh and by the way I want to congratulate Andy Gilman. Congratulations to Andy Gilman! It looks like he is the new mayor-to-be it was a tough election and i just want to say after this difficult election we must come together united in a civil respectful and inclusive approach That serves all of Ojai.

No hidden agendas, just transparent community driven goals that support every resident not just a precious few. To bridge our divides, we need open dialogue and a commitment and discussion about our shared challenges. One of the biggest threats we face is wildfire. The recent mountain fire was a big reminder of our vulnerability. It scared the bejeebers out of me, I'll tell you, and I saw a lot of people were really scared.

So to protect our community, to be safer and feel safer, We must be proactive, removing invasive high risk trees and shrubs. Expanding defensible space assessments and offering incentives for homeowners to learn about what they have to do. What plants are good? Which ones to remove? Residents need both education and financial support to create defensible space.

We live in a very precious place, but we need to protect our residents. Thank you very

much.

Evening, members of council. I ditto what Neof just said. I want to point out that I learned a lot being a member of this council during the Thomas Fire in terms of speaking with fire department going on tours, understanding the nature of the Thomas Fire, how it spread and where it was able to be stopped and not stopped. It was a flame front more of a flame front type of fire. And of course came from county into the city. Well, didn't come into the city, thankfully. And we learn a lot about why it didn't This Camarillo fire is a different fire. It's an ember cast fire, we're already starting to learn lessons that it was the extreme distribution of embers from extreme winds more than a flame front and lessons are already being learned about the kind of things that Renee was just talking about that had survivable structures and the structures that weren't survived What I'm trying to get at is that this cannot be handled well.

This community cannot be served properly by a city-centric focus on fire hiding and fire mitigation, it has to be a valley wide because things come in from the county to the city there's no wildland interface At Camarillo, but the embers were so extreme that it went into the Heights area. I would ask the members of this council that will be remaining after this certification to please consider upping and getting more aggressive about working with a valley-wide plan with the Fire Safe Council that has not happened yet at the level that it should be. And that we start acknowledging and accepting that we are in a fire ecology permanently. And need to look at how to deal with different types of fires, and how to mitigate them, and deal with the reality.

So please consider trying to up the support for all the work that the Fire Safe Council's been doing towards a valley-wide perspective. And hopefully encourage and try to get more aggressive about getting county to kick in additional support for the fire safe council. So we're going to have a chance when next time happens and it will happen. You think those people on Camarillo Heights ever thought this would happen to them? No, they didn't. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill. Next, we have Andrew Stassi and then Allie Mills.

Good evening, Andrew Stassi. I'm a local business owner and business owner that has been mailing mail for 35 years in the city of Ojai. I sent you an email. I don't know if you received it. Unfortunately, the thieves are here stealing mail out of the postal mailboxes. It's like taking candy from a baby. That's the unfortunate news. I personally had over $50,000 in checks stolen out of the mailboxes They steal your financial information. They chemically wash your checks, cash the checks.

The Benford County Sheriff's Department is aware of it. The Postal Service is aware of it. The banks are aware of it and the good news is that there's a simple fix and the simple fix is secure mailboxes. Unfortunately you can't mail packages in secure mailboxes however you can mail letters And the benefit of that is, is that you don't have to stop at try to find a parking space and bring your mail and leave it on the counter. Which is unfortunately what actually the Postal Service recommends.

So in maybe in some way the city could contact the Postal Service and ask them to provide secure mailboxes for the City of Ojai. In the interest of time I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew. Next we have Allie Mills.

Hello, my name is Allie Mills and I'm director of Oye Valley Family Shelter. We are currently in preparation for our 32nd year offering a nightly warming shelter December 1st through March 31st at the Oye Valley Grange building located 381 Cruzeiro Street in Miramonte. Registration each evening is from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m and guests are expected to leave for the day by 7 a.m We are available to anyone that has been a resident of the Oia Valley and has found themselves homeless To register we require either a current tuberculosis test or a chest x-ray that shows no signs of TB During the eight months of off-season, we offer showers twice a week Wednesdays and Saturdays 9am at St. Andrew's Church with Wilbur our shower bus outfitted with two separate shower rooms It was at one of these recent shower days that a tent village resident and longtime guest of the winter shelter let me know that she was told if she left to stay at the warming shelter there was no guarantee of acceptance back into the village at the end of the four months That maybe a good word could be put in for her Please do tell is this still policy?

And if it is still policy, can you please do something to change that? Our goal at OVFS is to minimize suffering during the coldest months of the year. I would like to know that the work we have been doing for the past 31 years is not in vain. Please consider amending the rules so that people coming to stay at the shelter are not faulted for wanting to stay with us. We should be encouraging the most vulnerable to come stay inside while it is available, not trying to scare them into thinking that they may lose their only chance at getting a place at a future cabin village The person I'm writing about has already made the decision to come stay inside with us for four months because she values her health that she's 73 years old.