City Council — 2024-11-19

If we could come to quiet please. We have a quorum, could we please have the roll call Mr. Chief Deputy City Clerk?

yes mayor

thank you

welcome community honorable mayor and council

public comment so thank you

all for being

here.

Actually, if I could. Yes. We're going to have a presentation from the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group once the council questions are finished. Council will then ask if they have any questions of the parents group, they will ask them that. Then we'll have public comment. Then it'll come back to council for discussion.

Thank you very much. So we'll begin with our city manager and if I could ask everyone here, we are very grateful that you're here and thankful. If you could refrain though from clapping, you can always show your support by using jazz hands. Snapping is always great. That'd be wonderful. And just a reminder that we're all here because we love our community, we love Ojai, we love our children and we want to support each other and let's just remember that we are all on the same team so let's focus on policy versus personality and move forward from there. So Mr. City Manager?

Yes, thank you Mayor. I'm going to just assume that the Council and most people here have read the staff report so I just have some brief comments this evening. First of all, I want to thank the gymnastics community. I want to thank the general public and I want to thank the council for their patience as we brought this discussion forward. I do appreciate that.

I want acknowledge that this has been a learning experience for the city I appreciate the patience and consideration of the gymnastics community as we have sorted things out. It was not our intention to cause any undue stress or anxiety, but we do understand that some was caused and for that we apologize. We are only making a few recommendations this evening, as you know. One related to the competitive component of the program, one related to fundraising and one to ensure that we have a document that outlines the program and roles responsibilities going forward.

Once I'm finished going through my list, I'm going to ask the City Attorney to expound upon some of the city's liability concerns with some recommended solutions. Again, with the understanding that everyone has read the staff report. I do want to point out an error that I'm aware of and there could be others but I'm aware of one in attachment two. I'll draw your attention to row three percentage of Recreation Department budget.

The number that we have in the report is 23 The actual number should be 18.86. The number 23% was derived from using the actual expenditures in fiscal year 23-24 if you're wondering how we got that, but the actual number based upon the math provided should be 18.86 So, we've already talked about the flow this evening. Mr. City Attorney do you want to talk a little bit about some of the liability concerns?

Yeah briefly so again thanks everyone this is great to see someone to the community here as we can find the right solutions on this one. So, the city has some liability concerns with the prior program operations and I'm going to raise those note those concerns and then note some solutions in a couple of levels of solutions. So first up is on the travel program There are potential liability and insurance coverage concerns the city has with city staff and program participants traveling out of the city and out-of-state. Sometimes in city vehicles, sometimes not, always traveling.

Those concerns stem from the fact that the city cannot control the risk nor ensure proper maintenance or facilities that are not in the city's control. The events are occurring in other places. We're not maintaining that equipment, we're not maintaining those facilities yet we're at some risk for facilities we're not maintaining. That creates some risk. So too does travel via city vehicles.

For all of these the concern is both liability and insurance. I recognize that there's a USA Gymnastics Insurance Program and that from what i understand covers the participants and perhaps USA Gymnastics Not yet to my knowledge has the city been named as an additional insured on any of the USA Gymnastics insurance. It was not clear that it would cover the city.

The city also would have to confer with its own insurance carriers to see if we are covered, so the liability concerns are present inherent in the nature of the travel program. Some solutions. As discussed in the staff report and the recommendation, the council can eliminate these risks entirely by dropping support for the travel program or as another option reduce these risks by adding additional waiver requirements for participants who are traveling and additional insurance requirements that would be both securing an additional insured status under the USA Gymnastics Insurance if that's achievable through USA Gymnastics and the city buying more robust insurance for the city And then adjusting, allowing the staff to flex their schedules for the private travel.

If it's a private travel arrangement if not then again securing robust insurance for the city if city vehicles are being used or allow the travel as part of the program but block city vehicle usage. Second liability concern that we've had is, as again noted in the staff report, fundraising. There's some risk of a gift to public funds challenge or misuse of public resources challenge if city land, staff time, or city resources are used for private fundraising.

I'll note that previously these concerns were more significant because we had a dearth of records, we had uncertain records as to whether or not the funds that had been claimed as donated had actually been paid to the city. I will note that new information has come to light that is correct in that aspect and we apologize for this for the information that was incomplete or inaccurate and now that has been corrected so I understand now that for example the leotards donations those funds did come into the city So that concern that was present before has been mitigated, which is helpful. But still the concerns remain regarding staff time and city facilities use for fundraising for a private foundation. That risk is eliminated if fundraising does not happen at city facilities or on city time.

If the council wants to reduce but not eliminate the risk, then we would set clear rules regarding what kinds of fundraising are allowed and when they're allowed so that it's very clear when staff are working for the city and when they're supporting a private facility and what level of support is allowed with clear requirements set up upfront. Back to you.

Okay, thank you Mr. Summers so now at this point we'd like to turn it over to the council if there are questions about what was said or the staff report itself Or if it's a pleasure of the council wouldn't go right to the OI Valley Gymnastics parents group in their presentation So

Matt You're

talking about city

risk

And it's not I mean, I am assuming it's not limited to a travel program There's risk associated with injuries happening during Gymnastics programs

Yeah. No there's risk is associated with this the gymnastics programs at city facilities too.

Yeah and so Is the risk of a participant claiming that the injury was caused by the negligence of the supervising staff covered by our group pool risk program?

Yes, if it's at a city facility.

OK. And is there is there a

limit on

that

Yeah, I was gonna say it's $150,000 limit. We have some excess coverage that would kick in depending on the circumstances. $150,000? That's our default limit per participant. Per claim? Yeah, per claim, per participant. We have some excess coverage that would kick in depending on the exact facts of the case. And what is that coverage? That could be... I don't have the exact number on there.

In terms of what you know how I mean, so

we don't have we're talking straight hypotheticals right now. I don't have an exact coverage amount because we don't have exact facts to test against the coverage situation We have secured coverage in the low millions in the past but it's a matter of what would be the facts

Yes,

and how they would match against the coverage levels

And then you know is it true that? If Damages associated with an injury was greater than our insurance coverage then There's no obligation to accept the amount insurance offers and then they come after city funds

Right exactly if a plaintiff was unhappy with the level that the insurance insurer offered They could refuse that offer that settlement and then litigate and then the general fund is at risk And that's the liability risk we've identified Okay

I have a quick follow-up. Franklin, and then

Vice Member. Can you explain or clarify what is the difference between fundraising on school property and city property and a nonprofit and a booster club? Because for example my little granddaughters go to gymnastics and they have a little rack where they sell used Leotards and for a very, you know small. And that's the sort of thing we want to encourage. You know it's recycling and reusing clothing.

And it seems to me that there are all kinds of fundraising takes place on school property. Am I? So what's it and is it does this have anything to do with the fact Is there a difference if they were a booster club for a non-profit or can they be both, or how does that work?

So generally the risk is if an outside challenger contended that the fundraising that supports a relatively small group as opposed to a broader group or supported a nonprofit or supported a parent's group of uncertain nonprofit status was a gift of public funds. I'm not sure what, you know the school districts certainly have parent clubs booster clubs that's fairly common. Sometimes they're raising money on city proper school property sometimes they're doing it not a school property that varies here of course it appears that isn't yet is at the city property and so the risk is does someone contend that that's a gift to public funds to have city staff time spent on that fundraising or the city resource the city land or facility allocated for that purpose?

Okay, so is the issue staff time versus volunteer time?

It's two issues. One is the staff time being used to run the fundraising program and two is the fundraising program on city property itself And as noted, eliminating the risk entirely would be preventing fundraising on city property. If that's too far for the council then the risk could be reduced by setting some clear limits on how much staff time is spent fundraising and clear lines on where any money raised goes and how that money is spent to sort of documenting best practices.

Okay I will mull that over thank you

Council Member Ruhl. Yeah, a couple of follow-ups to Mayor Pro Tem Whitman's comment on insurance. How is this any different than any other you know program that athletic program that is sponsored by or through the rec department? All of them have the same risk. I mean, so so I guess I'm confused about that how this is differentiated by gymnastics? So that would be my first question. How is gymnastics different than football or you know basketball or whatever other sport that you know kids do play?

That'd be my first question and then the If you want to answer that one and then I also had a comment for on Councilmember Francina's question about, you know staff and fundraising because I think it's two work. work this so that, you know staff doesn't have to be responsible for fundraising. We have a there's a very robust group of volunteers who could probably handle that and then if there are best practices and or software that would allow this to happen almost automatically where the money would you know it would be documented electronically just like your bank account you know So I'm thinking that there's probably a solution to that, that we can discuss. But I am curious to speak to why we would be pulling out of gymnastics program as offering more liability than any other program?

Yeah, I can speak to those points. So on the liability concerns that the higher risk that we see is inherent in the travel program because the city does not control those facilities.

Right.

Gymnastics is, I think one would agree, an inherently risky activity and that risk is higher in facilities or could be higher in facilities if the city doesn't maintain, doesn't control. We don't know how well they've been maintained. We don't know anything about the equipment and its maintenance schedule That's a risk we can't control. There is still a risk even at city facilities and that risk is similar to any other inherently dangerous recreational activity, so there's that distinction between the at city facilities versus outside.

Yeah, and I was pointing to at-city facilities because I think that there are processes and or best practices that we could potentially investigate for travel. Because I realize that we're not the only recreation department in California that sponsors competitive gymnastics travel so there are models that we can adopt You know, strengthen our sort of oversight and also you know liability.

We can buy more insurance. You know we can figure out a way to get some money to buy more insurance potentially. Anyway those were my questions but I did want to just mention that I was speaking when I asked that question specifically about in-city recreational activities so thank you.

Any other questions from Council Member Lange?

I did. I just had a couple of follow-up questions to the fundraising conversation, because it's my understanding that the nonprofit organization that we're looking at is sort of akin to a PTA where it wouldn't exist if it weren't for gymnastics And gymnastics is a city run program. So it feels, what's the difference between having the fundraising? It just seems to me that there...

I just want some clarification on the nature of the nonprofit as it relates to their ability to sell or to do fundraising for a city program.

Right, so this is one where the facts have evolved as we've gone through this process. I think in the beginning there were significant concerns that it wasn't clear where the money was going that may have been raised by selling leotards and other equipment and it wasn't clear where any of the money was flowing. We don't have all the information but I think we have more information than we had before including that there was money coming from the leotard sales into the city system through ActiveNet which is helpful to know that okay that did come back to the city to reimburse the city for the materials costs And as to the other fundraising components, the parents group, the nonprofit that they've created can function as a booster group. It's just a matter of we would need council support to continue fundraising at the city facility.

But as noted under some best practices rules and regulations, I think before it had been operated without council direction, without council oversight and without clear delineation of those rules, regulations or responsibilities.

Any other questions? Yeah, Mayor Pro Tem.

I think this one's probably for Mr Davis but what other programs recreation programs do we have where we supply staff to be the coach of that sport

We don't have any other programs where we supply staff to be the coach of a club or they would go off site off to another facility outside of Ojai.

What about in the city itself, you know for like basketball or youth soccer? Do we provide any coaches for any of those sports?

We don't provide any coaches for any other sports. We have class instructors, but we do not have any other paid coaches for any other sports.

I have a question for the city manager. There's been some confusion or questions about the role of commissions generally speaking and Can you could you explain? How this functioned the process in terms of what What a commission would be focusing on versus what our our team our staff focuses on

Sure, so I think the question is you're asking about if there was a fully constituted Recreation Commission and would this have been something that they would've discovered or been brought before them. I would argue no. The city has advisory boards. They don't direct staff. They don't launch inquiries. They don't conduct investigations. Their policy advisors, much like the council is we're here tonight discussing this topic because you have a new city manager. And you have a new recreation manager and we encountered some things that in our mind at first seemed to be irregularities and.

You know the process evolved, but this would not have been Something that you know would have been discovered if you will had you had a Recreation Commission we put together agendas for the advisory boards just like we do with the Arts Commission and the Planning Commission Etc.

Thank you so moving forward the commission would potentially could do our needs assessment on

Absolutely, yeah. That would be great in fact we would love for that once it's constituted and just I know I'm off topic a little bit but you will have an item hopefully on your December 10th meeting to fill that commission. I know that you all are working on that and yeah that would be one of the first things we would want to bring is a needs assessment that involved you know a community survey as part of that.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Just just to be clear, you said you have class instructors but no other coaches. But so my understanding is that all the other sports have volunteer coaches, but class instructors can also function as coaches I mean you know that. I see the gymnastic in there are both class instructors and coaches aren't they?

Excuse me, sorry about that. I would make the differentiation when the gymnastic staff are out in our gym they're gymnastics instructors when they go off-site they are gymnastics coaches so that's that's the difference.

Okay thank

you.

Council Member Ruhl? Yeah, and I'd like to get to the parents PowerPoint as soon as possible. But I just wanted to just kind of confirm that, you know, the Park and Rec's commission is different really than any other commission because we actually have a park and rec director. So, you know, whereas we don't actually have So, so I think that needs to my only point being is that I think that that needs to be sort of also figured out like what is the role of the park and Rex commission.

You know because I get this sense some people believe that they have oversight over the parking wrecks. Manager, which I don't think that they do. And so I just want to put that out there that is a conversation to be had so that everyone understands the roles of each because I think there has been some confusion as to what those roles are. So that's my only comment and we're ready to go.

Thank you. Any final questions? All right, we will have our presentation from the Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Club. Thank you very much. And this is a 10 minute presentation so everyone sit back and enjoy.

City Council members, thank you so much for having us here tonight. Thank you for giving us a presentation spot to speak and for scheduling this special meeting so that we could come talk to you tonight. And also thank you to those of us, to those of you that met with us this week. We really appreciated those meetings. They were very heartening and inspiring and made us feel really good. So thank you for that.

First slide just shows a picture of our girls, our children at one of our annual exhibitions. And just shows that we have a pretty big group of kids that benefit from this program. How do I do next? Next slide. These are just a few definitions. I think there has been some confusion about what these different entities are, so we just wanted to lay it out there.

Ojai Valley Gymnastics is just what we call the City Recreation Department Gymnastics Program and we wanted to call it Ojai Valley Gymnastics because it really is a reflection of the valley and not just the city of Ojai. USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It offers training, classes, makes sure that the coaches that we are using are up to date with all of the best practices.

Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group, that's me and these two ladies here are board members. We are a parent-led group that was founded in 2003. In 2004 we became a 501c3 and our sole purpose is to support the gymnastics program. Next slide. So just a little history of Ojai Valley Gymnastics. Began over 45 years ago and then moved into the Martin gym sometime in the 1980s when it was built. In 1999, the name was changed from Ojai Arrows to Ojai Valley Gymnastics which it is has been since then.

And we offer programming at the record department that's not available anywhere else in the valley. The closest option for any other kid would be to drive to Ventura, Cost prohibitive and cause some equity issues with those that can't get down to Ventura. Next slide. I already talked about this a little bit, but the role of USAG for our city coaching staff they're required to have membership with USAG to coach at sanctioned events.

They get annual safety and risk management training and they require background checks and safety certifications so We know that the coaches that are coaching our kids and taking our kids to sanctioned events have been vetted. We also have requirements for the competitive team members. They also are required to be members of USAG they have some insurance coverage through that at the USAG sanctioned events which all of our events that we attend are USAG sanctioned events and they also offer gymnastics related educational programs and courses next slide.

This is just a little overview of our current program offerings. Next slide. So this is Tiny Tots. It's a partner class that's designed for our youngest gymnasts, they can start at age two. It introduces the children to the equipment, helps build coordination and strength, motor skills and some social skills. They play games, they interact with other children and there's not a whole lot of things in this valley that parents with 2-year olds can do so this is one of the best.

Next slide. Kinder Gym is the next step up. It's oh did I forget to state on the last slide that there's 49 enrolled in that class right now with nine on a wait list? Kindergym, current enrollment right now 78 kids. It's six on the wait list. This is for kids four to six. They learn basic gymnastic skills through play and they learn all the beginning skills on balance beam, vault, tumbling and bar. So I think it's been a little confusing that those pieces of equipment are only for our competitive team but we've got four year olds on those things safely.

Next slide. This is the STARS program which is the next level up starts at age 7 and goes until 17. It's a progressive program that is based on USAG skills and standards it helps provide foundation for the children to acquire and improve their gymnastics abilities. Next slide. Within the STARS program, we have several categories. The first one is called the movie stars and it is for basically we took the USAG level 1 and broke it down into a little bit of a smaller chunk so that these kids could build more firmly their foundations before moving on to level one So we call this level double zero.

Right now, we have 82 kids enrolled in this class and because of the high number of kids we have registered, we have classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 4 to 5 p.m for the this group of kids next slide. Rockstars is our level zero. That's just a picture of one of the rock stars doing their thing at our exhibition. Next slide. Superstars, this is where they start at USAG Level 1 and then go ahead next slide.

All Stars is also called our pre-team. It's just the step right before the girls can compete, and this is our USEG level two girls. Next slide. Children? I keep saying girls please, I apologize. There are boys too. Um, team. Team is our USAG level 3. They start at level three and they can go all the way up to level eight. Right now because of COVID we had a significant loss in the number of students that were on the team before COVID. We had about 24?

And right now we have one. So because of that, the rock stars, superstars, all-stars and team are all sharing gym time to consolidate and make the best use of the gym. And that's Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 5 to 7 30. There's 14 kids in that class right now. Next slide. These are the other classes that Ojai Recreation Department offers, adult gymnastics currently has five enrolled open gym is just a basically what it sounds like you can come you can work on whatever skill you feel like you want to improve on with guidance from staff.

Tumbling is geared a lot towards like kids that want to do cheerleading. It's mostly floor and they, and that enrollment is at 17 with three on the wait list. We have also in the past had people book the gym for gymnastics birthday parties which is super fun where they just play games and are guided by coaches. Kids night out similar to the rec center movie nights where you can drop your kiddo off For three hours, right?

And then gymnastics camp in the summer week long half day camp. It's always well attended and fun. Next slide. So this is just a little introduction to some of the staff at the Recreation Department that has historically been involved in gymnastics. On the left, you'll see Vicky. She's right back over there. She's been an Ojai resident her whole life and has spent 33 years as a city employee, 35 years coaching gymnastics. She volunteered for two years before she became hired and 33 years as a USAG professional member And then we have Stacy.

She has been a resident for her whole life, she was a former Ojai Rec Department Gymnastics State Champion 31 years as a city employee 32 years coaching gymnastics One year of volunteer before and 28 years as a professional member of USAG. Now, I do want to point out really quick it's not on the slides but these are our most experienced coaches and they in the past year have not been able to spend as much time as they used to in the gym with our kids And it's really unfortunate because they have the most experience and the most knowledge, and they're going to be the safest people to have in there.

Right now, most of their time is spent outside of the gym. Next slide. Okay, then there's us the parents group. We started in 2003 already said that we just want to support the Ojai Recreation Department. We raised donations through like Sousa said the used leotard cells The t-shirts and sweatshirts that you see everybody wearing. We've done C's candy. We've done popcorn We used to do a cartwheel-a-thon where the kids had to see how many cartwheels they could do in a minute and get Get pledges for that. And then our biggest one is the Michelle Polza Katie Edwards exhibition, which is an annual event that brings in a huge crowd.

All the money that we've raised has gone to purchasing equipment for the gymnastics program or two scholarships for gymnastics camp and offsetting some of the expenses that coaches incur at meets because unfortunately not their their their expenses are not always covered by the city There are no membership fees to be eligible to be part of this program. You just have to be registered for gymnastics.

Next slide. Why is gymnastics important? Well, the mission of Ojai Valley Gymnastics stated is to facilitate the development of good sportsmanship confidence and self-esteem by providing an enjoyable gymnastics experience at both recreational and competitive levels. And I want to just take a moment to talk about the recreational and competitive levels We have both, and they're not separate. They're together.

The kids that want to compete can compete and nobody is required to compete so yes you can talk about them differently but really they're all part of the same class So gymnastics builds full body strength, balance coordination, confidence helps kids set goals engages both sides of the brain involves critical thinking and it's super fun. You're going to hear from a lot of these kids tonight. Next slide.

It's also a cornerstone of our community with as long as it's been around, we've done booths and demonstrations at Ojai Day. We've marched in the Independence Day Parade. We do demonstrations at the Rec Department Annual Open House and I already talked about the annual exhibition started in 1978 and has been broadcast on local TV. Also our kids can receive junior high and high school PE credit for being involved in this program at the competitive level.

Next slide. So specifically what's special about Ojai Valley Gymnastics because it is different than a lot of these other gyms, our gymnasts have reached regional championships in this program which is run at a fraction of the cost of a private gym and requires less intensive training with the same results These kids train seven and a half-ish hours a week.

Some private gyms ask for 10, 15, 20 hours a week to be on a competitive team and they're much more expensive so this is a really important asset for our community. And unlike many private gyms we have really focused on creating a body positive and supportive environment for these kids to grow up in Next slide. After reading through the staff report, I did need to add a few slides of rebuttal if you have the staff report in front of you it's the first one is on page 1-1.

It is misleading to characterize the gymnastics program as having two components. I talked about that a little bit already already but all kids registered through the city whether they're on team or movie stars or kinder gym at the level of team they're required to attend three days a week and this is because of safety. They have to have a certain number of hours training to go and compete so that we know that they have the skills they have the strength to be safe in a competition No child is required to compete, but there is not now nor has there ever been a travel gymnastics program.

It's not like travel basketball or club soccer. It's still all run through the rec department. The meets that we attend in the report it says that they are usually sanctioned, but no, they are always sanctioned so that they meet this stringent safety requirements of USAG next slide. If you look at page 1-3, in paragraph one it says city vehicles are rarely used. No I say city vehicles are rarely used by gymnastic staff to drive to competitions and when they are used it is only with approval from a supervisor.

Gymnasts are not transported in city vehicles Additionally, city vehicles are used to transport children and seniors in other programs to a variety of locations both inside and outside the city limits. So even if we were to transport kids in city vehicles to meets it wouldn't be any different than taking the van full of kids to the beach or the Santa Barbara Zoo like we do in the summers Paragraph four, you will see that the statements about the liability risk. Well there's liability risk in all recreation department activities and as all meets are USAG sanctioned? Gymnasts and coaches are covered by USAG insurance while at those events.

So it kind of goes back to Leslie's question why is gymnastics being separated out as the liability risk? Paragraph 6 talks about negligence of staff, and again I don't feel like this is specific to gymnastics. This could be true in any programming next slide. Page 1-4, you will see that paragraphs one and two about mitigating potential misuse of city funds and resources.

The coaches receive no personal or political gain from representing our kids at meets the fundraising efforts in the gym by our parents group do not personally benefit anyone other than the City of Ojai and the participants of the gymnastics program In paragraph 3 you'll see the use of city funds, it's use of city facilities excuse me for public benefit. Well then it would benefit the public to allow us to continue fundraising in 20 plus years this has never been an issue for us to fundraise in the gym because all of the money just goes right back to the city I'll leave it at that. Paragraph four, city staff time and I think both of you addressed this a little bit but the time that our city employees have spent facilitating fundraisers is negligible.

It's comparable to time that a teacher spends talking about going home and selling seized candy for your family to raise money for the school or a read-a-thon, or any of that. The relationship between the city and Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group has always been beneficial to the city. Next slide. On attachment one you'll see that it says there are... Sorry can I see that?

I forgot to grab that. 38 separate offerings. We don't know where this number came from. There are 10 program offerings, some of which run at the same time and don't require extra gym time. It says in the staff report that the classes are four months in duration. They are eight weeks in duration and repeat every eight weeks. It says that there are 16 competitive level classes and 20 recreational level classes. There are six recreational level classes and one competitive level class.

And then the percentage of use of, it says Boyd Center but I think they meant Martin Gym is misleading. We share the gym with programs, with any other programs whenever they ask to use it. Next slide. This is a video you can if someone can press play on it that shows our kids breaking down all the gym equipment at the end of their session so that they could accommodate another program in the gym.

These are eight nine ten year old girls that love helping It's moving so fast, but you can't see while they were doing this. They were all doing cartwheels and handstands and they had a lot of fun. And they do this during basketball season every Monday, Wednesday, Friday to accommodate basketball. Next slide. Okay, now onto attachments two and three. I apologize, I know I'm taking more time.

We would like to request to see where the $235,000 number comes from on attachment two. Yeah, attachment two. Because we can't figure out how that makes any sense given that there are no full-time staff dedicated to gymnastics. There are multiple part time staff that work in gymnastics but they also work in day programs, summer camps, they work at some of the events that the rec center has, movie nights so we're really confused about where this high cost number is coming from And then on attachment three, they list all the other city programs. And first of all, I mean these offerings are pretty sad. So the fact that we have a five day a week program is awesome and could be a draw for kids into our community right I know people that drove up from Ventura to come to this program, even though there is a program in Ventura.

And there's also an error in that Gold Coast Gymnastics is listed on this but it's not a city run program. It's a private gym run for profit. Next slide. This is just a list of a few of the other city-led gymnastics programs that we've contacted. They all have competitive teams, they all use a waiver for liability and Vacaville's the only one on there that is slowly building their competitive team back like we are after COVID and yeah, that's it. Next slide.

So, this is what we would like from you. We would like the current programming to remain untouched. We would love our most seasoned coaches back in the gym. That's Stacy and Vicki. We want to be able to use our name, Ojai Valley Gymnastics, and allow our coaches that are working to wear their coach shirts while working with gymnasts. Stand up Noah, show them your coach shirt.

The coaches were told they could not wear these in the gym anymore. And then we would also very much like to retain a beneficial relationship with Ojai Valley Gymnastics Parents Group and the city, and restore our fundraising efforts in the gym and the community because without being able to raise funds in the gym, our hands are pretty tied. There's not a lot we can do to help raise money for this program. Next slide.

The end.

Thank you very much, Jessie. We really appreciate your time and attention to detail. And right now we will take questions from council. Any

questions? Can we start by. Yeah,

the council can take question if there's any questions for the parents group rep that would be in order and then public comment generally.

Any questions?