Ojai City Council, Regular Meeting

Technical difficulties? Yes? Okay. Okay. So, yes, mayor and council members and community, I need to apologize. We're experiencing a technical difficulty right now. Those who are here can obviously Here at the meeting, the only way you can enjoy the meeting remotely so far tonight is via Zoom. So if you access Zoom, you can participate, you can watch the meeting. The meeting is being recorded.

Our challenge tonight is it's not currently working on YouTube or Channel 10. We are working to resolve those issues, but it's not known if we will be able to. So I do apologize for those people trying to access it through those means. I'd like to recommend that we start and allow us to try to troubleshoot the YouTube and the Channel 10 issues while we're going, if that's acceptable to the Council.

Anybody object? Okay, we'll proceed. Thank you for that.

Thank you.

Okay, Ms. Marra, roll call, please.

Mayor, the only thing I'm going to add, if you don't mind, 13 is a bit time sensitive as well.

Well, then I'm happy to say 11, 12, 13. Fine with me. Well, also, I imagine those going fairly quickly, at least 12 and 13 I imagine going quickly. Any other changes to the agenda? Any objections?

No.

Okay, thank you very much. We'll proceed with that.

Do we need a motion? Okay, sure, go ahead. I'll make a motion to approve the changes.

Thank you. Second that. Great. Any objections? We can do a roll call on that. Okay, sounds good. All right, so now we have a presentation from the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council. Hello.

James and Christian, if you could pull up the slideshow, please.

Thank you.

There we go. Thank you. Well, good evening, members, mayor. As you know, I'm Christopher Densch. I'm the executive director of the Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council. We're here for our first quarterly report under our professional services agreement. So we're covering the months of October, November, and December. And so, next slide, please. So obviously, the overall scope of work of the Professional Services Agreement is divided into two broad areas, community outreach and education, and wildfire risk mitigation. The status reporting cadence for this agreement is a monthly report to the city manager and others, and then a quarterly presentation to this council. And then we're looking at an annual comprehensive review, and we discuss our key performance tracking indicators.

Next, please. So, as we work toward building increasing wildfire resilience in the Ojai Valley, sort of an overview of where we are as we started, we believe we are making significant strides in wildfire preparedness and community resilience. We've already conducted multiple workshops and presentations and have reached literally hundreds of residents and local organizations in this last three months.

We have a home hardening assessment target of which we're 25% of the way there in the first quarter. We have 77 pending right now, so we're looking to meet one of the few quantitative metrics in this. A lot of it is qualitative. Of course, we continue to work with all of our partners throughout this agreement on all their other projects, and that is constantly building the base and building up an overall strategy for the Ojai Valley and our nearby watershed.

And then we are, you know, we're looking at working on the new website and workshops and materials for the rebate program. They're all in development to support the residents. And in beginning of this contract, we added one full-time staff member and two contractors to allow us to do this work. Next. We've given a number of presentations. It was a little tough over the holidays. Things, people tend to disappear in the holidays.

But we gave a workshop at the Ojai Garden Club, 25, 30 people there. Topics we talked about, general wildfire preparedness, zone zero's always that, the ember-based risk that we have in this valley, landscape management considerations to create defensible space. And during that time, we had 12 of our Almost 100 home hardening assessment sign-ups. Next. We also gave a presentation to the Ojai Valley Hospital Guild, and that was about 40 or 50 people in attendance there. Basically covered the same topics that people want to know, and often responding to questions for that. And during that time, we got another 25 home hardening assessments to sign up. Next, please.

We also gave a talk at the Ohio Valley Alliance Club in November. That was between about 35 to 40 people. Again, the same topics because that's what we're doing in this outreach and that's what people want to know about. That's where a lot of the questions are and it is interesting the amount of anxiety and concern about the upcoming Zone Zero. We do want to point out to people that Ventura County already has a Zone Zero that went into effect in March in 25.

And as the enforcement agency responsible for the new state regulations, when they ever show up, will be done probably most likely in alignment with what they're doing with the current County Zone Zero Ordinance. And again, we got more sign-ups for that. Next, please. And of course, we were there for Ojai Day. Mayor Andy came by. And we had quite a bit. We shared our booth with Ventura County CERT because we have a training, they have a training session coming up. For those who have not signed up, please do so. It is invaluable training.

And we need a number of people there to make the course worthwhile because it's quite an endeavor. So support our local CERT. And of course, we met with literally hundreds of people on Ojai Day. Next. The Ojai Valley News put together a wildfire resource guide, which is still available online and on stands, and we gave a fair amount of assistance in putting that together, not just the article we have here, but also in the resources that went into the resource guide.

Next. And then in, whenever that was, we had a, December, thank you, we had a workshop on Working with a conversation between contractors who do kind of work for risk mitigation and the residents themselves. So we had a basic standing room only crowd in the commission room. And it was a pretty lively event. And again, people, you know, it was not just us making a detailed presentation about home hardening and defensible space, even though we do that. What it was, was having, it was almost entirely driven by questions from the community, that we want an interaction between the community, contractors, and us, and let the community attendees drive the conversation about what they are concerned about.

It's no surprise that what they're concerned about is ember cast, and zone zero, and defensible space, and home hardening. But that's what it was, and a number of the contractors there work on landscape and on home hardening assessments and retrofits. And in materials that might work well within zone zero, that would be changes from the combustible materials within that zone to materials that are non-combustible and meet with that compliance. And that is recorded and is archived on our website. People can watch it there.

Next, please. So this is a very broad, because we maintain the privacy of people we do home hardenings for, we don't release addresses, names, or direct locations, but this is the general area that we have. We're 25% toward our target already, and when we're coming up to a retrofit program, and a tool lending, and those kinds of considerations that we've been retained to advise the city on, the data that's coming from this and all the hundreds of home hardenings we've done, and Ventura Regional done, Because we use the same software, we all combine this under the Wildfire Collaborative. And then we'll think that'll help support some concrete recommendations to the city. That's how it can best help with that kind of thing,

okay?

So now we have 77 pending, and that's very time consuming. It's an hour and a half for each one of these things, not counting scheduling and everything. So it does consume a lot of time. But they're very important, and we need, you know, and in the software we use, it allows people to put information in about the risk mitigation measures they've taken, so we can all help track that and help them. So that's important. We did get a slowdown in January. There's a glitch in the software that we pay for.

So that's been resolved. Thank you. Next. We continue to provide service through our extensive network of active partnerships, and as it's always been, and evermore so, greatly extends our reach of a very small organization to do a lot more than our numbers would indicate is possible. So that has continued and actually continues to build and intensify. Next.

We're involved with, this is an interesting diagram, this is actually produced by the Cal State Northridge and under contract with the Ventura River Watershed Council, of which we're a member. We're also on the leadership committee and also on the advisory group to the $2 million watershed resilience project grant from the state DWR. What they were looking at was a way of mapping the networks and connection between all the organizations in the Watershed Council, which number in excess of 60.

The relative size of those It's colored by agency, CBO, etc. We put it up there once. It's kind of a fun thing to look at and trace it, but it just shows how interconnected and connected this watershed actually is. It's actually phenomenal how much work goes between people and how much collaboration and cooperation is present. But we're looking at that, so the orange are small CBOs, and the size represents your degree of networking, and we're pretty well represented there. We're like number 12 or something on the list of 60-some organizations, in terms of our level of connectivity with other people in the watershed, so I just want to brag about that a little bit. Next.

Coming up, we have our Wildfire Resilience Festival that is under this PSA, and that's set for April 25th, so save the date. That's an all-day affair. We'll have information booths, workshops, demonstrations, and of course, fire trucks from the county fire. Forest Service, children's activities, food, music, you name it, but it should be a very informative and fun event. We have put these on in the past very successfully from the Fire and Safety Council.

We're looking to make this the biggest and best we've yet to put on, but please save the date for that. Next. We have scheduled a two-day wildfire-resistant construction and landscaping course. That's an NFPA course. That's part of our contract requirements. That date has been set for May 18th and 19th, with another one, depending on attendance, scheduled for August. So, we have signed a contract, we're moving towards that, and we haven't really figured out the out-of-town fee schedule yet, but for Ojai residents, the course is free, students are free, we want people there.

And Council Member Rule, we're really interested in having a student presence there, okay? So for everybody who's involved in that level, this is something where it's a fairly technical course, but not as much as some of the other NFP, but it's, you know, it meets all the standards. And we've worked with this guy before. He's really good. And so it's going to be a very informative day.

I recommend everybody be there or get someone to be there, though we do have a limit of 40 people. But we'll see what happens. If the attendance is there, when more people want that we can fit in, we have another session scheduled, a placeholder for August. You can see what's targeted. What comes there is a wide range of people, but includes in these courses, because that's how we're certified, is it's many times fire professionals come there. You get people in these courses coming from all over the West to be there, because it meets standards for their continuing education and training credits that they have to have, so it meets those standards.

Firewise community leaders, obviously the city and agency staff, in addition to the general public. So we'll be putting out a lot more information about this in the near future. Next, please. Focus for this quarter, which moving into the last month of this quarter, is we continue our community-wide initiatives. We're looking at the Firewise community support. I know the members of the Council have been contacted by our staff about looking at your district and how can we organize this, right?

And this thing plays into a lot of things. Firewise is as much a behavioral thing as it is an actual quantitative, we did this, we did that. It's really there to get people recognizing the risk, what can be done to mitigate the risk, and then working together as a neighborhood, as a Firewise community, to get that done. And then, of course, there's tracking involved. All that's very helpful for the community, it's helpful for insurance, and it helps us track what's being done and what more needs to be done.

We've been planning for several months what we call in the PSA the Urban Core Center Initiative that is based on looking specifically at the targeted risk of urban conflagration. So we'll have more about that in our next presentation. We have worked extensively on the webpage for city linking, but that will be up and running by the next time we present. Obviously, preparing for the Wildfire Festival and the two-day course, it all takes a lot of upfront print, as you all know, and we continue our ongoing hardening assessments. Next.

While this is not a city-funded project, it's one that benefits the residents of this valley and many others. And some of you attended the town hall a couple weeks ago in which we introduced this project. I believe Councilman Rule was there. I don't know if anybody else was there. There's well over 100 people there, not counting our advisors and facilitators, showing the excitement and support for this project on going both ways.

And so we're in the planning grant. So in that, we have continued to engage the public. So on the left-hand side is scenes from the town hall on January 28th, which was a tremendous turnout and I think was very educational for people. In the middle is one of the first of our focus groups where we look at a particular topic or particular item of resilience. This one was about 30 people representing about 30 organizations came and spent a day with us. And, of course, we had the all-time R heron standing and watching us, which I believe is a symbol for

resilience.

And that bird would not leave. It stood there right next to our tables and stared at us.

Are

you going to get this done? So we even thinking about making it a symbol. And so there's more. This kicks off an entire two arm One is what's called a collaborative stakeholder structure that involves the, we have the core working group which has been meeting since last June, and that is the, us, Ojai Unified School District, Ventura County Fire, Help of Ojai, and our architect Mark Whitman. And then we have these coming up is two formal committees that will start meeting next month. That's the Operational Working Group, of which gentlemen like Mr. Tyler will be there. Mr. Abed, I mean, I'm sorry. And that is looking at the infrastructural needs for the conversion of the Honor Farm toward this purpose of this grant. And then we have the Community Advisory Board, which looks at the programs and services that we will be looking at The possibility of having there, see what the community wants in terms of building resilience, including wildfire resilience and all disaster-related resilience.

And then we have our ongoing focus groups that will happen, and we'll also have our community workshops here in the valley and up in Upper Ojai. Next, please. For those who are interested, on our site is a timeline of this project. It's an exciting and important project to us, and I think to many people in the community. So I urge you to take a look at it and see what we're doing. It directly benefits the residents of the city of Ojai, and benefits the city in helping to maintain its obligations for mass care and shelter under the Mass Care and Shelter Annex and Mutual Aid Agreements that are there. Next.

So, we make our pitch here. The City can help make this happen, along with all the other participants in this. It can support its operations down the road, and it can be an integral partner in what we're doing. It's a very exciting project, and we welcome the City's participation. Next. With that, is there any questions?

Thank you so much. So when you talk about wanting the city's participation in the community resilience centers, what kind of partnership or what kind of support would that look like?

Well, it could begin with participation in one or both of these committees, having a representative from the city there to take a look at what we're doing. That's one thing. To become knowledgeable about the project, come to our workshops and send somebody there to participate with that. At some point, you know, this is going to have ongoing financial needs for O&M.

And for the extent that the county, community, people, the city, and others benefit from this thing, we're looking at how can we do this. We're going to have to have a draft O&M plan going into the next round, which the next round is at the end of this year, and that's for $10 million. So, we're pitching that we're going to get this. We do have priority as a prior grantee, highly competitive program.

But we also are doing what we said we were going to do. The Growth Council that funds this has decided they want to put more on us, despite not giving us any more money. But we have confidence that we'll have a really good shot at this. And I feel that way partly because we stood out in the grant application itself and what they told us. To give you an idea, there is rough round numbers. There's $110 million in the first round of this grant.

Spread across three phases. There is a billion dollars in applications from people. We were number four out of the almost 90 applicants just for the planning phase, and only nine were awarded. So this is an extremely competitive program, but we do have some hope, and what we're doing is a really good job. One of the things they said when we started out was they wanted to show how we're going to do this collaborative structure, and what we presented and all the letters of commitment that we presented, they said you're starting where most people want to end up.

So, I think we're on a good road for this one, and this has many good purposes, and it's not just emergency. It's the whole other side. It's economic, you know, work training, working with school districts and the other schools, all the CTE program, all that's happening, but also the other aspects of resilience that are going to become more and more important. So, it's a long road, but I think the city can begin by participating in one or more of these committees, attending workshops, and understanding what this project is about.

We talked about this briefly, but you mentioned in the initial proposal about the recommendation of where beacon boxes could be placed in the city or in the valley. So I presume that's coming maybe in the next report or something like that?

Well, we had put that in our original scope of work, and then it was removed. Okay. So when we're doing that, that's now in addition to the city contract. We had put it in the original scope of work, but then we were asked to cut it back, and that was one of the things we had to cut. So, but we will be talking about that because I think it's an important project.

We, you know, and the county fire has, it really supports it. But yeah, that's something we can talk about, but at some point, we will be making a proposal to the city regarding that. Okay?

Because

we're doing work outside the city well in placing, raising the money to place boxes out in the valley and a number of high and key locations.

I just wanted to point out that as we've been discussing, you mentioned to me that the grants have become so competitive now where they used to be sort of there for the asking. Now it's a real battle and a real fight. So, I mean, it just takes a lot. So you're coming to the city as well to talk to us about what we can potentially provide I think it's just good to know that the grants are so competitive now. It's not easy money anymore.

No, and the amounts have gone up since I started, but the number of applicants has grown exponential, okay? And the need for all of us out there across the state, across the country, the amount of money that's in those grants seems like a lot, but it is a drop in the bucket, where 90-plus percent of all applicants go hungry. We got an issue about where we are.

Now, another way the city can participate, we don't know about this yet, but some of these grants, particularly infrastructure grants, often require a municipality or county involved, right, as a co-applicant, just because that's the way the grant is. A lot of FEMA grants are that way, a lot of EPA grants are that way. We as a 501c3 are not eligible for some of these things, so we would look to partner with The city and the county on some of these grants to help support this work and other work. So there are grants out there. When we get to looking at what is our best recommendation for how you spend your money or in grant money that we get together on retrofits, what's the most cost effective but effective thing to do out there? Because just going out and doing stuff randomly is not going to cut it.

Part of what we're doing in this process is to find that way of saying, okay, here's the strategic nodes of intervention. We're not going to change every house. How do we do this? Because of random stuff. Is the time up?

No, no, no. I wanted to ask you a related question. I presume, especially when you're working not only the resiliency centers, Outside of the city, is your relationship with the county strong? And you're feeling, you know, the back and forth is great. So the partnering for these things, the pipeline's already set?

Yes, yes. It's there. The county is a strong partner. Good. They've been involved from the beginning. Of course, it's complicated, you know, with the CUP and the master lease and other parts of the partner farm and how it's divided up and everything that happens out there, right? But they're right there on our core working group. They're supportive. Matt LeVere's office very much has supported this every step of the way.

We just have a complicated project ahead of us to get this thing on the ground. We're confident moving forward and we got a good team. And yes, the county is a good partner. And then more importantly, they see us as a trusted partner. Thank you. Okay, any other questions?

Thank you so much. Thank you. Wow. Super. We'll be back. Okay. Love it. Bye bye. Thank you for keeping us safe.

Mayor, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Yes, go. So we have now resolved the issue with YouTube. So that came on about halfway through the Fire Safety Council. But again, viewers were able to watch on Zoom before then. We are still experiencing difficulties with Channel 10. So it is not available right now. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to the City Manager's Report.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I was out last week, but I do have a couple announcements to make. One is that we have posted for the accountant position, so that happened today, so that is up there and out there, and we will keep you advised as to how that recruitment is going. The other is the preliminary concert lineup for the Libby Bowl for the 2026 season was announced today.

Again, it is the start of the announcement. It probably is about half of the acts that will be there this season, so stay tuned. LibbyBowl.org is the address. Thank you.

And can I ask, the survey got an extension. We just saw that today.

Yes, and I might have Ms. Cervantes comment on that if you don't mind. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, the general plan survey for economic diversification is extended until March 6th.

Thank you. I have a question about that. I've received a lot of feedback that people get to the end of the survey They want to know their age and their income, and they don't want to provide it, and they understand that then their survey answers won't be counted, but they don't want to provide their age and income.

And I think that that is asked because when they're taking the data, that's a part of the analysis for that. Unfortunately, it is a part of it. It is confidential. None of that information will be sent out with that, but it is needed for the analysis of that survey.

Sure. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you very much. I'll move on to public communications. Let's see. I'm not seeing any public comment cards right now.

We do have one online.

Okay. Online, please. Yes. Go.

Mike Donahue, you are up.

I feel privileged. I'm the only person. Wow. Okay. Can you hear me? Yep. Okay. I haven't seen the clock yet. All right. So, um, my comments about the, my comments about the legal proceedings and the legal budget, um, and the concerns that I have and other people have. So I sent you guys an email, uh, today, and it's probably on the public records in the, uh, in the minutes, but I'm gonna read just the beginning of it. In February 6, 2026, In a recent edition of the Ojai Valley News, City Manager Ben Harvey was quoted in connection with the doubling of the legal fees facing the City of Ojai.

Mr. Harvey stated, we are not operating a system where everybody has to go through me to get to the City Attorney, a remark that effectively acknowledged unrestrained access to legal services. He further referenced the absence of gatekeeping and the routine practice of staff members consulting directly with the city attorney. This is obviously expensive. What are the controls, people are asking?

What are the procedures and processes, the sound judgment? Unrestrained access to legal service is really not the way to control things. And that's probably one of the reasons why costs have spiraled out of control. Unsurprisingly, many residents are shocked and angered by the scale of the legal fees facing the city and potentially the waste, and the situation has prompted serious questions about why this has occurred. What controls were missing? How much spending was allowed to escalate?

Some community members have even begun to voice concerns about ethical lapses, poor judgment, or So, I'm going to start with a brief overview of what we're going to be talking about today. We're going to be talking about potential misconduct. So, I took the time to create a draft procedure for you, because it doesn't seem like one's in place. And so, I've sent that with, it's about three or four pages long, and it's intended to help restore structure, accountability, and fiscal discipline, because the, what were the words, the unrestrained access to legal services There's no gatekeeping.

So whatever you'd like to do, you're welcome to adapt it or disregard it or as you see fit. And I'm just here to support your efforts and try to reestablish some effective controls and further rebuild the public trust. So thank you for taking a look at that. It's in your inboxes and hopefully it'll be well received. Take care and have a great meeting.

Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Mara?

I'm sorry,

no, there is not. Okay, sounds good. Okay, so moving on to the consent calendar. Does anybody have anything they would like to pull from the consent calendar?

Yes.

Okay.

I would like to pull item number six.

Okay. That's one I was going to at least mention, but yes, great. Anything else? I

just have questions on three.

Okay, yep, questions on three, perfect. Okay, great. Anything else by anyone? All right, so maybe, can we have a motion to approve 2, 4, and 5?

I'll move to approve.

Second that. Quick roll call on that, please, Ms. Morrow. Yes.

I just have a couple questions. The first one, let me see, check number eight I

know

that you went, you know, Mr. Harvey, that you went to that convention and got all sorts of information on AI, and you were going to bring that back to us and explain everything, So I'm assuming this is part of that?

Yes, and so we this is something that is coming in that we're implementing. It is within budgeted amount and city manager spending authority, but we are going to, as we get closer to implementation, bring it back to council for a discussion. It's a closed AI system.

Wouldn't it seem like we should get the information before we approve? I'm just putting it out there to

have the information first. So I've approved the purchase and the installation of it. It's within my spending authority. It's primarily going to be a tool for staff to use, although ultimately we would like to expand it such that the public could use it, but that functionality is not quite there yet.

Similarly, I noted it, but not so much that I was needing the scrutiny, but more like I'm eager to hear about it.

Yeah. So once we get a little closer, we will definitely do that. It's been a fair amount of work to bring on board the community development side. As you might imagine, there's a huge number of files that we have to lasso to bring into it. Thank you. And again, it is a closed system, meaning that we're just scouring our city documents and files.

That was a question I had, too, because I know at Gold Coast Transit District, we're we're doing a an A.I. cybersecurity policy. And I think this brings up.

So we are bringing back a policy as well. So it's all going sequentially. But right now, we're still in the getting ready phase, if you will.

Great. Thank you. Thank

you. The next one is check number 80207 to Ide Bailey. Reissuing of checks. That check number 79258 was written in July, so it's just like six months.

So I have Ms. Cho, who is actually at a conference now, but she has joined us remotely, so I might ask Ms. Cho if she could unmute and offer any additional information on that particular item. Ms. Cho, are you present?

Yes, I'm here. Can you hear

me? Yes, we can.

So, yes, that outstanding check from a few months ago, we had to reissue as they updated their remittance address. So it most likely got lost as it was sent to a prior address.

Thank you.

Okay, and let me see. Once again, with Matt and Taylor's old firm, the Encampment Resolution Grant Management. So is this, it doesn't say what month this is for, is this?

So we are currently still involving Taylor, and this is with the City Attorney's blessing and approval, on the Encampment Resolution Fund and the project. Specifically, right now, we're working on the bid to bring back to you guys, and so she's been actively involved in that project.

That's all I have.

So I had a couple of questions about the Calatano costs as well. It doesn't it doesn't say a month. So I'm curious as to what month this is being billed for.

Yeah, you'll see that the check date is is at the end of January and typically the city attorney bills, they just basically lag a month. And so this is work done in December with the check issue date in January.

And are we still expecting bills from them in the $25,000 a month range?

No, there will be some limited invoices because there are still a few matters as we kind of complete the transition process that they're assisting with to make sure that there weren't any gaps in time or legal advice. But we would not see that under their monthly retainer. It would be just very limited representation on limited matters.

Okay, great. So these other special products or projects, general services, labor and employment, criminal code enforcement, tax and assessment advice, and general litigation were probably on their way.

Yeah, all of that should go away. I believe these are just those final invoices from December.

And

there are two things that they're continuing to assist with. One was just until we complete the transition process and certification for criminal prosecution matters, which are very limited. They have continued to provide some assistance. I expect that will be complete by next month. And then they've continued again, because the bid for the Permanent Supportive Housing Project was underway, and they had provided some advice on that previously. We've continued to have them involved on a very limited basis.

Just to make sure that nothing fell through the cracks while that process was mid-process.

Yeah, the ERF grant makes perfect sense because it is, you know, long-term.

And I suspect that once we come back to Council with the completion of that bid process that, you know, we'll be reevaluating that.

So just following up on that, I would understand then that All of the Colentano's firm services are on track to be ended. Yes. It's just a question of how much time it will take for the transition to be complete.

Exactly. And I, again, I expect that that will be fully complete by the end of next month.

Thank

you.

And just to say what I think you've told us before, if you were to jump on and work on those in their stead, it would take you more time in the moment to get up to speed. So it's not that we're doubling up on costs, we're actually saving.

Yeah, and that's kind of the point, is that we want to make sure that there's continuity of service, but there were a few things that, again, that they'd had very heavy involvement on. And so rather than spending a significant number of hours to have someone on our firm, you know, be fully up to speed. We've continued to have Taylor assist on a limited basis, and I believe their other attorney on the criminal side is Sergio, and he will be handling a hearing on March 2nd, but I think that will probably be the end of that part of their work.

Any work that they've done in the last couple of months has also been done under our supervision, so they're not representing the city independently.

Thank you.

Which trial is March

2nd? I don't remember the case number, but I believe it was scheduled for March 2nd.

So we have a number of small-time cases that generally involve people that are drunk and disorderly that are arrested and then they proceed. It usually matters like that.

The city handles matters for drunk drivers?

Drunk and disorderly, so you're in public and you're inebriated and you're causing a disturbance. Yes, we...

Really?

Depending on the case, yes. Not a lot of them, but we do have some. Good

to know. And we can provide more information about that to Council at a future meeting.

Yeah, interesting. And are you done, Ms.? Yes. So I was going to bring up, of course, 80215 Myers-Nave. With this bill, we are now at a quarter of a million dollars. Up to Myers-Nave, we put no limit on what they could do, how they could do it. And I can only say that with a quarter of a million dollars, I have to say there was no oversight at all on these costs. And as I understand, we've also talked to Myers-Nave, is that correct?

They are not currently doing any work for the city. So the work that is on this invoice was from December.

Again,

okay. At this point in time, unless additional council direction is provided to do something else, they are not currently performing any work.

Okay, thank you. Okay.

Is there any public comments for item number three?

No, Mayor.

Any audience? Okay.

I was going to ask about Madison AI, and it looks to be very nice, a nice product. But as, if I was a city councilor, I would hope that the next purchase that something would affect the overlay of the machinery of government, you would at least, can you get them demos So that, I mean, I know you have power to spend 50 grand or whatever it is, but I think something that's really interactive where you're going to be getting involved and where you see this thing, you should be seeing that product rather than just purchased versus a vehicle or a piece of wood.