City Council — March 17, 2026

Hi, good evening. Welcome to the City Council meeting for Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. Madam Clerk, may we have the roll call and posting of the agenda please?

Councilmember Perala?

Here.

Councilwoman Beres? Here. Councilman Starr?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tempteran? Here! Mayor McArthur?

Here

The agenda for this meeting was posted in the kiosk at City Hall, the Oxnard Public Library, the city administrative offices and on the city's website on Thursday March 5th and the amended agenda on Wednesday March 11th. Thank you.

Thank You Madam Clerk. Prior to closed session we will take public comments on the closed session agenda. Can the City Attorney Please provide a statement prior to closed session.

Thank you, Mayor. The City Council will recess to a closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.9 subdivision D1 to confer with its attorneys. The matter being discussed is Oxnard versus Port Hueneme Water Agency And so there are no comments.

Mayor and council members for the record, there are no public comments for closed session. Thank you. Thank

you, Madam

Clerk. Thank you

Mr. Fischer. Go

ahead.

I know she's not here but do we need to make a statement around Councilwoman Basuah recusing herself from this item? Thank you

So Councilwoman Basuah is not present at this time and will be recusing herself from this item because of a conflict of interest under Government Code Section 8-7 1-0-0. Thank you.

I appreciate the prompt, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you Mr. Fisher. The City Council will now recess to closed session and at 5 p.m., we will begin with an appointment item followed by the regular scheduled council meeting. Thank you Good evening. The City Council has just emerged from closed session. I'll ask our city attorney, Mr. Fisher to make an announcement. Thank you, Mr. Fisher.

Thank you Mayor. There are no reportable actions out of closed session this evening.

Thank you, Mr Fisher.

Yeah, good afternoon Mayor and council members. Michael Wolfe, Director of Public Works We do have one of our important regional partners in the water industry here tonight to give a presentation, and we're pleased to have that. They're going to talk about a very unique and regional project I think is important to all folks in Ventura County. So we do have their assistant general manager Dr. Marion Brault will be giving the presentation today so here's Marion.

Welcome doctor thank you

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation, Mr. Wolff. I would like to acknowledge our directors, President Malhart and Director Huber being here supporting us and my senior engineer Adrian Kuras. Thank you for the opportunity to present Santa Felicia Dam Safety Improvement Project and the benefits that it provides to Ventura County. Before I go deep into the presentation on this particular project, I would like to briefly highlight the services that United Water provides to the county. So our service area spans from the northeastern part of the county all the way to the Pacific Ocean along the Santa Clara River covering about 340 square miles.

Our Santa Felicia Dam and Lake Piru provide 80,000 acre feet or over 26 billion gallons of storage for water conservation. The lake also allows us to import state water project via pyramid, which is a benefit for our water reliability and down on the Oxnard plain On the Oxnard Plain, our Freeman diversion allows us to divert surface water from Santa Clara River for recharge purposes through a number of recharge basins in Saticoy and El Rio.

We also provide service water directly to the PTP, Pumping Drought Pipeline and the Pleasant Valley Reservoirs for irrigation purposes. At the Rio Wellfield we produce drinking water that is conveyed through the OH pipeline and serves over 200,000 people including the majority of the residents in the city Oxnard. Lastly, I would like to also talk about a new project that we are currently designing the extraction barrier and brackish water treatment project that once it comes online it would effectively manage seawater intrusion and provide a new and reliable supply to our service area Moving on to the Santa Felicia Dam and Lake Piru Reservoir. This facility was the first one in the state of California dedicated for groundwater recharge and seawater intrusion management.

This is a very critical facility for our operation, and I would like to highlight some of their benefits. So earlier I mentioned that Lake Piru allows us to import state water project to our service area and since 1991 we have imported over 107,000 acre feet or 35 billion gallons of water. And the state water project import was aggressively intensified during the drought where the groundwater levels were very low and their drinking water quality was deteriorating.

On a side note, we also take advantage of the flood flow releases from Castaic Dam and between 2017 to 2025 We have brought over 100,000 acre feet or 33 billion gallons of water to our service area. So what do we do with the stored water? This is a clip of annual conservation releases that we usually conduct during the fall, during the late summer months. And what you see here is a release of 400 cubic feet per second flow to Lower Piru Creek.

On annual basis, over 26,000 acre feet or 8.5 billion gallons recharge the groundwater basins in the upper system including Pairoo, Fillmore and Santa Paula. And the releases provide diversion flows at Freeman Diversion as I mentioned. The diverted flows are used for groundwater recharge for direct surface water delivery to our agricultural customers and During the prolonged drought, it helps correct the drinking water quality.

In addition, the reservoir is critical to wildfire suppression or response to wildfires. And this clip shows the aircraft that directly taps into the reservoir extract water for canyon fire suppression. That actually happened last August 2025. Although the Santa Felicia Dam is well maintained and operate reliably, however the dam was built in 1955. It means that it is 70 years old and it has three main deficiencies.

The existing outlet works is not designed to respond to the regulatory mandated seismic loading of 7.2 magnitude. In case of a seismic failure, what happens is that the dam safety will be potentially compromised and it would result into downstream flooding. So through a number of analysis, we have determined that this existing outlet works need to be replaced with a new one. And I also want to draw your attention to the location of the site which is in a seismically active region and the site is about two miles away from the controlling San Cayetano fault and 20 miles south of San Andreas fault.

The second deficiency is related to reservoir siltation that has claimed about 20% of the original storage capacity. United tracks the sediments elevation around the intake tower and as of 2023, the sediment elevation is about 18 inches below the rim of the intake tower. What happens if sediment gets into the intake tower? It would compromise and perhaps halt our ability to release water in a controlled manner. Obviously, we want to avoid that.

Last deficiency is related to the existing spillway capacity to safely pass the regulatory mandated inflow design flood which is 220,000 cubic feet per second. improvements are needed to allow this regulatory requirement to be met. So let's say that there is a massive, very large storm event what happens is if we have kind of like a choke point the spillway walls and the dam will be overtopped and it could potentially lead to imminent failure of the dam The dam failure as the highest concern in the county is confirmed through the 2022 multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan that was adopted by the county. And as you can see, there is a list of cities including the city of Oxnard that would be impacted by those potential dam failure events.

So for your consideration, what you see here is the flood inundation zone as a result of an IDF-induced dam failure. The blue areas here show 70,000 acres of land that will be impacted in case and potentially if the dam fails. And as you can see, the water is being spread over the Oxnard Plain and it impacts the majority of this area. To kind of like communicate the impact of a potential dam failure we have provided this animation and I'm hoping that I can run it.

Oh, unfortunately did not run quite. Yes. So here you can see how the flood waves arrives on the Oxnard Plain and I just want to briefly show you Camarillo Airport, Naval Base Ventura County Point Magoo, Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme, a portion of City of Ventura and the City of Oxnard will be impacted. And also notice all the communities along Santa Clara River Pairoo, Fillmore and Santa Paula will be severely impacted.

If there is any risk of dam failure, United will immediately activate Santa Felicia Dam Emergency Action Plan as required by the federal and state regulation for high hazard dams. And Santa Felicia Dam is in that category. By the states it is recognized as an extremely high hazard dam because of the population residing below the dam, that it is estimated about 400,000 people.

In order to be prepared, we offer and conduct several training seminars and exercises and we invite the emergency responders to participate in those trainings. And I'm happy to report that the City of Oxnard has proactively attended all of those trainings and I would like to thank the city for that. I think, sorry. So I have a rendering of the new outlet works.

The new outlet works will be located on the east side of the dam. What you see here is the intake control facility including a sloping intake with multiple ports that would allow us to draw water from the reservoir at different elevations to mitigate the sedimentation issue. Any active port is covered and protected by a fish screen that prevents fish and other species entering the system.

The intake control facility is connected through a tunnel to the downstream control facility, and this tunnel, that it is about 1,300 linear feet, houses a conduit for high flow releases and a low flow for lower flow releases. You see the downstream control facility here. It will house a hydropower generator. It's also equipped with an isolation valve vault that could cut off the water releases for any maintenance or emergency events. As far as this spillway is concerned in this area over here, the plan is to raise the dam crest by six and a half feet replace the slab on the spillway and install it at a deeper level to allow a higher pass-through capacity, and replace the under drain system.

So the design of this project is nearly complete and the project is approaching construction readiness. What we are envisioning is that the outlet works, the new outlet works will be constructed over five years followed by the spillway improvements that will be constructed over four years. So in total a nine-year construction period. So what does that mean to the city? Why do you need to even care about this project? What you see here is a side-by-side comparison of the flood zone prior to project implementation and post-project implementation. As you can see clearly, the impacted flooded areas is significantly reduced We've also done some estimates on the number of populations at risk, the estimated flooded areas and also the financial damages before and after the project implementation.

And across the board there is 80% reduction once the project is implemented for instance The financial damages before the implementation is over $8 billion. Once the project is implemented, that financial damage is reduced by over 80% to $1.6 billion. So the estimated construction cost for these two components is $314 million. Obviously, at this point everyone stops and say how are we going to pay for it?

United has no plan to support this project through rates. We understand that there is no rate that can support this project and therefore we have actively pursued grant fundings, federal state appropriations And in fact, we have established a grant task force in-house to pursue all the opportunities that would support this kind of project. However, we recognize that this project is a regional project. It's a public safety project and it impacts all the cities that were listed on that table that I showed earlier so we need support and our Executive management including our board members are actively interacting with legislators, with federal and state agencies to make sure that we can secure funding that can help move this project forward.

The most recent activities include a grant application that we submitted to FEMA requesting $17.4 million to support the outwards construction, and I also want to take a moment to thank the city for the letter of support that they provided along with all the letter of supports those were included in our application. Also, we have secured a $99 million low-interest loan from the EPA WIFIA program. And currently we are negotiating the construction loan agreement. However our preferred method to pay for this project is not necessarily a loan but an appropriation or grant funding.

We also know that we don't need the $340 million up front, so we have forecasted the expenditures over the nine years construction and we realize and recognize that a majority of the expenditure is needed in the first five years when we are constructing the Outlet Works system. I'm happy to report that through these efforts to make the local agencies and organizations and elected officials aware of this project, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution in November 2025 recognizing this project to be a critical regional priority. We are thankful for that.

Protecting lives and properties, this project will provide increased reliability of water deliveries to our service area which supports a population of over 400,000 people across the agricultural, municipal and industrial sectors including the City of Oxnard. And at this point, we respectfully request the city's support and advocacy to secure the funding to allow this project to move forward. And that concludes my presentation and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you doctor. Are there any questions? Go ahead Councilwoman.

Thank you so much for your presentation. I really love the overview in terms of the risks, how many estimated community members would be impacted should there be any kind of disaster and just out of curiosity, I also appreciate the emergency preparedness but the mitigation plan, how often is that updated? And I anticipate that there's also some form of communication or at least a group convened I can list a number of efforts.

Through annual meetings with the Neighborhood Council, we talk about the project, the progress that we have made and the successes that we have had to draw attention to this project. Also, we have tabletop exercises in collaboration with the Department of Water Resources Pyramid Dam because the two dams are basically just in the vicinity of each other. If anything happens, let's say a seismic loading, Pyramid Dam is impacted We go through those table top including the City of Oxnard, to sit in those exercises that actually takes a whole entire year. And we go through our EPA or emergency action plan to kind of like say okay what is the notification chart? Are the phone numbers are in order and we can clearly and quickly touch base with the ones who are responsible like the sheriff and so forth.

Hope that answered your question.

Thank you so much appreciate the responses

Okay, the mayor stepped away for a moment. Do we have additional questions from other council members? Council Member Starr. Thank you.

First of all I have a question about the slide where it was describing the insufficient spillway capacity. I was wondering if you can go back to that slide.

Do you want me to go upside to this slide?

So we'll have to ask Diego in the back to do that. So I'll go back there.

All right, so I'll ask some other questions in the meantime. Do we have any inkling of what the likelihood is of a calamity at any given year? Is this one in 100 chance in a given year or is it one in 50 chances or 10 chance? What are we talking about here?

The likelihood of receiving an inflow of 220,000 cubic feet per second is pretty remote. When we look at the history of the significant floods coming to the dam, we have observed 40,000 cubic feet per second in 2005 when the dam actually split. However, we understand that these are like really large inflows but because this is a We have a handout. Which number is it?

The 1955 bar and the 2013 bar. Is 1972 and 2006, were those... What are those? Are those flood events? What are we talking about here? What do those represent?

So the very first one, the original design that's I think clear that the dam was designed to pass to safely pass 109,000 cubic feet per second and it would allow five feet of freeboard from the top of this spillway wall to where the water level is. And then as we have kind of like gone through this exercise of what would be the reasonable pass-through flow, working with the regulators. We have now arrived at the 220,000 CFS that would allow us to maintain 2.5 feet of freeboard.

So do these two middle bars represent estimates in the past for

what

the required capacity should be?

The two bars show the progress in determining the inflow design.

So what does the 321,000 represent in 2006? What does that mean?

This one over here?

No right there yep that one

The tall bar, right?

Yep. What does that mean if I'm looking at that?

So I believe that was the one that DSOD Department of Water Resources Division of Safety of Dam has jurisdiction over our dam as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission so when they looked at the watershed and Determined through a model what would be the flow coming into the dam, they had an estimate of about 300,000 cubic feet per second. We threw a number of analyses determined that this is not applicable to our site. This is not site specific. And therefore, through additional analysis we brought that inflow down to 220,000 CFS which we are currently designing the spillway improvements for.

So it's fair to say that this 220,000 figure is I guess more refined than what we had before?

Yes and more site specific.

Okay got it.

Thank

you. How long would this new dam last? Do we have any idea about that?

Well, the current dam is operating great. You know it is 70 years old and we expect that the improvements to the dam would last 70 years or more and we are hoping that the regulation doesn't change on us as we move forward. We have taken all the kind of like measures to address the three deficiencies that I explained And so that's the hope. So this is an investment that should last between 70 to 100 years.

Okay, and the original dam that was built somehow got funded I was curious do we have any history as to how the original dam was funded?

It was locally funded. Yes, there was no support from the state or the federal government. I'm sorry. And it cost $5 million to build it back in 1955. $5

million? OK. 314 million is a much, much bigger number than

that. Much, much bigger because of the very stringent regulatory What I'm trying to grasp

The likelihood of damage, I guess when I'm looking at what we have as an $8.1 billion estimate today what the damages would be versus 1.6 so that's about a six and a half billion dollar difference so we'd be spending 314 million dollars to potentially Save six and a half billion someday. But I don't know if that's, like I said this is what would be helpful for me to better understand is do we think this is a one in 100 year event or 500 year event or what? Because what I have to look at with my financial analysis on is that there are other possible calamities out there that have nothing to do with dams that we could also invest in I'm not able to figure out right now is where I would rank this dam improvement versus other projects that are where we're spending money in order to prevent a calamity.

I'll give you an example of something we have recently, which I thought is Over on Rice and 5th Street, we're doing this really big $150 million or whatever it is now for that which... And we've had one loss of life there. Yes. And we're gonna spend 150 million dollars maybe to prevent one future loss of life in the future for somebody who can't figure out how not to drive on railroad tracks.

To me That was a waste of money compared to what you're proposing here. To me, I'd much rather have spent $314 million on a dam that affects all these people than the $150 million that we're spending on this interchange. Yes. I just wonder if the people that are actually funding the $150 million cost is there a reason why we can't have them do this?

Yes, great point. And if I may add, apart from the public safety aspects of the project there is a water reliability that this project provides. Also there is a regulatory aspect. We are working closely with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. There is a project Anderson Dam up in Northern California it has similar kind of like issues What we are concerned about is that if we don't follow the schedule and build this project in a timely manner, the operation of the reservoir could potentially be restricted. Meaning that you cannot store water behind a dam, meaning that you cannot import state water project to our service area which is so vital. You know as you know our local supplies are at the mercy of the nature if we go through another lengthy drought well we would experience low groundwater tables you know like I said issues with drinking water quality and therefore it is very critical to save and protect the facility that it is currently operating and providing benefits to the region.

So I agree with you this is a money well spent because there are several kind of like aspects to this project.

So how solid is the 314 million dollar figure? I mean once again going back to this interchange, I think we originally thought it was gonna be I don't know was at 50 maybe 60 million dollars and now it's roughly tripled. You know how do we know that we're not gonna have A $314 million project suddenly becomes a billion dollars.

May I ask a question before you answer this? And I hate to interrupt you, but I just want to clarify. You just mentioned that you agree with Council Member Starr. So you agree that the project happening right now on Rose Avenue is a waste of taxpayer dollars? I'm sorry. No. OK. I don't.

I'm sorry. Thank you for the clarification.

I just want to make sure that we are I just want to make sure that you did not agree with the statement that was made.

Thank you for bringing that up. I do not, I'm not managing that project. I am not having any professional opinion about that project but I agreed to that $314 million investment in this project is money well spent. Thank you.

So and just just to clarify there's limited resources And I'm looking at just a comparative value of two projects. If I had the money to spend it on one but not the other, which one would I choose? And that's really the point that I was making because at the end of the day whenever we tax people to pay for these projects they're making sacrifices in other ways. In some ways that actually really limits their ability I think that's where I'm going.

Thank you very much for the time and effort that you put in, and the time you spent answering questions from council members. One minor suggestion, put numbers on each page so that when we have questions we can address it. I would make a suggestion. I don't know if you already have, and I suppose you probably have, but just a suggestion. You pitch every school district in the area that would be in a flood inundation area because I do recall One specific school district, the Rio School District didn't believe that something like this could happen. And I do appreciate this. It's an insurmountable amount of money but something has got to be done because I do agree, an individual was killed in a train crossing

and

it happened. But when you show over 100,000 people's lives at risk on something that could happen Thank you very much for presenting it. Hopefully some are watching. When they look at those inundation maps, those are wake-up calls, big time wake-up calls. My house is

in there. Thank you for your questions and the time. I appreciate it.

Mayor, may I make a comment? I know your board members are here, staff, and to you, I just want to acknowledge United Water and your comments today regarding doing your best not to pass this on to taxpayers I greatly appreciate all the effort that's being done in order to accomplish that, and I want to make sure that I just commend you for that effort. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Doctor, very much for this wonderful presentation. Madam Clerk, are there any public speakers on this item?

Mayor and Council members, we do not have any public speakers for this appointment item. Thank you.

Thank You. I will now

is here. So I'm sorry there is an action requested on item d2.

Oh, I apologize. Yes, I I'll make a motion to accept the recommended the recommendation to receive and file it and also to Support the letters the support the letter of support that they're asking for Thank You against my parole and a clerk call for the vote

Mayor and council members, if you can go ahead and cast your vote please. Thank you. And the motion carries six to zero. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Gonzalez we'll now move to you this is a presentation by Gerardo Gonzalez Community Information Associate Director for Interface 211 Ventura County, he will make this presentation. Go ahead Mr. Gonzalez.

Good evening mayor and council members thank you for having me here today my name is Gerardo Gonzalez I'm the Community Information Associate Director with Interface 2-1-1 and I'm here to share how 2- 1-1 has been supporting Oxnard residents throughout this past year For those who may be unfamiliar with our services, 211 operates as a program under Interface Children and Family Services. And we serve as a county-wide information and referral hub linking residents to over 2,000 health and human service resources.

Last year in 2025, we received over 18,000 calls and texts county wide while our website welcomed more than 25,000 visitors Each of these interactions represents someone finding their way to the services that they need. In 2026, we celebrate over 20 years of providing 211 services to the community. 211 is just one part of Interface's broader mission Interface runs 30 distinct programs spanning six core departments.

Our domestic violence and child abuse prevention, human trafficking prevention and intervention, justice services, mental health and trauma treatment, and youth crisis and homeless services. This broader network allows us to do more than simply refer. We can frequently link callers directly to other interface programs to suit their situation. 211 stands as the county's most extensive information and referral resource for residents seeking help. Our team assists callers in locating and accessing the services that they require, from housing to food programs, mental health support to legal services. We're available every day 24-7 understanding that urgent needs don't wait for convenient hours.

Accessibility is central to our mission. Residents can connect with us through three convenient methods by dialing 211, texting their zip code 2898211 or visiting our website at 211ventura.org Regardless of how someone makes contact they'll be connected to one of our trained community information navigators Now I'd like to share some specific data about how we served Oxnard residents in 2025.

So, we took a total of 5295 calls from Oxnard residents throughout the year which is the largest call volume that we received from any city in the county. Let me give you some context around this figure. A significant number of our Oxnard callers reach out to us more than once, so the actual count of unique individuals is lower than the 5,295 calls. What this shows us is that residents trust 211 enough to come back when they need additional support.

Someone might contact us initially about finding housing, and then call us again a few weeks later looking for job search help. And perhaps call us a third time when they need food assistance. We collect demographic information from every caller to help us understand community needs and trends which is why you're seeing the total call volume rather than a count of unique individuals.

Looking at the demographics of those that we served, 1,852 were first-time callers to 211. 713 were families with children under five years old. 124 callers indicated the person in need was pregnant and 381 were calls that pertained to someone who was at risk of losing their housing, and 754 calls pertained to someone who reported they were already currently experiencing homelessness. These numbers give us a snapshot of the challenges facing some of our Oxnard neighbors particularly around housing stability and economic hardship.

Behind each of these calls is a real person navigating a challenging situation. Let me share an example with you. Earlier this year, we received a call from an Oxnard resident, let's call her Lily, who found herself in a difficult situation. Her husband had just lost his job and she was let go from her position shortly after. They have two young children and suddenly they couldn't make rent They applied for Food Stamps CalFresh but had issues with the application and they were falling behind on their housing payments.

When Lily called 211, our navigator recognized she needed support across multiple fronts. We connected her to emergency rental assistance programs to help prevent eviction, enrolled her family in food pantries and CalFresh to ensure they had food, and linked her husband with employment services to help him get back to work as quickly as possible. Income support ranks as a second highest need in Oxnard. Families aren't just dealing with one challenge when someone loses a job, it creates a domino effect touching housing food security and overall family stability two-in-one is here to help families navigate all of those challenges at once When we look at the top categories of needs expressed by Oxnard Callers, housing ranked number one. No surprise there.

Second was income support and assistance reflecting the economic pressures many families face. Third was individual family and community support encompassing services like the Area Agency on Aging, case management, and services like holiday gifts and toys. This slide here shows how Oxnard compares to other cities in the county. As you can see, housing is a top need across every community.

This is a county-wide challenge and not unique to Oxnard. What distinguishes Oxnard is the prominence of income support as the second highest need, while some cities like Ventura which has a closer call volume see food and meals as their number two need. Oxnard residents are calling about economic stability, jobs, income assistance and financial support programs. This tells us something important about the specific economic pressures some of our Oxnards residents are facing And lastly.

Beyond linking residents to existing resources, we operate several specialized programs delivering direct services over the phone to residents through VITA, our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. We offer appointments to no-cost tax preparation to qualifying community members, helping them claim maximum refunds and secure tax credits that they're entitled to. Our PSPS initiative supports the access and functional needs population in advance of public safety power shutoffs via case management care coordination and delivers real-time help during actual shutoffs, covering things like lodging, meals, transportation, portable backup batteries all at no cost to residents. And we do this in partnership with SCE, Southern California Edison. Ventura versus Hate assists those who've experienced hate incidents in filing reports and accessing the appropriate services that they require.

And through ECM, our Enhanced Care Management Program, our team delivers comprehensive case management to Gold Coast health plan members. Helping them address both their basic needs and health needs through coordinated care. These initiatives allow us to offer on-hand assistance over the phone to some of our most vulnerable residents. I appreciate your time this evening and thank you for your continued support of the work that we do here in Oxnard. If you or anyone you know ever needs assistance, remember 211 is here 24-7. You can reach us by calling 211, texting your zip code to 898211, or visiting our website at 211ventura.org. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for the information and update on that for many. I'm happy to see that there are Oxnard residents who are taking advantage and accessing the services or service direction resources that 211 provides, so thank you to you and all of your team and all the folks who take the calls for that work. One question I have regarding the hate-based incidents if somebody wants to report that It sounds like the basic process could be they call 2-1-1 and they say, I experienced this. I don't know what to do next. Does that sound correct? Or is there other

guidance for folks on that? Yeah, that's correct. So this project is actually part of a broader Project which is known as California versus hate so there is a 1-800 hotline that our persons can call but then that then is routed to all any 2-1-1 in the state depending on where they're located and then the navigator will complete that initial report and if they agree to case management or that they'd like additional support And that's when we come in and then talk to them. And usually what happens is, we try to assess what their needs are, set a goal, and then help them through that process. It could take up to a year sometimes before the Civil Rights Department even reviews our report. So that's why this work is important.

Great, thank you for that information. And I really feel that the promotion of that program especially now that I know it's statewide is important so thank you for bringing it to us and I'm assuming that when there's tabling events and other outreach by interface the 211 general cards and numbers are out there but specific programs probably have their own brochures and media as well, is that right?

Yeah, we have that as well and then we also make sure that those are available at outreach events. And then it's 1-800-8NO-HATE so if someone has experienced a hate incident or a hate crime all they have to do is dial 1-800-8-NO-HATE and they'll be connected with someone at 211.

And I'm assuming multiple languages? Correct. Yes okay thank you for that and I hate to say it but in In the current climate in this day and age, this is a service that I'm glad is out there. And I hope that people everywhere know that that's available as one resource for them if they feel they've experienced some hate-based incident targeted towards them or someone close to them.

Can we get materials? I don't know if you brought any but left with the clerk or in the city hall across the street that we can have at our public facing facilities?

Yeah, absolutely. I didn't bring any today but I can connect with the city clerk and make sure you have those. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you Mayor.

Absolutely. Thanks Mr. Gonzalez. Go ahead Councilwoman.

Yeah thank you so much Mr. Gonzalez for coming out and sharing more with the community about 2-1-1 and the services provided. I'm just curious what the when folks contact 2- 1-1 what's typically the turnaround for a response for those that have reached out?

In terms of like wait times like how long it takes to connect So on average, it's around three minutes. It's usually slower in the evenings. It could be around a minute and a half. There are periods when it can be longer than that and that can depend if there is a disaster or if there is something impacting call volume but on average it's around three minutes at this time.

Great, thank you. And my last question is really I know here in Oxnard we have a large agricultural community many of our community members right now are being impacted by immigration enforcement and just curious what services resources are available or provided through 2-1-1 for this population?

That's great question so currently right now through our website 211now.com We have a comprehensive list of both local and statewide immigration resources that we share with all of our callers.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions for Mr. Gonzalez? Go ahead, Council Member.

Thank you very much for bringing us to the presentation for the City of Oxnard and this council member. I appreciate the work you're doing helping those who are least able to help themselves because everyone could be in that boat someday or other. Thank you. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, are there any public speakers for this presentation?

Mayor and council members, we do not have any public speakers in person or virtually for this appointment item. Thank you. Wonderful.

Thank you Mr. Gonzalez for bringing this to us. Good evening. This is only receiving file items so there's no action required At this point I'm just going to hit the gavel just to bring the meeting to order okay? Good evening everyone. Just want to call the meeting to order for the Oxnard City Council And for the Oxnard Housing Authority, for Tuesday March 17th, 2026. Madam Clerk may we have the roll call and posting of the agenda please?

The agenda for this meeting was posted in the kiosk at City Hall, the Oxnard Public Library, the city administrative offices and on the city's website on Thursday March 5th. And the amended agenda on Wednesday March 11th. I do have two announcements The first announcement is pursuant to Government Code Section 5495.2, each member of the Housing Board of Commissioners present will receive $50 pay for convening this meeting with the exception of Commissioner Starr who has declined to receive compensation.

The second announcement is that we are removing from the agenda this evening item F1 and L9 from the agenda. Thank you very much. Mayor and council members, that was item F1 on the ceremonial calendar. On the information and consent agenda L9. Thank you.