City Council — October 20, 2026

Good evening. I want to call the meeting to order for the Oxnard City Council for Tuesday, October 20th, 2026. Madam Clerk, may we have roll call and posting of the agenda please?

Councilmember Perallo, here. Councilwoman Perez, here. Councilwoman Rodriguez, present. Councilman Starr, here. Mayor Pro Tem Teran, here And then just for the record, Mayor McArthur is out today The agenda for this meeting was posted in the kiosk at City Hall, the Oxford Public Library, the city administrative offices and on the city's website on Thursday October 8th Thank you

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Before we continue, Mr. City Manager, just to make note of the interpretation booth, do we have our interpreters here or are they on their way?

Mayor Pro Tempteron and council members, our interpreters will be here at five.

Okay thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Okay let's move on then so we've done roll call prior excuse me prior to closed session we will take public comments on the closed session agenda can the city attorney please provide statement prior to closed session

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. The City Council will recess to a closed session pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9 Subdivision D1 to confer with its attorneys. The matters being discussed are Olvera v. City of Oxnard and People of the State of California v. Rastegar.

Thank you Mr. City Attorney. Madam Clerk do we have any speakers for the public comments prior to closed session?

Mayor Pro Tempteron and council members, there are no requests to speak on closed session in person or virtually. Thank you.

Thank you At this time the City Council will recess to closed session and at 5 p.m We will begin with two appointment items followed by the regular meeting. Thank you All right, the City Council has just emerged from closed session and we'll ask the city attorney for any announcements to make.

Thank You Mayor Pro Tem there are no reportable actions out of closed session this evening okay thank

you very much

Thank you. Okay we're waiting for some PowerPoint slides to pull up. All right Good evening Mayor Pro Tem Turan, City Council members and city staff. I'm Brittany Hendricks president and CEO of VisitOxnard. I am pleased to share the results of our fiscal year 25-26 tourism marketing efforts including the economic impact of visitation, our marketing performance and the opportunities ahead Visit Oxnard serves as the city's destination marketing organization. We work with our lodging partners, local businesses and community stakeholders to attract visitors, increase overnight stays and generate economic activity.

Our brand, Beat Apart is rooted in the musicality of our destination, its rhythm, its pulse and the energy of our community. It's also a clever nod to Oxnard's history playing on the sugar beet industry that helped establish our city. The result is a brand that celebrates both where Oxnard comes from and what makes us distinctive today. Before getting into our results, I'd like to recognize the people who help make our work possible. A special thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Gabe Turan for his service on our board and to Assistant City Manager Ashley Golden for her continued partnership and support. I'd also like to recognize Christina Brewer who's here Our current board chair for her leadership along with our entire volunteer board of directors and Mark Spellman, another board director in attendance.

We are fortunate to have such a dedicated group of community and industry leaders helping guide VisitOxnard's work. We measure our success through a combination of hotel performance, visitor spending, website engagement, advertising results, media coverage and new business opportunities. The goal is not simply to generate exposure, but to translate that exposure into visitation and economic benefits for Oxnard.

Tourism generated $379.1 million in direct visitor spending in Oxnard during calendar year 2025, an increase of 2.7% over the prior year. That activity supported approximately 3,270 jobs, generated $146.8 million in direct earnings And contributed $33.6 million in combined state and local tax revenue. These numbers demonstrate why tourism matters. Visitor spending supports local businesses, jobs and the public services throughout our community.

And Oxnard's lodging community continues to grow. Two new Marriott properties, Town Place Suites and Spring Hill Suites added 242 hotel rooms to our market this past year alone. Our nine Tourism Marketing District Hotel Partners now represent 1,403 rooms giving us additional capacity to attract leisure visitors, meetings and group business. With hotel supply increasing, generating demand becomes even more important.

This slide puts our organization's work into perspective. VisitOxnard delivered a $1.34 million tourism program this past fiscal year. In the destination marketing industry we are operating at the smaller end of the budget spectrum while competing for visitors against destinations with significantly larger resources. The City of Oxnard contributed 24% of our funding, with the remaining 76% coming primarily from lodging assessments and other organizational revenue.

Our hotel partners unanimously supported renewing the Tourism Marketing District through 2033, demonstrating their confidence in our work. And this is a strong example of a successful public-private partnership leveraging the city's investment alongside significant private sector funding to support a much larger tourism marketing program that benefits Oxnard's economy.

Our annual marketing plan provides the roadmap for reaching leisure travelers, meeting planners, group organizers and other audiences who can bring business to Oxnard. We use a combination of owned media paid advertising public relations and business development to reach these audiences at different stages of their travel planning. And I'll highlight some of the measurable results from that work.

Our combined social media and email audience grew to more than 92,000 an increase of approximately 18% year over year. Our tourism e-newsletter now reaches 16,600 subscribers with an impressive 56.3% average open rate. These channels give us direct connection with potential visitors allowing us to promote Oxnard's experiences events and businesses throughout the year VisitOxnard.com had an exceptional year. We welcomed 602,000 users up nearly 48%, generated more than 733,000 sessions and surpassed 1.1 million page views. We also expanded our reach in key out of area markets including San Jose, Phoenix and Seattle A major accomplishment was the complete redevelopment of our website, which launched in June following months of planning and development.

And this wasn't simply a visual refresh. We rebuilt our primary destination marketing platform to improve the visitor experience, strengthen our content strategy and make it easier for travelers to discover Oxnard's hotels, restaurants, attractions and experiences. What is especially important is what visitors do after reaching our website. We generated more than 33,000 clicks to Oxnard business listings connecting potential customers directly with hotels, restaurants and attractions. We're also seeing a significant shift in how travelers discover destinations through AI. This year 1700 website users were referred from AI platforms an increase of approximately 226%. We also recorded more than 45,000 citations of our content in chat GPT at Microsoft Copilot.

As travelers increasingly use AI tools to research destinations and plan trips we are positioning Oxnard to be part of those recommendations. Our official 2026-27 Oxnard Visitor Guide launched in the fall of 2025 with 60,000 copies produced for distribution over two years through the end of summer 2027. This guide is available at a thousand more than a thousand distribution locations throughout California including local hotels attractions and visitors serving businesses It remains an important tool for showcasing Oxnard's experiences and connecting travelers with our local tourism partners.

We've made it easier for travelers to move from destination inspiration to hotel shopping. Our website generated more than 63,000 hotel listing views and more than 2,600 clicks to hotel websites along with additional rate checks and book now clicks rather than simply promoting Oxnard as a place to visit we're providing direct pathways for travelers to explore lodging options and connect with our hotel partners Through our leveraged media partnership with Visit California and Expedia, we launched a campaign that generated 3.6 million impressions and 2,116 attributed room nights. That translated into approximately $573,000 in lodging revenue at 10.321 return on advertising spend This is a great example of how strategic advertising partnerships translate into overnight stays and measurable economic activity.

Our broader digital advertising efforts also delivered strong results, we generated more than 13 1⁄2 million display impressions and reached over 956,000 people through paid social media but what's especially encouraging is the increase in meaningful visitor actions We recorded over 18,000 actions up 174% year-over-year. And these are measurable interactions indicating that people are moving beyond seeing an advertisement and taking steps to engage with our destination. We also increased paid search clicks by 164%, while reducing our cost per click by approximately 10%. So we're reaching more potential visitors generating stronger engagement and becoming more efficient with our advertising investment We continued promoting Oxnard through prominent publications including Los Angeles Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Magazine and the Visit California Road Trips Guide.

A highlight was a six-page sponsored cover feature in SoCal Life magazine as well. These placements put Oxnard in front of established travel audiences throughout California and beyond. We also expanded our reach through targeted advertising and sponsored editorial partnerships, including Adventure Sports Journal, DFW Child, LA Parent and San Diego Magazine.

Our Adventure Sports Journal campaign generated over 340,000 impressions. DFW Child delivered another 250,000. And we also promoted Oxnard through Visit California's e-marketing program reaching more than 240,000 of an audience. And these partnerships help us reach travelers with specific interests in family vacations, outdoor recreation and California experiences.

Our investment in public relations continues to generate valuable exposure for Oxnard. We secured coverage at nationally recognized outlets, including Travel and Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, the Los Angeles Times and CBS News. We also generated broadcast coverage through KTLA 5 News, NBC's California Live Spectrum News 1 and KEYT. Another important part of our work is actively bringing new business opportunities to Oxnard. And this year we participated in 15 tourism and meetings industry events, conducting 174 one-on-one appointments with meeting planners, tour operators and industry professionals.

These efforts are led by Michelle Flippo who's here And she has dedicated more than 13 years to visit Oxnard, and I want to take a moment to recognize Michelle because her commitment to this community extends well beyond her professional responsibilities. She genuinely loves Oxnard and that passion is evident in everything she does. And I'm very pleased to announce that she has an upcoming promotion to Director of Operations and Business Development effective November 1st, so congratulations Michelle!

Very well deserved and we're very fortunate to have Michelle. And now I'd like to introduce our new meetings focused campaign, Let Your Meeting Find Its Rhythm which serves as an extension of our Beat Apart brand campaign. There's a phantom Clipper moving around there we go

Some places are just where meetings happen. In Oxnard, it's all about where they begin because here the meeting doesn't start when you walk into the conference room. It starts on the downbeat with a warm welcome familiar faces and an ocean breeze setting the tempo When you meet in Oxnard, days are focused. Productive. Effortless. Everything in rhythm. But the experience doesn't stop at the agenda. When the work wraps, the destination takes over. The tempo shifts. Your group doesn't scatter when the sessions end. They linger. They explore. They connect in ways that don't happen in a conference room. Meetings turn into conversation. Conversation turns into memories, moments that stay in key long after the last note. That's the difference.

Oxnard isn't just easy to get to, it's hard to leave. It's a place to connect, to press play, to recharge, to experience a place that's a beat apart with one-of-a-kind experiences you won't find anywhere else So next time you come to Oxnard, make sure to get here early and stick around a while. Let your meeting find its rhythm in Oxnard California.

Thank you. Another thing that Michelle actually led the production on that video as well so very proud of her efforts there Okay, our multicultural marketing efforts highlight Oxnard's diverse communities, cultural traditions and local creativity. So led by Daniel Cabrera, our Digital Multicultural Marketing Manager we collaborate with local artists businesses and cultural organizations to share authentic stories and promote events including Dia de los Muertos the Multicultural Festival AAPI Month and Juneteenth Downtown Oxnard's California Cultural District designation also creates new opportunities to showcase our local arts and cultural experiences to visitors. This work helps distinguish Oxnard as a destination while supporting the people and organizations that make our community special.

And the Dallas Cowboys training camp remains one of Oxnard's most recognizable signature events. We hosted our fifth annual Oxnard Fan Night at The Collection featuring the Cowboys cheerleaders, Mascot Rowdy and Cowboys legends Nate Newton and Charles Haley. Our promotional campaigns reached audiences across Southern California and Texas. We secured television coverage through KTLA, KEYT, NBC's California Live Spectrum News and more And training camp provides a unique opportunity to introduce Oxnard to a global audience.

Visit Oxnard also continued administering and supporting projects funded through $1.5 million in previously awarded ARPA funds, and these projects are now substantially complete including initiatives supporting film location marketing And the city is wayfinding program, and we continue to maintain the film location website and provide advisory support to the city when needed.

We remain actively involved with visit California Cal travel destinations international. And regional tourism and business associations, and these relationships help us advocate for Oxnard's tourism industry and connect with statewide decision makers and identify opportunities to bring new business to Oxnard. We had several accomplishments worth celebrating this year, including VisitOxnard received a 2026 California Poppy Award for Best Brand Advertising Campaign Under $1 Million for A Beat Apart.

We also received an American Advertising Gold Award for the same campaign and we're proud to have supported downtown Oxnard's successful California Cultural District designation And looking ahead, we're focused on building upon this momentum. We will continue promoting downtown Oxnard's arts and cultural experiences. A major priority is meetings in sports tourism particularly as Southern California prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Already exploring opportunities with international training teams and sports organizations that could generate additional overnight stays. We do have confirmation from the German kayaking team with 40 room nights booked this December, so very excited about that. And we're developing our 2028 to 29 official Oxnard visitor guide as well. And we have provided each council member with a copy of our new fiscal year 26-27 marketing plan this evening.

And the plan outlines our strategic priorities, marketing initiatives and business development efforts for the year ahead. And in closing I'd like to thank the City Council, our Board of Directors, hotel partners, community stakeholders and the VisitOxnard team for their continued support I'm very proud of what our organization has accomplished, and there's a lot of positive momentum in Oxnard. We're excited about the opportunities ahead. So thank you and I am happy to answer any questions.

Great! Thank you very much Ms. Hendricks. So do we have questions from council members?

Oh yes, Council Member Perrello. Thank you very much for the information. It's always delightful to hear what your plans are. As I mentioned to Mr. Spillman, there is a couple of things locally that may not be in the city limits of the City of Oxnard but this is regional area and the cash flows across boundary lines. People don't really decide they're going to spend here, not there.

There are some things in the local area that might be of interest to consider even momentarily advertising Camarillo Airport to council members sit on that body the Ventura County airport authorities member of Oxnard and another as an alternate There is an organization called commemorative Air Force used to be called a confederate air force They bring a tremendous amount of people to see that from large areas away They also have stuff from the Tuskegee Erica airmen a tremendously historic thing in this nation one thing that always surprises me is I I do sometimes go to auto races at the Ventura Fairgrounds, Ventura Speedway. And during the summer it's amazing to see the number of people that are thrilled to come here from the San Joaquin Valley to race because you'll see them in tank tops and shorts and they can't get over how cool and wonderful the weather is coming from 114 maybe cools off to 105 at night and they really think that.

I think there would be an opportunity to capture some of those people that come here to view because they have a lot of following. Favorite drivers have favorite following, and there have been winners of the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 that race here. The other part is with respect picture of the drums. I'm wondering, is that one of our major sponsors that had the drums getting wet in the ocean? Because I'm like... The people that I knew that weren't a drum, that would never have happened. That's a comment. Yes. The other part is it magnifies the issue. The city of Oxnard taking the help requested to improve the golf course in the area and you've highlighted that and I appreciate it very much. Those are just my comments. Not a knock, just something to think about.

Thank you very much.

Anyone else?

Councilor Starr.

I think you actually answered this question for me last year, but I'm trying to remember the answer, but it was regarding the Automobile Club of Southern California and Westways Magazines. I think you were doing some sort of experimentation with that or were going to. I'm just wondering if you could talk about that a

little bit. Yes, so we actually have an upcoming... We have a partnership with an organization called Ventura County Lodging Association. We partner with them on marketing initiatives and we have an upcoming request for some funds to go toward Discover with West So that will be going through next month. So hopefully in the spring is when that placement will go into effect

Okay, Mr. City Manager did you have something to add?

Yes very briefly I said this before but it's worth repeating This small organization the amount of work and the quality The level of their work product is extraordinary so we're very fortunate to have them as our partner frankly all of our partners across the community could be this professional and productive and excellent. This community could go from good to great a lot easier.

I did forget last year to mention, a few years ago I went to a wedding, and I think it was up in Yountville? And I was staying in this charming inn, and in the lobby they have their rack of tourism brochures and magazines, and of course it was nice to see a stack of yours...of ours. So after the wedding, it was quite late I did what I used to do when I was a little kid as a newspaper boy. I took the entire stack, and I delivered them to every door in the inn late at night. So I hope you all do that when you travel and see our magazines.

Thank you for all your work. It is extraordinary. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. The only correction I'll have for the City Manager is getting this city from great to greater But I will say thank you miss Hendrickson as a other any other comments. Oh, I'm sorry councilman

I really appreciate everything that's happening especially with like the arts district recognition from the state of California. I think Something else and again. I haven't gone through the whole marketing. You know plan and everything I love that you have something for events As somebody who goes to a lot of conferences it's nice to see A one-stop place where we can see how big the capacity is and what we can use.

I would love to see our different festivals highlighted, like I'm sure you probably have it on your website but like the insect festival right? Like the tamale festival. I am finishing my doctorate at CSUCI and when my classmates come and they hear oh there's a banana festival they thought that was the craziest thing to them But there's a lot of great things to highlight in Oxnard. And I said, oh yeah, you know, Rosa Festival is around the corner third week in May and Strawberry Festival but like Oxford would be the place to come and stay so Again, I might be preaching to the choir, but I just figured we could also highlight that as well

Thank you. I will say our website promotes anywhere between about 35 to 70 events every single month And those are all manual entries. Nino, who's here oversees that effort it's a lot of work and she does a phenomenal job and we're very proud to have as many not only events but festivals as we do I don't think a lot of communities can brag about that.

Anyone else? All right just a couple quick points thank you as always you all do such amazing work and I say this for recreation as well but i think applies to your organization, then you can make $1 look like 10. And so you do some really amazing work given the resources and we saw the context there for where we are as far as financial resources goes and you do amazing work and the proof is in the output. So thank you so much for that.

A couple more quick points before we move on. First, I want to give congratulations to Michelle as well on her change in role here and Miss Hendricks if you could share when Michelle came to the organization what was her position when she first joined?

So Michelle predates me but she was the administrative assistant I believe and she has worked passionately tirelessly for VisitOxnard for 13 years again She has really stepped up as I've stepped into my role as CEO over the last year and a half, and has really become kind of my partner in crime with effectuating our plans for the organization.

Great. Thank you, and thank you for your work, Michelle. Very well-earned promotion there. So I loved the video, and it really put things into a different context for me because I saw myself in that as somebody who professionally travels regularly for my day job. And wherever I land, wherever clients or whoever is contracting me to go out has me go, I've been to Phoenix, Arizona. I've been to Kodiak, Alaska.

Roll of the dice places and everywhere I go, I like to check out the downtown. I like to check out the different eateries. I'll ask the hotel staff what they recommend but I'm also the person that I'm not looking for hey where's the escape room? When I went to Phoenix, Arizona once, I saw that nearby there was a planning commission meeting for this weird-looking building so I said well I'm going to check that out. That's who I am.

But all that to say that the video really had me thinking, hey if I were an outside person coming into a meeting in Oxnard where would I go eat? What are the places I'd go to? What are the things I do for fun and that was just a great way to put that into a great package for folks who do similar work. And there are millions out there so thank you again for this update Miss Hendrix. You do amazing work and we look forward to what you do next.

Thank you so much.

So with that, Madam Clerk do we have any public speakers on this

item? Mayor Pro Tem and council members there are no requests to speak on the appointment item in person or virtually. Thank you.

Thank you very much This is a receiving file so no actions required at this point

Good evening, everybody. I'm Angela Wakeham, chair of the Downtown Oxnard Improvement Association and this is my vice-chair Mark Spellman and then I have our complete executive board here with Michael and Kimberly and Gary Blum's in the back he's in charge of our district identity staff and our staff Sarah and one more board member Ashley Coleman So we're really looking forward to this presentation and Mark's being an excellent public speaker is going to take charge.

Do we have a PowerPoint available for us? Thank you, perfect. Good evening Mayor Pro Tem, City Council, staff. Thank you for the opportunity to present Downtown Oxnard Improvement Association's work plan and proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-27 Our focus is straightforward. A downtown that is clean, welcoming and positioned for more activity and investment. This plan connects the daily work that keeps downtown functioning with the opportunities ahead of us as a California cultural district.

I'll start with a brief background walk through the priorities and close with the budget and our request for approval The district has been in place since 2000 Its purpose is to use property assessments to fund special benefits improvements within downtown. It has been renewed five times, most recently in 2024 when two blocks north of 2nd Street were added.

The current authorization runs through December 2029. There are 213 property owners in our district with the city you as the largest this gives us a shared interest in making these resources count. The next slide explains DOIA's role in managing that work. DOIA became a public benefit nonprofit in 2019. In 2021, the city and DOIA entered into the Agreement for District Management.

That agreement calls for an annual work plan and budget to be approved by council. The approval before December 1st which is why I'm presenting to you this evening. DOIA's budget does run from December 1st through November 30th. The legal references on the slide, the practical point is that we bring forward a defined work plan for the year and the proposed resources to carry it out.

Before discussing the plan let's look at the area it serves. This map shows the district we're talking about. It helps put the work plan in context storefronts public spaces, and connections that make up downtown. The photographs also remind us of this area with an existing identity in places where people already recognize. Learning from Brittany I'm going to have to make bigger pictures next year.

Each year the board staff develops the goals and budget through our four committees That work follows the guidelines and funding allocations in the management district plan adopted with the renewal. The four committees are organization administration, district identity and placemaking, civil sidewalks, and land use. Together they provide the framework to deliver the work to support the downtown day-to-day condition and the longer term opportunities.

This year's annual plan reflect two large focus areas. First is the designation of downtown as a California cultural district, which was awarded on December 12th 2025 by the California Arts Council CAC following a highly competitive selection process involving more than 70 applicants. This designation creates opportunities to engage artists, shape public spaces and attract creative businesses.

It also asks more of the organization So we need to consider the capacity required to support it. Second, is the Dory Commissioned Retail Strategies Action Plan. This plan gives Dory a five year sequence of strategies including ways to improve organizational efficiency and undertake similar projects that improve the experience of downtown. These two influences are woven into Doya's annual action plan and budget The organization committee priorities and work plan are about staying connected to the people downtown, and having the capacity to follow through.

The proposed monthly boardwalk merchant outreach program network events and surveys give merchants and property owners regular ways to share what they need. On delivery we propose project driven action teams tied to the retail strategies goals We also plan to assess staffing needs for the Cultural District and collaborate with grant applications. These projects sit alongside the essential work of finance, insurance, board policies and daily operations.

That foundation supports the more visible work of the three other committees that I will cover. This committee's work plan is focused on how downtown looks, how the people experience it and the reasons they choose to come back. The annual plan includes engaging artists and art organizations, partnering with the Cultural Arts Commission on public art, on helping organizers develop cultural events, and it's a sponsored pole banner program landscaping container gardens and holiday decorations that contribute to the experience in visual ways.

We also want to grow our reach online with the goal of surpassing 20,000 Instagram followers and use the Retail Strategies Plan for targeted business recruitment. The common purpose is to strengthen downtown's identity as both a retail destination and a cultural district that depends on the everyday conditions people encounter when they arrive. A strong downtown experience starts with the basics.

Clean storefront areas, maintain parking lots and alleys and attention to safety. This committee continues their monthly coordination meetings and brings together the police department, security contractor and the clean team. Other priorities include security lighting enhancements, district cleanup events, emergent crime prevention workshop and strategies to deter illegal dumping.

The annual plan also calls for working with faith-based organizations on homeless outreach. These efforts address the conditions merchants, residents and visitors experience every day. They also provide a foundation for the business and property opportunities covered next. Land Use Committee connects the daily work with downtown's longer term development. The committee's broader role includes housing density, mobility, planning and the mixed use in our district.

For this year the highlighted work plan is practical. Compile detailed market information on vacant properties, promote available buildings for investment and develop a model for pop-up retail activations. The work plan also includes partnerships with SCORE and WEAVE to offer merchant assistance. The intent is to understand the available space more clearly, and help business explore opportunities downtown.

The next slide shows the proposed budget supporting the overall work plan. The total proposed budget is $640,965. which is comprised of property assessments, events, sponsorships and retained earnings. The largest share 56.5% is for civil sidewalks that is $362,250 for maintenance services supplies and security guard service it reflects the importance of the day-to-day conditions we've just discussed District Identity accounts for 15.6% or $99,923 for works such as advertising, banners, public art events and holiday decorations.

Organization accounts for 27.9% of the $178,792 of the budget and this covers staffing and operating costs. The Land Use Committee does not have an allocation which has been true for the past prior years. With the proposed budget, DOI is projected to carry over $53,332 in retained earnings for fiscal year 27-28. Those are the proposed allocations for the annual plan and I'll close with the action we're requesting from the Council.

We ask the City Council to approve the Downtown Oxnard Improvement Association Annual Work Plan and Budget for the fiscal year 2026-27. The plan brings together the daily care of downtown, support of our new merchants and property owners and the opportunities presented by the cultural district designation. We thank you for your consideration and we're happy to take questions.

Great! Thank you very much. I see the photo you picked there. You had the Mayor deep in thought on that one so... Questions from council members for our presenters?

Did you mention how much the budget was last year in comparison?

That's

a

good question. I think I have

it. I think in the report we got on page 61 there was an estimated carryover of $66,000 by the end of June.

Yes, I think it was $64,000 at this point. What you might be seeing is a balance sheet So

I

guess I'm

just saying we have a budget for this year.

But you want to see actuals for last year, right?

Or actually even the budget for last year. I just want to know what the increase is or decrease is.

It is an increase. Oh here it is. I knew I brought something.

Can you see

it? No. Annual budget last year was $613,537. And don't forget, this is our first full year with a larger navigation center now paying into it. Adding two streets and we also went to linear footage so we're getting more money in and we're still allocating a good percentage back for retained earnings.

My question on the simple sidewalks portion of that budget, $362,000 and change What portion of that do you think is because of homeless issues?

It doesn't make a difference, because the regulations in our bylaws say a certain percentage must go towards district civil sidewalks. So we have... That's why we've been counting on the police and the city to help us more in the past and it's been happening.

I guess my question is more along the lines of what portion of this is spent on dealing with homeless issues versus other things that you could do with the

money. I don't have that answer, I don' know if Kim does?

Yeah, I'm on the civil sidewalks committee. I can tell you that when we do have our meetings and the security team comes and the clean team comes They do talk about the encampments and how many encampments they had to clean up, and where those are, and where the hot spots are. And what new adventure is happening in the downtown with subsistence that people choose to take usually too.

And they come from that population because when you're under stress, you turn to things for comfort. And they don't always make you the best citizen or I don't want to say citizen, resident of our community.

Excuse me we have Miss Golden who might have some input on this do you want to jump in?

One thing I wanted to add, being on the committee for a long time as well and actually Abel and I sat on a presentation to another state recently about our homeless efforts. And in that Abel made the point during that meeting about how helpful our homeless ordinance is in downtown, about the anti-camping ordinance in downtown, and that there has been a decrease related to homeless response because of that as well as security Contract that the city took for the parking garage that used to be an area that we would go back and forth with Dory a lot about whose responsibility That was and that was a place of high Homeless, but the security that the city has put in there has really helped and has reduced the strain on Dory Related to that.

Thank you before I move on from council restarts question about the civil sidewalks Included in this budget is this? I go through downtown literally every morning in a car or on a bike Is this inclusive of the people who are out every morning sweeping, power washing, getting the sticks swept up in Plaza Park? All that. Is that inclusive in this as well? People with the blue vests?

If they're wearing a blue vest we're paying for them so yes most definitely. They are ambassadors and they're there to keep it clean and safe and beautiful and also answer questions if you want to know where to eat or where to go for some entertainment. They have that information also

Oh, I'll have to try that. Thank you. OK. Councilor, did you have additional questions?

I do not.

Okay, thank you. Other questions from Council? Yes, Councilwoman Rodriguez.

I do have a question. I'm really excited about the pole banner design and installation. I know that we've had conversations about that possibility so I'm excited to see it potentially launch. When folks sponsor that banner are y'all thinking about having it like for a season year-round every three months or is there going to be opportunities for different folks to showcase should they sponsor the banner because I know $3,000 is not gonna cover the poles in downtown right?

Right, we have a we have a couple different types of banners that are going up. We have a permanent installation that is right now I think the Southern California Edison in the city actually today came to an agreement so we're gonna have these beautiful Steel banners put up on the post. You can see them that we've hung them up in the DOIA office, so those will be up in different areas. I don't have the map with me right now to tell you exactly where, so those will be up year-round. The other banners will change out seasonally and that is going to be a new venture for us that we're working on And it will be seasonally, obviously because the college puts up their banners and then we have the seasonal banner. So it's going to have to come up and down and fluctuate but the price of that will include the banner getting made and the cost of installation.

Great, thank you so much.

So if they're half as beautiful as the big belly trash bins and I'm really excited about that because I think that really brightens up downtown and I like seeing that You know it just really reshapes how you consider a trash bin? So I think people are a little more careful when you know tossing on the side of the trash bin so Anyway, thank you all so much for your good work and your advocacy and just feel free to continue reaching out. Thank you Thank you

Councillor Perlow Thank you for the presentation. A couple of questions with respect to soliciting outside people to help you with funding, do you advertise that you're looking for any businesses who want to donate potentially have their signage hanging from a banner? Do you do that or do you consider it? The second is when you show the pictures of the power washing of the sidewalk, we can all imagine what that is. Do we end up with any issues with the stormwater going into the beach versus going to the sewer plant? Are there any issues that are brought by the state with respect to water?

Not that it's been brought to my attention. I know that the city does do a good job of trying to get make sure that the sewers are clean out because beyond just the cleaning up that we're going to do, the winds make a much larger impact than the minuscule amount of water that we're using when we are

power washing OK, back to my first question. I know that there are times, especially when tax season comes in, there are businesses that look to make a donation. How do you get that information

out? We have that on our website and we don't have our banner sponsorship launched yet. That's an upcoming venture for us that we're working on with staff. And so we look to have that up very soon. But we did do an outreach at the last car show, the All for One Car Show that we held.

Thank you very much. And Halloween Haunt

this weekend. Oh yes! At The Haunt in the Park this weekend on Saturday which you'll all be attending I'm so excited.

Thank you very much any additional questions? No? Okay, I'll just say thank you both for the update in this. I know there's an action attached to this. Looking at the items that you've placed here for your proposed work plan, I would say they're certainly ambitious but I know they're building upon what you've already accomplished and so I appreciate that you as an organization are looking at how can we do more, And certainly what my attention focused in on was the social media piece of this and a goal to attain 20,000 followers by year's end. But you're currently at 17,900. That's quite an accomplishment for an organization your size with the work you do as well.

You want to give someone credit for that? Yes.

Yes we hire the Oxnard downtowners to do our promotion and Gary Blum is one of the downtowners and he is largely credited for all of the efforts that go into our marketing. He has a strong team and we are really grateful for all the work that they put into it.

Great. All right, thank you Mr. Blum for that and I wanted to point out because that's certainly an attainable goal but it's a lot of work and Mr. Cabrera is here in the audience from the previous one he oversees the digital communications and I can tell you that it's a lot of work to get followers and then keep them engaged and then do this and then do this and keep building on it. It's full-time work.