City Council — February 4, 2026

Where there's darkness light and where there is sadness joy. Bless the words exchanged in this meeting tonight and we thank you now for what you will do in our city. In Jesus name amen.

Amen. Thank You Chaplain Wilson Council Member Chavez, would you lead us in the flag salute? Put your

right hand over your heart. Ready and begin. I

pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Madam Clerk, would you please roll call please?

All present

Thank You our attorney Monica Castillo do you have a closed session report not only from today but also from the two weeks ago

Uh, I do have it for today. Um and I also have one for two weeks ago. Two weeks ago the council met in closed session to discuss performance evaluation of the city manager. There were no reportable actions that evening. Earlier today council recess in a closed session to discuss item 5a on the special agenda. That is conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation There's significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section five four nine five six point nine D two and e one Relating to two potential cases there are no reportable actions taken Thank You mr. Mayor

all right, thank you very much Now we're going to move to public comment. If anybody needs Spanish translation, please contact Julie Blanchard. I'm going to take item six, which are public comment. I have several. I'll call them out and just remember that you have three minutes. Three minutes for the English and also if you have translation it will also be three minutes. So we'll start off with Tim True followed by Amelia Ochoa

Good evening. I was here a couple of weeks ago to speak in support of the REC and their use of the Union Oil Building, and that's what I'm here again tonight to do on the open agenda. I'd like to encourage the City to reestablish negotiations with the REC and try to bring a deal to fruition. The REC has offered to lease part of the building that would house the city's collection And also to pay to curate and maintain that collection. So they're offering a significant amount of money between the rent and the amount of money it's going to take to curate the city's collection.

The city's collection is huge, it's important, and something I've been involved with for several years now And a lot of it is paper, it's deteriorating and it needs a lot of work. So they're willing to put the money forth to do that and they've hired somebody that's a professional at doing it. I see this as a win for the city and I'd hate to see this opportunity slide by and I just really encourage The council and the city to continue their negotiations and work something out as quickly as possible to get them in the building. So, the building doesn't generate any income right now. It'll generate income and it will save the city money from having to take care or curate or maintain the city's collection.

So again please reconsider and try to work out a deal with them. Thank you.

Okay, next we have Amalia Ochoa followed by Maria Robles.

Good afternoon members of the council, Deputy Mayor and Mayor Carlos Juarez. My name is Amalia Ochoa, community leader and activist with cause. Tonight I am here to advocate for families that have been affected by ICE raids En el mes de Enero, en la calle Santa Barbara y Dean Drive se llevó a dos trabajadores aproximadamente a las cinco y media de la mañana dejando esposas e hijos sin protección ni mantenimiento.

En febrero otra vez en la mañana volvieron a arrestar a otra persona en la panadería Yadira por la avenida Harvard. Yo, Amalia como un líder escucho tantas historias de personas aterrorizadas con tanto miedo. A veces tengo que escuchar que ya mejor no quieren vivir y tengo que hablarles que les prometo luchar por ellos Today I raise my voice to urgently ask for support, action and more funds to help all families who live in terror, affected by ICE. It is necessary to approve a resolution that condemns the discriminatory and racist practices of ICE agents. It's something simple and obvious.

No apoyamos acciones que ponen en riesgo a nuestra comunidad por su raza, su origen o su estatus migratorio. Ponga las manos en el corazón para ayudarlos. Ellos lo merecen, ya no deben sufrir más tantas crueldades. Ayuden con un mensaje de apoyo y fondo legales que tanto necesitan ellos. Dios cuide de nuestra comunidad que vive con tanto terror y miedo. Muchas gracias.

I'll be translating for Amalia. Good afternoon Council Members, Vice Mayor and Mayor Carlos Suarez. My name is Amalia Ochoa. I am a community leader and activist with cause. Tonight I am here to speak up for the families who have been affected by ICE raids. In the month of January on Santa Barbara Street and Dean Drive two workers were taken around 530 in the morning leaving their wives and children without protection or support. In February early in the morning once again another person was arrested at Yadira's Bakery on Harvard I am Maya as leader, as a leader. Here's so many stories from people who are terrified living with so much fear sometimes I have to hear them say no they no longer want to live here and I have to talk to them and promise them that I will fight for them Today I raise my voice to urgently ask for your support, action and more funding to help all the families who are living in fear and have been affected by ICE.

It is necessary to approve a resolution that condemns the discriminatory and racist practices of ICE agents. It is simple and clear we do not support actions that put our community at risk because of their race, their origin or their immigration status. Put your hands on your hearts to help them they deserve it they should not have to suffer so much cruelty anymore. Help them with a message of support and with the legal funds they so desperately need. May God protect our community that lives with so much terror and fear, thank you.

Thank you. Okay next we have Maria Robles followed by Michael Nelson

Good afternoon fellow City Council Mayor, Vice-Mayor and all the City Council members here in Santa Paula. I'm part of an organization from One Step a la Vez. We currently expanded to Santa Paula so we're going to be at the Ag Museum. I wanted to come here and just let you guys know about 2026 Congressional Candidate Forum we're going to have here at Casa Mexicano.

The direction is 218 S 11th Street in Santa Paula from 6 to 8. February 24, we invited all the candidates that are running. We invite you city council members but also our community come and ask your questions if you have any concerns and want to know a little bit more about what their role is or what they plan to do at our upcoming elections. I gave them some too, Julie. She'll hand them out at the end. Thank you so much. Have a good

day. What time is the event?

6 to 8 p.m.

Thank you so much. Hope

to see you guys there.

Alright thank you. Next we have Michael Nelson followed by Maria Macias

Yes, Mr. Mayor and members of the Council. I'm Mike Nelson. I reside at 995 Terracina Street in Santa Paula and I've been in Santa Paula for 25 years. Last council meeting two weeks ago there was an agenda item with a proposal by the non-profit Responsible Energy Council for the oil museum The REC, as it's called, the Responsible Energy Council had a proposal to pay $18,000 a year to the city in order to rent the portion of the second floor of the oil museum at the corner of 10th and Main.

In that space, the REC would be able to curate and manage the museum's petroleum exhibits and the contents of the museum. And this was going to be done entirely at their own expense and cost, which was going to cost in the tens of thousands of dollars per year. But the majority of the City Council did not accept their proposal and tabled the motion. I'm saying that the proposal that was made is still the best one that the city has. There is no other entity that can offer the services that the REC is proposing to give to the city for free along with the rent amount.

The REC has the petroleum expertise to actually curate the contents of the museum and catalog them, they've got the petroleum expertise to do that. The exhibits and archives at the museum currently hold thousands of items that were donated many of them in the 10 year term that I was there There's many photo collections that were donated and some of those photo collections from Santa Paula people showed that Santa Paulans were living in the oil fields around Santa Paula, and in particular in South Mountain Oil Field that's across the river. In the early 1900s many oil companies built homes, schools for their oil field workers and families so the families could actually live in the oil field.

I had a volunteer at the oil museum back early 90s. His name was Bob Darries, he was a Santa Paulan lived here a long time and I know that people live there because he was one of the guys as a child in the 1930's who actually lived in the oil field on South Mountain. That's what we need to preserve, Santa Paula's history is really important I think too many Santa Paulans. 1990 Union Oil Company spent two-and-a-half million dollars to completely renovate and restore the museum building And in today's dollars, that's about six million.

So there is an enormous amount of money spent to preserve the museum and make it what it is today. I think to do justice to that we have to have professional level curating, cataloging of the collections of the museum. If you could wind down your comments? Just in conclusion, I'm going to say I'm asking the city to return to their proposal and accept what has been proposed by the responsible Energy Council for the good of this city and for the good of Santa

Paulans. Thank you. Thank You Mr. Nelson now we have Maria Macias followed by Patricia Duarte

Hello, good afternoon. To the City Council meeting, Mayor Carlos Juarez, Vice-Mayor Jenny Crosswhite and all the council members Pedro Chavez, Leslie Cornejo and Gabriela Ornelas thanks to you for this space here we are so excited to invite all the community of Santa Paula because the non-profile organization One Step A La Vez is gonna be Annex here at the Agricultural Museum of Santa Paula, where we have provide some services for the teens to age 13 to 19 years old.

We are a safe inclusive and supportive space where youth can grow personally socially and emotionally through workshops educational activities and community research. We are, we want to strengthen their skills supporting their well-being and foster youth leadership. Our goal is to support young people during this important stage of their lives and provide tools to help them grow with confidence find their voice and access to opportunities for their future. We invite all the adolescents, families and community members to be part of this initiative and take one step at a time towards a better together.

We'll be there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3 to 30 p.m., to 630 p. m.. It's an after-school program to help empower local teens with personal and career readiness, track and opportunities, and a safe space to learn, grow, and develop. So we are so happy to open this November 10th So, our community is invited. You guys are invited to know how we will work and we are sure we have a good...

una buena oportunidad para nuestros adolescentes para que crezcan con empoderados siendo líderes y con mucho cuidado en un lugar seguro. Muchas gracias.

Thank you I'm here

to speak about a pattern of broken commitments, inequitable access and financial consequences tied to the harvest development and related city decisions. First, I want to ground this in what the voters were promised In 2008, Santa Paula voters approved Measure G with 83% support. The East Area 1 project often called the Harvest was presented as a master planned mixed use community not simply a housing expansion. The approved plan included up to 1500 homes alongside approximately 240,000 square feet of commercial office light industrial assisted living and civic uses It also promised new schools, a sports park, walkability and significant water and utility infrastructure including new wells.

What voters approved was a balanced sustainable community with housings, jobs, services and amenities integrated together. What residents are seeing now is very different. Instead of the promise mixed use development and civic district we're now seeing proposals for another 500 plus homes With no comparable commercial space, no new schools and no clear delivery of the community amenities that were used to justify that project in the first place.

If schools were part of the approved plan but aren't there where are students supposed to go? If new water wells required have they been drilled and how do they fit into a system that currently relies on existing tanks? This isn't a minor adjustment it's a fundamental shift away from what voters approved Second, I want to address access and equity. The city has repeatedly failed to deliver key public amenities in a way that is truly public.

Facilities were promised as community benefits but in practice they primarily serve Harvest residents or those with private transportation. For example, a public swimming pool was promised. What exists instead is a small HOA-controlled pool that excludes the broader community. The city built a 37 acre public park in the Harvest area with six soccer fields, three basketball courts and a softball field capable of serving hundreds of people. About $1 million dollars was spent on lighting alone yet the park only has four toilet stalls That is inadequate, unsanitary and a public health concern. It discourages full use of the park and disproportionately affects residents who do not live in the harvest development and cannot easily go home when facilities are insufficient.

Public transportation to Harvest Park is non-existent. Residents without private vehicles are effectively shut out of a taxpayer funded public resource. Access to amenities should not depend on where you live or whether you own a car. I'm just about out of time. Can anybody... Thank you.

Can you please turn in your speaker card so we just get your name? So if you're going to cede your time to her? Very good, thank you. Go ahead and continue.

I also want to correct the record on one point. A bridge connection was not explicitly promised, and I acknowledge that error. However, the larger issue of connectivity remains. Instead of improving access and integration, new housing is being built in ways that further limit connectivity and reinforce separation. Taken together these decisions create a two-tier system.

One where access to public amenities depends on geography and income That undermines fairness, community cohesion and public trust. Third I want to address where the city's money has actually been going based on city finance records and insurance budgets a major driver of our budget strain since 2022 has been sharply rising insurance costs tied to lawsuits involving the former police chief.

Until those cases settle, they remain on the city's insurance risk profile and continue to drive premiums higher. From 2018 to 2021, the city's insurance costs were relatively stable averaging around $600,000-$700,000 per year. Beginning in 2022 those costs increased significantly approximately $777,000 in 2022, $899,000 in 2023-24, $1 million in 2024-25 1.2 million in 25 to 26 and about one million in 26 to 27 compared to prior years that represents an estimated loss of 800,000 to 1.5 million dollars in available budget capacity between 2022 and 2027 With impacts likely continuing beyond that time frame. The city's finance department flagged this risk as early as 2022, the numbers now clearly reflect it. Measure R was not a meaningful expansion of funding for new services.

It was largely a way to compensate for lost capacity caused by foreseeable insurance costs tied to earlier decisions. So when residents are told there's no money for pools, transit, restrooms, school or promised infrastructure it's important to be honest about why. In closing this is not about one project or one mistake It's a pattern. Voter approved plans being diluted, public amenities becoming functionally private, access being limited and financial consequences being passed on to residents without transparency or accountability.

Voters approved a balanced integrated community. What they're getting is more housing, fewer services, inequitable access and long term financial strain. The data is clear, the impacts are real and residents deserve answers, accountability and course correction. Thank you.

Thank you Ms. Varte. Okay if we can have Julia Ancona followed by Edgar Aguilera and

then it will be followed

by Judy Rice.

Hello everybody, thank you for your time. I am so grateful to be here in Santa Paula. I have been here for the last 17 years doing business and it has been a really good experience. I am here today on behalf of my wife she owns some water store here in town I'm not sure if this is the right place, but many of our customers they have to carry their water jugs. Five gallons of water is very heavy especially for Like everybody, but especially for seniors.

I have been asking the city if please I could have like 15 minutes parking lot in front of in front of the water store because some people they have to cross the street carrying sometimes two water Five gallon, five gallon water. That's really dangerous for them and it's It's really concerning because water is very heavy So I have in knocking doors if I could have Like two 15 minute parking space in front of the water store Some people, especially Friday and Saturdays they go to the corner to dance which they deserve to go and have fun. But they take like four hours to come back.

And there's ladies that they go and They have to carry the water to their cars and they have to walk at least 100 yards, 200 yards. And this is something that I'm just asking if we could have the conversation. Another topic is that six months ago I received a visit from The inspector of the water and he checked our water meter. We have to pay water, of course because that's our business to purify the water.

In his words, he told me that the water meter was broken and it was giving readings all over the place. He said he was going to replace the water meter. I have been paying every month X amount of money for water but I turned off one of my water machines and I was expecting to spend less water, but this month was like triple what I have to pay. So I'm asking if I could have the water inspector put my water meter since he told me it was broken. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Aguilera. Could we? I think you know where I'm going with

this. Mr. Mayor, if...I didn't catch the speaker's name. His name is

Edgar Aguilera.

Mr Aguilera, over in the corner our Public Works Director can give you information about the request for the parking. We have a traffic safety committee that reviews requests and can consider that they have a process. He

also had a question about his water meter?

And maybe he can talk to you about the water meter too, or our finance director.

Well thank you, and I just want to say that I went to a Business Connect meeting this week and that was one of the comments made is limited parking in front of like a store that sells food. So I actually filled out the form to see if they can look at that ordinance citywide so we'll see it might take a while but it has to go through our Traffic Safety Committee.

So now we have Judy Rice

Council, Mr. Mayor, Mr. City Manager and Julie. Nice to see all of you. I'm back again to complain about the same old thing I've complained about since 2018. I am old so you have to be patient but I'm going to indulge the audience tonight so I want you all to listen and understand Back in 2018, I think the city signed the worst financial agreement they've ever made.

And that was the contract with the county fire department and I know they do a good job but their costs are exorbitant And when that happened, I was sitting in Julie's chair. And Jenny Cross-White was the only council member that voted no. I think honestly she was the only council member that actually read the contract or they would have all voted no. Now I'm going to indulge Cameraman put it on the whole audience. How many of you? You can still speak into the speaker. Oh okay. Well I think I can talk loud enough.

Anyway, okay audience. How many of you actually know raise your hand that out of each dollar that property tax takes in the county takes 80 cents we get 20 cents? Do you know that? That's pathetic. Truly pathetic that nobody knows what we're paying for. That's why this city is so poor as we keep referring to it I'm going to request, not now but I could ask for it to be on the agenda and it would never happen. I would like for one of you council members to actually make a motion tonight, tomorrow whenever you want to and it will require a second to put it on the agenda for the finance director here and she can do this easily. You have to know in order to set your budget how much revenue comes in from property tax don't include the sales tax just the property tax And then I know that all the money we take in goes to Sacramento, they take part of it and then the county gets it back.

And they divvy out whatever portion we get but I think we can calculate it on our own if we can find out the actual amount that comes in from property tax and one of the, I think it was Janet Duarte said 1500 new homes. I mean look how we've increased the size of the city so that means our taxes have got to be incredible. We'd have a lot of money if we weren't giving 80% of it away Anyway, I'd like to get that information, bring it back, put it on the agenda.

And I would appreciate that so we can know exactly what we're paying and I want to know what is the county charging us for fire services? Now, I want you all to keep that in mind because the last thing I'm going to say is the quality of a person is how you honor your responsibilities. Thank you very much. Boy, I did that in three minutes.

Thank you, Judy Rice. My apologies now we have Chris Gabriel and then he's our final speaker unless somebody else wants to turn in a speaker card?

Good evening guys my name is Chris Gabriel associate organizing director over at the community organizing group cause and you know how much I love Santa Paula. I guess I just appreciate people who always are trying Achieve good government. And even though I love these meetings, I unfortunately can't stay the whole time so I just wanted to give my two cents about Amendment C, the resolution for immigration. I wanted to say thank you and I'm excited to hear that the city is making the resolution to state the obvious.

That we condemn unfair and discriminatory immigration enforcement practices, and affirm the city's commitment to the safety, dignity, and right of all residents. We live in a world where we must often come out and state the obvious. We live in a world where we must raise our voice a bit to speak plainly and honestly. We do this not to insult but rather to remind one another that common sense It's much less common than you would think.

Irrespective of your political persuasions, proud Santa Paula residents and key stakeholders should always hold themselves to the highest standard of decency and ensure that democracy's promise is kept for all those that reside within our special city. I encourage you all tonight to put forward and recommend that this item go on a future agenda. Thank you all for your time, have a lovely evening and as always God bless Santa Paula.

Thank You Mr. Gabriel okay that's the end of our speaker cards unless somebody else wants to submit one? Okay seeing none we're gonna

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Sammy Tapia. I'm one of the ACC fellows serving the City of Santa Paula in the Chamber. So today the ask is for council to file and receive a report on wayfinding and the new brand kit And the content for tonight is background, brand kit, applications and components, budget estimates and recommendation, and implementation.

So this project was developed in collaboration with Hunt Group Design following their established design process. The inspiration for the landmark banner designs and overall visual system comes directly from Santa Paula itself. Key influences include our craftsman architecture, the railroad, stained glass elements, agriculture and the city's rich historical and cultural identity.

Here is the brand kit, and as you can see there's a consistent color palette and iconography used throughout. The colors include two shades of green, yellow, orange, beige, and white. You can also see logos including our seal, icons, and fonts being Brummery, Cosette, and Glacial Indifference. Here are examples of how the brand can be applied through digital updates, small printed materials, on-site branding and vehicle and equipment branding. These images are meant to illustrate possibilities but it's important to note that applications are not limited to what is shown here Here are more examples of identity branding on-site, on street wayfinding citywide signage and landmark gateway.

Same as the last these are images and visual references but the possibilities are not limited This slide outlines the budget estimates and recommendations. $10K was allocated for banners, which is now exhausted and you can see the banners on Main Street from 7th to 11th. $150k is allocated towards wayfinding. Thank You Council. And the cost estimates there are estimates sourced from various sites and are not Santa Paula specific $10,000 for digital updates. $30,000 for small printed materials. Another $30K for on-site equipment branding. $150,000 to $500,000 for street wayfinding. $200,000-$500,000 citywide signage and $200,001 million for landmark and gateway features Here are recommendations from Hunt Design Group, which includes various sign types, quantities and estimated costs.

The total include $127K for parking signage and $173K for wayfinding signage. So again, $10K is allocated for banners, which you can see on Main Street. And the $150K will be divided into four areas. 120 towards signage, 10k towards murals and monument tiles. Another ten for small printed materials and the last ten towards equipment branding decals and city promotional items.

So again the ask is for council to file and receive a report on wayfinding and support its implementation. Thank you.

Well Sammy Tapia thank you for that presentation questions or comments from Council? Council Member Chavez

Can you share a little bit about the strategy for phasing in some of these branding items?

Absolutely, as Ms. Tapia has indicated the banners are already up around downtown and we didn't want to get ahead of the council presentation and kind of the unveiling of this new imagery but the Public Works Department is prepared to begin looking into well they've already estimated the sign costs but primarily doing signage around our downtown, the parking lot signs Directional signs, that kind of thing.

So the hope would be that most of that $150,000 will actually get exhausted this calendar year as we strive to start to roll stuff out.

And are we timing things and coordinating? For instance it's nice to have a beautiful sign for a parking lot but the parking lot sucks So is pavement going to be prioritized and then the signage comes second?

You want to talk a little bit about some of the parking lot efforts underway.

So it's been a little while but I kind of started putting in my architecture degree, not that I have a license or anything, but to design what The parking lots could possibly look like.

This item's not on tonight's agenda, so if we can stick to signs alone, I'd appreciate that.

Sure. But to Councilmember Chavez's point, we're not going to do things in a vacuum. We'll do it kind of intentionally as we roll things forward.

Thanks. I was just going to bring up or mention that I think when this was already preliminarily agreed upon by council as far as design and all of that, that when we ordered all the new trash cans downtown they fit that style and font so there were already not only with the banners but other things that we're doing at each stage implementing that wherever we can. So just want to mention

I just want to say that I like the design. Who came up with it or how did you get to this style?

So, let me just go back to the brand kit. Majority of what you see here was from Hunt Design so all I did was compose the logo to what it looks like now and took colors from their banner designs

They were hired by us after an RFP process to do a whole wayfinding study for the city that was done under Community Development Department. And they came up with a couple of different recommendations that the council narrowed it down to essentially stick with this craftsmanesque kind of look and design a little more celebratory of our heritage, I think.

Actually,

Vice

Mayor.

So one just as we move forward I would just watch that that city of doesn't turn out to be too small or maybe not bold enough because I know I'd already noticed one application of it online where You almost can't read it gets lost. So so I think that would just be something for us to watch is whether or not that needs to end up being a little bolder or Or something as as just so that I mean, I know the emphasis on Santa Paula but I don't think we want the city of part to Totally drop off either which I know sort of a small aside but Just something to keep an eye on and then In terms of the wayfinding, I know that we've sort of talked about signs but if someone could just clarify for those who are sitting here if they're going, I don't know what wayfinding is.

Could we clarify what the term wayfinding refers to?

I'm looking at Mr. Mason because he can probably roll that off his tongue easier than I can. It's a fancy way of talking about signage and getting people from one destination to another through signage. It can also be app-based, it doesn't just have to be physical signs. So it's a way of communicating and I don't know, Mr. Mason if you want to add to that?

As Deputy City Managers just told me, directional signage. Being able to as people in and from outside of town are able to find their way around to destinations and activities and places of interest.

Thank you. And then just my last comment is as we start to order things and expend funding it I feel like The signage, I mean yes we need to make sure that our car branding and some of those things is also done. And the more that we can put towards you know making sure the people know where the parking lots are and where the major attractions and things are.

I think the more that we can put towards that part of the effort The the better knowing that yes, there's some other things to something so we definitely have to do but if there's extra funding and some of those other general pots that was there were listed here. I think the more that we can put towards signage the better.

And maybe just to that to that comment To bring up for the public's benefit to the 150,000 that city council was able to set aside which was from funds from last fiscal year that were in excess of our expenditures is just a small part of what it will really take to do the entire town. Yeah, we'll try and maximize that because it won't even the 120 or 150 thousand won't cover all of our signage needs.

Especially because what's being designed often will involve new posts, new poles going from kind of the round green metal ones to maybe that wrought iron look. Maybe you can flip forward to those and there is gonna be an expense involved like that one that says Santa Paula on it yeah. In some cases where we can use a street sign or a light post or an existing pole, we will.

But you know, you don't want to take a round green pole if you really want to have a consistent look of something that's square and wrought iron and matches the sign so it's not going to be a cheap undertaking. All right thank you.

Council Member Cornell?

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to address Council Member Ornelas' question about the process of how we got here for your benefit and for the public's benefit and for Ms. Tapia who wasn't here yet also. It's been a several year long project for community economic development worked very hard. A lot of things were vetted through the PBID, the downtown district. And so they did a lot of the vetting and kind of a sounding board for what they wanted Drawing people to the center of our city and so RFP's Discussions really at length over this a lot of presentations Before it came to council and then got approval to to move forward with roughly these designs So it's been quite actually quite the process. It's wonderful to see it at this level. Thank you

Thank anyone else All right, let's stop yet. Thank you much for that presentation and the work of all staff We appreciate it and we look forward to seeing the rest of the progress All right. Thank you Okay that's just a receive and file, nothing else to do. City Council reports? Let's go ahead and start if you wouldn't mind with Ms. Arnelas.

Okay so I remember two things we had immigration ad hoc committee meeting with our new deputy city manager Gloria to go over the wording of policy changes that we're making around immigration. Vice Mayor Cross, I could probably talk more to it but we just went over the wording and making sure that we covered all of the important pieces of the process that we're trying to cover to honor Everything that we've received from community members and different groups that we've met with and gotten to speak with or that on our own, we get information and shared stories from.

So that was one thing. And today I was able to be a part of a civic tour where students from around the county got to go all over Ventura County to meet leaders We started at the Ventura County Office of Education, where the superintendent of schools, Dr. Cesar Morales spoke to students. Also the chancellor, I'm going to forget his name. He also spoke to students then we went to Thousand Oaks City Hall and then Cal Lutheran. Then we were at Fillmore City Hall and ended here in Palacio. And then they went over to Oxnard College.

It was just amazing to see all of these young people engaged in wanting to know what their community offered as far as engagement and them being able to become part of making changes to policy that affect them, and how they could bring more resources to themselves and their peers in the areas that they live. Councilmember Chavez was there today at Palacio during lunch and he spoke to the students about community engagement and how important it is so that was Awesome to have.

Students is something that I think I'll always be passionate about and encouraging them as I sit here on council and before I was on the school board. I just wanted to share with community that our students are doing really cool things around the county, and today I got to be a part of something that I didn't even know we did this is the second time it happens so any youth that are here or listening just get as involved as you can ask the questions join our committees You're the ones that are going to be here after we are. And like I heard a student say today, they were concerned about if they were even going to be heard and I said well I'm not always going to be mobile enabled so what I try to do in my job is to make sure that whatever policies I'm part of putting in place or making changes to are things that are gonna be beneficial to me even when I'm not mobile enable and they're the ones that are sitting in these seats I'm just really proud of the students that I got to be around today, and I'm happy to be up here and to continue to inspire them in whatever way we can.

That's all. I'm sure I forgot something but thank you.

Thank you for representing the city as well as Councilmember Chavez. And I think I saw you Friday in Camarillo, you and Councilmember Chavez with Congresswoman

Brownlee? Yes, I also Attended a press conference where Council Member Brownlee and other community leaders spoke on the ICE detention center that's there on Cortez Circle, which happens to be two corners from the County Office of Education where I work. When I take a walk, I always go by that facility. And we didn't even realize it was that close to us until there was so much ice activity in the county.

But it was great to see how many of us were able to show up. I was fortunate enough that it was close to work where I was able to just walk over there, but I'm grateful for those that showed up and spoke and for all of us that just stood in support and the work that needs to be done That we've been a part of, that we've been fortunate enough to be a part of.

We'll continue to do it and continue to speak for those who can't and try to live by example not just in Like I'm an overly emotional person, but in doing it in my actions and then living up to what I believe is right for those that can't speak. And those that don't feel comfortable enough to, but to continue to support our community and those that need it the most.

Thank you Councilmember Ornelas. And Councilmember Chavez, I know usually give your Written report, but if there's anything time-sensitive or of importance to the community especially I saw you over there with Congresswoman Brownlee as well.

Yes, I stood alongside you and the Councilmember Ornelas at the press conference by Congresswoman Julia Brownlee. I most recently attended a lead conference. I'm serving on the Community Services Committee and there was really detailed explanation that was extremely clear about the impact HR1, which is a federal law that passed and the trickle-down effect that it's going to have on local communities. And so Mr. Mayor I'm going to provide you with information regarding the nonpartisan group that provided that detailed information because I think it's worth the community understanding what's going to happen when some of these things go into effect. A bulk majority of these changes happened in late 26 And 27. And so it's going to have a significant impact and as we're looking at the impact of what the hospital closure means for this community, not people losing health insurance and what that's going to do to our communities well-being is something that I believe everyone should know about and we can use this platform as an opportunity to share that information so people are aware of what's happening and how it's going to impact them.