City Council — April 15, 2026

Good evening members of the council and distinguished staff. So let's take a moment And be really together. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this community where we take time to honor people who bring special joy and recognition to our community The soccer team, our dispatcher of the year Christina and the things we celebrate art and culture in days like Arbor Day and organization that do good things for the world and particularly our community. And Lord there seems like there's so little peace anywhere I ask that there be peace now for the next couple of hours while we honor each other and celebrate good things.

And even as King David said, Lord hear my prayer to the ends of the earth I cry to you when my heart is faint. Hear my prayer and lead me to this strong tower where there is shelter and safety. Let people who live in Santa Paula feel safe and enjoy the life that you've provided for us. I ask blessings on our council as they deliberate hard things and our staff who helps prepare the work that they need to study.

Give us good and safe sleep tonight, and help us to make each day better for those around us. And I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you Chaplain Kaye. Vice Mayor Cross, I'll wait for you to lead us

in flag salute.

Madam Clerk, if we could have a roll call please.

All present

this evening. Thank you. Alright thank you. We'll go to item number five public comment and I have two public comment cards for Actually, wait a minute. Yeah okay all right we have two public comments to speakers first will be Richard Rudman followed by Joseph Beerhalter you have three minutes sir thank you.

I'll turn you back some time Mayor Juarez, Vice-Mayor Crosswhite council staff and fellow Santa Paulans as most of you know a coalition of community sponsors We'll host the first Cruise Night of 2026 on 1st Friday, May 1. I'm Richard Rudman representing the Board of Directors of the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has been working with the city on several new features for Cruise Night. I am going to mention a couple of them. One is a way for businesses to sign up for paid 10 by 10 spaces during Cruise Night Another is a way for non-profit organizations to sign up for free 10 by 10 spaces If you're interested, please email the chamber at info at santa paula dot com. The Santa Paula Chamber all run together dot com.

Our operations manager will get back to you on e-mail with the information you need to sign up for either business or non profit spaces. Again, e-mail us at info at santa paula chamber dot com and I thank you very much for your time tonight.

Thank you Mr. Redman. Next we have Joseph Bierhalter

Good evening. Good evening, Council.

I

want to make this clear. This has nothing to do with cannabis but everything to do with the sanctity of our democratic process. Allowing or not allowing a cannabis dispensary is not going to affect my life just like yours. If you're making decisions on topics due to personal viewpoints or worried what a colleague or member of your church might think that's poor governance I believe in the democratic process, which should not be applied selectively based on personal viewpoints or social pressures.

If this council supports a public vote for sales tax increases it should maintain the same level of transparency and consistency for other significant citywide topics. You cannot pick and choose when the citizens voice matter based on whether the topic is comfortable for you personally. To ensure that the governance of Santa Paula remains responsive to the entire community and not just a small sample size or a vocal few, I am requesting for the third time that City Council take the appropriate steps that term limits for city council be placed on a future agenda.

Let the public voice their opinion. Let this council discuss and debate it, and then let the record show where each member stands on the future of our local democracy. And with that thank you for your time.

Thank You Mr. Beerhalter we now

so Pedro Chavez Oliver Jacobo Michael Zamora Manuel Gonzalez.

Abel Duran. Jesus Nadia. John Rodriguez. And Javier Aguinaga. Iker

Ramirez, Nilo Sisumbo, and Alan Padua.

Roberto Garcia, Daniel Mendez, Pedro Torres and Eric Cervantes.

All right all those used here in the room? Most of them? All right, well here's what we'd like to do. I don't know if there's enough room for everybody to be down there so why don't we invite all the youths to come up here on the dais and they can stand right here on the dais and we'll give them their certificates and if the parents or anybody want to take a photo. So have them join us up here.

Who's Oliver? Oliver? Oliver. Here you go, hold that up for me. That was perfect. Michael? Michael. Suze? Nadia? Is that how you say your last name? Yeah.

Who is... Is

Manuel here? Okay, we'll give it to the coach. Who's the captain? Give that to... Was who John as captain? Me and John.

Okay. Yeah, there you go. Right up in the microphone. Me?

All right, let's give another round of applause.

Yes, now we have some for the staff too. The coaches so I think they all said the same thing Yeah. Okay, well it goes without saying that you know we have some phenomenal youth in our city but we also have phenomenal coaches and teachers and assistants and everyone else and they shouldn't go without recognition as well so we have some certificates and so I'm going to read them And the body of the certificate is the same, but the names are different. So let me read this. This is a Certificate of Recognition presented to Maggie Yepe, AYSO staff, Santa Paula AYSO 14U Boys Team.

In recognition of your outstanding leadership Dedication and commitment to the Santa Paula AYSO 14-U Boys team culminating in a historic first place finish at the Western States Championship. Your guidance, support and unwavering belief in these young athletes helped shape not only a championship team but a group that represents the pride, resilience and spirit of our community. Your efforts have made a lasting impact on the lives of these players and have brought great honor to the City of Santa Paula. On behalf of the City Council, Carlos Suarez Mayor. So again this is for Maggie Yepe.

We also have a certificate with the same language on it for AYSO staff Victor Hernandez. Also presented to Regional Commissioner Santa Paula AYSO 14U Boys Team Yolanda Beltran Assistant coach Santa Paula AYSO 14U Boys Team, Christian Villa. And last but not least head coach Santa Paula AYSO 14 boys team, Pedro Duran. So again if we can have everybody's name was mentioned come on up we'll take another picture with you folks

They're our future.

Hopefully this

breaks ice and has more kids want to pursue something like this. All right, let's give them all a big round of applause. Well thank you again to everybody who made this happen in Mayor City, put us on the map again. Okay this next recognition is going to be... oh I'm sorry go ahead sorry

I know we've all had the chance to say congratulations, but I just have to step in here because I was a soccer mom and an ASOS soccer mom with three boys for 14 years. So I know how much work it is, how much dedication, and how important it is to the kids and what it does for their lives. And so now luckily I have grandkids also doing the same. It can't be done without the coaches and the support of the families, getting everybody to their practices in time and bringing the snacks and the schedules and all of that. And so it's quite an accomplishment. I really understand what all you go through and I just congratulate you all for all your success win or lose but especially with the win.

I just want to say how proud I am to be part of a community that cares so much about our young people. We are a community that grows champions, we've seen so much recognition for our youth sports, the soccer fields, now you guys are able to have a nice new park to play in, to grow in and as a community we so appreciate all the coaches for all their time and attention to our young people especially because they're our future and we got to focus on making sure they have a better one.

Thank you Council Member Chavez. Council Member Nellis?

I'll just add congratulations, you all should be very proud of yourselves the players parents it takes a lot so i'm very proud of you as a councilwoman but also as just a community member it's really exciting for...I hope you guys feel it all of you boys and coaches feel that There is pride behind you all from your community, and I'm happy that as a council we're recognizing you. And I hope that you carry this with you throughout anything you do in sports or in your life. This is a really great recognition and I hope that it stays with you in a positive way and keep doing what you're doing. Congratulations!

I mean, I think pretty much everything has been said but just again grateful for all of the parents who support their young people. For the coaches that show up it just makes such a big difference and in the lives of these young people to have that good example and so grateful for all of you and such an honor that we could recognize this achievement. We've always known that Santa Paula is a special place and now the whole region gets to know that too. So thank you

Well, the youths and the coaches have gotten recognition. But again it goes without saying that behind every successful young guy is our great set of parents and friends and family. So again thank you to the parents and friends and family that helped these young people get to this point we really appreciate it. Okay we go on to item 6B which is dispatcher of the year Cristina de la Mora so this week Chief, did you want to say something first? Sure.

Go

ahead

Mayor. Well just on top of this recognition to our dispatcher of the year I just want to mention that this week is also National Public Safety Telecommunications Week which means it covers all aspects of the dispatching telecommunication system of all police departments and so we just want to make sure that everybody knows that this week is special as well

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council Members and all of our viewing audience. I'm honored to be here tonight once again to recognize one of our Public Safety Dispatchers. Every year we select a Dispatcher of the Year based on their exemplary performance, how they handle calls with the public, how they handle calls in emergency situations, and how they are the lifeline for not only our community but our officers. And as you see here tonight, we have our officers are here, we have dispatchers here in the audience, Our dispatcher in the Dispatch Center is watching on TV right now because it's really important for us to recognize all of the outstanding work that they do.

If I can invite Cristina de la Mora up here, really quick? Christina was nominated by her peers and supervisors for this award, and I'm very proud that she was selected. And tomorrow night she joins a list of other dispatchers from all law enforcement agencies in the county for a Dispatcher of the Year special event where she will receive additional recognition along with the other dispatchers.

These dispatchers, these public safety dispatchers are the master multitaskers of any job I know of and they're truly to be commended for being able to do numerous things at once. Calling the fire department when an emergency comes through, getting emergency traffic over the radio when our officers are in need of help And also for those who have medical emergencies or need immediate assistance, or those who are frantic calling 901 needing to talk to someone that can help them immediately and quickly. And that's what epitomizes all of our public safety dispatchers. Our dispatchers have been fully staffed for over two and a half years. We love having them. They take care of us every day, and we provided them each gifts today to show our appreciation as a department for the amazing work they do.

So I would like to present Christina with our annual award. This is to Dispatcher Christina De La Mora in honor of your outstanding service to the community. So congratulations. There you go.

Thank you.

Dispatchers

right

here

taking care of business as usual.

So this is a certificate of recognition from the Santa Paula City Council and In recognition of exemplary achievement in being selected as a Santa Paula Police Department Dispatcher of the Year, your inspirational efforts supports the public safety commitment of dedicated services to our community. All dispatchers are a vital component as a lifeline to our citizens and our police officers every minute of every day. We honor you and our dispatcher team during this week recognized as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week Thank you for your service in proudly representing our community. I, Carlos Huerta, Mayor of the City of Santa Paula and on behalf of the City Council and the community of the City of Santa Paula praise and recognize Cristina de la Mora, Santa Paula Police Regent Public Safety Dispatcher of the Year this Wednesday April 15th 2026.

Congratulations!

You want to join us for

a

second?

Comments from Council?

Yeah, I'd like to make a comment regarding this recognition and You know Christina you you serve the community in the communities here and has your back right? And I want to acknowledge you. I know it's sometimes uncomfortable To receive praise and be able to take those words in that are being said by others but you've you're paving the way for other young people to look at you as a positive role model and And we have so many young people in the room, so thank you for what you're doing to serve our community through your public service. And to all the young people out there, this is one person you want to aspire to be one day because Christina is being recognized for being an extraordinary individual working in her capacity as a dispatcher.

There's a lot of opportunities we have and we have a wonderful team here at the City of Santa Paula, so thank you again for what you do and to inspire our young people to achieve and follow dreams.

Thank you, Mayor. When I first got on council some five years ago or so, I got a tour of all the different departments. I have to say that dispatch department is probably one of the most impressive because you've got all those screens and talk about multitasking it's just pretty amazing to watch how you work there And then as we've improved systems, then you have to learn all the new systems and adapt to those and still take care of the public. So it's just amazing job and if you're honored by your peers as the best of the best I just congratulate you it's amazing.

I'll just add to that by congratulating you again for your work. I've sat in in dispatch way back in the day when I interned with the police department, but I've also visited since it is definitely not an easy job and I do not envy your job at all. Multitasking is an understatement for the things that come in and what you have to do, and how quickly you have to respond because there is lives on the line sometimes or a lot of times.

So I'm glad that this is getting recognized in this space so that our community members like myself who haven't met you can know who you are and know that we have wonderful people that are going to pick up that phone when we call and we need help So thank you for the work that you do and the skills that you have, and putting them to work here in our community.

And like Councilmember Chavez said your community supports you we support the work that the department does and so congratulations I hope that your family feels as proud as we all do and keep doing what you're doing

When someone needs to call, you hope you never have to call. But when someone needs to call the dispatchers are the first ones that they talk to and I know sometimes they're calm but sometimes they're very anxious depending on what's happened or what's going on and in addition to all of the multitasking and everything you're meeting them there in that space and it's a really critically important It's a it's great that we can honor you.

Well, it's great to see some of our co-workers and officers here. The Chiefs and Commanders as well. When I was a police officer, I also had the opportunity to work dispatch. I'd work an occasional graveyard shift and it could easily go from zero to 100. Do any of the officers ever have to work relief when the dispatcher takes a break? Isn't that like the most terrifying 5, 10, 15 minutes that you'll experience?

You can't wait till she gets back, right? Anyway, Christina on behalf of the Santa Paula City Council congratulations to you and your family. Thank you very much we're going to move on now to item 6C which is art and culture and creativity month proclamation Tracy, would you like to say something before I read the proclamation?

Yes. Actually, I don't know how this goes. There are 13 of us we'd like recognized. Would you like to read the proclamation first and then I'll list the group? Thank you.

That sounds good. We'll give a few seconds for our room to clear out of 90%. Thank you again everyone. Thank you. Okay, this next item is Item 6C Arts, Culture and Creativity Month Proclamation. This proclamation Arts, Culture and Creativity month April 2026. Whereas Arts, Culture and Creativity Month in April marks the eighth annual statewide celebration first established by the California Legislature in 2019. And whereas a city recognizes that arts culture and creativity are essential public goods vital for the health and growth of thriving communities. And whereas arts culture and creativity bring joy by uniting communities inspiring individuals and celebrating the richness of our cities diversity and Whereas art, culture and creativity inspire action that drives positive change and strengthens the social fabric of our communities.

And whereas arts, culture and creativity power our city's capacity to address community challenges including advancing equity inclusion and access and whereas arts Culture and creativity shape neighborhood character, attract tourism, foster civic pride, and contribute to public safety and social well-being. Whereas creativity sparks innovation, produces youth with a well rounded education, and equips our future workforce with critical skills and civic values. And whereas arts culture and creativity significantly enhances the quality of life for adults, seniors, people with disabilities, and their caregivers who are often part of marginalized populations. And whereas arts, culture and creativity drive local economic growth, stimulate business activity, create jobs and workforce opportunities and serve as essential pillars for small businesses.

And whereas over 16,000 arts and culture nonprofits support more than 800,000 jobs and generate $289 billion representing 7.5% of the state's economy. And whereas California is the fifth largest economy in the world With a creative economy of approximately 261 billion and 847,688 jobs in 2022. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and whereas the city values the positive economic, social and aesthetic impacts that its creative community and cultural organization contribute to the city and its residents, and whereas the city identified arts culture and entertainment as one of its six strategic categorical areas in its 2025-2027 And whereas the city honors and celebrates the unique ways that its arts, culture, nonprofits serve the community and provide access of creative self-expression to its residents as well as to local artists and performers.

And whereas these collective efforts at the local regional and state levels promote innovation prosperity equity and enrich the lives of all Californians. And now therefore it be resolved the City Council of Santa Paula State of California Hereby proclaims April 2026 and every April thereafter as Arts, Culture & Creativity Month and encourages all residents to join in the celebration. Passing adopted by the City Council of the City of Santa Paula this 15th day of April 2026 Carlos Juarez Mayor City of Santa Paula. Congratulations to you!

On behalf of the Santa Paula Arte and Cultura Collective, we're a new group formed to support and strengthen Santa Paula's artists and cultural organizations. We'd love to honor the 13 arts and culture organizations that support and serve our community, of which leaders are here. And I don't know if you want them all up in the dais but I would love to introduce them to the community.

Call you out and come up as I call. You'll be amazed to learn that collectively this group, I'm going to read them off in terms of order of when they were formed their ages but collectively they've supported contributed 399 years of producing experiences and knitting the fabric of our communities together. And so I'm gonna start first from our youngest The Ventura County Science Center, Marcus Erickson and Anna Cummings formed in 2022. DeColores Multicultural Arts. I don't know if folks want to stand up when they're announced so we see you.

Multicultural Folk Arts Vanessa Acosta formed in 2020. The Cole Creativity Center. Gabe Islas is here and Janice Allen formed in 2018. The House of Magic, James LaTeniere formed in 2012. The Agricultural Museum, Lori Beth Gregory Beck and Lisa Pinonen are here formed in 2011 Santa Paula Arts Museum, Jennifer Heighton is here. Formed in 2010. The Huitzilan Wakan Cultural Center, Francisco Arias formed in 2005 and the Santa Paula Theater Center formed in 1985. I'm not sure we've got folks here. Danza Azteca Tonantzin de Santa Paula, Raimundo Pineda and Crystal Luna formed in 1984 And the Santa Paula Historical Society, Jennifer representing as well, Hayton formed in 1977. The Santa Paula Society of the Arts formed in 1968. The Blanchard Library formed in 1910, Maisha Olsen and Justin are here.

And Los Chinelos is another group I'm not sure if a representative came and I don't know what year they were formed. But I share those dates just to illustrate every one of those organizations is a village in its own. A group of people devoting hours of labor to our community, to knit the fabric together, to weave our social and cultural lives and just really want to recognize them as a labor force.

The artists, the culture bearers, the leaders and administrators and workers that make all of this happen largely volunteer on a volunteer basis. So just really want to honor their contributions to Santa Paula today. Thank you.

Thank you Tracy would anybody besides yourself would anybody else want to make a comment from that group?

Yeah with anyone else like to contribute comments I couldn't hear your oh there's Sorry, Judy. I didn't see you. Judy Clement with Society of the Arts. I'm sorry. Was the invitation? I couldn't hear you over there.

Yeah. If any individual wants to come up on that particular, any of the groups. Yeah, would anyone like to say a word? All right. We're going to put everybody on the spot. We're going to clear the dais again and bring everybody up so. Fantastic. Oh, James! Yeah, including James.

Magic from the trap door.

Everybody.

I will, I know I'm

short.

Here, all go down. All

go down. Look at this amazing rainbow.

How many years? 399 years. Come on in! You're in the front row. There you go. Okay. I have a couple cameras here, are y'all ready?

Yes. All you people in the back make sure your faces can see my camera.

I will say create. That'll give us teeth. You just give us a count, Clerk Judy. Give us one two three.

Sorry. Thank you all very much.

Good job, man. Do you want to read the

ARBOR DAY one?

Take care, thank you.

Take care. Take care, thank you.

Okay, we're back here. We're going to

Good evening everyone. Mayor Juarez, thank you for this proclamation today On behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department and the Commission I'm happy to be here Celebrating Arbor Day is a testament to the department's commitment of beautifying Santa Paula and the work that Director Barnes and his team puts The work that they put in it really shows This is such a celebrating our day so important That we are in fact celebrating our fifth year as a certified tree city Yes, yay. So with that being said as a tree city I would like to invite the public to our Arbor Day celebration next Friday April 24th at 10am which will be at Glen City School but it is open to the public.

We are also extending the poetry contest for our youth, which is elementary through high school. That deadline has been extended through Monday so anyone who wants to submit a poem can still do so by sending that to the Parks and Recreation Department. I would like to extend my deep thanks to Abel who is here with us and Uli, who is not here tonight. They along with Greg Barnes put in so much time and effort into really honoring the two for one program where any tree that is taken out they plant two in its place. So thank you to the Parks and Recreation Department for that.

I think we also had Ulysses Valenzuela, if he's here and or Abel Duque. Do you want to speak? That's it?

I'm the lucky representative.

Well thank you very much and we're going to go ahead and read the proclamation.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll give you a little break in reading. Proclamation Arbor Day 2026. Whereas in 1872 the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world, and whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air. producing life-giving oxygen and providing habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products.

And whereas our trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal Now therefore, I Carlos Juarez Mayor of the City of Santa Paula do hereby proclaim April 24th as Arbor Day in the city of Santa Paula and I urge all residents to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. And further, I urge all residents to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations dated this 15th day of April 26th and signed Carlos Juarez Mayor.

Thank you. All right, thank you. We're going to come down

and take

a picture of you.

Any comments from Council? For the park across the street, Yeah, let's finish up with our discussion or quick any comments from staff on the harbor. The proclamation. Just again we're just thankful to

Just appreciate all staff does for that program, and I know the you know we have the grid with all the trees We don't where every tree is in in the city And they know which ones are sick and which are well and are really tending to that so I just Appreciate that so much and again that two-to-one Program when we lose one we make an effort to plant too. It's just awesome. Thank

All right, thank you very much We'd already passed public comment, and yours is just general comments, sir, that you wanted to make?

It's just something that it kind of... How do I say this? Because I see a lot of kids like across the street. They get off the bus and they go to the restroom. I go to the restroom there and there's no toilet paper ever I understand there's people that go in there and do drugs and stuff. I don't use drugs, but one of the city workers is very good about putting paper.

It's because when you have to go to the restroom and there's nothing there to... How do I say this? Wipe your behind? But there's never, there's never paper. If it could just be addressed to the city worker, his name is Raul. Sometimes he'll only open the women's side and then he'll leave the men's side closed. I don't ever want to walk into a A female restroom.

But sometimes, like you know I'm in a hardship right now to be honest with you but it's just like man just put some paper in there man. You know but that that's my apologies uh that's that's my only um my complaint

All right, well we appreciate it. And if I could just ask the city manager to get a hold of our Parks and Rec Department. I know this is chasing, a chasing problem that we constantly do because you know one inconsiderate person could go in there and get rid of all of it and then leaves it empty so again it's something just if our staff could just kind of keep an eye on it. Thank you very much for your comments sir.

All

right have a good night thank you hope you didn't mind me allowing him to speak but Okay, next time we're going to go to is item 6E, Interface Children and Family Presentation. This will be presented by Gerardo Gonzalez, Community Information Associate Director. Good evening, Gerardo.

Good evening Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Council Members and City Manager. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm here to share how 211 has been supporting Santa Paula residents throughout this past year For those who may be unfamiliar with our services, 2-1-1 operates as a program under Interface Children and Family Services. As a countywide information and referral hub, linking residents to more than 2,000 health and human service resources throughout the region. In 2025 we received over 18,000 calls and texts county-wide in our website welcomed more than 25,000 visitors.

Each of these interactions represent someone finding their way to the services that they need. In 2026 we celebrate over 20 years of providing two on one services to the community 211 represents just one part of Interface's comprehensive mission. Interface runs 30 distinct programs across six core departments, as displayed here on the screen. This broader network allows us to connect callers directly to other Interface programs suited to their situations.

211 stands as the county's most extensive information referral resource for residents seeking help. Our team assists callers in locating and accessing the services that they require from housing to food program, mental health support to legal services we're available 24-7 every day of the year understanding that urgent needs don't wait for convenient hours Before I continue, I want to acknowledge that over this past year Santa Paula has invited 211 to participate in your immigration forum committee.

You considered 211 to be an important part of supporting the community and we're honored to be part of those conversations and to provide comprehensive immigration resources. I share this because it reflects something fundamental about who 2-1-1 is and always has been. We are a free, confidential, nonjudgmental and impartial service dedicated to connecting people with the help they need based on availability and need. Our role is not to judge. It's to guide. And we're here to help anyone who calls regardless of their circumstances and connect them to the services that are available to them.

Accessibility is central to our mission. Residents can connect with us in three simple methods. That's by calling 2-1-1, 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 train community information navigators. Now I'd like to share some specific data about how we serve Santa Paula residents in 2025. We took 680 calls from Santa Paula residents throughout the year.

Let me give you some context around this figure, a significant number of our Santa Paula callers reach out to us more than once So the actual count of unique individuals is lower than the 680 calls that we received. What this shows us is that residents trust 2-1-1 enough to come back when they need additional support. Someone might contact us initially about finding housing, give us a call back a few weeks later if they need job search help and perhaps A third call 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, 264 were first time callers to 211. 94 were families with children under five years old. 14 callers indicated the person in need was pregnant. 32 calls pertained to someone who reported that they were at risk of homelessness at the time of the call and 45 calls pertain to someone who was currently experiencing homelessness, and again this could be kind of some of the same people calling us multiple times. That doesn't necessarily mean there's 45 individuals you know who are currently homeless at this time These numbers give us a snapshot of the challenges facing some of our Santa Paula neighbors, particularly around housing stability and economic security in terms of 211 calls.

Behind each of these calls is a real person navigating a difficult situation. Let me share an example with you, earlier this year we received the call from a Santa Paula resident let's call her Lola who was facing a crisis that affected her entire family She'd been laid off from her job and while she was collecting unemployment benefits, it wasn't enough to cover all of her bills.

She fell behind on rent and received an eviction notice. She has two children and she was desperately trying to figure out how to keep a roof over their heads while also making sure they had food on the table. When Lola called 211 our navigator recognized she needed support on multiple levels We connected her to emergency rental assistance programs to help us address her immediate housing need, referred her to food pantries and helped her enroll in CalFresh to ensure they had food and linked her with employment services to help her get back to work as quickly as possible.

When someone loses their job it doesn't just affect their income it creates a ripple effect touching housing, food security, child care and overall family stability 211 is here to help families navigate all of those challenges at once. When we look at the top categories Expressed by Santa Paula Callers, housing ranked number one. No surprise there. Second was income support and assistance reflecting the economic pressures some families are facing. Third was individual family and community support encompassing services like the Area Agency on Aging, case management, and programs like holiday gifts and toys.

This slide here shows how Santa Paula compares to other cities in the county. As you can see, housing is the top need across every community. You know this is a county-wide challenge not unique to Santa Paula. What Santa Paula shares with cities like Oxnard, Fillmore and Simi Valley is the prominence of income support as a second highest need. These communities are calling about economic stability, jobs, income assistance and financial support programs. This tells us something important about the specific economic pressures some Santa Paula residents are facing.

And then lastly, beyond linking residents to existing resources we operate several specialized programs delivering direct services through the phone for residents through VITA. Our volunteer income tax assistance program we offer appointments no cost tax preparation 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 shut offs This is in partnership with Southern California Edison.

These initiatives allow us to offer hands-on assistance to some of our most vulnerable residents. in the community. I appreciate your time this evening, thank you so much for your continued support over the work that 2-1-1 does here in Santa Paula and if you or someone you know ever needs assistance please remember that 2- 1-1 is here 24 7. You could reach us by calling texting or visiting our website. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much Mr. Gonzales any council member have any questions of Mr. Gonzalez?

I have a question real

quick. Go ahead

Mr. Mayor. Can you share if there has been An increased number of calls tied to immigration issues?

No, not currently. Not an increased number but we're seeing a steady number of requests so those are still coming in. So were able to share the resources that we have currently and One of the main places that we have those resources available is through 201now.com, but the community can call. We could provide that over the phone or through text as well. So what we're seeing right now is somewhat of a steady number of requests, but nothing where it's been significantly high.

Thanks for sharing that.

Thank you. Other council members? Council Member O'Connell.

I know this wasn't part of your presentation, but how are you funded?

So we're funded in part by city partnerships and support. And then so our 2-1-1 department actually serves over 32 counties in California, and we actually also serve Lake County Illinois which is south of Chicago. So yeah that's in part one of the reasons. We are contracted through United Ways throughout the state counties throughout the state. So we cover kind of over half of the counties in California, so that's probably done here in Ventura County and then we also as I was explaining around those special projects our funding comes through some of those special projects like SCE so that's a big partnership that we have so every time there's a PSPS event were activated and we're 24-7 and residents can call us and we can Provide those offerings.