I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm going to use the other creamers. All right here we go. Going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Welcome to the Palmdale City Council. Madam Clerk, may we go ahead and go roll call please. Mayor Bishop. Here. Mayor Pro Temlowa. Here. Council members Olsen. Here. Betten Court. Here. Adafron. Here. And commissioners Fragestain. Here. And Betts.'s here we have a form. All right thank you very much that takes us to item number three the pledge of allegiance followed by a move in silence and I'm gonna out that we're adjourning the meeting tonight in honor of firefighter Andrew Pontius mayor pro-time low can you lead us in the pledge yes sir thank you thank you much this your head or your heart and repeat. Unknown caller. A pleasure, lead just to the line of the United States of America and to the Republic, where it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, along the silenced bridge. Unknown caller. Thank you. All right, City Manager, are there any items to pull from the agenda tonight? No, ma'am. Okay. All right. City clerk, we're going to move on to public comments. City clerk, can you go ahead and read the public comment code of conduct into the record, please? Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention. The meeting of the Palmdale City Council is now in order. A code of conduct will now be read and we request that you comply with it to ensure the efficient administration of the meeting. Members of the public, is your right to participate in today's City Council meeting and the council encourages such participation. However, the right of the public to address the council must be balanced with the need to ensure that public comment does not interfere with the orderly course of the council's business. All are reminded to abide by the following rules. Speakers must see speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. General public comment is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the council. Public comment does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with council members or staff. Please remain respectful of the form and refrain from uttering, writing, or displaying profane, personal, threatening, derogatory, demeaning, or other abusive statements towards the council. Any member there are staff or any other person. Members of the audience should be respectful of the views expressed by speakers, staff, and council members and may not excessively clap, cheer, whistle, or otherwise disrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting. Any person engaging in conduct that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the council meeting. Finally, if you witness conduct or behavior by other members of the public that disrupts your ability to remain engaged or participate in this meeting, please notify city staff. Thank you for your cooperation. Before we go to public comment, Mayor, I would move item 6.1 and 7.1 to the beginning of the meeting after the public comments. Okay. Do you have consensus from the council? That's fine with me. Okay, let's see if we have a lot of people here tonight for those items. Okay. Do you have consensus from the council? Yes, I would be. Okay. I see we have a lot of people here tonight for those items. So we'll go through public comment and then we'll move those two items forward. Yeah. And for everyone's information, that's basically the budget that we're going to be discussing tonight. We'll do it up front. Thank you. Do we need to move 6.1 with it? No. We're just going to move 7. Just 7.1 is for it. Madam Clerk, do you have any comments? Public Michigan to speak on these items? Now is the time for public participation on the consent calendar, section 5. The joint consent calendar, section 6 closed session section 12 and there are no no speaker cards for those items here no speaker cards Let's go ahead There's a question of the budget forward. There are 15 consent calendar items. Another like a lot of staff members who are here to present on those items in the case that they get pulled. Or narrowly we don't pull many of those items. I would just suggest that we run through the consent calendar quickly and then move to the budget if possible. If that's the will of the council. I have a request that we do what the consent is already agreed to and go forward to the budget if possible if that's the will of the council. I have a request that we do what the consensus already agreed to and go forward to the Senate point one please. Okay. Do we have consensus that we want to move the budget forward? Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I just see the consent taking longer and we're obviously in support of the budget. Let's do that. Okay. So that's going to take us to item that. Okay. So that's going to take us to item 7.1. That's going to be the joint public hearing. So City Clerk, can you please read the resolution, titles into the record please. A joint resolution of the City Council of the City of Palmdale, CC 2024-064. Also this Excessional Agency SA 2024-1012, Palmdale Civic Authority PCA 2024-2024-001, POMDEL Financing Authority PAA 2024-2023, a joint resolution of the approving legislative bodies, approving and adopting the City of POMDEL's annual budget for fiscal year 2024-25, and approving revenue and expenditure adjustments to fiscal year 2023-24. Also we have two more, three more resolution, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Palmdale, which is CC 2024-0066, amending the city's classification and pay for the general positions, a resolution of the city council, of the city of Palmdale, that's CC 2024-067, of the city of Palmdale, amending the city's classification and pay plan for bargaining unit positions, and CC 2024-068, a resolution of the city council, of the city of Palmville, meaning the city's classification and pay for parts and recreation on benefited positions. Thank you, Madam Clerk. You certainly have your work at Offer You Tonight. Now, yeah. Okay. All right. The question for the city attorney. Yeah. May we make a motion to adopt this resolution before public testimony? And do we take public testimony and then make a motion? You'll want the testimony first, sir. Well, thank you. Okay, do we need a staff report or can we go right into the public hearing and receive testimony? Testimony? Okay, let's go ahead and hear from the public. We have people here wishing today to speak on the off budget or item 7.1. We have no speaker cards for that item. Shocking. Okay. We'll be closely here if I'll be carrying. All right. Motion to close the public hearing. So council discussion or a motion or a second to adopt the resolution. I will make a motion to adopt the resolution as has been read and I'm 7.1 okay. We have a motion from Mary Prattemboa I'll second I have a second from Froggisons. Thank you. Let's go ahead and vote. Oh you know what? We need to have discussion of course. Yes and before that actually we're gonna bifurcate the vote so we're going to do a housing vote and then we're ready to second vote with council So that motion and second right there is for the housing authority. Okay portion of that so discussion Okay, so clarity what what are we discussing right now? This would be the motion and second to adopt resolution for the housing authority For the budget for the housing authority. Oops. For the budget for the housing authority. So that we can then dismiss the commissioners? Yes, after we make our vote, I think they might have one more thing you to vote on, but after that they will excuse them. All right, I don't know. Okay, I don't have any discussion on the housing authority component. Okay, all right, so I'm'll call for a question then on the first thing. All right, let's go ahead and vote. Start voting. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. All right, that takes us to the resolution CC202464 and the rest of the budget So move to a doubt that portion of the budget same process. We have a motion by mayor Second by councilmember Olson. Let's go ahead and have a discussion I think we've reviewed this We've reviewed this publicly before and we've had discussions with the Finance Director with staff, including the City Manager. We've reviewed this. It sounds as to me, at least it's a sound budget that's being proposed by staff and there's some starting examples there because of some deficit but I believe we've got reserves to cover that if I might be standing as that's how we're going to handle that. I appreciate that we have representatives here from the workforce and that we stand with the public union that represents you. We want to do everything possible to make sure that you get the compensation and the benefits that you're entitled to. I wish we could do more. We're always looking for more to preserve our workforce across the board. Whether they're represented or not represented. But I'm very happy to see that you all are here. I appreciate you being here. I believe the rest of the council does as well. And I think it's a sound budget. I think you should adopt it. It is. I agree. It's a budget that reflects a healthy city. If you look at it, it's over a little over half a billion dollars. It's $530 million budget, which is actually incredible for a city our size. And if you look at the cities in Southern California, the cities around us, it's not even comparable in some aspects. But it really is a testament to how our city is thriving. I appreciate the staff. It certainly is a lot of work that staff is taking on and accomplishing on a day-to-day basis. This council appreciates that. We see what everyone is out there doing. And I think it's definitely a good budget for the city and it's going of lead us into the future with a lot of bright promising options. I just want to thank the city manager and staff. I know that it's a long tedious hard process, but I think we did great. The fact that so many people came out to support the budget means that your departments felt heard. And to support the budget means that your departments felt heard. And with that, I support it. So it's a beautiful thing to come out here. I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised to come out and see all of these. Or insured to you guys really are the heart of this city. Men and women are the heart of this city. You keep our city functioning. Keep our city beautiful. The unsung heroes of the city. So thank you for all that you do on a daily basis. You guys are kind of behind the scenes oftentimes, which you guys are out there 24 hour on call response. You guys are there when we need you and the constituents submit requests for graffiti abatement or illegal dumping. You guys are responsive and so for that we owe you guys a debt of gratitude so thank you guys for being here and for all of your hard work consistently throughout the course of the year. Absolutely you got Teamsters 911 has my wholehearted support and the class and pay rezos. I never had any question that I was going to support them. So to be clear, you've got my support hands down. I do, unfortunately, want to just make a brief statement. And if the council could indulge me there after, we can dig into a few issues, but just if I could just have a few minutes to just make my statement. We as council members were all briefed on the budget. In fact, Mayor Bishop and I were briefed together on May 7. During that briefing, I asked questions and requested follow-up information, and it's unfortunate that I have to report that since that briefing, I have received nothing. This past Monday I had a follow-up briefing and I reiterated my request for more detailed information on the budget. I was told by our city manager that she would get right on it. And yet, as of this meeting, almost two months after my initial requests, I still have not received one email or one document responsive to my questions. For many reasons, this is incredibly troubling, but unfortunately this denial of access to information on matters that I'm responsible for voting on at this Dias have been ongoing for quite some time. I don't know if the same is true for the other Council members, but this has been my experience. In order for me to make informed decisions on this budget, I simply need more information. So not having received it prior to this meeting, I have no choice but to request the opportunity to inquire of our city staff on certain issues. Some of them are fairly benign and I think would garner support from the council. I've gone through line by line meticulously all of the budgetary documentation that I've been afforded that is publicly available. But the follow up information that I requested I did not get, so I would like to be able to have answers to those questions here today if the council would oblige that. What kind of questions did you have? I've been in City Hall and I mean there's a 38 page talking here that tells us the budget but I'm just jumping right in I'm ready to work let's go okay so the easy one council member Olsen and I have been working on this one on their original. Let's jump right in and ready to work. Let's go. Okay. So the easy one, Council Member Olson and I have been working on this one. Dominic Misari, a couple of months ago we heard from the Palmville Youth Soccer League. They came in, a bunch of beautiful kids came in with signs. They said, you know, some of their signs said, can you see us? We can't see. They were advocating for lighting at Dominic Massari. They also voiced concerns about the public safety of the restrooms at Dominic Massari. They were saying that at night, when they have practice, soccer practice, their little girls and little boys are scared to go in to use the restroom and making comments of that sort. That's concerning to me. It was concerning to Council Member Olson. It's his district. I think we all have voiced concern jointly as a council and we promised that youth league that we were going to deliver on their concerns and their requests. The budget, as I have read and have inquired with our city manager, it contains in a measuring B budget. We guys like to look at its page 19 of our budget. It includes the money in appropriation for the sports field lighting. But there is no appropriation for the bathroom. The requisite bathroom repairs. We don't want to, I don't want to create, you know, havoc in the budget. So, but I would like to deliver on our promise to the kids. And so I think Council Member Olson and I were talking and sort of thinking through brainstorming on this that we can address this now and ensure. I remember that wasn't even the first time we discussed that. We've discussed it on the diast, the Dominic Missouri bathrooms, the Desert Sand bathrooms. It's a shame, and I'm sure a lot of the staff here know it's difficult to keep things nice because we go in, we fix it up, we clean it up, and then boom graffiti, and analyze the next day. Nonetheless, I still agree we need to make sure we offer good quality facilities for our residents. I know we have money in measure AV, we have probably over a million dollars of, I guess, unregulated funds. But without getting too much into the weeds, I know that it's priority, priorities that we do stuff like that. Great, I'm glad to hear that you agree. I, I, look, it's to the city manager's discretion. I think we've talked, we don't, I don't want it to help into the details in which pot the money should come from. What Councilmemberlson and I were talking about in thinking through was the possibility of allocating a very small amount, 10,000, 25,000 immediately and the city manager can determine where that comes from and incorporate it into this budget to make immediate repairs, to make sure the lighting fixtures are working as light bulbs, to make sure the locks and the doors are functioning, to make sure the sinks and the fixtures, other fixtures, the soap dispenses are working, just to make sure that locks and the doors are functioning to make sure the sinks and the other fitted the soap dispensers are working just to make sure that they're functional. If we want to do a long-term needs assessment and maybe a full rehab of the restrooms, we could do that as a long-term thing. I think that's part of it anyway, but she probably has a more elaborate answer. So we are in the midst of finishing up the Parks Master Plan, which does an assessment of every single park and every single facility, and that will be brought before you in the very near future with a status of where each facility lands and how we prioritize fixing and repairing. But also in addition to that, if you look at the Measure A, B budget, there is a line item that says general park and firmness. It's an allocation of $1.512 million. That is this exact use as we identify things. We spend money on this. This could be done for curbs. I'm sorry. Sidewalks. It can be done for trees. We can use it for a plethora of things. Pignac Benches, trash cans, lighting, all of that. That's where this we come up and that's already been done. Right. It's more of a macro overview of the budget when it comes to stuff like that. Yeah, so that's a general line item and again I have requested detailed information as to what that big number was going to include. Rhonda you specifically told me that there were there were no allocations for the restrooms. I'm happy to hear that there is room in the budget to incorporate it. I just want to make sure that it's part of the record and that we know that as part of this adopted budget, that we are going to deliver safe restrooms, a dominant, sorry, for the Pond of Use Soccer League and for all those that utilize the park. But that to reinforce that this budget also includes the requested lighting at that park. So if that's, if that's, if we're clear on that and we're all in agreement. And to those that are vandalizing the bathroom, the vandalizing the bathrooms out there, stop it. Yeah, because it's, it's pretty much every park bathroom. They're all, you know, we need to get some cameras on this. That's our care of that. Yeah. Yeah. Did you have something in the controls? No, I mean, I just wanted to say, like, district. For tonight, I don't want to, you know, the bringing the budget before us to a dot. This has been a long process. I don't want to start looking at what plot to move money around tonight. I think that there's been plenty of time to do that. But I do agree with what Council Member Alejandro just said, but maybe not specific to the dominant, sorry, dominant, sorry is what has been vocalized. Council Member Bishop brought up other parks. Now that we know that that $1.5-ish million is there, and we can use that for bathrooms, until that needs assessment comes back, Do we have a timeframe on that? I believe it's July that it's going to be presented to you. So in the short term in the short order can we get a crew to go check all the bathrooms, do a quick checklist, lights, stall locks, whatever that we can do out of either the city manager's discretionary or that part of my use. Well, there might be somebody from South Seer and I shaking hands. Cool. Sorry to add work to your workload. We're all on the same page and we all want to express the youth in our city. And we understand the challenges it is to keep the facilities nice and we do understand that the South is doing a great job. But the resources provided. I think the overall point is that there's no change being needed to be made to the proposed budget. That's already included in a trust to staff and our city manager will take care of this business. It's an ongoing problem. Hopefully we can beef up code enforcement to see if we can catch some of these tigers and other people that cost banterlism in these parks, not just in the city, but around the city. And I've said before, and I will say it again, that many times these are juveniles that are doing this banterlism. And many times the parents are frankly aware that it's going on because sometimes they'll tag in their own homes. I've seen this in my experience at the courthouse as a criminal defense attorney. And the parents are aware of it. And if we can have one enforcement identify tagging because they have specific ways to do that. Then we ought to go after the parents because the parents are responsible for the actions of their minors. And you know, we can't let this go on anymore like that. It costs a ton of money to repair these things. It interferes with a 99.99 percent of the people that want to enjoy those parks and go to those bathrooms to use the facilities and they're being prevented because of the criminal actions of some of the minors in many cases. Sometimes adults as well, but I've said this before and I hope at some point we take action to do this. I don't think we've heard from this bed and court. I don't think we've heard from this bed in court. I just want to say I think this is a nice lean budget. It's amazing that our city can function with all the things that a city's required to do. Roads, maintenance, parks, events, financing. And the city does it with less than 300 people. 300 people, less than 300 people, are serving a population of 170,000 residents. And I just want to take my hats off to staff, to maintenance, to public works, because especially you guys in the shirts, you're out there working in the heat. And I take my hat off to you, that's a tough job. I don't know how you do it. I certainly couldn't do it. Thank you for all that all of you do in every capacity with the city. So thank you all. Yeah, thank you. Let's give a round of applause. Let's see. It's not easy. It's not easy. It's not easy. All right. All right. A couple more issues. One is mental health. We have a 2.175 allocated this fiscal year under ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act. And if you guys want to reference that part of the budget, it's page 21 of 38. In the budget that's presented, it says that we've allocated 2.175. Actually, year to date, we haven't spent $1. When I spoke with our city manager about that issue, I was advised that the money would roll over to fiscal year 2025. But the budget doesn't reflect that. It says proposed and it has zero. So I want to make sure that the ARPA budget incorporates the roll over of the 2.175 for mental health. Hey, Janelle. Hi, good evening. I can speak to that. The ARPA funds are grant allocation funds, and they were awarded to the city. We have to commit those by December of 2024. We have until December of 2026 to utilize those funds. They will roll forward. Some of those funds are for multi-year projects, so they will absolutely roll forward into the next year. They were left in fiscal 24, because we were in the process of preparing an RFP to go out without the understanding of whether it would be able to be accomplished in fiscal 24 or fiscal 25. So those will be rolled forward. So when we approve the budget. I'd like to make a point about that. Please, Ms. Councilman. Can I fall into the question? Yeah, let me just make a point before you do. I was the author of that measure a couple of years ago because of a very specific issue that I think is not properly addressed by the legislation regarding persons who have suffered for mental health and in particular the families and sometimes other residents of the same home that are dealing with an individual in the home that's got mental health problems sometimes exacerbated by drugs and alcohol. And so even though there hasn't been any money taken out of our puffons, there has been a considerable amount of employee resources including the city manager staff and others working for the city in meeting with the stakeholders. All of the hospitals in the area Los Angeles County Mental Health has been consulted with and sat down with. We've had meetings with psychologists and psychiatrists and how to best address this particular problem. So while it doesn't reflect that money has been spent out of the ARPA grant, there have been considerable resources on staff's part to address this. So we are now at a point where we can actually release a request for proposal. That's where we're at. The money will be spent. We have time to do it. And I think that we have intelligently, carefully, responsibly, built a platform from which we can actually begin to address this problem in our city, which affects many, many families in the city. So I'm hoping that we don't have any controversy over this. That RFP will be really shortly And I believe that there will be applicants that are going to look at this and perhaps apply and then we can move forward. So thank you. Yeah, I didn't raise the issue in an effort to create controversy about it. I wanted to bring light to it to make sure. To end because mental health is such a grave concern. Our mental health indicators in the animal valley particularly are skyrocketing in LA County and I want to make sure that it is incorporated into our budget next fiscal year. As the documents indicate and Janelle, Ms. Samson just noted, it does in fact say that the proposed 2025 budget includes zero ARPA mental health money, but she did acknowledge that when it's now approved and since the RFP has not been issued that they will incorporate it into the final published budget document, that's all I needed to hear. I just want to make sure that it's not left on the table and it's not incorporated into our adopted budget tonight so that we can make sure that we can access it and move forward with the RFP immediately and it doesn't have to come back to us. Leave me. We will be watching carefully because we want this money spent in the right place. All right. All right. A couple of issues. Just generally, similar with the unspent funds on the mental health component, a Measurer EV there, I just found various places in our budget where there were significant unspent funds in areas where our community really needs it. Business retention in Measurer EV, we allocated 140,000 and only 44,000 of it was spent. Recreational scholarships, we allocated $20,000. Less than 25% of that money was spent. Veteran support, we allocated 25,000, only 1,000 of it was spent. I know there are veterans organizations and veteran individuals who could access and utilize these much needed funds as would kids in our community who need recreational scholarships. So my question and business retention, I mean our small businesses are suffering, I know that if we developed a program and we did sufficient outreach that we could you know infuse all of these unspent funds into our community and uplift the business, uplift the kids. My question generally is how do we do the outreach for this stuff? Like, just maybe if we can just globally rethink when we've got pots of money. So like recreational scholarships, when kids go to parks and they get the papers to like sign their kid up for soccer or softball. Is that an oversight? Because I know we're supporting the groups more than that. Is it coming out of your discretion, the city manager's discretionary or? It's on page 20 of 38 if you guys want to reference it. I know we're supporting the local groups. I know we're doing more than that. So a couple of things, it's sort of a compound question. The business retention I show in Measure AV is anticipated to be fully spent by the end of the calendar year, as well as the Recreation Scholarship. So I don't see money left on the table. Now there might be a few thousand left in veteran support. It looks like we took it from 25,000 and we did a year in projection of 15. So we're giving back 10 to the general fund and reallocated again next year at 25. But I don't see where the other ones are showing that they're not going to be spent by the end of this year. So the actual year to date, it's through quarter three. And those are the numbers that I'm referencing. So for instance, the business retention, it's at 44,000 as of the close of quarter three. But then it's projected within one quarter to expend the whole 140,000 as of the close of quarter three But then it's projected within one quarter to to expend the whole hundred and forty thousand and Similarly for the other ones the scholarships were at four thousand and in one quarter We're now going to get to the twenty thousand. How did we in one quarter? It's been all the money for all of these categories I Is there a better way to do outreach to educate our community about these little pots of money that might, you know, respectively, support individual veterans and kids that are engaging recreational activities and small businesses that might want to utilize this retention programs? Is there a way that we could do additional outreach so that over the course of the entire year that they can access these funds? And we're not like doing a rush to spend these money, these monies and these funds in the final quarter of every fiscal year. So I don't think that there's an issue with it being spent in a particular quarter because like for right now, I've sent the link to the scholarship program to multiple families because people want to get water park passes because it's hot. So people apply for the scholarships based on their need and what they want their kids to participate in. They'll call me, also in the link, they'll apply online. So it doesn't surprise me that all of those scholarships hit at the same quarter or at the same time of year. If your constituents aren't reaching out to you and asking you, how do I get free tickets to an event or the pools or lessons or teams? Yeah, maybe we need to advertise more. But I do have people calling me constantly. I email them the links to apply because you can't apply on the city website. So please go to the city website if you're in need of a scholarship, so your kids can participate in activities. So it doesn't surprise me that it all happens in a particular quarter, especially like right now, the scholarships are, I know there's people applying for the water park. And I hear you and I'm not suggesting that, you know, that doesn't make sense as it relates to recreational scholarships, but for business retention doesn't make sense. That's an annual project. All I'm suggesting is maybe we can rethink how we do that outreach. So for instance, if a kid goes to sign up for soccer, maybe we attach a form, a little one-page paper that says these scholarships are available so that when they sign up, they know that they could access. They say we don't have to rely on them accessing a website and doing all these other things. I don't know. I think also I think it's a good idea to do more outreach. I think we can work through schools too. Yeah, I'd like to just think there's, you know, some kind of relationship. We know. Because the schools, the schools, really know who's in need and maybe they can get on board and help us do some outreach. Right. I agree with all of that. I just raised the point and identify the issues. I just did say that we've got it on our get and rethink it. No, I think it's a good idea. It's what I'm trying to do. I just don't want to leave money on the table specifically for kids and families and businesses that are struggling. Of course, there's always things. I'm agreeing with you, Andrea. There's always things we could be doing, and I'm sure a parks department, let's see we got Eric there, is taking notes right now, he's here and that. We should probably have a meeting with them, but then food us to the parks department, by the way, you guys are doing a fantastic job this year. But yeah, there's always things we could be doing, but we'll wind it back into the talk more specifically about the budget. Is there any other issues? One other question that I asked, and still one just get final resolution on. You and I, Mayor Bishop, were at the Public Safety Forum, Captain Barton spoke and offered remarks and other presenters spoke and indicated that domestic violence is on the rise here in Palmdale and in the Antelope Valley. We as a council adopted our best goals. We spoke and we unanimously agreed that domestic violence programming and the establishment of the domestic violence shelter here in the city of Palmdale was a priority for our council. We all agreed that it's unconscionable that somebody, a man, woman, children, no children would have to make the choice of staying in a home that is violent or living on the street. We should be able to provide some alternative housing in a safe space for them. And I think that's why we incorporated it into our best goals. My question is, where in the budget, have we incorporated domestic violence funding for programming in this in CDBG funds or otherwise. So Sofia can speak specifically to the CDBG funding aspect but I do know that we partner with Valley Oasis on the regular for all the domestic violence issues that we're managing and we have a three-year plan to bring on a domestic violence shelter. We would have to source land or site and then go out to procure it and RFP for a provider and all the things associated with that. So I know she's actively working on that program. I think that's the number of that in court has been a staunch advocate of this since the day I met her in 2016. Yeah, and I was probably one of the first things you told me you wanted. Yeah, I'm so happy to hear this. My first time hearing that there's a three-year plan to establish a domestic violence shelter That's wonderful does this budget incorporate like a needs assessment or any kind of funding to move in that direction or Hi. Hi. Hi. Currently what we're doing is we're working with the coordinated group of who are the many of the nonprofits of our area to see what the needs are, listening to them reaching out at different events so that we can hear what's needed. Part of the challenge is that domestic violence shelter has to be a confidential item. And to do an RFP that is a public process is kind of counter to that. So I'm trying to put together how to approach it while not making it a very public item where everybody knows where this shelter is going. So there are some challenges that we are working through and looking to see how we can work with our nonprofit partners to maybe not make it where the city has to have all the public information so that we can have a shelter, have services in a way that we can serve people confidentially in a way that keeps their safety at the foremost. So with that, we do not have an idea of the funding that would be needed to do so, but we do have the plan of land that we have that can be sold to secure the funding. Start the beginning of the funding. So we are working through all these different steps because of how that land was acquired. We do have to go through a very public process to get that funding together. So there are a lot of layers that we're working through. It's not a simple answer, but yes, we have already started this process. We've been working through it for's not a simple answer. But yes, we have already started this process, we've been working through it for over a year. And, but we're utilizing the public partnerships right now. We are, we are. Thank you. So thank you for that. And I just, some of this information is just really helpful. It was fairly benign and if we just had an open dialogue in information sharing, you know, relationship that we wouldn't have to do this publicly. But I would ask you to tap into to my experience in my knowledge, I used to be the executive director of the largest domestic violence shelter in the country. And I know funding sources, I know how to run RFPs, I know how to run RFPs. I know how to manage the confidentiality of the facility and run it through the assessor's office and a variety of other things. Use me. And you have expressed that to us and we are keeping that in mind as we move forward trying to put together how we're approaching it safely so that we can ask those detailed questions. Got it. But in the budget tense for my initial question, there is no money for domestic violence. At this, how do I say this? There isn't any specific funding, but as we identify and work through things we do have ways to be able to assist. Okay, good. Well, I would just encourage maybe at the mid-year budget review, giving you guys six more months to figure out how we're going to move forward. Maybe at the mid-year budget review, we incorporate some domestic violence programming and some funding for a shelter facility and leave that as a viable opportunity. Anyway, that thank you for answering questions. Thank you. Sounds like a bunch of meetings in order. But we do have money going to Valley Oasis. We are partnering with... Partner of Valley Oasis. They do have a lot of funding through LASA that they get. So they do have funding for domestic violence and other partners, smaller nonprofits, also have funding through Measure J through and other funding sources. So we are working with them, talking with them where they're getting their funding, how they're using it. Because many times incarceration, those, the prison system, there's a tie to domestic violence. So there's more than one avenue. It's kind of like homelessness. And it is a cause of homelessness. So with our HPRT program homeless prevention and rapid rehousing, we're able to help them with security deposits, with rents, with utilities to help them to get in the door when they are walking out with pockets zero. You've always told me to try to be preventative and catch them before it gets there. Correct. At least that's the goal. Prevention is how our homeless plan and it is a part of our homeless plan. Right. So, all right. Thank you. Thank you, Sophia. OK, I could go on for days, but I've got one other overarching question on page one of 38. So I went, like I said, I went through it meticulously. I went through the first presentation that was of the documents that were afforded to us in May. And I compared and contrasted those documents to what is being presented to us tonight. I noted that there were some differences, not a lot of drastic differences, but there was one area where I just wanted some explanation in the operating budget. Our budget was went up by $1 million from $12 to $13 million. What accounts for that? And then our capital budget decreased by a million. What accounted for that? I mean the line item I can point you to the line item. I'm called Shell for that. Please, excuse coming. So the 13 million operating budget by night on 20 on page one of the budget. It's 13.166 now. Previously it was 12.163. Just wondering what accounts for a million dollar increasing operating expenses in the past month. Sorry, I hate to put you guys in this position. I wish we could have resolved these matters previously. On a separate note, while she looks that up, a lot of people complain about our streets, our roads, the condition there. In this budget, there's $123 million in capital just allocated for the streets. So for those who are listening, I hope a lot of them. We are, yeah, everyone in the city is going to hear this. But we are working on the streets. We have $123 million in capital capital Not including the labor portion of it going into our roads and our streets to fix the streets So I wanted to put that out there. That's a big chunk of our of our budget And I just want to say Thank you from district three. We got a beautiful Avenue S Finally completed. We are working on Avenue R and they are right now digging up 35th Street East between R and S because it was so badly buckled. It was like writing over a washboard in no matter what kind of car you were in. So they have actually taken out the concrete all the way down to the dirt and they're replacing it and so District 3 will have some very very nice roads relatively soon. And if any of you are working on that, thank you. God bless you. Our residents appreciate it. And Tenshtree East is now open. Eugene, you can get to the bank. It's a little things, right? It is. It is. It takes patience on the part of the residents when a project like Avenue R is underway. There's a lot of inconvenience, but once everything is completed, then it's a joy to be able to travel through there much easier than the way it is. The way it is right now and the way it was before. Of course, right now it's a little more difficult with all of the work there, but I think they're progressing quite rapidly there. They are. The temporary inconvenience is going to be well worth it in the future. So we appreciate our parents' patience and hard work. So hey, I see Ms. Simpson and for a time, look, I trust you guys. I just wanted an answer. We can you can circle back with me and give me the answer. I've got nothing but confidence and faith in you guys. I just wanted to know what accounted for the increase over the course of this past month, were there conversations that I wasn't privy to that triggered an increase in operating expenses by a million dollars and a reduction in capital improvement projects by a million dollars which capital improvement projects were eliminated that were presented originally in May. So if you could just get back to me with that. I trust that you guys got it all together. I mean, all in all, this is a half a billion dollar budget. We're talking about, you know, very minute issues here, I think, overall. But if you could just circle back with me that would be great. Well that I move for the question. Okay. Second to do a couple things here please. One of the portions of the resolution was not read into the record. The last piece which is adopt resolution number season 2024069. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Harnel, a Vending Classification Payment for Y-rated positions. And in addition to that, in front of you, you have a corrective memo related to one classification in our system for the inspector's series that we recommend making a slight change to. So, when you do move to adopt it, I would ask that you include that change. So, allow me to take a separate motion or is it included in this motion? You've included this motion. Okay, so I move the question on all of these issues, including that. We have a motion. No, the motion that I made and the second is. Okay. So, I'm calling for the question. Okay. Let's go ahead and vote. Start voting. And while we're voting, I want to thank City Manager Ronda Perez. I think she did an excellent job. Motion passes, you know. Thank you. We do. She has done an excellent job executing this budget with the staff. I think it's very well-balanced and it's gonna lead Palmdale into a prosperous future. So thank you very much. So everyone I want to emphasize we're talking over 500 million dollars everything told and that's 300 as Councilwoman Bitten Court pointed out. 300 or less employees of the City of Palmdale addressing the needs of 170,000 people. And it takes a half a billion dollars to accomplish that. But we want to provide every service, particularly security, whether it be fire, whether it be the Sheriff's Department to secure our people and make sure that they're safe and to go after those that would violate the law. And I believe that the city's being well served. I also go in second and third and fourth and fifth, everything that is being said about you, Rhonda, and the finance department and indeed all of our directors and staff across the board. So congratulations, thank you for having adopted this budget. Members of the council. Thank you. She's executing the will of the council and doing a tremendous job at it. Okay. So that's going to take us real quick. I think we have one more item. We have the joint 7, 7.1 for our housing commissioners to vote on. And then after that, we're going to take a break, let the room clear. Okay. So we need a moment. Breathe. Yeah, so we're at 7.1. 7.1? Or is it sex? We just have to dump it. I'm sorry. 6.1. My notes are wacky here. Okay. So we're going to jump back. We're going to jump to 6.1. We're going to vote on that. So do we need city, uh, six point six, one six point six? Do we need public hearing? Six one six two. Do we need to read the resolution into the record? Six point one and six point two work in site calendar items. Okay, they're kept second. So we can do them once. I will move to a consent items. Six point one is six point two. Let's go ahead. Motion and second. Go ahead and vote. Start voting. Class of June and? What? What? Class of June and? It's supposed to be seven? Yes. Okay. Let's go ahead and do a new meeting to re-bout. Okay. Let's go ahead and do a knee to rebound. Okay. Okay, do it again. Yes, we'll go ahead and do it again. Oh, take two. Let me just go ahead and do a knee bend. Do you have a bell? Yeah. You're like, what? And this is how it follows. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. We did. Weer and chartered. It's a great job. Applause. All right, let's just take a couple minute break. We'll let everyone clear the room if you so wish to leave. And we'll start the meeting. I'll go through it a minute or two. I think thank you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay, and we're back. So before we jump into consent calendar, I'm going to call a point of privilege and I'm going to have a little presentation for our Sheriff's Department, our Palmdale Sheriff's Department. So Captain Barton, will you come up? I'll go now. I'll calm down. Sheriff's to station. It's 26th anniversary today. And it's station number what? There we go. Thank you for what you and your station does for our community. Public safety is a top priority for the city of Palm Valley. Station number what? There we go. Thank you so much sir. Thank you for what you and your station does for our community. Public safety is a top priority for the city of Palmdale. Always has and always will be. We need you more than ever to keep our city safe and we appreciate everything you're doing. And we appreciate the support of the community and the city as well. We thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. So you are very special. And so it's a serious permit that we actually have splurged on a frame for you. So. Definitely be on the wall soon. It's the least we could do. Thank you so much. But I just want to know, we think very highly of you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it very much. I'll find some one thing. Absolutely. Just because it was kind of topical today that you know several of us went through the station today to celebrate with you. And when I got there I saw the memorial to Ryan Klington-Bremmer and I was struck with grief again and anxiety remembering that day on September 16th. And I thought if me a council member was traumatized by that day, imagine what you go through. Imagine what your deputies go through. And I just wanted to say that that the gratitude that we express to you words are not enough. I don't know how to describe the emotion and I don't even know how to begin to understand the sacrifice that you and your deputies go through. We are immensely grateful to you under the station. Thank you sir. The men and women that work for the Elie County Sheriff's Department of Palmdale Station, they are built with true grit. It's deep within them. They're a traditional service, and through and having lost their brother. It's definitely put them in a certain area of thought and they think about it every day and it's at the back of their mind but they have to go out and serve the public as well. So we remember them every day and we honor them every day and we're working on another remorrel within the station that I want to be able to attend eventually or soon. We're getting portraits done of him and Debbie Hammack as well. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Back to the consent calendar. So we can move all the items at once with emotion a second, or is there anything that anybody would like to pull out? Well, then I just wanted to pull one item. Absolutely. Quickly. We just wanted to pull one item. Absolutely. Quickly. We're going back on my notes. It's item 5.10. And there's no other items that the Council members want to pull. I'd be happy to move the balance of the consent calendar. OK. We have a motion. I can't remember. So good. In second. By Mayor Pro Temlawa. With the exception of 510, let's go ahead and vote. Motion passes, you know this. Okay. Passes item 510. We need a staff report. Did you have a question? It's a fairly simple, also benign item. It's for a street light poll. You can just give if you want, give a one minute overview on what it is for the benefit of the public that's watching online and sitting in our audience. Maybe that would be helpful. And then I'll follow up with a question. Sure, good evening everyone. Lenglet and director of public works. Item 5.10 is an invitation for bid and award and a requisition with Morgan England LLC for commercial street light polls and the amount not to exceed of 227,000 for 87 for the fiscal year of 24 25. This has to do with replacement of marble light street light polls that we have for the city of Palm Nau. And a lot of them are being replaced because people have access. They have been knocked down. And they knock them down with their cars and trucks and then the city is responsible for replacing them. So we have to calculate that into our budget. Yes. And as of fiscal year 2324, as of today, there were 58 streetlights. Bulls knocked down throughout the year. Wow. Wow. Wow. We have 18,000 streetlights in the city. But 58 were just the year. We have 18,000 street lights in the city but 58 were just this year. One got knocked out on my neighborhood Saturday morning. Yes, I think you were number 58. What about you? I know I harp on this all the time but people have got to slow down in our community. You hit one of those poles, you're going to lose. Your car is going to quickly look quite a bit, because those poles are solid. And the metaphor is that it takes it to knock it down. You're going to have some injuries out of those accidents. I beg our residents to please slow down. Everyone would be better for it. I hope that it doesn't fall on your car, even worse. That was an always the case. The city didn't always own the street lights or the street poles. I think it was 2017, the city of Palmdale bought them from SEE with the sizable grant. We were able to convert them to LED lights which saved the city a ton of money and power. So this is just part of it now. Is that we have to maintenance and take care of the street lights? Yes and the poles? Yes, so I think there's no question that we need to move this item. It's obvious necessity and I'd be happy to move the item at the appropriate time. The reason why I pulled it is because I followed up after briefing with a few questions with regard to what percentage of our 18,000 street light network is LED. What percent runs off solar? The response I received was at 90% of our street pole network is LED, which is great, included in the item today are additional street light poles that will be converted to LED in anavair day. But when I asked about solar, you said the only solar powered street light poles in our 18,000 network is at Oasis Park. and the other thing that I know is that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know it. And thank you for that. And so I just pulled the item so that ideally we can maybe look into. I mean a part of our budget there was a whole narrative about you know we enjoy 300 days of sunshine per year in the animal valley. So I was thinking why don't we capitalize on that? Is there an opportunity for us to realize some cost savings in converting our 18,000 street light pole network to solar? So I would just suggest that, and I don't know if the council wants to discuss the item. But I would just suggest maybe we consider doing a needs set or feasibility of moving in that direction. So I think with regard to street lights, I think that would be a difficult task. However we are looking at parking rights so I don't think I might have a little bit of a day and I can talk about. We are looking at Polonivista Park. I just did turn it off. We are looking at Polonivista Park on the north side for a pilot project to change those light poles to a solar component so that will be forth going. We do have the lights and we're changing out the head of the lamp. We have to make sure that we are going to be gaining enough foot handles around the area and providing the security lighting that is needed. But I think it works better in a parking lot aspect in lieu of the the hardwired street light poles. Yeah, it's usually I've seen those lights. It's a solar battery combo. Yes. And actually, it's charged the battery during the day. Then it it runs all night. Those are very specific lights that use like maybe four or five LEDs or light emitting diodes. But yeah, the ones we use for Edison, those have to be- They have to come on at a certain time. They have to shut off at a certain time. They're on constant voltage. Constant interrupted voltage. They need in order to stay on the way they're designed. But the correct way to do that, the best way to do that is to have solar programs like with our solar, with our power authority, I mean, with that vacuum, you know, we put solar on our city facilities and we pump the energy back into the grid, and that would, in turn, cover, you know, so that's the right way going about it. Yeah, so I just, I pulled the item just so that we can get the conversation going about how do we utilize the natural light here to create some cost savings here. And we are looking at that. So I couldn't tell you that we had changed all those polls yet, but we are in the process of going forward with that. That's good to hear and hopefully we can utilize them for municipal facilities and maybe our park and rec facilities and whatnot. So our HLA is experimenting. We're at now some battery LED in the early and it works okay. It's the technology is getting better. Yes. It's getting better. And technology is changing. So when we looked at this a couple of years ago, then to now it's a totally different animal. So we have to kind of look forward and forecast what kind of light is going to be the best light and what kind of components are going to be working and sustainable. So. Okay. And then I just want to appreciate that you responded to my question from briefing. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you have a second motion second. Let's go ahead and vote. Start voting. Motion passage. You know, listen. Okay. Thank you. All right. So that takes us to 8.1 public hearing. 8.1 public hearing. Can we wave the reading? I'm going to read the resolution. Go ahead and read it in the record please. CC 2024-90, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Palmdale restating in its entirety, the City of Palmdale Master Schedule of Fees and and penalties and repealing all prior enactments inconsistent with this resolution. Okay. Do we need a staff report? Or we're going to move to the public hearing. Okay. People should go to public hearing. Do we have any comments? You're going to speak your cards on this item. Seeing none, can we go ahead and close the public hearing? We have a motion. Second. Second. Multiple seconds. All right. So council discussion. Do we have any council discussions or? Very quickly. Let's see. So it's been moving the second. Right? Yes. Okay. So my understanding is the only increase on these pieces the CPI and that amounts to 3.9% over less over less. Yeah. Good evening. Yes. That is correct. The The increased proposed in this item is the CPI increase staff looked at April 23 versus April 24 It was a 3.9% increase and that has been applied to our fee schedule. Okay, very good. So I'm happy. Satisfied. Yeah, I looked at everything. Around 3%, 4% across the board. Most things, not all things. But when you look down the service schedule, you see, wow, the city has a lot of services it can offer. Down to, you know, we're wearing a pot of coffee for your event so I but yeah if you read this piece schedule you learn about you know all the different services that the city has to offer and it's it's quite substantial so did anybody have any questions or we have a motion to be missing. We have a motion in a second. Yes. Call for the question. Oh, we already have a motion in silence. Let's go ahead and call for us. We had a motion in a second on the closing of the public hearing. Can we get a motion in a second to adopt item? Okay. Second. All right. Thank you very much. All right. It's going, but. Start voting. Motion passes unanimously. All right. That takes us to 8.2. Introduce and adopt ordinance 1643. City Park, can you please read the ordinance into the record? And ordinance of the City Council of the City of Palm Bell, California, recommending City Council approval of General Plan Amendment 2424-0002. Zone changed 24-0002 and comprehensive development plan 24-0003. Finding that the project is consistent with the program Environmental Impact Report 22 at 002 prepared and certified in conjunction with the city's general plan and direct staff to make necessary modifications to the Palmdale Transit Area specific plan. Okay, so can I have a motion and second to introduce word nits number 1643? So what? Second. Alright, let's go ahead and voice vote. Everyone say aye. Alright. Alright, so staff, do we have a report for this? Hey Brenda. Hello. Good evening, Erin Council. The item before you tonight is an amendment to the Palmdale Transit Area specific plan boundary, including a general plan amendment in zone change. To provide some background, the specific plan was adopted on December 15th, 2020, to guide the development of pedestrian oriented mixed use districts surrounding the city of Palmdale's Transportation Center, with a future California high speed rail in mind. The specific, sorry, ran over here. This specific plan replaced the original Pondel Transit Village specific plan adopted in 2007. And its entirety and since 2020 has only been amended one other time. As shown on the map with the specific plan boundary, or the area that will be affected by the boundary. Sorry, by the boundary is north, technology drive, 10th street east. The east, pondable over to the south and state route to 14th to the west. The project is a request to amend the pondal transit area specific plan boundary for the removal of 12 parcels, totaling approximately 59 acres within the specific plan area. The general plan amendment, zone change request will modify the general plan land use and zone of the 12 acres to regional commercial. The proposed amendment is beneficial to the city because it provides flexibility for future development of a prominent entry point within the city, will address address split zoning and assistant creating synergy as we work towards the acquisition of Pondable Award. No development is proposed at this time and future development would require a separate if you're in approval. Also to note, as you know, the city is an escrow for a portion of the site, so this will definitely give us the flexibility we need to get some good development in that area. I'm available for any questions. Well, this is something that we've been looking forward to in now for several years and we finally are an escrow for this and I'm hoping that we can close this round this and get moving on everything. So I think this is going to help us spur economic development in that area and that will be helpful to the entire palm of the boulevard corridor. We want to see palm of boulevard become a very vibrant, very effective area for people to enjoy businesses along that stretch. We have too many vacant parcels along there and if we begin at one end maybe that will begin to encourage development all along all along Boulevard it's a long time coming. So thank you for putting all of this together and I hope it gets passed I believe it will hope. All right so at this time let's just's just see if there's anyone from the public here willing to speak. We have any public comments? They'll speak your cards on the side of them. Okay, so let's go ahead and close the public hearing. And then council discussion. If there is no council discussion, happy to move the item. Okay, thank you. We have emotions. Multiple seconds. Let's go ahead and vote. Yes, I think this is a good thing. I think this is a good thing. Starting. And I think it's going to hopefully provide a lot of economic activity in this area. All right, our screens are frozen. There we go. Motion passes, you know what I'm saying? Okay. I have number nine, city managers report. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. I have number nine city managers report. Good evening, Mary Council. Since we last met, we were partners in the AV Taco Festival, which had a huge turnout. And over 100 vendors on site, it was a well-received community event. We also participated in the seasons of service, or actually initiated the seasons of service. This time in the Anniverty area, and collected almost 34,000 pounds of trash on Saturday, morning, June 15th. And we also celebrated Juneteenth on the 19th, just last week. A great turnout, a lovely event, and we are honored to host that event. In the upcoming weeks, we have most importantly, probably our fourth and July celebration coming up and that will initiate the kickoff to our summer concert series. We will also celebrate the club Polaris Grand Opening on June 29th at the mall. And we are pleased to announce that alert Palmdale has been released and will help us communicate with the community in the event of any natural disaster emergency power outage or anything of the sort. We encourage everybody to go on our newly reimagined website and sign up to receive those alerts via text. That's the end of my report. Okay, thank you very much. Council reports, item 10, council reports, announcements, requests, future items. We'll start. Council member, court. Nothing? Mayor Patel-Law? I think we're good. I'd like most of my comments to the city managers directly. And you should get what we need done. Thank you. All right. Council Member Olson. Yeah, one thing. As you know, I've been advocating for a feasibility study on the Sheriff's contract and a study on potential pass-moving forward that is concluding at the end of this month, I believe. We've got the community meeting scheduled for this month, so it's going to wrap up next month. It's going to wrap up next month. It's going to wrap up next month. So in preparation for that wrapping up, I would like to ask if the Council agrees for a subcommittee on criminal justice to review and make proposals and recommendations. Sure, thank you for a good idea. Am I prohibited from that city, Attorney? No, ma'am. And then if the council's a grants to that, I also think it would be a good idea if we had a committee on planning and economic development to do the idea as well. Okay. So my request is the point. This is for committee members of the council, like two members these at-how committees members of the council, like two members of the council. Two members of the council, because I think these are very important issues to the city, and I would like to make sure that the council is on the same page and giving that direction. Sure, sounds good. I'm saying heads go up and down, yes? Okay. All right. Report back then and how we can do that. Council Member Alec? Yeah, a couple things I would like to see for future agendas. One is the litigation, the Ennello Valley Area, AQMD versus the U.S. EPA. I know that that's ongoing litigation. I was involved in that while I was serving on the ABEQMD. So if we could request that the Council for the ABEQMD can come and provide an update on the status of that litigation, I think we could all benefit from that as it impacts thousands of aerospace and defense jobs. And then a second, you didn't mention it. And so I will mention it in your place. Thank you to Assemblymember Juan Carillo, who originally introduced the legislation with regard to the relinquishment upon the Ebola of R. yesterday, that item was presented before the Senate Transportation Committee and was approved unanimously. It was originally introduced in the Assembly. It went to Assembly Transportation. It got out of Assembly Transportation. It went to Assembly appropriations because it will have a fiscal impact. And it was unanimously adopted by Assembly Appropriation. So then it was sent to the Senate. Yesterday, it went to its first policy committee. As I said, transportation, it got out there. We are very, very close to it being adopted by the Senate, both houses, and then signed by the governor. So thank you to Council Member Olson, Assembly Member Juanca-Rio for initiating and leading the effort on that litigation. And then the last year, I should have mentioned it during the budget, but I might note it's somehow, it was an oversight. Last year during the budget, we had a pretty lively conversation as to whether or not we should move forward with grant program for nonprofit organizations and community organizations. Last year during that conversation, I went back and I looked at the minutes. There were three council members, myself, council member Olson and Mayor Bishop who reflected that we had we all supported moving forward with a grant program, so long as there was independent oversight and management of that. It's been a year, I don't know that we've taken any proactive steps to move that forward. So if we could, at some point, you know, get that going, I think that I would like to think that there is council support for implementing, even if it's a small grant program for committee organizations, I think we've got to incorporate something. And Mr. Mayor, I do have one last thing I want to say before we adjournment. I just wanted to say happy birthday to Ronda and happy birthday to you sir. Oh thank you very much. Yeah, very good, happy birthday Mayor. Ronda had her birthday a couple days ago. One day of my day. Yeah. And then mine's on Friday. A lot of summer birthdays. Thanks for bringing that up. Okay. So before we go to non-agenda public comments, I'm wondering about item 12.1. Councilmember Olson and myself have met. There's some other developments that we learned about today. And I think it probably would be appropriate for us to put 12.1 over to the second meeting in July if everybody's in agreement with that. OK. Let's just see if there's anyone before we move to that. If you have public comments, non-agents, vice public comments. Yes, we do. We are. OK. We have Eugene Hernandez. Okay. We have Eugene Hernandez. Hello, hi, Ms. Brin. For several years now, I've been supported you and Dreab on many fronts, you know, speaking at your behalf. But now that I have a problem and I try to contact you and I left messages and I went to the city hall and I sent text zero, zero contact. Apparently all you want is public attention. Here I am giving out food, here I am giving out toys, you know, but for the constituents you don't care a bit. but for your constituents you don't care a bit. So don't count on my support for your reelection or for other offices that you seek. I'm starting to believe that the Freedom Coalition was correct in their assessment of you, that you don't care about the little person that the constituent all you want is the publicity. And it really reflects badly upon you. It also reflects that when you leave the meetings early or come late, you know, I think that's a very bad representation for the young people who are watching the city council meetings. And I feel personally insulted by your lack. You are, I finally got a support from the safety committee of the city. I haven't got a report on what happened. And I went down to the sheriff's, the watch commander to tell him about a housing issue. But it's very disappointing for you as a city councilwoman to completely ignore me because I can't arrange a press conference with Admiral Valley Press that you can attend. And it really reflects badly on your leadership skills. And I really urge people not to re-elect you. Thank you. Can I just point a privilege? I, for the record, have not received not one text, not one phone call, not one email message directly from you, and in fact, when I received word through other third parties that you had a concern, I contacted you via the number that was provided to me and the number was disconnected. If there is an issue, I'd be happy to address that with you directly, but I did not receive any messages from Council staff that when you came to City Hall, I don't have any voice mails, don't have any text messages, don't have any emails, and when I tried to reach out to you directly, it was a disconnected number. So I just want to state that for the record. Okay. Next speaker. Tommy. Hi Tommy. Hi. I'll get right to the point since I will have two minutes. I live on East Side of Palmdale at 25th and S. I like you to consider on all of the drive installing speed humps, not speed bumps. It's a half-mile run that two weeks ago two people were killed there, car cut in half, they hit a tree, this stuff happens all the time, they just drive too fast. And the elevator you'd slow them down, it says 50 miles an hour on one end, but there's nothing else way down. I go to the church, to church in the valley and you speak, hubs, and some of the streets down there. And I thought, well, let's try them out here, because it's just too fast. I've been out walking my dog, and I've gone 20 feet, and anything you know, some guy coughs the curb, and it's a lot. People along there have had to replace walls. They get to 33, they don't make the stop, they go into wall. And I would just ask you to consider that. It's just too fast. Okay. That's my question. Just for clarity, what is the exact stretch that you're referring to? From 25th to 30th, just south of S is all the drive. We had a vendor kill that intersection in 25th and that's not too long ago. Where from 30th to 25th and that's not too long ago. Where from 30th to 25th it's wide. It's wide. It's wide. It's wide. And then it winds out. That is a very dangerous intersection. And the same message coming down on 25th if you're heading north, it's actually a grade. There's actually a small grade that also increases the speed and and people lose control with that I don't am I allowed to say that I mean all those things taking the no count people describe to fast I agree and I live on Visitor Leo and I'd really like to put two speed bumps in there too because they come out of the condominium There's and they just hit the gas and it's just they wanted there I don't want to I don't know why they want to get to the streets so fast but It's it's probably a quarter mile and they want to get 50 miles an hour by the end You pull it you drive way next thing you know that's it your cars or your her So I have a map here if you it's just not to scale But if you guys want to take a look at it. Yeah, just give it to the clerk and I would appreciate it. And I've lived there for 38, 37 years. And time back it was fine. The population was not as the way it is now. But now it's like, you take your life in your hands, you wash your dog. I totally feel your pain. I live at 35th and I shop at that state of brothers get gas at that 7-11. You used to use the cabana carbot washer there and I know the traffic and there is. You're taking your life from your hands and you pull out of some of those parking areas. Well, look at it. Absolutely. There are people who have been killed there and injured. They'd probably still be here if we had somebody weeks slowed down. They aren't going to, you know, you can put it, uh, motor, motor call about there and they'll write tickets every day. But after that, you know, what you do is look into that for sure. So I see our public director is feverishly writing her number down. Lynn's going to give you her card. Just have a ride behind you. She's gonna think for her card just to have a look. So right behind you, she's gonna have a look. Thank you for coming and wishing that. All right. Any other speakers? Lou Walker. How you doing? Good, how are you? Great. I don't think I ever spoke here before. Lou Walker, I'm currently with influential arts and the National Action Network. If you influential arts and the National Action Network. If you're unfamiliar with the National Action Network, it was started in 1991 by Al Sharpton and a tech quarter in New York. I came specifically, I actually didn't anticipate speaking, but I've been trying to find information regarding the course and arts colony apartments and the programming that works face the classes that should be going on there and the use of the gallery. I did see some you know articles referencing Mike Miller. I know he's no longer the city of Palmville. No he's uh yeah he's retired. We tired. It is mentioned. Miss Ray is. Yes she's here with us tonight. Good. Great. Yeah in the blue. Yeah I've been unsuccessful in just just really communicating with people regarding that as well as other community members. But I've actually started following the story from Lancash regarding that art gallery and the development that went into it and you know the words that these projects get and then the actual impact that it makes in the community. So hopefully within the next few weeks, I'll be submitting more information, detailed information, because I am a researcher for systemic challenges, issues and solutions. And I was actually fortunate enough to partner with someone from the UK that is focusing on the academic challenges that are peeking here in Los Angeles County. So if anyone could just reach out and just give me some information about the development projects and how you measure social impact and to meet you know response that would be wonderful. Okay and you know thank you coming. I'm sorry you're having a little bit difficulty breaking through. So to speak, but you've come to the right place, I'm going to connect you with Sophia in the back. And Sophia, can you also give her my email address? Thank you. Director of the Council's webpage with all of our email addresses. All right, thank you. Roger, saw her stat? addresses. All right thank you. Rogers, honors that? Steamed Council, honorable members of the public, bureaucrats that work for the city and various and sundry others who may be present. Yeah, Mr. Hernandez mentioned that Palmdale Freedom Coalition may have been critical of some areas. And while that's certainly true, that's not the general tenor. What people in there say is that the city is doing a good job and if there's anything we can do to help do a even better job we have emails so I had to disagree with that unfortunately thank you. Thank you appreciate the positive feedback. No more speaker cards on this item. Okay. Do you know what I'm up? All right let him up. Stinger name. Smells like tough. Yeah. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jorge Ventura. And I just want to come here and say thank you to the City of Palmdale for partnering up with us at the recent taco festival. You know, the manager's seat manager's office, Barton Rex, for all the, you know, the managers of the CFS, Park and Rex, for all the support that they gave us. We had a very, very, very successful event. All of you guys were there, got to see you guys. We did have 125 vendors in this park. We had over 6,500 people in attendance. We had 38 food trucks with vendors, you know. A lot of activities. We had a carnival area for the kids. We had sliding jumpers for the kids. We had a petting school for them. I have received nothing but positive reviews, not one single negative review from the event. We had bought, you know, a tatako and tequila festival. So we bought a few cases from the event. We had bought, you know, a TACO and a KILA festival. So we bought a few cases of the KILA, sold out completely. We ran out of the KILA. We had bought two pallets of beer. We had 18 cases left. Not one single incident, not one single borracho, no fights, no incidents whatsoever. It's a very, very peaceful family oriented event. And I just want to say thank you guys, thank you for the support. You know, mark your calendars. June 7th, 2025 is our next taco festival. And it's going to be even bigger than this one. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I had a wonderful time there. And I try to use a sample every taco that I could. Tell me about that in a minute. I agree with everything you said. It was a great event. And it's such a beautiful venue here, at Ponzi-Dolan Park, Ponzi-Dolan Square. But one of the most successful things that I saw is that we distributed, I believe, hundreds of fentanyl kits. And there was a booth there. And there were a lot of people that came and sought those out. And I hope it saves a life. That was part of everything that went on. And that's all of you guys dancing out there. Nothing but a ton tol, leap more. So I had the actual sonority amita. It's a worldwide known band. They were out playing. And it was a miracle. All my painman away. I was dancing. I don't know. My energy came back. But I did suffer two days after that. Even my eyelashes were hurting. Did you have some wrestlers out there? We had Nutella every all day. We had a female Nutella. We had little people who cheliver. And then we had the regular mass people wrestling stuff like that. Yeah, it was very nice. Thank you. Thank you. There were so many vendors and so many people I'm interested in this event. There was talk of maybe moving you to a larger venue. But I agree with Mr. Loha. There's something special about Poncellon Square and Hammond Events there. It's just a perfect place. The only thing I would recommend is maybe widen those sidewalks because when someone that needs the ADA accessibility stops in an event, it creates a backup. But we can, I think that's something we should look into in the future because this is a perfect place for- Well, also parking's an issue, so I think at the bottom of the, attempt I talked about maybe having the park at the hammock center and shovel them over. Yeah, we're considering talking to AVTA and maybe AVTA can have a shuttle. They go from the hammock center and bring people back and forth throughout the day or maybe at the train station. Oh, okay. Good idea. And like that. Yakuosui did have people from out of the area. We had some vendors a lot of vendors from makersville came we had vendors from Napamona Fontana, you know from Riverside some bring you know area, you know, and we were in telemundo Live promoting the event and also telemundo was here the newscast was here on the day It's we were in the news through that day very you. Great, great job sir. Thank you. Thank you George. I appreciate you continuing to bring high quality family events to our city. Vicki and George, thank you both. All right. Those are last public comment. Okay, so that takes us to item 12 and I think if we could just move this over to the second meeting in July I don't believe there's urgency so all right so we're gonna go ahead and move that so everybody agree to the next meeting do we need a bone on it we have consensus maybe you have a voice vote everyone say aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye Post say none All right, so Therefore we will not have an announcement by the city attorney So that takes us to our last item. We're gonna go ahead and join this meeting. We're gonna join it in memory of firefighter Andrew Pontius So I'm gonna read a little bit about him before we adjourn here So I'm going to read a little bit about him before we adjourn here. So a little bit of information about him. So he was born, he's he's born Andrew Lee Ponius. He worked at Fire Station 93, Natalian 17. He was born September 7, 1971. he was 50 years old. His two parents were Gary and LA Pontius. His sibling was Dave Pontius and he was recently a retired captain of the LA County Fire Department from Fire Station 93 as well. His wife is Kim of seven years and he has an adult that stepped out of Sara. He was hired in 2005. He's a 19 year veteran recruit, recruit class 117. During his time at LA County Fire, he worked at station 74, 168, 169, 4, and finally 93. He grew up in Claremont, intended Claremont High School, and graduated from Humboldt State. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and he enjoyed the outdoors. Survived by greatly missed and we we honor him for his duty Thank you for saying that and you know, it's a huge lost our community. It's a huge loss to the first responders It's just a huge loss to the fire department my heart goes out to everybody His co-workers his family and our community. He was a great asset to our community He absolutely was and he was close to retirement and it's very sad and it's not normal. It's very uncommon for a firefighter to lose his life in a line of duty so we're forever grateful for his service he provided for Palmdale and the LA County Fire. It's another example of how our first responders go towards danger. They run towards danger. Not thinking about themselves, but of making sure that others are safe for our rescued. And of course, we all are very saddened by that event. It was very tragic, widely publicized, and our hearts go out to the family. And I hope that they are going through the grieving and and deal with it in a manner that that their spirit can be healed as well as their health. Anybody else? I just I people don't know this but I come from a firefighter family. I've got five LAFD firefighters, my three uncles and two cousins are firefighters. And although they are LACD firefighters, the firefighter network, it's a unified family. It's a law enforcement unified effort and any loss is felt throughout not just LA County, statewide nationally. As was mentioned, it's very rare that a firefighter loses their life in the line of duty. And this was a tragic loss to the department and to the city of Pondale. So my condolences, since really, to the family. All right. With that, we're going to go ahead and adjourn the meeting So my condolences, since really to the family. All right, with that, we're gonna go ahead and adjourn the meeting in memory of firefighter Andrew Ponies to July 10th, 2024 or 5 p.m. right here in Council chambers. Thank you, take care of yourself and have a good night. Happy Fourth of July, everybody.