CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF HOLLISTER
Minutes of Regular Meeting
April 4, 2022
REMOTE PARTICIPATION DURING THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY
CALL TO ORDER - 6:30 P.M.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Council Member Dolores Morales led the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL
The Regular Meeting of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Ignacio Velazquez on April, 4, 2022 at 6:37 PM in the City Council Chambers at 375 Fifth Street, Hollister, CA 95023.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Ignacio Velazquez Mayor Remote
Rick Perez i District 1 Present
Rolan Resendiz ; District 2 Remote
Dolores Morales District 3 Present I_
Tim Burns District 4 Present
Jason S. Epperson City Attorney Present
Christine Black City Clerk Present
Carlos Reynoso Police Chief Present
Brett Miller City Manager Present
VERIFICATION OF AGENDA POSTING
The Agenda for the City of Hollister City Council meeting of April 4, 2022, was posted on the bulletin board at City Hall on March 30, 2022, at 4:00 p.m. per Government Code section 54954.2.
PROCLAMATIONS
Vice Mayor Perez presented Hollister 150th Anniversary Proclamations to the Historical Society and Senior Support Services Casares.
Proclamation - City of Hollister 150th Anniversary
Vice Mayor Perez presented a Proclamation for Hollister's 150th Anniversary to the John Wrobel of the San Benito County Historical Society and City of Hollister Senior Support Services Daisy Casares.
A. CONSENT ITEMS
All items listed under the Consent Resolution will be enacted in one motion authorizing the actions indicated for those items so designated.
Council Member Burns moved to adopt the Consent Agenda with the exception of item A3, which was pulled by Council Member Morales. Motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Perez.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Rick Perez
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
Consent items are numbers: Al, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6.
1. Joint Powers Financing Authority - Special Joint Powers Finance Authority Meeting - Mar 21, 2022 6:30 PM
2. City Council - Regular Meeting - Mar 21, 2022 6:30 PM
3. 3299 has been moved to Items Pulled From Consent Agenda
4. Claim Against the City - Filed by Mercury Insurance Co. for Leticia Perez
5. ABC License Review - San Benito Billiards
6. Resolution No. 2022-51 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Re-ratifying Resolution 2022-18, Authorizing Remote Teleconference Meetings of the Legislative Bodies of the City of Hollister During a Declared State of Emergency and Pursuant to Government Code Section 54953 (AB 361)
ITEMS PULLED FROM CONSENT AGENDA
WARRANT REGISTER - MARCH 21, 2022 AP
Council Member Morales pulled this item to request and will continue to pull this item and request a detailed description summary of expenditures for proper reconciliation. As policy makers, we need to have a true understanding of where we are in terms of our finances.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Consent Item #3-Warrant Registers.. Motion was seconded by Council Member Resendiz.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 2 of 16
Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Rolan Resendiz
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
B. CITY OF HOLLISTER AS THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY OF THE
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
None.
C. PUBLIC INPUT
Susan Logue, addressed the Council.
D. PETITIONS, REMONSTRANCES AND COMMUNICATIONS
1. City Manager Report
None.
2. Trainings and Conferences
City Manager Miller and Police Chief Reynoso attended a training last week on how to continue working together successfully as a team.
E. PUBLIC HEARINGS
None.
F. INTRODUCTION AND ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCES
1. Resolution No. 2022-52 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Approving a Veterans' Preference Policy for City of Hollister Employment and Authorization to Implement the Policy
Received report from Human Resources Manager Hillstock.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-52. Motion was seconded by Council Member Morales.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 3 of 16
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Dolores Morales
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
2. Resolution No. 2022-53 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Approving a Professional Services Agreement Between the City of Hollister and Ralph Andersen & Associates to Conduct a Total Compensation Survey and Analysis for all City Job Specifications Received report from Human Resources Manager Hillstock.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-53. Motion was seconded by Council Member Morales.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Dolores Morales
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
3. Resolution No. 2022-54 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Approving an Appropriation of General Fund 101 for the Total Compensation Survey and Analysis for all City Job Specifications Project
Received report from Human Resources Manager Hillstock.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-54. Motion was seconded by Council Member Morales.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 4 of 16
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Dolores Morales
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
4. Resolution No. 2022-55 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Approving the Contribution of Funds to Youth Recovery Connections Nonprofit Start-up and Prevention in an Amount of$65,000 Received report from City Manager Miller.
Received report from Amy Bravo & Michael Salinas from Youth Recovery Connections Nonprofit.
Zavan Quesada, addressed the Council.
Council Member Morales moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-55, provided Youth Recovery Connections returns back and provides Council with direct service delivery including dosage model, the continue of care, results of marketing, your evaluation design for the programming, and the status of the various grants for further consideration of partnership. As an amendment to your proposal, consider doing Medi-Cal enrollment or Covered California, we found that to be essential for being able to enroll the youth into the appropriate treatment that is needed, would like to see that added.
Council Member Burns proposed a friendly amendment to Council Member Morales, to give them an additional $25,000.00 for compensation to actually get out and implement, to have this operational and he presumes that would take them operationally through October. Requested for this to come back in September and give Council the measurable results, and hard facts. Bring support staff, he wants to celebrate this with you.
Council Member Morales accepted Council Member Burn's amendment to her motion.
Motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Perez.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted No, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted No. Motion carried by a 3- 2-0-0 vote.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 5 of 16
RESULT: Adopted as Amended [3 to 2]
MOTION: Dolores Morales
SECOND: Rick Perez
AYES: Perez, Morales, Burns
NOES: Velazquez, Resendiz
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
5. Resolution No. 2022-56 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Adopting an Amended Memorandum of Understanding ("MOUAI") with the City of San Juan Bautista to it's Domestic Wastewater to the Hollister Treatment Plan
Received report from City Manager Miller.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-56. Motion was seconded by Council Member Morales.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Dolores Morales
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
6. Resolution No. 2022-57 a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hollister Approving the Temporary Closure of 6th Street and Wentz Alley between San Benito Street and East Street, both north and south sides of the street and the use of the 6th Street parking lot every Wednesday from May 4 through September 28, 2022, for the Hollister Downtown Association for Farmers Market
Received report from City Clerk Black, who introduced Omar Rosa, Chief Executive Officer of Hollister Downtown Association.
Council Member Burns moved to ADOPT Resolution No. 2022-57. Motion was seconded by Council Member Morales.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 6 of 16
Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote
RESULT: Adopted [Unanimous]
MOTION: Tim Burns
SECOND: Dolores Morales
AYES: Velazquez, Perez, Resendiz, Morales, Burns
NOES:
RECUSED:
ABSTAIN:
ABSENT:
G. REPORTS OF CITY COUNCIL, OFFICERS, BOARDS AND COMMITTEES
1. Reports from City Council Members regarding Committees on which they serve
None.
2. Informational Reports from City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk and Staff
Council Member Burns - requested consensus to raise the Thin Blue Line flag on the City Hall Unity pole May 11-21, 2022. On our Code of Conduct Ordinance; he read an article that referenced David Lloyd, an attorney for the First Amendment Coalition in the City of San Diego, and he was previously associated with the Center for Justice out of Spokane, Washington. He requested Council consider having a second opinion review of our Code of Conduct Ordinance to make sure that there are no parts that are construed as unconstitutional. Under Hollister Municipal Code section 1.04.050 it talks about severability of parts of the code which read, "It is declared to be the intention of the city council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this code shall be declared unconstitutional by a valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this code." Even if there is a part that we could have written better, smarter, or removed, he believes that would not create a major consequence. He has heard a lot of expressed concern and would like to error on the side of caution. He hopes for Council support to have another look at that. Requested an update from the City Manager on the status of recruitment for Deputy or Assistant City Manager. He proposed we rename Union Avenue to Cesar Chavez Way, and also name the new park we are building behind the Fire Station Cesar Chavez Park. Bulldog Boxing is about $18,000.00 under funded to finish their building. Requested Council consensus to give Bulldog Boxing $18,000.00. They have done amazing work and have saved a lot of people from going down the wrong path. We could use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money, that would be a good investment in the future of our community. He noticed the City of Salinas puts out after the meeting a notification of what the Council's previous actions were. He spoke with the City Clerk who has done some research and would like her to brief the Council on her findings, and see if this would be of value to us to keep our community current, and come and voice their concerns or support where necessary.
Proposed to Council that we install cameras on all of our Gateways, our major City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 7 of 16
streets, in proximity to our schools, parks and enclosed neighborhoods, that have limited entrance access like Sunnyslope Village and Cerrato Estates. We have seen the direct benefit of that recently, and it is priceless. We may use American Rescue ARPA funds for that. Would like the Police Department to create safe zones where we may install additional cameras and sound lighting to conduct child custody exchanges, and internet transactions whether it be an auto sale, or other things you purchase on the Internet to insure people are safe. Last week, he became aware of some substandard housing that happened at 740 Canal Alley. He has zero tolerance for substandard housing and requested our Code Enforcement Officers provide a presentation of that specific incident to Council. He would like included statistics for past substandard housing that is significant. This Council may need to consider moving forward with creating a Housing Rental Inspection Program, and if not already required, require business licenses. Requested a report from our City Clerk on the Deputy City Clerk Recruitment process. Finally, he requested we adjourn tonight's meeting in the memory of Jesus Gomez and Daniel Gonzales.
Council Member Resendiz - nothing to report.
Vice Mayor Perez - the flag raising ceremony yesterday turned out really awesome.
Thanked City staff for closing the roads, and thanked the City Clerk for coming in to catch up on work and listen to some good music. Thanked the community for being there. He supported Council Member Burns on the additional cameras, and adjourning in memory of Jesus Gomez and Daniel Gonzales.
Council Member Morales - she supported adjourning in memory of Jaime Gomez and Daniel Gonzalez. Requested intelligence on what is happening in the community, and would like to hear from our Police Department on trends that are happening in the community. She has seen other communities have reports that state 90 percent of Police have seen issues of Code Enforcement, 80 percent of them are smash and grabs, 10 percent are vehicle thefts. A report so that as issues are coming to the community we are actively problem solving and looking at partnerships to be able to have a community solution. She has a night market follow up, and the follow up request is to bring back the Hollister Municipal Code to allow food trucks in particular areas that may or may not be zoned and what appropriate areas there are to be able to allow food trucks. She is aware there are a couple of desired areas and would like Council to consider that request. Recently, we had an issue with shopping carts. These carts are utilized by Target, Safeway, Grocery Outlet, Lucky's. The concerns are about the Ordinance. One of the businesses shared that in 2016 they paid $26,000.00 in fines and that it is very difficult for them when carts are removed from their facilities whether it be by homeless, or by people to take their groceries home, and then leave them out. It is very difficult to have service in Hollister due to that. She requested this issue come back for possible solution or consideration to review the Ordinance. She had the opportunity to read the (Ordinance) today, and thanked the City Clerk for sending that out to Council.
She heard from several businesses about the rally, and while that decision has been made, she would like to have a work group start looking at next year and potentially other alternatives such as Apricot Festival, or amplifying or highlighting winery's in the region and have wine tours or tickets like in other jurisdictions. Requested a list of outstanding building permits that are over 6 months and the status of those. She supports term limits and would like that brought back for discussion, requested a date certain on that. She supports Code of Conduct being brought back for review, she is concerned about that. Requested status report of pending projects for the speed cushions. Follow up on Council pay. Supports naming Union Road Cesar City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 8 of 16
Chavez Way and the new park by the Fire Station Cesar Chavez Park. Supports Bulldog Boxing funding in the amount of$20,000.00.
Mayor Velazquez - nothing to report.
City Manager Miller - Requested consensus for the following items to be placed on a future agenda.
1. Flying the Thin Blue Line Flag May 11-21, 2022.
2. Code of Conduct to be reviewed by another attorney.
3. Assistant City Manager - currently reviewing Recruitment firms which should be in next week.
4. Naming of Parks - please contact Recreation to get that application process started with the Park and Recreation Commission.
5. Bulldog Boxing appropriation of$20,000.00.
6. Will work with the City Clerk to get notice of the previous nights actions on Social Media.
7. Cameras up at all access and have Police Department define that with Information Systems and Technology.
Council Member Morales would like to add a privacy aspect to this, and have those laws considered in terms of Government and Policy.
Information Systems and Technology Director added that we need to consider the ability to extend the network when we need to for those cameras to function correctly we are almost at capacity now in our current network.
8. Safe Zones are already being worked on by Police Department.
Captain Betanio does not have a timeline, but they have ordered the cameras and are working on lighting for the area for these exchanges.
9. Code Enforcement to do a presentation on substandard housing.
10. Request for Intelligence on Police Department issues and trends.
11. Ordinance on Food Trucks to be brought back for review and be time sensitive.
12. Shopping Cart Ordinance to be reviewed.
13. Working Group for Rally and other Festivals. Request from Council Member Resendiz to place this on the ballot.
14. List of outstanding Building Permits and their status.
15. Speed Cushions status report.
16. Council Salary Ordinance.
City Attorney Epperson - nothing to report.
Police Captain Betanio - friendly reminder to the community that on April 6, 2022, we will be holding the special needs registry at the Veteran's Memorial Building. The Hollister Police Department will be there to register anyone who wishes from the community. We also have the paperwork online on the City website.
City Clerk Black - reported that she looked at the City of Salinas's website and they have a QR Code and if you scan that with your phone it will take you to a page where you may click on different Council meetings videos. What she was hoping to see, and maybe what we could do is a recap summary of the Resolutions that went to Council unless the want is for every item that went to Council and a synopsis of each.
Council Member Burns - confirmed he wanted voted on items only.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 9 of 16
City Clerk Black - stated we could purchase QR codes at a minimal cost. With our current system we have, we could post a synopsis and post the breakdown of who voted on what, and Council Members would be able to state if they choose, any reasons why they voted no, or differently, and we could place that on as well.
Council Member Burns - is excited to hear we can do that, and would like to hold on that until we have a Deputy City Clerk on board.
City Clerk Black - reported she sent an email out last week to Human Resources requesting the status of a new Deputy City Clerk, and has not heard back. In the email, she requested the listing be posted on the following websites, City Clerk's Association of California, Mike Madrid -California City News.Org, and International Institute of Municipal Clerks.
Council Member Burns - requested from City Manager Miller if there is a way to make the Deputy City Clerk position a priority. He would like to see us move quickly, given the fact that it was approved in January.
City Manager Miller - stated he will follow up on the Deputy City Clerk position.
City Clerk Black - reported that she has spoken with our Consultant (Elections Attorney) as we have five (5) projects we would be working with him on. She has requested pricing for each so that she may obtain direction on April 18, 2022 Council Meeting to move forward from Council prior to spending money.
City Clerk Black - reported on Campaign Finance Ordinance - we are working with Elections Attorney, and are having difficulty obtaining enforcement attorneys. We are at a dead stop there, without them, we have no administrative hearing process and remain where we are.
City Clerk Black - reported on Fire District for City of Hollister, San Benito County and the City of San Juan Bautista. The question is if we want a JPA or a separate agency.
Mayor Velazquez - stated that a Fire District would have to be a countywide election.
The City of San Juan Bautista has appointed two Council members to the Fire Committee and they hope to meet again next month.
City Clerk Black - reported on Council Term Limits and the question is whether we want the limits to be lifetime, consecutive, how many year terms, we need direction.
Perhaps she could poll Council to find out preferences.
Council Member Burns - stated his vision of term limits would be two consecutive 4 year terms not counting partial terms. Then separate for one complete term of 4 years, and then may run again. Would also like the Mayor term to move from 2 year terms to two 4 year terms.
City Attorney Epperson - stated this is not specifically agendized, please give general direction and the attorney handling it may take it back, consider some options and bring that back.
Council Member Morales - requested we explore the option of rotating Mayors.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 10 of 16
Council Member Burns - stated that would be going backwards and we would have to redistrict to five districts.
Vice Mayor Perez - stated he favored two 4 year terms for Council, not including partial terms, and a pause of one term, and for the Mayor four 2 year terms with a pause of one term.
Council Member Resendiz - this item is not agendized and he is not comfortable speaking about it. He will discuss when the time is appropriate and it is on the agenda.
City Clerk Black - reported on the Hollister Independence Day Rally and the question is would it be an advisory measure.
City Clerk Black - reported on Charter City. To move forweard we need to look at what we want specifically, Charter Codes may be simple or complicated. Some Charter Codes are three pages, others are more intensive. Pricing would be based on the level of depth.
3. Report to the City Council of the City of Hollister To Discuss the Use of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
City Manager Miller - reported that the City will receive in two years approximately
9.7 million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA).
Council has given staff direction to use those funds for revenue replacement, which will be brought forward as an agenda item on April 18, 2022, to submit Council's choice to place it in the General Fund. That would then allow us to use General Funds how we would like. We are recommending to Council that we provide a 5- year forgivable loan program for businesses in the Hollister downtown area up to $2 million dollars. We are recommending restaurants with a kitchen, because kitchens with stoves and hoods are very expensive. For any new business start up to be $150,000.00; retail or restaurant type with no kitchen be about $50,000.00. This is our recommendation and that would give approximately about 10 different businesses the ability to open up downtown. We are also recommending that we use another $250,000.00 towards additional park let programs. There are some different businesses that want park lets or say a kitchen that opens up may want a park let to go with their business. Use some of the money to do beautifications, as we may improve some older ripped awnings, or different items to improve downtown.
Use it for staff time to keep the area nice. Discuss hazard pay for city staff. Staff went through and looked at about 15 different cities. It appears most of them did a flat rate from $1000.00 to 14,000.00. They would either do a percent of pay, or add to their hours worked for a particular period up to a total amount. Santa Clara County gave staff $2,500.00. Requested Council direction, we have discussed different ways of doing this and what our staff recommends. If we do the loan program, we would be receiving business plans, expenses and there are some legal aspects that we would need to develop also.
Mayor Velazquez - questioned City Manager if he said the loan program was for $2 million.
City Manager Miller - stated if we have no retail businesses and a bunch of restaurants, the loan program would be for 15 or 16 (businesses) up to $2 million City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 11 of 16
dollars. If this is successful, we could revisit and bring it back to Council for additional funds. We are recommending $150,000.00 for each business.
Mayor Velazquez - stated he believes this is a fair amount because one of the most important thing about business owners is that they have capital also. Otherwise they over extend and get themselves into trouble pretty quick. He would like to see the term of forgiveness be at least 10 years to make sure the revenues comes back. He personally regrets not having a forgiveness loan program more of a low interest loan program, so we can bring that money back and help others in the future, rather than just a few people receiving the benefits of that. To reinvest that money a very low interest rate over so many years and keep bringing it back.
Council Member Burns - agrees with the Mayor. He is curious if we are going to loan money, just food for thought. If I own a building downtown and I am a landlord, and I have a tenant that wants to come in and open a restaurant, and they qualify and they open the business and then they fail. It is not like you can take a commercial kitchen out. It feels somewhat complicated. In the earlier days, it used to be that there were loans available through planning and development for if you need to put a new roof on your house, or you need to put paint on your house. There are ways to get there via the old redevelopment model. It feels really complicated to him. The more complicated it gets, the greater the risk of us losing people. He is in agreement and would like to see more about that.
Vice Mayor Perez - questioned if building owners would be able to use this if their building needs attention.
City Manager Miller - stated yes, that is what we were looking at with the $250,000.000 piece. That would have been for if a business needs to redo an awning, or maybe they need spackling done. We would do it on a case by case basis.
Vice Mayor Perez - stated that is the business, but what if the building owner wanted to dress up the building a little bit to get tenants. He is trying to see if we may provide incentive for some of these buildings downtown.
City Manager Miller - Usually the building owners put that burden onto their lessee.
Once they had a lessee they (the lessee) would do the program and have the funds to update their bathroom that maybe is not Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant or to put sprinklers in. What we have heard is a new business comes in and they are unable to afford to update the bathroom, and things like that.
Council Member Burns - stated that the ADA is very intriguing to know that there are people that travel the cities and the states to sue small businesses with Nuisance Suits and they collect and go away for far less then they sue for. ADA would be a great alternative. Back in the Redevelopment era when there was money flowing statewide they had facade programs where they would come in and do a whole downtown. He would not be surprised if some of our sidewalks downtown, some of the planter boxes and some of the tree areas were done in that way, twenty years or so ago. This could be another way to refresh and renew some of those things.
City Manager Miller - stated if Council would like to add another layer we could put another layer for ADA loan.
City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 12 of 16
Council Member Morales - stated she would like to see that we give at least $2500.00 to our employees as a flat rate so that it is not complicated. In another jurisdiction what we figured out from our accountants was that it would be a lot of time and energy to do different variations. To save time, it was a flat rate, non PERS2500 able money to be distributed. Most of it will be taken by taxes so $2500.00 is a good rate.
City Manager Miller - stated that one of the Cities they looked at had a chart did employees touch documents from outside other people, did they interact with individuals from outside the city. They had all these different check lists. Pretty much everybody checked the box. It is very difficult, where do you draw the line, where somebody was involved in COVID over the last two years. Initially, public safety was hit hard, but he would say throughout the process COVID has effected every staff member somehow.
Vice Mayor Perez - agrees with that.
Council Member Burns - questioned Council Member Morales that he does not know what jurisdiction she is referring to that did that.
Council Member Morales - stated Santa Clara County.
Council Member Burns - questioned how much ARPA funds did Santa Clara County Receive.
Council Member Morales - stated it was significantly higher.
Council Member Burns - stated he wants to give something. Questioned what did San Benito County give and what amount of ARPA money did they receive. He believes it was about $3 million more than our city. City of Hollister received about 25% less. He is fine with giving the same amount San Benito County gave their employees minus 25% to put us in line in what we received versus what they did. He would like to see if we could provide that to the employees that we have lost in the last two years.
City Manager Miller - stated that the generosity is understood, but those people don't work for us. We have to take taxes out, and we do not have their current payroll information to be able to process that paycheck. We could put this into a Resolution format and if they do not get back to us in a certain time frame 60 days, that they forfeit.
Council Member Burns - stated he is fine with that. He questioned how does this factor into Public Employee Retirement System (PERS).
City Manager Miller - Because this is a lump sum payment it is not PERS able.
Mayor Velazquez - stated he would be careful going back to those that no longer work for us. That opens up a few problems. He wants to make sure that we are allocating dollars to fix sidewalks. We need to put a program together to get them fixed throughout the city.
City Manager Miller - stated that the Risk Pool had a board meeting today and one of the items discussed was through the ten cities to hire a firm that will come out and City Council Monday, April 4, 2022 Page 13 of 16
basically GIS mark all of our sidewalks and also give us a price where we would do say $10,000.00 in sidewalk repairs and if we wanted to do more we could add to that. Because this is put into our General Fund this is something that once we have the program worked out we can bring that forward at that time, unless you want to do some sidewalks at this time.
Mayor Velazquez - stated this (sidewalks) is a program we would need to receive bids from local contractors. It will be a several hundred thousand dollar project if not close to half a million. It is not hard to identify the areas, we need to get out there and do it, figure out price per square foot for sidewalk repairs and have our locals be able to come in and make this project much quicker than our attempts in the past.
City Manager Miller - stated it would be sidewalks that have less than a two inch gap.
What we can do is actually the sidewalks that are severely over the two inch gap to be repaired.
Mayor Velazquez - stated that a one inch gap is too much. That is a tripping hazard so we need to identify what is causing it, if we know its the roots then cut the roots and cut some trees down where we have these issues so it does not come back.
Vice Mayor Perez - stated the sidewalks in District 1 and District 2 will be seeing a lot of that sidewalk work and he is sure other districts also. He wants to make sure, we had direction from Council before addressing the alleys issue, and he knows we are working on getting a bond measure so that we may get plans done so then we may just move forward.
City Manager Miller - stated that for the alleys, the hope was that we will be hearing from (Community Development Block Grant) CDBG, to do the plans for that. The bonds will be for street and alleys to pay for the work to get them done. CDBG will pay for the plans so that we can bid out the projects, and the bond money would be to pay for the roads and alleys to be repaired.
Council Member Burns - questioned on the hazard pay, is this something we can bring back. Council Member Morales's plan of $2500.00 and Plan B what the County did minus 25%, and at that meeting we may make a decision and be done with it.
City Manger Miller - stated yes, he would request consensus on what dollar amount we would want, either Council Member Morales plan or Plan B what the county did minus the 25%, that may come back for the next meeting. The loan program would take another meeting or so, he requests direction on what we want to pay the employees, do you want to do the (business) loan program, with the ADA loan, and do you want sidewalks to a certain dollar amount like $250,000.00.
Council Member Burns - stated he understands the other things will take a little bit of time, would like the hazard pay to be brought back at the next Council Meeting. Our employees have been very patient and he would like to put this to bed at the next meeting if possible.
Vice Mayor Perez - agreed with Council Member Burns and he would like the $2500.00.
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City Manager Miller - stated he will present both numbers on the staff report and a Council Member may make a motion for one at that time. Received consensus for to identify areas and determine from that how much we need to do the repairs.
Information Systems and Technology Director Da Silva - due to talking about investments in infrastructure, we have talked about extending the cameras, and safe zones. There is opportunity to extend our fiber network out to some of these areas where we could utilize it for some of the things that Council would like to do. We do not have our own fiber to the treatment plant. There is a project to connect San Juan Bautista, which we talked about earlier tonight. This includes running fiber conduit all the way to the treatment plant. We could extend our fiber network from the yard through Brigantino Park to the treatment plant. Brigantino Park, we can add more cameras, safe zone for exchanges. Fire Station 2 is on a wireless connection. We do not have fiber to that area. We may work with the County their public works is off of Southside Road, we could go through the High School. There are other agencies we may partner with to get the fiber out there. Just throwing this out there as part of the investments. A few years ago, to get fiber to the treatment plant through Brigantino Park we were only able to extend it to the City Yard, because it would have cost almost a million dollars to get it to the treatment plant. Now that we have the fiber to the City yard, we could go from there to the treatment plant. The cost was from a few years ago, who knows what it is now. He believes we have three inch conduits and we have 96 strand fiber. Two fibers would be one to transmit and one to receive. Depending on how many we terminate we would have extra in the ground for future or even lease out to utilities and other opportunities.
Council Member Morales - requested that we do some research and bring it back.
They are doing the same thing at several other facilities and she will provide him with some names. It is going to be extremely expensive, and if the cost back then was a million, it is probably five or ten now, due to labor and the materials are just not available. But we could consider this as a multi-year project and cost it out for all the different areas, we would need a multi-year contract.
City Manager Miller - stated that Information Systems and Technology Director Da Silva is really good about when we do projects to remind us that when we open up the streets, we put in water lines, sewer lines and conduit wherever we can.
Council Member Burns - questioned is this not what the ARPA funds were originally designated for.
City Manager Miller - stated yes, that is one of the things. We will work with the county too, as he believes there are other broadband money that we are trying to get for the whole area.
H. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. City Council Requests of City Manager's Staff
City Manager Miller requested Council to review the current report, and let staff know if you have questions or request changes. We will keep updating and moving it forward.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
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J. MISCELLANEOUS
None.
K. CITY OF HOLLISTER AS THE SUCCESSOR HOUSING AGENCY OF THE
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
None.
L. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, Council Member Burns moved to adjourn the meeting in memory of Jesus Gomez and Daniel Gonzales at 9:16 p.m. Motion seconded by Vice Mayor Perez.
City Clerk Black called the vote with the following results: Council Member Resendiz voted Yes, Council Member Morales voted Yes, Council Member Burns voted Yes, Vice Mayor Perez voted Yes, and Mayor Velazquez voted Yes. Motion carried by a unanimous vote.
Respectfully submitted,
04 02(4(--'
Christine Black, MMC
City Clerk
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