200 Lincoln Ave., Salinas,
CA 93901
www.salinas.gov
City of Salinas
Meeting Minutes - Unofficial
Finance Committee
Committee Members:
Mayor Dennis Donohue
Councilmember D'Arrigo
Councilmember De La Rosa
Rene Mendez, City Manager
Selina Andrews, Finance Director
Finance Department Office: (831) 758-7211
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 2:00 PM Salinas Rotunda
CALL TO ORDER
This meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL
Present: 3 - Dennis Donohue, Gloria De La Rosa and Margaret D'Arrigo
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENTS
No public comment.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 - LEVINE ACT
No disclosures reported.
CONSENT
ID#26-414 Minutes
Upon motion by Councilmember D'Arrigo, seconded by Councilmember De La Rosa, ID#26-414 the minutes of August 11, 2026 was approved. The motion carried by the following vote:
Ayes: 3 - Councilmember Donohue, Councilmember De La Rosa and Councilmember D'Arrigo
CONSIDERATIONS
ID#26-406 Health Care Cost Containment
HR Manager Patricia Penaloza gave the presentation, initially providing some history and context for the discussion of health care cost containment and the recent transition from Blue Cross to Blue Shield. She also highlighted the fact that increases this year for PPO are significantly less than in years past, while HMO will see some increases. Additionally City of Salinas Page 1
Finance Committee Meeting Minutes - Unofficial September 1, 2026 she pointed out various plan changes and the change dates, including added coverage for infertility.
Report filed with the commission secretary for the record.
ID#26-419 Artificial Intelligence Technology Update
Deputy Director of IT Carlos Ortega gave the presentation, providing background and a timeline of key AI technology initiatives. These included Siteimprove for website accessibility, a Microsoft Copilot pilot program for content creation and document summarization, and ZenCity with sentiment measurement and intelligent data analysis.
Another initiative included the City's new chatbot, "Sali", for virtual web-assistance.
Public Information Officer Sofia Rome provided some insight into these initiatives as well. Finally, a timeline and next steps were discussed for moving these initiatives forward.
Report filed with the commission secretary for the record.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
No items.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
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