Regular City Council Meeting, January 16, 2025

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AI transcript text.

[00:00:11] Speaker A: I'm going to call this meeting to order. This is a meeting of the City Council, the Library and Observatory Board, Housing Authority Board, and the City Council representing the Redevelopment Successor Agency. The regular meeting of Thursday, January 16th, and it is approximately 1:02, and I will ask our attorney if he will lead us in the flag salute today.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: For those able to stand, I ask you to join us.
[00:00:47] Speaker D: Right hand over your heart.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May we have a roll call, please?
[00:01:11] Speaker E: Council Member Downs?
[00:01:12] Speaker B: I'm here.
[00:01:12] Speaker E: Council—
[00:01:13] Speaker B: I'm here.
[00:01:14] Speaker E: Member Fromberg-Edelstein?
[00:01:16] Speaker F: Here.
[00:01:16] Speaker E: Council Member O'Keefe?
[00:01:18] Speaker G: Here.
[00:01:18] Speaker E: Mayor Pro Tem Mulatto.
[00:01:20] Speaker H: Here.
[00:01:20] Speaker E: Mayor Weil.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Here. The, um, first order of business will be a presentation, and if I have that information handy, uh, and that'll be by Colleen Pace, the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Visit Greater Palm Springs, uh, and we feel that your entity is frankly an extension of every city, and we're delighted to have you here today.
[00:01:59] Speaker F: Thank you so much, Mayor. Happy New Year to you and City Council members and city staff. I'm absolutely thrilled to be here to talk about the recap from the Live with Kelly and Mark show hosted here in November of 2024. First, wanted to extend just sincere gratitude for the incredible amount of support that we received from the city and from Gabe in particular and your team, as well as the Westin, for supporting bringing this to our destination, attracting it to come here to begin with, and then executing such an incredible event in our destination, which was on a, just a national audience that we could not have purchased otherwise. So very excited to be here and share some updates. So thank you so much. The Live with Kelly and Mark show brought an incredible amount of excitement and over 8,000 audience members over the course of 4 days to our destination. As some of you may have seen if you follow the show, they do these in remote destinations, but they do them not that frequently, and they really have been keen to host this in our destination. So we were so thrilled after years of conversation with them to make this come to life. So the first thing I wanted to start with is a recap video. It was very difficult to narrow it down because because 4 days of incredible destination information and visuals and conversations happen. But we did our best, and I have a little recap video here to share with you. Oh, video should play.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: We'll maybe have the guys in the booth try it.
[00:03:43] Speaker F: Yeah, I think you would— Oh, there we go.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:03:47] Speaker I: It's Live with Kelly and Mark from the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: And now, here are Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
[00:04:02] Speaker J: And welcome to the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California.
[00:04:11] Speaker K: We are in paradise.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: We did it.
[00:04:19] Speaker K: Palm Springs, for those of you watching us at home, we keep saying Palm Springs, Palm Springs. We are actually in Rancho Mirage. Palm Springs has 9 cities. There's Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, where we are, Palm Desert, Indian— Palm Desert is very—
[00:04:41] Speaker J: Palm Desert is here.
[00:04:43] Speaker K: Palm Desert strong, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Coachella, and Indio. Wow, welcome all of you. And I'm here with Kurt Zierer, who is going to give me a tour of all of the famous and historic architectural monuments here in Palm Springs. To me, the mid-century moderns are just, to me that's like real Palm Springs. This is too good to be true. I'm going to seize my moment. I've got the dress, I'm gonna I'm gonna be the woman in yellow. I'm gonna sit here. Ah, decadence. The mountain right there, over there, is a completely different world. And getting to the top of that mountain is half the fun. Check this out. This is amazing.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: We're moving.
[00:05:41] Speaker K: This is the way to see everything.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Last car goes down tonight at 9:30.
[00:05:45] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:05:47] Speaker D: Don't miss that car.
[00:05:48] Speaker F: What happens if somebody gets left up here?
[00:05:51] Speaker B: It's called camping, ma'am.
[00:05:52] Speaker K: Camping.
[00:05:54] Speaker L: Is this the sniffing tree?
[00:05:56] Speaker G: That is the sniffing tree. Ooh, it's sweet.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: What's it giving?
[00:06:01] Speaker H: Butterscotch.
[00:06:02] Speaker G: Yeah. Butterscotch.
[00:06:03] Speaker K: Vanilla.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Vanilla. Yeah.
[00:06:05] Speaker G: Wow.
[00:06:05] Speaker M: Wow.
[00:06:06] Speaker K: Oh my gosh. So gorgeous.
[00:06:09] Speaker I: We're here at the PGA West Stadium Course. Let's see what Mark Consuelos, Ryan Chapman and Jerry O'Connell bring to you today.
[00:06:18] Speaker G: Get in the hole! Get in the hole! Get in the hole!
[00:06:26] Speaker I: Welcome to the Kelly and Mark Pickleball Championship.
[00:06:29] Speaker L: Here we go now, here we go, here we go, here we go now.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Oh, partner! This is living.
[00:06:38] Speaker K: Over here, babe.
[00:06:40] Speaker G: This is living.
[00:06:42] Speaker K: I don't want to sit down. Who wants to sit down? This is incredible. Look at this crowd today. It is our final day here in the Greater Palm Springs area at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa, which has been the greatest pleasure of our lives to be here.
[00:07:04] Speaker J: It really has.
[00:07:04] Speaker K: And I, uh, when you all return back to New York, I will be staying here. So if you need me, we want to thank the Visit Greater Palm Springs Palm Springs team for my gorgeous caftan, your beautiful shirt.
[00:07:19] Speaker L: Yes.
[00:07:19] Speaker K: And for treating us really like we've never been treated before. It's the hospitality level of this town is second to none. So thank you.
[00:07:30] Speaker G: Thank you, guys.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:07:39] Speaker F: So just a brief video to show how much fun they had in our destination, how much they love our destination. And so excited to share that. We could not have executed this without great partners like yourselves and also the Westin Rancho Mirage. Um, they were incredible to work with. They created lots of wonderful experiences for the audience members. Here you can see some of the, the items that they did— a VIP check-in area, which some of you may have participated in. We also had the Westin Rancho Mirage on their travel wheel, which was additional exposure for them. And then thank you to the City of Rancho Mirage for helping us do the swag bags. We had the incredible Rancho Mirage 50-year anniversary book included in that for all the celebrities and some additional swag like golf balls and Yeti mugs and a lot of fun— the Brandini. So that was a lot of fun to put those together in partnership with the City and some of our local businesses. So thank you again for that. The social media channels for Live with Kelly and Mark, they have almost 5 million followers, so you can imagine that the exposure for our destination, if you were keeping up on it, the pre-communication that they had on social media was something they did above and beyond what our agreement was, and we were thrilled to see all of the great exposure we got leading up to the event, and I have a couple examples of this. You may need to hit play on the first video here. I can—
[00:09:06] Speaker B: We are doing 4 shows from the Westin Rancho Mirage Resort and Spa.
[00:09:13] Speaker J: Golf Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California.
[00:09:15] Speaker K: Look at that glamour, you guys! If you're going to be in the Rancho Mirage area or one of the 9 cities within the greater Palm Springs area on November 10th and 11th, we'd love to see you in our audience.
[00:09:28] Speaker J: Yes, go to our website for all the details.
[00:09:31] Speaker F: And then the next one also has a short video as well.
[00:09:35] Speaker K: Rancho Mirage, where we will be on Monday. Patrick, how are you? How is Palm Springs?
[00:09:41] Speaker N: Palm Springs is phenomenal here at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa. We have a little breeze, we're going to warm up nicely, and we have got terrific weather for your visit. And everyone is super excited that you guys are coming to town.
[00:09:54] Speaker K: Do you have any recommendations of things we shouldn't miss when we come out there?
[00:09:58] Speaker N: Well, uh, yeah, there are tons of things you shouldn't miss, and you don't have enough time to get them all in. But the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, number one, is fantastic. Our street fair, Village Fest, on Thursday evenings, also a must-do. Uh, there's some really fantastic restaurants. There are lots of things to you're going to have to come back more often.
[00:10:15] Speaker K: Oh, definitely. Rancho.
[00:10:20] Speaker F: So on our own Visit Greater Palm Springs channels, we also saw a lot of engagement. We had over 1.1 million video views, which is an incredible amount in a short period of time. We had almost 62,000 engagements and 550,000 impressions. So an incredible amount. It's going to be hard to set goals this year when we're comparing it to that for for last year, but an incredible amount of engagement in a very short period of time. We also received a lot of earned media as a result. This is just an example of some of that that we received with People and ABC. So again, a lot of buzz and excitement about hosting this in our destination. As you can see, the audience was so excited to be there. I know some of you were there, so you got to experience that firsthand. In addition to all of the great social coverage and earned media during the show, we had the ability to incorporate some messaging specific to the City of Rancho Mirage and the Westin. And so this was one of the spots that was run each day of the 4 days that it ran, which had an incredible amount of advertising value, and I wanted to share that with you here.
[00:12:37] Speaker I: Imagine a place that is elevated on every level, that stretches your body and your mind, where hard to describe is easy to find. A place where everything is in rhythm, a place where even the smallest moments feel larger than life. Can you imagine? This is Rancho Mirage.
[00:12:58] Speaker F: And also one specific for the Westin.
[00:13:02] Speaker I: Hotel accommodations provided by the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort and Spa, located on 360 60 acres of natural beauty with stunning panoramic mountain views and lush green fairways. This popular resort offers pickleball, tennis, championship golf on the Pete Dye Course, luxurious wellness spa, dual water slides, delicious dining options, and so much more.
[00:13:29] Speaker F: And in addition, we had the ability to create some bumpers specifically to the city of Rancho Mirage as well. These do not have audio because they were speaking over it during the show, but I'll share a couple of these with you as well. So the observatory. And then Sunnylands.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Hahaha.
[00:14:04] Speaker F: And with that, the final results for hosting this in our destination was an estimated value of over over $17 million. Um, you may recall when we were here presenting this, uh, that the projected number was $14 million, so it exceeded our expectations and also what was required for them to deliver to us, which was really exciting. $105 million national reach for earned media, $8.9 million in unique views, $4.7 million video views, and that's just the ones we could measure. Um, that doesn't include all the other channels that shared and posted, 7.8 million impressions and 250 million unique social engagements, which is sort of hard to even comprehend that many. So a lot of great results, and I again just wanted to extend our sincere thanks for your support of this unique project for our destination. It really made a huge impact, and I'm happy to answer any questions as well.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Well, thanks, Colleen. That was great. And people are still talking about it and have commented what a great event it was. And I know all of us on the council that attended, you know, were just thrilled to be there. Any other comments?
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yes, Mr. Mayor, thank you. So thank you, Colleen, and thank you to Joyce. You were there both days to direct traffic and make sure that all of the city attendees and VGPS attendees had a place to sit. So thank you so much for your work. There's just no way to measure how important this was. Not just for our destination here in Rancho Mirage, but for the entire Coachella Valley. So thank you for all the hard work that you did and that your team did in making this work. It was just a great event. Thank you so much.
[00:15:47] Speaker F: Thank you. It was our pleasure. Thank you so much.
[00:15:51] Speaker H: Colleen, this was such a raging success that my family members that live in Tennessee and Ohio and Buffalo have volunteered to come out and keep me company during the November-December months. Congratulations to you and the team.
[00:16:09] Speaker M: Thank you.
[00:16:10] Speaker H: Greater Palm Springs, and, and also to Gabe and Tom Scaramellino at the Westin Mission Hills. I— this is what our Valley's about. This is what Rancho Mirage is about, and you just shared it with 17.8 million people. It was just wonderful.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: I am originally from, from Buffalo, so I can't imagine how anybody from Buffalo wouldn't want to come here after seeing I went to college in Rochester, so I'm right in that neighborhood as well, so I can relate.
[00:16:37] Speaker F: No, thank you. I mean, Tom is— I mean, he was there every day at 5 AM when we were there. I mean, his team was just absolutely incredible. We could not have done it with a better partner and with more enthusiasm than he had. It was just incredible.
[00:16:51] Speaker H: And the people and the visitors felt that. It was palpable, the excitement as they were approaching the hotel, crossing the street, clogging up Dinah Shore, trying to get the traffic, trying to get in. Everything ran so smoothly, like a Swiss watch. And that's to all of your efforts and your team's efforts. And thank you for highlighting Rancho Mirage and the Coachella Valley, but specifically.
[00:17:16] Speaker F: Of course, of course. Thank you.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Great job. Any other comments?
[00:17:21] Speaker D: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to say I loved them when they were Haley and Mateo on All My Children all those years ago.
[00:17:28] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:17:29] Speaker D: And I love them even more now. So thanks to you and to Gabe and to the city. You did a remarkable thing. Thank you.
[00:17:36] Speaker F: Thank you. Thank you so much. And Joyce is sorry she couldn't be here. Someone mentioned Joyce. Um, she was an integral part in this relationship that's been kind of being built over the past, um, I think close to 10 years. So, I mean, it was definitely kudos to her and these strong relationships that she built. So special thanks to Joyce as well. Again, thank you. Thank you. Happy New Year.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Thank you so much. We will now go to the non-agenda public comments. I'll ask City Clerk for any, any cards that have been turned in, please.
[00:18:12] Speaker E: Thank you. So now is the time for anyone to speak on items that are not on today's agenda. Our first speaker is Lori Green.
[00:18:26] Speaker O: Hello, good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to address the council. My name is Lori Green. I am an adjunct faculty and also the paramedic program director at College of the Desert, and I'm just here to announce some very exciting news. College of the Desert is going to be starting their first ever paramedic program, um, and that, uh, that class starts March 5th, um, of this year, so in like 2 months. Uh, so we started this pro— uh, process back in 2019. As you know, the pandemic hit, so that put some things on hold. Uh, my dean and the campus decided that they were going to attack it again, um, based on advisory committees and some of the information that we got from our community partners that there is a deficit in paramedics in our area and the region. And so they stepped up and said, we're going to start this process again in 2024. I came on in March of 2024 to start the accreditation process. So it takes, uh, two accreditations, one from CAHEP, which is the national accreditation, and one as a county accreditation. We received the I guess the interim, because we've got to go through the accreditation process once we have our first cohort, but we received approval from COA and from the county in December, so December 23rd. So that moved us forward to starting the program March 5th. So we still have applications open. I see you all reading the little pamphlet that was— that were handed around. So we still can take applications. It's going to be open until the end of February, and we have 18 applicants so far. We can take up to 30 in the program, and the program runs about 13 to 15 months, as you see in your pamphlets. And our program is also fully funded, so it's no cost to the students. We, we really pushed hard for that for this first cohort. So that is the information I have for you today. If you have any questions, questions for me.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Great addition, great addition to the college and great addition for the area. And certainly today, under the present circumstances with what's going on in the, in the world and in this area, indeed it's called for. So thanks so much for the information.
[00:20:51] Speaker O: Absolutely. Thank you.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Right, appreciate that.
[00:20:56] Speaker E: The next speaker is Susan Ragsdale.
[00:21:07] Speaker L: My girlfriend gave me the advice to do this like I'm singing a song. This is my new dog, Bobo, who I rescued a month ago at the Thousand Palms Sanctuary. I want you all to know that I never wanted to be anybody's adversary or enemy or opposition. I have been the victim of circumstance which has been extraordinarily unusual and put me in this very uncomfortable situation where I've had to say things about people that I wouldn't want to say. And I come here and I feel really bad because I feel ignored and I don't I'm not comfortable with it. Ted Wheel, Mr. Mayor, would you please give me an extra minute because I'm having a little bit of a hard time. I want you to know I spent 2 weeks solidly doing an 8-page report to HUD. And I made copies for everyone. I couldn't afford to do all color, so some of them are black and white, but I have copies for everyone. And 2 weeks of full-time work. And my— I'm sorry, she had a good harness, but she lost it in some brambles. I have a 3-minute comment, which, like I said, I need a little extra time because it's hard for me to do this. I'm in dire straits. Unless something changes, as of February 15th, I'm destined to live in my car with my dog Bobo. Los Angeles is my hometown, and I'm grieving. Many people are in dire straits now that their homes have been burned. Here in Rancho Mirage, January 2020, starting with the first fraudulent harassment warning due to the city's fraud, I've been in dire straits and ultimately become homeless. With malice and deceit, my home was swindled from me. Meanwhile, numerous tenant bullies were allowed to harass me. It's been shocking to be victimized in this extensive crime without justification. The city council destroyed my life since the May 2022 fraudulent termination of tenancy. Tenancy. I always thought if I could just prove to the city I'm telling the truth, they'll restore me to what is rightfully mine. Each time I made a public comment, investing in color prints of video freeze frames, I returned home having faith in the city's decency. I always anticipated a compassionate phone call. It's been tragically disappointing to be ignored and trashed. I have put my all into persuading the city to have empathy, understanding, and mercy from the start of this eviction fraud calamity because I did not want to alienate the city. I blame the crime on Hyder Property Management. In desperation, as I continued to write and refine my numerous testimonies, the truth became an indictment against the city council and individuals who have mistreated me. The truth is I'm wholeheartedly devoted to God and follow the teachings of loving service as taught by the Lord. At Whispering Waters, I was a compassionate and attentive tenant. I grew flowers to give bouquets to my friends. Fundamentally, I was evicted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that was in City Hall when the In-N-Out Burger protesters were still protesting. To my alarming surprise, the city council scapegoated me as one of them. I've seriously suffered from this abusive and nonsensical situation. Right now, I'm at a complete loss. I'm too disabled to do anything but live in my car. Please do the right thing by restoring me. Before all the abuse, I was busy writing my memoirs, creating uplifting artwork, cooking healthy meals, and caring for my plants and my dog. I always kept my apartment well organized and spotlessly clean. I am 73 years of age and have no savings or assets. I have become frail, and now I'm faced with living in my car in the winter. Thank you for listening. I beg of you to help us. Thank you very much.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:25:31] Speaker L: And then I'm going to give you these copies. Thanks for giving me a A little extra time.
[00:25:37] Speaker E: Wally Melendez.
[00:26:05] Speaker G: Good afternoon, uh, City Council, uh, administration, audience. First meeting of January 2025. We're in for a dangerous and historic 4 years of a very bad federal government, starting with Trump and his cabinet, unqualified, dangerous We just think what he did to the Portland protesters when he first came in. Masked men came over and dragged people into vans in Portland, Oregon. This country has not been in such danger since 1776, 1860, And now 2025 for 4 years. And I'd like for one day for somebody to add, when you do the Pledge of Allegiance, not only to the flag but to the Constitution of the United States. One of the first things that Trump and his gang at in D.C. are going to try to get rid of DEI. In case some of you don't know what DEI stands for, it stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And by the way, I'm standing here and I get 3 minutes because of the Brown Act. That's passed in California. Not all states have that. So we're grateful for the Brown Act. So it was the first, the only meeting in January of 2025. Note in your minds and in your calendar the hell that this country is going to be in 4 years from now, the last meeting in December 2028.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Next speaker.
[00:28:49] Speaker E: That was the last speaker card. Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to speak on something that is not on today's agenda? That was the last speaker.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: Thank you. That include— that concludes the non-agenda public comments. I will now go to council board member comments. And I will start on my right with Councilmember Downes.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So first, I want to say that our hearts go out to the fire victims in LA, and let's all do what we can to, to help them in their time of need. This is our first meeting in January, the first meeting of the year, so there are some items that I wanted to talk about that I think we should make priorities for this council. During this year, the year that Ted serves as mayor of our council. And I'm going to talk about several items that I think are important that we should make priorities. These are not— this is not in order of priority for me. There's more of a stream-of-consciousness list, if you will. But first is economic development. So as I think all of us know, Visit Greater Palm Springs is involved in developing an economic development master plan for the entire Coachella Valley. And one of the things that we have discussed on this council is to, after that project is complete, to develop a general economic plan specific to Rancho Mirage. Now, it's obviously not going to involve manufacturing because we have no manufacturing or industrial base in the city, but certainly there are service businesses, there are hospitality businesses, there are There are medical businesses that make sense for us to work on and to attract to our city. So we need to make sure that we begin the process of developing a general economic development plan specific to our city as soon as VGPS finishes their plan, which hopefully will be completed within the next couple of months. Another issue that I think we should focus on this year, as we did last, is affordable housing. We made considerable progress last year towards our affordable housing goal. This council, during the course of the last year or so, has entitled about 850 income-restricted affordable housing units to be built in this city. The Housing and Community Development Agency in the state of California requires us to entitle about 1,100 over the current housing element cycle of our general plan. So we made great progress, but we still have about 300 more units to go that we must entitle. So I think it's important for us to, to again make this a priority during the course of this year to eventually entitle that last batch of homes, that last batch of affordable housing units that we must, must approve. The next issue that I wanted to talk about is addressing some important infrastructure issues for our residents. One One is a fire station that eventually must be built in the north end of our city. So we must begin work fairly soon to plan for that fire station. CAL FIRE tells us that we will need it sometime in the coming years. Certainly not going to be this year, but that doesn't mean that this isn't the year that we need to start planning for it. So we need to think about that. Next is a park in the north end of our city near several, several of the affordable housing projects that we approved last year. So those affordable housing projects are part of a 50-acre parcel of land The affordable housing projects will be built on 25 of those acres, and we've allocated the other 25 for a park. Well, we got to spend the money to build that park. The money's got to come from somewhere. We need to begin to plan for it now. The next issue on infrastructure is diminishing housing, Housing Authority revenues. So we spend about $1 million a year in subsidies for the city-owned affordable housing communities. Now, when those dollars are gone, the funding for that. Those subsidies must come from our general fund. We should begin today to prepare for this issue. Next issue I wanted to talk about are some revenue streams that we need to think about in order to fund some of these things. So expenses to come: there's that fire station that's probably going to cost upwards of about $15 million. I just talked about the affordable housing subsidy, the subsidy that we currently pay to subsidize our affordable housing units that the city owns. That's about $1 million a year that we'll have to address fairly soon. We've got to build that park. That's going to cost some money. We've got to build streets to access those affordable housing projects. We have to make a decision about the amphitheater remodeling that we put on hold. Do we go forward with it, or do we divide it up into smaller projects? We need to decide what to do during the course of this year. And then there are general increases in the cost of the city doing business that will occur over time. Now, there are some potential revenue streams that we need to look at, and we need to begin to look at these issues this year. One of them is transient occupancy tax. At the moment, our TOT tax rate in this city is the lowest in the entire desert at just 10%. TOT rates go up to as much as 13% in various cities in this desert. So we're going to need to take a look at that this year, and I suggest that we begin to look at it as soon as possible. Uh, something that I won't talk a lot about, I'll just mention briefly, the city manager's review of the Rancho Mirage, the city of Rancho Mirage share of our property tax revenues from the county of Riverside. We're being shortchanged a bit, and we need to work on figuring out how to solve that problem. And I know that the city manager begun to work on it. We need to talk about a potential increase in our sales tax rate. So again, we are the lowest sales tax rate in the desert at 7.75%. Other cities go up to as much as about 10 to 10.25% today. We need to take a look at whether or not it makes sense to address our sales tax rates sometime during the course of this year. Now I want to talk about a specific issue that is related to sales tax, and it has to do with what is called the RCTC, the Riverside County Transportation Commission. So a couple of years ago, actually several years ago, the RCTC developed a transportation relief Plan. It's a good plan. It talks about developing— redeveloping, I guess— some of the on and off ramps here on I-10 in the Coachella Valley. It talks about high-speed rail and a variety of other projects that we need to address over time to relief— relieve our traffic problems in the County of Riverside. Now, what the RCTC had proposed was a 1% sales tax to be voted on last November. It wasn't voted on, they decided to remove it from the ballot. I won't bore you with the reasons why, but here are a couple of issues that I think we all need to be aware of. First, 100% of those sales tax revenues that would have been developed from that RCTC plan would have gone to the Coachella Valley Association of Governments. 100%. Here's two issues about that. The Coachella Valley was the only one of the three RCTC districts where the cities would not have received a share of that 1% sales tax. And the Measure A funds that do support CVAG are shared by the city. 35% of the revenues that are generated through Measure A funds come to the cities. Now, I don't think it's right that the Coachella Valley cities would not have shared in that 1% sales tax. And I think we need to work on that today. And here's the reason why. That TRP plan will come back, and that sales tax, um, vote will come back, and it'll probably come back in November of 2026. And when it does, we need to make our voices heard. So we have a very good new council member who currently sits on the RCTC, Eve, and I know that Eve will speak loudly for us in making sure that our voice is heard, that we do get our fair share of those sales tax dollars if and when they are voted on. I sit on the Coachella Valley Traffic Committee, and I will do my best to make sure that our voice is heard about that 1% sales tax when it comes. It's not if, it's when. It will come, and it's probably in November of 2026. So those are the issues that I think are important. And to summarize, one, an economic development plan. We need to address that during the course of this year. Next, we need to continue with our, uh, our affordable housing initiative, and we need to find a way to entitle those remaining 300 or so units. Next is we need to address some key budget issues for that fire station, that park, and city-owned affordable housing. Next, we need to address revenue streams. And lastly, we need to think about this CVAC RCTC tax issue. We are respected by our residents and the other Coachella Valley cities as being committed to fiscal sustainability and responsibility. Let's take up these issues in 2025 as priorities and continue to earn that reputation for sound management for city resources and revenues. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: Thank you, uh, Councilmember Downs. That's a good Good summary, very ambitious. As far as the RCTC funds are concerned, you can be sure that that will be a topic of conversation at the CVAG Executive Committee meeting when it basically comes to the forefront.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: And by the way, Happy New Year to everybody. I don't mean to sound like, you know, I'm just— I've just got doom and gloom to talk about. We got some great things to talk talk about here in this city this year. So thank you, Mr. Merrick. Appreciate your comments.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Absolutely. Mayor Pro Tem.
[00:38:39] Speaker H: Is there time to follow all that?
[00:38:40] Speaker O: Yeah.
[00:38:41] Speaker H: Oh my gosh. No. And to Councilmember Downes' point, these are all crucial issues. These just didn't come up. We've been having discussions and identifying. But we have to hit the ground running. And so glad he brought this to the public's attention. I'd like to thank Senior Planner Pilar Fletchtrude. Did I get that right? Correct? Okay. Got staff's approval on that one. Pilar is our Senior Planner, very talented young lady, and a graduate of Leadership Coachella Valley. And Leadership Coachella Valley is a program that's is designed to identify, motivate, and develop future community leaders. And it's a program that encourage— encourages community involvement to heighten awareness of issues that are facing our Coachella Valley cities and what needs and concerns that need to be addressed and, and possible resolutions. So last Friday, she invited me down to Coachella Valley Rescue Mission where they were holding a meeting to specifically talk about homelessness and affordable housing. And I had the opportunity to arrive about a half hour early, and it was very interesting to hear the misconceptions, misperceptions, and understandings of Rancho Mirage, to the point that they were saying, well, Rancho Mirage doesn't care about affordable housing. They never have, never will. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to share all the points that Councilmember Downes had mentioned just a few moments ago about our work on affordable housing. Pilar had a beautiful PowerPoint, detailed information that I had the opportunity to share and go into depth with. And many of the people just were stunned at all the work that our staff— and it's the staff that does all the work. We get the credit, but it's our staff that does all the work. And they were immensely impressed, not only about the projects that are coming forward, that actually Rancho Mirage does have a heart. And we do have a deep understanding of our needs in, uh, Rancho Mirage. And most people don't realize that there are over 4,400 people just in the 55 and over category that are on affordable housing waiting list. And with Del Webb being built out, I think we're about somewhere between 20,000, maybe 21,000, uh, residents. It's a big chunk of our population. That doesn't even include the other, uh, age groups. City of Rancho Mirage has been working very, very hard on this, and we're looking forward to putting the, uh, the effort in getting these housing developments underway. With fingers crossed and, and the success of our, our staffing, we were grandfathered in with funding, but I'm sure that funding will be dwindling as well, especially in light of the housing needs that will be needed after the fires in Los Angeles. At any rate, thank you again, Pilar, for including me in that presentation. The second item I'd like to remind our residents, you'll be seeing colorful flags and umbrellas outside of our, um, Rancho Mirage Library because the 11th annual 2025, uh, Rancho Mirage Writers Festival is coming our way February 5th through the 7th with some of the best authors in the country, um, and internationally as well. And we are treated to having these one— the wonderful presence of these talented people in our, in our city. The theme of this 11th Annual Rancho Mirage Writers Festival is the United States Semi-Quincentennial, and congratulations to Jamie Kabler, Debbie Miller, the library staff who undergo a huge undertaking in clearing the library of all the books and racks and what have you to create this wonderful welcoming gathering for 3 days to celebrate the best authors in the country. Thank you.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Councilmember Tromberg, it'll seem—
[00:43:13] Speaker M: thank you, Mayor. I'd like to first start by saying Happy New Year, also sending condolences and prayers for everyone in the Los Angeles area. I think most of us up here have a friend, family, or otherwise that's been affected or displaced, um, and it is a tragedy to see. And it started also a conversation about making sure our region is prepared for this kind of level of disaster. Obviously, we all think about earthquake, but fire doesn't seem so remote anymore. And I think in light of that that. And talking about a new fire station is really appropriate timing. And talking about revenues that will help ensure public safety, access, roads, traffic control, all those things that I think a lot of citizens take for granted that are so well run in the city of Rancho Mirage. So thank you for bringing it up. And it felt like the bearer of bad news, but somebody has to be the dad, right? And always make the rules. So thank you for being the heavy. I'd like to mention another event. Sunnylands hosted a naturalization ceremony yesterday in partnership with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 50 new U.S. citizens from dozens of countries across the world took the oath of allegiance at Sunnylands Center and Gardens yesterday. Our own Kai Beach was there to capture the moment, and I want to share it with everyone. Can you please share the video?
[00:44:50] Speaker J: Sunnylands is a place with a mission to bring people together from all around the world. My name is David Lane. I'm the president of the Annenberg Trust at Sunnylands. We're at the Visitor Center and Gardens here at Sunnylands, and we are at Sunnylands privileged to to host 50 new American citizens as they get sworn in. They've gone through the process, and today is the day we celebrate their new citizenship.
[00:45:13] Speaker O: As someone who comes from an immigrant family, this means the world.
[00:45:18] Speaker J: They will take an oath, then officials from the Immigration Service will go through the formality of swearing them in. There's at least 20 different nations represented by the 50 new citizens.
[00:45:28] Speaker F: Originally from Poland, have been here for 17 years now. I am one of those people that came here for a better life, and it did come true.
[00:45:37] Speaker J: One of the most moving things is we have the Marine colleagues of a new citizen here to urge him on and wish him well. Our feelings are of support, but also, you know, gladness for their families and friends. The Annenbergs themselves were children of immigrants, so it makes sense for us, and I hope it makes sense for them to be here.
[00:45:57] Speaker D: I'm very happy to complete my goal, be a citizen in this beautiful country.
[00:46:04] Speaker J: I'm very proud to be an American, and this, I think, is the lifeblood of America—new citizens taking the oath, committed to the way of life that we've all embraced.
[00:46:18] Speaker M: So as you can see, many expressed their excitement about being part of the American dream. This iconic location created— remembering that it was created to enhance international and government cooperation— I believe was the perfect place to have this kind of treasured ceremony. And I personally felt on a day like today, with the news cycle being what it is, we needed something uplifting like this. And I'm so proud that it happened in our city. So thank you, Mayor.
[00:46:47] Speaker A: Thank you, Abe. Well, well, well spoken. And of course, Sunnylands is just an iconic place, and we're so proud to have that domiciled in Rancho Mirage. We're very fortunate. Councilmember O'Keefe.
[00:47:05] Speaker D: Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, good afternoon, everyone. It's a wonderful video. Thank you for sharing that. I hope everyone had a good holiday season. Uh, you know, we live in a very generous and compassionate community, and I want to commend all of the efforts for everyone who is helping the residents of Los Angeles. I lived in Santa Monica for many years, and to see that devastation is unbelievable, and it's heartbreaking. And I'd like to give a special shout out to Cindy Burrisson and her team at the Children's Discovery Museum. They have created some spontaneous programs and some special hours and they help accommodate the children of folks from LA who have come here to the Valley, some with only the clothes on their backs. That museum is going above and beyond any expectations you might have in order to help people. And despite all that bad news, there have been some busy things that are going on with the new year, a lot of events and meetings. One of the special events we had was at at the Jocelyn Center the other night, which was a wonderful ceremony. And I would like to take a moment right now to thank the volunteers, and especially the city commissioners on all of our commissions here at the city. They're dedicated, unpaid volunteers who work so hard to make our city special, and I want to thank them for their service. I'd also like to mention two events that I have attended this month. Our Emergency Preparedness Commission partnered with the Coachella Valley Disaster Preparedness Network to present a program on Stop the Bleed. It addressed how to manage emergency situations where someone is experiencing uncontrolled bleeding due to an injury or an accident or a crime. It's not a fun topic to discuss, but the information was vital for people in emergency situations. As Mitch Brown, who is the chair of our Emergency Commission, always tells me, all of us need to get prepared, be prepared, and then stay prepared for unexpected emergencies. And I think the news recently demonstrates that. But I would also like to talk about an event I went to that that looks to the future. I was happy to represent the City of Rancho Mirage at the Palm Springs Air Museum for their beam signing ceremony for the new Ronald Owen Learning Center. A beam signing ceremony is a tradition in construction projects that lets folks that were involved in the project sign the beam that goes up on the building before it's incorporated into the structure. And it's a symbol of progress and unity and the collective efforts of everyone that was involved. So it's a meaningful event that connects the project to the community. Now, the Alwyn Learning Center will be a 2,500-square-foot multi-purpose classroom, and it will serve as the heart of all the educational programs at the Palm Springs Air Museum. It honors the sacrifices of veterans who have served our country, but it also gives young people an exciting journey through the history and the science and the technology of aviation. There are classes on the principles of flight and navigation. They have interactive activities such as the F-16 flight simulator. There's the General Ken Miles Aviation Science Center. So this museum offers training and information that most of our young people would never be exposed to except at this museum. So the City of Rancho Mirage is proud to support this educational program, and I was proud to be able to write on the beam Rancho Mirage's best wishes to future aviation students who will be able to see this beam in perpetuity. Life goes on, and we must plan for the future. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[00:51:23] Speaker A: Thank you, Councilmember O'Keefe. I will make a brief comment. I was honored to attend the legislative breakfast hosted by the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce on January 9th at Mission Hills Country Club. It was an enlightening and productive event. Sheriff Chad Bianco and District Attorney Michael Hestrin provided crucial updates on public safety and law enforcement issues impacting our community. Sheriff Bianco discussed the crime rates and emphasized the importance of enhanced community policing. Increased collaboration between law enforcement agencies, and the need for more resources to address challenges such as gang violence and drug trafficking. He also spoke about his commitment to making proactive efforts to ensure the safety of residents. District Attorney Hestron focused on the critical role of the criminal justice system system, stressing the importance of holding offenders accountable while working toward crime prevention. He also enlightened ongoing initiatives to improve transparency within the system and ensure a fair approach to prosecuting cases. Both leaders reassured the audience of their dedication to addressing community concerns and enhancing public safety through effective strategies and resource allocation. It was a valuable opportunity for local business leaders to engage with law enforcement officials and gain insight into the efforts being made to create a safer, stronger community. It was an outstanding breakfast, and we were most appreciative. In concluding, I'd like to mention that this Sunday we will have an opportunity on behalf of the City of Rancho Mirage of presenting a proclamation in remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And we will present that proclamation at the church in Palm Desert on Sunday. Uh, that concludes our, uh, council board member comments. I will go now to the city manager for any comments that he might have, and if not, then we will then proceed to the consent calendar.
[00:54:12] Speaker P: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No comments today, so we'll go right to the consent calendar. Uh, the council has 5 items items on the consent calendar for their consideration. Item number 1 is to approve the December 19th, 2024 regular meeting minutes. Item number 2 is to approve extension of completion date for Track Map 33329. Item number 3 is to approve the Ranch Mirage Energy Authority 2023 power content label. Item number 4 are to approve contracts, and item number 5 are to approve the demands. Before we go to council comments or questions, I'll ask the city clerk to take any public comment on the consent calendar.
[00:54:51] Speaker E: Thank you. I did not receive any speaker cards. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak on the consent calendar? No speakers.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: And, uh, I'll ask my colleagues if they have any comments to make regarding the consent calendar.
[00:55:06] Speaker B: I have no comments. If there are no others, I'll move to approve.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: Uh, there's a motion to approve. May I hear a second, please? I'll second. There's a motion and a second. Please vote.
[00:55:19] Speaker H: Motion carries 5-0. Consent calendar is approved.
[00:55:23] Speaker A: There are no other agenda items, uh, on the schedule for today. Uh, we will now then go into a closed session, and I'll ask our counsel to brief us on topics to be considered.
[00:55:41] Speaker C: Thank you, Mayor. We'll be convening in a closed session today for the two items before you on the agenda. The first being conference with legal counsel, potential initiation of litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9, one potential case. And the second item being conference with legal counsel, existing litigation pursuant to Government Code Code Section 54956.9. Case name: Alicia Luisa Davis versus City of Rancho Mirage. Case number: CVPS2301620 and APR12300108.
[00:56:20] Speaker G: Thank you.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: I don't believe there are any public comments regarding the, uh, items on the closed session. With that, With that, I will recess to a closed session. We are now back in session. I will ask the City Attorney to summarize the closed session. Thank you, Mayor. No reportable action taken today. That concludes this meeting. We are adjourned.