Palm Desert City Council - Regular Meeting, July 10, 2025

Transcript text

AI transcript text.

[00:07:19] Mayor Harnick: Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. Welcome to the Palm Desert City Council meeting. It's a joint meeting of the Palm Desert City Council, successor agency to the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency, Palm Desert Housing Authority, and the Palm Desert Board of Library Trustees. So, can we have roll call, please?
[00:07:49] City Clerk: Council member Ni?
[00:07:50] Council member Ni: Here.
[00:07:51] City Clerk: Council member Petta?
[00:07:52] Council member Petta: Here.
[00:07:52] City Clerk: Council member Kinttonia?
[00:07:54] Council member Kinttonia: Present.
[00:07:54] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Trouy?
[00:07:55] Mayor Pro Tem Trouy: Here.
[00:07:56] City Clerk: Mayor Harnick?
[00:07:57] Mayor Harnick: Here.
[00:07:57] City Clerk: All councils present.
[00:07:59] Mayor Harnick: Thank you very much. We'll have the pledge of allegiance given to by council member Pradetto and inspiration by council member Kintania.
[00:08:30] Council member Kintania: Today I came across a quote from Coretta Scott King that says, 'The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.' And that has an extra special meaning to thank all of our animal lovers and animal advocates that have been pressing for accountability, transparency, and the ethical treatment of animals who can't save themselves from the problems caused by humans. Also, the reminder that I always keep plugging out there: check on your neighbors. Right now, the temperatures are getting hotter and hotter, and sometimes just that phone call to check in and say, 'Are you okay?' can make a substantial impact. But just a little act of kindness goes a long way. You can be the ripple that starts the wave for someone. Cooling centers are open just like the library. Go in there, cool off, read a book, or tell your neighbors if they can't get out of the house that they can use the library app. So, you can have Libby be your friend. And this weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a bilingual reading of the US Constitution at the library in the city of Coachella. And the planners mentioned that they were looking to possibly do something in Palm Desert for Constitution Day. And it was really interesting to sit and hear line by line and think about how our founders created a living document and the kind of world they lived in and if they would have ever imagined the kind of world that we're living in today. When we hear
[00:10:00] Speaker: ...words over time like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence, it's a reminder that it's the pursuit. It's not an achievement. We work at it every day and it's how we interact with the community. It's how we find that within ourselves and I said we we can't be complacent. We look at the past. That's the foundation. We move forward and improve and we evolve or else I wouldn't be, I wouldn't have the right to vote and I'd still be counted as three-fifths of a person. Thank you.
[00:10:35] Mayor Jan C. Harik: Thank you.
[00:10:37] Mayor Jan C. Harik: Uh, and I would like, and by the way, I don't think there is a person up here by the original documents that would be allowed to vote. Uh, we'll move to the, uh, report of closed session.
[00:10:54] Staff Member: Thank you, mayor. No report of election was taken in closed session this afternoon.
[00:10:58] Mayor Jan C. Harik: Thank you. Okay, we'll go to awards, presentations, and appointments. And, uh, we have a presentation for the outdoor worker appreciation proclamation. And I wonder if perhaps the entire council would join me on this presenting that to you. Okay, thank you. This is such an important proclamation, and as we're all going through what we go through right now in our lives, you know, we had a power outage this weekend, kind of gave us a little feel for what other people go through. And meanwhile, it was the workers from Edison who were out in 110-degree heat under the sun and in holes in the ground trying to repair an issue for us so that we could have our air conditioning back, but their jobs to be out there. So, there's a lot to be said for this. So, I thank you for being here. And I'd like to read this: Whereas outdoor workers provide many essential services throughout California; and whereas industries like emergency services, landscaping, renewable energy, public utilities, agriculture, professional sports, tourism, and construction depend heavily upon the labor of outdoor workers; and whereas in addition to the physical hardship, outdoor work is particularly difficult in the summer months when temperatures regularly exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit and reach up to 120 degrees in desert regions; and whereas outdoor workers who provide vital services to Californians during these months face heightened risks for heat illness, smoke exposure, and heat-related death; and whereas in the last decade, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 479 worker deaths due to environmental heat exposure; and workplace safety experts believe that the actual number of heat-related fatalities may be underreported or misreported as another cause such as heart attacks; and whereas employers, excuse me, are now required to protect outdoor workers by providing adequate rest time, water, and shade during the summer; and whereas outdoor workers tirelessly dedicate their efforts to maintaining and improving our communities while facing numerous challenges, including exposure to extreme weather conditions, physical exertion, and occupational hazards; and whereas the contributions of outdoor workers often go unnoticed and underappreciated despite their indispensable role in the daily lives of all Californians; and whereas recognition and appreciation of outdoor workers promotes better working conditions, safety, and productivity; now, therefore, I, Jan C. Harik, mayor of the city of Palm Desert and the entire city council, do hereby proclaim July 13 through 19th, 2025 as Outdoor Worker Appreciation Week in the city of Palm Desert and encourage all residents to join us in celebrating their contributions to our city. And sometimes that's just a simple thank you. But please make sure you thank those people, and some of the things we're not talking about, our public safety, they're out there all the time. All of these people are out there all the time and they're making our lives livable. So, and I want to mention that the young lady who started outdoor appreciation...
[00:15:00] Speaker: Day and now week is from Palm Desert. So, Miss Ling, would you like to say a few words? And please do. We'd love to hear from you, all of you.
[00:15:14] Randy Chavez: Yeah. So, thank you. Thank you, Mayor, the City Council. We appreciate the support. We have three directors here. I'm Randy Chavez, Director of Public Works, and you see a lot of our traffic team and our street personnel out there working, but we also have the other directors, and I'll let them highlight their teams as well.
[00:15:36] Speaker: I just want to say thank you for this recognition for our team. Part of our team specifically is our inspection team that you've probably seen out there in El Paseo and some of our other big jobs where they're walking and making sure, kicking dirt and kicking gravel to make sure everything's being built accordingly, and even some of our project managers that are out there. So, appreciate all our teams and appreciate the recognition.
[00:16:03] Speaker: Thank you all. We appreciate that you all appreciate us. Our code officers as well as our building inspectors are out there every day tirelessly helping our communities stay safe as well as beautiful. So, thank you all for providing this week of appreciation to our workers, and also to our other fellow teammates that work very hard for the City of Palm Desert. Thank you.
[00:16:30] Speaker: Please come in for a picture. I know there's going to be one. Don't forget to thank our Sheriffs, our Fire, all of our first responders, BERT, on and on. These people make things so much better for us.
[00:16:54] Speaker: Where do you want us? Can you tell us? We're not with this in the middle. So, let's move up.
[00:17:21] Speaker: Thank you.
[00:17:45] Speaker: Okay, this isn't on the agenda. Okay, thank you.
[00:17:52] City Manager: Okay, thank you very much for your time and your appreciation of these members of our community who contribute so much. Okay, we'll move to City Manager comments. Mayor, I'll invite up Gary Schaefer, Director of Library Services, to give a quick update on our first year of service at the library.
[00:18:16] Gary Schaefer: Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of City Council, and colleagues. My name is Gary Schaefer, and I am Director of Library Services. As you are aware, the city recently celebrated our first year of operating our own municipal library. And what a year, in many positive ways, has it been. I'm here today to briefly share our successes.
[00:18:43] Gary Schaefer: While we did not quite reach our very ambitious goal of 15,000 library card holders, we came close. But in nearly all other measures, we exceeded our ambitious goals. We surpassed our checkout goals for books and laptops, as well as in-person and virtual visits. Of particular note is the access that we offer to the collections of over 400 other library outlets, so pretty much guaranteeing that if we don't have the book, we usually can get it for our residents, and that is through our Link+ service.
[00:19:20] Gary Schaefer: Staff conducted over 83 outreach events, and with the help of our friends, volunteers, and staff, we sold over $22,000 worth of gently used books, with those funds going to our library friends, which they in turn use to augment our programming and materials. And our 16 volunteers completed over 1,900 hours of service. This is equivalent to one full-time staffer.
[00:19:48] Gary Schaefer: When it comes to library programs, we nearly doubled our goal of 1,500 for little learners, exceeding it by 80%. We also exceeded our goal for school-age children programming and adults.
[00:20:01] Library Representative: While we only reached 75% of our goal for virtual programs, it's exciting that so many homebound individuals in our community are able to access their library, not just via ebooks, but also via virtual programming. We exceeded our overall programming goals by 1,560. A net promoter score is a measure commonly used in business. It asks the question, 'How likely are you to recommend this business or product or service to a friend or family member?' We use it at the library as well. Scores of 9 or 10 are considered excellent, but a score of zero cancels out a 10. So, it's very important that that detractor piece is there. This said, I'm happy to report that Palm Desert Library has an overall score that is considered world-class.
[00:20:59] Library Representative: Next, we look at our users across the Coachella Valley and the US. When it comes to the valley, over 60% come from Palm Desert. I'm pleased to report that just as Palm Desert serves as a shopping mecca, it is also apparently a library attractor. And when those folks are here, they're also spending their hard-earned dollars. Over 38.56% of our valley visitors come from our neighboring cities, and other card holders are made up of our seasonal visitors, which you can see come from across the United States. We don't have Canada on the map, but I suspect we have a few from there as well.
[00:21:38] Library Representative: So finally, each time we meet with our city's library advisory committee, we feature a different service offering that the library has. Often we're the only library in the valley with that service. This last month, we featured our amazing staff. A library is more than a building with books. It is also our staff that provide the excellent customer service, programming, reading recommendation, collection management, and literacy help to our community, helping to make Palm Desert a world-class city.
[00:22:10] Library Representative: Oops, didn't mean to skip that. Just want to go back to the smiling faces. So, we've accomplished so much in the nearly two years since you embarked on this journey. I hope you're as pleased with all that we together have accomplished, and I mean that collectively, all of us. This concludes my report, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
[00:22:35] Mayor: Thank you so much. Are there any questions?
[00:22:38] Council Member: No questions. What's the ready reference program?
[00:22:41] Library Representative: The what?
[00:22:42] Council Member: Ready reference. The first one.
[00:22:44] Library Representative: Just answering questions that people might have. It used to be, you know, 'What is the capital of Uzbekistan?' Now you can ask a seven-year-old that. So now it's more, 'How do I set up a small business? What kind of licenses do I need?' and that can be computer help as well.
[00:23:01] Council Member: Thank you.
[00:23:01] Library Representative: You bet.
[00:23:02] Council Member: Great job. I took my daughters to Smash Bros. last night. It was the first time they had been to the library since it's been renovated, and my 12-year-old is not easily impressed. And she said, 'This is really nice.' And then they proceeded to have a blast in the most noisy room that I had been in in many years in a library. Oh my goodness, they have changed. Thank you.
[00:23:30] Mayor: Okay, any other questions or comments?
[00:23:32] Council Member: Thank you for all the great work. Out in the community, I'm sure you all hear it, too. We're hearing such great comments about it, and it's really a sense of pride. So, thank you.
[00:23:42] Library Representative: Well, please take pride in it because it was your all's decision to do it, and we appreciate it. Thank you.
[00:23:47] Council Member: Thank you for the execution.
[00:23:48] Library Representative: Thank you.
[00:23:49] Mayor: Okay. Is there anything else? Okay. We'll go to mayor and council member reports and requests for action. Why don't we start with Council Member Neandi.
[00:24:03] Council Member Neandi: No comments. Thank you, Mayor.
[00:24:04] Mayor: Okay. Council Member Kinttonia.
[00:24:09] Council Member Kinttonia: Thank you, Madame Mayor. I had the fortune of attending the Cultural Arts Committee as the alternate, and it was very exciting to see one of the opportunities for a sculpture that was approved by the committee that will be coming to council for approval. It's pretty exciting, very colorful, and I think it'll be a great opportunity to bring people to the city of Palm Desert. We decided on the art and essay contest theme, 'What grows in my dream garden?' So, any of you that have kids attending schools in Palm Desert, be on the lookout for that. It's a lot of fun to see the creativity that comes up from our kiddos. I also shared with them, after we received a letter from the Sister Cities mentioning the hei tiki as the gift from the city of Gisborne, it was brought up in conversation, which I think we may have...
[00:25:00] Council Member: Also mentioned as well that perhaps it could go into the new library once it gets established. So that'll have to go through the full bureaucratic process of getting it installed and whatnot. So that's pretty exciting. Um, in the homelessness task force meeting, it was good to see the update from the probation department and how the amount of support and resources that are going to the community to help support individuals instead of finding obstacles that people think that any interaction with anyone in law enforcement may result in additional criminal proceedings. Trying to remove barriers and the progress to getting a mental health bus which would administer mental health medications as injectables which last longer and have more beneficial results. So the level of commitment that we have as a Coachella Valley to humanize our less fortunate residents is a sense of pride. And as mentioned earlier, I am requesting the request for action to create an animal services subcommittee comprising of Mayor Pro Tem Trouy and myself and to meet with staff and community and we can kind of fine-tune some of those contract issues and be sure we've got a great quality product because we are—and to my knowledge, we're the first city in the desert to take a look at the contract at all. And knowing that they're going to be looking to what we're doing, it would make a lot of sense to start strong and lead the effort to make a positive impact. So that is my request and hope that I can get support from my peers to do so.
[00:26:36] Council Member: I would support that request.
[00:26:38] Council Member: Thank you.
[00:26:41] Council Member: I will second the request.
[00:26:45] Mayor: Okay. And we'll go to Council Member Pedetto for any comments, requests.
[00:26:51] Council Member Pedetto: In honor of Outdoor Worker Week, over the past two weeks, I have noticed—well, one Sunday afternoon, I drove and I saw a traffic sign down and I thought I should report that and I forgot. Monday morning, the next morning by 5:45 a.m. it was fixed. Um, the next day I took a walk and I saw some broken irrigation in a parklet and I said I should report that and I forget. Couple days later I went and take a walk and it was fixed. And then on the 4th of July took my dog for a walk and there was a broken water line at Ironwood Park and public works was out there at 8:00 in the morning on a holiday addressing it. So I just wanted to say kudos to our team. Thank you. Um, it's even better when residents don't have to be the ones to initiate it. It's just getting done and take a lot of pride in that. Thank you guys.
[00:27:48] Mayor: Okay, Mayor Pro Tem.
[00:27:50] Mayor Pro Tem: Okay. Um, so this past Friday, I was—my wife, daughter, and I attended the July 4th celebration here at Civic Center Park. We hadn't gone for a few years because we can easily see the fireworks from our home and so we got kind of lazy over the years, but I thought it'd be a good idea to come to the park and check out the festivities. And I got to say I was so proud, and there's a couple observations. First, I didn't recognize a lot of the people there. That's good. I don't pretend to know everybody in Palm Desert, but it was good because I'm assuming we had a lot of folks. I mean, if you're in Palm Desert, you could just watch them from your home most likely. So, I'm just so proud that we were able to host an event that brought in people from all over the valley. I'm assuming all the valley cities. Um, it was a great show. Everybody was having a good time. It was safe, happy, public safety was out there, and I think the fire captain or Beverly mentioned that we didn't have any—for the first time that he can remember, we didn't have any safety calls or distress calls on the fourth. That was an excellent—but you guys were out there in force anyway. Um, but also to follow up on that, the next morning at what, 6:00 in the morning, I was out there for a bike ride and we meet at the Civic Center Park and I swear you would not have known there was an event the night before. The park was spotless as though nothing had ever happened. And so I give so much credit again to our staff. I know Vintage, I think, landscaping was out there as well. And again, such pride in our city and our staff for making that event happen. It was incredible. And then the next day it was like they just—obviously the park was ready to go again for more visitors. It was just perfect. So, so happy and proud for all the work you guys do. Thank you.
[00:29:30] Mayor: A good one. Uh, Ms. Lawrence, do you have a guesstimate how many people there? Have we talked about that yet? Just so we know, just FYI, because I know it's a place for the entire valley to visit.
[00:29:47] Ms. Lawrence: We used to think it was about 8 to 10,000 people, but then I think we started to up that to probably about 20,000 people. So, we do believe it's more around the 20,000 range.
[00:30:02] Speaker 1: Just a place for... Thank you for doing such a great job that it attracts people from certainly all over the Coachella Valley and beyond. And it's great to see. And I was out there also and as I was leaving, a woman stopped me. She said, 'I want to thank everybody at the city that makes this happen.' So, we know that's everybody, the entire Palm Desert team that makes it happen. She says, as she walked out, she said, 'My heart is full.' She says, 'I've lived a lot of places. There's no better city than Palm Desert.' And it was nice to hear. I just want to remind everybody that of course we're doing some well-coordinated work on El Paso and I'm so impressed with the traffic flow there. I know there are some level you have to take an extra moment and think about what you're doing, but they have done an outstanding job of keeping the traffic moving. It is well... The signage is out there. Tells you where to go, how to get where you need to go, and they're doing an amazing job and moving remarkably rapidly. I'm surprised at how quickly it's being done. So, hang in there if you have a little moment. Sometimes you might need just a little nanosecond of additional patience, but it's worth it. Everyone's open for business and welcomes you. And that's just all I have. We've all gone to... we all go to a lot of meetings and I know not all of the information from all of those meetings would necessarily be interesting to you, but we're all getting things done on behalf of the city of Palm Desert and on our region. So, we'll now move to non-agenda public comments. And I have a few and I do want to thank the people who provided these earlier at our study session. If they came back, I thank them very much. The first one, and I'm not sure of the writing here. Well, I am sure of this part. Ms. Dickerson. Is there Miss Dickerson here? I couldn't quite read the first name. Okay. And the next one is Wendy Hen.
[00:32:18] Speaker 1: Thank you for sticking around.
[00:32:21] Wendy Hen: Thank you.
[00:32:22] Wendy Hen: I'm a volunteer at this animal shelter.
[00:32:26] Speaker 1: Can you...
[00:32:26] Wendy Hen: Yeah, I'm a volunteer at the animal shelter. I've been there for like eight years and there's so much... so much needs to be done. And to answer your question about animals leaving the shelter unaltered, yes, that's happening. And what they do is... and this seemed to start when Mary Martin stepped in. I don't know if there's a correlation there, but this was never the practice before, but what they're doing is they're saying for $45, if you want to adopt this animal, take it home and then bring it back to be spayed or neutered and we'll give you your $45 back. There's no follow-up to make sure people are doing this. But anyway, that's not my question. My question is why in your pie chart is there nothing about the funds that the animal shelter receives from the rendering company when the animals are killed and the rendering company comes to pick them up? Because the rumor is they make more money from the rendering company for dead animals than adoptions. Do they not share that information with you?
[00:33:53] Speaker 1: This is a non-agenda item, so this is not something we can discuss, but we'll take your information and we'll follow up with you.
[00:34:01] Wendy Hen: Can I say the shelter needs to be added on to? We need more space. We need a sanctuary so we can stop killing animals. There's plenty of room out the back, you know, that we could put up misters and fencing and stations for food and water and to get out of the heat, right? Do we not look into that? Is everything have to be... we're overcrowded so we have to kill? That's Mary Martin's idea and I don't think that's right.
[00:34:46] Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you.
[00:34:48] Wendy Hen: Thank you.
[00:34:54] Speaker 1: And I didn't ask, are there any public comments online?
[00:34:57] Staff Member: No comments online, Madame.
[00:34:59] Speaker 1: Okay, our next one is Manuel. Is that...
[00:35:03] Mayor: Sanchez?
[00:35:05] Manuel Sanchez: And there's some information...
[00:35:15] Manuel Sanchez: My name is Manuel Sanchez. The reason I'm here is because I am having problems with the code enforcement officer, and this is a continual problem. I was here about four months ago and told the City Council, City Attorney that what they're doing is illegal. They're actually just targeting myself because I have a problem with a guy that works for the City of Palm Desert as a volunteer. His name is Jim McIntosh. He's my neighbor. We had a little dispute over some work that I did, ended up having to take him to small claims. Then he paid me what he owed me, and then he goes, 'Look, I want to be your friend.' And, you know, to me that's not a friend. If you have to take him to court, you know, I prefer not dealing with him. To make a long story short, about three weeks ago, I was watering my lawn, and at Jim's house, he has a palo verde tree, and a large branch was blocking the roadway so you really couldn't see when you got to the intersection of Leticia and Warner. And like I said, I was just watering, minding my own business, and I see this little girl, about 10-12 years old, on a bike, and I see this other car coming, and the person's on the phone, and I'm like, 'Oh shucks, you know, there's no stop sign, there's a big tree that blocks it.' So, thank God, you know, the lady saw her and stopped, and the little kid went by. I've got two female children also, and it just drives me nuts when I see stuff like that. So, I happen to see code enforcement there, so I go, 'Look, that branch is overgrown. It blocks the view, you know.' And he goes, 'Well, why don't you go ahead and call?' And I go, 'Why should I call? I'm telling you to do something about it. You know who to contact there at City Hall, not me.' And I go, 'You know what? If something happens here, somebody gets hurt because you didn't have that branch cut, and if I'm aware of it, I'll tell them that I told you specifically to get that branch cut.' Well, two weeks, three weeks later, I get this notice of my dumpster, and it's behind the brick wall. You know, I'm like, 'Jeepers.' And of my truck being too big. So, I've taken pictures, and then coming over here, honestly, I found at least five houses, and I honestly don't know what the city code is, but shouldn't you have a lawn or something, a DG or something in the front lawn? I'm asking a public...
[00:37:55] Randy: So, um, that's a code compliance question, but um, I'm not sure if I could answer that question.
[00:38:01] Mayor: Randy, we need to let him finish his comments.
[00:38:05] Manuel Sanchez: Okay. Well, then just coming over here, I found five properties, and that's just from where I live at Warner coming down there to Fred Waring, you know. So, I'm like, doesn't he see that? And then there's vehicles there that are bigger than mine that are in plain sight. I took pictures of that also, and I'm saying, you know, why? I mean, I hate doing that, and I hate being like pointing the finger and stuff, but this guy, you guys got to do something about it. I mean, he's just driving me nuts. Life's too short. I mean, look at the way I am. I just got off work, and I tried to make it down here as fast as I could. Tried to get the information on the houses that don't have any grass. Sir, why does it...
[00:38:51] Mayor: Your time is elapsed.
[00:38:53] Manuel Sanchez: Okay. Thank you.
[00:38:54] Mayor: And we have your information. Thank you very much. And I have it along. I'll keep your card with the information you've provided us.
[00:39:01] Manuel Sanchez: Thank you very much.
[00:39:02] Mayor: Okay.
[00:39:04] Mayor: Are there any other public comments? Okay. Thank you. All right, we will move to the consent calendar. And all matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine and may be approved by one motion. The public may comment on any items in the consent calendar agenda within the three-minute time limit. Individual items may be removed by the City Council for a separate discussion. Would anyone like to pull anything from the consent calendar?
[00:39:36] Councilmember: Yes, Madam Mayor. I would like to pull Q, R, and S.
[00:39:44] Mayor: Okay. Is there anything else?
[00:39:47] Councilmember: Okay. If not, I motion to move forward the balance.
[00:39:50] Councilmember: One moment, please. I would like to register a recusal on... let's see which one this is... on 13T.
[00:40:04] Mayor: So I will register a recusal on that and I would like to comment additionally before the vote on W.
[00:40:13] Mayor: Uh, and it's simply, if you can move, this is about street sweeping. I ask that we pay close attention to making sure that we're not just brushing the dust into the air, that there is water used that keeps the dust down and does in fact clean the streets.
[00:40:37] Speaker: And, Madame Mayor, related to item 13T, what's the nature of your recusal?
[00:40:42] Mayor: Uh, there may be a conflict with my husband's business.
[00:40:50] Speaker: Thank you.
[00:40:53] Mayor: Okay. So, now can we have a motion to move the balance?
[00:40:58] Speaker: So moved.
[00:40:59] Speaker: I'll second.
[00:41:00] Mayor: Okay. Can we have a vote, please?
[00:41:08] Speaker: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[00:41:10] Mayor: Thank you. Uh, on Q, it is award a two-year service agreement to FG Creative for merchant relations services related to El Paseo in an amount not to exceed $40,000. Can we take Q and R together since they are related to the same matter?
[00:41:29] Speaker: Uh, well, let's hear from this one. Why don't we do them separately and we can vote on them at the same time, but let's hear from this.
[00:41:40] Vanessa Maker: Good afternoon. My name is Vanessa Maker with the Economic Development Department. Happy to answer any questions in regards to the item before you, which is approval of a contract for merchant relations services along El Paseo.
[00:41:50] Speaker: Okay. And just a little FYI in addition, we have two separate people who prepared these staff reports. So I think it's appropriate we take them separately.
[00:42:01] Council Member Kanyat: Perfect. My question on that is the concern that we let the contract lapse, and how is it that it seems that it was expired and now we have to go back and retro the contract to June 1st? And the contract, I think I had asked staff, and the RFP didn't go out until May 1st. Is that common to not have a lot of interest? Or how is it that if this is a contract where there are not any extensions or renewals allowed, that we're now having it come to council requesting, confirm here, the increase? So that's my concern. How is it that it lapsed?
[00:42:50] Vanessa Maker: Council Member Kanyat, these items are separate, and I understand completely because they're the same vendor that there may be some confusion. The contract for merchant relations services did expire on June 30th of 2025. So, this would retro back to July 1st. The reason why we are coming in a little later is we were under the wrong understanding of how we could move the contract through because the vendor is being utilized by other departments. It now exceeds the threshold with the other item, R, and so finance has directed us to please bring it back to council for their approval.
[00:43:31] Council Member Kanyat: Okay, that I can understand because when I look at the report, the background analysis said that on July 1st in 2022, and the contract would go through June 30th, 2025, and then the RFP wasn't submitted until May 1st. So that's where I just wanted to confirm, and it was kind of a flag for me. And following then with the second one, how is it that the contract where there aren't extensions, now the same contract is coming back under a different item requesting a three-month extension? So that's where I wanted to clarify. Okay.
[00:44:07] Speaker: So, and what I'd like to do because these are separate issues, and though I like to be expeditious and get them all done at once, let's take these separate. So, let's have a motion and a second on that and then a vote.
[00:44:21] Speaker: I'll make a motion to approve.
[00:44:24] Speaker: Second the motion.
[00:44:30] Speaker: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[00:44:34] Speaker: Thank you. And our next is authorize amendment number four to agreement number A43790 with FG Creative to extend the contract term for three months and increase compensation by $36,600.
[00:44:50] Thomas Soul: Good afternoon. I'm Thomas Soul, your Public Affairs Manager, and the staff report you have before you for this involves an RFP process. We were required to go out for RFP for...
[00:45:01] Staff Member: This contract, which happened in the spring, we received 27 substantial responses to this. And so in order to allow ample time for staff to really properly vet the responses and make a solid recommendation to Council, we realized we wouldn't be able to accomplish that in time. And given that this is the Aquatic Center's high season, it was, in hindsight, it was an awkward time to be changing agencies anyway. So, what we're asking for is a simple extension of three months of the existing contract to allow the Aquatic Center to get through the summer with ample marketing support and to allow staff to fully vet the RFP responses that we received so that we can come back with a recommendation that we can stand behind in September and move forward from there. Thank you. Are there any questions?
[00:45:54] Council Member: My question is, what's the standard timeline from the date that a contract expires to the time that an RFP is posted, if we know it's coming to an end?
[00:46:06] Staff Member: Uh, I'm not sure that there's a standard time for that.
[00:46:10] Council Member: So, the city staff knew that this contract was going to expire and it lapsed to not be aware that this needed to be done in advance. And if we're paying them, you know, a nice chunk of change for administrative fees—I mean, for that contract for the Aquatic Center, they were paid $21,600 to help manage that amount—you'd think at some point they would say, 'Hey guys, we're coming to the end of our contract. If we're happy with what they're doing, wouldn't it behoove the city to ensure that there is continuity?'
[00:46:48] Council Member: You know, if I may, Mr. Soul, I think the point that Mr. Soul is making—it wouldn't be prudent during the most important part of the year, the season for the Aquatic Center, to switch over. And in order to go through 27 responses, which I find kind of amazing, to go through it in a really fine-toothed...
[00:47:19] Staff Member: They're just simply taking it...
[00:47:21] Council Member: I understood, that's what he... No, I did understand it. My question still is, if we knew when that was due and we were concerned that that would be the consideration, why not come to us in advance and say, 'We know that this is going to end at a time that's crucial'? Because it seems unfair to the people that have put forward that bid that are going through, and we are then not following our own policy. We were not diligent in ensuring that our contracts are through the right term. This is coming to us at the very last minute, and that's my concern. Why wasn't this caught beforehand?
[00:47:59] Staff Member: There was an oversight in terms of thinking about the high season of the Aquatic Center, but the city's policy is for contracts to end on June 30th regardless. So, we... I would have been asking for the same extension regardless, it would have been earlier than now. So, we did neglect to note that, and I'm asking now for the authorization to move forward that way.
[00:48:22] Council Member: Thank you. I'd move approval.
[00:48:25] Council Member: I'll second.
[00:48:33] Mayor: Motion passes 5 to 0. Okay, we'll now move to S: Approve amendment number four to contract number C43390 with Idea Peddler LLC to align fiscal year 2024-25 compensation with previously approved scope of services.
[00:48:56] Staff Member: Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council, this item we have asked Thomas to bring forward to you so that we could make the contract and the intention of the former contract for 24-25 align. So, when it was brought to you in 24-25, the staff report mentioned that it was only for one year, yet the agreement and the exhibit stated that it had no end date. And so we just want to fix that and make sure that they're in alignment.
[00:49:28] Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions?
[00:49:30] Council Member: I do have a question, Madame Mayor. When it flagged for me the inconsistencies of contracts expiring and requesting extensions, and looking at what we pay for those contracts, and then I get to Idea Peddler, and it seems that there's a lot of repetition. And that's my concern there. If Idea Peddler has this broad umbrella of services that they provide, and in the question that I asked of...
[00:50:00] Speaker 1: Staff, and the response that I got was that what they compile is not proprietary data. The information and the materials and collateral and things that they create are then something that the city can use in however it wants. My question then is why are we going and having specific duplication of things like public relations for the aquatic center for $18,600 when we've already paid Idea Peddler $44,000 to do the same? Oh, and these are on the 12-month billing, monthly retainer. So, that was the other part of it. It doesn't sound like a lot, but when you look at it, it is, you know, the monthly retainer. So, the strategy and account management, this is monthly billing of $21,600 for FG Creative and Idea Peddler of $53,000, and it seems like Idea Peddler is serving a lot broader scope. I'm just wondering how the city can reduce our reliance on external vendors or maybe narrow the scope. Are any of the tools—can any of the tools be brought in-house to develop our staff's talent instead of farming it out?
[00:51:14] Speaker 2: In order to do that, we would have to hire more staff, which would be permanent FTE positions that would incur health care and pension liabilities, all of that. So, by farming it out to agencies, the city has done that in the past so that when we need to reduce, it's easy to do. It's harder to reduce full-time staff. You're also looking at two different audiences for the aquatic center. What Idea Peddler works on is a tourism campaign that's out of market. So, we're focused on LA County, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle. The aquatic center is really a Coachella Valley audience, so really a very different thing that would apply there. And what you're talking about actually isn't data. It's what they're doing is advertising and marketing. The data that we work with would be reporting data and not useful for attracting visitors. So, really, it's two different goals: getting people to Palm Desert in the first place, and they utilize our hotels and restaurants. With the aquatic center, we're really trying to get people through the door to use those services. So, the marketing goals are different, and it's hard to overlap those together.
[00:52:26] Speaker 1: That makes sense in terms of having two different buckets that we're looking at of what we're working with, but it still doesn't answer my question about things that could be internal staff development. We don't have to necessarily hire a bunch of new folks if we can invest in the training of our current staff.
[00:52:44] Speaker 2: We have the training, we have the ability, we don't have the capacity. So, the staff that we have is quite small for marketing. In order to take on something like that, we would have to add capacity, and that means hiring more people. And this seems like a more economic way to do that that reduces the city's permanent commitment to staff—to a new staff person—versus hiring an agency. And as you saw from the information I provided, the budget for the aquatic center, the budget for marketing goes up and down. We're able to do that because we have the flexibility of working with outside vendors. If we were to hire a staff member, then that's a commitment that we're—we could certainly use that person. I would welcome another full-time person, but this seems a more economical way to approach that.
[00:53:35] Speaker 1: I think that if, as mentioned, over time it starts to add up. I would be very curious to see again if we—how many of these consultants, if we add up all of the contracts, maybe it would end up resulting in an FTE that could serve your team.
[00:53:52] Speaker 2: Over time, if you added up all the amount that we've paid them, it would add up to a year of a full-time person when you look at the annual cost of an FTE. And then when you add in the pension obligation for the rest of their lifetime and the health care and all of the other benefits, it's actually quite a savings. We could—it would be hard to hire. The other thing is when you hire an agency, we're getting a whole bevy of people with lots of different skill sets who can apply them to—you know, you're talking public relations, you're talking media buying, you're talking ad creation, you're talking working with influencers, social media, all these different skills. We get all those for one small price with an agency, whereas hiring staff that had all that variety of skill set would be challenging for the price.
[00:54:44] Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Just always trying to be sure that we let our taxpayers know that the idea of overpaying consultants has come up repeatedly. So, I thought this was a good time as we looked at the agenda items, they were in sequence, and it let me have the time to bring them in together, and, you know, hopefully we can...
[00:55:01] Speaker: ...see where there is an opportunity to overlap and use those resources. Thank you.
[00:55:06] Speaker: Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[00:55:08] Speaker: Thank you. Just to clarify as well, I think part of this is Idea Peddler did a test pilot project with marketing to Seattle that turned out to be successful, and then it became a permanent project that wasn't in the original scope, and this adds that and compensates them for that work they've been doing. And yeah, it clarifies, I think, as I was working with Veronica on this, when the auditors come through, they look to make sure that all the language is consistent in every place that we reference it. So, when we had the budget discussions, we talked about that, but we didn't clarify it in the paperwork. And so, finance's attention to detail, I think, is very helpful here because it protects the city with the auditors and, to Councilmember Kinttonia's point, it just makes it more transparent that that's what's happening.
[00:56:01] Mayor: Thank you. Are there any other questions? I'll entertain a motion.
[00:56:05] Councilmember: Moved.
[00:56:07] Councilmember: Second.
[00:56:08] Mayor: May we have a vote, please?
[00:56:15] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[00:56:17] Mayor: Thank you. We'll now move to the action calendar, and we'll go to 14A: Resolution approving final parcel map number 38366 and agreements. Mr. Lopez.
[00:56:42] Caesar Lopez: Hello, Mayor. Hello, Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Caesar Lopez. I'm the associate engineer, and I'm here to talk about the final map, which is 38366, and the agreements. As you can see, these are two city-owned parcels, and there's going to be a project coming up in that blue section, or 241 of the affordable housing units, which will be constructed into two phases, and all the bonds are going to be collected prior to grading. So, this is part of a tentative map that was previously approved, and we're just finalizing the approval of the actual map.
[00:57:35] Caesar Lopez: Here's the breakdown of the two different parcels that will be used for affordable housing. Phase one will be parcel one, and you have parcel two that'll be phase two.
[00:57:52] Caesar Lopez: That's as much as I have. I don't have any questions.
[00:57:55] Mayor: Plenty. This has been a long process. Does anybody have any questions?
[00:58:00] Mayor: No questions. Okay. Are there any public comments on this item?
[00:58:12] City Clerk: No online comments. No comments in person.
[00:58:14] Mayor: Thank you very much. Okay. So, if there's no questions, are there any statements? Or I'll entertain a motion.
[00:58:24] Councilmember: Well, I'm looking forward to having more affordable housing built, and we've been studying this issue for some time now. So, I'm ready to make a motion to approve.
[00:58:34] Mayor: Thank you. Is there a second?
[00:58:35] Councilmember: Second.
[00:58:37] Mayor: May we have a vote, please?
[00:58:43] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to zero.
[00:58:46] Mayor: Thank you so much. Go to 14B: Introduction of an amending Palm Desert Municipal Code section 2.34.050 related to advisory body officers.
[00:59:00] Staff Member: Madam Mayor, at the last council meeting, the City Council did introduce an ordinance related to the advisory body officers. However, since that time, there was a suggestion to amend the ordinance as well as implement a policy immediately to ensure that the annual rotation occurred in a way where there wouldn't be the possibility for the same chair to serve multiple times in a row. So, for instance, a chair might step down and then be nominated as vice chair, and then the next year would serve as chair. So, this would ensure that there would be a fair and transparent rotation between all members. I did provide you with a supplemental memo that shows you how that process would work. We would take the current chair, make them the last in the rotation. The current vice chair would become seat number one, and then everybody else is in alphabetical order. To me, that was the fairest way to be able to assign...
[01:00:00] Anthony (City Clerk): ...the seats. And then every year the next seat would move up into the vice chair and the chair role. It does allow for members to defer if they suggest, and that was actually fairly successful in the planning commission meeting. The newest member was John Colum, and it was his first day at the planning commission meeting and he would have been made vice chair and he decided to defer it and go to the end of the line. So with that said, staff's recommendation is to introduce this ordinance and to direct the city clerk to implement this policy immediately.
[01:00:36] Mayor: Thank you for doing all the work and pulling this together. I think it's a great body of work. Are there any questions?
[01:00:44] Mayor: Okay, please.
[01:00:45] Council Member: All right. Thank you, Anthony. So you said that the rotation would be based alphabetically?
[01:00:50] Anthony (City Clerk): Yes, sir.
[01:00:50] Council Member: You know, there was a concern raised at public safety that a newer member may not get a chance to be chair. You know, if there's seven members of the body for six or seven years, in other words, they might go full term, never serve—in other words, never serve ever because then they decide to step down or whatever. Is there any consideration given to that, or is that a legitimate concern?
[01:01:18] Anthony (City Clerk): No, there was no way for me to consider that. I mean, there was a way for me to consider that if we went on a seniority-based rotation. However, on a seniority-based rotation, as you'll know, many years we're appointing two or three members to the same committee, in which case we would have to do a tiebreaker probably nearly every year. And then we would also have to keep track of those who got second place or third place and then keep them in a queue and then remember that the next year and the subsequent year. And then the time that the next batch comes up, we would be doing tiebreakers again and keeping people in queues. Versus this approach makes it fairly clear when somebody's going to be up next. And so they can plan. If they're nervous about serving as chair, they can start planning for that, reach out to me, and provide them with some onboarding instructions on how to serve effectively as a chair.
[01:02:10] Council Member: Thank you.
[01:02:11] Council Member Nandandy: And then I wanted to make a—I wanted to make a comment then, too.
[01:02:14] Mayor: Questions first.
[01:02:15] Council Member Nandandy: Um, well, it could be.
[01:02:18] Mayor: Yes, that's a question.
[01:02:19] Council Member: Yeah, just flex your voice up at the end.
[01:02:22] Council Member Nandandy: So, with seven people on the public safety committee, it could be that six people could say, 'No, I don't want to be the chair.' And then it's going to come back to the current chair. Because I found with my experience in some of these committees, some of the volunteers don't want that responsibility ever. So, I'm glad we have this built in. So, I think you're just confirming my question that I've answered myself.
[01:02:52] Anthony (City Clerk): Yes.
[01:02:54] Council Member Nandandy: Fine job.
[01:02:55] Anthony (City Clerk): But, Council Member Nandandy, I do want to point out—so from the comments at the last meeting, it was apparent to me at least that there is a desire for all of the members to serve in a leadership role unless there's a significant reason why they wouldn't, such as John's being his first day on the commission. So, we will be keeping track and providing a report when the council does their interviews and considers reappointments, letting you know when somebody has deferred and if they provided a reason.
[01:03:24] Council Member: Thank you. My question for our amazing city clerk, who has gone through a lot of trying to finesse how to have a very sticky situation: Have you looked at how other cities do it? Because I think if we're looking as alpha, as we mentioned, that isn't beneficial to somebody who has a two-year term and their name would be closer in the alphabet than somebody who has served multiple four-year terms and hasn't had a chance because one person in particular has been seen as having the strength to remain as chair. I think that kind of defeats the opportunity to cycle. So, have you looked at other cities?
[01:04:04] Anthony (City Clerk): Yes. Just as a matter of fact, I have worked in seven cities, and in those seven cities, all of them went through an open nomination process where it's just amongst the members, they nominate somebody and then that person serves as chair, and then the next person serves as vice chair. That was the process that this city operated under prior to this proposal. And I would anticipate, in my experience and in training as a clerk, there's really only a few ways that this process goes: either a structured format such as this as a numeric-based system, and then I do recall in one city, because it is a district-based city, which is a very different approach, but the council members themselves would nominate somebody to serve from their...
[01:05:00] Staff Member: districts, and then that rotation would be based on the district numbers. But again, those cities, such as Riverside, have seven council members, and then it'd be a nine-member committee with two people appointed by the mayor.
[01:05:15] Council Member: Okay. So, but that still leaves me wondering if you have found other cities that do a similar rotation because, I mean, I know that there are valley cities where they do make an appointment, and to an extent that would serve, I think, on some committees versus others. But have you had any opportunity to find other cities that do a rotation outside of—I mean, because I understand, and your experience in other cities has been invaluable with the skill set that you bring, and I'm not questioning how you've seen that happen. And I know that you mentioned it'll be a lot to keep track of who was the alternate and we flip a coin or did they choose not to do so that year, but thankfully Excel is a magical tool.
[01:05:58] Staff Member: Um, no. I'm not familiar with other cities that have prescribed an appointment process for the committees. To me, this is fairly unique, and this approach I have not seen before. To me, this is a novel approach in how to address the request that came from council.
[01:06:21] Council Member: Interesting. Thank you.
[01:06:24] Mayor: Are there any other questions? Okay. Do we have any public comment on this?
[01:06:30] City Clerk: No public comment, Madam Mayor.
[01:06:31] Council Member: Okay. I think erring on the side of structure is going to be the easiest and safest way to go about this process. I'll move approval.
[01:06:41] Mayor: Second. May we have a vote, please?
[01:06:52] City Clerk: Motion passed 4 to 1 with Council Member Nandandy voting no.
[01:06:57] Mayor: Okay, thank you. And that concludes our agenda. There are no public hearings. We are taking—the Council is taking a brief hiatus and we'll be back in August at our next meeting. However, we are continuing work on our committees and commissions that we're assigned to, and we're always available. And just remember, July 20th is National Ice Cream Day. So, seeing no unfinished business, this meeting stands adjourned. Have a great summer.