00:00 Jeff Wyman, Assistant City Manager: That's alright. Well I think we'll get moving forward here. Good afternoon

00:05 everybody. I'd like to welcome you all to this virtual Menifee community update,

00:10 and I'd like to thank you for joining us

00:12 today. Whether you're by video or by phone. My name is Jeff Wyman and I am the

00:17 assistant city manager for the city of Menifee. First of all I would like to

00:21 acknowledge our City Council for their leadership. Mayor Bill Zimmerman, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Liesemeyer and council

00:29 members Greg August, Lesa Sobic, and Dean

00:33 Deines. Some of which have joined us on

00:35 this event today. For a little background the city of Menifee has been working diligently during these unprecedented

00:43 times to provide information about Covid-19 and what the city is working on... Michelle, if you could advance a slide.

00:59 To this end the city has created public service videos and flyers, established a dedicated web-page regarding Covid-19,

01:07 sent out information guides, held developer oriented webinars, and been out on the forefront of business outreach

01:16 surveys and programs just to name a few.

01:20 This community update is the latest in the city's efforts to help the community stay informed. Next slide, please

01:30 Today we'll be covering several areas of interest including the city's response to the Covid-19 public health

01:37 emergency. Some of the impacts the city's emergency operations center (or EOC). On the public safety side, we will hear from

01:47 both the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and the Menifee police chief, as well as our Cal Fire Battalion Chief

01:54 And we will also hear from our development and economic development departments. And with that I'll be moving

02:02 forward, and I'll turn it over to the city of Menifee City Manager, Armondo Villa

02:10 Menifee City Manager, Armondo Villa: So, thank you so much Jeff for the introduction and thank you so much for

02:15 all those that decided to participate today. I see a good number of people that are joining us today

02:20 Again, thank you, thank you, for participating and we hope that you take the time to provide some comments and

02:28 feedback on how we're doing through the pandemic. And I want to take you through

02:34 an overview of this disease and how the world was introduced to the disease so... Next slide please.

02:43 As an overview, many of you know that we started noticing right about the turn of the year that this was a serious

02:53 problem worldwide. And on January 30th the World Health Organization declared it as an outbreak. And we saw our first

03:02 case, first go from case, right around February 26th. And right after that most local governments and states started to

03:14 do a lot of meetings... a lot of talking about what to do with this pandemic. On March 4th the state of California

03:24 actually declared a state of emergency and the County Riverside County declared local emergency on the March peak. And

03:34 the month of March was probably one of the most difficult months for all local governments and states because it was a

03:42 series of meetings back to back to try to decipher what this meant to to us and what it... what the impact would be on our

03:50 community so we started to see the disease... they need taken more serious and

03:58 on March 16 our County Health Officer issued some pretty strict rules followed by the city of Menifee declaring a state

04:07 of emergency. And our governor declaring some pretty pretty harsh stay-at-home orders on March 19th

04:14 So let's talk a little bit about the last three dates because that's kind of the foundation of how we're operating

04:22 over for weeks, so (next, slide please) as you know the governor issued order number 33

04:31 - 20 which was implemented on March 19th. That comes with a very straight stay-at-home order and almost requiring

04:42 us, every... every resident of California, to stay home so that we can minimize the spread of the disease with the exception

04:50 of those workers that work in critical infrastructure sectors. So I know many of you see a lot of people out there

04:56 driving around and and going to work. A lot of those are critical infrastructure worker sectors; like people that work in

05:04 banks, people that work in food stores, and restaurants. Those are considered critical, critical, sectors. And then

05:13 following that, the Riverside County Public Health Officer issued a very restrictive order restricting gatherings

05:22 of 10 or more people. That meant that a lot of our programming... a lot of our city programs, events need to be cancelled because we wanted to avoid and minimize

05:32 the transmission of the disease. At the same time make sure that we comply with the county order, with the exception

05:41 again, restrictions are non-essential businesses. Most of the businesses needed to be closed and that came with

05:47 requirements to make everybody wear their protective gear and social distancing. In our City Council actually

05:55 recognized the danger and adopted a resolution 2869 which allowed us to impliment the county order and governor's order and also be

06:09 able to move fast and try to come up with ways to mitigate to our residents... to mitigate the spread of the disease. So

06:16 (next slide) I want to spend a little bit of time talking about this slide, but I want to make sure that people understand

06:24 that this is in no way a reflection of how the city will implement a future restrictions as it is only a snapshot of

06:34 how the Covid-19 viruse has impacted our city. If I can explain. The blue line there, the blue line is the number

06:45 of confirmed cases in our city. It... We started tracking that right about the time that we adopted the emergency

06:55 resolution (which is of March 16th) so it was from zero and fast forward to today Tuesday April 28th we have about a

07:05 hundred confirmed cases. Let's go to the bottom line here. The Green Line, the Green Line is the number of people that

07:16 have actually died from the disease. So we started at zero when when we implemented the emergency ordinance and

07:24 right now we have approximately 30 people it could have actually died from the disease. So the the middle line

07:31 represents the... the dead and the tracking of weekly cases that have been identified, obviously the aggregate is the blue line,

07:42 but as you can see the number of weekly confirmed cases has been declining since April 13th. Again I think it's too early

07:51 for us to surmise what that means. I think there's a lot more science that needs to be applied to this to for us to

07:59 be able to think that were we're out of the woods with the disease, but we are starting to see that the... all these

08:08 restrictions about wearing protective gear and social distance are... are starting to actually help us. So I wanted

08:17 to graph this out because every city is different, a lot of cities are tracking a little bit different and I'm pretty sure

08:23 the county is doing a countywide tracking of how the disease is impacting the residents of the county and they'll

08:31 be coming up with more requirements and probably amended orders pretty soon here.

08:38 So with that, we put together a very comprehensive list and set of information for you. Some of the things

08:47 that the city has been doing over the last four weeks to try to mitigate the impacts to the community and try to come up with ways

08:55 to allow residents to understand what this is. And some of the some of the... some of the things that... that we in the

09:02 federal government has done to help residents cope with the impacts of Covid-19. So at this point I'd like to

09:10 introduce Sam Rodriguez. She's going to present to you some of the some of the implement... implementation that we've

09:18 done over the last four weeks. So, Sam thank you.

09:22 Sam Rodriguez, Senior Management Analyst: Thank You Armando. Um, good afternoon everybody my name is Samantha Rodriguez

09:27 Senior management analyst with the city of Menifee, here to go over the different actions that we've taken in our

09:33 Emergency Operations Center and how that translates to the Covid-19 response. Next slide please? A story of our EOC activation

09:44 during this incident our city began monitoring the Covid-19 incident on February 26 and our Emergency Operations

09:51 Center was activated on March 12. We're currently in level 2 of the EOC activation thresholds, which means that

09:58 we're actively managing the incident with our existing resources. If we were to exceed our available resources and need

10:05 to reach out to other agencies for help then our EOC activation level would escalate to level 1, but right now we've

10:12 been maintaining level 2 for the past 4 to 6 weeks of this incident utilizing our existing resources. Next... next slide

10:22 please. Oh, never mind, sorry it's getting ahead of myself. This slide talks about what EOC operations look like in the Emergency

10:30 Operations Center. There's different functions; from management (which is PIO and policymaking) all the way to finance

10:37 and logistics. Under a typical situation these functions are happening physically in the EOC. each of these branches are

10:44 staffed with personnel and their routing different workflows so that pertain to the incident while considering the

10:50 implications of Covid-19 and the need to maintain social distancing. We had to accommodate our EOC operations to meet

10:58 those social distancing requirements. What that means is that we're operating our EOC remotely. All of these functions

11:04 are happening online and through virtual methods. For example if we had to route resource requests, those would come through

11:11 finance and logistics and be done online and signed electronically. For training, before we fully activated our EOC we met

11:20 one-on-one with all city staff in an attempt to make sure that everybody understands the positions that they are

11:26 assigned during an EOC. So we did position-specific training 101 with staff before the incident started. And

11:33 then during the incident we did ran hrough some pre-planning scenarios, which means what-if scenarios. Basically

11:40 if a testing site were to open in our city, what would that look like and how would we work that through the different

11:45 functions of the EOC remotely. And we also work through if the number of deaths in our city doubled, what would that look like,

11:52 what agencies would we have to reach out to to secure additional resources. So even though we're working through the

11:59 EOC remotely we're still doing ongoing training and making sure that we're able to respond. Next slide please

12:06 For IOC plans and reporting before the incident... Before this pandemic started our city had an Emergency Operations

12:15 plan which covers all the hazards that we face as a city. Everything from fire, floods to pandemics. On the pandemic

12:22 portion of the Emergency Operations plan was about a page long. When the Covid incident happened we had to significantly expand that section to

12:30 accommodate our needs as a city because it's our first time as an agency facing an incident like this

12:35 And so that's why we developed a pandemic response plan at the beginning of this incident that talked about

12:41 things like infection control measures, steps that we can take as a city to disinfect and increase cleaning methods,

12:49 and then also outreach on efforts. Once we activated our EOC we created an actual incident action plan, which is

12:57 basically a guidance document to help us get through each operational period. Right now our EOC is in seven-day

13:03 operational periods and this guide covers everything from individual assignments for people assigned to the EOC to safety messages and weather forecasts. Because

13:13 , um, at any time we can have multiple incidents overlapping. We could have a wildfire at the same time as the pandemic so we need to have a plan in

13:20 place to address that. If that were to happen situation summaries are sent out daily. This is a very high-level summary

13:27 of how this incident specifically impacts our city. This is sent out in order for us to maintain situational awareness and monitor the incident

13:36 outside of this detailed incident action plan. And then at the conclusion of the incident we will develop an after-action

13:43 report. This is critical because it gives us an opportunity, as a city, to meet and talk about lessons learned. Um, every

13:51 incident is unique. And we can use the lessons learned from this incident to apply to future incidents and revise our

13:57 EOP to make sure we are continuing to grow and adjust to the needs of our city. Next? So this slide compares

14:06 the county public health orders from when we first declared the local emergency to what we're seeing now

14:12 Basically we're saying that school closures have extended to the end of the year. Um, stay at home orders expanded.

14:18 They originally applied to vulnerable populations and now apply to the general population, with the exception of

14:24 going out for essential services, and then face coverings are now required for everyone outside the home. Where

14:30 initially they were required if you had an underlying health condition. Next slide. This summarizes regional response,

14:39 it gives you a glimpse of what the region was doing at the time that our city declared a local emergency versus

14:45 what it looks like now. And, as you can see, the local emergency declarations almost doubled, the EOCs that are

14:53 activated regionally doubled as well. And then we're seeing an increase in the amount of city hall closures, stay at

15:00 home orders and testing sites have increased. And then we now have FMS sites, which is federal medical station sites

15:08 Next? Menifee's response is also changed since we first declared the local emergency on 3-18, um. City hall at that

15:17 time was open, now it is closed, and in a virtual setting where a lot of our staff are telecommuting and adhering to social

15:24 distancing protocols. Our EOC status went from level 03, which was basically monitoring remotely, to level 02. Which

15:33 means that we're actively ready to respond to the incident and we have a fully functional DOC (Department

15:38 Operations Center). Which is where all of our food distribution activities are occurring and we are also engaging with

15:44 their PIO food distribution and code enforcement who are regulating our essential and non-essential businesses

15:51 Next

15:54 Um, in regards to the Covid stats, um, you can see that the cases have increased substantially since we began monitoring

16:01 this incident but it is important to know that we're also seeing a huge increase in the number of recovered cases. And the numbers on this slide

16:09 reflect the data yesterday. But just as an example, um, from last night alone we had an increase in 207 cases but we also

16:17 had 46 recovered cases increase. So, as we're seeing cases increase we're also seeing increases in recovered cases

16:24 Sometimes it's 50 recovered for every 100, but there has even been an increase of 200 at one point in time. We're going

16:33 to continue to see an increase in cases as testing expands but we are noticing that the numbers were beginning to

16:38 stabilize. We're starting to see that the number of hospitalizations are going down. We need to start looking for a

16:44 number of cases going down or staying the same. For example the city of Menifee had a hundred cases yesterday, a hundred

16:50 cases remain today. Those are the numbers that were looking for before we can confidently determine if we've flattened

16:56 the curve. Next? So what does the future activity of the EOC look like? Um, basically our public health orders from the state,

17:06 those are active until revised or rescinded by the governor. We just found out today that the public health orders

17:12 from the county, um, expire on June 19th. So those have been extended from the April 30th that we were ordered... that we

17:19 were currently under. So we will continue to monitor the public health orders that are coming out and then, um, we will

17:28 monitor and then respond to it as necessary. In regards to EOC activation, the EOC will remain active. The

17:35 activation levels will adjust as needed to adjust to the incident. For example if we exceed our available resources we

17:42 could escalate the EOC to a level 1. If we're able if we see a decline in cases on gradual reopening we could deescalate

17:49 our EOC to a lower level like a management watch. But we don't completely deactivate the EOC until the incident

17:56 concludes and at that time we start entering into the recovery phase. Um, it is worth noting that recovery is ongoing

18:02 That happens during the incident as we're tracking our expenses for potential reimbursement and then at the conclusion of the

18:09 incident we file with Cal OES and FEMA for reimbursement of eligible expenses.

18:13 Next please

18:17 So I do want to end my portion of the presentation with some reminders for our community. As we're going through this

18:24 together it's so important to stay in place as often as possible... only going out for essential activities. We want to make sure that if you are going

18:33 out for essential activities such as purchasing food or medical supplies that you're going out and having face coverings while out in public. Um, when

18:40 out in public, or around others, maintain six feet of separation at all times. And that social distancing is

18:46 imperative for us to flatten the curve. And then properly dispose of all PPE personal protective equipment, this

18:53 includes gloves, disposable face coverings, and also any sanitation wipes that you may use to disinfect shopping

18:59 carts. We're noticing an increase of these items being improperly disposed of in parking lots and that's a threat to

19:05 our community and our environment. And they can ultimately end up in our waterways. So it's so important that we do our part to not only protect

19:12 ourselves and others but to properly dispose of PPE. Next. That's it, thank you guys so much

19:26 [Music]

19:33 Bill Stens, Lieutenant: Okay, I am lieutenant Bill Stens with Versailles Sheriff's Department. Can you change the slide for me, please. Um, like I said.

19:45 I'm Bill Stens with the Versailles Sheriff's Department, assigned to the Paris station. Overseeing the daily law

19:50 enforcement operations in the city of Menifee since the inception of governer Newsom's Covid-19 executive order to self sequester

19:57 The Sheriff's Department has continued to conduct business as usual. Although the department has implemented

20:03 some changes to protect personnel from potential exposure the deputies have continued to proudly represent the city of Menifee

20:09 and have continued to provide us with service. At the beginning of this crisis the

20:14 city manager, Armondo Villa, asked me how the Sheriff's Department would continue to serve the city of Menifee if there was a Covid

20:19 outbreak at the Paris station. I explained with a department our size (we have approximately 3,764 full employees,

20:29 and of those 1829 are sworn law enforcement officers) we would simply pull personnel from other stations bureaus and facilities to supplement our station

20:37 personnel, to ensure uninterrupted service. I'm happy to report as of today we have not had a single recorded Covid-19 case at our station and despite this

20:48 Sheriff Bianco transferred 19 deputies and one community service officer to our station to ensure adequate

20:53 staffing. With this increase of personnel the good citizens... and the good citizens
of Menifee adhering to all sequester orders

21:01 the Sheriff's Department has been able to actively participate in community outreach and educational programs and even on a few occasions we were able to put a

21:08 smile on a young child's face by participating in birthday parades. Within the city of Menifee the Riverside County

21:14 Sheriff Department; especially while assigned to patrol, traffic enforcement, investigations, special enforcement, and crime prevention

21:21 means. Each of these divisions has a specific roll in protecting the citizens of Menifee. During the Covid-19 crisis the

21:29 Sheriff's Department has seen the overall call volume in the city of Menifee decrease by about 20 calls per day, down from an average of about 130 calls to about 120 calls. However

21:40 and unfortunately, domestic violence, and vehicle theft calls have been trending upward. Our traffic deputies have been taking enforcement action on the most

21:47 egregious traffic violations, ensuring the safe, smooth flow of traffic throughout the city and conducting traffic collision investigations. The

21:55 Special Enforcement Team has been addressing quality of life issues, and the Crime Prevention Unit has been partnering with the Menifee code enforcement officers and park rangers providing education in the importance of compliance with the governers' orders

22:19 In conclusion I'd like to thank the citizens of Menifee for their willingnes to comply with the orders of Governor Newsom's and the Riverside county Public Health Officer, Dr Kaiser.

22:22 Cooperation with these orders is the foundation of ensuring the safety of all Menifee residents. This enables all aspects of Public Safety and medical professionals to continue to provide you

22:25 with the exceptional service you are accustomed to receiving. I would like to ask everyone to continue doing their

22:30 part to keep our great community safe. You understand this is a difficult time and everyone wants to return to

22:35 normal. But a little bit more sacrifice may prevent a second wave of this virus. We will get through this together,

22:41 stay home and stay safe, thank you.

22:45 [Music]

22:48 Pat Walsh, Chief of Police: Thank You lieutenant Stens. This is Chief Pat Walsh. I wanted first off to thank the

22:53 the Riverside County Sheriff's department for keeping us safe during these times. Just my part of this presentation is to let

23:01 everybody know that the new Menifee Police Department is not slowing down in our efforts to create the police

23:08 department. As you see here on April 13th I swore in nine police sergeants, one lieutenant, and one services manager. So we have a total of 17 employees currently

23:21 We have 44 police officer candidates in background. Now I speak to them as often as I can, I call them, all

23:33 of them are still in and excited to come here and work for us in Menifee. So we will be opening our doors July 1st 2020

23:43 I've had a conversation with the sheriff and he's prepared to redeploy his deputies. And I just wanted to make sure that he

23:52 understands that we are still going full steam ahead. Next slide. We've got a new sign, we turned the the old city hall into

24:03 the police department. We continue to work on this building, we have moved into the the main building. Here, you see here

24:12 we're outfitting some modular buildings for locker rooms. And the building behind this one we are creating a property room

24:23 for our evidence will be taking once we go live July 1st. So again just so everybody knows the Menifee Police

24:31 Department will be actively policing Menifee July 1st, 2020. And that's it for me.

24:45 Mark League, Battalion Chief: Thank you Chief Walsh. Good afternoon city of Menifee. Uh, Mark League battalion Chief, Cal Fire, Riverside County Fire Department. Next slide

24:56 Very early on Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Chief, along with his Staff Chief Shawn Newman, took a very aggressive and

25:04 proactive approach to the Covid-19 that was developing in Wuhan. Beginning in late January and into early February of

25:18 2020 Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Department began to monitor the emerging coronavirus epidemic. This activated

25:28 several resources within our agency to start developing plans, to not only protect the firefighters of Riverside

25:35 County Fire Department, but the community. And continue our responses to the community. What did this... what does this

25:42 mean? Increase in personal protective equipment was number one. While we always are responding and protecting ourselves,

25:51 the appropriate personal protective equipment... We knew early on that we were going to have to have access to an

25:58 increased level and numbers of personal protective equipment. Outside of our local purchases that we normally make on a daily basis,

26:08 we've also accessed the national stockpile. On March 8th, 2020, the first algorithm was pushed out to the

26:17 firefighters. And what does that mean? And so, this algorithm identified and made aware to the firefighters some type

26:27 of change in our response. And changing the responses, not necessarily that we aren't going to respond, but when we do

26:36 respond, our approach is going to be a little bit different. Instead of a three-person fire engine that shows up to your house, all

26:44 three members walking into the home. We wanted to do our part by one, not only wearing personal protective equipment,

26:50 but maybe only sending... Depending on the call type; one rescuer, one firefighter into the home. If that person that called

26:59 911 one wasn't able to actually make it outside themselves. These were some of the things within this algorithm that

27:06 was pushed out to the firefighters, to not only protect them, but the community. In addition to the

27:13 response algorithm, it also identified documentation that we would be utilizing within our image trend program. This also

27:22 gave the county an ability to track positive Covid-19 or, uh, possible Covid-19 patients. That algorithm has changed

27:32 several times over the weeks but stays somewhat the same. Again, firefighters are going to be responding as we always have

27:42 Our approach to some of these call types may be a little bit different. In addition to the algorithm there have been some changes in our 9-1-1 system

27:53 as a whole. Our emergency medical dispatching developed some Covid-19 screening questions. So, what does this mean? When a person activates the 9-1-1 system

28:07 the dispatcher not only goes through the set set of questions per the emergency medical dispatching system, but an added

28:13 feature within that has been developed to screen for patients that potentially have some type of signs and symptoms of

28:23 Covid-19 flu. This information is then punched out to the firefighters, they're given that information firsthand. Via our CAD system (our computer-aided dispatch), and

28:36 this gives them an opportunity to know that, hey, the person that they are responding to may or may not have some

28:43 type of flu symptoms. In addition, uh, to the changes to our 9-1-1 system are to our skilled nursing facilities and jails

28:51 Within the county historically when you call 9-1-1 one you will get a Riverside County Fire Department response and a response from our ambulance provider

29:04 Today, based upon the reason for the 9-1-1 call and the type of call screened by the emergency medical dispatching system,

29:13 our response to the skilled nursing facilities and the jail's have changed. You may not get a response from the fire

29:20 department based upon the call type and maybe only get an ambulance that responds. And that's on a lower level type of a

29:26 medical emergency. Public access to our fire stations is limited. And while we will make sure that everybody that

29:36 knocks on the door of a fire station is greeted, the access into the fire station has been limited. This is not only for

29:44 our day-to-day business but for our school presentations and general fire station tours. Overall call... call volume

29:56 for the Riverside County Fire Department countywide and with... within the city of Menifee is down. Now we're seeing about a...

30:05 100 call to 125 call decrease for service countywide. We... we believe that that is because people are staying home

30:16 People are not out and about and that creates less call volume. While we are seeing an increase in our call types

30:26 based upon the emergency medical dispatch screening questions, an increase in positive Covid-19 patients or patients that are exhibiting the signs

30:35 of flu, this is only because of the recognition that's out there. People that are out getting tested, obviously this is

30:42 very, very... this is known worldwide. And people are exhibiting the signs of the flu and letting us know upon calling

30:49 9-1-1. Next... next screen. In addition to

30:56 our fire operations our Fire Prevention Bureau permit and inspection section within the city is still very active

31:03 Online electronic submissions of all plans are being accepted. And while the Fire Prevention Bureau still is taking

31:13 paper... paper copies of the plans, electronic submissions are recommended.

31:20 The paper copies are subject to a 72-hour quarantine due to the pandemic. In addition the Fire Prevention Bureau

31:29 is also still conducting all inspections. With the exception of; daycare facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living communities

31:36 Next slide.

31:43 As always staying safe throughout the pandemic has been the Fire Chief's number-one goal. The Covid-19 pandemic is a... is a fluid process

31:50 Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Department has provided daily updates on the current status of the pandemic to

31:56 all employees. Continued measures to provide all employees with appropriate PPE remains to be the top priority, not

32:03 only protecting our employees but protecting the community when we respond

32:08 Early proactive measures contributed to Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Department personnel's continued state

32:15 of good health throughout this pandemic. And as it stands today we do not have a single firefighter within the Cal Fire

32:20 Riverside County Fire Department that has tested positive or had a Covid-19 response. Cal Fire Riverside County Fire

32:29 Department employees continued diligence to provide our community with excellent care has contributed to flattening the

32:35 curve in Riverside County. Thank you

32:38 That's all I have

32:45 Cheryl Kitzerow, Community Development Director: Good afternoon everyone, my name is Cheryl Kitzerow, I'm the Community

32:49 Development Director here for the city of Menifee. I wanted to provide an update on the processes that the development

32:57 team have implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Also on the call is our city engineer and public works director

33:06 Jonathan Smith, as well as our building manager Craig Carlson. Next slide please.

33:11 So before I share this very, very, short video. This video is to highlight our

33:18 zero-stop-shop. To show you how to access information on the city's website regarding planning applications submittals,

33:28 building permit applications submittals, engineering applications submittals, and permit issuance. So Michelle can you

33:36 please play this video?

33:40 [Music]

34:07 Thank you. Next slide, please? So my message for the community is that we are still here for you. The development team

34:17 has not experienced the slowdown in development activities and we are committed to keeping projects moving forward and conducting business as usual

34:27 via our virtual operations. So on our website each of the departments under that virtual City Hall functionality has

34:36 provided information on how to submit plans to us electronically. We are all available via email and we are routing

34:46 plans electronically and reviewing them electronically as well. For payment of application fees and permit fees, you can

34:55 do that via credit card over the phone. We have worked with our finance team to remove the credit card limit so that we

35:03 can take payments for all of your projects. We are, along with our fire colleagues, also quarantining any hard

35:13 plans that do come in. So we are encouraging electronic plan submmittal.

35:18 If hard plans do need to be submitted we encourage them to come in via mail, um,

35:23 there are some plan types, like mylars, that would need to be dropped off. And just know that those would be

35:30 quarantined for 72 hours, so there would be a slight delay on processing those. We are also doing permit issuance and

35:39 sign-offs electronically. We are continuing with our occupancy inspections for, um, both the commercial and residential

35:47 projects that are moving forward in town. We are doing those inspections, following social distancing protocols, and then I'll

35:55 leave you with... We are continuing to do meetings with developers, due diligence meetings, our regular standing design

36:05 review committee meetings, and then as well as our Planning Commission meetings

36:10 Next slide? Thank you

36:13 Jonathan Nicks, Community Services Director: Good afternoon everyone this

36:19 is Jonathan Nicks, I'm the Community Services Director for the city of Menifee. Next slide please, Michelle? As our city manager mentioned earlier we've...

36:29 Because of what's going on and social distancing, we've had to postpone or cancel a lot of our regular activities, a
lot of our recreational activities. But

36:37 we really focused our efforts on making sure that everyone in the community who might have been negatively impacted by a

36:44 lot of the shutdowns has access to food. Primarily our senior citizens. So, seniors are allowed to come to the

36:53 Kay Ceniceros Senior Center and on a drive-up service get food. We've distributed 5,658 meals since March 16th. And so over the last

37:04 month and a half we've been providing a lot of meals to seniors. We've also had a monthly Food Box program, we actually

37:10 just had a distribution yesterday. So if you were driving down Newport between Murietta and Evans Road and you saw a

37:16 long line of cars that was us giving out those food boxes. So, we had two distributions in March and yesterday we

37:22 provided 1034 boxes of food for seniors. Now if you're not a senior citizen but you have been impacted and you need some help you can come down to

37:31 the Kay Ceniceros Senior Center on Fridays and we provide weekend meal packs. So that's two lunches and a breakfast to any individual that needs

37:39 food help. And also, we're even partnering as a Menifee Community Cupboard, they're over there over in Sun City in the Cherry Hills Plaza and

37:47 through a grant with the city they have available five thousand pounds of food for those that are most in need. So contact them, Menifee Valley Community Cupboard

37:54 If you need any other services please call our service line, that is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5

38:00 p.m. We have all the information on how to prequalify for all these meal programs and we also have information

38:06 for all the food programs that the schools are providing. So if you're not sure which school has food or what days

38:12 they are providing, give us a call. And we also have a lot of other service lines available for... if you're a veteran in the city or if you need assistance

38:20 connecting with economic development on some of the small business programs. We have all that information so please call that service line

38:27 Next slide please Michelle? Also I noticed that in the chat there is a few questions about; "Are parks open? Can we even go outside?". So for a while the park

38:37 parking lots were closed. There was an order that was released early last week that permitted us to open those back up

38:43 So you are permitted to go out to the park and get some exercise. You can hike, bike, ride your horse, run, and walk. But please don't use... don't have any contact

38:57 sports. So don't... no soccer, football, things like that. You can do pickleball, tennis, things where you can maintain

39:03 social distance. And also no group activities or gatherings. So people like to have parties and go to the picnic shelters,

39:11 we're asking people not to do that. I know that's a little bit of a bummer, my son for example has his birthday on

39:16 Friday, May 1st. And so we're gonna keep... um, stay at home and not go to the park and do that. Also we're advising people

39:22 to stay off the fitness equipment and the play structures because we... um, it's very hard to maintain those. When someone uses it, then the next person uses it... So we

39:33 just advise everyone to stay off of those things. And then we're also keeping the restrooms closed for the same

39:37 reasons. And so remember when you're using the parks, maintain that social distance and try to keep six feet apart

39:42 Next slide please, Michelle. Then also I know most people are staying at home and because we're not providing our regular

39:51 events and programs are wondering; "...what can I do?". Well we've also, as Cheryl has done, went virtual. So there's a virtual

39:59 Kinesis Department page. We have activities for all different ages, all through pre-k toddler all the way to senior citizens. Like I mentioned I have

40:08 two kids at home, they're trying to figure out... we're trying to figure out what to do with them so I selfishly use this as

40:13 well. And so we try to do... post on social media where we have different activities going on every other day. Whether it be a

40:19 scavenger hunt or art and crafts. And we're also doing weekly videos through virtual CSD, where we have recommendations. You can kind of follow

40:27 along, and we're doing some live stream videos as well. Where you can live stream in and follow along with instructor on some videos

40:34 And then coming pretty soon on Friday May 1st we're gonna have a full, um, uh...

40:39 a full calendar of activities for the month of May. So every single day we'll have a special activity that you can do

40:44 And we encourage you to follow us on hashtag virtual CSD (#virtualCSD). And that's all I have,

40:49 thank you very much, and have a good afternoon.

40:55 Gina Gonzalez, Economic Development Director: Next slide. Good afternoon my name is Gina Gonzalez, Economic Development Director

41:00 for the wonderful, and the best city ever, city of Menifee! I wanted to jump right into this... uh, what our team and the city

41:08 has been doing for some of our businesses and our programs and what's available to our business community.

41:13 Thought it was extremely important to start off with our unemployment rate and what came out from EDD for the month of March

41:20 Right now we're looking about 5.3 percent unemployment for our community. How does that relate to the state of

41:29 California? State of California, I mean overall we're looking at about just over a million in unemployment

41:36 filers. And then for the United States it's just over 26 million. In relation to where Menifee was previously to the

41:46 month of March, we were study right around 3.7 percent, and we were steadily declining. As we really have been

41:53 building up the industry within the city of Menifee we saw a lot of businesses coming online

41:59 We had 53 new medical businesses that came to the city, so we've started to see a decline in our overall unemployment

42:08 numbers. And then you'll see a snapshot of what our annual averages were looking. So, you know, I believe when we really saw

42:17 this number that came out last month we did anticipate it to be much larger than what came out. But who knows what it's

42:25 gonna look like in the months ahead. Now with... especially with the latest order that just came out, so, we're going to

42:31 continue to monitor that as well. Next slide. So one of the things that we have been doing from the very beginning is

42:40 we've been looking at benchmarks and have been pushing out our economic survey to our local businesses. We are

42:47 about to release our third one. And we really wanted to see, from the very beginning... and kind of benchmark as we go along this together, uh,

42:56 where we are with our business community and then what what the needs are as we've gone along. Um, obviously everybody needs financial

43:04 assistance, but what other things can we also do to help them along this process

43:08 So just from face value (at this point in time), from the first survey to the second survey, what we've uncovered was most of

43:18 the businesses are lost from zero to $50,000 as of right now. And then when we look at the overall impacts... What are

43:27 they looking at, what are they saying? Is it just the financial, is it just the closure? So maybe it's not the finances,

43:32 is it the cancellation of the events and group gatherings? So those really make up the top 3% or the top three categories

43:38 for our overall businesses. So as you see, obviously without a doubt, 60% of them right off the bat it's the financial

43:46 hardship. Then about close to 50% it's the temporary closures and then a close third, obviously, is the cancellation of

43:54 the events our gathering. So that's the population, that's the people that are coming to visit their actual stores.

43:59 All of our brick and mortars, a lot of folks that now don't have the normal clientele that they normally would.

44:07 So what we do is we take this information, and this is actually drilled down even further for us. But this is... like I said, just wanted

44:14 to give you a little snapshot of what folks were saying right now. But we take the information and then what we do is

44:19 we turn it into resources that we'll provide from our local businesses and we'll touch on that in just a moment. Next slide

44:24 So, for... overall for our department we were really pushing on the attraction, and we were still doing retention, but

44:33 there was more of a heavy weight on the attraction side. Being a new city close, to 12 years old, you know a lot of the

44:41 construction we see is new. We don't have as much built out to where we're concentrating on some of the older

44:48 cities like Temecula and so forth. Where they're really concentrating on retention efforts, so this is a very

44:54 different time that we're in, even as a new city and we're really switching... or, shifting gears to more of relying

45:00 on the retention efforts. Trying to retain our existing businesses locally, and then still not not pushing away completely from the

45:09 attraction side, because we're still building and growing and thriving as a new city. But we are realizing that we

45:15 are having to really pull up the bootstraps with our retention efforts and trying to support our local

45:21 businesses here to keep them. Next slide

45:27 So this is just a snapshot. A lot of folks don't really quite understand exactly what economic development does,

45:33 and so this is just a snapshot of all the programs and activities and things that come out of our department. From our

45:40 normal business attraction, retention, expansion, and strategies, and efforts. But, the job creation... we provide ombudsmen

45:47 services. acuity issue resolution, consulting from marketing to processing within the city, access to capital,

45:54 networking opportunities (making those connections), we have a business spotlight program... um, we have a business setup program,

46:01 our shop local programs, and Menifee Masters. The list goes on and on.

46:06 We do reach out to... um, we have three conferences that we do... um, NCICSE. We have our mayor's roundtables that really

46:15 connects with our industries that we're trying to build. And then we also have job expos, and job fairs, and quick pitches

46:22 And, there's a lot of programs and activities that are geared towards really helping our business community thrive and grow here locally.

46:34 The ones that have a B3 next to it, that's our Building Better Businesses program, our B3 program... And those are our retention

46:40 program for the city. Next slide

46:47 So this is a little bit more with that B3 program that I wanted to touch base on. One of them directly is the SBDC. We

46:54 do house the SBDC locally, that's a free tool for our local businesses that we partner up directly with that's funded

47:02 through the SBA. We've had that program for quite some time, but we really are bolstering that program locally for our

47:09 business community. Again that's a free resource to our businesses and that can... 3B, from marketing to business plans to actually...

47:16 to fill out the applications to loans. And then actually working with you on some of the details for those loan

47:22 applications and where that is in the process... Um we overall, with Covid-19, have increased the assistance to our local

47:30 business community. One of the efforts that we've been able to roll out was this Menifee cares disaster recovery

47:35 initiative in conjunction with our local Chamber of Commerce. The Menifee cares website; https://www.menifeebusiness.com/menifee-cares/

47:45 This has all of your resource information for businesses and individuals. And it really is a one-stop

47:52 location for online resources and it's a clearinghouse for all of our businesses and residents to find information

48:00 summaries in a very easy format. To understand exactly what's out there. From veterans, to students, to education... You

48:10 name it it's on there. And we're... it's going to be continually being added information as more starts to be

48:17 uncovered. And coming out, as we start to enter this fourth round of assistance through the federal government, as well

48:24 We've also pushed out a MeniFREEwards program. This MeniFREEwards program was a way to support those businesses

48:31 that, if you remember, when this first came out a lot of folks weren't even... they weren't even visiting our local

48:37 shops that were considered essential. So this was a way that we were trying to entice residents to safely visit and

48:47 support our businesses locally. And it was a way to actively and quickly

48:52 respond to assist those, and it's been very successful. And we just wanted to

48:56 thank all of our residents for your support to our businesses. And I know they tremendously appreciate that, so,

49:03 thank you again for going above and beyond for our businesses. Um, with that, the city has pushed out some businesses...

49:11 business licensing relief. We've extended the business license applications. They were due in January we've extended it to

49:19 the end of June to provide some relief.

49:23 The last thing we want them to worry about us their licensing. As we're all working our way through this process, together

49:29 Oh, again, John mentioned our senior meals but he's also has been working diligently with a lot of our local

49:37 Menifee eateries. And while the governor's coming out with that eatery program we've done that since the very

49:43 beginning of Covid-19 and have been working with our local eateries and providing them some relief through our

49:51 senior meals program as well. Again I mentioned our Ombudsman services, if it's helping our businesses fill out

49:57 applications directly or connecting them, that's what we're here for

50:01 We're very happy and excited to assist our businesses. Um, again I mentioned the

50:06 SBDC, that's our one-on-one personal consulting that we have. It's completely

50:11 free, no strings attached. You really need to exercise and use that. And if you have never spoken to Carla Gonzales or Paul [inaudible]

50:21 you're really missing out there, you know, they have a world of information that they're just willing to share

50:26 So... I've said, you know, reach out to SBDC, Carla Gonzales... or just connect with

50:32 myself Kayla or Joel in our department and we'll be more than happy to connect you. We did put together a small business

50:40 toolkit, and that's an easy handbook that literally lists out every single resource available for employees, and

50:49 employers, and even individuals. And any type of resource that's available to them in an easy handbook provided to you

50:58 So it's downloadable, that's on https://www.menifeebusiness.com/ or our Corona, excuse me,

51:04 virus... um Covid-19 website. And you'll see a link there that says downloadable resources. If you click that you'll see

51:13 all of our resources, and pamphlets, and brochures, and toolkits available right in one location for you

51:22 Additionally; we've worked on policies for develop... development projects such as timeline extensions, bridge loans, and then also we've put

51:31 together an essential business list and mapping tool. That's also located on the website, to assist our community.

51:38 We have marketing publication ads, you name it we've done it. Covid-19 community resource guide. Hopefully all

51:45 of you that are residents received that. If you did not we have some available, that will be outside of City Hall, and a

51:53 couple other locations within the city (including the Chamber of Commerce). But, that's a 20 page guide with all sorts of information and we'll cover it in just a minute

52:01 Plaza outreach... We've done business support outreach from day one. The very first week when all of this occurred we

52:07 were out there knocking on the doors and windows of our businesses. Really, to provide resource information to them

52:14 from the very beginning to make sure that they had the tools that they needed to be successful. And then, the last thing

52:21 I wanted to mention was we have been regionally collaborating. Every single week we meet with all of our cohorts in

52:27 economic development from the surrounding cities, and including the county

52:30 And we have really created a task force for best practices and ways to really bolster our region through Covid-19

52:40 And there's some great things that are on the horizon out of this group. And so I just wanted to thank all of my

52:47 colleagues in the neighboring cities for their work together. Next slide?

52:55 Even again, this is just a snapshot of some of those tools that I mentioned that is in the downloadable resources that are

53:01 available to you. And then again, we have the SBDC webinar calendar where all of the free workshops and webinars that are

53:10 available to you to help your business. Or maybe you're just learning and trying to get into a new business amid

53:15 everything that's happening. There are some free workshops that are available to you and there's a schedule that's

53:20 available on our website or at https://www.menifeebusiness.com/

53:28 Next slide. And this was that resource guide that I mentioned that we did put out that has resources for employees, individuals, curbside. We even went so far

53:37 as to working with some of our local eateries and restaurants that, we went looking for deals for you to encourage

53:42 them to go and above and beyond what they were already offering... that they could offer our Menifee community

53:48 And then also, as John mentioned, there's virtual CSD information. There's some information on utility assistance and

53:54 support for... there's information for seniors, um, a little bit of everything

53:57 So again, if you don't have that it's also downloadable on our coronavirus website; Menifee Business

54:04 You name it we've pushed it out. You can always find it on our social media platforms. We're sprinkling the town with

54:10 that. Next slide? Again there's, uh, multiple ways that you can connect with the city. We do have... we'd love to push out our

54:20 official app. It's the best way to report issues, services, concerns. Use our app for that. We also do publish out our

54:30 Economic Development eNewsletter (which is quarterly), our Citywide newsletter, our Focus Senior newsletter, our Menifee Matters

54:36 publication, and then we just did the Resource Guide... Social media platforms, and again those are our two websites

54:43 CityofMenifee.us and MenifeeBusiness.com and then again, please follow us on all of our social media platforms. From LinkedIn to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

54:55 You name it, we have it, thanks! Next slide

55:02 Thank you very much

55:12 Sarah Manwaring, City Clerk: Good afternoon my name is Sarah Manwaring, I am the city clerk. Due to the orders

55:19 from federal, state, and county levels prohibiting the public from physically attending public meetings the city has

55:27 provided for virtual meetings and modified public participation

55:32 Next slide please

55:35 The City Council has a couple of special meetings coming up on May 13 and 14 with a regular meeting scheduled for May 20th

55:45 And then all of the meetings and regular meetings in June will be held for City Council. All the Planning Commission

55:55 regular meetings will be held in both May and June. Agendas are posted on our website, as usual. Next slide please?

56:05 The public can submit a comment [via email] to be read by the clerk during the meeting at publiccomments@cityofmenifee.us

56:13 You can watch the meeting on your computer or personal device at the RingCentral link provided or you can join by phone using the phone number and

56:24 ID number provided. Please note that this meeting ID is different from previously published meetings and - this is to ensure proper security and protection

56:37 from inappropriate interference. The meeting ID has changed and will be changed on a regular basis. This meet...

56:47 Meeting ID picture... pictured here, will be in place for all the legislative body meetings through the end of June

56:58 So be sure to confirm meeting access information on each meeting agenda. To access the links and for more

57:05 information on how to participate in public meetings you can visit the virtual city clerk services under the

57:12 virtual City Hall page on the city's website. Thank you, that is the end of my update

57:21 Jeff Wyman, Assistant City Manager: Okay well thank you very much. I just want to say, on behalf of the city of Menifee,

57:29 thank you again for joining us for this community update. I hope you found the information that we provided was helpful. If you have any questions

57:36 please know that we're available to assist you in any way we can. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our city

57:43 staff. The contact information for today's presenters is on the slide there's, up right now, so please feel free

57:51 to reach out to any of them at any time. At this time that is the end of our community update, and again thank you

57:59 very much for joining us. Hope you have a great and safe day.

58:09 Unidentified Speaker: So Jeff, before we ask the community to ask us questions I'd like to clarify a point. I'm started I...

58:14 Started to see a lot of social media feeds about the confusion the difference between the governor's order and the

58:23 County Health official order. And I know that we did indicate that the county of Riverside Health Office are extending the

58:32 order to June 19th. That is not to be confused with the stay at home order that the governor has placed. I think the

58:43 governor laid out a plan to move into phase 2 of that, over the next couple of weeks. What... what the... what the clinical

58:52 application is that the county's order deals with the public gatherings and the the issue of wearing protective masks

59:02 and social distancing. So that will remain in place until June 19th. The... the... stay at home order, it is very likely

59:12 that in the next couple of weeks that may change. In which case the it would apply also to the county rule.

59:20 So if you were concerned that you needed to stay home to the 16th, that's not what the county order is telling us to do

59:28 Anyways, so in case you have a question about that, I wanted to clarify that

59:32 Thank you

59:38 Jeff Wyman, Assistant City Manager: Okay, and that... that ends our community update for the day

59:46 Unidentified Speaker: So I know... I know that maybe Gina and and/or Michelle you had... I'm looking at a couple of things that are input, and they're questions from the audience?

59:57 Jeff Wyman, Assistant City Manager: We had we had put forth a... an email address for questions that were to be provided as of 5:00 p.m. yesterday

60:09 And I guess we did not receive any questions, at the time.

60:17 Gina Gonzales: We did receive five through this chat that have been answered. There was one about building permits, about walking into City Hall... that was answered today. There was one

60:26 regarding tracks in... within the parks that John answered today as well. And, let me go

60:32 through all of them for you. Face coverings, exercising outdoors... And, we did answer that as well. That they are able

60:41 to remove face coverings while exercising, walking, running, and biking. Per the new orders that just came out

60:48 today. And then there was questions about how many residents were within the city of Menifee; just about 95,000

60:56 And you don't want me to go on my soapbox about how wonderful in our growth.

61:01 And then there was a question of how many people live in Riverside County and there's

61:06 about 3.5 million. And then, it asked for clarification; "...city having the right to reopen once the county health officer

61:16 has created this shutdown order. Is the city's hands tied?"... And that's correct, the

61:23 county is the jurisdiction over putting the orders on all the cities within the county. And that's all I show in the Q&A

61:36 I see it looks like more questions are continuing to come in... But we also got to thank you for today's information. I have since a

61:52 comments not questions but we... And we got a thank-you. Correct, yes. Somebody else, um

62:07 regarding; "...do we just sit around until the governor decides there's no dates at

62:11 all in this plan, and then family parties are basically canceled". Thank you. "Thank you", another "thank you". Correct, and that...

62:28 three more thank-yous... And then there's one more; "Will seating for restaurants be

62:34 off until June 19th". It's a question. So, I believe the answer is yes under the current orders, unless they're lifted

62:51 Correct. And if they modify them for the rest of us, yes correct. and we're also asking (being asked) if the

63:03 slides that we've shown will be available on the website. So Tony to

63:10 answer your questions. We will we will publish this and then we will publish

63:15 the presentation as well, and I will send it directly to you Tony. And then there's a question that they're

63:25 going to be arrested for non-compliance. I don't know if lieutenant Stens wanted to take that one

63:45 I'm sorry Bill we couldn't really hear you, can you repeat that?

63:48 Bill Stens: As of right now, that we arrest anybody for non-compliance with those orders. However we strongly suggest that people do abide by them because the close

64:00 contact is what's causing this to spread. And there's many people out there that

64:05 may not be showing symptoms and that is what's causing the concern, was this lack of knowing that they have. It... so it's important that we keep our distance

64:16 [Music]

64:20 Gina Gonzales: Thank you Bill. Okay, let's see... Yes, so

64:35 there was a question, uh, regarding about the masks and exercising on today's publication. So that literally came out

64:43 just before this webinar but on the https://cityofmenifee.us/604/Coronavirus-COVID-19

64:51 website you'll see helpful links. You click on, helpful links. And it breaks it down by all the orders. The

64:57 latest order has already been uploaded. There it is, the social gathering order that has been amended, as well as the the outdoor golfing

65:13 order that was amended. So both of them us have been refreshed and those are available on that website if you email

65:23 me directly I can send it to you if you're having trouble and it's; G

65:27 Gonzales at city of Menifee dot US, and I'll be more than happy, Linda, to send you that link

65:42 So, mmm, there was a question about enforcement but I think we already answered that. And I think, unless there's

66:03 any more... You're welcome Matt, thank you for tuning in. We did just get another one Gina... Sorry I just got a question

66:15 asking if we'll be reaching out to local restaurants this week to discuss their

66:19 concerns about continuing closures. Gina Gonzales: We've been in contact with our local restaurants regarding the continuing closures and we we have had our hands

66:35 pretty tied. Just... As much we want our businesses to open, just as much as everyone else does, it does impact our

66:41 ability to provide services as well so... And one more question after that came in;

66:53 did I miss the small business update? Think there was a slight update but, do you want to respond? Gina Gonzales: Yeah there was...

67:03 There's more than a few slides on the small business update. As far as one

67:08 about the impact surveys that we've been doing, and we continue to do, but we also

67:12 have our B3 for retention efforts. That's our building better businesses. We're also working with the chamber to provide

67:19 resources. We have resource guides, resource materials, we have Ombudsman services, we have a partnership with SPDC

67:28 that we're doing direct consulting one-on-one to provide the necessary assistance for each of our local businesses, no matter the size, small or large. And then if anybody has any questions, if that hasn't been answered,

67:44 or if you're having trouble (regardless of the question) please just email me; G Gonzales at City of Menifee dot US

67:53 It's on the screen as we speak and we're available and

67:56 like to stay we're beyond the eight to five 24/7... Emailed me at 8:00 at night to the morning. I'll answer you trust me

68:02 Test me out, and that goes for the previous question about the continuing

68:08 closures for restaurants that goes across the board. Thank You Gina

68:11 Yeah, and there's a question about hair salons open according to the governor's office... That is his stage three to his plans and so unless the state comes out

68:24 reducing from, you know, stage one to stage three. That's where that is within

68:30 his overall plan for hair salons and nail salons. So even if the county goes into a stage two based off of the state

68:39 of California, hair salons is still in a stage three so we feel your pain but... He did, the governor did put it into his

68:54 release that he's looking at weeks away, not months away, to get to the next stages so we're hopeful that it'll be sooner rather than later

69:01 [Music]

69:12 Any other questions? We just got another thank you, and that's all I see so far

69:32 Don't think we have any more coming in. And thank you to all the kind comments we got a thank-you from. and if you 24/7 and we've got a great job to staff

69:51 [Music]

69:53 I think that wraps it up unless there's any more? All right

69:58 Well we don't have any more comments coming in then we will wrap it up and again thank you very much for joining us

70:04 And again hopefully this information will be helpful to you. And reach out to us if you have any additional questions, we're always here to help

70:16 Thank you very much good night! Thank you

70:19 [Music]