Lodi City Council Agenda - July 1, 2026
Lodi City Council Regular Meeting — Agenda Summary
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 — Closed Session 6:30 PM, Regular Session 7:00 PM
Carnegie Forum, 305 West Pine Street, Lodi, CA 95240
Prepared by Lodi411 — includes a special addendum analyzing the $3.32M write-off ledger behind Consent items C.5 and C.6.
Summary
The July 1, 2026 regular meeting is a light public-facing agenda built on a heavy financial foundation. There are no scheduled presentations and the closed session covers a single item: recruitment of a permanent City Clerk. The consent calendar carries the most consequential dollars — two write-off authorizations totaling roughly $3.32 million in uncollectible utility and general-billing accounts (items C.5 and C.6), alongside a no-bid power-cable purchase, a renewed Stockton fire-dispatch contract, and an environmental-remediation reimbursement tied to the downtown Central Plume.
The lone public hearing (F.1) introduces a new mobile food vending ordinance with population-based permit caps and buffer zones. The regular calendar is dominated by labor and finance housekeeping: a rewritten purchasing policy (G.1), a sweep of CalPERS cost-share reductions across bargaining units (G.2–G.6), AFSCME salary-schedule corrections (G.7–G.8), and adoption of an SB 707 meeting-disruption policy due by July 1, 2026 (G.9).
This summary covers every item across the closed session, consent calendar, public hearing, and regular calendar. It includes a dedicated section on the City Clerk transition (and the background of long-serving Clerk Olivia Nashed), an expanded item-by-item consent calendar table, and concludes with a detailed addendum analyzing exactly which departments, revenue streams, and years are driving the $3.32M write-off.
Council & Meeting Context
The Lodi City Council is composed of Mayor Ramon Yepez, Mayor Pro Tem Mikey Hothi, and Council Members Cameron Bregman, Lisa Craig-Hensley, and Alan Nakanishi. The meeting record is kept by City Clerk Olivia Nashed.
This meeting lands during a period of significant leadership transition at City Hall. The City Manager seat was recently filled when Kara Reddig, formerly of Elk Grove, started on June 22, 2026, ending a stretch in which several senior positions sat vacant. That backdrop directly shapes both the closed session (a continued recruitment push) and several consent items that update banking signers and purchasing authority under the new manager.
A. Closed Session
C-2(a) — Public Employment: City Clerk Recruitment
The council meets in closed session under Government Code §54957(b) to discuss public employment for the City Clerk position. This is a personnel/recruitment matter, properly closed to the public under the cited exception.
Why it matters
This continues a prolonged leadership turnover cycle at City Hall. With the City Manager vacancy only just resolved by Kara Reddig's June 22 start, the Clerk recruitment is part of the city's broader effort to restaff senior leadership. The Clerk role is central to records management, elections administration, and public-meeting compliance — making a stable permanent appointment a governance priority.
City Clerk Transition & Recruitment
The closed-session item is forward-looking: as of the July 1, 2026 packet, Olivia Nashed remains City Clerk and certifies this very agenda. The recruitment is the latest chapter in a sweeping leadership turnover at City Hall, where as of early 2026 the city lacked permanent leadership in five senior positions — City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, Administrative Services Director, and Public Works Director.
The crisis traces back to longtime City Manager Steve Schwabauer's surprise 2023 resignation, the 2024 hiring and eventual November 2025 removal of Scott Carney, and a cascade of executive departures that followed. The City Manager seat was only just filled when Kara Reddig started June 22, 2026 — which is also why consent item C.4 updates the city's bank signers.
Olivia Nashed — Tenure & Background
Professional profile
- City Clerk, City of Lodi — appointed by the City Council in April 2022 (roughly four years of service), with a starting base salary of $132,831.59.
- Assistant Director of Legislative Services / Deputy City Clerk, City of Manteca — September 2019 to April 2022.
- Office Assistant, City of Dublin, CA — April 2017 to September 2019.
- Education: Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, California State University, Stanislaus.
- Credential: Certified Public Municipal Clerk (CPMC).
B. Presentations
None scheduled for this meeting.
C. Consent Calendar
Consent items are approved in a single vote unless a council member or member of the public pulls an item for separate discussion. Despite the routine framing, this consent calendar carries the meeting's largest financial commitments.
C.1 — No-Bid Power Cable Purchase (Anixter Inc.)
Authorizes a sole-source (no competitive bid) purchase of power cable from Anixter Inc. for $324,620.10 for the Electric Utility, tied to the White Slough facility. Sole-source purchases bypass competitive bidding and typically rely on a finding of compatibility, urgency, or single-supplier availability.
C.2 — Stockton Fire Dispatch Agreement (5-Year)
Approves a five-year fire-dispatch services agreement with the City of Stockton. The FY27 cost is $430,566.34, down from roughly $532,000 in FY26 — a notable year-over-year reduction for a shared regional dispatch service.
C.3 — Cal-Card Position Updates
Updates the authorized positions on the city's Cal-Card (state purchasing card) program and rescinds Resolution 2025-157. Routine administrative cleanup reflecting personnel changes.
C.4 — F&M Bank Signer Update
Updates authorized signers on the city's Farmers & Merchants Bank accounts to reflect current leadership: Reddig, Bandy, and Baker-Bechthold. Directly tied to the City Manager transition.
C.5 — Utility Billing Write-Off (up to $3,007,846.11)
Authorizes the write-off of uncollectible utility billing accounts totaling up to $3,007,846.11. This is the single largest dollar item on the agenda and the primary driver of the combined $3.32M loss. A detailed line-item analysis appears in the addendum below.
C.6 — General Billing Write-Off (up to $313,976.48)
Authorizes the write-off of uncollectible general (non-utility) billing accounts totaling up to $313,976.48, spanning Public Works, Fire, Risk, and other departments. Analyzed in the addendum below.
C.7 — Loomis Cash-Handling Agreement
Approves an armored cash-handling and transport agreement with Loomis for $165,000, covering secure collection and deposit of city cash receipts.
C.8 — Pine Street Partners Reimbursement (Central Plume Remediation)
Authorizes reimbursement of up to $135,000 to Pine Street Partners for PCE/TCE groundwater remediation at 212 West Pine Street, part of the downtown Central Plume contamination cleanup. This reflects the city's ongoing cost-sharing on legacy dry-cleaner solvent contamination beneath downtown.
Consent Calendar at a Glance — Detailed Background (C.1–C.8)
The table below expands each consent item with the staff-report background, department, dollar amount, and the key nuance worth knowing before the single-motion vote.
| Item | Subject & Dept. | Amount | Background & Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.1 | Power cable purchase, Anixter Inc. — Electric Utility | $324,620.10 | Waives the formal bid process for cable for the White Slough facility. Originally authorized May 20, 2026 (Res. 2026-104). Staff rushed five quotes to avoid project delays; Anixter won at 3–5 day delivery. Willie Electric quoted lower ($313,253.85) but with a 14–16 week lead time. The delay since May already added ~$17,000; pricing holds only until July 10, 2026. |
| C.2 | Stockton fire dispatch agreement (5-year) — Fire | $430,566.34 (FY27) |
Continues a relationship from Res. 2021-47; current contract expires June 30, 2026. FY27 cost drops from ~$532,000 (FY26) as more county agencies (including AMR ambulance) consolidate onto Stockton Dispatch. Future costs scale to Lodi's share of total dispatch incident volume. |
| C.3 | Cal-Card position updates — Information Systems / Budget | N/A | Program dates to 2011; rescinds Res. 2025-157 (which covered 112 positions). Changes four positions and adds three — notably replacing the defunct Assistant City Manager with the new Administrative Services Director and adding a shared Comm. Dev./Electric Utility Administrative Assistant to speed routine purchases and legal notices. |
| C.4 | F&M Bank signer update — Information Systems / Budget | N/A | A direct consequence of the leadership transition. New authorized signers: Kara Reddig (City Manager, started June 22, 2026), Jamie Bandy (Administrative Services Director/Treasurer), and Jennelle Baker-Bechthold (Budget Manager), replacing the prior slate after a position reclassification. |
| C.5 | Utility billing write-off (2020–Mar 2026) — Finance | ≤ $3,007,846.11 | The single largest dollar item on the agenda and the centerpiece of the $3.32M write-off. Concentrated in Electric Utility and Public Works, peaking in bill-year 2022, driven by tens of thousands of small residential accounts. See the detailed addendum below. |
| C.6 | General (non-utility) billing write-off (2019–Mar 2026) — Finance | ≤ $313,976.48 | Uncollectible non-utility accounts spread across Public Works, Fire, Risk, and other departments. Analyzed in the addendum below. |
| C.7 | Loomis cash-handling & armored transport (5-year) — Finance | $165,000 | Loomis already provides armored transport; this adds an automated cash-handling and change-management system that counts, validates, stores, and reconciles cash, eliminating manual counting and bank trips and creating a full audit trail. Net cost is only ~$25,000 more over five years than current transport alone. |
| C.8 | Pine Street Partners reimbursement, Central Plume — Public Works | ≤ $135,000 | Part of the city's 20+ year obligation to remediate PCE/TCE contamination downtown (assumed via lawsuit settlements). The $135,000 is actually a contractor credit (from Innovative Construction Solutions for not rebuilding interior walls at 212 W. Pine St.) passed through to the building owner — structured as a wash for the city, with prevailing-wage and invoice-verification requirements. |
D. Public Hearings
F.1 — Mobile Food Vending Ordinance (LMC Ch. 9.18)
A public hearing on a new ordinance regulating mobile food vending, amending Lodi Municipal Code Chapter 9.18. Key provisions:
- Permit caps: one food-prep unit per 2,800 residents; one produce truck per 20,500 residents.
- Buffer zones: no vending within 300 feet of schools or parks, or within 100 feet of intersections.
- Downtown: restricted within the Downtown Mixed Use (DMU) zone west of the Union Pacific railroad tracks.
- Residential: vendors must move at least 400 feet every 10 minutes; operating hours limited to 7:00 AM–8:00 PM.
The Planning Commission recommended approval on May 27, 2026 (Resolution 26-05). The ordinance is CEQA exempt.
G. Regular Calendar
G.1 — Purchasing Policy Rewrite
A comprehensive rewrite of the city's purchasing policy. Notable thresholds:
- 5% local vendor preference, capped at $50,000.
- City Manager signing authority raised to $80,000 (plus annual CPI adjustment).
- Vehicle purchase threshold set at $100,000.
- Public Works contract thresholds of $75,000 / $220,000.
This modernization complements the C.4 banking-signer update and reflects governance changes under the new City Manager.
G.2–G.6 — CalPERS Cost-Share Reductions
A sweep of resolutions reducing employee CalPERS cost-sharing across bargaining units, effective July 6, 2026:
- G.2–G.5: cost-share reduced to 0% for the respective units.
- G.6: Police Executive Management reduced to 3%.
These are compensation adjustments — effectively increasing take-home pay by lowering the employee share of pension contributions — and represent a recurring cost commitment for the city.
G.7–G.8 — AFSCME Salary Schedule Corrections
Technical corrections to the AFSCME salary schedules, ensuring published pay tables match negotiated agreements.
G.9 — SB 707 Meeting-Disruption Policy
Adoption of a policy implementing SB 707, governing how the council responds to disruptions of public meetings — including authorizing a recess of at least one hour in the event of a technological disruption. The adoption deadline is July 1, 2026, making this a time-sensitive compliance item.
Consent items C.5 and C.6 ask the council to authorize writing off $3,321,822.59 in uncollectible accounts. To understand what is actually driving that loss, Lodi411 parsed the full supporting ledger: 82,856 individual line items in the utility-billing schedule (C.5), plus the department subtotal forms in the general-billing schedule (C.6). The parsed totals reconcile exactly to the staff-report figures of $3,007,846.11 (C.5) and $313,976.48 (C.6).
Key Finding: Broad-Based, Not Outlier-Driven
The loss is not the result of a handful of large delinquent companies. The median write-off line is just $23.24 and the mean is $36.30; the single largest line item is $8,871.39. It takes the top 10.6% of all rows to account for half the total value — a signature of a broad-based residential collections problem, not a few catastrophic commercial accounts. The largest aggregated balances belong to individual multi-utility residential customers, not businesses.
Write-Offs by Department
Two departments — Electric Utility (49.0%) and Public Works (42.7%) — account for 91.6% of the entire $3.32M. Everything else is rounding error by comparison.
Combined write-offs by department (C.5 utility billing + C.6 general billing). Electric Utility and Public Works dominate.
| Department | C.5 Utility Billing | C.6 General Billing | Combined | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric Utility | $1,627,440.29 | $75.00 | $1,627,515.29 | 49.0% |
| Public Works | $1,276,397.49 | $143,569.02 | $1,419,966.51 | 42.7% |
| Finance | $104,008.33 | $4,603.50 | $108,611.83 | 3.3% |
| Fire | — | $99,771.00 | $99,771.00 | 3.0% |
| Risk | — | $56,979.92 | $56,979.92 | 1.7% |
| Community Development | — | $4,602.89 | $4,602.89 | 0.1% |
| Parks, Rec & Cultural Svcs | — | $3,808.00 | $3,808.00 | 0.1% |
| Police | — | $567.15 | $567.15 | 0.0% |
| TOTAL | $3,007,846.11 | $313,976.48 | $3,321,822.59 | 100.0% |
Write-Offs by Year (C.5 Utility Billing)
The losses cluster in the post-pandemic years. 2022 is the single biggest year at $842,053 (28%), with 2023–2025 each contributing roughly $560K–$680K. The 2026 figure ($307,872) is a partial year. Pre-2022 amounts are negligible, consistent with pandemic-era arrears working through the collections system. Note: "year" here reflects the bill/calendar year, not the city's July–June fiscal year.
C.5 utility-billing write-offs by bill year. Losses peak in 2022 and remain elevated through 2025.
| Bill Year | Write-Off | Line Items | % of C.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,340.88 | 44 | 0.0% |
| 2021 | $44,144.85 | 1,021 | 1.5% |
| 2022 | $842,052.50 | 19,329 | 28.0% |
| 2023 | $678,752.19 | 17,945 | 22.6% |
| 2024 | $560,610.28 | 16,197 | 18.6% |
| 2025 | $573,073.78 | 17,828 | 19.1% |
| 2026 (partial) | $307,871.63 | 10,492 | 10.2% |
| TOTAL | $3,007,846.11 | 82,856 | 100.0% |
Top Revenue Streams (C.5 Utility Billing)
Electric service is the dominant revenue stream behind the write-off. Electric Bad Debt ($912,673, 30.3%) and Electric Residential ($688,103, 22.9%) together make up more than half of the C.5 total, followed by wastewater, solid waste, and water arrears.
| Revenue Stream | Write-Off | % of C.5 | Line Items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric Bad Debt | $912,672.84 | 30.3% | 28,009 |
| Electric Residential | $688,103.45 | 22.9% | 9,489 |
| Wastewater Bad Debt | $312,395.24 | 10.4% | 8,451 |
| Solid Waste | $257,160.26 | 8.5% | 7,375 |
| Water Bad Debt | $239,812.22 | 8.0% | 7,586 |
| Solid Waste Bad Debt | $208,128.26 | 6.9% | 5,557 |
| Wastewater Residential | $148,740.75 | 4.9% | 2,925 |
| Water Residential (Metered) | $100,525.74 | 3.3% | 2,929 |
| Late Fee Bad Debt | $88,360.96 | 2.9% | 7,434 |
Largest Individual Accounts (Outlier Check)
The largest aggregated balances are individual residential customers with multiple utilities, not commercial accounts. Even the biggest is under $13,000 — small relative to the $3M total, reinforcing that this is a volume problem across tens of thousands of households rather than a concentration of large debtors.
Top 5 accounts by balance (C.5)
- Bill #2117956 — $12,672.98
- Bill #2086847 — $11,505.20
- Bill #1689904 — $10,904.05
- Bill #2055931 — $10,631.10
- Bill #1780461 — $10,093.76
What the Internal Memo Reveals (Packet p.61)
Electric Utility write-off memo & new collections policy
An embedded internal memo dated May 22, 2026 from Melissa Price to Tarra Sumner (signed by Jeff Berkheimer) documents the Electric Utility portion of the write-off at $1,627,440.29. The quoted reply from Revenue Manager Tarra Sumner sets out two policy directives going forward:
- Do not transfer outstanding balances when the responsible party is a business or landlord.
- A new policy requires outstanding balances to be paid in full before new service is established, and requires deposits for new accounts until a positive payment history is established.
This indicates the city is already tightening collections to reduce future write-offs of this magnitude.
Bottom Line
The $3.32M write-off is concentrated in two departments (Electric Utility and Public Works = 91.6%), one revenue category (electric service), and one time window (2022–2025 arrears, peaking in 2022). It is a broad-based collections problem affecting tens of thousands of small residential accounts, not a story of a few large delinquent companies. The accompanying policy changes — full-balance-before-new-service and deposit requirements — are aimed squarely at preventing a repeat.
References & Sources
- City of Lodi — Official Website
- City of Lodi — City Clerk's Office (Olivia Nashed)
- City of Lodi — New City Manager Kara Reddig Appointment
- Lodi411 — Lodi Taps Elk Grove's Kara Reddig as New City Manager
- Lodi411 — Lodi's Leadership Vacuum: Five Senior City Hall Positions Open
- Lodi411 — Lodi City Council Agenda, May 6, 2026
- Stocktonia — Lodi City Manager Put on Leave After Alleging Misuse of Public Funds (April 2025)
- The Org — Olivia Nashed, City Clerk Professional Background
- City of Lodi — Olivia Nashed Employment Agreement (2022)
Ledger figures derived from the July 1, 2026 Regular Agenda Packet, Consent items C.5 and C.6 (supporting ledger, packet pages 59–1542). Parsed totals reconcile exactly to the staff-report amounts of $3,007,846.11 (C.5) and $313,976.48 (C.6).
Questions or corrections: editor@lodi411.com