Lodi City Council Agenda - September 2, 2026

Lodi
Written By Don Bradford
Lodi City Council Agenda — September 2, 2026: Overview and Detailed Summary

Lodi City Council Agenda — September 2, 2026

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 — Closed Session 6:00 p.m., Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m.

Carnegie Forum, 305 W. Pine Street, Lodi, CA 95240

Zoom Meeting ID 821 7418 0304 · Passcode 123456

A plain-language overview and item-by-item summary of the City's 253-page agenda packet, including every attachment, the 69 scanned pages, and background research.

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Summary

This is a housekeeping meeting rather than a policy meeting, and almost all of it is about who gets to decide things at City Hall. Of the ten action items, six either hand new decision-making power to the City Manager or sign off on decisions the City Manager has already made.

Three things make the meeting notable. First, a record minutes backlog: Consent item C.1 asks Council to approve 26 sets of minutes at once, reaching back to March 6, 2024 — and it is the second such batch in seven weeks, following another 26-set catch-up approved July 15, 2026 that reached back to November 2023. The staff report offers no explanation for the delay.

Second, the City Manager's authority continues to expand. Item C.4 would delegate to the City Manager all personnel and administrative matters for the Interim City Clerk — including appointment and termination — two weeks before the ordinance transferring City Clerk appointment authority from Council to the City Manager takes effect on September 18, 2026. Item G.1 asks Council merely to ratify a Public Works Director the City Manager already selected. Item G.2 would let the City Manager award a contract up to $360,000 without returning to Council.

Third, a federal grant report with weak delivery numbers. The public hearing (F.1) is Lodi's yearly report card to the federal government on how it spent its Community Development Block Grant money — the annual federal grant the City uses for neighborhood improvements, housing, and social services. Lodi was guaranteed $655,037 for the year and spent $282,568.19 of it, and it built none of the 54 affordable-housing units it had set as its annual goal.

Council will also meet privately beforehand on five matters, four of them lawsuits — including two separate 2026 suits by former City Manager Scott Carney and one by Christopher Bennitt.

Who is on the Council

Mayor Ramon Yepez; Mayor Pro Tempore Mikey Hothi; Council Members Cameron Bregman, Lisa Craig-Hensley, and Alan Nakanishi. Agenda posted by Walfred Solorzano, Interim City Clerk. The packet was printed on August 27, 2026 from Legistar, the City's online agenda system.

How this summary was prepared

Every one of the 253 pages was read. Sixty-nine pages are scanned images rather than typed text — the annexation map, the transit funding claim forms, the earlier contract amendments, and the pension exhibit — so those were converted to readable text by software. Every attachment listed on the City's online agenda is included inside this same packet, so nothing linked from the City's site was left out. Where the packet contradicts itself, that is pointed out. Page numbers refer to the stamped page numbers on the packet PDF.

A Short Guide to the Terms in This Agenda

Consent Calendar
A group of routine items approved together in a single vote, with no discussion, unless a Council Member or a resident asks to pull one out and talk about it.
Regular Calendar
Items that get their own presentation, discussion, and vote.
Closed session
The part of the meeting held in private, allowed by state law only for a short list of subjects such as lawsuits, real estate negotiations, and personnel matters.
Resolution and ordinance
A resolution is a Council decision on a specific action. An ordinance is a change to Lodi's permanent city law and normally needs two votes at two different meetings before it takes effect.
Delegate and ratify
To delegate is to hand a decision to a staff member, usually the City Manager, so it does not come back to Council. To ratify is to vote after the fact on something already done.
Minutes
The official written record of what a Council meeting decided. Minutes are not official until Council votes to approve them.
Lodi Municipal Code
Lodi's permanent city law, shortened to LMC in the agenda and in the tables below.
Annexation and prezoning
Annexation brings land outside the city limits into the city. Prezoning decides in advance what may be built there once it is inside.
LAFCO
The San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission, the county-level board that must approve any change to a city's boundary.
Williamson Act
A state program that lowers property taxes on land the owner agrees to keep in farming.
CEQA
The California Environmental Quality Act, the state law requiring governments to study a project's environmental effects before approving it.
Community Development Block Grant
An annual federal grant, abbreviated CDBG, that cities spend on neighborhood improvements, affordable housing, and services for lower-income residents.
CalPERS
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the state pension plan that covers Lodi's employees.
Fiscal year
The City's budget year, running July 1 through June 30. “FY 2025/26” means July 2025 through June 2026.

Items at a Glance

Ten action items, September 2, 2026
Item Subject Authority effect
C.1 Approve 26 sets of minutes (March 2024 – July 2026) —
C.2 Set October 7 hearing: Phase 4 Development Code (agricultural mitigation, parkland, annexation framework) Codifies annexation process
C.3 Set October 7 hearing: Dobbins / Westside annexation, 95.3 acres —
C.4 Delegate all Interim City Clerk personnel matters to the City Manager Major delegation
C.5 Authorize the City Manager to file Lodi's $2,133,190 annual claim for state transit and road funding Delegation
C.6 Accept mold abatement improvements, 2 N. Sacramento Street ($17,850) —
C.7 Authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 3, Animal Shelter construction management Delegation
F.1 Public hearing: annual report on 2025-26 federal Community Development Block Grant spending, for filing with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development —
G.1 Ratify the City Manager's employment of Christina Castro as Public Works Director Major delegation
G.2 Reject fire alarm bids; authorize the City Manager to award up to $360,000 Delegation
H.1 Adopt Ordinance No. 2049 — cutting what certain employees pay toward their own pensions —

Closed Session (C-2)

Five closed session items, 6:00 p.m.
Item Matter Case number
a) Christopher Bennitt v. City of Lodi, et al. STK-CV-UCP-2025-1701
b) Scott R. Carney v. City of Lodi STK-CV-UWM-2026-0003828 (petition asking a judge to order the City to act)
c) Scott R. Carney v. City of Lodi STK-CV-UOE-2026-0044713 (employment claim)
d) Leatham v. City of Lodi STK-CV-UPI-2024-0003244 (injury claim)
e) Public Employment, Gov. Code §54957(b) — Interim City Clerk Recruitment —

Carney was Lodi's eighth city manager, serving from June 3, 2024 until his termination in October 2025. His counsel filed a whistleblower-retaliation complaint on June 4, 2026 in San Joaquin County Superior Court, alleging he was retaliated against after reporting financial irregularities and misuse of public funds (Stocktonia; The Record). The City's own investigations found control weaknesses but no intentional fraud (LodiEye, "Sixteen Months").

Christopher "Kit" Bennitt is a commercial property developer — principal owner of Stockton-based Empire Real Estate — who also holds property in downtown Lodi. Two Lodi connections appear in public records. He was the applicant on a Lodi use-permit request for a beer and wine license for the Boxcar food court at 216 North Church Street, heard by the Planning Commission on May 27, 2020 (File 2019-023 U; City of Lodi hearing notice). And San Joaquin County listed a Lodi parcel in his name at 214 South Sacramento Street in its March 2026 tax-default auction, with a $64,500 minimum bid; the county's own results sheet marks it redeemed February 5, 2026, roughly five weeks before the sale (San Joaquin County Treasurer-Tax Collector).

Correction and clarification. An earlier version of this summary said Lodi paid Bennitt $1.6 million in April 2023. That was wrong. The payment came from the City of Stockton, not Lodi, and it settled a separate fight over Stockton's Empire Theatre complex on Pacific Avenue, which Stockton shut down in 2017 after evicting nine businesses. A Stocktonia opinion column by Michael Fitzgerald reports Stockton paid him $1.6 million in April 2023 to drop his cross-complaint after six years of litigation — though the same column later gives the figure as $1.2 million, a discrepancy the column does not resolve. That is an opinion column rather than a news report, and the Stockton matter has no established connection to this Lodi case. Nothing in the Lodi packet discloses what this 2025 suit is about.

The Leatham matter is a 2024 personal-injury case; the packet gives no further detail.

Note that item e) is a recruitment closed session for the Interim City Clerk — an appointment that, if C.4 passes, becomes the City Manager's decision rather than Council's.

Consent Calendar

C.1 — Approve 26 Sets of Minutes (packet pp. 8–123)

Prepared by Pamela M. Farris, Assistant City Clerk (part time). The staff report to Council — the City calls these Council Communications — gives this as its entire background: "Attached is a copy of the subject minutes marked Attachment 1 through Attachment 26, respectively" (packet p. 9). The City lists no cost.

The 26 sets of minutes presented for approval
# Date Type Pages Notes
a Mar 6, 2024 Regular 10–14 Interim City Manager Keys
b Apr 17, 2024 Regular 15 Canceled
c Jun 5, 2024 Regular 16–28 Carney sworn in; 14 delegation resolutions
d Jul 17, 2024 Special 29 Closed session only
e Sep 17, 2024 Special 30 Canceled — too few Council Members present to meet
f Sep 24, 2024 Special 31 Canceled
g Oct 16, 2024 Regular 32 Canceled
h Jan 28, 2025 Special 33–37 Library assessment; Res. 2025-11 Treasurer
i Feb 11, 2025 Special 38–43 Finance observations; Res. 2025-16 ratification
j Feb 26, 2025 Special 44–46 Long-range forecast; revenue options
k Apr 1, 2025 Special 47–49 Carney's statement; ordered to stop
l Apr 9, 2025 Special 50–52 Carney placed on leave, 3–2
m Apr 11, 2025 Special 53–54 Jaromay Acting City Manager, unanimous
n Apr 22, 2025 Special 55 Acting City Manager hiring vote (person unnamed)
o Apr 30, 2025 Special 56 Acting City Manager candidates
p May 6, 2025 Special 57–59 Acting City Manager Swimley
q May 27, 2025 Special 60–63 Interim City Manager Lindsay; FY 25/26 budget
r Jul 2, 2025 Regular 64–71 Eight delegation resolutions
s Jul 16, 2025 Regular 72–84 City audit found serious accounting control problems; Res. 2025-131
t Aug 6, 2025 Regular 85–96 Urgency Ordinance 2033 FAILED; travel policy
u Oct 29, 2025 Special 97 State of the City
v Mar 27, 2026 Special 98 Interim City Manager Busch; nine-hour recruitment session
w Apr 16, 2026 Special 99–100 Strategic Vision; Interim City Attorney Luebberke
x Jun 9, 2026 Special 101–102 Annexation and Growth Management workshop
y Jul 1, 2026 Regular 103–116 City Manager Reddig; purchasing overhaul; CalPERS
z Jul 15, 2026 Regular 117–123 Nashed farewell; Res. 2026-160 Solorzano

Four of the 26 are canceled-meeting notices, one is a State of the City with no formal roll call, and 17 are Special Meetings — which do not carry a Consent Calendar minutes item, part of why the backlog accumulated.

Composition of the 26-set batch. Only six of the 26 are functioning Regular Meetings with business conducted; 17 are Special Meetings, four are cancellation notices, and one is a State of the City address. Source: packet pp. 10–123.

Major Decisions in the Batch: Fiscal and Audit

  • June 5, 2024 — Council refused to adopt the FY 2024/25 budget as presented, moving it to June 20, 5–0, while adopting Res. 2024-112 (which carried unspent money forward into the new year, including $100,000 for the Economic Development Strategic Plan, $750,000 for the Downtown Specific Plan, and a $2,884,720 transfer between City funds to cover services in a Community Facilities District, a special assessment area where property owners pay extra for services in their own neighborhood) (pp. 26–27).
  • February 11, 2025 — A Finance Division observations report identified Priority One problems: inaccurate CalPERS reporting, payroll reconciliation errors, procurement-card issues, and accounting disclosures to auditors. Council ratified a $55,000 change order the City Manager had already executed with Baker Tilly and added $150,000, total not to exceed $308,900 — 4–1, Yepez dissenting (pp. 41–43).
  • February 26, 2025 — Baker Tilly's long-range forecast (Bob Leland) laid out an ongoing gap between what the City takes in and what it spends, and three ways to raise money: bring back the business license tax, raise the hotel tax, or add a local sales tax. A quarter-cent sales tax, the forecast said, would raise as much as the hotel tax and the business license tax combined. Residents spoke at length about the cost of running the Access Center (roughly $2.4 million a year, according to one speaker) and about the City's backup power plant (pp. 44–46).
  • July 16, 2025 — The City's audited annual financial report for July 2023 through June 2024 was received and filed with the auditors reporting material weaknesses, the most serious category of accounting control problem, with direction for an accounting review of the utility deposit account, procurement cards, CalPERS reporting, and Amazon business account usage (p. 82). The findings of outside accountant Kevin Harper — no evidence of fraud, but weak controls over City purchasing cards and many questionable transactions — were announced after Council came out of its private session (p. 72).
  • August 6, 2025 — A $500,000 Waste Management administrative fee plus a $1.1 million surplus ($1.6 million total) was partly allocated: $200,000 for a pavement condition assessment, $60,000 for alley cleaning, $10,000 for a Hale Park sign, and $10,000 for Maple Street Square landscaping, with the remainder deferred (p. 91). DKG Consultants was hired at not more than $67,500 to address internal-control findings (p. 92).
  • July 1, 2026 — Council wrote off $3,007,846.11 in unpaid utility bills dating from 2020 through March 2026, and $313,976.48 in other unpaid bills from 2019 through March 2026 — meaning the City stopped carrying them on the books as collectible (p. 105).

Major Decisions in the Batch: Library

The January 28, 2025 Baker Tilly Library Assessment presented three options — remain independent, merge with Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, or join the San Joaquin County Library System — and expressly addressed "clarification of the role of City Manager vs. role of the Library Board of Trustees." Lodi was confirmed as the county's only independent library. More than a dozen speakers, including four Library Board Trustees and the Library Foundation's President and Secretary, opposed joining the County system; all four speaking Council Members agreed. Yepez noted a citywide election would be required and would be expensive. Hothi noted late fees had been abolished two years earlier, requiring new funding sources. Craig-Hensley described Council's role as limited to budgeting money and appointing Trustees, and proposed a two-by-two committee with the Board, Foundation, and Friends, which Mayor Bregman supported. Nakanishi asked the City Manager for library funding figures two years before and two years after Measure L. No action was taken (pp. 34–37).

The April 2025 City Manager Crisis

On April 1, 2025, City Manager Carney began reading a prepared statement alleging redaction of staff reports "by the City Attorney and City Clerk contrary to his direction"; Mayor Bregman instructed him to stop, on the ground that the statement had strayed from the subject listed on the agenda — state open-meeting law limits discussion to noticed items (p. 47). A public speaker objected that staff was "not allowed to finish the presentation of information" (p. 49).

On April 9, 2025, outside counsel Adam Lindgren of Meyers-Nave disclosed that Council had considered neither evaluation nor dismissal, had retained counsel to investigate the statements, and had directed that Carney be placed on temporary paid leave, 3–2, with Craig-Hensley and Nakanishi voting no (p. 52). Council further directed that it would meet the following Friday morning to consider who would serve as Acting City Manager.

The City Treasurer Fight — the Most Contested Authority Question in the Batch

Date Document Action Vote
Jan 28, 2025 Res. 2025-11 Interim Assistant City Manager Bobby Magee appointed City Treasurer 4–1, Yepez No
Jul 16, 2025 Res. 2025-131 Council rejected the staff recommendation of Accounting Manager Chia Lor and instead appointed Interim City Manager Lindsay as Interim City Treasurer 4–1, Yepez No
Aug 6, 2025 Urgency Ordinance No. 2033 (an emergency law change, effective immediately, requiring four of five votes) Would have changed city law (LMC 2.44.040) to allow that appointment — failed because an emergency ordinance needs four of five votes and only four Council Members were present (Nakanishi absent) 3–1, failed

Lindsay himself told Council that "the appointment of an Interim City Manager as City Treasurer is not currently permitted within the LMC." City Attorney Lucchesi advised that the code treats the two as separate positions and that an ordinance amendment was needed. Budget Manager Jennelle Baker disclosed that Lindsay and Baker were the only two signers on the City's bank accounts. Accounting Manager Chia Lor told Council she "was a little nervous to step into the position, given the high-profile nature of the position at this time."

After Ordinance 2033 failed, Lindsay maintained that Res. 2025-131 remained valid and that the ordinance was "a code cleanup" — so the City operated with the Interim City Manager also serving as Interim City Treasurer under a resolution whose enabling code amendment had failed (pp. 83–84, 93–94). The office moved out of the City Manager's suite on July 1, 2026, when Jamie Bandy was introduced as Administrative Services Director, Treasurer, and Purchasing Officer (p. 110).

Why the Backlog Exists

The staff report gives no reason. What the record supports:

  1. This is one of at least two large catch-up batches. At the July 15, 2026 meeting Council approved a separate set of 26 sets of minutes reaching back to November 1, 2023 (pp. 118–120).
  2. Regular Meetings — the vehicle for approving minutes — were repeatedly canceled: April 17, September 17 (too few Council Members present to legally meet), September 24, and October 16, 2024 (pp. 15, 30–32).
  3. Special Meetings substituted heavily. Craig-Hensley observed that "Special Meetings are being used as a replacement for Shirtsleeve Sessions as informational meetings" — Shirtsleeve Sessions being the City's informal morning study sessions — and Hothi reported public criticism "regarding the excessive use of Special Meetings" (p. 40).
  4. Only three minutes-approval items appear anywhere in the 26 sets before the July 2026 bulk item, each covering a single meeting (pp. 65, 87, 118–120).
  5. Severe churn in the offices that produce minutes. Six City Manager configurations, a City Clerk departure requiring a paid interim, a terminated Assistant City Manager, a departing Acting Finance Director, and an interim City Attorney. This batch was prepared by a part-time Assistant City Clerk.
  6. The City Clerk's office was itself entangled in the 2025 dispute, and the ensuing investigation, litigation hold, and two lawsuits consumed the same legal and administrative capacity (pp. 52, 60, 117).
  7. Craig-Hensley's July 15, 2026 note that "City Manager Reddig will be compiling a list of action items from the minutes to track Council requests through completion" (p. 119) suggests the cleanup is deliberate and under new management.

C.2 — Set October 7 Hearing: Phase 4 Development Code Amendments (pp. 124–125)

Presented by Cynthia Marsh, Interim Community Development Director. Council is asked only to set the hearing.

The package would:

  • Add LMC Chapter 15.69, an Agricultural Mitigation Fee — a charge on development that converts farmland, meant to offset the loss
  • Add LMC Chapter 15.70, Parkland Dedication and In-Lieu Fees — requiring developers to set aside land for parks, or pay a fee instead
  • Amend §17.28.040, the Planned Development Overlay — the zoning tool that lets a large project set its own custom rules
  • Add Chapter 17.77, Boundary Changes — the rules for bringing new land into the city
  • Add Chapter 17.78, Williamson Act Regulations — rules for land under farmland tax contracts

Environmental review: staff say the changes are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under §15061(b)(3) and §15378. No cost to the City is stated.

Background

Lodi has been rewriting its Development Code in sequential phases, each adopted as a separate ordinance (Plan Lodi). Phase 4 is the annexation and growth-management phase, implementing direction from Council's June 9, 2026 Annexation and Growth Management Workshop (packet p. 101; LodiEye, Planning Commission August 12, 2026).

The new Chapter 17.77 would write a step-by-step annexation process into city law: a public Merit Hearing before the City will even accept an application, a requirement that the proposal match the General Plan and the Growth Management Ordinance (Ch. 15.34), a requirement that the land touch the existing city limits and be prezoned first, environmental, infrastructure, and cost studies, a Council vote before anything goes to the county boundary commission, and master planning meant to stop the city from expanding in disconnected pieces. Chapter 17.78 covers land under farmland tax contracts, which matters directly to item C.3.

The sequencing is worth watching: the Dobbins annexation (C.3) is being set for the same October 7 hearing date as the framework that would govern annexations.

C.3 — Set October 7 Hearing: Dobbins Properties / Westside Annexation, 95.3 Acres (pp. 126–128)

Presented by Cynthia Marsh. Applicant: Dobbins Properties, Inc. File PL2024-023A.

Location: south of West Vine Street, north of West Kettleman Lane, west of South Lower Sacramento Road. Twenty-one assessor parcel numbers (027-050-01 through 027-060-46) plus the Taylor Road right-of-way west of West Drive. The scanned exhibit at page 128 is titled "WESTSIDE ANNEXATION EXHIBIT," City of Lodi Community Development Department.

Proposed prezoning by district — what could be built on each portion once annexed
Zone Acres
GC — General Commercial 9.2
MCO — Mixed Commercial/Office 19.1
PF — Public Facilities 10.0
RLD — Low-Density Residential 49.8
RMD — Medium-Density Residential 7.2
Total 95.3

Proposed prezoning of the 95.3-acre Westside annexation area. Residential districts account for 57.0 acres, or roughly 60 percent of the total. Source: packet pp. 126–128.

The action would also remove the land from the Woodbridge Fire Protection District, shifting fire coverage — and the property-tax money that pays for it — to the City, and direct staff to send the application to the San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission, the county board that must approve city boundary changes. Environmental review relies on §15183 of state law, which applies where a project matches an existing plan or zoning already covered by an approved environmental study.

Background and open questions

The Planning Commission took this up August 12, 2026 (LodiEye). Questions still unresolved, based on earlier coverage: the property-tax sharing agreement between the City and the County required by state law (Revenue and Taxation Code §99), the disputed share of fire-district tax revenue with Woodbridge, the Williamson Act parcels that Chapter 17.78 in C.2 would newly regulate, and the absence of any fiscal or revenue analysis in the packet. A file-number inconsistency has also been noted — the packet uses PL2024-023 A while a City tracker has displayed 2024-09 A — and should be confirmed directly with Community Development before publication.

C.4 — Delegate Interim City Clerk Personnel Authority to the City Manager (pp. 129–131)

Presented by James Peavey, Human Resources Manager. This is the most consequential consent item.

The resolution would delegate to the City Manager authority over all personnel and administrative matters for the Interim City Clerk position, expressly including appointment, termination, work assignments, and work priorities. It takes effect on adoption and remains in force until modified or rescinded by Council. Fiscal impact: none.

Background chronology as stated in the packet
Date Action
Aug 3, 2026 City Clerk position became vacant
Aug 5, 2026 Council waived first reading of an ordinance amending LMC Ch. 2.13, transferring City Clerk appointment authority to the City Manager
Aug 19, 2026 Second reading; ordinance adopted
Sep 17, 2026 Date through which the current Interim City Clerk is expected to serve
Sep 18, 2026 Ordinance takes effect

The gap is the point: the ordinance does not take effect until September 18, one day after the current Interim City Clerk's expected last day. C.4 fills that window by resolution, so the City Manager — not Council — controls the interim appointment continuously. Closed session item e) at this same meeting is the Interim City Clerk recruitment.

Wider context

Under the Lodi Municipal Code the City Manager may appoint and remove department heads except the City Attorney and City Clerk, who were appointed by and served at the pleasure of Council. The August 19 ordinance changed that: the Clerk is appointed by, reports to, and may be removed, promoted, or demoted by the City Manager, with qualifications, duties, and compensation prescribed by the City Manager, while retaining the ability to bring advice and recommendations directly to Council and retaining statutory duties under Government Code §40801 et seq. (LodiEye, August 19, 2026 agenda). Staff justified it as operational efficiency and consistency. The practical result: the City Attorney becomes the only remaining Council-appointed officer.

Personnel chronology behind the item: City Clerk Olivia Nashed, appointed April 2022 (City of Lodi), announced her resignation in late June 2026 with a last day of July 31 (Steve Mann, "Spinning Door"). Council appointed Walfred Solorzano Interim City Clerk by Res. 2026-160 on July 15 at $70.41 per hour, effective July 28 (packet p. 122; Lodi News-Sentinel via Yahoo).

C.5 — Authorize the City Manager to File the FY 2025/26 TDA Claim (pp. 132–166)

Presented by Sean Nathan, Interim Public Works Director. A resolution authorizing the City Manager to file Lodi's annual claim under the state Transportation Development Act — the state law that returns a share of sales-tax money to local agencies for buses, roads, and bike and pedestrian projects — with the San Joaquin Council of Governments, the regional agency that distributes it, and to make minor adjustments before filing.

Claim sources
Source Amount
Local Transportation Fund (LTF) $2,071,203
State Transit Assistance (STA) $61,987
Total $2,133,190
Claim allocation by use
Use LTF STA Total
Transit Operations $1,000,000 — $1,000,000
Transit Capital $285,000 $61,987 $346,987
Pedestrian and Bicycle $207,915 — $207,915
Streets and Roads $578,288 — $578,288
Total $2,071,203 $61,987 $2,133,190

Allocation of the $2,133,190 FY 2025/26 Transportation Development Act claim. Transit operations and capital together account for 63 percent. Source: packet pp. 132–166.

From the scanned claim forms (pp. 134–165): Lodi has $12,461,079 available in the Local Transportation Fund, of which $10,389,876 has not yet been claimed, and $578,288 is money set aside for streets and roads in earlier years and still unspent. The streets and roads project listed is Pavement Maintenance at $300,000. Contact: Julia Tyack, 209-269-4960, jtyack@lodi.gov. Submitted by Kara Reddig, City Manager; San Joaquin Council of Governments Executive Director Diane Nguyen.

Transit performance recorded in the claim forms
Measure July 2024 – June 2025 actual July 2025 – June 2026 budget
Passengers 224,759 216,322
Hours buses were in service 30,701 31,743
Operating cost $4,543,251 $5,366,240
Cost per hour of service $147.98 $169.05
Passengers per hour of service 7.32 6.8

The City reported that it did not meet two of the three performance targets the state sets for transit systems. A state law, Assembly Bill 125, excuses Lodi from those targets through the July 2025 – June 2026 reporting year, so no financial penalty applies. Base fares are $1.25 and $7.00, senior fares $0.60 and $2.00, and monthly passes $44.00 and $22.00. The fleet includes 2018 and 2023 compressed natural gas buses, 2018 compressed natural gas trolleys, and 2024 Ford ARBOC gasoline vehicles. Lodi's transit services — GrapeLine, Dial-A-Ride, and VineLine — are paid for from these dedicated transportation funds, not from the City's general tax revenue.

C.6 — Accept Mold Abatement Improvements, 2 N. Sacramento Street (pp. 167–168)

Presented by Sean Nathan. Formal acceptance of finished work at the City parking garage building, leased since 2006 to the World of Wonder Science Museum. The mold came from failed and aging weatherproofing. Accepting the work starts the clock on the contractor's warranty and final payment.

The work was advertised in January 2026 using the state's simplified bidding process for smaller public projects, set out in the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act and available for projects under $220,000. Three bids were opened January 28, 2026; one did not meet the bid requirements and was set aside.

Bids opened January 28, 2026
Bidder Amount
Paine Construction, Inc. (Rio Linda) — awarded $17,850
JM Environmental, Inc. (Granite Bay) $22,227

The contract was signed April 20, 2026 with no change orders — no mid-project additions to the price. The City Engineer is directed to file the Notice of Completion, the public record that closes out the job. Funded through Transit Operations.

C.7 — Amendment No. 3, Animal Shelter Construction Management (pp. 169–204)

Presented by Sean Nathan. A resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 3 to the services contract with Bickford Ventures Inc., doing business as Division 1 Construction Management Services of Lodi, for construction management on the Animal Services Facility.

Contract history
Document Date Effect
Original services agreement Council approval June 5, 2024; amendment recitals say the agreement was entered August 2, 2024 — discrepancy $227,226
Amendment No. 1 Dec 30, 2025 Plus $75,000, not to exceed $302,126
Amendment No. 2 Feb 27, 2026 Term extended to May 31, 2026
Amendment No. 3 Proposed Term to October 31, 2026; no cost increase

The term has already lapsed; the extension covers project closeout and facility opening. The resolution relies on Council Protocol Manual §6.3q (Res. 2019-223), a standing rule that lets the City Attorney make small wording changes without coming back to Council.

Background

The roughly 12,000-square-foot, $13 million shelter on Auto Center Drive was originally targeted to open in March 2026, then tentatively slated for July 2026 with furniture installation underway. Planned capacity is 37 dog kennels and 30 cat spaces. Extending construction management through October 31, 2026 is the clearest signal in this packet that the opening slipped again.

The signature lines on the earlier amendments (scanned, pp. 170–172) are themselves a compact record of how often Lodi's top officials have changed.

Signatories on the Bickford amendments
Amendment Date City Manager City Clerk City Attorney
No. 1 Dec 30, 2025 James Lindsay, Acting Olivia Nashed Katie O. Lucchesi
No. 2 Feb 27, 2026 James Lindsay, Interim Olivia Nashed Katie O. Lucchesi
No. 3 Aug 2026 Kara Reddig Walfred Solorzano, Interim John M. Luebberke, Interim

Public Hearing

F.1 — 2025-26 CDBG Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (pp. 205–230)

Presented by Kari Chadwick, Community Development Department Program Specialist. A resolution approving the report and authorizing submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Program year: July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Lodi's guaranteed federal allocation was $655,037, and the City spent $282,568.19 of it during the year. This is the second year of the City's 2024–2028 Consolidated Plan, the five-year spending blueprint the federal government requires; the one-year plan under it was adopted in June 2025, and the resolution gives the date as June 18, 2025.

The Consolidated Plan's six goals are to improve public and community facilities; preserve and increase affordable housing; support critical public services; encourage fair housing; reduce homelessness; and fund planning and administration.

Reported outcomes by activity, 2025-26 program year
Activity Funding Goal Actual Percent
Hutchins Street Alley Improvements $235,000 11,750 11,750 100%
Graffiti Abatement $15,000 20,000 20,000 100%
Planning and Administration $110,000 — — 100%
Community Partnership for Families of San Joaquin, Family Resource Center $29,500 630 755 120%
LOEL Center Meals on Wheels $10,000 100 120 120%
Hope Harbor Shelter Operations $17,500 450 441 98%
San Joaquin Fair Housing $20,000 1,094 663 61%
Second Harvest food distribution $10,000 3,800 2,107 55%
PREVAIL PROPEL job-readiness program $16,000 50 14 28%
Hope Harbor Security Upgrades (Salvation Army) $17,000 450 0 0%
Lodi House repainting $23,000 10 0 0%
Salas Park Seniors at Lodi Commons (County Housing Authority) $130,000 54 units 0 0% — still in planning and design

CDBG activity delivery against goal, 2025-26 program year. Three activities delivered nothing at all, and the affordable-housing goal of 54 units produced zero completions. Source: packet pp. 207–229.

Total persons assisted: 3,437, of whom 1,586 were Hispanic. Affordable housing: goal 54 units, actual 0. Hiring under the federal Section 3 program, which requires grant-funded projects to try to hire lower-income local residents: none reported.

Geographic distribution, planned against actual
Area Planned Actual
Designated CDBG Target Area (the lower-income neighborhoods the grant is aimed at) 51% 20.8%
City-Wide 49% 79.2%

Where the grant money was planned to go, against where it actually went. The City planned to spend 51 percent of it inside the designated target neighborhoods, and spent 20.8 percent there — a 30-point shortfall. Source: packet pp. 207–229.

Housing and Homelessness Context in the Report

The Housing Authority of the County of San Joaquin was rated a "Standard Performer" by the federal government and was given a vacant City-owned parcel for Salas Park Apartments — affordable senior housing that gives preference to veterans, on roughly three acres north of Salas Park. The document states 108 units in one place and 110 units in two phases in another.

The Access Center is described as planned to open December 2026 with 100 beds, or 200 in emergency conditions. The existing temporary shelter, opened July 22, 2022 and operated by Outreach Ministries International, serves 49 people overnight and roughly 80 daily. A former hotel was converted into more than 40 housing units in summer 2026 using two state homelessness grant programs, and four units of permanent supportive housing — housing that comes with on-site services — were finished with two more. The countywide street count of people experiencing homelessness, done each January, was carried out in January 2026; the 2022 count was 208. The state's housing target for Lodi, cited in the City's Housing Element, is 1,520 units for low- and moderate-income households.

Two documentation problems worth flagging before publication

  1. Comment-period dates conflict. The staff report and resolution state the public review period ran August 17 through September 2, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. A later section of the same report says the notice ran in the Lodi News-Sentinel in English and Spanish, with comments accepted August 15 through September 1, 2026.
  2. Unfinished template text. One section of the report still contains blank placeholders reading "[x] comments," and describes Council approval in the past tense even though that vote has not happened yet.

Separately, earlier housing coverage has flagged a disagreement in Lodi's 2025 building-permit counts — a City summary showing 66 against state Department of Housing and Community Development records showing 178 — which matters here because the federal government uses housing-growth figures when it calculates how much block grant money Lodi receives. That gap needs to be sorted out directly with the Community Development Department. It is not a finding that any money was lost.

Regular Calendar

G.1 — Ratify the City Manager's Employment Agreement with Christina Castro as Public Works Director (pp. 231–237)

Presented by James Peavey, Human Resources Manager. Note the framing precisely: Council is asked to ratify an agreement the City Manager entered into. The staff report states that the City Manager selected Castro following an executive recruitment.

Terms of the employment agreement
Term Detail
Effective October 5, 2026, 7:30 a.m.
Base salary $225,830 per year
Raises 3 percent cost-of-living increases in the first pay period of January 2027 and January 2028
Pension She pays 7 percent of salary toward her CalPERS pension
Health insurance City pays 90 percent of the premium, measured against the cheapest HMO plan available in the 95240 ZIP code, effective January 1, 2026
Vacation Accrues at the rate of a 10-year employee (4.62 hours per pay period), plus 80 hours of extra leave in the first year
Other City pays professional engineer license renewal; cell phone or stipend; access to the City Manager pool car
Termination By the City Manager, with or without cause
Severance Six months' salary plus six months of health coverage if let go without cause; ends if she takes another job; conditioned on her agreeing not to sue
If she leaves She and the City would issue a joint public statement
Evaluation By the City Manager, at least annually
Changes to the contract Only in writing, signed by her and the City Manager — Council is not involved

Funded from the existing Public Works personnel budget. The signature page at packet page 236 shows Kara Reddig, City Manager; attested by Walfred Solorzano, Interim City Clerk; approved as to form by John M. Luebberke, Interim City Attorney, signed August 27, 2026.

Background

The Public Works Director position has been vacant since November 3, 2025. Charles "Charlie" Swimley, Jr. retired after more than 20 years with the City and nine as director, and was recognized by Council on October 15, 2025 (Legistar File 25-436; Lodi News-Sentinel via Yahoo). City Engineer Sean Nathan — a Lodi native who began as an engineering intern from 2000 to 2002 — was appointed Interim Public Works Director the first week of November 2025 (City of Lodi newsletter, November 7, 2025). Applications for the permanent role closed January 8, 2026, and the position was still counted among five senior vacancies as of March 2026, alongside City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Attorney, and Administrative Services Director (LodiEye, "Lodi's Leadership Vacuum"). Nathan is the presenter on four items at this same meeting, indicating he remains interim through September.

Verification note

Christina Castro's identity and background could not be independently corroborated. No City of Lodi announcement, news report, or prior record confirming her selection was located. A LinkedIn profile for a "Christina Castro — Capital Program Division Manager" in Carmichael, California exists but cannot be confirmed as the same person. Treat the biography as unverified until the City publishes an announcement.

Structurally, G.1 follows the model used on August 5, 2026 for David Hanham, Community Development Director (item G.4), whose agreement likewise placed evaluation, discipline, termination, outside-employment approval, and amendment authority with the City Manager and left Council only ratification (LodiEye, August 5, 2026 agenda).

G.2 — Reject All Bids and Re-Advertise: 2026-2029 Citywide Fire Alarm Monitoring (pp. 238–241)

Presented by Sean Nathan. Four actions in one resolution: reject all bids, approve specifications, authorize re-advertisement, and authorize the City Manager to award the contract to the lowest responsive bidder, not to exceed $360,000.

Bid history and requested authority
Fact Detail
Specifications approved and advertised June 17, 2026
Invitations Emailed to all 21 licensed electrical contractors on the City's list
City engineer's estimate $153,900
Bids received One — Siemens Industry Inc. of Rancho Cordova, $340,613, opened August 18, 2026
Over estimate by $186,713
Why rejection is required The bid exceeds the $230,000 ceiling on the state's simplified bidding process for smaller projects (Public Contract Code §22034(d); Purchasing Policy §6)
Re-bid opening Planned September 23, 2026
Revised estimate $300,000
Requested authority $360,000
Term Initial three years through June 30, 2029, plus two optional one-year extensions, five years maximum
Funding Various departmental budgets — FY 26/27 adopted; FY 27/28 and FY 28/29 future

Fire alarm monitoring: the City engineer's estimate, the state ceiling on simplified bidding, the single bid received, the revised estimate, and the spending authority now requested for the City Manager. Source: packet pp. 238–241.

The practical effect: a contract that came in at more than double the engineer's estimate would be awarded administratively, at a ceiling 134 percent above the original estimate, without returning to Council.

Ordinances

H.1 — Adopt Ordinance No. 2049, CalPERS Contract Amendment (pp. 242–253)

Presented by Walfred Solorzano, Interim City Clerk. Waive the second reading and adopt.

Adoption chronology
Date Action
Feb 18, 2026 Council agreed to reduce the share of pension cost paid by employees who are not in a union
Jul 1, 2026 Council approved the first step in five resolutions, including Res. 2026-151 for Council Appointees
Aug 5, 2026 Resolution of intention adopted; first reading of Ordinance No. 2049
Sep 2, 2026 Second reading and adoption
How much of their own pension cost each group pays
Group From To
Confidential General Services 6% 0%
Confidential Mid-Management 6% 0%
Council Appointees 6% 0%
Executive Management 6% 0%
Police Executive Management 9% 3%

No additional appropriations are required. According to the July 1, 2026 minutes, the pension change takes effect October 2, 2026, with the first smaller deduction in the pay period beginning October 12, 2026 rather than July 6, 2026 as first expected. Employees will be paid back for the larger amounts withheld in the meantime (packet pp. 111–114).

Note that "Council Appointees" — the group that includes the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk — receives the same reduction to zero.

Changes to City Manager Roles and Responsibilities: 2026 in Review

The Succession That Created the Vacuum

Who held City Manager authority, September 2023 to present
Period Officeholder Notes
Sep 2023 – Jun 2024 Andrew Keys, Interim City Manager Followed Steve Schwabauer's October 2023 resignation
Jun 3, 2024 – Oct/Nov 2025 Scott Carney, City Manager Sworn in June 5, 2024; placed on paid leave by a 3–2 vote April 9, 2025; formal removal October or November 2025
Apr 11 – Apr 30, 2025 Christina Jaromay, Acting Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director; unanimous appointment
May 6, 2025 Charlie Swimley, Acting Public Works Director
May 2025 – Feb 27, 2026 James Lindsay, Interim/Acting A CalPERS retiree rehired part time, $140 per hour, capped at 960 hours a year
Feb 28 – Jun 22, 2026 Aaron M. Busch, Interim Appointed February 18, 2026 by Res. 2026-32, $140 per hour, no more than 960 hours per fiscal year
Jun 22, 2026 – present Kara Reddig, City Manager Three-year term, $285,000 base salary

Reddig, previously Deputy City Manager of Elk Grove, was announced April 29, 2026 as Lodi's first female City Manager (City of Lodi) and appointed at the May 6, 2026 meeting with an effective time of 7:30 a.m. on June 22, 2026 (LodiEye, May 6, 2026 agenda; Citizen Portal). Her salary is $10,000 above Carney's June 2024 contract. Her arrival coincided with Jamie Bandy as Director of Administrative Services at $315,000 including benefits, effective May 12, and as City Treasurer.

Caution on the minutes record

None of the 26 sets in C.1 contains an appointing resolution, employment agreement, or salary for Swimley, Lindsay, Busch, or Reddig. Those actions all fall in gaps — including a seven-and-a-half-month hole between the August 6, 2025 and March 27, 2026 minutes. The minutes are also internally inconsistent about "Interim" versus "Acting" City Manager during Lindsay's tenure, using both titles within the same documents, and they give no first name for Busch.

Structural Changes to the Office in 2026

Formal changes to City Manager authority during 2026
Date Document Change
Introduced Jan 7; adopted Feb 18, 2026 Ordinance No. 2045 (LMC §2.12.050) Shortened the ordinary process for removing the City Manager from more than 30 days to 10 days, and created a 90-day window after each election during which firing the City Manager without cause requires four of the five Council votes
Jul 1, 2026 Comprehensive Purchasing Policy revision (Item G.1) Set City Manager purchasing authority at $80,000, with every spending limit rising automatically each July 1 in step with the Bay Area consumer price index, rounded to the nearest $100 and never allowed to fall, and formally recognized a Purchasing Officer appointed by the City Manager. The minutes record "purchasing authority increases" but do not state the dollar thresholds (packet p. 110)
Jul 1, 2026 Res. 2026-143 Rescinded Res. 2025-157, restoring City purchasing cards to Public Works positions after they were taken away in 2025; Mayor Yepez asked for a one-year review (packet pp. 104–105)
First reading Aug 5; adopted Aug 19, 2026; effective Sep 18, 2026 Ordinance amending LMC Ch. 2.13 Moved City Clerk appointment, reporting line, qualifications, duties, compensation, removal, promotion, and demotion from Council to the City Manager. The Clerk keeps the ability to advise Council directly, and keeps all the duties state law assigns to the office (Government Code §40801). The City Attorney becomes the only Council-appointed officer
Sep 2, 2026 — item C.4 Resolution Delegates all Interim City Clerk personnel and administrative matters, including appointment and termination, to the City Manager — bridging the gap before the ordinance takes effect

The Department-Head Model, 2026

Two director agreements in 2026 follow an identical template in which Council's role is ratification and the substantive employment levers sit with the City Manager.

  • August 5, 2026, G.4 — David Hanham, Community Development Director. Evaluation at least annually by the City Manager, discipline and termination by the City Manager, any outside job requiring the City Manager's written approval in advance, changes to the contract only in writing between the employee and the City Manager, and a joint public statement if the employment ends. A start-date discrepancy was noted between the staff report, which said September 7, and the agreement, which said September 8, 2026 (LodiEye, August 5, 2026 agenda).
  • September 2, 2026, G.1 — Christina Castro, Public Works Director. The same structure, plus six months' severance and City Manager selection of the candidate.

Contract and Signature Delegations, 2026

Delegations of execution or award authority to the City Manager during 2026
Date Item Delegation
Jul 1, 2026 C.4 Bank signers updated to Reddig as City Manager, Bandy as Administrative Services Director and Treasurer, and Baker-Bechthold as Budget Manager
Jul 1, 2026 Res. 2026-142, -145, -146, -148 A fire-dispatch agreement with Stockton; writing off $3,007,846.11 in unpaid utility bills and $313,976.48 in other unpaid bills; a reimbursement agreement with Pine Street Partners
Jul 15, 2026 Res. 2026-157, -158 An amendment to Lodi's agreement with the regional electric transmission agency; a $694,600 engineering services contract with West Yost and Associates
Aug 5, 2026 C.3 Authority to deposit and withdraw City money in the state's Local Agency Investment Fund, in the name of Kara Reddig as City Manager
Aug 5, 2026 C.6 Carnegie Forum boiler change orders up to $15,000 on a $94,363 award
Aug 5, 2026 C.7, C.8 A countywide free bus transfer agreement with the regional transportation agency; a 10-year agreement with Lodi Unified School District on street markings and signs
Aug 5, 2026 G.2 A $115,000 consulting contract awarded without competitive bidding to CityWise Strategies, LLC to review the City's development services — recommended by the City Manager, and to be carried out by the City's former Interim City Manager, Aaron Busch
Aug 5, 2026 G.3 Tree maintenance change orders up to $100,000 on a $616,700 award
Aug 19, 2026 G.4 Parking Structure Vehicle Security Upgrades — award to lowest bidder and execute change orders, total not to exceed $250,000
Sep 2, 2026 C.5 File the $2,133,190 Transportation Development Act claim; make minor adjustments before filing
Sep 2, 2026 C.7 Execute Amendment No. 3, Animal Shelter construction management
Sep 2, 2026 G.2 Award the fire alarm monitoring contract to the lowest bidder, not to exceed $360,000

Administrative award and change-order ceilings delegated to the City Manager across 2026 Council actions. The fire alarm authority sought on September 2 is the largest single administrative award ceiling in the year. Source: 2026 Council agendas and this packet.

What the Pattern Adds Up To

Read across 2026, four distinct movements compound.

  1. The City Manager became harder for Council to remove quickly in one respect and easier in another. Ordinance 2045 cut the ordinary removal process to 10 days but imposed a four-fifths supermajority for the 90 days after an election.
  2. Appointment power consolidated. Council-appointed officers went from three — City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk — to two, and if C.4 passes the City Manager controls even the interim Clerk appointment before the enabling ordinance is effective.
  3. Spending discretion rose. The July purchasing policy set an $80,000 limit the City Manager can spend without Council, rising automatically with inflation and never allowed to drop; item G.2 in this packet would set a single award authority at $360,000.
  4. Council's role on department heads shifted from selection to ratification, under agreements in which the City Manager alone evaluates, disciplines, terminates, and amends.

Facts pointing the other way belong in the record too. Treasurer and purchasing duties moved out of the City Manager's office in July 2026 to Bandy as Administrative Services Director, Treasurer, and Purchasing Officer, reversing the contested 2025 arrangement in which the Interim City Manager also held the Treasurer role under a resolution whose enabling urgency ordinance had failed. And the 2025 spending restrictions — the travel policy in Res. 2025-133 and the removal of City purchasing cards — were Council narrowing staff discretion, before Res. 2026-143 partly reversed the card removal.

Open Questions and Verification Flags

  1. Christina Castro is unverified. No City announcement, news report, or prior record confirming her selection as Public Works Director was located outside this packet.
  2. The public comment period for the grant report is given two different ways — the staff report and resolution say August 17 through September 2, while a section of the report itself says August 15 through September 1. That same section still contains blank "[x] comments" placeholders and describes Council approval as already having happened.
  3. Salas Park unit count conflicts within the report — 108 units in one place, 110 units in two phases in another.
  4. Animal Shelter agreement date conflicts — Council approved June 5, 2024, but the amendment recitals say the agreement was entered August 2, 2024.
  5. Dobbins annexation file number — the packet uses PL2024-023 A; a City tracker has reportedly shown 2024-09 A.
  6. No cost or revenue analysis accompanies the 95.3-acre annexation, and the property-tax sharing agreement with the County and the Woodbridge Fire District revenue share are both still unresolved.
  7. The July 1, 2026 purchasing thresholds are not stated in the minutes. The $80,000 figure should be confirmed against the adopted policy and resolution, whose number was not captured.
  8. The August 19 City Clerk ordinance number and vote tally should be confirmed against the enacted ordinance; the packet gives the adoption and effective dates but not the number.
  9. C.1's staff report gives no reason for the minutes backlog. The explanation in this analysis is inference from the surrounding record, not a City statement.
  10. The Bennitt case merits are unknown. The case number indicates a 2025 filing. Do not infer a connection to the City Clerk ordinance from the closed-session listing alone, and do not connect it to Bennitt's settled dispute with the City of Stockton — that was a different city and a different property, and no link between the two has been established.

Attachments Analyzed

Every attachment listed on the City's online agenda is included inside the 253-page packet, so the links on the City's site lead to the same documents summarized here.

  • pp. 1–7 — Agenda
  • pp. 8–9 — C.1 staff report to Council
  • pp. 10–123 — Attachments 1 through 26: the 26 sets of minutes
  • pp. 124–125 — C.2 staff report
  • pp. 126–128 — C.3 staff report and scanned Westside Annexation Exhibit map, converted to text
  • pp. 129–131 — C.4 staff report and resolution
  • pp. 132–166 — C.5 staff report, scanned transit and road funding claim forms, converted to text, and resolution
  • pp. 167–168 — C.6 staff report
  • pp. 169–204 — C.7 staff report, scanned Amendment No. 3 and the earlier amendments, converted to text, and resolution
  • pp. 205–230 — F.1 staff report, the 23-page grant performance report, and resolution
  • pp. 231–237 — G.1 staff report, employment agreement, and resolution
  • pp. 238–241 — G.2 staff report and resolution
  • pp. 242–253 — H.1 staff report, scanned CalPERS exhibit, converted to text, and Ordinance No. 2049

References

Contact

Corrections, documents, and tips: news@lodi411.com · Lodi411.com · LodiEye

Prepared from the City of Lodi September 2, 2026 Regular Meeting agenda packet — 253 pages, downloaded from the City's Legistar agenda system and printed August 27, 2026 — including software conversion of 69 scanned pages into readable text, plus the published reporting cited above. Packet page citations refer to the stamped PDF page numbers. Items marked as verification flags have not been independently confirmed and should be checked against City records before republication.

Don Bradford
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