Wondering what you missed at Tuesday's Stockton City Council meeting?

Talk of one agenda item, Jason Lee's "I Am Ready" initiative, dominated much of the night. The media mogul and Stockton native was in town to present his youth program under the Hollywood Cares Foundation to the council.

But decisions regarding other noteworthy items that will affect constituents were made. Here's a recap of what went down at the council chambers.

Consent calendar

Stockton City Council unanimously voted to accept the agenda’s consent calendar. Some of the items approved include:

Changes coming to the Stockton Arena

Council members approved a roughly $3 million budget for renovations to the Stockton Arena, home of the NBA G League's Stockton Kings.

The city has tasked UberDisplays, Key Code Media, and Musco Sports Lighting with upgrading the arena's video boards, broadcasting control room equipment, and house and game lighting equipment.

"Investment into the Stockton Arena supports the Uplift Downtown Initiative and the goals of the adopted Economic Development Strategic Action Plan," city officials said in agenda documents. "This investment will create additional experiences for the community, drive tourism, and increase sponsorship opportunities through recruitment of additional events, such as sports tournaments."

Stockton officials discussed renovations to the 12,000-seat waterfront arena last year. At a May 24, 2022, city council meeting, Aaron Morales, vice president of operations for the Stockton Kings, said the facility's state was "unacceptable."

"We had a game, ready to host an outside team, and we had stalled out the game because the scoreboard did not drop down because it's outdated," Morales said. "We were left with our fans having to look up at the board halfway down ... you want to present the city in the best light, and that's not how you want to present the city, especially when you're bringing in fans from outside cities."

At the same meeting, Wes Rhea, CEO of Visit Stockton, said the arena hadn't seen any major upgrades since opening in 2005. He added that renovations could attract more events to the arena and more business to the city.

"We want to surprise and delight those attendees that visit our city because those are future businesses who move here, those are future residents who move here, and we deserve a good facility for our residents and visitors," Rhea said.

Laptop purchase for student worker program

More than 100 laptops will be purchased and available to students participating in the city's student worker program.

The program — funded by the state's CaliforniansForAll Youth Workforce Development Program — is a 4-week summer jobs program that will provide paid jobs for 106 high school students (aged 16-19) who live in Stockton.

"The student worker program will give student workers opportunities for personal growth, a chance to establish foundational work-readiness skills, as well as exploration of careers with the city of Stockton," city officials said in agenda documents.

The laptops will be used as a tool for students to enrich their training and make job-seeking easier, city officials said. The program is slated to begin June 1.

The CaliforniansForAll Youth Workforce Development Program — introduced as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2021-2022 California Comeback Plan — was created to increase youth employment, develop youth interest in and experience towards a career, and strengthen city capacity to address key areas of climate, food insecurity, and local COVID-19 recovery, according to the California Grants Portal.

The purchase of the laptops will be fully covered by CaliforniansForAll Youth Workforce Development Program grant funds. Stockton City Council voted to accept a $4.3 million grant from the program in December 2021.

More Project Homekey funding from the state

City council voted to authorize staff to apply for a third round of the state's Project Homekey grant funding. The amount is not to exceed $35 million, according to agenda documents.

The city will partner with Upholdings California, a Fresno-based affordable housing development firm, to purchase and redevelop a 124-room Econo Lodge motel in French Camp into a residential apartment building. The building will have at least 76 one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.

The units will be available to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Leasing will be conducted in partnership with local homeless serving agencies and through the coordinated entry system.

"Data shows that of the 893 unsheltered homeless individuals living in Stockton, approximately 10% are older adults (89) and 35% are women (312). In Stockton, nearly half of those experiencing homelessness have been without a stable place to live for over a year," city officials said in agenda documents. "Additionally, there are an estimated 160 families with children living in shelters, motels, or other transitional units."

In 2022, Stockton officials set a goal to create at least 200 new homeless housing units. 124 new units have been created so far, thanks to three previous Project Homekey projects:

• Central Valley Low Income Housing Corporation, Town Center Studios, 40 units

• Housing Authority of San Joaquin County, Calaveras Quarters, 69 units

• Visionary Home Builders, Ville d' Flore, 15 units

California is anticipated to make $735 million available in the third and final round of Project Homekey grants.

New business

Dignity's Alcove seeking support

Council members decided not to hand more than $50,000 to Dignity's Alcove, San Joaquin County's only 24-month transitional housing program for homeless male veterans.

The nonprofit closed its doors at 141 S. California St. on Feb. 8 after months of water leaks, heating problems, and lack of hot water at its facility.

Diana Weiss, director of Dignity's Alcove, told council members at the May 2 meeting that she was looking for a new location to move veterans into. Weiss said the funds would go towards rent and bringing back some of her staff — 17 employees were let go after the previous location closed.

"The Stockton shelter can accommodate seven veteran beds only," Weiss said. "There is a great need for veteran housing here in San Joaquin County and we can provide those wraparound services — case management, getting IDs and social security cards, getting HUD-VASH applications filled out, permanent housing for our veterans — that's what Dignity's Alcove does for our community."

The South California Street location housed 32 veterans. Twenty-two of those veterans were displaced after it closed, according to Weiss. Others found shelter in Sacramento and Stanislaus VA-funded program shelters.

"Just speaking with our HUD-VASH case managers, they are having a hard time placing the veterans here because there is nowhere to stick them," Weiss said.

Even with the building closed, Weiss told council members that she still tries to make herself available to the veterans for any needs they may have.

"We still try to help them," she said. "Me and my assistant, we still give them rides to doctor's appointments. We're still there to say, 'Hey, we're still here in the community. We're still fighting for you guys.' We don't want them to know that we gave up on them."

Though the nonprofit wasn't awarded the $50,000 on Tuesday, there is still hope it can receive the funds. The city needs to see additional documentation from Dignity's Alcove. Once the documentation is submitted, city staff will work on bringing the item back to the council for approval, Mayor Kevin Lincoln said.

The Stockton City Council will meet at the council chambers again at 4 p.m. on May 23. The public session will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: What you missed at Tuesday's Stockton City Council meeting